Butt-Monkey

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Butt-Monkey

It's not fun being this character.

Gender:	Anyone
Type:	The Object of Abuse and Ridicule
Species:	Trope
Media of origin:	Countless

A Butt-Monkey (aka "punching bag", "torture victim", "outcast", "The Chew Toy", "laughing stock", "bad luck","accident", or "weakling") is a character who is always the butt of a demeaning joke, goes through a "put them through hell" plotline, and/or the only character who endures all the slapstick pain & misery inflicted onto them, which is often played for comedy or drama.

To put it briefly, they are scapegoats and are treated like the world's metaphorical punching bag, even if they do nothing inherently wrong.

Pretty much nothing ever goes right for this character, and if something bad happens, chances are it happening to them out of nowhere and it is out of their control, or somebody else (as a twist shock), to add another schlimazel/schlemiel/scapegoat to the mix.

For whatever reason, butt-monkeys seem to walk through life with a permanent "Kick Me" sign attached to themselves, invisible to them to notice but all too visible to the rest of the world to see and view them as easy victims/targets. They are the polar opposite of karma houdinis, sometimes getting bullied and abused by them can also lead to another trope besides this trope, like vengeance, insanity, sadism, villainy, etc.

Furthermore, not all butt-monkeys are "unlucky" characters because they are frequently just accident-prone characters and get abused for no reason, their predicaments and vulnerabilities are always varied. Needless to say, it's usually unwarranted unless it's a jerk or a villain who gets what's coming to them.

To sum up this trope, it's a character who goes through hell. Physically, mentally, verbally, or all of the above.

Keep in mind that some of them became popular because of this (e.g. Butters from South Park). The nickname "Megward the Wizard" is named after three characters who fit this trope, Meg Griffin from Family Guy, Squidward Tentacles from SpongeBob SquarePants, and Kyle the Wizard from Fanboy & Chum Chum.

Examples of Notable Butt-Monkeys

Movies

Abby (Chicken Little); albeit not as much as the title character himself, but she is here because she goes through the same treatment.
Abigail (Once Upon a Forest) She consistently faces misfortune and adversity throughout the story, including physical vulnerability, emotional suffering, and repeated misfortunes.
Agent Stone (Sonic the Hedgehog The Movie) He serves as a constant target of misfortune and humiliation throughout the film. He is often the victim of Sonic's antics and Robotnik's abuse, enduring physical injuries and verbal taunts.
Ai (NeoGeo Battle Coliseum): Mainly because she can also be gullible at times.
Akari Akaza (YuruYuri, the world is against her in hilarious ways, mainly because of her size and personality.)
Akihisa Yoshii (Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu) Apparently because of how dumb he can be, a notable joke was background characters liked to call him the "ultimate idiot".
Alan (Sleepaway Camp): While he did endure a lot of bullying, he definitely deserved it BIG TIME.
Alex the Lion (Madagascar); However, he is a Butt-Monkey well written.
Baby Brent (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs) He becomes gullible after he stops being arrogant.
Max Thunderman (The Thundermans): He is mistreated by the family, however, he's sympathetic.
Blu (Rio 2; He is treated like a sack of potatoes by Jewel, their family, and the rest of the tribe (Except for Mimi) just because he is not comfortable in the Amazon)
Boog (Open Season): In the first film, Boog is a misfit to nature and is often the object of ridicule, although in the end he is no longer treated that way because he was left as a hero in the end.
Chicken Little (He gets bullied and tortured for no possible reason at all. Sure, he mistakes the sky is falling at the beginning of the film, but that's no reason for him to get tortured and bullied at all, since that was just one small mistake.
Dracula (Hotel Transylvania: Transformania;) He is treated this way throughout the movie by Mavis and Johnny, with Mavis blaming Dracula for everything he did for being "selfish" and defending Johnny.
Elliot (Open Season): In the first film he was bullied by the other deers, and in the sequels, his other antler is usually broken.
Gabby (Max Fleischer's Gulliver's Travels) (Despite the fact he's unlikable for all of his flaws, he also received a fair amount of torture in some parts of the movie, such as being forced to be the town crier and getting exhausted, having trouble trying to alert King Little that there's a giant (Gulliver) in the beach and more.)
Greg Heffley (Diary of a Wimpy Kid) (He is always bullied by Rodrick, and gets his good chances ruined by Manny, and his parents, Susan and Frank. He can, however, deserve some consequences, such as when he’s being a bad friend to Rowley.)
Harry and Marv (Home Alone; they do deserve it after all)
The Heffley Family (Diary of a Wimpy Kid) They (possibly except for Rodrick) deserve it, especially Manny.
Hubie (The Pebble and the Penguin; He found it difficult to get a pebble, because of his clumsy nature and other male penguins looking for pebbles. Whenever he does manage to get a pebble during the pebble hunt, the pebble gets stolen out of his hand, he gets tackled, other penguins push him out of the way, and to add insult to injury, the other penguins laugh at him after the beach was picked cleared of all the pebbles and he didn't get a single one. Even worse, his stuttering and clumsy nature causes Drake to pick on him and go as far as to mock his stuttering.)
Julian (Ice Age: Collision Course, He was mistreated by Manny for much of the movie just because he was jealous.)
Kevin McCallister (Home Alone franchise; not only the victim of the robbers but are constantly mistreated by his family and always left home alone (hence the title), the worst type of butt-monkey treatment comes from his mother)
Laura Barns/"billie227" (Unfriended) (But she later gets revenge on her best friend Blaire, along with her boyfriend Mitch and her other friends Jess, Adam, Ken, and Val for posting the video that made her kill herself)
Lightning McQueen (Cars franchise; especially in Mater's Tall Tales, even though Mater wasn't flanderized until Cars 2)
Nahuel (Nahuel and the Magic Book/Nahuel y el Libro Magico; he's commonly bullied by Calfunao and Rorro, getting ignored by his father because he's afraid of the sea (but they have a bond at the middle of the film when he and his son go fishing, which is nice) and every creature in the tavern laughed at him because he wanted to take a stand against Kalku except Ruende and Fresia.)
Oscar the Sharkslayer (Shark Tale) (Despite being an egotistical jerk at times, he gets tossed around by everyone around him (i.e. being mocked by his classmates as a child, being abused by his employer and girlfriend)
Poe Dameron (Star Wars; constantly gets antagonized by Admiral Holdo despite Poe Dameron's right doings)
Quasimodo (The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996): Especially in the heartbreaking humiliation scene where he got ropes and vegetables thrown at him.)
The Rabbits (Open Season): They are used as objects by other animals mostly as weapons or "rabbit fights" which are equivalent to pillow fights.
Randall (Monsters Inc.; he gets it as karma)
Roger (Ice Age: Collision Course, He is bullied by Gavin and Gertie for not thinking like them.)
Ted/The Man With the Yellow Hat (The Curious George film series, most notably the first film since he got into a heap of trouble many times.)
Whitey Duvall (Eight Crazy Nights; All of the abuse he gets is undeserved.)
Wreck-It Ralph (Wreck-It Ralph)
Minion (Ol' Chum) (Megamind vs. the Doom Syndicate and Megamind Rules!; He gets taken for granted by Megamind, gets forced to do all the chores, and almost never gets a chance to stand up for himself.)

Shows

Abe Lincoln (Clone High)
Adam Lyon (My Gym Partner's a Monkey; he is commonly bullied by major bullies of the animal school and he was also abused in many other ways as well)
Adam Young (Mr. Young)
Adrien Agreste/Cat Noir (Miraculous Ladybug; he does a suffocating modeling job to make his cold-hearted excuse of a dad happy but leaves no time for him to hang out with his friends, and crushes on Ladybug whom he thinks is better than he is and rebuffs his romantic gestures.)
Ai (NeoGeo Battle Coliseum): Mainly because she can also be gullible at times.
Aisha/Layla (Winx Club; Reasons why she qualifies as this is because she at first had difficulty fitting into the Winx Club because of her lonely childhood, got temporarily blinded by Valtor, lost her first true love, had a family (including her cousin) that were turned into terrifying monsters by Tritannus.)
Alan Keane (The Amazing World of Gumball, he gets popped most of the time or has to deal with Gumball's shenanigans)
Alvin Seville (ALVINNN!!! and the Chipmunks; he deserves it most of the time because of his selfish behavior and big ego, though sometimes he gets treated unfairly)
Amanda Banshee (The Wacky World of Tex Avery; She constantly gets mistreated by Freddy the Fly, however, considering her behavior, she usually deserves it)
Angelica Pickles (Rugrats; she always has to deal with the babies and their stupidity and crying, but she usually deserves it for being mean to them).
Anton (The Amazing World of Gumball)
Apu Nahasapeemapetilon (The Simpsons; in some episodes, his customers treat him poorly)
Aqualad (Teen Titans Go!; Beast Boy is always harassing him just because he likes Raven.)
Arnold the Armadillo (Bubsy pilot); in such a way that it rivals Courage the Cowardly Dog levels of being put through hell
Arthur Read (Arthur; His sister D.W. acts very mean and annoying to him. His friends, including Francine, also treat him unfairly sometimes. However, like Alvin before him, he does usually deserve it due to his selfishness.)
Artist Pig (Angry Birds Stella Toons; typically at the mistreatment of Gale only for a dumb reason, though, Willow sure feels bad about him.)
Ataru Moroboshi (Urusei Yatsura; While his beatings and shocks are mostly deserved due to his extremely lecherous ways, Early episodes often have him getting beat up by Shinobu just because Lum is with him.)
Baljeet Tjinder (Phineas and Ferb; He’s always subject to Buford’s bullying.)
Banana Joe (The Amazing World of Gumball; He either gets stepped on or someone slips on him, but he deserved it the most in season 1.)
Bandit Heeler (Bluey)
Batty (Almost Naked Animals; She always gets treated like crap by Poodle and has a lot of misfortune)
Beaker (The Muppets) (Usually has bad things happen to him during the Muppet Labs segments))
Belson Noles (Clarence; Because he gets into incidents from time to time, but most of the time he deserves it, especially in the episode "Bedside Manners", where he tries to change the TV channels in Clarence's living room, but he got karma when he fell on the roof.)
Benson Dunwoody (Regular Show; He’s constantly at the rear end of Mordecai and Rigby’s slacking and Mr. Maellard blaming him for said slacking. He may or may not deserve it, depending on the episode, though he is usually sympathetic.)
Bernie (Zig & Sharko, he somewhat deserves it for helping Zig's plans)
Bert (Sesame Street; Ernie always unintentionally disrupts his much-deserved quiet.)
Binky Barnes (Arthur; He’s always peer pressured by his friends into bullying other kids, though this did get better as the show went on.)
Bloo (Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends: he mostly deserves it, though there are episodes where he gets treated unfairly, notably "Beat with a Schtick")
Bobert (The Amazing World of Gumball; He was misunderstood by the other kids in episodes before near the end of the show's run.)
Bobby (Craig of the Creek; a notable running joke is where he would trip and fall on his face and say "My Candy!")
Bobby Santiago (The Casagrandes; Not as much as when he was in the main series The Loud House; before he, his sister Ronnie Anne, and their mother moved away to Great Lakes City and is usually a victim of Sergio's bullying)
Brad Buttowski (Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil); the latter half of the second season. (he deserves this for being a jerk to Kick)
Brainy (Hey Arnold!; he was during the running gag where Helga punches him or does something with him instead of punching his face)
Brainy Smurf (The Smurfs; one of the trope codifiers, even though he mostly deserves it)
Brett Bunsen (Archer); He always gets shot and beaten up all the time, although this would stop in season 5 when he is killed.
Brian Cohen (Monty Python's Life of Brian)
Brian Griffin (Family Guy; one of the trope codifiers; even though he deserves it most of the time, though he deserved it less before season 8)
Buford (Numb Chucks; He is the main victim of the "heroic" actions of Dilweed and Fungus.)
Burt Burtonburger (Kid vs. Kat; like his son Coop he does tend to get severely tortured in a ton of episodes, as he's treated horribly from Annie Lucia Munson.)
Butters Stotch (South Park; season 6 onward, one example of a Megward the Wizard that is well-written)
Candace Flynn (Phineas and Ferb; she may or may not deserve it)
Carl Wheezer (Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius/The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius; he's the guinea pig to all of Jimmy's experiments, and is also the butt of gags such as him accidentally spraying his eyes with his inhaler.)
Carlino "Carl" Casagrande (The Casagrandes; he sometimes deserves it whenever he acts selfish or egotistical, though there are some times when you can feel bad for him.)
Chad Amani (Chad (2021), while he is portrayed as an unpopular and socially awkward high school protagonist, more often than not he deserves it for how insufferably whiny he is. More importantly, he often puts himself in his problems)
Charles and Mary (Lilo & Stitch: The Series)
Charlie Brown (Peanuts; He is constantly being tormented by a lot of kids, mostly Lucy; a notable example of this is a recurring running gag where he tries to kick a football, only for Lucy to pull it away, which causes him to fall on his back.)
Charlie Kelly (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia)
Chicky, Bekky and Poyo (Where's Chicky?; the show essentially revolves around putting them through the wringer)
Claire (Looped; Due to her incompetence she is a victim of Luc's pranks.)
Claire Feeble (Stressed Eric; Claire is commonly abused by the rest of the cast of characters that are children in most of the series' episodes, though the character who abuses her the most is Heather)
Clark O'Shannon (School of Rock; he deserves it most of the time for acting antagonistic)
Cleveland Brown (Family Guy and The Cleveland Show) (he deserved it slightly more in The Cleveland Show)
Clyde McBride (The Loud House; is frequently subjected to his accidents, Luan's pranks, Lola's threatening, and Lynn Jr's bullying.)
Coconuts (Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog; Literally a robot monkey that serves as the butt for most of the slapstick humor, and he often takes abuse most of the time simply for existing despite his rather extreme effort and enthusiasm, getting demoted constantly for mostly nothing… And it's not like Scratch and Grounder have it good either.)
Cody (Total Drama and Total DramaRama)
Coop Burtonburger (Kid vs. Kat; constantly gets bullied by Mr. Kat and gets framed for things he didn't do while Kat gets away with it scot-free. He is also deemed as a fool when trying to prove/expose Kat's true colors when his evidence is destroyed.)
Courage the Cowardly Dog
Cul-de-Sac kids (Ed Edd 'n Eddy): Johnny 2×4, Kevin, and Rolf get most of it, and while the first two rarely truly deserve it, Kevin (depending on your view) may or may not deserve it more.
Cuphead (The Cuphead Show; he deserves it if he’s being a half-ass to Mugman)
Dada (Pucca)
Daddy Pig (Peppa Pig; constantly being fat-shamed by his family)
Daffy Duck (one of the trope codifiers)
Daggett Doofus Beaver (The Angry Beavers; has some of the worst luck imagineable and lives with his twin brother Norbert, an emotionally and sometimes physically abusive narcissist who is blatantly favored by most of the other characters.)
Daphne (Winx Club; Was endured tortured up until her parents were threatened and had her powers viciously ripped from her.)
Daria Morgendorffer (Beavis and Butt-Head; one of the trope codifiers)
Darkwing Duck
Darnell Fetzervalve (Buddy Thunderstruck; he is known for being treated unfairly by Buddy despite him being his best friend)
David Seville (ALVINNN!!! and the Chipmunks; he’s usually caught in the Chipmunks’ wild antics)
Deedra "Dee" Reynolds (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia)
Denise (Chad, for similar reasons with Peter. She is especially treated like the "bad guy" in Chad's point of view when simply because she's running for class president. Her reasons for being skeptical of Chad are justifiable for how overreacting Chad is)
Dee Dee (Dexter's Laboratory, sometimes, when she truly deserves it, but not as much as Dexter)
Dib Membrane (Invader Zim; he is highly unpopular at school and home for his said obsession with the paranormal, and is often dismissed as "crazy" or "insane")
Dick Dastardly and Muttey (Both Wacky Races and their spin-off show)
Dipper Pines (Gravity Falls; He has little to no strength, this is mostly proven in "Dipper vs Manliness" when Mabel and Stan constantly made fun of him, and he was a coward whenever it came to interacting with Robbie or Wendy.)
Dirge (Transformers; Has died in every single continuity except for the IDW comic universe)
Donald Duck (one of the trope codifiers)
Donkey Kong (TV series)
Dora Márquez (one of the trope codifiers)
Dr. Eggman (Sonic Boom; is generally treated as a joke towards his archnemesis Sonic and friends because of Eggman's goofiness, and Eggman's misfortune/mishaps are often played for comedy)
Dr. Flug (Villainous; often gets abused by Black Hat or Demencia)
Dr. Ivo Robotnik (Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog; Aside from slapstick humor, this is often caused by other characters like Sonic by his 'prankster' personality who generally loves seeing Robotnik suffer or humiliated, Sonic's friends including Tails and Sketch Lampoon for example, and his extremely bumbling henchmen/minions, Scratch, Grounder and many more).
Dr. Jhatka (Motu Patlu; whenever his inventions fail, he gets often beaten up by Motu and Patlu)
D.W. Read (Arthur; though she usually deserves it, episodes like “Bleep” place her in a sympathetic light.)
Earthworm Jim (While his weaknesses were generally played for laughs in the games and the 90s cartoon, he was flanderized in Earthworm Jim 3D as this type of character, a somewhat unlikable one at that.)
Ed, Edd n Eddy (Ed and Double D are a lot more sympathetic, but Eddy deserves the humiliation the most because of his greed, sadism, and plain stupidity)
Eek (Eek! the Cat)
Eddy Davenport (Lab Rats: Well deserved due to his horrendous teasing)
Ella (Total Drama, mostly due to Sugar and Chris)
Eric Feeble (Stressed Eric); another notable example of a "Butt-Monkey" in a British series, Eric is a middle-class man who is always stressed because of his family, work, co-workers, etc. and is abused by many of his workplace relatives, such as his boss Paul Power and his secretary Alison Scabie. He is also abused by his next-door neighbors)
Eric Needles (Sidekick; this is not an exaggeration, every episode of the series is a torture episode for him)
Ezekiel (Total Drama; one of the trope codifiers. He is especially a Butt-Monkey in season 3-onwards)
FeeBee (Unikitty!; her flowers are often taken away by others and regularly gets into bad luck, however, considering she doesn’t share her flowers with other people, it’s easy to say she deserves it)
Fluttershy (My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic; will sometimes get mistreated for no reason)
Frank Grimes (The Simpsons episode "Homer's Enemy," he was even a butt-monkey due to the fact that he was crazy; he also got killed by a high voltage to death)
Frankie Foster (Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends; is commonly treated like shit by Mr. Herriman and sometimes Bloo)
Fred (SpongeBob SquarePants; can't seem to catch a break from the antics of the cast to the point of yelling "My Leg!")
Freddie Benson (iCarly; he’s always getting bullied by Sam mostly in earlier episodes, and his overbearing mother embarrasses him regularly)
Gandhi (Clone High)
George Pig (Peppa Pig, is constantly bullied by Peppa although he occasionally deserves it)
Gibby Gibson (iCarly; His oddball persona makes him an outcast at the school)
Gizmo (Superbook (2011))
Gloria Sato (Big City Greens, due to always dealing with the Greens' bullcrap.)
Goofy (whether it's the Goofy shorts, Goof Troop, or the House of Mouse, trips and falls a lot. To say nothing of his various "How To" and "Art Of" shorts, where he (or other dogfaces) gets repeatedly beaten up. Although not to the extent of Donald, most of his shorts threw him into unfortunate situations at his expense for comedy.)
Grim Reaper (The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy ; he’s constantly tortured and bossed around by Billy and Mandy who makes his life miserable. Though, this trope for him became toned down in Seasons 5 and 6.)
Gumball Watterson (like his rival, Tobias, he deserves it if he’s being selfish or rude)
Gwen Tennyson (Ben 10, 2016; she’s always dealing with Ben’s reckless actions)
Handsome Pig (Angry Birds Stella Toons; Similar to Artist Pig, he suffers to the mistreatment of Gale for no reason at all.)
Hans Moleman (The Simpsons)
Heather (Total Drama, in season 1, her karma was justified for her mistreatment towards everyone, especially Lindsay)
Dr. Heinz Doofenshirmtz (Phineas and Ferb; typically at the mistreatment of his parents)
Henry the Green Engine (Thomas and friends, due to dealing with Thomas, Percy, James, or especially Gordon's bullcrap)
Henry Gobbleblobber (Mr. Pickles; he is highly considered insane by the public when he thinks that Mr. Pickles is "evil")
Homer Simpson (The Simpsons; one of the trope codifiers)
Hugh Test (Johnny Test; Was the punching bag in the season 5 premiere "Johnny Goes Nuts/Johnny Daddy Day" and "Johnny Irresistable". In the first-mentioned episode, he has trouble with his nut costume when his body accidentally switches sides from side with the two holes for his eyes to see to the backside, which prevents him from looking where he is going, thus leading to him bumping into many things. Hugh also ends up in the Porkbelly Nut Fields, only to get attacked by squirrels. In the sister episode, most of the things the entire family did for Hugh on Father's Day caused him to get injured in many ways, such as inviting an old friend of his, only to reveal that his old friend became his rival because Hugh stole his girlfriend (who could've been the one currently known as Lila, Johnny's mom) and have him assaulted as well as listening to loud music, leading him to end up in the hospital injured. In "Johnny Irresistable", there is a scene where Hugh gets trampled by a bunch of people who wanted Johnny thanks to his irresistibility from his sister's invention. Finally in "JohnnyTube" when Johnny attempts to upload a video on the internet of a badger trying to attack him, the badger instead decides to attack Hugh when Hugh walks out of the house to scold Johnny to take out the trash resulting in the latter like in "Johnny's Daddy Day" getting severely mauled and injured by the badger to the point where he also once again has to go to the hospital and is later on seen in the episode on the way to the hospital in a hospital truck due to his injuries.)
Ice Bear (We Bare Bears)
The Incidentals (SpongeBob SquarePants); they often deserve it big time for being selfish and mean-spirited citizens.
James Jones (Fireman Sam; he often is the victim of Norman's irresponsible actions and most of the episodes where Norman is at his absolute worst is when he is trying to do something harmful towards James)
Jerry Mouse (He always gets chased by Tom and occasionally suffers from his bullying or incompetence)
JFK (Clone High)
Jimmy (Ed Edd 'n Eddy) He is extremely accident-prone. He attracts more slapstick and amusing injuries than anyone else (except maybe Eddy), which is really saying something. The early episodes heavily lampshaded this. Virtually every scene he was in, he was sporting anything from bandages to arm casts and a neck brace from unseen injuries.
Jimmy Neutron (Most of his inventions go wrong and he’s always getting the blame. He gets picked on by others, mostly his rival, Cindy, and is belittled because of his short stature. However, at times, he can deserve it because of his know-it-all attitude)
Johnny Bravo (Johnny Bravo)
Johnny Test (Johnny Test) He’s constantly forced out of his sisters’ lab using a trap door and abused by his father, although he usually does deserve it.
Kaeloo, Stumpy, Quack Quack and Mr. Cat (Kaeloo, though they mostly deserve it, especially Mr. Cat)
Katnip the Cat (Herman and Katnip); who is usually perceived as the villain a lot of the time, even when the titular Herman (who is a troublemaking Karma Houdini towards him) is around whenever Katnip is simply doing his job, sleeping or minding his own business. He is also this towards Buzzy the Crow (except it's more understandable since Buzzy is innocent). He is always abused by Herman because of Katnip's cartoonishly dumb yet ineffectual and mostly helpless nature.
Kelly (Total Drama, constantly being abused by her bratty daughter Taylor)
Kenny McCormick (South Park; seasons 1-5, usually from the “They killed Kenny!” running gag)
Kenzie Bell (Game Shakers; she’s usually ignored by others or brutally beaten up. Her torture moments have been taken to the next level in the third season.)
Kevin (Mao Mao: Heroes of Pure Heart; He gets abused and is seen crying in most of his speaking appearances, although he doesn't cry frequently)
Kim Possible: She always gets annoyed with the twins and Ron goofing off and gets embarrassed all the time.
Knuckles the Echidna (Sonic X; he’s often the butt of many gags and is prone to slapstick humor)
Kyle the Wizard (Fanboy and Chum-Chum); one of the three trope namers of "Megward the Wizard"
Kyle Broflovski (South Park; he gets treated unfairly, sometimes by his friends Stan, Butters, and Kenny, but Eric Cartman treats Kyle like crap by calling him a Jew a lot all because he's Jewish and even went as far as to sing a mean song about his mother)
Laird (The Casagrandes; He always suffers misfortunes, mostly in his earlier appearances.)
Larry (T.U.F.F. Puppy, is commonly mistreated by his boss Snaptrap by getting launched into shark tanks.)
Larry Needlemeyer ("The Amazing World of Gumball"; the Wattersons are always giving him a hard time)
Lauren Shiba (Power Rangers Super Samurai; ignored by her teammates, whom she tried to befriend, all because of their worship over Jayden)
- Antonio Garcia can also sometimes be a butt-monkey, also for the same reason as Lauren.
Lawrence Dooley (School of Rock, is constantly manipulated by others, mostly Zack, and is sometimes the butt of the joke.)
Leni Loud (The Loud House; she is frequently subjected to her own accidents.)
Lincoln Loud (The Loud House; he sometimes deserves it for letting his ego get the better of him, especially in seasons 1, 4, and 5)
Lisa Loud (The Loud House;’’ like Lincoln, she deserves it every time she trips over her ego)
Lisa Simpson (The Simpsons; She has no friends and most of her ideas and suggestions are ignored or rejected)
Little Miss Naughty (Mr. Men; she often deserves it due to her naughty nature)
Lori Loud (The Loud House)
Luna Loud (The Loud House; her low self-esteem often gets in her way, which makes the audience feel bad for her)
Lynn Loud Sr. (The Loud House; he occasionally gets mistreated by Rita, and he’s often the butt of his jokes)
Mac (Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends; he is commonly abused and bullied by his older brother Terrence, barely gets support from his mother, becomes unpopular in school with no friends and gets bullied there (especially because of Jamze Withazee), gets sometimes manipulated and mistreated by his imaginary friend Bloo as well as putting up with his annoying and arrogant behavior and his shenanigans, and is often mistreated by many of the other characters and residents of the titular mansion)
Marinette Dupain-Cheng/Ladybug (Miraculous Ladybug; She's bullied at school constantly (by both Chloé and Lila), she has to deal with the fate of Paris constantly resting on her shoulders as well as her normal, also stress-inducing responsibilities daily with little to no free time, and she has to deal with her clumsiness and constant heartache over Adrien on top of that)
Mark Taylor (Home Improvement ((seasons 1-3)); is constantly used as a torture device in Brad and Randy's pranks.
Mascot (The DaVincibles)
Master Frown (Unikitty!; some fans might say he deserves it for being a jerk to Unikitty and her friends for some time.)
Matthew Corbett (Sooty franchise; 1976-1998)
- Harry Corbett (1952-1976) was also a Megward the Wizard.
Matthew Littlemore (CartoonMania)
Meg Griffin (one of the three trope namers of "Megward the Wizard")
Memetchi (Tamagotchi!; she can deserve it if she is being rude and mean-spirited)
Mickey Mouse (it happens more than you think, especially in the Golden Age shorts, Mickey Mouse Works, House of Mouse, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and the 2013 shorts)
Milhouse van Houten (The Simpsons)
Mina Beff (Grojband; typically at the mistreatment of Trina, until she later stands up against her in "Hear Us Rock, Part 2" as revenge on her.)
Mirta (Winx Club; Nobody ever respected her at Cloud Tower and was mistreated by Icy, Darcy, and Stormy. Let’s not forget the one time she got turned into a pumpkin for punishment)
Mr. Kat (Kid vs. Kat; he deserves it when his plans are usually foiled or when he's being a jerk to Coop Burtonburger.)
Mr. Krabs (Spongebob Squarepants ; he usually deserves it because of his greed, except in episodes where he’s not at his worst)
Mr. Morton (Schoolhouse Rock!, "The Tale of Mr. Morton"; he was a butt-monkey at times during the song)
Mr. Nesmith (Planet Sheen)
Mr. Small (The Mr. Men and Little Miss books, ends up having to walk home for a whole year, gets given two black eyes by Mr. Uppity and Mr. Clever because they thought he had called them rude nicknames, gets left out of activities at a carnival, is not allowed to play on a football team, gets insulted by Mr. Rude)
Mugman (The Cuphead Show!; seasons 1 and 2)|Mugman (The Cuphead Show!)
Naz Amani (Chad, always has to put up with her son's demanding and ungrateful behavior)
Niki Amani (Chad, constantly has to deal with insults and attacks whenever she gets annoyed at Chad's actions, such as being called a "whore" by him)
Nooroo (Miraculous Ladybug; He is enslaved by Gabriel and forced to aid him in a terrorist campaign against Paris. His relationship with his master is routinely shown to be emotionally and occasionally physically abusive; he is forbidden contact with the outside world, not allowed to be more than a few feet away from him, yelled at whenever he questions his master's decisions, and he has had his mouth magically shut on two separate occasions when he has truly angered Gabriel.)
Numbuh 1 (Codename: Kids Next Door; he’s usually pestered by his crazy girlfriend and in one episode his teammates forced him to take a day off and he lost his trunks which got his rear exposed )
Numbuh 4 (Codename: Kids Next Door; due to being the shortest and least intelligent of Sector V, he’s usually more prone to slapstick humor and mockery by others)
Oggy (Oggy and the Cockroaches)
Olive Oyl (Popeye: She always gets harassed by Bluto)
Ord (Dragon Tales; sometimes, he was coward and scared)
Oscar (Fish Hooks)
Oscar Proud (The Proud Family)
Panda (We Bare Bears; He always gets dragged into Grizz’s schemes whether he likes it or not.)
Patrick Star (he is frequently subjected to his accidents, stupidity and Squidward's threatening)
Pearl Krabs, Mrs. Puff, Gary the Snail, and Sandy Cheeks (they are also considered punching bags at the ass of SpongeBob and Patrick's idiocy.)
Peck the Rooster (Back at the Barnyard; gets hurt all the time)
Pelswick Eggert (Pelswick; he was a butt monkey since he is paralyzed in a wheelchair)
- Kate, Gram-Gram, Mr. Jimmy, Ace, Goon, and Boyd are also even sometimes they're butt-monkeys.
Percy (Clarence) He either plays a part in Clarence's schemes, or is subject to Belson (who is also on this list)
Peso (Octonauts) His paranoid behavior gets him scared easily at times, though it was toned down in seasons 3 and 4.
Peter (Chad, being Chad's "best friend", he mostly has to put up with Chad's whining and being treated like an unpopular outcast; he's specially treated awfully when he moves on to form a relationship with Denise)
Peter Griffin (he mostly deserves it though, especially in seasons 8-present)
The Pinkpaw twins (Angelina Ballerina: They mostly deserve it)
Piya (Oggy and the Cockroaches: Next Generation, she sometimes deserves it if she's being a bratty jerk)
Pretty much any Happy Tree Friends character except Splendid, Cro-Marmot, Mr. Pickels, The Ants, and to a lesser extent Flippy/Fliqpy (all of them, except The Ants, do die occasionally); They often get killed and/or injured in violent and brutal ways.
Princess Sophie and Valentine (Angelina Ballerina: This is not an exaggeration. The episode they appeared in was them getting bossed around shouted at and abused by Angelina)
Principal Applecrab (Looped; Due to his incompetence he often falls for Luc and Theo's pranks.)
Quills (Numb Chucks; Not as much as Buford and Hooves, but still a punching bag)
Rachel Berry (Glee; even though she mostly deserves it)
Randall Weems (Recess; even though he deserves it)
Reid, Joey, Liam, and Caleb (Chad, four "friends" of Chad who have to put up with Chad trying to get their approval as being "popular". They were especially fed up in the "Lakehouse" episode when they got sick of Chad's behavior during Reid's lakehouse night, kicking him out right afterward. Reid in particular is the most notable butt-monkey out of the four for how his belongings are the ones being ruined by Chad.)
Ren Höek (The Ren & Stimpy Show; seasons 3-5, albeit he deserves it sometimes for how he treats Stimpy along with his antipathy & violent moments, sometimes it is the total opposite)
Residents of LazyTown (Sportacus has to rescue the characters and Robbie Rotten terrorizes the town)
Richard (Unikitty!; constantly ignored and/or being called boring)
Rigby (Regular Show; he deserved it more in seasons 1-4)
Robbie Rotten (LazyTown)
Robin (Teen Titans Go!; he deserves it most of the time, but he sometimes doesn’t)
Rocko Rama (Rocko's Modern Life; He is constantly treated like dirt by the residents of O-Town. He's also a Butt-Monkey well written)
Roger's Husband (Tekken series; He constantly gets attacked by Roger Jr in endings)
Rosalyn (Calvin and Hobbes)
Ross Geller (Friends)
Roy Rooster (Garfield & Friends; deserves it most of the time)
Roys Bedoys (though there are many episodes where he deserves it)
Rusty Spokes (The Loud House; he always tries to look cool, but ends up embarrassing himself. Though while likable to most people, he deserves it for his often cocky behavior.)
Spike (My Little Pony, constantly treated like a punching bag by the villains and sometimes the Mane Six)
Samey (Total Drama, typically at the mistreatment of Amy)
Samson Clogmeyer (Camp Lazlo; even then he often says the word "merp")
Scooter (SpongeBob SquarePants; Unlike most of the other characters, he dies in a few episodes! and does not deserve it at all)
Scrambler (Bob the Builder; he later learned his lessons)
Scrappy-Doo (Scooby-Doo; Even though he does deserve this, seeing the poor pup getting abused by a lot of Cartoon Network’s characters in old Cartoon Network promos and games, even being left out by Mystery Inc. and getting too much flack in the universe is too much).
Scratch and Grounder (Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog; usually because of their unbelievable levels of stupidity and incompetence)
Scratchy (The Simpsons/The Itchy and Scratchy Show)
Sheen Estevez (The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron/Planet Sheen; he sometimes receives physical abuse, but he seems to like it)
Simon Seville (ALVINNN!!! and the Chipmunks; he’s always getting dragged into Alvin’s schemes and abused by him. He is sometimes the butt of the joke)
Sonic the Hedgehog (Sonic Prime; he’s been attacked and beaten up many times)
Spindleshanks (Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids; gets abused by Uncle Grizzly in every episode)
SpongeBob SquarePants (he is frequently subjected to his accidents and Squidward's threatening)
Squidward Tentacles (mostly gets stuck with all bad luck and one of the three trope namers of Megward the Wizard)
Stacy Dillsen (Zoey 101; is commonly outcasted by everyone in Pacific Coast Academy because of her lisp and she's accident-prone)
Steven Universe (Steven Universe Future)
Stimpson J. Cat (The Ren & Stimpy Show/Ren & Stimpy Adult Party Cartoon; both shows usually result from his stupidity or being around Ren)
Stressed Eric; (Stressed Eric, He is constantly the massive punching bag and pushover towards everyone and is full of misfortunes, not to mention his family is also miserable.)
Summer Hathaway (School of Rock (TV series ; she’s sometimes the butt of the joke)
Susan Test (Johnny Test) constantly gets harassed by Bling-Bling Boy, some of her and Mary's inventions not working or getting destroyed by Johnny, and gets bugged by Johnny at times.
Sylvester (Looney Tunes; even though he deserves it)
T-Midi (Breadwinners; He’s always getting hurt or suffers misfortune because of the titular protagonists’ stupidity.)
Theodore Seville (ALVINNN!!! and the Chipmunks; like Simon, he is often abused by Alvin and dragged into his schemes. He is also sometimes the butt of the joke.)
Timmy Turner (The Fairly OddParents!; he’s neglected by his parents who leave him with a crazy psychopath for a babysitter, bullied and belittled, his insane teacher fails him all the time, etc.)
Tobias Wilson (The Amazing World of Gumball; Like his rival, Gumball, he deserves it if he's being rude or selfish.)
Todd (Wayside; He is usually sent home on the kindergarten bus by Mrs. Jewls for petty or minor infractions
Tom Cat (one of the trope codifiers)
Timon (Timon & Pumbaa: he mostly deserves it, though there are some episodes in which he sometimes makes himself a pathetic punching bag)
Tony Stark (What If...?)
Tori Vega (Victorious, even if sometimes she deserves it)
Townsperson (Unikitty!; In earlier episodes, he was often used as the test subject and punching bag of the show, even more than Richard)
Trina Riffin (Grojband; after her comeuppance by Mina in "Hear Us Rock, Part 2")
Truman X (The X's; even though he deserves it)
Turbo, Boo, Iris, Shiny, and Hopper (Sunny Bunnies, they are frequently subjected to slapstick harm, especially Hopper)
Twinkle (Higglytown Heroes)
Tyler Dinky Doo (Pinky Dinky Doo, he has a problem in every episode of the show and complains about it usually.)
Ushari (The Lion Guard; He constantly sought a quiet life but was always interrupted in one way or another by The Lion Guard or some other animal, especially Bunga, in The Rise of Scar he gets fed up with that and becomes a villain.)
Velma Dinkley (Velma TV series incarnation; even though she deserves it)
Waspinator (Transformers Beast Wars; literally gets beaten up in every episode)
Wibbly Pig (he sometimes he is a butt-monkey)
- Scruffy Pig, Big Pig, and Tiny Pig are sometimes they are butt-monkeys.
Wile E. Coyote (one of the trope codifiers)
Will Vandom (W.I.T.C.H.) - An issue in the comic’s third year had her father trying to ruin her family's livelihood, followed by her dormouse getting run over by a car.
Wilt (Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends; He’s an extreme doormat who can suffer in some episodes.)
Zane (Ninjago; has sacrificed himself, been beaten up, and even managed to get manipulated by Vex)
Zig (Zig and Sharko, he usually deserves it for attempting to chow down on Marina.)
All the characters in The Perils of Penelope Pitstop (for the title character herself, she is always getting into trouble when the Hooded Claw tries to harm her, The Ant-Hill Crew sometimes gets into trouble when trying to save Penelope, and The Hooded Claw and his minions whenever they fail)

Anime

Akane Tendo (Ranma 1/2, Sometimes, She usually deserves it)
Akari Akaza (YuruYuri, the world is against her in hilarious ways.)
Ataru Moroboshi (Urusei Yatsura; He deserves it most of the time)
Crescent (Funny Pets); is continuously ignored and abused by Funny.
The Doronbo Gang (Yatterman (1977 & 2008); They constantly get punished after failed attempts to defeat Team Yatterman)
Dororo (Sgt. Frog, he's mostly mistreated by the Keroro Platoon, except for Koyuki, Giroro, and Pururu)
Hiroshi Nohara (Crayon Shin Chan; Various episodes depict him getting harmed unintentionally, purposely, and sometimes accidentally)
- Shinnosuke (Shin-chan) could qualify at times whenever he gets harshly punished by his mom, even though at times he deserves it for being annoying.
- Shiro the Dog is also well-written according to the TV Tropes website, as seen in episodes where he gets neglected or treated like a toy.
- Misae Nohara; Various episodes physically display her as a downright overworked mother and housewife who is frequently pestered by Shin-chan's antics and other things that exasperate her.
Jean Kirschtein (Attack on Titan; sometimes gets disrespected)
Kazuya Kinoshita (Rent-A-Girlfriend) He often gets himself into messes and strains his developing relationships by constantly second-guessing the intentions of everyone around him, assuming the worst of every situation, and piling up lies when backed into a corner.
Keitaro Urashima (Love Hina; he gets beaten by Naru and the other girls)
Mamoru Chiba (Sailor Moon; Gets butt-kicked and kidnapped by gangsters)
Minoru Mineta (My Hero Academia; he usually deserves it for being a pervert)
Naoya Mukai (Girlfriend, Girlfriend) He mostly deserves it for his stubbornness, stupidity, and inability to keep his big mouth shut.
Naruto Uzumaki (Part I; since he got rejected by the village as a child)
- Sometimes Part II Naruto is also a butt-monkey.
Neito Monoma (My Hero Academia, although he deserves it)
Raku Ichijo (Nisekoi, although he deserves it sometimes)
Ranma Saotome (Ranma 1/2, he gets abused by Akane, even when he doesn't deserve it)
Renji Yomo (Tokyo Ghoul:re; Did a lot of embarrassing things in the manga.)
Team Rocket Trio (Pokémon anime franchise; They deserve it in most of the episodes.)
Saitama (One Punch Man)
Satania (Gabriel Dropout)
Shoko Nishimiya (A Silent Voice; she has been bullied by many people, especially Naoko Ueno, Shouya Ishida (at the beginning only), and Miki Kawai)
Shoya Ishida (A Silent Voice; same as Nishimiya when he was bullied by Kazuki Shimada and many people)
Sumaru Shigami (B-Daman Crossfire only; he always loses while having a final game)
Stan (Hamtaro; He's commonly seen to be getting caught by his sister Sandy whenever he flirts with some Ham-Ham girls. In fact, his constant flirting would often blow up in his face too.)
- Boss, Howdy, and Dexter can also be considered punching bags as well.
- On the human side, Laura's teacher Mr. Yoshi is also considered a butt-monkey since he tends to screw up and embarrass himself a lot.
Tadashi Yamaguchi (Haikyuu!!; occasionally before the half of season 2)
Takashi Horimachi (Taro the Space Alien; throughout the series, Takashi tends to track down Taro but always ends up falling into one of Taro's traps.)
Yoshiko Tsushima (Love Live! Sunshine!!) Easily the biggest one in Sunshine! Not only does she possess truly abysmal luck, she constantly gets picked on by the other members of Aqours or ignored altogether if they get sick of her antics and often suffers from various amusing injuries.

Video Games

Bad Piggies (Angry Birds; being used as punching bags by the birds, especially when they tried to steal the eggs.)
Bolo (Shantae; He is a Butt-Monkey well written.)
Chatot (Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time, Darkness and Sky; He bores Guildmaster Wigglytuff, is not as respected as he thinks he is, and is assaulted by Kabutops while trying to save Wigglytuff's life. He also has a traumatic experience revolving around Wigglytuff's rage.)
Detective Dick Gumshoe (Ace Attorney; always gets his salary deducted, forcing him to work for life and bashed for doing his job right)
Glass Joe (Punch-Out!!; Out of his 100 fights, he's only got one win)
Himiko Yumeno (Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony)
K1-B0 (Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony)
Kazuichi Soda (Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair)
Knuckles (Sonic.exe; same reason as Dr. Eggman/Robotnik)
Lloyd (Mother for the NES; he was mainly bullied and called names)
Lucas (Super Smash Bros. Brawl) (He often goes through a lot of pain in the Subspace Emissary. He gets chased by a Porky Statue then attacked by Wario, almost falling to his death, and getting transformed into a trophy)
Luigi Mario (mostly in the Mario & Luigi RPG series, Super Mario Bros. Movie and Super Mario Bros. Z)
Mario (Super Smash Bros. Ultimate; For some reason, he always gets attacked in DLC character trailers)
Mikan Tsumiki (Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair)
Natsuki (Doki Doki Literature Club!; mostly abused by her dad)
Nepgear (Only in Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory, she often gets treated like a punching bag in this game. Thankfully, she's no longer a butt-monkey in Megadimension Neptunia VII)
Nitrous Oxide (Crash Nitro Kart; in some of the loading screens.)
Noire (Hyperdimension Neptunia; she's occasionally a butt-monkey here and there, depending on the game)
Noob (Noob vs Pro Minecraft) (often bullied by the Pro)
Pizzahead (Pizza Tower; he deserves it due to messing with Peppino)
Red (WarioWare series); He is mistreated by Ashley a lot of time, this is often for humor, but viewers can feel bad for him.
Salsa (Mother 3; is constantly abused and electrocuted by Fassad, the punisher)
Travis Touchdown (No More Heroes series; especially at the cost of Jasper Batt Jr. murdering his best friend Bishop and faking the deaths of his girlfriend, brother, and fellow assassin)
Wave the Swallow (Sonic Free Riders; Not even Wave is immune to being a butt-monkey either. She became one in this game since she went from being the sly, sassy, and responsible voice of reason and tech wizard of the Babylon Rogues in the original Sonic Riders and Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity to Team Babylon's scapegoat since Jet mostly mistreats her and Storm. She even got yelled at by Jet and Storm for not tuning up their gears to the point where seeing their mistreatment towards the poor swallow went too far and she doesn't deserve all that mistreatment at all.)
- Depending on your view, Wave can also be considered a butt-monkey in the original Sonic Riders and Zero Gravity when Jet won't take responsibility and when Storm fails to win a race too, even before Sonic Free Riders.
Most of the characters (Twisted Metal 3; their wish being ruined by Calypso for no good reason)

Web series

Ben (Axzyte; Although he deserves it)
Blitzo (Helluva Boss; while he would deserve it if it weren't disproportionate, he often gets beaten up or humiliated for no justifiable reason)
Book (Battle for Dream Island; she did deserve this more in BFB)
Bowser Junior (SML, he sometimes deserves it when he's being a jerk, depending on the video)
Bubble (Battle for Dream Island; is constantly popped every time)
Chef Pee Pee (SML; Bowser, Bowser Junior, Joseph, and Cody constantly insult him and his cooking)
Chives (SML; This is not an exaggeration, every video he appears in is a torture episode for him.)
Cody (SML, he's commonly picked on by Junior and Joseph most of the time)
Ethan Johnson (RandomMarioDude 2004 Unleashed; He was once bullied as a kid, up until he was at college, when he chose his new career as a purely evil villain, despite the first part of his backstory being an excuse)
Filthy Frank (bad things happen to him for the sake of fun, such as being splattered by his explosive diarrhea, watching some scary green screen, or even nearly dying and getting depressed and waterboarded)
Fishy Boopkins (SMG4; In his earliest appearances, he was called "a pathetic piece of aquatic shit", and was mistreated by most of the cast, however, this was stopped as the series went on. Also, he became this trope once again in the Rapper Bob Arc in 2018 when Bob Bobowski betrays him)
Four (Battle for Dream Island; He constantly gets mistreated by other contestants, however, considering his behavior, he deserves it)
Foxy the Pirate Fox (Ethgoesboom; The viewers and animatronics always force him to play rage games which constantly puts him in unnecessary torture, heck even Chica outright admits that rage games are Foxy's thing at this point, and he always has to deal with the annoying idiocy of his animatronic friends. Not to mention that he's now become the channel punching bag nowadays)
Gelatin (Battle for Dream Island; he is often mistreated by the other contestants because he pushes off his teammates and comes across as a nuisance most of the time. However, he deserves this more in the first half of BFB, where he became more of a selfish and insufferable prick.)
Greg The Alien (SMG4; he is always pushed around by other characters)
Hopewing (ShanePlays) (Despite him being a hero, he is subject to abuse by The Mayor, the town citizens, and even his sidekick Snow Arrow)
Jeffy (SML, although he generally deserves it.)
Jeffy (Marvin Minecraft; he gets bullied and insulted by everyone constantly)
Joseph (SML, though he can deserve it when he's being a jerk, depending on the video)
Jub Jub Boopkins (SMG4, typically in Mario's favor of "kicking the baby")
Lauren the Unlucky Mouse (Lauren the Unlucky Mouse; she's a Happy Tree Friends inspiration)
- Amy Mouse (Amy Mouse; she's Lauren the Unlucky Mouse's great-grandmother)
Leopold Slikk (Angry German Kid; He's often abused by his family in various parodies (mostly his father or his enemies), though he often deserves it due to the bad things he does in these parodies)
Luigi (SMG4; He is often called "gay" by other people (especially Mario), and like Boopkins, he was mistreated by most of the cast, though this seems to be shown less as the series went on, and also he becomes the trope when he deals with Mario's stupidity)
Mario (SMG4; He sometimes gets abused for no reason. However, in some episodes such as "Mario's Jackass", he can deserve it for how he treats his friends)
Mario (SML; There are a lot of videos dedicated to Jeffy, Rosalina, or some other character making Mario miserable or ruining his life, even though he sometimes deserves it)
Meggy Spletzer (SMG4 and Sunset Paradise; particularly in the mid-2019-present seasons where she's become significantly more insecure. She is also a butt-monkey in her spinoff series how in every episode of that show, her vacation gets ruined by a villain)
Melody (SMG4; Although she deserves it for the most part)
Pear (Annoying Orange)
Pom ni (The Amazing Digital Circus/Hornstromp Series; In both shows, Pomni is the subject of getting bad luck. In the former, she is trapped inside of a VR Headset game she didn't want to enter in the first place and suffers from severe anxiety, and in the latter, she frequently suffers from the antics the other characters create for her. However, she deserves this more in the Hornstromp Series as she became inconsiderate and rude to most people around her in said series)
Profily (Battle for Dream Island; commonly thrown away by Teardrop and no one remembers them)
Rosalina (SML, she often gets mocked, teased and harassed by most of the characters, but she does mostly deserve it)
Sad Larry (Cyanide & Happiness Shorts; Always abused by Tie Guy who tries to cheer him up)
Saiko Bichitaru (SMG4; particularly in her earlier appearances in 2018 when she was treated as a misunderstood tsundere who is misjudged by others)
Skeleton, Zombie, Creeper, and Slime (Monster School) (in most of the Monster School episodes, they always get an F)
SMG3 (SMG4; his evil plans typically fail most of the time, however, he does deserve it due to being a villain after all)
SMG4 (SMG4; Usually from dealing with Mario's stupidity)
Striker (Helluva Boss; often gets the victim of sexual harassment by other characters to the point it's undeserved)
Tari (SMG4; usually due to her timid and insecure personality)
Toad (SMG4; Can deserve it depending on the episode.)
Tom (Eddsworld; He deserves it at times for being a jerk to most of the other characters and hating Christmas.)
Vivian Gomez (A Memory's Recipe); Was used as a punching bag by bullies in the past. Right now she thankfully is not a butt-monkey anymore.
Whimpu (SMG4; most notable in the YouTube Arc where he is taken advantage of by SMG3 despite being weak and uncoordinated)
Woody (Battle for Dream Island; became less of a butt-monkey in season 4)
X (Battle for Dream Island; He is always being harassed by his friend Four)
Almost all characters of Happy Tree Friends (They constantly get killed (or injured) but they come back for each episode)
Any character from an Annoying Orange video (Gets knifed, blended, baked, etc. Pear and Little Apple are the worst offenders)

Others

Biffa Bacon (The Bacons by Viz Magazine, he is always abused by his parents Mutha and Fatiha)
Carapar (Bionicle; He used to be one of the smartest warlords but then allowed Takadox to manipulate him and then Carapar became stupid. During the Federation of Fear arc, all he serves to do is to get killed by Trenn Kromm)
Mog (Mog The Cat; in some stories, she gets abused by Mr. and Mrs. Thomas who are her owners)
Mutha and Fatha Bacon (The Bacons by Viz Magazine, these two deserved it by abusing their son Biffa)
Reggie (Archie Comics; he deserves it most of the time since he can be an unlikable jerk)
Maggie Pesky (The Buzz on Maggie, though she deserves it when she's being insensitive)
Paintbrush (Inanimate Insanity; Their teammates often drive them crazy)
Horrid Henry (definitely, because he gets no support from his family, has parents who favor his Gary-Stu of a brother, gets blamed for everything, forced to do things he doesn't want to do, gets told off by his parents often, and more all because he's horrid)
Bomb (Kharabeesh; especially because of Terence)
Brainy (Object Cringe; did almost nothing wrong but got bullied by the entire cast (except Planky but he was an extreme jerk to Brainy too before he controlled him)
Brandy and Mr. Whiskers (Brandy and Mr. Whiskers; both are constantly almost getting killed in almost every episode; regardless if it was Brandy or Mr. Whiskers who were at fault, they would usually get into danger)
Buddy (Kick the Buddy; even if he enjoys it)
Chuck (Kharabeesh; was forced to attack the pigs even though he refused, and even was killed by Jay)
Christopher "Chris" Pearson (Dan Vs.; definitely, since he is portrayed as a pushover and gets dragged around by Dan or Elise)
Custard (Strawberry Shortcake; He is always being attacked by Pupcake)
D-9341 (SCP Comix; He always gets depicted getting abused and mistreated by the SCPs)
Dino Pirhana (Super Mario franchise; gets killed most of the time even though he is a kid)
David (Camp Camp; He has been run over, insulted by Max, stabbed in the hand, etc.)
Dice Corleone (Sam & Cat)
Ess (Puyo Puyo; even if she deserves it)
Face (Nick Jr.; he is sometimes a butt-monkey in any promos he does)
Felix Boulevardez (The Proud Family; receives the same amount of torture Oscar suffers in episodes featuring both in episodes that show them together)
Frank Heffley (Diary of a Wimpy Kid) (His life was ruined by his two non-stop fighting Woodley Brothers, gets washed by his middle son, etc. Although he did deserve on Karma Houdini.)
Fraz Flub (The Brothers Flub; constantly tortured by everyone including his brother)
Ghasitaram (Motu Patlu; he often gets beaten up as well)
Gil (Bubble Guppies; especially in the beginning of the episodes)
Gordie LaChance (The Body/Stand By Me; occasionally)
Green Square (Life of a Square; Red Circle frequently abuses and tells him to shut up just because he's annoying, although he often deserves it.)
Hacker (Cyberchase)
Hammie MacPherson (Baby Blues; He often gets bullied by his older sister Zoe, and mostly gets in trouble with his parents. Most Baby Blues arcs now are just Hammie torture.)
JohnKnee (JohnKnee & Ill)
Kedamono (Popee the Performer; while he is treated right sometimes, he is mostly a punching bag)
The SVBV (The DaVincibles; the team always gets defeated by the DaVincis and their plans don't work)
Jennifer Shope (Supernoobs; one of the devastating examples of how she was been bullied by Kevin and her writers)
Jughead Jones (Archie Comics; sometimes gets into trouble and is stalked and harassed by Ethel Muggs, who is romantically obsessed with him)
Juniper Lee (The Life and Times of Juniper Lee)
Kanata Age (Sky Wizards Academy; he is considered to be a traitor to almost everyone and gets called a pervert for doing nothing wrong but ignores it and sticks to the important things)
Karol Capel (Tales of Vesperia; Always bashed on for simple mistakes and is treated like garbage by Rita)
Kate Ashby (Kate Ashby); one of the most notable examples of a "Butt-Monkey" in a British series, Kate is a terrible singer who is commonly beaten up by townspeople, just because she is bad at singing)
King Dedede (Kirby Super Star Ultra; in the subgame "Revenge of the King", he gets defeated by Kirby, kicked out of his castle, and is seen walking sadly as the credits roll)
Kiyoshi Fujino (Prison School; gets abused by three of the third-year-old girls along with his four friends)
Kreese Kreely (MadWorld, it implies that he lost to 9 different opponents in Deathwatch and he has some gruesome injuries)
Little Lulu (Little Lulu; sometimes she was in the old 1940s shorts and The Little Lulu Show)
Lucy (Wolfoo; she mainly gets bullied by Bufo and Piggy)
Maggey Byrde (Ace Attorney; Unlucky and has been arrested a bunch of times for crimes she didn't commit)
Mamezo & Inuzo (Rakugakids; he was during his attacks or super attacks on gameplays, also on the ending cutscene for Mamezo)
Marty (ToonMarty; he gets treated like crap by most of the characters, especially his "best friend" Burnie)
Master Shake (Aqua Teen Hunger Force, he usually deserves it for being an egotistical, violent and moronic prick)
Mr. George Wilson (Dennis the Menace (U.S. version); He always gets into a lot of trouble because of Dennis' antics)
Ms. Abeer (Alrawabi School for Girls, her concerns are constantly being dismissed by the school's principal Ms. Faten Qadi)
Miss Battle-Axe (Horrid Henry, she often deserves it due to what a mean teacher she can be especially towards Henry)
Pit Bulls and other Bully Breeds (very often the targets of animal abusers, negligent owners, and unfair breed-specific laws (BSL))
Professor Gutentaag (Freaky Flyers; Although he was abusing his robot partner: SVEN-209 in the backstory but it was shown 1 time onscreen.)
Puff (The Proud Family); gets tortured by the twins CeCe and BeBe
Ribbon (Object Redemption; especially because of Hairpick)
Romio Inuzuka (Boarding School Juliet; Despite being arrogant when it comes to protecting Persia, he gets abused by his classmates throughout the anime/manga.)
Rowdy Cat (Cat Burglar; Depends on choosing the wrong answer)
Schezo Wegey (Puyo Puyo; has to deal with everyone calling him a pervert (creeper in localizations))
Simon the Digger (Gurren Lagann; until he becomes a true hero)
Stephanie "Steph" Dola (No Game No Life; Sometimes gets mocked by both Shiro and Sora.)
Steve/Joe (Blue's Clues: Mostly when they have to solve problems.)
The Trix Rabbit (Trix commercials; For some reason, he never seems to get his cereal)
Tissue (Object Overload; always gets burnt up by Lighter)
Tommy Pickles (Mostly during seasons 6 to 9 after Dil's debut, however, sometimes it’s karma.)
Weasel (Marvel Comics; Is often used as a punching bag by Deadpool in the comics)
Widget (Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!; None of her inventions work correctly)
Xander Harris (Buffy the Vampire Slayer); the trope namer. Introduced the term with his line "I'm sick of being everybody's butt monkey!" in the Dracula episode. The term first appeared on TV in BtVS but was heard "on the street" well before that.
Yōichi Tsuitenai a.k.a Luckyman (Tottemo! Luckyman; is the unluckiest person in his town who faces a lot of troubles and abuse, especially from his crush Mitchan when he is not in his Luckyman form)

Why This Trope Is a Pain in the Butt (no pun intended)

This trope serves as tiresome character development.
- Where characters you adore, admire, respect, or root for to succeed in their endeavors, are always suffering through all kinds of pain, misery, and torture that they didn't deserve at all in the first place to make them have conflicts people can easily relate to, often in an overly mean-spirited manner to the point of going overkill. Meanwhile, these karma houdinis always get away from whatever they do and deserve a sense of retribution for their actions, far more than what these scapegoats go through.
The majority of the time, whenever the affected character attempts to stand up for themselves against those who are abusing them and try to get these people to stop, they are often depicted as the ones in the wrong. This teaches an awful moral that it's wrong to stand up for yourself.
Following from the first pointer, there are times when their misery can be incredibly forced if it gets too exaggerated, making it much harder to watch or enjoy sometimes.
On top of that, their over-inflated mistreatment can go too far, it can also feel very out of place, questionable, and unnatural, especially since it makes the viewer question what these guys do wrong to receive these horrible situations and mishaps, and why does the universe exclaim that they deserve it so much (the motives can be exceptional). Especially when the sadists and torturers, in a certain work, deserve these predicaments more than these guys who never deserved such horrible treatment, and it makes the viewer pity the characters a little too much.
The trope is extremely mean-spirited and whenever it is used a lot against certain characters, it makes the entire work mean-spirited too.
Worst of all, most of the time, the torture is so ridiculous and petty that it makes you hate Butt-Monkey himself since the bad trope is his.
- That doesn't necessarily make him unlikable, but not all bad characters are unlikable.
Oftentimes, the character getting abused/tortured is treated as funny, which can be funny to an extent (if it's either warranted or done to make the character easy to root for), but it stops becoming humorous and entertaining when the character's suffering goes for too long, or if their misery becomes too predictable.
- The definitive Butt-Monkey's suffering is often so bad, that it makes any viewer in the right mind, feel like having the urge (or more realistically, wanting) to start hugging them, covering them up with a blanket, giving them soup, and protecting them from anything bad from happening to the characters due to how sadistic and petty the mere joke of this trope (and the universe surrounding this trope) is.
This trope has also been used in lazy ways since it's just about the joke of a character being abused, and if the abuse inflicted on the character wasn't funny or fitting, it again, continues to make you feel extremely bad for them because they often suffer for no reason, or at least, for no apparent or established reason.
- While some of the misery Megward the Wizards/Butt-Monkeys suffer can be seen as amusing and easy to sympathize with them when that's not the case it just makes you want to hate this petty, terrible trope even more to a negative light.

Redeeming Qualities

There are plenty of butt-monkeys that do deserve their misfortunes and are also karmic butt-monkeys for being unlikeable, stupid, rude, annoying, selfish, jerkish, malicious, villainous, etc. Such to the point that it can range from being satisfying, funny, or even hilarious in some instances. (i.e. Eric Cartman from South Park, Roy Rooster from Garfield & Friends, Deandra "Dee" Reynolds and Charlie Kelly from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, just to list a few.) These are all examples of Butt-Monkeys that deserve their misfortunes due to possessing unlikable (or evil) traits that make you root for their predicaments to happen.
- Brainy Smurf
- Donald Duck (The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse, seasons 1-5)
- Gelatin (BFB 1-18)
- Mr. Krabs (seasons 6-10)
- Crusher (Blaze and the Monster Machines)
- Eustace Bagge
- CatDog (sometimes)
- Peter Griffin (sometimes)
- Rigby
- Eddy
- George Pig (occasionally)
- Joey, Marky and Dee Dee (season 5, most of the time)
- Stimpy (APC)
- Caillou
- Bubsy
- Pop
- James the Red Engine (Thomas & Friends)
- Mokap
- Dr. Robotnik
- Gumball Watterson
- Teen Titans (Teen Titans Go!)
- Timon (Timon & Pumbaa, most of the time)
- Minoru Mineta
- Bowser
- Four (Battle for B. F. D. I. 1-29)
- Kat (Kid vs. Kat)
- Chuck (Space Chickens in Space)
There are many butt-monkey characters that are in fact, well-written. Much to the point of being rather likable, relatable, sympathetic, and easy to root for. (i.e Donald Duck, Daffy Duck, Sylvester the Cat, Mario and Chef Pee Pee from SuperMarioLogan, Roger Rabbit, Squidward Tentacles, Plankton, Fred and Scooter from SpongeBob Squarepants, Dr. Flug from Villainous, Butters from South Park, Abyo from Pucca, Coop Burtonburger from Kid vs. Kat, Johnny Bravo, Courage the Cowardly Dog and Tom and Jerry from Tom and Jerry, and the list just goes on.)
Even though the misfortune and mishaps are unwarranted and undeserved (and additionally, if the characters seem to have many "unlikable" traits or flaws as well), this trope does help make you empathize with their situations. Regardless if it was intentional or done unintentionally, the story they originate from allows you to see their perspective of life, their motives, their goals and to see where they're coming from. Sometimes to the point it can make some of the characters on this wiki (whether they're average or otherwise, obnoxious) have the potential to be given the benefit of the doubt and see the good in these characters in some aspects. Depending on how they're written and presented this trope is listed as one of their redeeming qualities. (ex. Bonkers from Bonkers, Crash from Crash and Bernstein, and Calvin from Calvin & Hobbes).
This trope makes you sympathize with the characters, albeit in a very unfair and mean-spirited way.

Gallery

Another example of a Butt-Monkey.
A very well-written and entertaining example of a Butt-Monkey.
Another well-written example of a Butt-Monkey.
An example of a Butt-Monkey from an anime, but taken to the extreme.
An example of a Butt-Monkey who deserves his misfortunes (at least during BFB 1-18).

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