History Main / RetiredOutlaw

* ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'': Cole Cassidy was once a proud member of the Deadlock gang of robbers, up until being caught by Gabriel Reyes who [[BoxedCrook offered him a deal to work for Overwatch]]. By all accounts, he actually did a pretty good job... until Reyes had to get into a fight with ''his'' superior Jack Morrison that left both of them presumed dead and Overwatch disbanding. By the time the plot gets into motion, Cassidy's dealing with the ramifications of his criminal past: bitter ex-comrades, lack of trust, and one hell of a identity crisis.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* [[spoiler:Habara a.k.a. "Archdemon"]] in ''Manga/DailyLivesOfHighSchoolBoys'' is a reformed bully. [[spoiler:She's a rather plain girl by the show's beginning, but she has yet to live down her past.]]

[[folder:Film]]
* Both Creator/ClintEastwood and Creator/MorganFreeman's characters in ''Film/{{Unforgiven}}''.
* ''Film/OnceUponATexasTrain'' has a band of retired outlaws who are reunited for one last job when their leader is finally released from prison.

* ''Film/YoungGunsII'' (in one of its great number of historical inaccuracies) portrays Pat Garrett as a Retired Outlaw who was part of Billy the Kid's group before being recruited into being a lawman and hunting Billy for the local authorities.
* In ''Film/ShanghaiNoon'', we have Roy O'Bannon, who starts the movie as an outlaw but by the end of the movie he's softened up. The epilogue reveals that [[spoiler:he has become a lawman, and that his real name is Wyatt Earp.]]
* [[spoiler:Ronald]] in ''Film/TheWarriorsWay''.
* The title character of ''Film/TheGreyFox'' is a former WildWest stagecoach robber who, after spending 33 years in prison, moves to a small town in British Columbia [[TwilightOfTheOldWest in the early 1900s]] to quietly spend the rest of his life as a law-abiding citizen. However, while there are no more stagecoaches to rob, trains soon prove to be an all-too-tempting target for the restless retired outlaw.
* ''Film/RobinAndMarian'': At the start of the film, Robin and Little John return to England as this but quickly get drawn back into their old lifestyle when the Sheriff tries to kidnap Marian.

* Rachel is one at the start of ''Film/GangOfRoses''. She straps her guns back on when her sister is murdered.

* In ''Film/{{Draw}}'', 'Handsome' Harry Holland has JustGotOutOfJail and is looking to go straight, but events conspire against him.

* In ''Literature/MysticRiver'' Jimmy Marcus was a juvenile delinquent and later the leader of a fairly sophisticated group of thieves. He retired for good after the combination of going to prison and his wife's death while he was inside, leaving him to raise their daughter when he got out, and now owns a convenience shop in town. Although the younger generation has no idea what he did, some of the neighborhood's older residents have never stopped thinking of him as a thief.

* In O. Henry's story, "A Retrieved Reformation," the safecracker Jimmy Valentine has gotten out of jail and is trying to go honest under [[StartingANewLife a new identity]] so that he can marry a banker's daughter. But when a young child accidentally locks herself in the bank's new super-secure safe, he's the only one with [[CoverBlowingSuperpower the tools and the skills]] to have a prayer of getting her out.

* ''Series/{{CSI}}'' once had an episode where one of the ringleaders of the Rwandan Genocide moved to America posing as a refugee, trying to put it behind him. It... doesn't work out...

* Earl from ''Series/MyNameIsEarl'' tries to do this by creating "good karma" through good deeds, after getting hit by a bus (as a balance for winning the lottery after all his bad deeds). Unfortunately, all the bad karma from before is still conspiring to force him into it. At one point, he loses faith in his list (of things to make up for) and goes back to his criminal practices. He gets hit by a car within a few days.
* While most of the fugitives in ''Series/TimeTrax'' continued their criminal activities in the 20th Century, one of them took the chance to get a fresh start and became a lawman. He died helping Lambert take down a present-era criminal (as well as teaching him how to quick-draw). His gravestone had a birth date a century and a half later than the death date, and the inscription "He found his place in time."

* The Music/TownesVanZandt song ''Pancho and Lefty'' has Lefty, who retired to Ohio after his compadre Pancho was killed. [[spoiler: The song implies Lefty sold Pancho out for the reward money as a nest egg.]]

* A storyline in the newspaper comic ''{{Latigo}}'' concerns an ex-gunman who goes straight after four years in prison, and becomes the preacher in the town of Rimfire. It originally ran in 1981.

* John Marston[[spoiler:'s family]] in ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption'' is a textbook example of the "going straight to law-abiding citizen" variety. His new life as a simple rancher went pretty well for him -- at least, until the FBI's predecessor kidnapped his family and ordered John to capture or kill his former gangmates.

* ''VideoGame/DiabloII'': Elzix the innkeeper makes no secret of the fact that he's a retired {{Desert Bandit|s}} leader. People seem to have forgiven him, since one IntrepidMerchant even reminisces about having been held up by him.
* ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'': Cole Cassidy was once a proud member of the Deadlock gang of robbers, up until being caught by Gabriel Reyes who [[BoxedCrook offered him a deal to work for Overwatch]]. By all accounts, he actually did a pretty good job... until Reyes had to get into a fight with ''his'' superior Jack Morrison that left both of them presumed dead and Overwatch disbanding. By the time the plot gets into motion, Cassidy's dealing with the ramifications of his criminal past: bitter ex-comrades, lack of trust, and one hell of a identity crisis.

* LoveFreak Miyu from ''Manga/SuperGals'' is a former gang leader. When the show starts she's dating the police officer who arrested her...