History Main / MeanBoss

* ''Franchise/SpiderMan'': J. Jonah Jameson shouts at Peter Parker every second, complains when he brings no pictures, whines when he brings pictures in which Spider-Man looks good, underpays him and fires him every time he gets angry. One issue early in the Creator/StanLee run tried to (weakly) justify Peter always coming back to him by explaining that Jonah was the only news mogul in town who wouldn't ask uncomfortable questions about ''how'' Peter always gets those pics of Spider-Man.
* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'':

* ''ComicBook/SupermanVsTheAmazingSpiderMan'' gives two examples: [[Franchise/{{Superman}} Morgan Edge]] and [[Franchise/SpiderMan J. J. Jameson]]. The two of them are grumpy, demanding, and Jameson is hilariously and borderline abusive. Morgan constantly and loudly complains about Clark Kent failing on getting a story, and Jameson fires and rehires Peter Parker nearly every day.

* ''ComicBook/LeonardLeGenie'' not only frequently yells at his disciple Basile and structurally underpays him, but also subjects him to phsyical abuse, often blasts him with a blunderbuss for various sleights and tends to use him as a human test subject without his consent. He's a little better to his housekeeper Mathurine, but she isn't entirely safe either.

* In ''Film/HorribleBosses'' the three titular bosses take meanness to a new level and that's only in addition to being truly {{bad boss}}es to boot.
** The Psycho boss [[KickTheDog denies Nick a promised promotion and tells everyone it is because Nick drinks at work. The only reason Nick had a drink is because the boss forced him to have one]].

** The Tool boss [[KickTheDog has Kurt fire all the overweight and unattractive people and then moves on to the handicapped]].

* [[Creator/JonFavreau Harold Cornish]] in ''Film/IdentityThief'', a SmugSnake executive who treats all his underlings as replaceable cogs who should be happy they even have a job. He announces for the second year in a row that the company isn't doing well enough to justify bonuses for the employees. Meanwhile, he has Sandy cut checks for "special" bonuses for the partners with himself getting a million-dollar bonus. When Sandy expresses confusion, Cornish tells him that Sandy's job can be filled by Quicken (the software), meanwhile people like him (Cornish) are the ones who make all the money for the company and deserve the bonuses, referencing ''Literature/TheFountainhead'' as an explanation.

* ''Film/OfficeSpace'': Bill Lumbergh always makes people work on weekends and continuously orders Milton to move his desk to increasingly absurd locations (ending in the roach-infested basement). Plus he took Milton's favorite stapler...again (which is one of the reasons why he [[RageBreakingPoint set the building on fire]]). Also, when he and [[ThoseTwoGuys the Bobs]] discover that Milton had actually been laid off years ago, but a clerical error meant it was never implemented internally, [[KickTheDog they decide to just not remind Milton that he was fired while quietly taking him off the payroll]].

* Creator/TommyWiseau, according to ''Literature/TheDisasterArtist''. His actions towards the cast and crew of Film/TheRoom2003 ranged from rude (loudly berating the crew for slowing down the production [[{{Hypocrite}} when he himself had arrived to a shoot]] ''[[{{Hypocrite}} several hours late]]'') and unprofessional (spending huge amounts of money on AwesomeButImpractical cameras but failing to spend any money on basic goods and services for the cast and crew, like snacks or temperature regulation) to borderline abusive (throwing a bottle of water in an actresses' face [[DisproportionateRetribution for daring to ask for a drink on a hot day]], causing her and several others to quit on the spot).

* Creator/DavidHasselhoff's character in ''Film/{{Click}}'' forces Adam Sandler's character to deliver him an office design (which will take about a year or so to make from scratch) in a couple of weeks, if he wants to remain employed. He's also a StupidBoss.

* Creator/TommyWiseau, according to ''Literature/TheDisasterArtist''. His actions towards the cast and crew of Film/TheRoom ranged from rude (loudly berating the crew for slowing down the production [[{{Hypocrite}} when he himself had arrived to a shoot]] ''[[{{Hypocrite}} several hours late]]'') and unprofessional (spending huge amounts of money on AwesomeButImpractical cameras but failing to spend any money on basic goods and services for the cast and crew, like snacks or temperature regulation) to borderline abusive (throwing a bottle of water in an actresses' face [[DisproportionateRetribution for daring to ask for a drink on a hot day]], causing her and several others to quit on the spot).

* ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'': Gilbert Huph explicitly makes it his company's mission to ''deny'' people their insurance, which of course doesn't sit well with former superhero Bob Parr. He even threatens to fire Bob if the latter goes to try and stop a mugging, then rubs it in his face. Thankfully LaserGuidedKarma kicks in an instant later. Unfortunately, it comes at the cost of Bob's job. A FreezeFrameBonus shortly before this shows he began making employees pay for their own office supplies, parking, and ''electricity usage'' [[TheScrooge to cut costs]].

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}'': As a rookie, Lightning [=McQueen=] repeatedly mistreated and insulted his original pit crew (causing them to quit on him), fired three crew chiefs, and forced Mack to drive for days without rest.

The boss that means well and does well, except for a few things. He's certainly given the higher-ups every reason to have confidence in him. He's competent, knows what he's doing, and keeps his workers motivated. It's the way that he keeps them motivated that's the problem. He'll yell at you for being a minute late, give you mountains of work the night before it's due, have a heart attack any time you even suggest that you might deserve a raise for all your hard work, and nearly rip your head off [[HairTriggerTemper at the drop of a hat]]. Might [[CigarChomper smoke big, smelly cigars]], and is often a SirSwearsALot, assuming the medium is R-Rated (or the equivalent). He may be a money-grubber, egocentric, or just plain ornery. Very often played for laughs.

* In the ''Literature/HarryPotter'' fanfic ''Fanfic/MirrorOfMaybe'', Voldemort (as in canon) tortures his servants on a regular basis for any failure. More than that, since he intends to live forever, he forces his all-male inner circle to marry certain women and produce children so he will always have strong servants. Even if they happen to be homosexual.

* B.P. Richfield is ''Series/{{Dinosaurs}}'', a yelling ruthless Styracosaurus, in one episode he confesses to have bet away his worker's retirement fund, and in the final airing episode, he [[spoiler:actually destroys the world, causing the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event.]]

* Bradley P. "B.P." Richfield is ''Series/{{Dinosaurs}}'', a yelling ruthless Triceratops, in one episode he confess to have bet away his worker's retirement fund, and in the final episode he [[spoiler:actually destroys the world, causing the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event.]]

* P.T.Flea from Creator/{{Pixar}}'s ''WesternAnimation/ABugsLife'', who has no problem putting the members of his circus into little-practiced (and so highly lethal) death-defying stunts for the sake of having an audience.

* ''ComicBook/LeonarkLeGenie'' not only frequently yells at his disciple Basile and structurally underpays him, but also subjects him to phsyical abuse, often blasts him with a blunderbuss for various sleights and tends to use him as a human test subject without his consent. He's a little better to his housekeeper Mathurine, but she isn't entirely safe either.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}##: As a rookie, Lightning [=McQueen=] repeatedly mistreated and insulted his original pit crew (causing them to quit on him), fired three crew chiefs, and forced Mack to drive for days without rest.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}: As a rookie, Lightning McQueen repeatedly mistreated and insulted his original pit crew (causing them to quit on him), fired three crew chiefs, and forced Mack to drive for days without rest.

* ''Film/{{UHF}}'': Tyrannical Channel 8 Owner and General Manager R.J. Fletcher is introduced screaming at his subordinate for giving him the wrong type of pencil. He also fires Stanley on a mistaken belief that he'd thrown a report away, and then laughs when he realizes that Stanley didn't throw it away after all.