History TheDogBitesBack / WesternAnimation

** In this incarnation, Porky Pig is usually taken advantage of, pushed around and overall treated horribly by Daffy Duck. In the episode, "The Float", when Porky finds out that Daffy tricked him into giving him all his money so he could buy a yacht, he became a furious and gave the duck a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLooneyTunesShow'': In this incarnation, Porky Pig is usually taken advantage of, pushed around and overall treated horribly by Daffy Duck. In the episode, "The Float", when Porky finds out that Daffy tricked him into giving him all his money so he could buy a yacht, he became a furious and gave the duck a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown.

** ''WesternAnimation/TheLooneyTunesShow'': In this incarnation, Porky Pig is usually taken advantage of, pushed around and overall treated horribly by Daffy Duck. In the episode, "The Float", when Porky finds out that Daffy tricked him into giving him all his money so he could buy a yacht, he became a furious and gave the duck a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown.

* In ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'', Ludo [[spoiler:makes the finishing blow on a barely alive, deranged [[BigBad Toffee]] in the Season 3 episode "Toffee". While Ludo is a villain himself, he's more or less an IneffectualSympatheticVillain that has spent the previous season being unwittingly used a puppet (in [[UnwittingPawn both]] [[MeatPuppet ways]]) by Toffee.]]
* In the first season finale of ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'', [[spoiler:Lapis Lazuli decides she's had enough after her TraumaCongaLine and agrees to fuse with the episode's villain, Jasper (who convinces her by [[InvokedTrope invoking]] this trope), apparently to unleash revenge on her past captors... only to take over the fusion and drag them both to the bottom of the ocean.]] It's a bit of a darker example in that it's later shown to be having a devastating effect on both of them, but it's still a chilling moment.
--> "I'm ''done'' being everyone's prisoner. Now you're '''my''' prisoner, and I'm never letting you '''''go!'''''"

* In ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'', Superman ends up defeating Darkseid in his final battle, then bringing his battered body to his home planet and then telling the natives to "[[DoWithHimAsYouWill do as they please]]" with him. It's subverted, however, in that, despite Darkseid frequently abusing his followers, they end up picking him up and helping him to his castle, much to Superman's shock and horror; he tries to go after Darkseid but Supergirl talks him out of it.

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'':

** Subverted in the episode "Coyote Lovely". Cyril gives Archer a well-deserved punch in the face. Archer responds by punching Cyril repeatly and shooting him twice in the chest.

** In "Joker's Favor", one of ComicBook/TheJoker's victims, a regular Joe Normal, apparently goes crazy and tries to blow both of them up with a bomb. His acting is so good that even Joker buys it and covers in fear ''behind Batman''. And the best part? The bomb was fake.

* ''WesternAnimation/BigCityGreens'': By "Chipwrecked", Cricket has stopped taking [[BigBad Chip Whistler]] seriously and begins treating him like a failing laughingstock. He smirks off Chip's failures, mocking him by telling him no matter what scheme he has planned, the Greens will always win and he will fail humorously, causing him to break down. This all comes right back to him the following day, when Chip's new bouncer squad starts dismantling everything in Big Coffee and he swindles Ms. Cho into handing it over to him. And this time, Cricket has failed to defeat him and he and Gloria are jobless, and Chip's Wholesome Foods expansion plan is going to be right where the Greens' house stands -- meaning he's going to destroy it if the Greens don't find a way to defeat him, and Cricket, the Greens, and Gloria are left trembling in horror on the sidewalk over what's going to happen next. ''Boom.''

* In the ''WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers'' two-parter "A Mine Is A Terrible Thing To Waste", Looten Plunder and Sly Sludge [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness fire henchman Ooze and strand him in the desert]]. Ooze manages to walk back to civilization, suffering from heat-stroke and very angry. He testifies against Plunder and Sludge about their illegal dumping operation, getting them in a lot of trouble. Ooze clarified that he doesn't care about the environment, he just wanted revenge for what they did to him.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/ChipNDaleRescueRangers'' episode "Fake Me To Your Leader", Professor Nimnul grows a bunch of pill bugs to masquerade as aliens in a scheme to steal gold, keeping them under control with the threat of being shrunk back down to normal and squashed. At the same time, he constantly swats the pill bug playing the leader with a paper whenever it annoys him. In the end, after Nimnul's plan is foiled, he escapes in a car, but is unaware that [[DangerTakesABackseat the lead pill bug is in the back seat]], no longer under the threat of a ShrinkRay [[note]]the Ranges took it to shrink a giant Zipper back to normal[[/note]] and clutching a newspaper in his hands.

** Uprgor spends most of his service acting as Zordrak's grovelling punching bag. In "The Nightmare Stone" however, when Zordrak finally has him thrown out after his new trinket renders him redundant, he secretly sabotages his plan from inside and allows the heroes to steal it, making him essential once again.

** In later seasons, the Griffins' punching bag Meg has been prone to more psychopathic outbursts, leading to several occasions [[OhCrap they realize too late they can actually push her too far]]. She has dealt a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown to both [[AbusiveParents Peter]] and her high school bully Connie D'Amico for example.

** The short "Chow Hound" had a dog who kept bullying a cat and mouse in order to get him meat, slapping the cat silly because he forgets the gravy. Soon after, he comes up with a scheme to get money and uses it to buy a meat market. He ends up eating the ''whole'' thing, and ends up [[BalloonBelly severely bloated]] in an animal hospital with a severe case of indigestion. Enter the cat and mouse, who take gleeful vengeance at his predicament.

** In "Homer the Smithers", Homer has to take over as Mr. Burns's assistant while Smithers goes on vacation, and Homer was frequently met with a large amount of abuse from Mr. Burns. Eventually, Homer reached his breaking point and ended up ''punching'' Mr. Burns in the eye. He initially feared he killed Burns when he actually survived, but he was also deeply traumatized by the event and now cowered before Homer despite his apologetic attitude. Smithers chose Homer so Mr. Burns would want Smithers back, but it backfires because, in his fear for his life, Mr. Burns learns to fend for himself and declares that he no longer needs Smithers.
** The episode "Bart the General" sees Bart and the other non-bullies of Springfield delivering WWII-style revenge to Nelson and his cronies.

** In "[=HumancentiPad=]", when [[ExtremeDoormat Ms. Cartman]] takes Eric to buy an [=IPad=], he asks for the one with the most memory. When she sees how expensive it is she asks if he would settle for a cheaper model from a different brand that is marketed as being similar to the [=IPad=], Eric responds by saying, "I got a better idea. Why don't you go across the street and buy some condoms. Because we should at least be safe if you're gonna fuck me, mom!" When Mrs. Cartman tells Eric to keep it down, he doubles down on the vulgarity. When she issues one final warning that if he doesn't stop he won't get ''anything'', Eric pulls his pants down and dares her to "fuck him" right there and then. [[GilliganCut Cut to Eric crying in the car,]] apologizing and begging his mother to buy him a cheaper tablet, only for her to angrily reply that she meant it when she said he wasn't getting anything, especially after he humiliated her like that in public.

** In "The Krabby Kronicle," when Mr. Krabs refuses to heed [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone [=SpongeBob=]'s guilt pangs]] over [[BlatantLies the sensational stories]] he wrote to sell newspapers, [[IHaveYourWife Mr.Krabs takes [=SpongeBob=]'s spatula hostage to ensure he keeps writing stories.]] In the end, [=SpongeBob=] writes how Mr. Krabs forced him to publish those lies about everybody, and Krabs loses his money when everyone demands a refund/financial restitution.

** In "My Two Krabses", after Mr. Krabs steals his lunch, Squidward doesn't stop [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick from going into his office and plays along when they think Mr. Krabs has melted out of his shell. Later, he mocks Mr. Krabs for having to wear his old prom tux.

*** There's an entire episode of the first season in which Katara tried to get the dog (aka the Earthbender prisoners) to bite back (rebel against their captors). [[spoiler: She succeeded.]]
*** [[spoiler: Mai's betrayal of Azula to save Zuko catches everyone by surprise, but what ''nobody'' sees coming is that Ty Lee takes out Azula with a paralyzing attack from behind and tries to escape with Mai before the guards catch them. This seems a surprising testament to Ty Lee's friendship with Mai, given how cheerfully Ty Lee seemed to go along with Azula's plans, but taken in the context of all the flashbacks of Azula belittling Ty Lee, being extremely jealous of her every success, and not thinking twice to put Ty Lee's life in jeopardy to get what she wants from her, the sudden betrayal may not so much be an impulsive decision to betray one friend to save another as Ty Lee finally overcoming the ''unholy terror'' she has of getting on Azula's bad side and attacking her both to save Mai and deliver retribution for what was probably years of abuse at Azula's hands. Ty Lee turning on her leaves Azula so incoherently furious she can't even speak properly for a moment, and shortly after this event, [[VillainousBreakdown her mind snaps like a twig.]]]]

*** This occurs in an interesting FaceHeelTurn variety in book four: [[spoiler: Zhu Li, finally fed up with Varrick's neglect and casual verbal abuse, betrays him at just the right moment to pledge her loyalty to the season's BigBad, Kuvira. However, this turns out to be a subversion: Zhu Li uses her "betrayal" of Varrick -- who himself had betrayed Kuvira -- to get into Kuvira's good graces and sabotage her war effort from the inside. That doesn't mean her grievances with Varrick weren't genuine, though.]]

** In Episode 105, [[spoiler: Stumpy almost erases Kaeloo, Quack Quack, and Mr. Cat from existence for the way they treat him all the time.]]
** In Episode 134, Stumpy gets clones of himself and goes around ruining things for everyone else as retribution for the way they treat him, such as ruining Mr. Cat's trip to the beach and then destroying his car (with him inside it, leaving him almost traumatized), uses up all the water while Kaeloo is taking a shower in the other bathroom, and ruins Quack Quack and Eugly's date. [[spoiler: When Kaeloo and Mr. Cat get rid of the clones, he even punishes them by forcing them to stay up all night playing his favorite board game with him.]]

* In the first season finale of ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'', [[spoiler: Lapis Lazuli decides she's had enough after her TraumaCongaLine and agrees to fuse with the episode's villain, Jasper (who convinces her by [[InvokedTrope invoking]] this trope), apparently to unleash revenge on her past captors... only to take over the fusion and drag them both to the bottom of the ocean.]] It's a bit of a darker example in that it's later shown to be having a devastating effect on both of them, but it's still a chilling moment.

* ''WesternAnimation/MonstersAtWork'': Throughout the series, [[TokenEvilTeammate Duncan]] loves [[DislikesTheNewGuy tormenting Tylor]] for the reasons that he lost a shot at his dream job of becoming a scarer and because he thinks he's after Fritz's job]], sometimes going as far as to try and get him fired or disliked by the others. In the episode, "The Cover Up", where he abuses his power as temporary supervisor to further torment Tylor and treat him like a servant, the latter eventually gets back at him by launching a scream canister at him and knocking him off his lounge chair.

* ''WesternAnimation/MonstersAtWork'': Throughout the series, [[TokenEvilTeammate Duncan]] loves [[DislikesTheNewGuy tormenting Tylor]] for the reasons that he lost a shot at his dream job of becoming a scarer and [[ImproperlyParanoid because he thinks he's after Fritz's job]], sometimes going as far as to try and get him fired or disliked by the others. In the episode, "The Cover Up", where he abuses his power as temporary supervisor to further torment Tylor and treat him like a servant, the latter eventually gets back at him by launching a scream canister at him and knocking him off his lounge chair.

* ''WesternAnimation/MonstersAtWork'': Throughout the series, [[TokenEvilTeammate Duncan]] loves [[DislikesTheNewGuy tormenting Tylor]] for the reasons that he lost a shot at his dream job of becoming a scarer and because he thinks he's after Fritz's job, sometimes going as far as to try and get him fired or disliked by the others. In the episode, "The Cover Up", where he abuses his power as temporary supervisor to further torment Tylor and treat him like a servant, the latter eventually gets back at him by launching a scream canister at him and knocking him off his lounge chair.

* ''WesternAnimation/MonstersAtWork'': Throughout the series, [[TokenEvilTeammate Duncan]] loves [[DislikesTheNewGuy tormenting Tylor]] for the reasons that he lost a shot at his dream job of becoming a scarer and because he thinks he's after Fritz's job. In the episode, "The Cover Up", where he abuses his power as temporary supervisor to further torment Tylor and treat him like a servant, the latter eventually gets back at him by launching a scream canister at him and knocking him off his lounge chair.

** Subverted in the episode "Coyote Lovely". Cyril gives Archer a well-deserved punch in the face. Archer responds by shooting Cyril twice in the chest.

%% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order. Thanks!

* The title character of ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'' is constantly ridiculed by his bratty little sister D.W. In the ever-infamous "Arthur’s Big Hit", after D.W. thoughtlessly destroys his model plane and refuses to apologize for it, he finally punches her in a fit of rage.

* The title character of ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'' is constantly ridiculed by his bratty little sister D.W. In one episode, after D.W. thoughtlessly destroys his model plane and refuses to apologize for it, he finally punches her in a fit of rage.

** In "The Hankering", after Mr. Krabs steals his lunch, Squidward doesn't stop [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick from going into his office and plays along when they think Mr. Krabs has melted out of his shell. Later, he mocks Mr. Krabs for having to wear his old prom tux.

** In ''The Krabby Kronicle,'' when Mr. Krabs refuses to heed [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone [=SpongeBob=]'s guilt pangs]] over [[BlatantLies the sensational stories]] he wrote to sell newspapers, [[IHaveYourWife Mr.Krabs takes [=SpongeBob=]'s spatula hostage to ensure he keeps writing stories.]] In the end, [=SpongeBob=] writes how Mr. Krabs forced him to publish those lies about everybody, and Krabs loses his money when everyone demands a refund/financial restitution.
** Squidward's OnceASeason moment of [[ThrowTheDogABone winning]] often has one of these. In the ''Krusty Towers'' episode, when Mr. Krabs turns the Krusty Krab into a hotel, he institutes a policy of "We shall never deny a guest, even the most ridiculous request". Patrick checks in and Mr. Krabs forces Squidward to wait on him hand and foot. When Squidward quits in frustration, he checks in and milks the hotel's policy for all its worth by forcing Krabs to cater to his every whim.
** In ''Gullible Pants,'' when Mr. Krabs steps out for a manicure, he leaves Spongebob in charge until he gets back. When [=SpongeBob=] tries to order Squidward around, he responds by telling [=SpongeBob=] several [[BlatantLies Krusty Krab ''trade secrets'']] and making him do all the work. The episode ends with Mr. Krabs washing the dishes, a random customer making the food, [=SpongeBob=] holding several customers hostage with his dance routine, and [[LazyBum Squidward napping the day away.]]
** Squidward gets tired of [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick ruining his perfect Sunday to the point where [[RageBreakingPoint he goes bat-shit]], [[PersonaNonGrata banning them from his house]] and [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech berating them]] in ''Good Neighbors''. However, his reaction becomes a KickTheDog moment in and of itself by being [[DisproportionateRetribution blown out of proportion]] and making him JumpScare them, take something from them, and destroy it by trampling it under his feet in an act of NightmareFuel in front of them. The two feel sorry for their actions to the point they decided to [[ApologyGift make amends]]... which [[GoneHorriblyWrong failed horribly]].

** In "Homer the Smithers", Homer has to take over as Mr. Burns assistant while Smithers goes on vacation, and Homer was frequently met with a large amount of abuse from Mr. Burns. Eventually, Homer reached his breaking point and ended up ''punching'' Mr. Burns in the eye. He initially feared he killed Burns when he actually survived, but was also deeply traumatized by the event and now cowered before Homer despite his apologetic attitude. Smithers chose Homer so Mr. Burns would want Smithers back, but it backfires because, in his fear for his life, Mr. Burns learns to fend for himself and declares that he no longer needs Smithers.

** In "Barring Over", upon discovering that he started in an ad and didn't get any money from Homer and Marge, Bart angrily confronts Homer and attempts to strangle him. It fails because Bart's hands are too small, so he improvises and uses Homer's ''belt'' to strangle him.

** Butters also gets back at Cartman and/or his relatives for their abuse of him, for ex. "AWESOM-O", "The Ungroundable" and "Cash for Gold". And in the same episode, Cartman was constantly being racist and treating Token like crap. Token finally has enough and beats the crap out of him.

** In "[=HumancentiPad=]", when [[ExtremeDoormat Ms. Cartman]] takes Eric to buy an [=IPad=], he asks for the one with the most memory. When she sees how expensive it is she asks if he would settle for a cheaper model from a different brand that is marketed as being similar to the [=IPad=], Eric responds by saying, "I got a better idea. Why don't you go across the street and buy some condoms. Because we should at least be safe if your gonna fuck me mom!" When Mrs. Cartman tells Eric to keep it down, he doubles down on the vulgarity. When she issues one final warning that if he doesn't stop he won't get ''anything'', Eric pulls his pants down and dares her to "fuck him" right there and then. [[GilliganCut Cut to Eric crying in the car,]] apologizing and begging his mother to buy him a cheaper tablet, only for her to angrily reply that she meant it when she said he wasn't getting anything, especially after he humiliated her like that in public.

** In "Can you Spare a Dime?" after Squidward begins to make [[SpoiledBrat ever increasingly ridiculous demands]] when Spongebob took him in after Krabs fired him for (allegedly) stealing a dime, Spongebob gets fed up, to the point where he drags Squidward out of his house to beg Mr. Krabs for Squidward's job back. When Mr. Krabs refuses on the grounds that he believes Squidward took the dime, Spongebob '''''throttles''''' Mr. Krabs, angrily yells at him to forget about the ''one'' dime, and rehire Squidward to get him out of his house.
** In ''The Krabby Kronicle,'' when Mr. Krabs refuses to heed [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone [=SpongeBob=]'s guilt pangs]] over [[BlatantLies the sensational stories]] he wrote to sell newspapers, [[IHaveYourWife Mr.Krabs takes [=SpongeBob=]'s spatula hostage to ensure he keeps writing stories.]] At the end, [=SpongeBob=] writes how Mr. Krabs forced him to publish those lies about everybody, and Krabs loses his money when everyone demands a refund/financial restitution.

* In the first season finale of ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'', [[spoiler:Lapis Lazuli decides she's had enough after her TraumaCongaLine and agrees to fuse with the episode's villain, Jasper (who convinces her by [[InvokedTrope invoking]] this trope), apparently to unleash revenge on her past captors... only to take over the fusion and drag them both to the bottom of the ocean.]] It's a bit of a darker example in that it's later shown to be having a devastating effect on both of them, but it's still a chilling moment.

* ''WesternAnimation/WallaceAndGromit'' have a literal example in ''WesternAnimation/AMatterOfLoafAndDeath'', when Fluffles, the mistreated poodle belonging to the 'cereal killer', not only bites back but then proceeds to take the killer on with a forklift truck (a reference to the end of ''Film/{{Aliens}}'').

* In ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'', Sportsmaster aka Lawrence Crock was an [[AbusiveParents abusive dad]] to his two daughters, Jade and Artemis, and gets a double dose of this in the episode "Usual Suspects." First Artemis fights him and with the help of her teammates traps him, and then Jade, who he'd had an uneasy alliance with, refuses to help him escape and leaves him to be captured.

** Subverted in "Seahorse Seashell Party", in which Meg calls out the entire family on their years of abuse and neglect, which cause the family to turn on one another. Meg eventually apologizes and accepts that, if the family are to stay together, she ''has'' to be the target of all their collective frustration.

** '''''Agonizingly''''' subverted in the infamous episode "Seahorse Seashell Party", in which Meg calls out the entire family on their years of abuse and neglect, which cause the family to turn on one another. Meg eventually apologizes and accepts that, if the family are to stay together, she ''has'' to be the target of all their collective frustration.

** Squidward gets tired of [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick [[KickTheDog ruining his perfect Sunday]] to the point where [[RageBreakingPoint he goes bat-shit]], [[PersonaNonGrata banning them from his house]] and [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech berating them]] in ''Good Neighbors''. However, his reaction becomes a KickTheDog moment in and of itself by being [[DisproportionateRetribution blown out of proportion]] and making him JumpScare them, take something from them, and destroy it by trampling it under his feet in an act of NightmareFuel in front of them. The two feel sorry for their KickTheDog moments to the point they decided to [[ApologyGift make amends]]... which [[GoneHorriblyWrong failed horribly]].

** Squidward gets tired of [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick [[KickTheDog ruining his perfect Sunday]] to the point where [[RageBreakingPoint he goes bat-shit]], [[PersonaNonGrata banning them from his house]] and [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech berating them]] in ''Good Neighbors''. However, his reaction becomes a KickTheDog moment in and of itself by being [[DisproportionateRetribution blown out of proportion]] and making him JumpScare his neighbors, taking something from them, and destroying it in an act of NightmareFuel.

** Squidward gets tired of [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick [[KickTheDog ruining his perfect Sunday]] to the point where [[RageBreakingPoint he goes bat-shit]], [[PersonaNonGrata banning them from his house]] and [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech berating them]]. However, his reaction becomes a KickTheDog moment in and of itself by being [[DisproportionateRetribution blown out of proportion]] and making him JumpScare his neighbors, taking something from them, and destroying it in an act of NightmareFuel.

** [[spoiler: Mai's betrayal of Azula to save Zuko catches everyone by surprise, but what ''nobody'' sees coming is that Ty Lee takes out Azula with a paralyzing attack from behind and tries to escape with Mai before the guards catch them. This seems a surprising testament to Ty Lee's friendship with Mai, given how cheerfully Ty Lee seemed to go along with Azula's plans, but taken in the context of all the flashbacks of Azula belittling Ty Lee, being extremely jealous of her every success, and not thinking twice to put Ty Lee's life in jeopardy to get what she wants from her, the sudden betrayal may not so much be an impulsive decision to betray one friend to save another as Ty Lee finally overcoming the ''unholy terror'' she has of getting on Azula's bad side and attacking her both to save Mai and deliver retribution for what was probably years of abuse at Azula's hands. Ty Lee turning on her leaves Azula so incoherently furious she can't even speak properly for a moment, and shortly after this event, [[VillainousBreakdown her mind snaps like a twig.]]]]

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'':
** There's an entire episode of the first season in which Katara tried to get the dog (aka the Earthbender prisoners) to bite back (rebel against their captors). [[spoiler: She succeeded.]]

** In an indirect way, this trope is a pretty accurate summary of most if not all of [[spoiler:Zuko's]] actions since the Day of Black Sun. [[spoiler:Throughout the first two seasons, it is demonstrated that his backstory, told through flashbacks, was anything but happy, being regarded as TheUnfavorite by Ozai to the point where the latter permanently scars the former in an Agni Kai after he merely disagrees with him. The DisproportionateRetribution was taken further when he was banished as a result and told not to come back until he found the Avatar, which was regarded as a SnipeHunt until Aang came along. On top of this, Ozai also sent [[DaddysLittleVillain Azula]] to bring him back so he could lock him up to prevent any further humiliation, and Azula herself wasn't exactly kind to Zuko either. To top it off, after Zuko [[CallingTheOldManOut thoroughly chewed Ozai out]] for all the problems concerning him and the Fire Nation in general on the aforementioned Day of Black Sun, Ozai's first response was [[OffingTheOffspring to try and kill him.]] As a result, Zuko decides that his family is [[RoyallyScrewedUp beyond saving]] and sides with Aang and Iroh, providing the former with the knowledge and training needed to stop Ozai and aiding in the capture of Azula besides. In the wake of this, when he visits an imprisoned Ozai after ascending as Fire Lord, Zuko feels nothing but contempt for Ozai and tells him that Ozai should be lucky that the Avatar spared his life.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'':
** This occurs in an interesting FaceHeelTurn variety in book four: [[spoiler: Zhu Li, finally fed up with Varrick's neglect and casual verbal abuse, betrays him at just the right moment to pledge her loyalty to the season's BigBad, Kuvira. However, this turns out to be a subversion: Zhu Li uses her "betrayal" of Varrick -- who himself had betrayed Kuvira -- to get into Kuvira's good graces and sabotage her war effort from the inside. That doesn't mean her grievances with Varrick weren't genuine, though.]]
** [[spoiler:Varrick]] himself plays the trope somewhat straighter not too long afterward. [[spoiler:During his time under Kuvira, she treats him as a means to an end and forces him to work on his research almost constantly, even when he feels that this would lead to a substandard result as opposed to working at his own pace. He tries to confront her on this, only for her to threaten to throw him off a moving train if he doesn't comply. It doesn't take much for him to [[MistreatmentInducedBetrayal turn on her]] after that and though he still takes a while to reconcile with Zhu Li, he still willingly contributes to Kuvira's downfall, believing that her very name [[BadBoss is synonymous with betrayal.]]]]

* Disney's ''WesternAnimation/AladdinTheReturnOfJafar'' begins [[spoiler: and ends]] with Iago turning his back on Jafar after one insult too many.
-->"I was a fool to let you run the show/I'm cuttin' ya loose pal, look out below!"
-->"Hey, Jafar -- '''''[[BigShutUp SHUT UUUUUUUPPPPPPPP!!!!!]]'''''"