Not What I Signed on For in Live-Action Films.
- 1941 (1979): Claude volunteers to become a civil defense air raid spotter due to being told it will only entail sitting in a lawn chair in Ward's yard. Then the army places an AA gun in the yard, and Claude (who is afraid of heights) gets reassigned to a post at the top of a Ferris wheel along with Manchild Herbie.
- In James Cameron's Avatar, Action Girl mercenary pilot Trudi refuses to take part in the destruction of the Na'vi home and ultimately turns against Colonel Quaritch, saying "Screw this. I didn't sign up for this shit!"
- Avengers: Age of Ultron: Pietro and Wanda Maximoff (a.k.a. Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch) initially become Ultron's Co-Dragons when he tells them he wants to destroy the Avengers, as it was a Stark Industries bomb that destroyed their home and killed their parents. When they discover that Ultron also plans to cause The End of the World as We Know It, they promptly pull a Heel–Face Turn.
- In Broken Arrow (1996), Mr. Pritchett agreed to help Deakins steal two nuclear warheads—but not detonate one of them. When he protests, Deakins kills him. Similarly, when Deakins sees his plans going up in smoke (literally) and decides to set off the second one — which would kill him and everyone around him — Kelly lodges a similar protest.
- In The Dark Knight, the officer riding shotgun in the prison transport during the car chase shouts "I didn't sign up for this!" when the Joker takes out the police car in front of the transport with a rocket launcher.
- In the beginning of Edge of Tomorrow Cage tells General Brigham that he is a PR person and he did not sign up to go into a warzone and possibly get killed. Considering that Cage is a major in the US Army and there is a massive war going on against an alien threat, this is a ludicrous thing to say to a four star general who is also Cage's superior officer. Brigham is so disgusted by Cage's cowardice that he has him arrested for desertion, busted down to private and sent to a penal unit where he will be in the first wave of the upcoming invasion.
- Many James Bond films have a scene where the Big Bad meets his fellow villains to discuss their nefarious plans, and one of them realizes the scheme is far more drastic than he had thought ("You want to blow up Silicon Valley?!") He'll pull out, saying that he can't go along with something like that - and will promptly be Thrown from the Zeppelin so he can't tell anyone else.
- In Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, Max says this after seeing Blaster's true face and refuses to kill him.
- A variation in the first Mission: Impossible movie: Ethan gives the top-secret N.O.C. list to Luther because it's not what Luther signed up for, so he knows he won't try to steal it for his own hands.
- In Operation: Dumbo Drop, NVA Lieutenant Quang is ordered to kill the elephant that the Americans are transporting across Vietnam, but ultimately chooses not to.Quang: I did not join this army to shoot elephants. Especially ones that fly.
- One of Xander Drax's underlings in The Phantom is uncomfortable with the idea of obtaining power through occult means. He's speared in the back for his trouble.
- In The Princess Bride, Inigo and Fezzik are dismayed to learn Vizzini's plan involves killing Buttercup.
- In The Rock, Ed Harris' character has no intention of actually going through with his threatened chemical attack if his demands aren't met. He finds out at the end that his associates feel differently. More specifically, they felt that there was no going back — when his bluff is called, he folds but they decide to stay all in.
- In The Rocketeer, gangster Eddie Valentine enthusiastically assists criminal mastermind Neville Sinclair in the latter's attempt to steal the rocket pack... Until he finds out that Sinclair is planning on handing the thing over to the Nazis rather than use it to pull bigger crimes. As Valentine says, "I may not make an honest buck, but I'm 100% American..."
- Splash: Dr. Kornbluth exposes Madison as a mermaid in public, causing her to be captured by government scientists for examination. When he discovers that said scientists plan to dissect Madison, he is left guilt-ridden and helps Allen break her out, having only wanted to prove he wasn't crazy.
- In Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Lando Calrissian, though he didn't really have a choice when Darth Vader showed up at his door.Darth Vader: Calrissian, take the princess and the Wookiee to my ship.
Lando: You said they'd be left here under my supervision.
Darth Vader: I am altering the deal. Pray I do not alter it any further. - On a more comedic note, Zangief from Street Fighter bought into Bison's aspirations hook, line, and sinker. It takes Dee-Jay telling him outright that "We're the bad guys!" to get Zangief to pull a Heel–Face Turn.
- In the early 80s slasher film Terror Train, Final Girl Alana participated in a fraternity hazing prank where newbie pledge Kenny thinks he's going to sleep with her, but will find out it's really a dummy in the bed. Alana's understandably confused when Kenny pulls off the covers and has a complete Freak Out, only to realize in the dim light of the bedroom that the guys who set the prank up stole a corpse. Alana's thus riddled with guilt, and is the only one involved in the prank who does feel guilty when Kenny is hospitalized in a mental institution thanks to his severely shattered Trauma Button.
- In X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Wolverine is not too enthusiastic about massacring a village full of civilians.
