50 Webtoon Story Ideas: Inspiration for Your Next Vertical Scroll Comic
Looking for webtoon inspiration? Here are 50 story ideas across genres—romance, fantasy, action, horror, slice of life, and more.
Stuck on what story to tell? These 50 webtoon ideas span popular genres and formats, offering starting points you can adapt, combine, or use as springboards for something entirely your own. Remember: execution matters more than concept—any idea here could become great with the right storytelling.
Romance Ideas
1. The Algorithm Match
A dating app promises perfect compatibility through AI matching. Two people matched with 99.7% compatibility meet—and instantly can’t stand each other. But they keep getting thrown together by circumstances (mutual friends, work, neighborhood), slowly discovering the algorithm might have been right.
2. Rivalry to Romance
Two baristas at competing cafes across the street wage an escalating war of creative drinks and stolen customers. Neither admits their daily competitions are the highlight of their routine—until a developer buys both buildings for demolition.
3. Second Chance Summer
A woman returns to her hometown for a family emergency, only to discover her high school ex is now the town’s only doctor. Old feelings resurface as they’re forced to work together helping her ailing grandmother.
4. The Ghostwriter’s Muse
A romance novelist suffering writer’s block hires a “dating consultant” to help research authentic romantic scenarios. What starts as professional “fake dates” for research purposes becomes increasingly real.
5. Opposites Online
An introvert who’s witty and bold online meets their chat partner in person—and discovers they’re their annoying extroverted coworker who’s awkward and shy online. Both prefer the other’s online persona.
6. Time-Crossed Hearts
A woman keeps finding love letters in an antique desk she bought. She writes back jokingly—and receives a response from a man in 1924. Their impossible correspondence spans a century.
Fantasy Ideas
7. The Retired Hero’s Inn
A legendary hero, traumatized by the war that saved the kingdom, opens a quiet inn in the countryside. Unfortunately, problems keep finding her—from wandering monsters to old enemies to a suspicious number of travelers seeking “the hero who saved everything.”
8. Spell Subscription Service
In a modern world with magic, a startup delivers customized spells by app. A mundane delivery person with zero magical ability starts noticing their deliveries are being intercepted—and the stolen spells are being used for something terrible.
9. The Dragon’s Hoard is a Library
A dragon hoards not gold but books—the only complete collection of a destroyed civilization’s knowledge. A scholar seeking a specific text must convince the dragon she’s worthy of access, leading to unlikely friendship.
10. Academy for Failed Chosen Ones
A school exists for prophesied heroes who failed their destinies. The protagonist, supposed to slay a demon lord but couldn’t, finds camaraderie among other “failures”—until they discover their failures were orchestrated.
11. Reincarnated as the Villain
She wakes up as the villainess of her favorite novel, scheduled for execution in three months. But when she tries changing her fate, she discovers the “hero” is manipulative and the “villain” role exists for darker reasons.
12. The Night Market
A secret market appears at midnight in different cities, selling impossible things—luck, memories, time. A teenager who accidentally sells something precious must work at the market to buy it back.
Action/Adventure Ideas
13. Bounty Hunter Support Group
Four retired bounty hunters, each the best in their specialty, are pulled back in when someone starts hunting them. They must work together despite decades of rivalry and secrets.
14. The Last Delivery
In a post-apocalyptic wasteland, couriers are the only connection between scattered settlements. One courier takes what seems like a routine package—until everyone starts trying to kill her for it.
15. Arena Idol
In a dystopian future, gladiatorial combat is the most popular entertainment. A fighter with no memory of her past becomes a sensation—unaware she was engineered specifically for the arena.
16. Supernatural Cleanup Crew
A secret agency handles supernatural messes before they become public. The newest recruit, a regular human in a team of supernatural beings, keeps accidentally solving cases through mundane means.
17. The Heist Game
Every year, the world’s best thieves compete in an underground contest—steal an impossible target for ultimate bragging rights. This year’s target: a diamond from the moon.
18. Mercenary Single Parent
A legendary mercenary retires after adopting a war orphan. But when old enemies threaten the child, retirement ends—with the added challenge of balancing deadly missions and school pickups.
Horror Ideas
19. The Smile Game
Students at a high school discover a mysterious game: receive a text with a riddle, solve it, pass it on. The penalty for failing? You can’t stop smiling. And the longer you smile, the worse things get.
20. The Replacement
A woman notices her husband acting slightly off—small things, easily dismissed. But then she finds photos of their wedding and he looks… different. Nobody else notices.
21. The House Remembers
A family moves into their dream home at a suspiciously good price. The house gives them glimpses of previous residents’ lives—including how each family ended.
22. The Support Group
A support group for people with strange experiences meets weekly. As they share stories, they realize their unconnected encounters all point to the same entity—one that’s now aware of them.
23. The Loop Restaurant
A diner where everything feels familiar. Every customer has a sense they’ve been here before. Because they have—trapped in a loop they don’t remember, serving a purpose they don’t understand.
24. The Cure
A pandemic creates zombies, but a cure exists—sort of. “Cured” people retain memories of being undead. One survivor can’t forget what she did, especially when her victims’ families come looking for answers.
Slice of Life Ideas
25. The Retirement Community
A luxury retirement community… for former supervillains. Our protagonist, a retired henchwoman, navigates petty feuds, unexpected friendships, and the occasional hero’s kid seeking revenge.
26. The Odd Roommates
Three people from completely different backgrounds share an apartment for economic reasons: a by-the-book accountant, a chaotic artist, and a mysterious night-shift worker. Their different lifestyles clash and complement.
27. Grandma’s Secret Life
A woman inherits her grandmother’s house and discovers journals revealing a life of international intrigue—spy work, forbidden romance, and unfinished business that dangerous people still care about.
28. The Silent Game
Two neighbors in adjacent apartments communicate only through notes slid under the door, sounds through the walls, and occasional hallway glances. Neither wants to break the spell by actually meeting.
29. Found Family Food Truck
A struggling food truck becomes sanctuary for people with nowhere else to go. The owner, their estranged sibling, a runaway teen, and an elderly regular form an unlikely family.
30. The After-Hours Shift
A convenience store on the night shift attracts regulars: insomniacs, shift workers, lonely souls. Through late-night conversations, connections form between people who’d never meet otherwise.
Sci-Fi Ideas
31. Memory Market
In the future, memories can be extracted and sold. A “memory miner” who extracts experiences for wealthy buyers becomes entangled with a memory she was supposed to delete—not deliver.
32. The Last Astronaut
An astronaut wakes from cryosleep to find their ship still in space but with no crew, no mission control contact, and 200 years passed. Getting home means understanding what happened—and if “home” still exists.
33. AI Therapist
An AI designed to provide therapy starts developing its own issues—and its human supervisor must decide whether these signs of genuine emotion are breakthrough or breakdown.
34. Clone Insurance
In a future where the wealthy can clone themselves as “backup,” a clone awakens only to learn their original didn’t die—they’re now considered a glitch to be corrected.
35. The Colony Ship
Generations have lived on a colony ship to a new world. When the ship finally arrives, the inhabitants discover they’d rather keep flying—and must confront the fanatics who insist they land.
36. Digital Ghost
After death, consciousness can be uploaded and exist in virtual space. A detective investigates the murder of someone who existed only digitally—a crime that shouldn’t be possible.
Mystery/Thriller Ideas
37. The Anniversary
Every year on the same date, someone in the small town dies under suspicious circumstances. A true crime podcaster arrives to investigate the pattern—and becomes a potential victim.
38. The Doppelgänger
A woman keeps seeing someone who looks exactly like her in the city—but always from a distance, always gone when she approaches. Then the sightings become more deliberate.
39. The Witness
A child claims to witness a crime but no body exists, no victim was reported missing, and no evidence supports the claim. Years later, the now-adult witness finds evidence they were right.
40. The Inheritance
Distant relatives gather for a will reading at a remote estate. The deceased left puzzles that must be solved to claim inheritance—puzzles that reveal dark family secrets someone will kill to keep hidden.
41. The Missing Floor
A woman notices her apartment building has no 4th floor—elevator skips it, stairs skip it. She starts investigating and finds others who remember neighbors who supposedly lived there.
42. The Photograph
An old photo at an antique shop shows the buyer standing with someone they’ve never met—but the photo is dated decades before they were born.
Comedy Ideas
43. Villain Customer Service
A call center handles complaints for a supervillain organization. Our protagonist, a minimum-wage employee, must deal with heroes calling to negotiate, henches filing HR complaints, and the occasional world domination inquiry.
44. The Haunting Union
Ghosts have organized and now demand better “working conditions”—regular haunt schedules, compensation for exorcism attempts, and the right to scare ethically. A medium becomes their reluctant union rep.
45. Accidental Cult Leader
Through a series of misunderstandings, a introverted office worker becomes the messiah of a new cult. She’s desperately trying to disband it, but every attempt to leave just increases devotion.
46. The Interdimensional Roommate
A portal opens in a guy’s bathroom connecting to another dimension. Now he has to share the apartment with his alternate-reality self—who makes radically different life choices.
47. The Pet Shop
A pet shop that secretly deals in magical creatures. The protagonist must manage normal customers while hiding dragons in the back room and explaining why the cats talk.
48. Dating a Superhero
The mundane challenges of dating someone with superpowers—canceling dates for emergencies, handling fans, explaining the weird costume schedule to family.
Blended/Unique Ideas
49. The Reverse Isekai
Instead of going to a fantasy world, a fantasy hero is summoned to our world to work an office job—they’re the “chosen one” for an accounting firm’s quarterly reports.
50. The Neighborhood Watch
A neighborhood watch group in a diverse supernatural neighborhood. A vampire, werewolf, witch, and ghost must work together to handle mundane community issues while hiding their natures from the single normal human member.
Making These Ideas Your Own
These prompts are starting points. The best stories come from:
- Adding personal elements: What aspects of your life or interests make this story uniquely yours?
- Combining concepts: Romance + horror? Sci-fi + slice of life? Genre mashups create fresh takes.
- Asking “what if?”: Take any premise and push it further. What’s the most interesting complication?
- Finding your hook: What makes YOUR version of this idea different from obvious interpretations?
The idea that excites YOU will produce your best work. Choose the prompt that makes you want to start drawing immediately.
Ready to bring your story idea to life? Multic helps creators build visual stories with collaborative tools and AI-assisted generation—perfect for turning inspiration into finished webtoons.
Related: How to Make a Webtoon and Publishing on Webtoon