History Main / WhosLaughingNow

[[TitleDrop Who's laughing now,]] [[OneLinerNameOneLiner hero? Who's laughing NOW?!]]

** In the ''Skin Deep'' story arc, Peter's former classmate, who was mercilessly bullied at school, gets superpowers and after he sees two of his former tormentors mocking at him on TV, he goes and kills them. In the end, Spider-Man got him frozen, probably for the rest of his life. [[AndIMustScream And he is conscious]].

* In Italian stories, WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck has a secret identity as Paperinik il Diabolico Vendicatore (Diabolico Vendicatore being Italian for [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Devilish Avenger]]). While he's sometimes portrayed as a more lighthearted superhero, earlier stories make clear it's actually about showing up everyone who laughs at Donald (he even conned Gladstone in thinking that Donald cursed him into being unlucky, and showed as Donald to get paid for taking the curse away), with the criminals fitting it due them taking the easy way in life (the very first story has Paperinik stealing Scrooge's mattress while he's sleeping on it because stealing the sacks of money in the same room would have been too easy. Just to make clear that if he ever decided to become a thief nothing and no one could stop him since the beginning).

* A small part of Izuku's motivation in ''FanFic/HeroClassCivilWarfare'' is that he completely allowed to get some revenge on Bakugou for a decade of bullying using all the knowledge Izuku has gathered on him over the years. Heck, the more detailed and through he was in curb-stomping Bakugou the better his grade was!
* ''Fanfic/ApotheosisMHA'': Izuku spent years abused and put down by society for being quirkless. After his dreams of being a hero are crushed by All Might, he finally snaps and goes down the road of villainy, eventually culminating in him building an ''[[ComicBook/TheInfinityGauntlet Infinity Gauntlet]]'' and becoming Japan's worst supervillain, arguably surpassing even All for One himself. After that, many people, including the aforementioned All Might, are suddenly wishing they had treated him ''much'' better pre-FaceHeelTurn.

* ''Film/{{Bound 1996}}'': Caesar both plays the trope straight and says the tag line almost verbatim. He also gets... [[EvilFeelsGood rather]] [[MadnessMantra animated]] while doing so.

** Professor Snape is an infamous example of this. Having an abusive father and neglectful mother, he sought to escape his shoddy upbringing by becoming a powerful and clever wizard. As such, he's motivated to one-up anyone who has ever wronged him or hurt his pride, most notably James Potter, with who he possessed a ''bitter'' resentment. James was his intellectual equal but had a loving family, came from a wealthy background, and was talented at sports, being the BigManOnCampus. James, from the little we do know on him, hated Snape for his association with the Dark Arts and for [[spoiler: being friends with Lily despite being, well Snape.]] In the present day, Snape cannot help but savor an opportunity to get back at the Marauders, including wrongfully getting someone falsely accused to a FateWorseThanDeath and getting rewarded for it. When said opportunity is ruined, he outs his co-worker (who was also a Marauder) out of spite. However, [[spoiler: the death of Lily pretty much cracked him since it was his own fault and serves as his other motivation, representing his nuance.]]

* In ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', Walder Frey claims this is his motivation for [[spoiler: the Red Wedding, which results in the deaths of King Robb Stark, his mother Catelyn and most of their bannermen]] because everyone was always looking down on him, such as Hoster Tully calling him "The Late Lord Frey" after he showed up late to the Battle of the Trident and various people mocking him for [[TheBluebeard his succession of wives]], but the most recent slight was Robb marrying someone else when he had promised to wed one of Walder's daughters in exchange for their alliance. The [[Series/GameOfThrones TV series]] makes this especially obvious.

** Even early Spike counts in this category. [[spoiler: In flashbacks to his life when he was human it is revealed that he was a total Woobie when he was alive. He was a kind, romantic poet, and he was looking after his ill mother. He was also taunted by his peers and rejected by everyone else. After he becomes a vampire and Angelus and Drucilla influence him, he becomes one of the most feared vampires out there. He even uses one of his peer's old taunts like "We call him William the Bloody after his bloody awful poems." "I would rather have a railway spike through my head than listen to that." In Spike's first episode in season 2 of Buffy, it is revealed that he got his name Spike from torturing his victims with railway spikes, and "William the Bloody" came to refer to carnage he left in his wake. This is obviously a reaction to old humiliations.]]

* In the second series of ''Series/HoratioHornblower'', Lieutenant (and later Acting-Captain) Buckland is mocked and derided relentlessly over the course of the two episodes--by his captain, by the unruly crew of the ''Renown'', and even by an enemy colonel who insults his lack of leadership ability while tying him up in his own bed during the prisoner uprising. It comes to a head in court, when Captain Collins gets a laugh out of the whole room by calling him "the captain who was caught napping". Buckland loses it and screams that the late Captain Sawyer was pushed down the hatchway by Lieutenant Hornblower--which is ''the'' DrivingQuestion of the whole trial and puts all of Hornblower's friends in serious fear that he'll be hanged. Ultimately this, too, backfires on Buckland when the man he expected to cooborate the accusation refuses to do so.
* ''Series/JimmyKimmelLive'': Creator/JimmyKimmel often [[SigningOffCatchphrase ends every episode with]] "Sincere apologies to Creator/MattDamon, we ran out of time!". [[MilestoneCelebration For the show's 10th anniversary episode in 2013]], Matt staged a HostileShowTakeover, during which Jimmy was bound, gagged, and relegated to the background, while Matt interviewed various people who all proclaimed their hatred for Jimmy. At the end of the show, Matt got to use Jimmy's signing-off catchphrase against him.

-->'''Sandler:''' ''I was fired, I was fired/ NBC said that I was done/ Then I made over 4 billion dollars at the box office/ So I guess you could say '''I won!'''''

-->'''Murphy:''' If you told me 30 years ago that I’d be this boring stay-at-home house dad and Bill Cosby would be in jail... [[SelfDeprecation even I would have took that bet]]! (''imitates Cosby'') Who's America's dad now?!

* ''Series/TheWitcher2019'': A national example with Nilfgaard. In the early chronological segments of the Netflix adaptation, Nilfgaard is laughed at and the butt of nearly every political joke for having a boorish king and just being all around weak and incompetent. In the future timeline segments, Nilfgaard has gained a new and powerful emperor who modernizes them, turns them into a major and feared continental power, and proceeds to launch an absolutely brutal, relentless invasion of the Northern Kingdoms. It's safe to say no one is making jokes about Nilfgaard anymore.

* The Music/CoheedAndCambria song Apollo II: The Telling Truth mentions this trope in the lyrics. It involves The Writer losing it and taking out his anger at his ex-girlfriend on the character he based off of her.

* Wrestling/JimCornette was initially just a photographer selling his work at Jarrett family Continental Wrestling Association shows. One day he asked his mother, who also sold merchandise in the area, for more money so he could become a manager, an aspiration that earned him endless mocking from the likes of Bill Dundee and Wrestling/JerryLawler, derision from what wrestlers would give him a chance and lots of jeering from the fans. Laughed out of CWA, Cornette went to Mid-South, found Dennis Condrey and Bobby Eaton, then put together one of the greatest tag teams of all time, Wrestling/TheMidnightExpress, who helped him get back at the fans by antagonizing popular acts like Wrestling/{{MagnumTA}}, The Street People, Wrestling/TheRoadWarriors and, [[ArchEnemy of course]], Wrestling/TheRockNRollExpress. He'd also manage the likes The Grappler, Wrestling/{{Vader}}, The Heavenly Bodies and The Head Hunters against former managerial clients who spurned him, lead his [[Wrestling/{{SMW}} own promotion]] in an invasion of Wrestling/{{WCW}} and the NWA itself against the WWF, which resulted in the oft-overlooked skirt-wearing Head Bangers being thrust into stardom.

* In ''TabletopGame/{{BattleTech}}'', the Urbanmech has long been considered to be one of, if not the worst canon Battlemech every made. In one book, it was given a variant that mounted an Arrow IV Missile Artillery variant that, it was immediately pointed out, was capable of carrying ''multiple'' [[NukeEm nuclear warheads]].

* ''Theatre/CyranoDeBergerac'': Deconstructed by Cyrano: he has been TheGrotesque all his life, now he is the most badass swashbuckler in all Paris. Notice that this, instead of diminishing the bullying he suffers, makes [[BullyingADragon him even more bullied]] and contributes to [[{{Tragedy}} Cyrano’s downfall]].

* In ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater'', White Mage (after having her world view invalidated) tries to be evil for a couple panels. She turns back because, it turns out, she doesn't like hurting people. She's also really bad at it unless the inflicting of pain is directed upon Black Mage, usually in response to one of his questionable come-on lines. On the other hand, [[spoiler:Onion Kid]] manages to pull a Who's Laughing Now with [[TheArchmage a bit more success]].

* The UsefulNotes/{{Columbine}} High School shooters are sometimes falsely portrayed as this. Many other school shooters, both before and after, were this trope to a T. There's also the 2007 Virginia Tech shooter Seung Hui Cho. His videos that he mailed to NBC directly stated that this was his motive.

** Germany after WWI for example, was a broken nation, with the economy in shambles, the military in ruins, a new government forced upon the public, and national morale at an all-time low. The victorious Allies were responsible for many of these, deliberately weakening Germany to prevent it from rising again. Unfortunately, the Allies were conflicted in how to do this, resulting in the job only being half-done; what they did was enough to anger the German people (who rallied for vengeance soon afterwards) but not enough to actually cripple Germany's ability to recover (not helping was that Germany wasn't allowed to join the negotiations due to losing World War 1). The results were, shall we say, [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII unfortunate]] for everyone involved.
*** Then, after said unfortunate results, Germany was once again utterly ruined and this time divided and of course, the pariah of the world. Yet again, Germany (more precisely its western two thirds or so) rose again, at least economically, and is now the dominant European economic power, having had to reabsorb the eastern part in the process. Interestingly, on the military side, the 70 odd years since WWII have been spent avoiding military appearances. But that is of course a side effect of being shielded by other powers.

* Nigel Farage, leader of the UKIP, and an outspoken supporter of Euroscepticism, invoked this in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1ewRNSfyiI his address to the European Union after the success of the Brexit campaign]].

* In 2018, Creator/CynthiaNixon ran for governor of New York, but was defeated by incumbent governor Andrew Cuomo during the gubernatorial primaries. In 2021, Cuomo was forced to resign from office due to allegations of sexual assault, an issue Nixon has spoken out against. Afterwards, in a 2022 interview on ''Series/LateNight with Seth Meyers'', she said, "You know, the difference between him and me is neither of us are governor, but I still got to keep my Emmys."

* Music/JessieJ's ''Who's Laughing Now'' was written in response to those who bullied or put her down when she was younger who wanted to know her once she gained fame. Part of the bridge features these lyrics:

* The song “Who’s Laughing Now” from the 2020 debut album Heaven & Hell by newcomer Ava Max. The chorus speaks for itself.

* ''Series/{{Smallville}}'': Every other MonsterOfTheWeek in the first season was some stressed/abused kid who suddenly obtained superpowers from GreenRocks.

* "Superhero" by the band Trocadero (best known for the ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' CD) includes the line "Your days calling me freak are numbered / Don't bother with surrender."

-->They laughed when I said I wanted to be a comedian. Well... they're not laughing now!

* After The Cabinet were knocked out of the Wrestling/RingOfHonor World Six Man Tag Team Tournament, they attacked The Motor City Machine Guns and 2015 Top Prospect Donovan Dijak, seemingly at random. Kenny King alleged that "The Cabinet" was something the ROH Executives had saddled them with, and furthermore that they had been presented as clowns to the audience but would no longer tolerate being laughed at. They'd instead come to be known as The Rebellion, and it pretty accurately sums up their activities.

Not to be confused with ''[[Music/JourneyBand Who's Crying Now]]''.

Not to be confused with ''[[Music/{{Journey}} Who's Crying Now]]''.

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'''Syndrome:''' See?! ''Now'' you respect me, because I'm a ''threat!'' That's the way it works. Turns out there are a lot of people, ''whole countries'' who want respect, and they will ''pay through the nose'' to get it! How do you think I got rich? I invented weapons, and now I have a weapon that only I can defeat!

* In 2018, Creator/CynthiaNixon ran for governor of New York, but was defeated by incumbent governor Andrew Cuomo during the gubernatorial primaries. In 2021, Cuomo was forced to resign from office due to allegations of sexual assault, an issue Nixon has spoken out against, in a 2022 interview on ''Series/LateNight with Seth Meyers'', she said, "You know, the difference between him and me is neither of us are governor, but I still got to keep my Emmys."

What did the heroes do wrong? Maybe the [[TheGuardsMustBeCrazy harmless mook]] [[NotSoHarmlessVillain wasn't so harmless after all]]. Maybe that last jibe went [[RantInducingSlight too far]]. Whatever the reason, this character is through with being the [[PluckyComicRelief comedy sidekick]] and determined to show the heroes precisely ''why'' you should BewareTheSillyOnes, BewareTheNiceOnes, and BewareTheQuietOnes.

* "The Kinslayer" by Music/{{Nightwish}} invokes the trope.

* ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'': The GrandFinale has [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters every single minor character]] showing up and testifying about [[ContinuityCavalcade the protagonists' long history of selfish deeds throughout the show]], thereby dooming them to serve time in prison.

* The ''Literature/{{Goosebumps}}'' novel ''Calling All Creeps'' features protagonist Ricky Beamer who is picked on by everyone in school just ForTheEvulz and is even kicked out of the newspaper ''twice'' for something that wasn't even his fault. He decides to get even with the editor of the paper, Tasha, by sending her message to the editor, only to discover that it's backfired on him, [[spoiler: and now Ricky receives calls from the four Creeps that venerate him as their commander. In the end, however, [[FaceHeelTurn Ricky decides not to warn the class about the seeds in the cookies and gets the opportunity to enslave everyone who picked on him in the beginning]].]]

[[OneLinerNameOneLiner Who's laughing now, hero? Who's laughing NOW?!]]

* During the offseason of 2018, NBA player Kawhi Leonard was in a tug-of-war with his current team, the San Antonio Spurs. Leonard wished to leave and after months and months of heart-ache, the Spurs traded him to the Toronto Raptors. The media and countless NBA fans called Leonard immature and foolish for how he handled the entire affair. [[https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0903/0874/products/LEOK42955A_ae4551a8-f78a-46b4-bf83-87a1e30ed446.jpg?v=1575352804 This is how his first season with the Raptors ended]].

** With Brexit being implemented, many who voted for Brexit are finding that Brexit [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor would impact them in ways they'd not foreseen]]. Here are [[https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/brexit-news/europe-news/brexit-regret-leave-voters-wish-remained-7908356 a]] [[https://www.reddit.com/r/LeopardsAteMyFace/comments/l15pxe/brexit_a_two_act_story/ few]] [[https://twitter.com/archer_rs/status/1277505330885386240 examples]], causing some Anti-Brexiters to invoke this trope in response.

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** When Creator/AdamSandler returned to host for the first time since leaving the show 24 years prior, he opened up by singing a song about how Creator/NBC fired him that ended with this:

** With Brexit being implemented, many who voted for Brexit are finding that Brexit would impact them in ways they'd not foreseen. Here are [[https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/brexit-news/europe-news/brexit-regret-leave-voters-wish-remained-7908356 a]] [[https://www.reddit.com/r/LeopardsAteMyFace/comments/l15pxe/brexit_a_two_act_story/ few]] [[https://twitter.com/archer_rs/status/1277505330885386240 examples]], causing some Anti-Brexiters to invoke this trope in response.

%%** With Brexit being implemented, many who voted for Brexit are finding that Brexit would impact them in ways they'd not foreseen. Here are [[https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/brexit-news/europe-news/brexit-regret-leave-voters-wish-remained-7908356 a]] [[https://www.reddit.com/r/LeopardsAteMyFace/comments/l15pxe/brexit_a_two_act_story/ few]] [[https://twitter.com/archer_rs/status/1277505330885386240 examples]], causing some Anti-Brexiters to invoke this trope in response.%%

* The song “Who’s Laughing Now” from the 2020 debut album Heaven & Hell by newcomer Ava Max. The chorus speaks for itsel.
-->''Don't ya know that I'm stronger\\
Don't ya see me in all black\\

Who's laughing now?\\
Know that it's over\\

* Machiavelli warned rulers against becoming victims of this trope. He wrote to never inflict "small injuries" against enemies because people will seek to avenge small injuries, but are unable to avenge large injuries. Kill or befriend, but never insult or humiliate. Similarly, his famous quote 'If one cannot be loved, be feared' often leaves off the last part of the quote, to 'avoid being ''[[ZeroPercentApprovalRating hated]]''', so as to avoid [[TheDogBitesBack what often happens when the people won't take it anymore.]]

* In ''Series/Flash2014,'' upon discovering that [[TheHero Barry]] is responsible for the messed-up Flashpoint timeline they're living in, his ArchEnemy Eobard Thawne gleefully declares: [[LargeHam "Who's the villain now, Flash? Who's the villain now!"]] (Answer: Still Thawne).

* The eponymous central character of Creator/StephenKing's ''Literature/{{Carrie}}'' was a nice girl who endured all of the abuse from her [[KidsAreCruel classmates]] and her [[EvilMatriarch mother]] until that incident with the pig's blood at her senior prom, at which point she promptly snapped and went on a telekinetic rampage that left the town of Chamberlain devastated.

** Professor Snape is an infamous example of this. Having an abusive father and neglectful mother, he sought to escape his shoddy upbringing by becoming a powerful and clever wizard. As such, he's motivated to one-up anyone who has ever wronged him or hurt his pride, most notably James Potter, who he possessed a ''bitter'' resentment. James was his intellectual equal but had a loving family, came from a wealthy background, and was talented at sports, being the BigManOnCampus. James, from the little we do know on him, hated Snape for his association with the Dark Arts and for [[spoiler: being friends with Lily despite being, well Snape.]] In the present day, Snape cannot help but savor an opportunity to get back at the Marauders, including wrongfully getting someone falsely accused to a FateWorseThanDeath and getting rewarded for it. When said opportunity is ruined, he outs his co-worker (who was also a Marauder) out of spite. However, [[spoiler: the death of Lily pretty much cracked him since it was his own fault and serves as his other motivation, representing his nuance.]]
** Peter Pettigrew is another example, with WordOfGod confirming that his [[spoiler:triumph over Sirius, whereby FakingTheDead he got Sirius locked up in Azkaban for years and framed him for betraying the Potters]] was this trope.

* The song “Who’s Laughing Now” from the 2020 debut album Heaven & Hell by newcomer Ava Max. The chorus speaks for itself
-->''Don't ya know that I'm stronger

That's what I thought!\\

-->''Don't ya know that I'm stronger Don't ya see me in all black Don't ya cry like a baby Ha-ha-ha-ha, ha-ha-ha Who's laughing now? Know that it's over Don't ya know I won't call back Don't ya cry like a baby Ha-ha-ha-ha, ha-ha-ha Who's laughing now? ''