Break the Haughty in comic books.
- In Aquaman (1986), Aquaman is quickly rendered helpless by the magic of Thierna Na Oge and hates it, exerting himself to the point of pain trying and failing to break free of the Orichalcum chains.
- Veronica from Archie Comics is victim often of this trope when she's written like a bitch.
- This is one of the central themes of the graphic novel Asterios Polyp. We meet the main character in the middle of being broken, then flash back to him beforehand, when he was an award-winning architect (despite never having any of his designs actually built), a respected professor (who always found something sarcastic to say about the work of his students), and a happily married man (whose need to be the center of attention alienated his wife and eventually caused them to split).
- In the Batman Reborn issues of Batman Damian Wayne went through this as a way of Rescued from the Scrappy Heap. Getting him to act less arrogant was a major factor in getting more fans to like him. Depending on who you ask, some think that this was always the planned arc for him.
- Bleez from the Red Lanterns. She was the most beautiful woman on her entire planet, coveted by all, and refused all of her suitors — that is until she was gang-raped and mutilated by several Sinestro Corpsmen. She didn't take it particularly well.
- Rayek from ElfQuest, for several issues after his disastrous attempt to Set Right What Once Went Wrong.
- Empowered's Alpha Bitch Sistah Spooky. Because There Are No Therapists, underneath the glossy façade of her public persona lies a neurotic, popularity-obsessed mess of a woman. Which only makes what happens to her in volume 5 more tragic. Volume 6 is even worse.
- In the Farscape comics, Scorpius is hit hard by this when he is press-ganged into serving the Kkore. After a lifetime of surviving and prospering with nothing but his wits and will, Scorpius believed himself to be the most awesome being in the universe. Meeting the Kkore taught him a very important lesson: No matter how good you are, there is always someone better. For the first time in his life, Scorpius is forced to acknowledge others as his superiors in every way.
- In the miniseries 52, Booster Gold is revealed to have staged a supervillain attack using an actor in Powered Armor to increase his reputation. He becomes a haughty Jerkass with a bitter hatred for the new hero Supernova and desperately searches for a chance to regain his superhero status. In issue #15 he manages to redeem himself just before he dies in a nuclear explosion with only his skeleton left. In issue #37 it is revealed that his fall-from-grace, apparent death, and rivalry with Supernova (who is revealed to be Booster Gold using time travel) was all part of a plan to stop Mister Mind from destroying The Multiverse. He still hired the fake supervillain to boost his ego, which was his actual lowest point, but that was before he learned what was going on and decided to turn himself around.
- Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash: Alpha Bitch Bree comes away from her first encounter with Jason with a Thousand-Yard Stare, wrapped in a Modesty Bedsheet, repeatedly babbling about how Jason killed everyone else.
- Joker: Jonny, a good way to see it is in the artwork where at the start he is always standing tall next to The Joker, smoking a cigarette, pulling his collar, smugly smiling and all but short to flex at people when he enters the room. Near the end, he looks scared, aimless and depressed.
- The titular Laura Dean from Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me spends the entire story treating her on-off girlfriend like crap, completely disregarding her feelings, cheating on her, and manipulating her for kicks. Which makes it immensely satisfying when her girlfriend finally wises up and dumps her at the end, outright telling her, "You're a shitty girlfriend. And I'm a shitty friend when I'm with you. So I'm breaking up with you." This reduces the formerly smug Laura Dean to tears and screaming profanity in a mere minute.
- This trope summarizes the events of The Sandman (1989). Morpheus (a more common name for the titular character) is shown to be proud and self-centered, dedicated to his work above all else, but the events of the series, starting with his imprisonment, include the loss of several of the few he loves and culminates with his death, or at least the death of the specific incarnation of the concept of Dream. By the end, he's far kinder, even if it ends up being his undoing.
- Envy Adams from Scott Pilgrim, Scott's ex-girlfriend. They met in college and were once a happy couple. However, over time, she begins to change the band she along with Steven and Scott were in by adding more people, taking it in a direction no one was happy or agreed to and even implied that she cheated on him. She reappears with her successful band and her new boyfriend (actually her Successful Childhood Friend Todd Ingram, also Ramona's 3rd ex) in Volume 3. However, it's here she loses everything that she held dear. She learns that the incident that Todd used to prove he still loved her (using his vegan psychic powers to create a massive crater in the moon) was actually done for Ramona first. We then find out that he cheated on her with Lynette Guygott, the drummer. Todd even hits her in his pride, believing he can do whatever he wants as a rock star. In the end, all she's left with (besides her talents) are the clothes on her back and some money. Ironically enough, that includes the hoodie that Scott gave her back when they were still dating.
- Doctor Eggman gets hit with this hard in Archie Comics' Sonic the Hedhehog. Trying and failing to best Sonic for more than a decade has chipped away at his psyche. After a particularly crippling defeat in Issue #200, Eggman completely loses his mind and is reduced to a babbling lunatic in a padded room. He gets better though.
- This happens throughout the later stages of Superior Spider Man. Dr. Octopus doesn't take failure well. His failure in Ends of the Earth shows that. However, his determination in creating a better legacy as Spider-Man than Peter Parker ends up costing him everything Peter had built up, ultimately leading to the Green Goblin utterly destroying most of that legacy with gusto. He's ultimately left a broken man who decides to take a Heroic Suicide to bring Peter back and get him to fix the mess.
- In Tom Strong, when the supremely arrogant Nazi pilot Ingrid Weiss challenged Tom Strong and his African wife Dhalua, Dhalua curbstomped her to such a degree that after Ingrid slinked away to lick her wounds, Dhalua calmly stated that Ingrid's spirit was broken beyond repair and that she would never bother the Strong family again. Which she didn't.
- Transformers: Wings of Honor: Deathsaurus was the arrogant schemer, who built up his empire, and squashed the most elite Autobot group in the first arc. In the second, the remnants of the group defeat him, and he retreats to his base, only to find Megatron there whose about to hijack the story from him. Megatron challenges him to a duel, and defeats him, smashing his chest and blowing off half of his face. In the end, Deathsaurus agrees to go into exile, his empire gone and all but one of his minions having deserted him or died.
- Ultimatum: Doubles with a Karmic Death moment when Magneto discovers that mutants aren't actually a product of evolution in the Ultimate Marvel universe. They were just the result of genetic experimentation similar to (and related to) the Super-Soldier serum. Essentially, it renders his entire belief system complete bullshit as he and other mutants are just uplifted humans. He dies before we can find out what he'd do with this information.
- Usagi Yojimbo: The Orphan Maker, Noriko's Dragon earned his nickname through his skill and regularly abuses the slaves he's been put in charge of. Usagi fights him twice, he jabs one eye and later slashes the other making Orphan Maker blind and swearing revenge. Usagi meets him in a later story being abused by bandits, Orphan Maker doesn't recognize him on account of being blind and has mellowed out. He's now a monk and travels the countryside, he and Usagi have a friendly chat and leave on good terms, with him still ignorant to Usagi's identity.
- The entire first book of White Sand is this for Sand Masters - they go from a powerful order of sorcerers to a small group of people brought to near-extinction by an army of determined Muggles. Then, when they try to rebuild their numbers, they learn that their haughtiness has made them reviled by the rest of the continent and Lossandian government is more than happy to assist with the complete dismantling of their profession.
- X-Men:
- During Craig Kyle and Chris Yost's run of New X-Men: Academy X, the senior team's decisions all end up actually hurting the younger students that they've sworn to protect leading to the death of some of them. By the Children of the X-Men arc, the team makes a genuine effort to get to know their students personally instead of just making decisions for them based on what they think is best.
- Worst hit is Emma Frost. By the end of the Mercury Falling story arc, she's been broken so hard that she gets a genuine Pet the Dog moment with her Morality Pet X-23.
- Long before that, Emma's Heel–Face Turn is precipitated by her waking up from her coma to find that almost all the Hellions, who had trusted her as their mentor, were dead. She had been quite selfish before, but the realization that she had failed to protect her students turned her temporarily suicidal.
