History Main / HenPeckedHusband

Compare MommasBoy and MyBelovedSmother in the case the husband is replaced by his son. See also NoAccountingForTaste. In the process of slowly becoming a DiscreditedTrope in favor of ParentingTheHusband.

* While [[Recap/TheOwlHouseS2E2EscapingExpulsion "Escaping Expulsion"]] suggests that Alador Blight has ''some'' say in his relationship with his wife Odalia, [[Recap/TheOwlHouseS2E20CloudsOnTheHorizon "Clouds on the Horizon"]] makes it clear that such moments are fleeting at best. She lords over him on a typical day, massively overworking him at Blight Industries and threatening to ruin his already-strained relationship with his kids even more if he dares to stand up for himself, and he only puts up with it all for their sake. [[spoiler: When he finds out that she's been secretly aiding [[BigBad Emperor Belos]] in his plan for [[FinalSolution witch eradication]] and doesn't care that this would also kill him, [[TheDogBitesBack he decides he's had enough and disowns her on the spot]].]]

* ''Series/FawltyTowers'': Basil Fawlty. As he is perhaps ''the'' archetypal UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist, we laugh even harder at his misfortune. Donald Sinclair, the real hotelier upon whom Basil was based, was a diminutive little man who was always cowed by his huge, domineering wife. Creator/JohnCleese, who is himself quite strikingly tall, decided it would be funny to keep the dynamic but reverse the sizes, and cast the petite Prunella Scales as Sybil.

A common feature in the AwfulWeddedLife DomCom genre. Originally, this trope was a [[SubvertedTrope subversion]] of expectations — a husband dominated by his wife was funny because it was the reverse of [[ValuesDissonance the normal, proper situation]] where the man was in charge of the household. After all, [[IWasBeatenByAGirl a real man could never be dominated by any mere woman]], so the Henpecked Husband must be a [[NonActionGuy wimp]] who [[WhatMeasureIsANonBadass deserves it]]. Today, the notion that the man must be the head of the family is mostly a DiscreditedTrope, but the idea that there's [[DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale something inherently hilarious about a woman dominating a man]] still lingers. While cries of Henpecked Husband are sometimes raised at the slightest implication of a wife being in charge of anything, it's only very recently that it's started becoming common for the truly overpowering examples to be held up as [[AllAbusersAreMale abusive]].

* In ''Film/AssassinInLove'' (a.k.a. ''The Baker''), a [[FatBastard fat slob of a woman constantly insults]] her meek husband, who [[WhatMeasureIsANonBadass doesn't have enough of a spine to defend himself]]. He turns out to be not so meek after all when he [[DisproportionateRetribution hires an assassin to have her dealt with]].

* In ''LightNovel/HarukaNogizakasSecret'', Haruka's dad is this. Although he's a BoyfriendBlockingDad and has the respect/command of a small commando unit and shareholders, he's largely afraid of his wife, who forces him to reluctantly accept his daughter Haruka's relationship with Yuuto, and her interest in manga/anime. In one situation, another girl, Shiina, confesses to whom she thinks is a sleeping Yuuto, only to find out it was Haruka's dad. Although he's completely innocent, his wife still [[DisproportionateRetribution retaliates by accusing him of cheating on her]].

** ''WesternAnimation/PorkysRomance'', the first appearance of "Petunia Pig" in a Warner short, ran on this trope. Porky buys a box of chocolates to propose to Petunia and is thwarted by Petunia's annoying little dog repeatedly, as well as Petunia, who seems only interested in wanting to eat the chocolates. Porky, heartbroken, attempts suicide ([[ValuesDissonance aren't old cartoons grand?]]), but ends up hitting his head and imagines marrying Petunia and a sexy honeymoon period. After a "[[IncrediblyLamePun Time Munches On!]]" title card, Petunia and her dog are shown stretched out on the couch, fat as houses, and happily gorging themselves on seemingly infinite boxes of chocolates strewn all about the house while Porky slaves away in the kitchen doing all the cooking and cleaning and caring for the children while [[LargeAndInCharge Petunia bosses him around]]. One really does have to wonder how the writers of this one viewed marriage, and if they knew that chocolate is lethal to dogs. Porky gets better. Waking from the nightmare, he runs away, returning only to take back his chocolates and give the dog a deserving kick in the rear!

* In ''LightNovel/HarukaNogizakasSecret'', Haruka's dad is this. Although he's an OverProtectiveDad and has the respect/command of a small commando unit and shareholders, he's largely afraid of his wife, who forces him to reluctantly accept his daughter Haruka's relationship with Yuuto, and her interest in manga/anime. In one situation, another girl, Shiina, confesses to whom she thinks is a sleeping Yuuto, only to find out it was Haruka's dad. Although he's completely innocent, his wife still [[DisproportionateRetribution retaliates by accusing him of cheating on her]].

* In ''Manga/MyBrideIsAMermaid'', San's father is one of these. This is probably a good thing, given that he's an OverprotectiveDad to the point of psychosis. Nagasumi's father is also a bit of a wuss compared to his wife.
* ''Manga/MyMonsterSecret'' has Shiragami Genjirou, a 4-meter tall vampire with MonochromaticEyes, a scary aura, a scary voice, and ManlyFacialHair. His wife Touko is a sweet and loving human housewife, who protected his secret when they were at school and gently attends to his every need. Incidentally, she occasionally threatens him with a stake, a katana, or a crowbar when he fools around a bit too much (notably when he tries to drag their daughter Youko back home or tries [[OverprotectiveDad to get between her and Asahi]]), and he's utterly ''terrified'' of pissing her off. It's unknown whether she actually ''uses'' those tools though. She probably doesn't even need to.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': Downplayed with Alador Blight. He often gets dragged into [[ObnoxiousEntitledHousewife his wife's]] schemes, but it seems to be less submissiveness on his part and more that his distractible nature causes him to let her take charge. In fact, he is a shrewd, cutthroat businessman himself. Plus, he's perfectly willing to protest when he thinks she's going too far [[spoiler: and when he argues against going back on their promise to Luz in "Escaping Expulsion", Odalia actually listens to him, instead of shutting him down.]]

* In ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters XIV'', once Mai Shiranui and Andy Bogard [[TheyDo finally]] [[OfficialCouple hook up]], he plays this role towards his girlfriend almost completely straight. Their common friend Joe lampshades this by referring to Andy as being "completely whipped".

* This is a staple of French cartoonist [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Dubout Albert Dubout's]] illustrations. He especially pushed the size difference to ExaggeratedTrope level, having the husbands being midgets compared to their huge, heavyset battleaxe wives with GagBoobs.

* In the first season of ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'', there's a scene where a man falls under the influence of a cursed knife and starts attacking Lina and Gourry. His wife opens a window and yells at him, and he slithers meekly back to his shop. Lampshaded immediately afterwards as Lina comments that an angry wife is more powerful and influential than a cursed knife.

* ''LightNovel/TrappedInADatingSimTheWorldOfOtomeGamesIsToughForMobs'': ExaggeratedTrope. In the LadyLand FantasticCasteSystem Leon is born into, noblewomen only marry based on GoldDigger criteria and at best merely drain their husband's wealth to fund their opulent life in distant mansions alongside their {{Demihuman}} "[[SexSlave Exclusive Servant]]" lovers, best exemplified by Leon's WickedStepMother Zora. The explanation for this system, is that it was a social engineering experiment by the Royal Family to centralize authority, and reign in warlordism amongst [[FeudalFuture their vassal lords]].

* In ''Fanfic/BoysUndSenshado'', Miho's [[InvisibleParents father]] is implied to be this, as Miho says that "[her] mother runs the family and really dominates over [her] father." [[spoiler:Miho's father does, however, vocally object when his wife disowns Miho.]]
* PlayedForLaughs in ''Fanfic/ChangeOfPlans,'' where [[BigFun Owen]] acts this way when he and [[AlphaBitch Heather]] are fake-married in the Niagra Falls challenge.
* ''Fanfic/TheChildOfLove'': Shinji is this to Asuka even before getting married. Whatever she wanted, she eventually got it because he went along with everything. Touji lampshades it in the fifth chapter:

* In ''Fanfic/CodeGeassThePreparedRebellion'', Milly's father is utterly dominated by her mother. Considering said woman sees her as more as a political tool than her child, Milly dislikes them both.
* The fact that he has something he calls a "husband voice" indicates that BJ likes to ''pretend'' to be this in the "[[Fanfic/{{Cinderjuice}} Contractually Obligated Chaos]]" series. He mostly uses it to say "Yes, dear." It's entirely a joke, however; the OfficialCouple is very HappilyMarried.

* ''Fanfic/HeroAcademiaDXD'': It takes only one meeting with Sirzechs for all of Rias' Peerage knows who is the one in charge in his household. Similarly, Zeoticus Gremory is well under his wife Venelana's thumb.
* ''Fanfic/LongTimeNoSee'': Shinji and Toji go to Nerv's reunion party, despite having no interest whatsoever, only because their wives nagged them for days. As speaking privately to Asuka, Shinji reluctantly admits he ''is'' henpecked.

** Shinji is quite passive and Asuka very domineering. Most of the time, Asuka makes plans and handles everything necessary while her husband follows her lead or makes whatever she commands. At one point after returning to the past, Touji thinks his best friend looks like a henpecked husband, not knowing how right he is.

** As seen during a flashback in [[Webcomic/AkiChansLife the sequel]], Gendo's reply to anything what his wife said was: "Yes, Yui", "Of course, Yui", "Whatever you say, Yui".
* ''Fanfic/CreateYourOwnFate'': Kanril Eleya meets Sheri Walford's uncle first, then her aunt. The uncle is a veteran of LaResistance, like Eleya's own father, and after meeting the aunt Eleya comments in her InternalMonologue that in retrospect he reminds her of some of her uncles: he's "the lord and master of his domain, and he has his wife's permission to say so."
* In ''[[Fanfic/UltimateSleepwalker Ultimate Sleepwalker: The New Dreams]]'', Rick Sheridan is occasionally the Henpecked Boyfriend to Alyssa Conover, although they aren't actually dating. When they move in together, Alyssa even threatens to have him ExiledToTheCouch even though they sleep in separate beds and even ''separate bedrooms''.

* In "Literature/FireEngineByMistake", the factory foreman Mr Billings can never get enough treacle pudding at home, because his wife says it makes him fat, and she wouldn't want him to be fat.
* In "Literature/TheFishermanAndHisWife", the wife is constantly demanding her husband ask grander and grander wishes of the magic fish. Until said fish is fed up and takes everything back.
* In "Literature/HanselAndGretel", the wife badgers her husband into abandoning the title characters in the woods.

** The first ''VideoGame/BaldursGate'' has Khalid, who speaks in a PorkyPigPronunciation, and his wife Jaheira: he's perfectly happy with the situation, and the backstory reveals that his personality was like that long before he met her. They're HappilyMarried precisely because Jaheira's willingness to take charge gives him the kind of emotional support he needs. Unlike many of the examples on this page, Jaheira never takes things to the extent of even [[DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale "comedic" abuse]] and it's very clear she loves him, even if she is the domiant one in the relationship. [[spoiler:sShe is genuinely heartbroken in the sequel when she finds him dead and mutilated beyond the point of magical resurrection in the starter dungeon, nearly having a breakdown in shock.]]

** Morbo, the alien news anchorman for Earth is hinted to be one such husband as when he appeared with his wife at a party in the episode "[[Recap/FuturamaS4E16ThreeHundredBigBoys Three Hundred Big Boys]]" as she is seen constantly correcting Morbo's tie, making her and Morbo look just like the couple seen in this trope page's photo

** Tywin Lannister (yes, you read that right ''[[TheChessmaster Tywin Lannister]]'') was said to be "ruled" by his wife (and [[KissingCousins cousin]]) Joanna Lannister.