History Main / JerkJock

* Vince Chung in ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad!'', and the coach's son, whose jerkishness stems from being abused by his father, leading to an awkward scene of him crying in Steve's arms while threatening to beat him up the next day.

* Dean from ''Series/DegrassiTheNextGeneration'' is this trope incarnate; a soulless monster who exists only to drink, smash, and rape.

* Skeebo from ''WesternAnimation/{{Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures}}''.
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Like the Alpha Bitch, despite his largely repellent personality the Jerk Jock is surprisingly popular, [[AdultsAreUseless especially with the school's staff and most adults]], and [[KarmaHoudini can get away with most anything]]. Chances are he's the only child of a wealthy family and usually has his parents wrapped around his finger. If he has siblings, one of them is usually a NiceGuy or a NiceGirl with whom he doesn't get along. Often the son of some important CorruptPolitician [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections who will cover up for him everytime]]. But even then, most {{Jerk Jock}}s know [[EvenEvilHasStandards there are certain lines not to cross if they don't want to get disowned]]. Needless to say, all of the above often lands him a ZeroPercentApprovalRating, but that's not something he cares about. Often in open conflict with the LovableJock or with the BigManOnCampus, who are usually too influential or physically strong for him to bully, especially if neither of them is willing to condone his behaviour.

* Chris Crutcher often plays with this in his books. He usually has several straight examples of the Jerk Jock, but his protagonists are often jocks who are good people, and the extra characters who are jocks can be either. [[AuthorFilibuster But he has stated]] [[AuthorTract in several books]] that (especially in small towns) the jock subculture in schools creates, supports, and admires {{Jerk Jock}}s.

* In ''Webcomic/TheWotch'', four {{Jerk Jock}}s are turned into girls (in body AND mind), and become the school's cheerleaders, getting their own spin-off, ''Cheer!''. Ironically, they're much happier that way. [[spoiler: Except for the [[StepfordSmiler most cheerful looking one]], who somehow remembers "her" past as a football player and misses the sport, if nothing else. She keeps quiet for the sake of her happier friends]].

Unlike the AlphaBitch who almost always gets what's coming to her, the JerkJock is a frequent KarmaHoudini in fiction. But if the heroes try to get revenge on him by alternative means, this will often result in an {{Anvilicious}} FamilyUnfriendlyAesop about "not stooping to his level". If the hero does manage to take revenge, it will be glorious and extravagant to such a brutal degree that one wonders if [[WriterOnBoard the writers are working through issues from their own childhood]]. In other cases, when Karma eventually comes for him, we'll see the Jerk Jock all grown-up, probably either a JadedWashout, dreaming about his glory days, or a failed corporate thug who ended up in jail.

In some cases, the JerkJock could even be seen as a subtle [[WriterOnBoard author expression]] of white guilt, and/or anti-Americanism. This is because examples of this trope are almost exclusively white and either American, British, or German, (even in multicultural environments) and usually also exemplify the worst forms of behaviour stereotypically associated with white colonialism, even if it is only towards members of the JerkJock's own ethnic group.

** Old Biff, at least, after dealing with his identical grandson for years, realizing how moronic and foolish being a JerkJock makes you look, and doesn't particularly like his past self because of it. However, he decides the wisdom of age pales in comparison to his desire to be filthy rich, and he ends up creating a BadFuture, where JerkJock Biff has gotten everything he's ever wanted and is thus even more of a jerk.

* JohnCusack vehicle ''BetterOffDead'' has the captain of the high school ski squad (the only one to survive the dreaded K-12), who steals Cusack's girl, denies him a spot on the squad despite a qualifying try-out, is rude to the foreign French student that's crushing on Cusack...
** His name? [[MeaningfulName Roy Stalin]], best JerkJock name ''ever''.

* The JerkJock who torments the protagonist [[spoiler:who is really the Antichrist]] in the ''Carrie/Omen'' mashup ''Fear No Evil'' gets punished later in the movie when [[ManIFeelLikeAWoman he is given female breasts]], referencing earlier in the movie a comment that smoking weed would make a person grow breasts. He becomes horrified to the point where he stabs himself, most likely to prevent his tormentor from taking it into rape territory.

* Chris Crutcher often plays with this in his books. He usually has several straight examples of the JerkJock, but his protagonists are often jocks who are good people, and the extra characters who are jocks can be either. [[AuthorFilibuster But he has stated]] [[AuthorTract in several books]] that (especially in small towns) the jock subculture in schools creates, supports, and admires {{Jerk Jock}}s.

* Shun Daimonji from ''Series/KamenRiderFourze''. However, it's eventually revealed he's a JerkWithAHeartOfGold and he changes his ways. In fact, when he sees another JerkJock, he even comments on how he used to be that way and steps in to help the victim.

* Tidus borders on being a ''heroic'' JerkJock in the beginning of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'', but his father Jecht is a more straight example. [[spoiler: He's also Sin.]]

* The original Jerk Jocks of professional wrestling were the Varsity Club of NWA fame, originally featuring former collegiate amateur wrestlers Rick Steiner, Mike Rotunda, and Kevin Sullivan who wore their letterman jackets to the ring and bragged about how much better their amateur background made them in comparison to other wrestlers. They later reformed the group in {{WCW}} in 1999 to... decidedly less success. Rotunda, Steiner and Sullivan were all years past their prime at that point, and the stable wasn't utilized well or often. It did, however, feature Leia Meow bouncing on a trampoline and doing calisthenics.
* Curently in Wrestling/{{WWE}} the best example of the trope is "The All-American American" Jack Swagger, another former amateur wrestler (who, as his nickname implies, was an All-American wrestler in his college years) who is the embodiment of what happens when the Jerk Jock graduates from school and doesn't change even the slightest bit.
* The Spirit Squad (a "popular" heel faction from back in 2006) are an interesting case. They're heavily muscled, gung-ho, and prone to picking on people who don't measure up to their standards. But....they're cheerleaders. Yes, with pom-poms and a megaphone and cheesy rhyming chants. If they were girls, they'd serve as a GirlPosse. As it is, they reside in an uncomfortable frontier between the above trope and SissyVillain. (If they were faces, they'd probably be an example of RealMenWearPink.)

* TheMiz's protege Alex Riley. The fact that he wears a letterman jacket-like vest with "Varsity Villain" on the back really says all you need to know.

* For a short time (less than 2 months), WCW repackaged Ray Lloyd, best known for playing Glacier, as the character Coach Buzz Stern, and gave him a "protege" named Luther Biggs. Even though Lloyd looked and sounded the part, having coached football in real life, the gimmick was received by fans with utter indifference and got canned quickly.

** Though Steve has had his fair share of PetTheDog moments, like in AllStarSuperman where [[spoiler: after Clark collapses, handing in his final story before his death, Steve is the first to call for medics and check for a pulse.]]

* Subverted in ''SlamDunk''. At the beginning, Takenori Akagi is a bit of a jerk jock, but this stems more out of his own stoic tendencies [[spoiler: augmented by his backstory as a player with mere potential who practically ''taught himself to play'' but lacked support, except from Kogure and Anzai and later his underclassmen]] than real jockiness. Once Sakuragi fully joins, Akagi is shown more as the TeamDad and BigBrotherMentor.

* Sasabe from ThePrinceOfTennis. Keigo Atobe and the Rikkaidai players seem at first to be like this too, but thankfully they get some more CharacterDevelopment.
* More or less averted in ''CaptainTsubasa'', surprisingly. The closest would be the Shuutetsu players before they lost to the Nankatsu, and Hyuga before his CharacterDevelopment.

** In the original ''Anime/YuGiOh'' Bandit Keith, Weevil Underwood, Rex Raptor, and Seto Kaiba are what happens when this character type decides to play card games instead of rule the school.
* Will from {{Heroman}}, makes sense since he's an {{Expy}} of Flash Thompson from ''Comicbook/{{Spider-Man}}''.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' has the Tunnel Snakes, a bunch of thugs who pick you when you turn ten and the main character's love interest at age 16. It's fair to say there's more in the intervening years, but the game glosses over that.

Whilst it's not as common to get a sympathetic side to the Jerk Jock as with the Alpha Bitch, you'll sometimes get a softer version who isn't evil so much as an arrogant, self-absorbed JerkWithAHeartOfGold who doesn't really know any better. This version is much more likely to end up [[PetTheDog petting the dog]], and may reveal his sensitive side in an EnemyMine. He may also mend his ways and [[HeelFaceTurn join the hero's side]]. And even while still a villain, the Jerk Jock can garner sympathy if he's given a FreudianExcuse (with being a WellDoneSonGuy or a brutal childhood the most common).

See SchoolyardBullyAllGrownUp and KidsAreCruel. Compare to, and sometimes may even overlap with, BigManOnCampus, who usually matches the Jerk Jock in popularity, but is less of an antagonistic force. Also compare DumbJock. Little relation to ViolentGlaswegian.

The SpearCounterpart to the AlphaBitch, the Jerk Jock is the Chief Bully who dominates the school/college environment through [[BarbaricBully physical violence and threats of brutal retaliation]]. A [[{{Jerkass}} boorish, obnoxious, spiteful asshole]] with an [[EntitledBastard out-of-control sense of entitlement]], he spends his time beating people up, getting drunk and destroying property; and in darker works, he may also be an incorrigible rapist. Just as the Alpha Bitch has a GirlPosse, the Jerk Jock has the Cool Crowd, a crowd of hangers-on who bow to his every whim and help him victimize whomever he decides to pick on. And he inevitably decides that Our Heroes are his favorite targets. His rare literal DistaffCounterpart (known as the Jock ''Bitch'') exists mostly as a curiosity, mostly because it would take an unusually tall girl to play the part (''at least'' six feet or taller).

The SpearCounterpart to the AlphaBitch, the Jerk Jock is the Chief Bully who dominates the school/college environment through physical violence and threats of brutal retaliation. A [[{{Jerkass}} boorish, obnoxious, spiteful asshole]] with an [[EntitledBastard out-of-control sense of entitlement]], he spends his time beating people up, getting drunk and destroying property; and in darker works, he may also be an incorrigible serial rapist. Just as the Alpha Bitch has a GirlPosse, the Jerk Jock has the Cool Crowd, a crowd of hangers-on who bow to his every whim and help him victimize whomever he decides to pick on. And he inevitably decides that Our Heroes are his favorite targets. His rare literal DistaffCounterpart (known as the Jock ''Bitch'') exists mostly as a curiosity, mostly because it would take an unusually tall girl to play the part (''at least'' 6 feet or taller).

* Dean Larrity from ''CodeMonkeys'' is justified in that he's partially brain damaged and partially retarded, [[VerbalTic "Wutz up!?"]]
* Kevin from ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'' does come off as a jerk jock because of his arrogance. However, he usually only acts like a jerk towards the Eds and then usually because they've provoked him somehow. Kevin also has average intelligence and sticks up for the other kids if the Eds does something to them (especially when he suspects a scam). All in all he's really not that bad. In the GrandFinale, [[spoiler:even he decides to stand up for Eddy against his brother, who's a way bigger jerk than him.]]

* Duncan from ''WesternAnimation/{{X-Men Evolution}}'' makes his debut with two of his friends about to beat Toad to a pulp. (Although to be fair, Toad had just stolen their wallets.) He only manages to get worse once mutants are exposed. His every appearance following the reveal in the second season has him [[BullyingADragon harassing the X-kids or other mutants]] in some form. [[spoiler:It does eventually bite him in the ass, thankfully.]]

* Averted and played straight in ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill.'' Hank and his friends were all jocks in high-school (Dale only sort of counts, though, being the team's towel manager), but were all friendly, upstanding young men and nice to the rest of the student body. Further, Hank himself believes that the act of being on a sports team and being a good athlete will automatically make you an upstanding citizen. On the other hand, there was an episode involving their old, high school rivals who would barge into their houses and gloat loudly about how they won the big game twenty years after it happened. Further, some of the jocks still in school that Hank encounters over the series, although not outright antagonists, are less-then-friendly.
** Further averted in the episode "Peggy Makes the Big Leagues", in which Peggy meets a talented football player named David who is allowed to stay on the team inspite of his poor grades. When Peggy flunks him, therefore suspending him from the team because of the school's "no pass, no play" policy, it's the teachers and booster club who come after her and practically ostracize her, not David. In fact, throughout the episode, David was never seen as anything other than somewhat oblivious and entitled yet ultimately good natured. When the booster club made a plan to make him look like he had a learning disability, he was furious, and sided with Peggy's decision. Peggy ultimately decided to let him play however, though only after he had worked to raise his grade.

*** Rainbow Dash herself is a [[JerkWithAHeartofGold mixture]] of a JerkJock and a LovableJock. She does have characteristics of the typical JerkJock, such as arrogance and an obnoxious attitude, but her worst traits intersect with her [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold more altruistic traits,]] such as her UndyingLoyalty towards Equestria and her [[TrueCompanions friends,]] her [[BullyHunter protection of Fluttershy]] against the real [[JerkJock Jerk Jocks]] in The Cutie Mark Chronicles, calling out her old friend Gilda in "Griffon the Brush-off", and the fact that while she is [[BrutalHonesty bluntly honest,]] she's never gone out of her way to intentionally harm anypony, unlike [[BitchinSheepsClothing Gilda,]] for example. Underneath her rough exterior, it's not hard to find an obnoxious, but kind-hearted well-meaning pony.
**** Lightning Dust from Wonderbolts Academy is a straight example however. Her sole motivation is to be #1, contrasting to Rainbow Dash's, whose motivations consist of juggling protecting her friends and hometown with training to join the Wonderbolts. Unlike Rainbow Dash, Lightning Dust is [[LackofEmpathy uncaring,]] [[ItsAllAboutMe selfish,]] and mercenary, which establish her as a reckless, unpleasant {{Jerkass}}.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Ultimate Spider-Man}}'' Flash Thompson acts like the typical jerk that he is most continuities. But its all a facade to hide the fact that he's family is poor, and he tries to act like that their pretty well off.

** Also heavily averted by Wallace, the star basketball player who is, with the possible exception of Meg (AlphaBitch aversion cheerleader popular girl who is the nicest person around), the best person in the entire series.

* ''HarryPotter'': Cormac [=McLaggen=], a talented but obnoxious and self-satisfied quidditch player. Some of the Slytherin players like Marcus Flint fit the trope.

* Related to the HarryPotter example, British "school stories" tend toward having aristocratic bullies who are a proto-version of this tropes. Before being used in his own series, {{Flashman}} was one of these in ''Tom Brown's Schooldays'', and he fits the jock part too, being good at cricket and other sports.

* Luke from ''Series/TheOC'' started out as a jerk jock, but then he went through a HeelFaceTurn and became likable.

* Theres a HighSchoolAU ThatGuyWithTheGlasses fanfic that features a group of homophobic jocks who are all promptly [[spoiler:Murderd]] by {{Phelous}} and WebVideo/TheCinemaSnob.

** Similarly, as an athelete ages and goes into the collegiate and professional levels, the stakes get higher with a natural increase in the wild swing of one way or another. More than a few coachs have been caught essentially fixing grades in order to retain a star player (who must retain a certain GPA or lose their athletic scholarship).
* John Bradshaw Leyfield from Wrestling/{{WWE}} had a rather notorious reputation for being a bully to newer wrestlers in the backstage. TheMiz actually went as far as to do several shoots about his treatment.

* Jerk jocks sporadically exist in real high schools. As do jerk nerds, jerk cripples, etc.

* In the Numb3rs episode "Dark Matter", the jocks who [[spoiler: rape Karen]] ar this.