History Main / BountyHunter

** Roronoa Zoro, one of the protagonists, chased bounties for a living before joining with Luffy, and his past helped the marines give him an epithet for his first bounty: "Pirate Hunter".

* Skeletor hires two bounty hunters to capture He-man in the ''HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse'' 2002 series. If nothing else, they were a lot more competent than his usual minions.

* ''KamenRiderKiva'': Likewise, Keisuke Nago was a bounty hunter shortly before becoming Kamen Rider IXA.
* ''KamenRiderOOO'': In some ways, Kamen Rider Birth could be seen as a Bounty Hunter. He was hired to retrieve a huge amount of Cell Medals, and in order to get them, has to destroy Yummy or Greeed. This had shades of real world bounty hunters, who are, by law, technically hired to retrieve the bail, which is physically represented by the criminal they're capturing.

* ''JonSableFreelance''

* Baba Ghanoush - a parody of Bobba Fett - who appears in several episodes of ''WesternAnimation/{{Dogstar}}'' (and turns out to be Gemma's uncle).

* The Regulators in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' are bounty killers who target evildoers and turn in their [[{{Fingore}} fingers]] for caps. Players with very good karma can join them. The Talon Company Mercs likewise are hired to hunt down players who do [[NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished too many good deeds]].

** The sequel ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption'' John is pretty much a Government Bounty Hunter to hunt down the rest of his old gang dead or alive or never see his family again.

* GuiltyGear's Bridget is a self proclaimed 'bounty hunter' however, he's not exactly very competent at it. His only real successful bounty to date happened to consist of innocent people. Ky Kiske only paid him due to feeling bad for the poor little guy.

* In VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas, the player can pursue bounties for [[AlwaysChaoticEvil Fiend]] leaders for the NCR, who will pay for their heads. The catch is that the player must leave the head intact and recognizable (IE no [[BoomHeadshot headshots]] or any attacks that [[LudicrousGibs gibs]][=/=]disintegrates them) or else the Major in charge of the bounties can't verify them and cannot pay you full price.

* In MichaelCrichton's ''Next'', a bounty hunter is trying to grab a relative of a man from whom they had obtained the right to own his gene sequence, but when it was lost, they are of the impression they can obtain a DNA sample from one of his relatives by suing her, then filing for a writ to have her brought into the court where they were located.

* Lots of Richard K. Morgan's characters, including but not limited to Takeshi Kovacs from the ''Altered Carbon'' series and Carl Marsalis from ''Thirteen,'' fall into some flavor of this trope. Kovacs is an ex-UN Special Forces operator who works as a private investigator, mercenary, and general hired gun, while Marsalis is ex-British Special Forces who specializes in hunting down genetically modified people on behalf of the government. Neither is a particularly nice guy, but then again, they don't inhabit very nice worlds either.

* The Ambis Empire in the comic ''[[http://www.drunkduck.com/Jix/ Jix]]'' has a lot of bounty hunters; however, the only two seen are Pratos (who is really named Aranis, Jix's cousin), and Maricax, both of whom hunted the main characters.

Sometimes, the bounty hunter captures criminals and brings them back to face trial (which is how real bounty hunters operate nowadays). But other times, especially in Westerns, the bounty hunter's reward is of the "Dead or Alive" variety, and many bounty hunters of the latter type kill their bounties rather than let them RunForTheBorder. These kinds of bounty hunters are often called "bounty killers" or, more pejoratively, "assassins" or "headhunters." This has almost never been TruthInTelevision, though that problem can be {{Hand Wave}}d if the bounty in question is exceptionally dangerous, put out by a criminal, or wanted by a corrupt, tyrannical, or failed state.

When in company of actual bounty hunters, you will speak of them as [[InsistentTerminology "bail agents"]].

* Bounty hunters are sent to eliminate the titular creatures in ''Film/{{Critters}}'' and are feature to some extent in all of the sequels.

* Dr King Schultz (Creator/ChristophWaltz) in ''Film/DjangoUnchained''. Django himself becomes one when he starts to assist him.

* OlderThanFeudalism: Likely the UrExample is Saul from the [[Literature/TheBible Book of Acts]], who was first shown accepting payment for arresting followers of Christ. This was before Christ struck him blind and he had a HeelFaithTurn, changing his name to Paul.

* In MichaelCrichton's ''Next'', a bounty hunter is trying to grab a relative of a man from whom they had obtained the right to own his gene sequence, but when it was lost, they are of the impression they can obtain a DNA sample from one of his relatives, by suing her, then filing for a writ to have her brought into the court where they were located.

* ''Series/DogTheBountyHunter'': This show is a RealityShow following Hawaiian-based bounty hunter Duane "Dog" Chapman. His brushes with the law and liberal use of [[NWordPrivileges forbidden slurs]] have made him something of a controversial figure.

* ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'': In "Bounty", Captain Archer is captured by a Tellerite bounty hunter who wants to hand him over to the Klingons in exchange for enough money to buy back his spaceship. [[spoiler:Archer eventually convinces the Tellerite to give him the means of escaping the Klingon cell once he's been handed over.]]

* ''[[EscapeVelocity EV Nova]]'' has a Bounty Hunters' Guild that the player can join. Their missions mainly involve killing and capturing {{space pirate}}s. They start out working only in [[TheEmpire Federation]] territory, but the Guild storyline allows you to expand their operations into the [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Auroran]] [[TheAlliance Empire]].

* ''Series/BurnNotice'': In one episode, Fiona is working as a bounty hunter and ropes Michael into helping her, only to have the man they capture hire them to prove his innocence.

* ''Series/{{Revolution}}'': Jacob from "Chained Heat", [[spoiler: Mia Clayton]] from "Ties That Bind", and Steve from "Home". Jacob was spared by Miles at Charlie's urging, Jacob repays that by revealing their location to the militia, and Miles kills him off later on. [[spoiler: Mia Clayton]], despite being Nora Clayton's sister, proved to be extremely selfish, sold out her sister's friends to the militia, and Nora decided to just abandon her and let her walk back to Texas on her own. Steve tried to bring in [[spoiler: Priscilla Pittman]], whose only crime was killing a militia sergeant who tried to molest her 11-year-old-daughter in self-defense, but between Aaron and her, he got killed off. This show portrays bounty hunters in an extremely unsympathetic light.

* Inverted by Wrex of ''MassEffect,'' who describes himself as a mercenary, but his actual role is much more similar to that of a bounty hunter. The jobs of his that you see or he describes in-game usually involve tracking down and kidnapping or killing one person (Fist, Aleena, the unnamed volus, etc) at the behest of a private employer.

*** She may have a contract with the Galactic Federation telling her "see a pirate? Kill it and we'll pay you," leading to seeing a pirate vessal > go in and hunt pirates > hunt high-rank pirate commander Ridley > kill every pirate on the planet > ???? > PROFIT!!!

*** A story drifting around the internet is that when Retro Studios made the suggestion, Nintendo's Japan-based officials were horrified at the suggestion of Samus becoming a "murderer" and being paid to do this; apparently, "bounty hunter" wasn't quite the most accurate translation of their intended title for Samus Aran.
*** Which, if true, shows a certain amount of hypocrisy/denial, given Samus is unquestionably a hired gun even if she's not a "bounty hunter". Metroid 1 has Samus being sent to retrieve the stolen Metroids -- or destroy them if that's not possible -- as well as assassinate Mother Brain and break the Space Pirates' power centre (something she succeeds at with unintentionally spectacular results). Metroid 2 is all about being sent to exterminate the entire Metroid species. She's sent to investigate a disappeared Galactic Federation ship in MetroidPrime 2, and is then hired as a mercenary to investigate and destroy the source of Phazon in Prime 3. The only exceptions are Super Metroid, Prime 1 and MetroidOtherM, which are all more or less self-assigned missions.

* The eponymous star of ''Series/TheAdventuresOfBriscoCountyJr'' was a Bounty Hunter hired to capture the outlaw gang who murdered his father. His rival, Lord Bowler, was also looking to collect the bounty on those outlaws.
* ''Series/MacGyver'' frequently crossed paths with the Coltons, an entire ''family'' of bounty hunters. They only all appeared together in the PoorlyDisguisedPilot for an aborted SpinOff.
* Sam leapt into a Bounty Hunter in one episode of ''Series/QuantumLeap''.
* ''Series/DogTheBountyHunter'' is a RealityShow following Hawaiian-based bounty hunter Duane "Dog" Chapman. His brushes with the law and liberal use of [[NWordPrivileges forbidden slurs]] have made him something of a controversial figure.
* Jubal Early from the ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' episode "Objects in Space" was a bounty hunter sent to collect on the bounty for Simon and River. He quickly proves himself to be a PsychoForHire who is in it for the sadism, and is not above threatening to rape Kaylee -- or threatening Simon with raping her if he won't reveal where River is hiding -- in order to get what he wants.
* ''{{Psych}}'' has an episode called "Bounty Hunters!" where Shawn and Gus try their hands at the job. HilarityEnsues.
** Though the incompetent [[spoiler: and crooked]] "Dog" parody who kept spooking the fugitive before Shawn and Gus could get him didn't help.
* In ''Series/{{Reaper}}'', Sam works as a bounty hunter for the Devil: instead of escaped criminals, he catches escaped souls.
* In one episode of ''Series/BurnNotice'', Fiona is working as a bounty hunter and ropes Michael into helping her, only to have the man they capture hire them to prove his innocence.
* Jesse in the ''MyNameIsEarl'' episode "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin The Bounty Hunter]]".
* ''Series/TheFallGuy'' is about a team of stuntmen who moonlight as bounty hunters of bail jumpers, for a bail bondsperson.
* In ''Series/TheMagnificentSeven'' [[TheSeries series]], Vin Tanner used to operate as a bounty hunter; dramatic irony kicked in when he was framed for murder and had to go on the run himself.
* ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise''. In "Bounty", Captain Archer is captured by a Tellerite bounty hunter who wants to hand him over to the Klingons in exchange for enough money to buy back his spaceship. [[spoiler:Archer eventually convinces the Tellerite to give him the means of escaping the Klingon cell once he's been handed over.]]
* ''Series/LawAndOrder'' devoted an episode to bounty hunters; the hunters in question were violent thugs though.
* ''Series/{{Renegade}}'' is about a cop-turned-bounty hunter, a bounty hunter, and the latter's sister, who helps them hunt bounties.
* ''Series/StargateSG1'' has had a few. Aris Boch in season 3 and then several more in the season 10 episode "Bounty".
* Ilana on ''Series/{{Lost}}'' is (or claims to be) a bounty hunter hired to bring Sayid to Guam.
* Ben Crowley on ''[[Series/{{ChaseNBC}} Chase (NBC)]]''.
* In some ways, Kamen Rider Birth from ''KamenRiderOOO'' could be seen as a Bounty Hunter. He was hired to retrieve a huge amount of Cell Medals, and in order to get them, has to destroy Yummy or Greeed. This had shades of real world bounty hunters, who are, by law, technically hired to retrieve the bail, which is physically represented by the criminal they're capturing.
** Likewise, Keisuke Nago from ''KamenRiderKiva'' was a bounty hunter shortly before becoming Kamen Rider IXA.
* In ''Series/{{Castle}}'', [[LoveInterest Beckett's]] former mentor and flame returns as a bounty hunter. He tries to get her to work for him to catch crooks, get better pay, and avoid the red tape. She refuses. [[spoiler:He is later killed, causing Beckett to go on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge]].
* Josh Randall from ''Series/WantedDeadOrAlive''.
* Halig from ''Series/{{Merlin}}''.
* Tiger from ''Series/{{Sinbad}}''.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'': One reports the whereabouts of the fugitive Chimeron princess to the Bannermen in "Delta and the Bannermen".

* JonahHex, discussed in the WesternAnimation examples below, first appeared as a [[TheWestern Western]] character in TheDCU.

* ''TheDukesOfHazzard'': Jeffrey Steele, the VillianOfTheWeek in the 1981 episode "The $10 Million Sheriff," who pursues the innocent Bo and Luke as though they were No. 1 on the [=FBI=]'s 10 Most Wanted List.

* Dog, Bounty Hunter.