Villain Whumpees in Media Collection
Okay, so. Maybe someone else is like me and goes on obsessive hunts for villain whumpees, scouring through books, movies, and thousands of fanfics to find them. And if you that is you, my friend, then welcome 💃
Here is my ongoing collection of (male) villain/antagonist whump in media. This list is absolutely not all inclusive. Not at all. Like, I actually don't really care too much about villains just getting beat up, or, you know, dying.
This list is curated to the specific tropes I like, including hurt AND comfort, enemies to friends, enemies to lovers, found family vibes, redemption arcs, and so on. Love some good villain angst too. Keep in mind many of these have non-adult whumpees—they are pretty much all high school age and up. Also, the list is inherently spoilery. If you have recommendations for something you've found that fits this list, pleeeease share it!
*Updated frequently*
Books:
The Crown Tower - Michael J. Sullivan. Best villain/antagonist gets rescued award🥇
Gone series - Michael Grant. If I remember right, it’s the 5th book where an unholy amount of Karma comes for the main villain. And leaves them completely at the heroes’ mercy.
Winternight trilogy - Katherine Arden. More like an enemies/friends/lovers angst thing, especially book 3.
Licanius trilogy - James Islington. These are LONG but the overall whump is insane. Villain whumpees, not much comfort though. Redemption arc.
Michael Vey series - Richard Paul Evans. Gets the most villain whumpees award🥇 Hurt/Comfort, rescues, everything *chef’s kiss*
Six of Crows/Crooked Kingdom - Leigh Bardugo. Does Kaz count? I think he counts. Angsty boy.
Eon/Eona - Alison Goodman. Didn’t love the ending but Eona especially embodies the tortured villain gets rescued by a sympathetic hero trope.
A Darker Shade of Magic series - V. E. Schwab. Villain rescue, hurt/comfort. Bittersweet ending, but worth it.
Vicious - V. E. Schwab. I think she likes villain whump too lol. This one is more for the found family. (Book 3 in this series is coming out soon, and it may or may not be everything I've dreamed of. I'll keep you posted.)
Falling Kingdom series - Morgan Rhodes. Villain angst and whump, then more villain whump, multiple enemies to friends/lovers.
Black Sun Rising - C. S. Friedman. Tbh skipped around a lot in this book, but the villain whumpee is also sort of a vampire and boy does he get wrecked. And rescued.
Strange the Dreamer - Laini Taylor. And *spoiler* Muse of Nightmares for the redemption arc. Very hurt/comfort.
Shadow of the Fox - Julie Kagawa. Side Villain rescue that turns into enemies to allies. The series as a whole features living weapon whump and a pretty wild redemption arc.
Murtagh - Christopher Paolini. *Spoilers if you haven’t read Eragon yet* But how about forced villain turned anti-hero whump? With some comfort but not the brother comfort we deserve (yet).
The Celestial Kingdom series - Sue Lynn Tan. My favorite books on this list, I’ll refrain from tropes here because spoilers ❤️
Webcomics/Webtoons:
The Last Golden Child (might be my fave, ticks all my boxes ⭐️) - complete. Multiple villain whumpees, multiple enemies to friends, found family, living weapon, redemption arcs.
Eleceed - ongoing. Cinnamon roll MC, multiple villain whumpees, enemies to friends is pretty much the plot. Personally I’m a sucker for Sucheon whump (like ep. 118-122, later the WAA arc, ep. 216 then 217 when Cain gets whumped AND rescued too).
Unordinary - ongoing. Plenty of whump in this one, antagonists and protagonists alike. Or however they align that season. Enemies to friends. Redemption arcs. (ep. 371-373 for a GOOD one).
Flow - complete. One of my favorite antagonist rescues. Also lots of enemies to friends. Redemption arcs. Read the whole thing!
Study Group - ongoing. Very whumpy yet wholesome. Lots of villain whumpee rescuing and carrying. Even Minhwan, who absolutely deserved to be left in the trash, got saved and carried by MC (ep. 92-94). The Gyeongjae arc (S2 87-96) gave me so many big feelings too, I’m giving this one a ⭐️
In the Bleak Midwinter - ongoing. Half android villain whumpee. Forced allies, villain rescue (Starts around S2 ep 24).
Code Adam - incomplete. Enemies to friends. Maybe one day the author will finish 😭
Trapped - complete. At least a couple vampire villain whumpees, human MC rescuer. Hurt/some comfort. Dark enemies to lovers.
Stray Souls - incomplete. Somehow sympathetic vampire-like whumpee with a surprisingly tender rescue. Hurt/Comfort. Enemies to friends from there.
Living with Magicians - complete. One villain whumpee gets a beat down. Only a teeny comfort though (ep. 36-41).
Purple Hyacinth- ongoing/hiatus. (I can’t believe I originally FORGOT to add this, it’s so good). Living weapon/assassin whumpee, enemies to friends/lovers?, hurt/comfort.
Unstoppable Hayeong - complete. Multiple villain whumpees, enemies to friends, hurt/comfort. Favorite one is ep. 29-31. Might need to write a fix-it fic for Yuseong though.
Villain to Kill - ongoing. MC usually thrashes a villain before adopting them. Enemies to friends, found family.
Little Hollow Café - ongoing. One jerk of an antagonist followed by a rescue I reread on repeat (ep. 20-30). Enemies to friends, found family.
Best Teacher Baek - ongoing. Villain hurt/comfort, turns into enemies to allies (Ep. 13-15). Also an honorable mention for angsty boy Su later on.
Trace Keeper - ongoing. Interesting, but rushed plot that gets freaky. We get a little villain whumpee payout though (ep. 37-38). Rescue, hurt/comfort, enemies to friends.
Riot Kings - ongoing by @befuddled-calico-whump. Villain rescue, hurt/comfort, enemies to friends.
Selina-Moon Bride - ongoing and super underrated. This one releases slow, but the FEELS for our bad guy are strong. Also other complex villain whumpee situations, like living weapons.
Seabird and the Wolf - ongoing. AKA Pirate Men with Feelings, including a bitter half-brother antagonist that goes through the hurt. Enemies to friends, found family. Ep. 55 just filled my hurt/comfort soul 😌
Lady Knight - ongoing. Cinnamon roll FMC, doesn’t want to hurt anyone she has to fight. Side Villain (major SA tw, certainly the least sympathetic and most undeserving villain on this list) hurt/comfort. She also helps saves another opponent in a later fight.
Ganda: Night Defender - complete. Quick little treat with two villain whumpees, hurt/comfort, angst, rescues. (ep. 21-23, 39)
Cape of Spirits - complete. Multiple whumpy enemies to friends, enemies to lovers, found family. Full of complex villains, many of them get redemption arcs (one hopeful goes 💀 though). If you like a good Female Villain Whumpee, this one’s fantastic.
Sable Curse - ongoing. More angsty than whumpy (but still whumpy), and antagonists are more flawed than evil (except Alfie, and his fate is tbd). But funny and tender enemies to friends/lovers, found family vibes, men with feelings ❤️ .
Footsteps in the Snow - complete. Short and sweet/heartbreaking (you can finish it in one sitting and you should!). The enemies to found family got me good in this one. Whump and redemption arc.
TV/Movies:
Avatar the Last Airbender - Zuko my beloved.
Heroes - Honestly I get half my inspiration from this show.
Loki/Marvel - More than anything, it's the whumpy fanfiction.
The 100 - season 1 when the angry mob tries killing Murphy is just 🙌
Guardians of the Galaxy 3 - Adam Warlock and that carry at the end.
Once Upon a Time - Rumplestiltskin has like 3 redemption arcs and is a constant angst/whump fest.
Spider-Man 3 - Harry in this sequence.
Wednesday - Ohhhh man season 2 Tyler.
BBC Robin Hood - Season 2 Allan has a nice little traitor arc that gets him whumped at least a couple times. Idk if I remember any comfort, but… *spoiler* they do let him rejoin the merry band.
Yu-Gi-Oh! - In the anime, prickly Kaiba ends up trapped in a card and has to get saved by the Yugi’s. The manga version of Kaiba is allegedly much more villainous, and Yugi literally saves his soul by Mind-Crushing him, leaving him in a coma, and letting him put the good pieces of his soul back together.
I'll add more as I think of them!
Other:
tvtropes.org is such a great resource for finding villain whumpees too. Go on, have some fun on there. Start here
@whumpchu’s villain whumpee list
More great tumblr fics
“Broken Boy” by Flannel Graph
Runner Ups:
These are ones I like, but because they don't fit the criteria as well as other ones, I'll just stick them here.
Potion Witch - webcomic, complete. Vigilante turns criminals into animals, ends up turning an enemy police officer into a kid. Lots of shenanigans and soft moments, and there is a villain whumpee, he's just wee lad though (child abuse is a major theme in this one)
Renegades trilogy - Marissa Meyer. Set in hero & villains world. Mainly female villain whumpees, including the MC getting wrecked and taken care of in the last book.
Kill the Dragon - webcomic, complete. There's an enemy to friends arc, featuring some violence and angst. But it's very sparing and will leave you unsatisfied, especially at the end.
Honbarian - webcomic, ongoing. Enemies to friends (to lovers probably) that developed quite wholesomely. Not villain whumpee, but hero whumpee (cold whump) that her antagonist helps save.
Devil Number 4 - webcomic, complete. Enemies to friends/enemies to lovers. Angels/Demons/Humans. This one is on here specifcally for episode 32, where an angel rescues the devil MMC and carries him to the human FMC, who is just SO sweet to him.
Also, if you have any questions about these picks, feel free to ask! I'm happy to provide more details on tropes, whump/violence level, trigger warnings, etc.
Oh, and don't forget to self rec your villain whumpee fanfiction to me too. I will eat it for breakfast, thank you! 🥞