History Main / ContractOnTheHitman

* Teresa in ''{{Claymore}}''. She isn't quite a hitman per se, since her assignments are only hits on Youma, but that's basically the same thing.

* In the ''WeissKreuz'' OVA, Ken and Omi refuse to kill a sympathetic target, so their teammates are ordered to kill them. Turns out to be part of a plot, though.

* Section 9 in ''GhostInTheShell'' is officially a special search and rescue team, unofficially a cybercrime-focused counter terrorism unit, but the entire country of Japan is in such a corrupt state that they are really just one of the countless hit squads employed by the many rival political factions. As one of the few units who take their job of protecting the population seriously, they frequently make themselves targets of other teams that want them dead for interfering with their superiors' illegal activities. Actually, they end up fighting against other government employees almost as often as against actual terrorists or criminals [[spoiler:who usually end up to revealed to be goons of some politician or another as well]].

* In TheDCU, the Hook was executed by the League of Assassins for failing to kill the circus aerialist Deadman, although ironically it turned out he hadn't actually failed - Boston Brand happened to have an identical twin brother who took his place in the act, leading to the confusion. This is standard League of Assassins fare; if you can't close the deal, you've got not place among the elite killers of the world.

* LivingWeapon assassin ComicBook/{{X-23}} ran into this after arriving at the Xavier school. Kimura was dispatched in an attempt to assassinate her, and had Laura all lined up in her scope and was ready to pull the trigger. Unfortunately, she forgot to account for the school's resident telepaths. Emma Frost knew ''exactly'' where she was, and went completely MamaBear on her, {{Mind Rap|e}}ing her by not only removing her only happy memory, but reprogramming her to go after the ones who ordered the hit in the first place.

** Chow Yun-Fat's character in ''TheReplacementKillers'' also has to deal with a syndicate who wants him dead after he refuses to kill a cop's eight-year-old son for a Triad boss with a [[RevengeByProxy fucked up sense of revenge]].

* ''TheMechanic'' (1972) movie with Charles Bronson as a mob hitman. Bronson's character trains the son of a Mafia boss in his art without getting permission from his employers, so they set them both up to be killed. [[spoiler:Ironically after escaping the trap, the mobster's son then murders Bronson for his own personal reasons, and is himself killed by a bomb left by Bronson in his car.]]
* ''Series/LaFemmeNikita'', including the American version ''PointOfNoReturn'' (a.k.a. ''The Assassin'') and the Hong Kong version ''Black Cat''.

* Handled more subtly in ''MrAndMrsSmith''; the two assassin organizations found out their best employees were married to someone on the other side, decided this was bad for business, and set them on a collision course so that they'd have to kill each other. The result is alternatively tense (as a straight up action thriller) and wryly amusing (as a metaphor for a troubled marriage).

* The Grammaton cleric John Preston in the movie ''{{Equilibrium}}'' is a highly-trained police officer/executioner for the Fascist theocratic government of a mid-21st century police state. Once he [[HitmanWithAHeart recovers his own emotions]] and realizes what monstrous society has been created in the name of peace and tranquility, he [[HeelFaceTurn becomes a rebel himself]] and turns the tables on his former employers, [[spoiler:killing the people send out to kill him and executing the head of the State Church.]]

* Belgian {{film}} ''TheAlzheimersCase,'' also known as ''De Zaak Alzheimer'' and ''Memory of a Killer'' features this after the main character refuses to kill a child prostitute.

* ''Telefon'' (1977). Charles Bronson plays a KGB agent sent to stop a RenegadeRussian who has stolen a list of {{Manchurian Agent}}s that could be used to start WorldWarThree. In order to ensure that word won't get out about this cock-up, his superiors order a female American DoubleAgent to kill Bronson once his mission is complete. [[spoiler:Fortunately she's smart enough to realise that she'll also get the chop for [[HeKnowsTooMuch knowing too much]], and the two run off together at the end of the movie.]]
* ''InBruges'' is an example where the assassin is targeted because EvenEvilHasStandards: he accidentally killed a child with a stray bullet.
* ''RoadToPerdition'' saw a hitman for an Irish gang hunted by the Mob after his ex-partner and boss's son [[spoiler: kills his wife and son]]; of course this causes him to go on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge against the Mob.
* ''Gomorra'' (2008). Two teenage hoodlums have been running out of control in the local Camorra clan's territory, despite warnings from the mob boss to behave themselves or die. They ignore this warning, stealing a cache of weapons hidden by the Camorra. An older mobster points out they'll have trouble with the police if two youngsters are killed publicly, so he approaches them with a deal -- for 10,000 euros they return the weapons and kill a mobster who has betrayed him. The youths follow their target to an isolated location, only to be murdered in an ambush and their bodies carted away by a bulldozer to be disposed of.

* Jeff Costello from ''LeSamourai'', the French movie that inspired ''Film/TheKiller''. He is seen leaving the scene of his latest hit, picked up by the police and questioned. His clients decide to kill him before he can implicate them.
* Partially subverted in the 1969 film ''The Assassination Bureau'' in that the head of the titular agency willingly accepts a contract on his own head as a challenge to weed out the unworthy elements within his organization.

* An amateur falls victim to this trope in the 1976 film ''Killing of a Chinese Bookie''. Strip club owner Cosmo Vittelli reluctantly accepts the title contract to pay off his own heavy gambling debt. The "bookie" is actually an elderly triad leader, and once he's dead the contractors decide the hit is a ''faux pas'' that has to be covered up by eliminating the hitman.

* Rachel Morgan of ''TheHollows'' novels isn't technically a assassin but a runner, a combination bounty hunter, private detective and law enforcement agent. When she tries to quit her job at Inderlander Security and go independent they put a death mark on her to make an example to other employees who may be thinking of quitting.
* Inverted in the ''{{Burke}}'' novels by Andrew Vachss. Sociopathic hitman Wesley is given a contract by TheMafia to kill a martial arts expert, but Burke kills him first. The mob then decide there's no point in paying Wesley, so he decides to KillThemAll.

* Parodied in a ''KidsInTheHall'' sketch, where a hitman is contracted to take himself out.
* Non-lethal variant: in the pilot to ''{{Werewolf}}'', a bounty hunter breaks off contact with his boss to [[SternChase track Eric across the country]]. His frustrated employer grouses that he's going to have to hire a bounty hunter to locate his bounty hunter.

* Harold Pinter's ''TheDumbWaiter'' is about two hitmen, Ben and Gus, waiting for their next assignment. No prizes will be awarded for guessing who Ben is ordered to kill.

* Though Serge doesn't exactly have a heart of gold, this is the plot of Fracture, the first story from ''ZokushoComics''.

* ''FulltimeKiller'' apes the film ''Assassins'', in that the wild hitman Tok has modeled himself after action films and intentionally imitates the Stallone film in his rivalry with number one assassin O.

* In ''{{Borderlands 2}}'', one optional mission has [[BigBad Handsome Jack]] (in the throws of a VillainousBreakdown) contact you and offer you a nice reward to kill yourself. He instructs you to go to a specific cliff and throw yourself off of it. Alternately, there is a phone there which will contact a suicide hotline, which tells you "Thank you for calling the Hyperion Suicide Prevention Hotline, Handsome Jack regrets to inform you that you are a coward". Whatever you do, it doesn't really matter; the Hyperion New-U station will instantly resurrect you if you die, taking a portion of your money but earning you 12 Eridium as a reward; Jack knows this, he just wants to watch you die for kicks. If you call the hotline instead, you get no Eridium, but triple experience for the quest.

* In {{Borderlands 2}}, one optional mission has [[BigBad Handsome Jack]] (in the throws of a VillainousBreakdown) contact you and offer you a nice reward to kill yourself. He instructs you to go to a specific cliff and throw yourself off of it. Alternately, there is a phone there which will contact a suicide hotline, which tells you "Thank you for calling the Hyperion Suicide Prevention Hotline, Handsome Jack regrets to inform you that you are a coward". Whatever you do, it doesn't really matter; the Hyperion New-U station will instantly resurrect you if you die, taking a portion of your money but earning you 12 Eridium as a reward; Jack knows this, he just wants to watch you die for kicks. If you call the hotline instead, you get no Eridium, but triple experience for the quest.

* In {{Borderlands2}}, one optional mission has [[BigBad Handsome Jack]] (in the throws of a VillainousBreakdown) contact you and offer you a nice reward to kill yourself. He instructs you to go to a specific cliff and throw yourself off of it. Alternately, there is a phone there which will contact a suicide hotline, which tells you "Thank you for calling the Hyperion Suicide Prevention Hotline, Handsome Jack regrets to inform you that you are a coward". Whatever you do, it doesn't really matter; the Hyperion New-U station will instantly resurrect you if you die, taking a portion of your money but earning you 12 Eridium as a reward; Jack knows this, he just wants to watch you die for kicks. If you call the hotline instead, you get no Eridium, but triple experience for the quest.

* Wesley Gibson [[spoiler:and his father, Cross]] in ''{{Wanted}}'' [[spoiler:but that was an EvilPlan by his shady employer.]]

* ''Discworld/{{Mort}}'': Death comforts the ghost of an assassinated king with the knowledge that he has an appointment with the King's assassin later on. Apparently it isn't a good idea to let someone skilled in poisons and capable of contracting a killer prepare you a packed lunch.

* In ''Comicbook/FromHell'', the conspirators contemplate having William Gull killed when his mental illness reveals him as a liability. Ultimately they [[spoiler:throw him into an asylum under a false name.]]

** Lupin once pays a hitman to take a contract out on himself, [[Manga/LupinIII literally]]. [[spoiler: Turns out the hitman has split personality issues.]]

* In the FightingGame ''EternalChampions'', this is how the character Shadow died - her organization realized she wanted to turn against them, and thus "gave" her a trip off the 100th floor of their headquarters.

* In ''Franchise/DeadOrAlive'', Ayane is required to kill her half-sister Kasumi as desertion from a ninja clan is punishable by death.

* The game ''ShadowWarrior'' has Lo Wang, the title character, being targeted by his former employer Zilla when he quit his corporation after learning of Zilla's plan to rule Japan with creatures summoned from the dark side. Being a martial arts style FirstPersonShooter, it soon becomes a quest to avenge Wang's master, who is killed by Zilla's men.
* ''{{Tsukihime}}'': After Kiri Nanaya, the head of the [[BadassFamily Nanaya clan]] of demon/demon-hybrid assassins, retires and leaves the protection of the organization he belonged to, Makihisa Tohno and Kouma Kishima lead an attack on them. After a prolonged battle, Kiri is killed by Kouma, who goes on to slaughter everyone else except Shiki. Both were motivated by personal vendetta: Kouma was attacked and had one of his eyes blinded by Kiri when he was younger during one of his missions, and Makihisa is implied to have been the client for that hit, who Kiri tried and failed to kill out of impulse.

* ''LaFemmeNikita'', including the American version ''PointOfNoReturn'' (a.k.a. ''The Assassin'') and the Hong Kong version ''Black Cat''.

-->--'''Film/{{Star Trek VI|The Undiscovered Country}}'''

* In ''FromHell'', the conspirators contemplate having William Gull killed when his mental illness reveals him as a liability. Ultimately they [[spoiler:throw him into an asylum under a false name.]]

** This trope sometimes comes into play for a Jigen or Goemon Origins Episode.

* LupinTheThird once pays a hitman to take a contract out on himself, literally. [[spoiler: Turns out the hitman has split personality issues.]]

* Three [[CorruptCorporateExecutive businessmen]] who once hired [[ComicBook/{{Elektra}} Elektra's]] had this as official policy. They would routinely "retire" hitmen after they performed three jobs, using their replacements to do the deed. One of the three was smart enough to avoid trying this with Elektra. Too bad one of the others didn't get the memo...

* One of [[ComicBook/{{Elektra}} Elektra's]] former employers had this as official policy. They would routinely "retire" hitmen after they performed three jobs, using their replacements to do the deed. One of the three was smart enough to avoid trying this with Elektra. Too bad one of the others didn't get the memo...

* The main character in ''GrossePointeBlank'' is targeted by fellow hitmen after he refuses to join their labor union.

* ''LaFemmeNikita'', including the American version ''PointOfNoReturn'' (a.k.a. ''The Assassin'') and the Hong Kong version ''Black Cat''.

* ''Discworld/{{Mort}}'' Death comforts the ghost of an assassinated king with the knowledge that he has an appointment with the King's assassin later on. Apparently it isn't a good idea to let someone skilled in poisons and capable of contracting a killer prepare you a packed lunch.

* {{Tsukihime}}: After Kiri Nanaya, the head of the [[BadassFamily Nanaya clan]] of demon/demon-hybrid assassins, retires and leaves the protection of the organization he belonged to, Makihisa Tohno and Kouma Kishima lead an attack on them. After a prolonged battle, Kiri is killed by Kouma, who goes on to slaughter everyone else except Shiki. Both were motivated by personal vendetta: Kouma was attacked and had one of his eyes blinded by Kiri when he was younger during one of his missions, and Makihisa is implied to have been the client for that hit, who Kiri tried and failed to kill out of impulse.

* After [[{{Tsukihime}} Kiri Nanaya]], the head of the [[BadassFamily Nanaya clan]] of demon/demon-hybrid assassins, retires and leaves the protection of the organization he belonged to, Makihisa Tohno and Kouma Kishima lead an attack on them. After a prolonged battle, Kiri is killed by Kouma, who goes on to slaughter everyone else except Shiki. Both were motivated by personal vendetta: Kouma was attacked and had one of his eyes blinded by Kiri when he was younger during one of his missions, and Makihisa is implied to have been the client for that hit, who Kiri tried and failed to kill out of impulse.

* ''TheInternational'' features a MegaCorp that's rather [[BadBoss too fond]] of YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness. The fact that their ContractOnTheHitman shows its hand before "[[DeadlyEuphemism The Consultant]]" manages to kill the protagonist saves the target's life, resulting in a fairly awesome EnemyMine BlastOut ''in [[MonumentalBattle the Guggenheim]]''.

* In ''DeadOrAlive'', Ayane is required to kill her half-sister Kasumi as desertion from a ninja clan is punishable by death.