History Main / InHarmsWay

* ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'': Bob's dissatisfaction with his life is heavily driven by the dullness next to the adventure of super-heroing. (Helen held to this trope when they were superheroing; it was Bob who considered HomeSweetHome an interesting future.)

** This is also the guy who jumped on top of a '''tank''' proceeded to ''break open the lock on the lid with his sword'' and then ''kill everyone inside with said sword''. Alone. Naturally, by the end of the war, he had made [[ColonelBadass Lieutenant Colonel]]

* Creator/RobertEHoward's "SolomonKane's Homecoming"

* ''Webcomic/WapsiSquare'':
** [[http://wapsisquare.com/comic/no-other-shoe/ M discovers that after saving the world, it can be dull]]
** [[http://wapsisquare.com/comic/herculean-task/ She's not alone]]

* In ''Webcomic/ImpureBlood'', [[http://www.impurebloodwebcomic.com/Pages/Issue4PAGES/ib073.html an attack causes Elnor to comment that she had thought the town would be boring.]]
* In ''Webcomic/{{Endstone}}'', Herrik likes Kyri [[http://endstone.net/2010/05/20/issue-3-webpage-35/ because she's nothing but trouble]].
* ''Doodze'', [[http://seguemediagroup.com/doodze/?p=390 dreaming]] about [[http://seguemediagroup.com/doodze/?p=387 dragonslaying]].

* Same with the [[http://nodwick.humor.gamespy.com/fantatoon/FTChapter2.html second cartoon here]] from [[Webcomic/{{Nodwick}} Aaron Williams]] (also in Magazine/DragonMagazine).
* In ''Webcomic/{{Sinfest}}'', [[http://www.sinfest.net/view.php?date=2005-11-15 Percy claims to crave this.]]

* In ''Film/TheMummy1999'', Rick finds an old pilot who was a hero in his GloryDays, and he jumps at the chance to take them into incredible danger and die doing it (which he does).

* Ditto AbdullahTheButcher. Still jabbing forks in people's heads at the age of 69 and with no intention of ever retiring.

* Almost the entire Smurf Village gets reckless when Gargamel sprinkles Daredevil Dust on them in ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs'' episode "Reckless Smurfs".

* Enforced in the ''WesternAnimation/DungeonsAndDragons'' cartoon by the setup: the kids couldn't settle down in the realms, they had to continue to look for a way to get back home (that didn't lead to dire consequences.) That being said, almost every one of them were tempted to stay at times.

** This is the same guy who became a commando because it 'sounded dangerous', escaped from POW camps, and captured 42 Germans with his claybeg. Did we forget to mention? This man led his commandos into war (the shooty kind) carrying [[CrazyAwesome a claybeg, bow and arrows, and a fucking set of bagpipes]].

** Commissar Yarrick isn't going to stop until he has Gazhkull's head on his desk. ([[CompletelyMissingThePoint That's going to have to be one hell of a desk!]])

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': The Holliday Girls Bobby Strong and Glamora Treat live for adventure, and will invite themselves along on any expedition that promises some even if those in charge want to bar them from accompanying them. They've even stowed away when they weren't able to get permission.

* ''ComicBook/TheFlash'': Former villains Trickster and the Pied Piper joined their old friends the Rogues in an apparent FaceHeelTurn. After the Rogues had murdered Bart Allen (the Flash), they talked [[TheReveal revealing]] that it had been [[ReverseMole an attempted infiltration]] and they had both done it to get back to the adventure.

* John Paul Jones, who uttered the quotation at the top of the page, falls under this trope. His desire for naval adventure drove him to sail his lone ship into the home waters of the Royal Navy, at the time ''the most powerful Navy on the planet,'' and go so far as to actually ''raid the British Isles''. After doing so more than once, winning several battles against British frigates and surviving, when the Revolutionary War ended and America wasn't at war enough and wouldn't promote him, he served as an Admiral for the Mexican and Russian navies, so he could keep fighting at sea. [[{{Irony}} Ironically enough]], the page quote is actually Administrivia/NotAnExample; he had been captain of a slow ship for a while and was justifying in a letter why he wanted a faster one, though is representative of his whole attitude.

* In DC Comics, former ''ComicBook/TheFlash'' villains Trickster and the Pied Piper joined their old friends the Rogues in an apparent FaceHeelTurn. After the Rogues had murdered Bart Allen (the Flash), they talked [[TheReveal revealing]] that it had been [[ReverseMole an attempted infiltration]] and they had both done it to get back to the adventure.

* When ComicBook/{{Storm}} from the Comicbook/XMen married the Black Panther and became Queen of Wakanda, she could possibly do more good for the planet as a world leader than as a superhero, but finds palace life and politics mind-numbingly ''boring''. As a result, she makes regular trips to California to assist the X-Men.
** ComicBook/{{Cyclops}} is something of a {{Deconstruction}} of this trope. He always comes back to the X-Men, not because being an X-Man is fun, but because it’s what he’s been doing since he was 14 and he doesn’t know ''how'' to have a happy, peaceful life. When the rest of the original team left, he stuck around, choosing to stay with a group of strangers rather than move on with the love of his life, because he believed his PowerIncontinence meant that he couldn’t function in normal society. And, when he married and had a child with the ''other'' love of his life, he made a genuine attempt to leave superheroics behind him and settle down with his new family but was unable to adjust to everyday life, which ultimately ended his marriage when he left them to join X-Factor.
* [[ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse Scrooge McDuck]] would seem to be an example of that, travelling the world and making money for the thrill of it rather than for the money. Later in life, when he stops making money and settles down in Duckburg, he becomes depressed, shutting himself away in his mansion, and it is only the return of Donald and the nephews and their subsequent foiling of a robbery that shakes Scrooge out of his funk, turning him back to a life of adventure.
* Princess, now Queen, Iolande of the [[Franchise/GreenLantern Green Lantern Corps]]. Like Storm, she finds politicking absolutely dull and would rather be a full-time Green Lantern. Since she is the only remaining member of the royal family of her homeworld, that really isn't an option.

* E.R. Eddison's ''Literature/TheWormOuroboros'' contains perhaps the most egregious example. It ends with the triumph of the heroes and the defeat of their noble foes, after a long and ruinous war. The heroes are bored. So the gods bring back their foes that they might fight them. Without, of course, considering all the peasants, soldiers, etc. who suffered in the war.

* ''Anime/TenchiUniverse'' ends with all the craziness ended, Tenchi at home safe, and him being bored to have a normal life. Of course, Ryoko's reappearance in literally the last minute of the last episode provides Tenchi the promise of being in harms way all over again, [[AndTheAdventureContinues albeit off-camera]].

** ComicBook/{{Cyclops}} is something of a {{Deconstruction}} of this trope. He always come back to the X-Men, not because being an X-Man is fun, but because it’s what he’s been doing since he was 14 and he doesn’t know ''how'' to have a happy, peaceful life. When the rest of the original team left, he stuck around, choosing to stay with a group of strangers rather than move on with the love of his life, because he believed his PowerIncontinence meant that he couldn’t function in normal society. And, when he married and had a child with the ''other'' love of his life, he made a genuine attempt to leave superheroics behind him and settle down with his new family, but was unable to adjust to everyday life, which ultimately ended his marriage when he left them to join X-Factor.

* {{Franchise/Batman}} almost never retires, when he does its usually because he's too infirm to continue fighting crime, and even then he guarantees he has a replacement and participates in crime fighting [[MissionControl from the back lines]]. Played with, in that the reason for Batman's drive is less that VictoryIsBoring and more that his end goal lies somewhere between [[AsLongAsThereIsEvil the eradication of evil]] and the resurrection of his dead parents and reclaiming his childhood (without that harming anyone else), which needless to say he's never accomplished.

* John Paul Jones, who uttered the quotation at the top of the page, falls under this trope. His desire for naval adventure drove him to sail his lone ship into the home waters of the Royal Navy, at the time ''the most powerful Navy on the planet,'' and go so far as to actually ''raid the British Isles''. After doing so more than once, winning several battles against British frigates and surviving, when the Revolutionary War ended and America wasn't at war enough and wouldn't promote him, he served as an Admiral for the Mexican and Russian navies, so he could keep fighting at sea. [[{{Irony}} Ironically enough]], the page quote is actually Administrivia/NotAnExample; he had been captain of a slow ship for a while and was justifying in a letter why he wanted a faster one, though is is representative of his whole attitude.

* Takahisa Kandori presents a rare villainous example in ''VideoGame/{{Persona}}''. Having achieved his long-sought godhood, Kandori finds it's LonelyAtTheTop and has to be needled into action against the party.

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* SelfInsert Jeremiah Cross from ''Fanfic/ThisBites'' is a reported adrenaline junkie. When his life's in danger from intense heights or antagonizing someone who ''could'' flatten him single-handedly, his blood starts to boil and he'll often break [[LaughingMad into fits of laughter in the face of the danger]]. He first discovered this aspect of himself in the One Piece world when nearly being thrown from the ship traveling Reverse Mountain.
[[/folder]]

** ComicBook/{{Cyclops}} is something of a {{Deconstruction}} of this trope. He always come back to the X-Men, not because being an X-Man is fun, but because it’s what he’s been doing his entire life and he doesn’t know ''how'' to have a happy, peaceful life. When the rest of the original team left, he stuck around, choosing to stay with a group of strangers rather than move on with the love of his life, because he believed his PowerIncontinence meant that he couldn’t function in normal society. And, when he married and had a child with the ''other'' love of his life, he made a genuine attempt to leave superheroics behind him and settle down with his new family, but was unable to adjust to everyday life, which ultimately ended his marriage when he left them to join X-Factor.

** Bulma doesn't ''consistently'' revolve around this trope, but she's a PluckyGirl by nature, so when it does crop up, it's never out of place. For example, she insisted on taking her infant son to see her hero friends fight killer cyborgs, And her rationale for meeting Frieza face-to-face? If he's a PlanetDestroyer, she may as well face her doom head-on than pointlessly hide from it.

** Bulma doesn't ''consistently'' revolve around this trope, but she's a PluckyGirl by nature, so when it does crop up, it's never out of place. For example, she insisted on taking her infant son to see her hero friends fight killer cyborgs, And her rationale for meeting Frieza face-to-face? If he's a PlanetBuster, she may as well face her doom head-on than pointlessly hide from it.

* ''Franchise/DragonBall'': Because of Goku's SpiritedCompetitor nature, he is at his happiest when he's fighting, either for fun or for his life. When he hears that there is someone stronger than Vegeta, someone who literally crushed every bone in his body not even a month ago, he's all but giddy at the idea of fighting them. Beerus is the God of Destruction who [[TheDreaded the other gods fear]]? Goku challenges him to a sparring match. The other Gods of Destruction and their strongest warriors are after Goku since he put their universe in danger? He's more than happy to fight all of them and says so to their faces. Goku even admits that he fights at his best when he's on the edge. Pretty much the defining feature of the [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Saiyan race]]. They simply love fighting strong opponents.

* John Paul Jones, who uttered the quotation at the top of the page, falls under this trope. When the Revolutionary War ended and America wasn't at war enough and wouldn't promote him, he served as an Admiral for the Mexican and Russian navies, so he could keep fighting at sea. [[{{Irony}} Ironically enough]], the page quote is actually Administrivia/NotAnExample; he had been captain of a slow ship for a while and was justifying in a letter why he wanted a faster one.
* Thomas Cochrane, who upon being thrown out of the Royal Navy after being involved in a financial scam, promptly went to South America and masterminded the creation of several revolutionary navies...after eventually being exonerated by the British government, he then tried to sign up for the Crimean War ''in his eighties''. It should therefore be no surprise that he was the inspiration, via Literature/HoratioHornblower, for [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Captain Kirk]], [[Literature/AubreyMaturin Jack Aubrey]], [[Literature/HonorHarrington Honor Harrington]], and [[Literature/{{RCN}} Daniel Leary]].

* ''WesternAnimationTheLionKing1994'': [[RidiculouslyCuteCritter Cub Simba]] would certainly count, as his primary goal in life at that point is to go on dangerous adventures with his girlfriend [[ActionGirl Nala]].

* ''Disney/TreasurePlanet'': Jim has a bad case of it, getting him into trouble in the opening.
* ''Disney/TheLionKing'': [[Disney/RidiculouslyCuteCritter Cub Simba]] would certainly count, as his primary goal in life at that point is to go on dangerous adventures with his girlfriend [[Main/ActionGirl Nala]].