Top 30 Movie Moments Where the Queen Bee Gets What She Deserves

Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the most satisfying movie scenes where mean girls reaped what they sowed. We’re excluding films where such characters get offed, though, because that might be going a bit too far. Also, spoiler alert!

#30: Cokie’s Fall

“The Baby-Sitters Club” (1995)

It’s been over three decades since this movie came out, and yet, its relevance hasn’t waned. The resident queen bee of “BSC”, Cokie Mason, played by Marla Sokoloff, is a scheming teen with all the hallmarks of a movie meanie. She’s jealous, rude, and conspires against our protagonist, Kristy, and her friends all summer. She also has her sights set on someone else’s boyfriend and actively tries to steal him. Needless to say, Cokie doesn’t get her dream man. What she does get, though, is retribution, when a ball accidentally hits her while she’s perched in a tree, and she falls right into a bunch of garbage. Now, that’s one way to put her in her place.

#29: Sharpay’s Plans Are Thwarted

“High School Musical” (2006)

Whether or not you view Sharpay Evans as a villain or a misunderstood hero depends entirely on your own personal experiences with high school musicals. Regardless of where you feel she falls on the moral alignment chart, it’s no doubt that queen Sharpay ran the East High theatre department like the navy. So, when her plans to halt sweet newbie Gabriella and jock Troy from taking her leading roles are properly foiled, we can’t help but feel triumphant! Though perhaps not a typical moment of comeuppance, as the crowd goes wild for the unlikely pair, Sharpay pouts in defeat backstage. Eventually Miss Evans does soften up, but this musical moment was clearly the wake-up call she needed! Well, until the events of “High School Musical 2,” that is.

#28: Massie Gets Kicked Out

“The Clique” (2008)

What happens when a rich, spoiled brat whose entire self-worth is derived from external validation realizes she might lose it all to a new girl? She becomes determined to ruin her life. Massie is the brat in question, who runs a circle of popular kids called the Pretty Committee. Their privileged life is interrupted by newcomer Claire, and Massie instantly hates her, especially when she gets involved with her crush, Chris. Using her influence, Massie enlists her minions to bother Claire. As revenge, Claire poses as Massie to turn her friends against her, which gets the queen bee ousted from the Pretty Committee. Although the expulsion doesn’t last long, it gives Massie a taste of her own medicine, which eventually leads to her reformation.

#27: Lucy’s Problematic Presentation

“13 Going on 30” (2004)

This movie proved that mean girls never change. As a teenager, Lucy Wyman, a.k.a Tom-Tom, was the leader of the popular Six Chicks clique. She exploited our heroine, Jenna Rink, for her smarts and humiliated her on her thirteenth birthday. When Jenna suddenly turns thirty and finds herself working at fashion magazine Poise, she realizes Lucy is now her cunning colleague. She is not nearly as competent as Jenna and constantly tries to sabotage her at work. Unfortunately, her lack of talent becomes glaringly obvious during an important presentation. Lucy’s ideas, glamorizing substance use disorder, are met with absolute shock and horror from Poise’s editor-in-chief, Richard Kneeland. Having embarrassed herself, Lucy storms out of the room, angrily destroying office property on the way.

#26: Rachel Is Exposed

“Sydney White” (2007)

No Amanda Bynes teen rom-com is complete without meanies getting their comeuppance. In “Sydney White”, it is Rachel Witchburn, the film’s version of the Evil Queen from “Snow White”, who falls from grace. She is the head of the Kappa Sorority at her university and is obsessed with being the hottest on campus. However, when a student named Sydney starts posing a threat to her authority, she resorts to all sorts of trickery to ruin her reputation. However, Rachel is no match for the naturally charming Sydney, who beats her to become the new student body president. In the process, Rachel’s true nature is exposed to the entire school. She is condemned by her sorority sisters, who kick her out of Kappa.

#25: Carla’s Downfall

“Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen” (2004)

What should’ve been healthy competition between two theatre kids turns into an intense rivalry in this film starring Lindsay Lohan and Megan Fox. The actresses play Lola and Carla, respectively. Lola is an aspiring actress who moves from NYC to Dellwood. At her new school, she immediately gets on the queen bee, Carla's nerves. After beating her out for the leading role in a school musical, Lola incurs her wrath, sparking a feud. Lola has a fibbing problem throughout the film, but Carla calls her out for lies she didn’t even tell, which briefly makes her fall out of favor with the other students. Ultimately, as Carla is exposed for trying to defame Lola, she tumbles into a fountain, becoming the laughingstock of the school.

#24: Cecilia’s Punishment

“Aquamarine” (2006)

Pardon our French, but becoming enemies with a mermaid over a boy is kind of lame, don’t you think? When mermaid Aquamarine falls in love with a lifeguard named Raymond, she is targeted by Cecilia Banks and her posse of mean girls. To thwart Aquamarine’s plan of being with Raymond, whom Cecilia also likes, she traps her while she’s in her mermaid form, hoping to put her on blast. The scheme fails, making Cecilia seem like a liar, which humiliates her father, an influential meteorologist. As punishment, her dad takes away her car keys, dubbing her an attention-seeker. He got that right.

#23: Stacey Unmasked

“Odd Girl Out” (2005)

The payback this girl got was nowhere close to the pain she subjected our protagonist, Vanessa, to. Despite being best friends, the two fell out after a third girl, Nikki, made it seem like Vanessa was after the boy Stacey liked. Through cyberbullying, verbal harassment, emotional torture, and even academic sabotage, Stacey and her underlings drove Vanessa to harm herself. Their school’s failure to effectively address such behavior until Vanessa had to be hospitalized was deeply concerning, too. So, when Vanessa stood up for herself and held Stacey accountable for her actions in front of an applauding crowd, we were proud, to say the least.

#22: Tess’s Performance Flops

“Camp Rock” (2008)

Many fans think this teen villainess deserved better. We beg to differ. Tess only forged a friendship with Mitchie because of her powerful – albeit fake – background. After finding out the truth about her family, she constantly belittled Mitchie and even got her banned from Final Jam by falsely accusing her of stealing. She grew increasingly overbearing until her own friends refused to perform with her. Her reckoning came when her mum, who was in the audience at Final Jam, got distracted in the middle of her number. Soon after, Tess messed up her performance and lost. She had her demons, sure, but her elitist, insecure, and jealous personality was undeniably ugly. So, we’re not sorry about relishing her epic fail.

#21: Wednesday’s Revenge

“Addams Family Values” (1993)

When it comes to exacting payback, few can rival the Addamses’ only daughter and her gloriously frightening ways. In “Addams Family Values”, Wednesday and her brother, Pugsley, attend Camp Chippewa, where popular girl Amanda Buckman rubs them the wrong way. She relentlessly taunts the Addams siblings by mocking their appearance. In retaliation, Wednesday devises a clever plan to scare her. During their performance of a Thanksgiving play, she improvises, revealing the grim truth behind the holiday. However, her ad-lib was a diversion, so that she could capture Amanda. Wednesday being Wednesday, then threatens to set her on fire. It might’ve been a bit extreme, but knowing who she was dealing with, Amanda was lucky to make it out alive.

#20: Diner Diss

“She’s the Man” (2006)

Amanda Bynes stars in this Shakespeare update set among the soccer team of a prestigious boarding school. Disguised as her brother, Sebastian, Viola assumes his identity to play on the boy’s soccer team. That also means having to dodge real people her brother knows, particularly his annoyingly shallow girlfriend, Monique. She faces Viola down in a diner, thinking she’s Sebastian. As Viola dodges Monique, navigating the room while not letting her get a good look at her face, she unleashes a ridiculous tirade of playground insults. Monique essentially gets to hear the ugly truth about herself in front of a whole bunch of people, and it’s glorious.

#19: Getting the Girl

“The DUFF” (2015)

Revenge is sweet, especially when you have an accomplice. At the homecoming dance, mean girl Madison takes yet another shot at Bianca, but it’s all for nothing. She’s spent the movie making Bianca’s life hell, and even her popular football player boyfriend Wesley is sick of her. Madison wins homecoming queen, but a crown is all she’s going home with. Instead of taking his rightful place as homecoming king, Wesley kisses Bianca in front of the entire school. “The DUFF” isn’t exactly realistic, but it does make you wish that’s how high school really worked.

#18: Heather Duke Gets De-throned

“Heathers” (1989)

She starts out as the nice Heather. But by the time Heather Duke dons the telltale red bow in her hair, she is a monster more vicious and powerful than Heather Chandler could ever hope to be. She’s an unwitting accomplice in the sociopath J.D.’s nefarious bomb plot, but would she have acted differently if she had known the whole plan? Once Veronica Sawyer single-handedly saves the school, she knocks Heather Duke off her queen bee pedestal without even a fight. She rips the bow out of her hair, and leaves a sooty kiss on her cheek like she owns the place. It’s fittingly easy to knock the crown off her head.

#17: Before the Queen

“Ever After” (1998)

In this updated fairy tale, the Baroness Rodmilla de Ghent and her nasty daughter, Marguerite, make it their mission to work Danielle, the Cinderella stand-in, to the bone. The Baroness pays for her deceptive, abusive ways at the end. She and her daughter are stripped of their titles by the Queen of France herself. Not only that, but when the Queen offers to be lenient if someone will speak up for them, the room is silent. That is until Danielle appears and cheekily asks the King to show her the same courtesy her stepmother showed her. The Baroness leaves the story friendless, titleless, and without a shred of dignity.

#16: Costume Party

“Legally Blonde” (2001)

When Elle Woods finally gets to law school in a plot to win back her ex-boyfriend, she’s devastated to meet his cold fianceé, Vivian Kensington. A rich, intellectual East coast girl, she has none of Elle’s sunny, L.A. disposition. A sudden and suspicious invitation to a party turns out to be a mean and humiliating prank that sees Elle making a fool of herself in front of her fellow students yet again. Without breaking her smile, Elle lashes her with a withering one-liner. They become friends later, but Vivian had to be knocked off her high horse first.

#15: Food Fight

“Whip It” (2009)

Iron Maven rules the world of roller derby with an iron fist. She decides to antagonize the youngest and freshest member of the league, Bliss a.k.a. “Babe Ruthless,” in a hazing ritual that goes a little farther than it should. While the teams are enjoying some dinner, Maven is being almost uncharacteristically nice to Bliss. Then, she flings a french fry at Bliss’ face. Rather than back down, Bliss fires back with a cream pie to the derby queen’s face, triggering a massive food fight. The two wrestle on the floor as the restaurant around them is destroyed.

#14: Lana Got Coned

“The Princess Diaries” (2001)

Mia Thermopolis has taken just about all she can from the head cheerleader Lana who can’t seem to keep her opinions to herself. Whatever problem she has with Mia, it ends today. She smashes an ice cream cone into Lana’s pristine cheer uniform, and it’s pretty thrilling. The immortal chant, “Lana got coned,” rings out across the campus. Frankly, her sing-songy insults and pettiness are so irritating it’s a wonder she doesn’t get coned every other day. Even Vice Principal Gupta knows she had it coming. Hopefully Mia’s revenge establishes a precedent, at least until she changes her ways.

#13: Von Tussle Takedown

“Hairspray” (2007)

Amber Von Tussle spends most of this effervescent, 60s-set musical doing her racist mother’s bidding and trying to be the star of the Corny Collins Show. Just when she thinks she’s locked down the Miss Teenage Hairspray title, Tracy Turnblad turns up to hijack her hopes and dreams. She spends most of the last number getting her butt handed to her. Her boyfriend dumps her right in front of the TV cameras, and a series of rogue props and wardrobe malfunctions just continue the humiliation. At least this queen bee seems to learn her lesson, just as the character did in the original 1988 film.

#12: Chris Is Out of the Prom

“Carrie” (1976)

This horror flick based on Stephen King’s first novel is all about comeuppance and revenge. But one of the most satisfying, and least deadly, moments of karma occurs about halfway through. A group of popular girls who tormented the outcast Carrie White are put through the wringer by their gym teacher, Miss Collins, who revels in every minute of it. But the head mean girl, Chris Hargensen, tries to lead a revolt against her. She fails spectacularly. Unwilling to take any more backtalk, Miss Collins literally slaps her in the face. She also gets her barred from the climactic prom. Now, we can’t condone teachers hitting students, but it couldn’t have happened to a more deserving mean girl.

#11: I’m With Muriel

“Muriel’s Wedding” (1994)

ABBA-loving Muriel Heslop has the worst friend group ever. Not only have they treated her like garbage since high school, but they plan an entire vacation without her, and don’t even tell her about it. She tags along anyway, reuniting with another high school classmate, Rhonda. When Tania, the group’s ringleader, tries to convince Rhonda to ditch Muriel, too, she gets more than she bargained for. Rhonda gleefully drops a grenade in the middle of their little clique, spilling that Tania’s new husband is cheating on her with her friend. Muriel and Rhonda get to watch the chaos unfold as they perform an ABBA tribute.

#10: Sam’s Takedown

“A Cinderella Story” (2004)

There’s nothing hard-working Sam wants more than to go to Princeton. Too bad she’s slaving away at her cruel stepfamily’s diner. Fiona, Brianna, and Gabriella go out of their way to make Sam miserable. They trick her into thinking she hasn’t been accepted to Princeton and try to thwart her romance with star quarterback, Austin. After one too many abuses, Sam finally stands up for herself and quits with the whole staff – but that’s just the tip of the iceberg for her wicked stepmother. Crime doesn’t pay, but hard work sure does!

#9: I Bind You, Nancy

“The Craft” (1996)

When new kid in school Sarah befriends Nancy, Rochelle, and Bonnie, they form a witches’ coven and use their powers for personal gain. While casting spells seems to work in the girls’ favor, all of that changes when they perform the Invocation of the Spirit. Their spells start to fail, and Nancy becomes increasingly unhinged. Sarah tries to subdue her, but that only makes the coven fight back. As the girls attack their newest member, Sarah manages to overpower Nancy and void them of their powers, using her own for the greater good.

#8: Running into Jesus

“Saved!” (2004)

Hilary Faye is holier than thou, and she wants you to know it. As the leader of the Christian Jewels clique, she turns on her best friend Mary when she starts questioning her faith. Mary is also secretly pregnant, and bonds with fellow outcast Cassandra over their common enemy. After they publicly embarrass her as revenge for her cruelty, Hilary Faye vandalizes the school, only to get caught red-handed in time for prom. Driving away, she crashes into a giant effigy of Jesus, and atones for her past sins. While she sought to save others, this queen bee managed to save herself.

#7: Ugly Heart

“Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion” (1997)

At their tenth high school reunion, Romy and Michele pretend to be successful businesswomen to impress their classmates. This includes their former tormenter, queen bee Christie Masters. Once she learns about the ruse, Christy humiliates the besties. Romy and Michele are so embarrassed that they leave the reunion. But thanks to Michele’s pep talk and their shiny new dresses, they come back in style and stand up to Christy. As the night goes on, we see her prim and proper facade unravel, and the leader of the A Group finds herself with no group at all. Romy and Michele, however, are finally accepted for who they really are.

#6: Sore Winner

“She’s All That” (1999)

Zack Siler and Taylor Vaughan were the it-couple of their high school – until she left him for a washed up reality star. Predictably, her rebound backfires, and Taylor will do anything to get her ex back. When prom season comes around, Taylor is determined to win prom queen, but faces a surprise rival: Zack’s new love interest, the sweet, dorky, and secretly gorgeous Laney Boggs. Taylor just barely wins prom queen, and is far from a gracious winner. While she insults those who didn’t vote for her, she gets cut off mid-speech. And as for Laney? We’d say she really won.

#5: The Terrible Awful

“The Help” (2011)

Hilly Holbrook may be pretty on the outside, but she’s hideous on the inside. A snooty, racist young woman, she has abused her maid Minny Jackson for years. Hilly fires Minny after she uses the household bathroom during a tornado. Minny’s new employers, the Footes, are much kinder, but she’ll never forget how Hilly treated her – or how she got her revenge. In an incident she calls the Terrible Awful, Minny serves Hilly a homemade pie. Hilly finds it delicious. The secret ingredient? Let’s just say Minny… made it herself. Hilly now wants to throw up, but her mom can’t help but laugh. We can’t either!

#4: A Date with Dog Food

“Never Been Kissed” (1999)

Undercover journalist Josie Geller’s latest assignment takes her to high school. She soon finds a friend in the nerdy Aldys, and finds foes in queen bees Gibby, Kirsten, and Kristen. At the prom, Josie is crowned prom queen, but she couldn’t care less. Gibby, Kirsten, and Kristen try to dump dog food on Aldys, only for Josie to turn the tables. She tells the students that the real world doesn’t care about who they were in high school, and to embrace who they really are. All glory is fleeting, but staying true to yourself is something we can all appreciate.

#3: Deal With It

“Jawbreaker” (1999)

Queen bee Courtney Shane accidentally kills her best friend Liz Purr. Instead of admitting guilt, Courtney covers it up, claiming that Liz was assaulted and murdered. Nerdy Fern Mayo sees the cover up, but is made over as Vylette in exchange for her silence. Former friend Julie wants to speak up but becomes an outsider, until she and her boyfriend Zack find a secret recording of Courtney’s confession in time for prom. Courtney is delighted to win prom queen, only for the recording to show her true colors. To that we say… deal with it.

#2: Sebastian’s Journal

“Cruel Intentions” (1999)

High-society girl Kathryn Merteuil acts like a goody two-shoes, but she’s far from it. A conniving coke fiend, she manipulates everyone around her just for the hell of it. Not even her stepbrother Sebastian is safe. Kathryn bets that if he seduces Annette, she’ll sleep with him too, and if he doesn’t, she’ll get his Jaguar. Sebastian and Annette genuinely love each other, pushing Kathryn over the edge. Her blackmail unexpectedly turns deadly, and even seals her own fate. At Sebastian’s funeral, copies of his journal start spreading around, exposing his stepsister’s wicked ways. Without a conscience or Sebastian’s Jag, Kathryn’s bad deeds come back to haunt her.

#1: Cady’s Revenge Plan

“Mean Girls” (2004)

Aaron Samuels. Hot Body. Army of Skanks. These form the basis of Cady, Janis, and Damian’s three-pronged attack against queen bee Regina George. As the trio goes through with their plan, Regina loses her status, fellow Plastics, and mind, while Cady becomes the new queen bee – which isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Still up to her old tricks, Regina gets her own revenge on Cady, framing her as the author of the Burn Book. Ultimately, Cady and Regina learn from their mean girl pasts, proving that while revenge can be satisfying, justice is what really keeps girl world at peace. They also learn to always look out for buses.

Have you ever used a movie comeback in real life? Tell us your stories in the comments!