History Main / DomesticAbuse

Compare AbusiveParents. Also see TheBluebeard and BlackWidow.

* ''Manhua/UniversalLoveGrocery'': Shiye's EstablishingCharacterMoment is ''stopping at a red light during a chase.'' He justifies his actions that as someone who upholds the law, he should be the first to obey it. He has no issues quoting very precise articles from the law as well, and he recites the entire "you have the right to remain silent" spiel while beating up thugs.

* ''ComicBook/UltimateMarvel'': Ultimate [[ComicBook/AntMan Hank Pym]] was terribly abusive to his wife to the point of putting her into a coma, leading to a very satisfying moment where ComicBook/CaptainAmerica [[WifeBasherBasher beat the crap out of him while he was 10 stories high]]. This was a [[AdaptationalJerkass carryover of the original Pym]]'s [[NeverLiveItDown infamous moment]] of slapping his wife one time in the middle of a nervous breakdown induced by a supervillain, though exaggerated - original Pym regretted his action and [[TheAtoner has tried to atone for it ever since]], while Ultimate Pym had a long history of emotional and physical abuse of ComicBook/TheWasp.
* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'':
** This plays into the very first ''ComicBook/ActionComics'' issue, where Clark Kent somehow gets involved in a domestic abuse case, leading to Superman intervening with the line, "YOU'RE NOT FIGHTING A WOMAN, NOW!"
** Revisited in ''ComicBook/TheDominusEffect'' story arc where Superman is trapped in four different realities at the same time, when immediately after dealing with the abusive husband he sees a young girl whom he assumes is the abuser's daughter, only to be later revealed as Kismet's form in all four realities.
** Another example from the franchise is Clark's next-door neighbor Gary. In "Time Ryders", the second Linear Men story from the ''ComicBook/TimeAndTimeAgain'' collected edition, he is seen walking down the hall to his apartment, simply saying that he's getting counseling to work out his problems and nothing more after that. Gary would be revisited in the VerySpecialEpisode storyline "Crisis at Hand", where Superman tries to get involved when his Super Hearing picks up one of his attacks, but for his wife to try and get Superman arrested. Supes struggles with trying to deal with this until Lois gets tired and takes things into her own hands.
** In [[ComicBook/Supergirl2005 "Breaking the Chain"]], ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} starts a relationship with a mysterious guy called Power Boy. Their brief "romance" ended when Power Boy revealed his abusive nature by beating Supergirl into unconsciousness when she had the gall to visit a male friend in the hospital, and then locking her up "for her protection". In reaction, Supergirl gave him a beating and told him to never come near from her again.
--->'''Supergirl:''' You hit me. You said you loved me... And you '''hit me'''.[...] No one who says he loves you should hit you, '''ever'''.
** In ''ComicBook/SupermanGrounded'', William and his mother suffer physical abuse from his father Vincent. Fortunately, Superman puts a stop to that.
* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'':
** Seeing a man beat his wife or girlfriend really angers Jason Todd. He once (allegedly) killed a man for beating his girlfriend so badly [[spoiler: that it caused her to commit suicide -- the boyfriend got away scot-free because he was the son of a diplomat, and this drove Jason to take matters into his own hands]].
** Speaking of Batman, there is also the flagship couple, ComicBook/TheJoker and [[ComicBook/HarleyQuinn Harleen Quinzel]]. Though their relationship originated in the [[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries animated series]], the comics have not been holding back on expanding their relationship as much as possible.... In fact, their relationship is so well developed, it's a wonder Harl is still as physically sound as she is. At first this was played purely for comedy, with the Joker dishing out a LiteralAssKicking to Harley, ending with her landing out in the street (or, in one case, in the hyena pit). It finally entered DudeNotFunny territory in ''ComicBook/MadLove'', where he flew into a rage, slapped Harley, [[ItMakesSenseInContext beat her with a large fish]], and finally shoved her through a window several stories above the ground, causing her to land in a blood-soaked heap in the alley below with a black eye and at least three broken limbs. As she heals in Arkham Asylum's hospital wing, [[ExtremeDoormat Harley comes to forgive the Joker after he sends her a rose and a note reading "Feel better soon" — without even bothering to apologize]]. In ''ComicBook/DeathOfTheFamily'', the Joker is inflicting this on Harley Quinn worse than ever. This time she escapes him. That's a good thing, because he [[spoiler:tried hanging her with a chain, and infecting her hyenas with rabies just to hurt her]]!
** ''ComicBook/{{Robin|1993}}'': In their few appearances together before Janet's murder it is clear that Jack is prone to ignoring her, brushing off her concerns and screaming at her. In addition they're both neglectful of their son, with Jack being the worse of the two by combining that with verbal abuse, destroying and selling Tim's belongings, blaming Tim for his actions and hitting him, though this last is only alluded to rather than shown.
%%* Often PlayedForLaughs in the stories by Creator/WilhelmBusch.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'', during a time-traveling expedition to the 1900s, Karolina and Molly meet a sweet little girl named Klara Prast. When they see Klara fighting with an older man and later appearing with bruises on her face, they assume that her father beats her. [[spoiler:Turns out they're half right. The man beats her, but he's her ''husband'', not her father.]]
** Chase was physically and verbally abused by his father, to the point where he blamed himself for his abuse. Frighteningly, in the last arc before the series was cancelled, he threatens to beat Klara because she's crying too much after he's deliberately gone out of his way to be cruel to her, because he blames her for [[spoiler:Old Lace's death]].
* A few instances of this in ''ComicBook/TheGoldenAge''. Jonathan Law (Tarantula) gets so frustrated with his WritersBlock and the fact that his paramour Libby Lawrence (Liberty Belle) is finally getting work as a news commentator that he tries to vent them out on Libby, but she takes him down rather easily. Later on, Joan Dale (Miss America) shows signs of abuse after she showed Tex Thompson's SecretDiary to her friends that revealed, among other things, that Thompson was really the Ultra-Humanite.

* Several cases show up in ''ComicBook/VForVendetta'', mostly among the higher ups of the tyrannical Norsefire government.
** Derek Almond, the director of the government's SecretPolice, verbally and physically abuses his gentle wife Rosemary. In the most chilling of several such instances, he wakes his wife up during the night, pointing a gun at her. After several tense beat panels, he pulls the trigger... and the gun goes click. He then tells her that although he didn't have the gun loaded, he implies that one day soon it will be loaded as he leaves the room.
** A rare case of a female abuser is also shown. [[LadyMacBeth Helen Heyer]] plots for her HenpeckedHusband Conrad to rise to the top. Along the way she regularly belittles him, psychologically undercuts him, and completely ignores his genuine love for her. When Conrad [[spoiler:is critically wounded while killing Alastair Harper, a man Helen slept with as part of her schemes]], she is so furious with the fact that he ruined her plans that [[spoiler:she leaves him to bleed out and die rather than help him]].
* The first call the new sheriff takes in ''ComicBook/{{Copperhead}}'' is a case of a father roughing up one of his sons outside their house. As a result he's an immediate suspect when several members of the family are murdered. [[spoiler:He's innocent on account of being dead at the time.]]
* ComicBook/RichardDragon's father beat his mother, and was a horrible father to boot though Richard's mom tried to always get in between Richard and his father's actual fists. This is part of the reason he uses Dragon in place of his father's surname.
* ''Franchise/WonderWoman'':
** ''ComicBook/SensationComics'': In the Christmas feature Wonder Woman rescues some kids and their widowed mother from their abusive uncle/brother-in-law that the mother is so worried is going to step things up and kill her family she's waiting in the dark with a bat to attack anyone who comes through the door.
** The man who is married to the real Diana Prince from whom Diana bought her secret idenity threatens his wife when she wants to go back to work and brutally attacks WW--thinking she is his wife--and then leaves her chained to the stove in the kitchen.
** ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': Nina Close was beaten and berated by her husband into acting like a meek frail little housewife in her attempts to appease him and keep from setting him off. She eventually snaps and kills him.
** ''[[ComicBook/WonderWomanTheOnceAndFutureStory Wonder Woman: The Once And Future Story]]'' focused on Diana learning about the Ephesians, an ancient civilization similar to Themyscira. Ephesian queen Alcippe was taken by Theseus and made into his wife, and by the time her daughter Artemis arrived to rescue her she was horrified to discover Alcippe had been broken by Thesus's abuse. In the modern day, Diana has to deal with the fact that one of the archaeologists who found Artemis's remains is also being abused by her husband.
** ''ComicBook/WonderWoman2006'' #5 focuses on a women's shelter run by survivors of domestic abuse who were inspired to escape from their horrible home lives and found a shelter for others stuck in similar situations by seeing Wonder Woman's actions.
* In ''ComicBook/CastleWaiting'', Lady Jain seeks sanctuary at the titular shelter to escape her abusive husband.
* The villainess Mother Night from the ''Franchise/MarvelUniverse'' is a truly terrible human being... but read the stories where she and the ComicBook/RedSkull were an item, and cringe. It was one of the most hideously abusive relationships in comics; the Skull beat her savagely, yelled and screamed at her for no reason, humiliated her in front of his subordinates, and refused to let her kill herself (which she requested because she thought, if he was beating her so much, clearly she is failing him somehow) because "you'd like that, wouldn't you?", whereupon he promised to beat her some more.
* ''ComicBook/{{Trouble|MarvelComics}}'', which was supposed to be about ComicBook/SpiderMan's parents, Uncle Ben, and Aunt May, had May fearing for the safety of her and her mother if her dad found out about her TeenPregnancy.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'' had an episode titled [[Recap/TheAmazingWorldOfGumballS5E5TheChoices "The Choices"]] that flashes back to the day Nicole met Richard, and examines what her life would have been like if [[ForWantOfANail she made different choices that day.]] One of those has Harold (Tobias' father) manipulating Nicole into marrying her, making her get hideous plastic surgery, and constantly treating her like dirt. Him demeaning her for having the sushi be too cold is the RageBreakingPoint that causes her to set the house on fire, possibly killing Harold while she screams "IS THAT HOT ENOUGH FOR YOU?". [[BlackComedyBurst This is played for laughs.]]

* Often PlayedForLaughs in the stories by Creator/WilhelmBusch.

* ''WebAnimation/{{Twelve}}'': In Episode 2, it's revealed rather quickly that Ivy is at least physically abused by Reed, her housemate, and her goal is to give her the proper motivation to get the hell out of there.
** Chapter II of ''Orgins'' implies that Reed is scared of being alone, which leads to false assumptions and hints of emotional abuse as well.

** The continuity has this in spades (no pun intended) with ComicBook/HarleyQuinn's [[MadLove relationship with]] ComicBook/TheJoker. A major part, if not the most important part, of Harley's character is the abuse. She fell for him when she was a psychologist at Arkham Asylum and he drove Harleen Quinzel to become Harley Quinn. Even though Harley is frequently slapped out and berated by the Joker -- he even kicked her out a window in one ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode -- she comes back to him eventually. [[spoiler:Or at least she did until Tim (ComicBook/{{Robin}}) killed him. ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' shows she eventually went straight and she probably settled down with someone better. She berates her granddaughters for being criminals, like she was when she was younger.]]

* ''ComicBook/TroubleMarvelComics'', which was supposed to be about Franchise/SpiderMan's parents, Uncle Ben, and Aunt May, had May fearing for the safety of her and her mother if her dad found out about her TeenPregnancy.
* ''ComicBook/{{The Incredible Hulk}}'':

* A United Kingdom PSA about domestic abuse called "If You Could See Yourself, Would You Stop Yourself?" has the boy in a relationship with a girl looking at himself through a thick-glass window mistreating his girlfriend when she refuses to go along with what he's trying to force her to do with him. He bangs on the window, hoping that he would get himself to stop what he's doing.

** ''ComicBook/RobinSeries'': In their few appearances together before Janet's murder it is clear that Jack is prone to ignoring her, brushing off her concerns and screaming at her. In addition they're both neglectful of their son, with Jack being the worse of the two by combining that with verbal abuse, destroying and selling Tim's belongings, blaming Tim for his actions and hitting him, though this last is only alluded to rather than shown.

* Some ''WebAnimation/RevengeFilms'' stories feature abusive spouses as villains:
** "[[http://y2u.be/7CWommihQpU "He's been treating me like this for 2 years..." We hid in the closet to catch him red-handed]]": Priscilla was called by her sister due to missing a memorial service at her parent's place. At the service, she took off her jacket revealing bruises left by her husband Thiago. Her parents are infuriated and they demanded a divorce.
** "[[http://y2u.be/JBWcNN8EAMg My family was talking sh*t about me behind my back, so I left them]]": Kaitlin was constantly abused by her husband, her son, and her mother-in-law for not being a good enough housewife despite being a working woman. Later on, Kaitlin snooped on her son's computer and found out the three of them conspired to murder her and take the insurance money for themselves.
** "[[http://y2u.be/fgWbscjtTCs My sister hanged herself]]": Daisuke abused his wife Yuriko and almost caused her to take her own life.
** "[[http://y2u.be/Im0bT6-V6Co During a live broadcast of the Happy Family Project, I sent out an SOS signal]]": Connor started to hit his paraplegic wife Ashley when he became a rich CEO, even going as far as to push her off her wheelchair and force her to get up as he and his mom laughed.
** "[[http://y2u.be/mNx2rS-GCxk After grandma died, my dad decided to divorce my mom She was of no use for him anymore]]": OP's mother was abused by her husband and mother-in-law until the latter died when OP was in junior high. However, the bastard whipped divorce papers at their mother for "failing as a housewife". As a result, the OP's brother exposed their father's affair with another woman.
** "[[http://y2u.be/geLYfdgVRfU I couldn’t stand my husband anymore, so I turned in the divorce papers without telling him]]": Emily is a housewife who was constantly abused and cheated on by her chauvinistic husband Kevin. When she went to the hospital to visit her infirm grandmother, he flipped his lid at her and showed her already-signed divorce papers to threaten her. However, she signed them as well and submitted them to the city hall before moving out.
** "[[http://y2u.be/M8JhYSlIqVk Husband didn’t come to the hospital when I gave birth, and asked where his meals were]]": The FMC's husband abused her even when she had morning sickness from being pregnant, even treating her like a housemaid and treating her sickness as an excuse to get out of house chores.
** "[[http://y2u.be/FTo7cGPJuLU Husband “DO NOT ENTER MY ROOM!” I was ready to divorce him, so I went in...]]": Ken physically, verbally, financially, and sexually abused his wife when she revealed their son was born with asthma.
** "[[http://y2u.be/ovHCwf8v96Y My husband looks down on me because I'm a woman]]": OP's husband tried to hit her, only for her to somehow guard herself and knocked him down on his ass with a punch. [[spoiler:Turns out she trained as a boxer in the past, but she apologized only for the bastard never speaking to her and eventually asking her to let him hit her, which led her to divorce him]].

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* ''Film/CSATheConfederateStatesOfAmerica'': One of John Ambrose Fauntroy V's InUniverse propaganda films, ''The Good Wife's Guide'', features a housewife advising women to always defer to their husbands even when they stay out all night or give them a "fatherly smack," as the man is the head of the household.
* ''Film/Dementia1955'': A random moment in the seedy hotel where the woman lives shows a domestic disturbance call. After a woman pulls down the shoulders of her robe to show bruises, the cop takes away her surly boyfriend/husband.
* Stu's girlfriend in ''Film/TheHangover'' is known to have physically beaten him at least once and emotional abuse seems to be ongoing. The other characters treat it much more lightly than they would a man beating a woman, the source of friendly "ribbing" instead of serious discussion, but they do at least make it clear that this is neither right nor normal and vehemently urge Stu to get out of the relationship. [[spoiler:His TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to his girlfriend later becomes his SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome.]]
* Master Chun-yu from ''Film/{{Hex}}'', an abusive drunk who delights in beating up his wife and maid, never mind his wife's tuberculosis. The film also shows him beating up his wife ''onscreen'' in order to establish him as probably the biggest HateSink scumbag from Creator/ShawBrothers cinema (being a studio with nearly 800 movies that's saying ''a lot'').
* ''Film/Pitch2009'': It's implied that Gene's dad beat his mom. When her spirit appears, her face is bruised, and Jim urges Gene not to make the same mistakes his father did.
* Morgan's husband Rex in ''Film/SawIV'' is revealed to have beaten both her and their daughter for years.
* In ''Film/TheNotebook'', a scene takes place where a woman repeatedly shoves and hits a man.
* The Creator/{{Lifetime}} movie ''Film/MenDontTell'' features a woman who was abused as a child committing this against her husband. This is most definitely not PlayedForLaughs and no one believes him for most of the movie.
* Another Creator/{{Lifetime}} movie, ''Film/NoOneWouldTell'', is based on a true story about a teenage girl who is abused [[spoiler:and later killed]] by her boyfriend. The film is notable in that [[Series/TheWonderYears Fred Savage]] plays the abusive boyfriend and [[Series/FullHouse Candace Cameron]] portrays his girlfriend/victim.
* ''Film/BrightBurn'' [[ImpliedTrope Implied]]. Noah berates his wife when she told him that giving a rifle to Brandon is not the smartest birthday gift, and leaves her when he's attacked by Brandon. It's hard to tell if the latter is just him not thinking straight, saving Brandon, actually leaving his wife, or all three.
* ''Film/TheBurningBed'', starring the late Farrah Fawcett, tells the true story of Francine Hughes, who killed her husband Mickey Hughes to escape 13 years of domestic abuse.
* In ''Film/TheOtherGuys'' he never gets physical, but Allen Gamble ([[ValuesDissonance one of the heroes]]) is emotionally abusive to his wife to a rather disturbing extent, vigorously and repeatedly insulting her physical appearance, sense of style, cooking ability and calling her an adulterer and whore when she reveals that she is pregnant. This occurs both in private and in the presence of others. He later explains that he does this all because he fears that, if she ever realizes how truly beautiful she is, she will leave him; this makes things ''worse'', since it shows that he is aware that his actions are wrong and is [[WhatTheHellHero deliberately traumatizing his wife for his own ends]]. It is not PlayedForLaughs, it does not set up an {{Aesop}}, it is just... awful.
* In ''Film/TheBoondockSaints'', the brothers get in trouble with a StrawFeminist, who loudly complains that their use of the term "Rule of Thumb" is sexist as it supposedly referred to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_thumb#Thumb_used_for_regulation the width of a stick a man could use to beat his wife.]]
* Jenna's husband from ''Film/{{Waitress}}'' is a particularly nasty version. It's almost purely emotional, though he does finally hit her when she tries to leave for the pie-baking contest in another state. All the damage is done through emotional putdowns, misogynistic remarks and a general ignorance of anything regarding her feelings, thoughts, or desires. The film does an excellent job portraying how difficult it is to extract oneself out of this sort of situation, without being {{Anvilicious}}.
* Edgar, before he is killed and taken over by the Bug in ''Film/MenInBlack'', is shown to be emotionally abusive towards Beatrice in his first scene, where he acts as though the meal she prepared for him was poison (and yet barks at her to not take the food away as he's eating it), and also claims her to possibly want to poison him as she skulks away like a dog who was either hit too much or hit too little (he doesn't know or care which it is), states that she's so useless that the only thing that could carry its weight around is his pickup truck (which is promptly totaled by the Bug's spaceship), and finally, when questioned by Beatrice about what just crashed into his truck, he angrily tells her to get "her big butt" back in the house. Going by some statements he made, he might also be physically abusive towards his wife as well.
* Chris in ''Film/TheWoman'' regularly slaps his wife around whenever she speaks out of line. His abuse of his wife is interplayed with his abuse of [[WildChild the feral woman]] that he captures.
%%* Ray Winston's character in ''Film/NilByMouth''.
* In the 2011 film ''Film/{{Warrior}}'': When his father mentions swearing off women, Tommy mumbles that it must be hard to find a woman who can take a good punch these days. %% This entry was added automatically by FELH2. In case the wording doesn't make sense, rewrite it as you like, remove this comment and tell this troper.
* This is the setup for everything that happens in ''Film/ThelmaAndLouise'', specifically Thelma's husband (who was an emotionally and mentally abusive ManChild, but not shown to be physically abusive).
* [[TheWoobie Adelle]] in ''Film/{{Kalifornia}}'', who is involved with SerialKiller Early Grayce. It gets even sadder when she reveals that he only ''whips'' her when she "deserves it," and that she feels like he protects her from the people who have done ''worse'' things to her. [[spoiler: Adelle was gang-raped as a young teenager, which left her in the hospital for months.]]
* ''Film/ThePurpleRoseOfCairo'' revolves around a woman avoiding an abusive husband by taking refuge in filmed fantasy. It makes the ending, in which [[spoiler: she goes back to her husband]], all the more heartbreaking.
* Bill, the first step-dad in ''Film/{{Boyhood}}'', turns out to be a nasty drunk subjected to violent mood swings. At one point, the young protagonist and his step-brother walk into their parents' garage to find their mother on the ground crying, with Bill angrily noting that [[CutHimselfShaving she fell on her own accord]].
* In the alternate 1985 of ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartII'', Biff Tannen became a successful entrepreneur who also became bored with his wife Lorraine and only keeps her around as a TrophyWife as revenge against his rival George [=McFly=], whom he killed in that timeline several years after George fathered Lorraine's children. Biff goes so far as to even abuse his adopted children, and threatened to put his wife and her children in jail alongside her brother Joey if she ever tried to leave him. In a deleted scene from the movie, it is suggested that Lorraine ends up killing 1985-A Biff, which is why 2015 Biff starts to disappear after returning the [=DeLorean=] that he stole to give his 1955 self the sports almanac to change history with.
* In ''Film/OneHundredFeet'', Mike apparently was battering Marnie from the beginning of their marriage until she finally killed him with the knife he went after her with. He starts again after his death and her return to the house.
* ''Film/BlueSteel'': Megan's father, who disapproves of his daughter becoming a cop, starts to mistreat his wife. Megan eventually arrests him for domestic abuse.
* ''Film/StonehearstAsylum'': {{Implied}} to be the case with Eliza, whose husband was apparently possessed of "unnatural" appetites, and it's likely the cause of her mental illness too.
* In ''Film/WhenDarknessFalls'', Håkan beats his wife Carina, as well as his father used to beat his mother.
* Canadian-made TV movie ''Film/LifeWithBilly''. Based on the [[TheFilmOfTheBook book by the same name]], it's the true story of Jane Hurshman's relationship with her common-law husband Billy Stafford. [[InMediasRes The film starts]] with her shooting her husband as he's [[TheAlcoholic passed out drunk]] in the driver's seat of his pickup truck. During her court testimony, we're shown their story through a series of flashbacks. At one point, when Hurshman is describing a particularly horrible act, her lawyer [[ArmorPiercingQuestion asks why she didn't leave him]]. She could only answer that she was afraid he'd kill her entire family.
* ''Film/RoadHouse1989'': After Brad Wesley's mistress is [[DoYouWantToCopulate too forward]] one time too many with Dalton, she's dragged out of the roadhouse by one of his goons. She's next seen in Wesley's mansion with a bruised-up face.
* ''Film/CruelAndUnusual'': Edgar is slowly revealed to have controlled his wife's life almost completely, stopping her from working or having her own bank account, and constantly being paranoid that she'd leave him or was having affairs. It's also implied that she's stuck with him if she wants to stay in the country, as her residence there appears to depend upon their marriage. She poisoned him due to feeling it was the only way to escape.
* In ''Film/{{Suffragette}}'', this being a film about the time before women had the right to vote, domestic violence is everywhere. A woman turns up to a suffrage meeting so beaten up that her comrades decide she can't speak publicly in that state, as she won't be taken seriously by the men in power. (With the implication that they'll think she deserved it). Maud's husband seems to be not ''that'' abusive at first, but after her picture gets into the newspapers as that of a suffragette, he [[spoiler: throws her out of the shared home that is at least partially paid for by the money she earns as laundress, and later on gives up her son for adoption without asking her -- when she returns home one day, the couple is already there to pick up their adoptive son.]] She is, of course, devastated. There's also the rich man who stubbornly refuses, after paying the caution for his wife, to also free her fellow suffragists, a form of psychological abuse, as he's obviously wealthy enough to easily afford it.
* ''Film/{{Gaslight}}'' is a very well-known movie featuring abusive partners, to the point where {{gaslighting}} is named after it. Paula's recently married husband, Gregory, tries to [[DrivenToMadness make her think she's insane]] by making her think she is a forgetful UnreliableNarrator hearing [[TerribleTicking noises.]]
%%* There's some ugly instances of this in ''Film/MidnightMary''.
* [[{{Jerkass}} Dean]] from ''Film/KingsmanTheSecretService'' openly beats Eggsy and is implied to beat his wife, Eggsy's mother, too.
* ''Film/TheWorldOfKanako'': Protagonist Akikazu is implied to have abused his daughter Kanako when she still was younger. Later on he punches and sexually abuses his wife Kiriko when he's angry.
* In ''Film/TheWarWagon'', CrazyJealousGuy Wes certainly abuses his wife Kate emotionally, and probably physically as well. He treats her more like a possession than a spouse, and Kate later reveals to Billy that Wes bought her from her parents for $20 and a horse.
* ''Film/RevivingOphelia'' provides a textbook example of an abusive relationship. Elizabeth's relationship with a boy named Mark starts off sweet and innocent before he becomes possessive, controlling, and physically violent towards her. It only gets worse when he threatens to pull a MurderSuicide after she breaks up with him and gets a restraining order against him.
* One of the women in ''Film/{{Caged}}'' was arrested for shooting her abusive husband.
* ''Film/TheSymbolOfTheUnconquered'': Upon accidentally revealing to his girlfriend that he's black, Jefferson gets so mad at his mother that he strangles her and throws her to the ground.
* ''Film/NotWithoutMyDaughter'' has Betty Mahmoody, played by Creator/SallyField, being beaten by her Iranian husband, Moody, played by Creator/AlfredMolina. They were happily married in America and they had a daughter named Mahtob. They all went to Tehran, Iran on vacation for two weeks to visit Moody's family. After the two weeks ended, he wants his wife and child to stay in Iran and try to conform to the customs there. Betty refuses for this to happen, and Moody slaps her to make her stay. Betty and Mahtob secretly try to get out of Iran with the help of the Swiss Embassy and a few sympathetic Iranians. If Moody ever suspected that she was trying to escape or be late for something, he would beat her, even in public.
* ''Film/{{Provoked}}'' has Kiranjit Ahluwalia, played by Creator/AishwaryaRai, who was physically, emotionally, and sexually abused by her husband for ten years. She couldn't take it anymore, so she used a Napalm oil mix to pour on his feet while he slept and burned him.
* ''Film/ThirteenMinutes'': Elsa's husband beats her frequently, including when she's pregnant.
* The 2011 Lifetime film, ''Film/NoSurrender'', introduced a woman named Jenny Reardon as victim of spousal abuse, having written letters to writer Amelia Davis (Mena Suvari) about her abuse at the hands of her husband, who she killed in self-defense. [[spoiler:However, in a twist, it was revealed that Jenny was the true abuser and Trevor wrote the letters. Jenny killed Trevor in cold blood after finding out, and she had colluded with Amelia's abusive ex-husband (who Jenny later killed, also in cold blood) to ruin Amelia, as Jenny blamed Amelia for "ruining her life."]]
* Michael Conrad in ''Film/BlackZoo''. He physically and verbally abuses his wife Edna (and murdered his first wife), and emotionally abuses his son Carl, who is mute as a result of his father's activities.
* ''Film/TalesOfTerror'': In "The Black Cat", Montressor heaps verbal, physical and economic abuse on his poor wife Annabelle. It is little surprise he winds up murdering her.
* ''Film/Shazam2019'': [[spoiler:When Billy moves into the apartment complex where his biological mother currently lives, someone is heard shouting in his mom's room, indicating that she is left with a verbally abusive partner after leaving Billy to foster care.]]
* In ''Film/SleepingWithTheEnemy'', Julia Roberts' character is a wife suffering in a marriage with her abusive husband, who refuses to let her go. She seeks escape by faking her death and living an entirely new life with someone else... until her husband tracks her down.
* ''Film/TheStrangeThingAboutTheJohnsons'' shows a rare occurrence where the ''child'' is the abuser and the parent is the victim. Isaiah has been [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil sexually assaulting his father, Sidney, for 14 years]], while UsefulNotes/VictimBlaming him in order for his father to continue putting up with the abuse. After Isaiah violently rapes him in the bathtub, Sidney becomes so psychologically damaged by the abuse that [[DrivenToSuicide he kills himself by hit-and-run.]]
* In ''Film/DustDevil'', Mark is a paranoid husband who thinks Wendy is cheating on him, and hits her whenever he thinks she’s lying.
* ''Film/BeforeIGoToSleep'': [[spoiler:Mike]] is revealed to have beaten up Christine in the past, and he later hits her in the present as well. He tries to beat her up again near the end, yet she successfully fights back to overpower him.
* In ''Film/{{Rovdyr}}'', the relationship between Roger and Camilla shows many of the hallmarks of being abusive. He constantly belittles and ignores her; speaks for her rather than allowing her to answer for herself; grips her arm quite forcefully while they are in public; and whines about how [[ItsAllAboutMe he'll be lonely when she goes off to university]]. TeamMom Mia picks up on this and encourages Camilla to stand up for herself.
* At the beginning of ''Film/{{Bunni}}'', we see Lisa talking with her husband about his calls to someone named "Bunni", which he's in denial about. After continuing to pry into it, he goes ballistic on her, and we see a montage of him beating her cut in with the intro credits.
* In ''Film/FortyFive'', Big Al keeps his girlfriend in line with physical intimidation, and when he thinks she is planning to leave him, he delivers a physical beating bad enough to land her in hospital. And when she tries to take a restraining order, he threatens her until she backs down.
* ''Film/TheGrizzlies'' Spring shows up at Russ's house after her drunk boyfriend hits her. She requests and is given a place to hide until Roger sobers up.
* ''Film/{{Ondine}}'':
** Syracuse and his ex-wife do not have a healthy relationship, and it's entirely her fault.
** [[spoiler:Joanna]] turns out to be married, with a husband who's a vicious drug smuggler and treats her about as bad as you would expect.
* ''Film/TheOddWayHome'' opens with scenes of Maya being violently beaten by her boyfriend. She leaves while he's asleep on the couch.
* In ''Film/{{Modesta}}'', which is set in rural Puerto Rico in the 1950s, Modesta's husband dismisses her troubles doing household chores on account of being pregnant. He even threatens to beat her if the next baby is a girl. Later at the neighborhood's League of Liberated Women's meeting, a neighbor who proposes a law forbidding men to hit their wives is sporting a black eye.
* In ''Film/TheDry'', [[spoiler:Ellie's mother abandoned the family is order escape her abusive husband Mal. Unfortunately, [[AbusiveParents Mal just redirected his abuse, both physical and sexual, to his daughter Ellie.]]]]
* ''Film/ForbiddenLoveTheUnashamedStoriesOfLesbianLives'': One woman, Stephanie, relates having been in a relationship where her girlfriend basically made her take the house wife role, and controlled her life. This had included how Stephanie dressed and who she hung out with.
* In ''Film/JohnDoeVigilante'', one of John Doe's targets is a husband who is bashing his wife. John beats him to death in the laneway behind his house.
* ''Film/RiseOfTheScarecrows'': Dicky, the town mechanic, is shown late in the movie force-feeding his wife the wet powder she was using to make dinner.
* ''Film/{{Girlfight}}'': Diana's father had abused her mother, it turns out.
* ''Film/TheArcher'':
** Emily, Lauren's friend, is being abused by her boyfriend Daniel. This sparks the plot, as Lauren tries to stand up for her. Emily still doesn't leave him though, and blames herself for making him mad. She even refuses to testify against him to help Lauren after she beat him up in self-defense.
** Rebecca's mom also had an abusive boyfriend.
* ''Film/TheTheatreBizarre'': In "Wet Dreams", Donnie verbally and physically abuses his wife Carla [[spoiler:who extracts a terrible revenge with the aid of Donnie's psychiatrist Dr. Maurey]].
* ''Film/{{Bloodthirsty}}'': While influenced by the changes she's undergoing, Grey chokes her girlfriend Charlie before she knocks her senseless by tossing her against the wall. That being said, she quickly regrets it and urges that Charlie leave to save herself. At the time she also clearly isn't in her right mind.
* In ''Film/TheNightClerk2020'', Karen's killer beats her in the hotel room before he shoots her. [[spoiler:He later beats Andrea, and leaves her alive with a busted lip.]]
* ''Film/TwentyEightHotelRooms'': When they have a violent argument, the man pushes and shoves the woman from the hotel room in a rage.
* ''Film/CutToTheChase'': Isobel was in a relationship with a guy, and wouldn't leave after he gave her a black eye in spite of Max warning that he'd also kill her someday. He's the prime suspect to Max when she disappears, but it turns out he isn't responsible. [[spoiler:It turns out that she suffered this again even worse as she'd been seeing Nola and her boss at the same time. Nola found out, with Izzy leaving her because it's revealed she's a hitwoman. Izzy was then beaten up and kidnapped by Nola, who held her captive so she could never leave her.]]
* ''Film/KungFuZohra'' is a film about a woman from the Algerian diaspora in France who learns kung fu to defend herself against her violent husband.
* ''Film/WomenIsLosers'': Celina's dad is an abusive {{jerkass}} who mistreats her mom and demands her money as payment for babysitting his grandson (well, her mom does the work mostly) even when Celina pays half already, plus many other expenses. When she angrily tells him off, her dad slams her against the kitchen wall, and then threatens his grandson for intervening. This is the last straw for Celina, who leaves along with her son.
* ''Film/SexAndDeath101'': Death Nell endured abuse by her husband, who had forced her to engage in sexual roleplay she found degrading, and beat her as well.
* ''Film/EntreNous2021'': Laetitia finally submits to Simon's demands that she be with him so his harassment will stop. It naturally includes [[RapeAsDrama her having sex with him under this coercion]]. [[spoiler:When she tries to leave him, he beats her, causing a miscarriage and putting her in the hospital.]]
* ''Film/AllCheerleadersDie'': Terry punches Tracy, his girlfriend, right in the face after she [[LousyLoversAreLosers publicly insults him about being a bad lover]] and praises Maddy [[SexGoddess as fantastic]].
* ''Film/WomenTalking'': Mariche, even apart from being raped secretly like the other women, has been abused by her husband over many years. She repeatedly forgave him as her sect's principles dictate and her own mother had advised. After realizing what she's endured, her mother apologizes for doing so. When her husband returns, she gets beaten severely by him offscreen, left with a black eye and right arm in a sling.
* ''Film/FeastOfLove'': David, after he argues with Diana, slaps her. She slaps him back and orders him to GetOut. In spite of this, later they get together again.
* ''Film/HeadInTheClouds'': Mia is beaten with a crop by Lucien while they're dating, leaving marks on her back.
* ''Film/PerfectAddiction'': Sienna reveals Jax was psychologically abusive while they were together, eroding her self-esteem slowly and gaslighting her, while he also manipulated her into bondage that she didn't want. The same thing happens when he dates her sister.
* ''Film/TromeoAndJuliet'': Capulet beats up his wife Ingred when he grows angry with her. By the lack of reaction from Juliet and Ness, this happens regularly.
* ''Film/JaggedMind'': It quickly becomes very clear that Alex isn't a good partner to Billie, even before we learn what exactly is going on. She lies to her, drives her apart from her friend Kim, and manipulates her frequently by use of her magic. [[spoiler:Also, she cuts Billie to draw blood from her involuntarily as well. She murdered Rose, her ex, to get rid of another person in her life who could come between them, by telling Billie what she's really like. On being confronted by Billie on what she discovers of Alex's past, Alex hurls an object her way and she denounces her suspicions. Billie recovers many more memories about Alex cruelly insulting her after using the same magic for creating a time loop herself as well.]]
* ''Film/TheWhale'': In addition to her treatment of her father, Ellie is also noted to be very hostile and violent towards her mother, even stealing from her medicine cabinets and harassing her online.
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** Brian and Rebecca Banner's marriage. Although they started off happy, a combination of stress from his job, his [[AbusiveParents traumatic upbringing]] and [[TheAlcoholic his alcoholism]] caused Brian to develop anger problems. It only got worse after their son Bruce was born, first with him beating Bruce and then Rebecca when she tried to stop him, before eventually murdering her when she and Bruce tried to escape. While Brian would eventually [[SelfMadeOrphan pay for]] [[KickTheSonOfaBitch his crimes]], Bruce's traumatic upbringing would lead to the fracturing of his personality, which eventually became the various Hulks.