Forget monsters. Manchildren have officially become the villains of 2025.

Once upon a time, our nightmares featured fangs. Vampires lurked in shadows, ghosts rattled chains in attics, and demons possessed the innocent. We feared creatures that went bump in the night, monsters that could be vanquished with holy water or a wooden stake through the heart.

But now, our villains don't need supernatural powers to terrorise us. They don't lurk in haunted houses or emerge from cursed mirrors. No — the most frightening antagonist of our era is far more insidious. 

In 2025, there's nothing more terrifying, more repulsive, more villainous than… a manchild. 

And all of a sudden, they're everywhere. In every show, every film, you can't escape it. Everywhere you look, the manchild is ever looming. In the immortal words of Sabrina Carpenter: Man-child, why you always come a-running to me? 

Watch the trailer for The Summer I Turned Pretty season 3. Article continues after video.

Now, in my opinion, over the past year, there has been no example of a manchild more apparent than Jeremiah Fisher from The Summer I Turned Pretty.

A man who cheats on his girlfriend, not once but twice, instead of talking to her about what's really going on in his mind. Who huffs and puffs after his graduation is delayed because he forgot to check his own email. Who loses the plot when his fiancée suggests they can't afford the dark chocolate mirror glaze two-tier cake for a wedding they can barely pay for to begin with. Who has secretly racked up debt on the only credit card his father isn't paying for. Who is so insecure that he smirks when he finds out that his brother has lost his job. Who happily agrees to his fiancée forgoing her dream of going to Paris so he doesn't have to be alone. 

I rest my case. 

Whether you're Team Jeremiah or Team Conrad — although, let's be honest, there's only one correct answer to that question — we can all agree that Jeremiah is a manchild. At times a sweet manchild. Often an affectionate manchild. Sometimes even a sympathetic manchild. But a manchild nonetheless. 

And the vitriol that has built online against Jeremiah Fisher (and, sadly, the actor, which I do not condone at all — stop conflating the two) is a sign of the times.

People have had enough of the manchildren in their lives; and they certainly won't tolerate them on their screens.

Image: Prime Video

Let's talk about Josh in Companion.  

A character who is both manchild and traditional villain. Josh — played brilliantly by Jack Quaid — consistently refuses to take accountability for his actions and expects everyone else to manage his emotions for him. He commits murderous, inhumane crimes, but somehow still comes out of it feeling like he's been wronged. 

Josh, in my opinion, is the most heightened version of a manchild turned villain. He is the perfect example of how a man's emotional immaturity can become truly dangerous when left unchecked. 

Image: Warner Bros. Pictures

And maybe that's what's really at the core of this villainous manchild era. A genuine familiarity of knowing and fearing these kinds of men in our own real lives. 

This next example hurts my soul a little because I was actually a huge fan of the character in the original series. But sadly, it's 2025 and even Aidan Shaw in And Just Like That was not safe from the manchild epidemic. 

In the original Sex and the City, he may not have been my choice for Carrie, but Aidan was the sweet, stable alternative to Mr. Big. In And Just Like That, this man is intolerable. He's become everything we now recognise as a manchild — unreasonably jealous, emotionally unstable, unable to communicate in a healthy manner, and somehow making Carrie responsible for managing his feelings about their past relationship, even after cheating on her himself with his ex-wife. 

Image: HBO Max

The transformation is so complete that Aidan essentially became the villain of And Just Like That's third season — an obstacle to Carrie's happiness, if you will. Social media was flooded with viewers expressing their disgust at his behaviour, and frankly, it was well-deserved.

Finally, we have Saxon from The White Lotus season 3. Saxon represents the entitled, privileged version of the manchild — a man who believes the world owes him something simply for existing. 

He's manipulative, self-absorbed, and completely oblivious to how his actions affect others. When things don't go his way, he doesn't reflect or grow… he just finds new ways to make it everyone else's problem.

Image: HBO Max

When Chelsea schooled Saxon and his ego, calling him "soulless", the whole internet cheered. Because there's nothing more satisfying than watching a manchild get put in his place. 

This is the cultural moment we're living in — where audiences are tired of coddling grown men who act like teenagers, fed up with the emotional labour of managing their feelings, and absolutely done with watching women dim their own light to accommodate male fragility.

The manchild isn't just annoying anymore, he's become genuinely repulsive. 

Because in our world, the real world — these are the men who are actually ruining lives — one selfish decision at a time.

Feature Image: Prime Video / HBO Max.