History Main / ReformedBully

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': [[Characters/TheOwlHouseAmityBlight Amity Blight]] is introduced as the resident AcademicAlphaBitch, but by the end of the first season, not only is this revealed to be a front she puts on to appease her parents, but she manages to repair her broken childhood friendship with Willow and become good friends with Luz ([[spoiler:developing a crush on her in the process]]) once she decides to become more cordial. By the midway point of the second season, [[spoiler:Amity and Luz have become an OfficialCouple.]]

* ''FanFic/MySuperBestFriend'' has Heidi Turner return to being a NiceGirl after breaking up with Eric Cartman. However, when she was Cartman's DistaffCounterpart during the time she was still with him, she bullied many of her peers, which she acknowledges and is trying to make amends for her wrongdoings. For the most part, Heidi does succeed but has a harder time earning Kyle's forgiveness who arguably got the worst of her crap. Luckily Heidi gives Kyle a YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre speech that convinces Kyle to reconcile with Stan while letting go of his resentment of Heidi and be happy for her. It helps that Heidi tries to defend Kyle when her ex-boyfriend attacks him.
* ''Fanfic/NymphAndTheCorruptedMiraculous'': Marinette saves Chloe from an incoming car but at the cost of becoming paralyzed from the waist down. Grateful for saving his daughter, Mayor Bourgeois repays her by helping with all expenses related to making Marinette's life wheelchair accessible and Chloe declares herself Marinette's friend. While nicer to Marinette, [[ReformedButNotTamed Chloe still acts like a brat to everybody else]] with Marinette trying to make her behave. It is not until Adrien practically yells at her in public due to her behavior does she realize just how toxic her behavior is.
* ''Fanfic/{{Recommencer|MiraculousLadybug}}'' has Bella Allegri, a former AlphaBitch who came to realize that she didn't care for the personal cost of her behavior. This spurred her to seek out professional help in countering her LackOfEmpathy, including a form of training where her teachers and other trusted adults use a clicker to reinforce positive behavior, signaling to her when she's being too cruel. This makes her a prime {{Foil}} for [[ManipulativeBitch Lila]], who truly doesn't ''care'' about the impact her behavior has on others and happily continues being a BitchInSheepsClothing.
* ''FanFic/SeeItAllInBloom'': [[Manga/MyHeroAcademia Bakugo Katsuki]] takes this trope and runs with it, to the point where ''[[ADayInTheLimelight will i ever be more than i've always been?]]'' focuses on his efforts to prevent other people from being bullied like how he bullied Izuku.

* ''FanFic/TotalDramaLegacy'': Lightning. In ''[[WesternAnimation/TotalDrama Total Drama: Revenge of the Island]]'', he was a JerkJock, but now, he's a caring family man.

* ''WesternAnimation/MayaTheBee'': The Honey Games, Violet is a former mean girl who bullies Maya and other bugs from the meadow by beating them in the games in order for Beegood to win. Near the end of the second film, after she was rescued by Team Poppy from Thekla, she apologises to Maya for abusing her and for cheating. Finally she becomes best friends with both Maya and Willy, also helps Team Poppy win the final race, and disowns Beegood.
* ''{{WesternAnimation/Megamind}}'': Downplayed with [[SupermanSubstitute Metro Man]]. As a child, Metro Man (or Metro-Lad) was a SmugSuper who relentlessly bullied Megamind after the latter caused an accident in class; constantly telling Megamind he was evil and making sure he was picked last in [[DodgeballIsHell all games of Dodgeball]]. As an adult, whilst Metro Man is still a rival to Megamind, his rivalry with Megamind is far more [[FriendlyEnemy friendly]] and [[spoiler:he expresses approval about Megamind's HeelFaceTurn]].

* Subverted in ''Film/ThirteenGoingOnThirty'' when the main character discovers that her best friend seventeen years in the future and co-worker was the AlphaBitch of her middle school, now much nicer...[[spoiler:except she's also selling secrets to a rival fashion magazine]].

* ''Anime/DoraemonNobitaAndTheWingedBraves'': Thanks to AdaptationalNiceGuy, Gusuke's bullies Tsubakuro and Tobio reform at the end of the climatic battle, putting their rivalries aside and even cheer for Gusuke in the finale. Averted in the manga where the bullies are absent for unknown reasons in the final scene.

* Downplayed in ''Manga/{{Horimiya}}''. Hori mentions in chapter 8 that the reason she helps out the Student Council when she isn't even a member is that she's trying to make up for how hard she was on her ChildhoodFriend [[StudentCouncilPresident Sengoku]] throughout their childhood (though she still messes with him from time to time when they're alone).
* ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'': Played with in regards to Bakugo. He starts the series as a SmugSuper who takes pleasure in bullying and picking on the much weaker Midoriya. A few chapters in, Midoriya has gained his own superpower and starts standing up to him at the same time the two join a prestigious HeroAcademy, which is unlikely to tolerate that behavior, and their classmates are not intimidated by him, with many being actually as powerful or skilled as him, sometimes even more. So he stops being a bully, but he maintains the same personality, except that he ''can't'' bully anyone anymore. He later starts befriending some of his classmates and even Midoriya, leading to him playing this trope straight, while still having quite an unpleasant personality. [[spoiler:He finally becomes completely reformed in Chapter 322 after apologizing to Midoriya.]]
** The first slight change in his behavior was noted in the Entrance Exams. By that point, Midoriya muses to himself that while Bakugo is still just as abrasive as ever, he lightened up immensely on the verbal abuse ever since the Sludge Villain incident. Before that, he literally suggested Midoriya jump out a window and hope for a Quirk in his next life. After that, all he does is pretty much a continuous "stay out of my way".
* ''Literature/MyNextLifeAsAVillainessAllRoutesLeadToDoom'' is about a girl who gets reincarnated as the villainess in her favorite otome game, who bullies the protagonist. In the main series, Catarina gets her PastLifeMemories back at the age of eight and never becomes a bully, but in the ''On the Verge of Doom'' spinoff manga, this happens after she has bullied her adoptive brother Keith for years and while she's in the process of bullying Maria, the original game's protagonist. While Maria is willing to accept Catarina's change of heart, Keith [[RejectedApology is not]].

* ''Fanfic/TheSunWillComeUpAndTheSeasonsWillChange'' has Greg, a boy who started off as a bully to Mary and her friends. He even went so far as to say he hoped Mary had been killed after her disappearance. One day, Mr. Bryant, a teacher, has a talk with Greg which revealed that he was being a jerk because he was emulating one of his favorite videogame characters, and after Mr. Bryant explains how such a personality is insufferable to deal with IRL, Greg's personality starts to turn around. This eventually culminates in Greg apologizing to Mary after she returns and even befriending her in middle school after telling off a group of people who were hounding her about her mother's blog.

* By the end of ''Film/AGirlLikeHer'', [[spoiler:AlphaBitch Avery is so horrified by the video evidence of her treatment of Jessica that she [[VillainousBreakdown breaks down in tears]] and admits she's a bully.]]

* In ''Film/TheWave2008'', when the kids write about how membership in The Wave has changed their life/perspective. One writes that he used to be a bully and is now ashamed of his actions.

* Subverted in ''Film/ThirteenGoingOnThirty'' when the main character discovers that her best friend seventeen years in the future and co-worker was the AlphaBitch of her middle school, now much nicer...[[spoiler:except she's also selling secrets to a rival fashion magazine]].

* In ''Film/BillyMadison'', Billy calls up an old high school acquaintance (played by Creator/SteveBuscemi) to apologize for treating him poorly years ago. After the phone call, a thoughtful look appears on Buscemi's face, and he crosses Billy's name off of [[EnemiesList a list titled "People To Kill"]].

* ''Film/AngerManagement'': David is forced by his anger management therapist Buddy to confront his old bully Artie Shankman, who turns out to have become a Buddhist Monk in the modern day. Subverted in that while Artie is initially willing to apologize for most of what he's done, he's completely unrepentant about the time he [[PantsPullingPrank pulled David's shorts down]] in front of his childhood crush (a traumatic moment for David that crippled his self-esteem) and still insists it was hilarious, and it only takes a bit of goading from Buddy about his mentally-disabled sister for Artie to snap back into his old bullying mentality, leading David and Artie to fight it out.
* It’s eventually revealed in ''Film/AChristmasStoryChristmas'' that [[spoiler:Scut Farkus turned into this. After Ralphie beat the crap out of him in the first film, he was left humbled and decided to turn his life around and eventually became a cop. As a result, when he caught Ralphie breaking into Flick’s bar, despite having every right to arrest him, he instead takes him home and thanks him for what he did.]]

* Patricia from ''Series/HouseOfAnubis'' started off the show by bullying Nina over her assumption that she'd done something to make her best friend, Joy, disappear. She soon moved past this, though her grudge against Nina didn't disappear fully until Nina agreed to talk to her in private and help her out with her investigation to find Joy. Her character arc was finished when she joined Sibuna and ended up becoming very close friends with Nina. Her reformation was proven in the next two seasons when, despite hating Eddie and KT just like she'd hated Nina, her actions toward them had never reached the point of genuine bullying like with Nina.
** Jerome was a bit of a bully toward his best friend, Alfie, manipulating him for his own agenda and forcing him to be TheMole against Sibuna, who were all much nicer to Alfie than he was. Following his partnership with [[BigBad Rufus Zeno]], Jerome had to turn to Sibuna for help once he realized how much danger he'd put himself in. Though he never truly turned nice or became friends with Sibuna, he'd become a better friend to Alfie and spent the next two seasons attempting to reform himself further.
* ''Film/INotStupid'' has a TV series adaptation that gives Chong Meng, TheBully to the trio Terry, Boon Hock, and Kwok Pin, the AdaptationalNiceGuy treatment, by giving Chong Meng a BreakTheHaughty moment when he fails his exams and is unexpectedly comforted by Terry. When Kwok Pin's mother is diagnosed with leukemia and the school is searching for volunteer blood donors, the reformed Chong Meng is the ''first'' upper-class student to raise his hand.

* ''Series/CobraKai'':
** In season 2 Johnny meets up with the rest of the Cobra Kai [=OGs=], most of whom have turned into mature, well-adjusted adults. Bobby, who was the least jerkass of them, is now a pastor. Jimmy is a dedicated husband and father with nothing but contempt for the Cobra Kai ethos, and Tommy has made his peace with the world. The only exception is Dutch, who doesn't appear on account of being in prison.
** Season 3 has [[Film/TheKarateKidPartII Chozen]], who was an even [[SerialEscalation bigger a bully than Johnny]], returning and confronting Daniel. He, like Johnny, initially appears to be a bit of a [[JerkAss jerk]] towards Daniel, but it turns out to be an [[TheGadfly act]], just for his own [[ItAmusedMe amusement]]. Once he is done [[{{troll}} trolling]] Daniel, he happily teaches him a secret martial arts technique. The two bond over and Chozen expresses regret over his past (read: murderous) behavior. Once Daniel forgives him, they part ways on good terms.
** Eli goes full circle. He's introduced as a shy bullied nerd, then becomes an alpha bully after joining Cobra Kai and reinventing himself as Hawk. But in Season 3 he [[HeelRealization starts to become uncomfortable]] with his own actions and those of his fellows, especially after his former bullies join the dojo. The season finale has him turn on Cobra Kai and help defend the Eagle Fang and Miyagi-Do students from an unprovoked assault.
* ''Series/YoungSheldon'': In the Season 1 episode "Jiu-Jitsu, Bubble Wrap, and Yoo-Hoo", George Cooper, Sr. admitted that he was a bully growing up, but he's a reasonably good guy nowadays and is a loving husband and father and a hard-working family man for his wife and kids. In fact, George is [[RecastAsARegular played by the same actor]] as Leonard's former bully in the series' parent show ''The Big Bang Theory'' (see above).

* In ''VideoGame/ThemsFightinHerds'', Tianhuo used to be an AlphaBitch who bullied the weakest [[OurDragonsAreDifferent longmas]], considering them a shame to their own kind. Then she had a JerkassRealization after a [[BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind prophetic dream]] in which the representation of both parts of her cultural legacy (a kind horse and a savage dragon) [[YinYangClash battled to achieve her inner peace]]. She apologized to her former victims and swore to use her strength to protect the weak.

* ''Webcomic/BrunoTheBandit'': Invoked in the "Sour Ron" story arc, where Bruno realizes ''he'' was the bully who caused Sour Ron's StartOfDarkness by stealing his childhood teddy bear (at the time, Ron had been an expy of [[ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes Calvin]], while Bruno was one of Moe), setting him down the path of becoming a nihilistic death metal superstar. While Bruno hasn't actually reformed one bit, being a professional thief as an adult, he invokes this trope to strip Sour Ron of his cynicism and destroy his career after Ron refuses to be blackmailed, heartfully apologizing for his behavior when they were children, and delivering the final blow by returning the teddy bear.

* ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends'': In the ''ComicStrip/USAcres'' segment "Hog Noon", Orson gets a letter from his childhood bully Hammerhead Hog and finds Hammerhead is coming to "settle with him"; Orson expects he wants revenge after being busted for repeatedly stealing Orson's lunch money and getting detention. When Hammerhead arrives, his method of settling with Orson surprises everyone -- he's come to give back all the lunch money he'd stolen.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998'' TimeTravelEpisode "Get Back Jojo," we learn that none other than Professor Utonium is actually one of these. Back in his youth, he was a BrattyHalfPint who loved to pick on the nerd in his class, but after being rescued by the Powerpuff Girls from a time-traveling Mojo Jojo, he developed his love for science and became the nice man we all know him to be.

* ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'' reveals in the episode "Girl Trouble" that Arnold's Grandma used to bully Arnold's Grandpa the same way that Helga bullies Arnold in the present day. Somewhere along the way, she renounced her bullying ways, married Phil, and is a sweet (if senile) old lady.

* ''Literature/{{Worm}}'': Madison Clements was one of Taylor's main bullies at Winslow High School. The interquel ''Glow-Worm'' leading into ''Literature/{{Ward}}'' has her admit to Victoria that she's agonized a lot over her actions and wonders how responsible she is for Taylor's ruthlessness as Skitter. To try and atone, she's decided to become a teacher.

Yep, that grade-A pain in the neck has seemingly turned over a new leaf. The reason varies from person to person. Maybe their victims gave them a taste of their own medicine. Maybe they graduated and realized the real world isn't as easy as they thought it would be in school. [[note]]In many cases, though not all, they reform after having a few years of adult life under their belt.[[/note]] Maybe they did some soul-searching, became more enlightened or matured significantly, and [[JerkassRealization realized that's not the person they want to be]]. Maybe they were just tired of being mean. No matter what reason, [[TheAtoner they are trying to change for the better]]. [[ThisIsUnforgivable Of course]], [[RejectedApology not everyone is likely]] [[ReformedButRejected to forgive them]], [[IHatePastMe and they probably wouldn't blame them if they didn't]].

If they were initially mean and horrible...and didn't get any nicer (if not worse) as they got older, they're the SchoolyardBullyAllGrownUp.

A [[TheBully mean kid from school or the neighborhood]], who treated people like dirt and ruled over the class with an iron fist turns up again. They were petty, judgmental, quick to shove other hapless students in their own lockers or slander them to their faces, and now they're...apologizing?

A [[TheBully mean kid from school or the neighborhood]], who treated people like dirt and ruled over the class with an iron fist turns up again. They were pretty, petty, judgmental, quick to shove other hapless students in their own lockers or slander them to their faces, and now they're...apologizing?

There may be moments where they slip back into their scheming ways but they'll usually catch themselves in time [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope before they do anything too awful]]. And of course just because they are nicer doesn't mean they lose their [[DeadpanSnarker biting wit]]. ([[TheDitz That is, if they had any in the first place]]) Also, if they're still a bit of a jerk despite changing their ways, then they fall into ReformedButNotTamed.

* "Film/TheNewGuy", one of the effects Dizzy has on his school is to break down social walls between the bullies, jocks, and the bullied. He makes one of his friends a math tutor to a bully who recognizes him and immediately apologizes for his previous antics.

** The series stars Johnny, the JerkJock from [[Film/TheKarateKid the films]], who is now living a directionless life where he works crappy jobs, drinks heavily, eats meals out front of convenience stores, and still drives his now-weathered official vehicle of the mid-life crisis: a 1997 red Pontiac Firebird. He never grew past being a bully and it made him a loser. Then he meets Miguel and becomes a [[ParentalSubstitute surrogate father]] to him, and while it takes a while and a ''lot'' of work he puts his old ways behind him and becomes a pretty decent person.