History Main / ChallengingTheChief

-->-- '''Lex Luthor''', ''Series/LoisAndClark'', "The Phoenix"

* Parodied in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', with Fry challenging the leader of a post-apocalyptic society of children to what is essentially a skateboard race. [[spoiler:Fry wins, but the leader planned to just killed him anyway, and no one objected. His victory over a small child is denigrated further by the revelation that the society is in fact a LA creche.]]

** When they encounter a band of thieves in the forest, Haley challenges their leader - an eighteen-year-old sorceress - for control of the gang. She fails miserably. In fact, she [[EpicFail fails epically]]. Then the bandit leader's father (and predecessor) challenges her; since the sorceress is [[VancianMagic out of spell uses for the day]] she is easily vanquished. And then Durkon arrives and accidentally knocks out the bandit leader...

* ''Literature/OfFireAndStars'': In order to become monarch of Zumorda, a person must defeat three successive champions and then the current monarch herself.

** ''Asterix and the Big Fight'': in order to destroy Asterix's village, the Romans call a [[LesCollaborateurs Roman-loving]] Gaul chief to fight Vitalstatistix, using the fact that the druid Getafix is currently neutralized. Vitalstatistix manages to win without the magic potion by running around the ring and eventually punching the exhausted adversary - but he refuses to take control of his village, who then go back from Gallo-Roman to regular Gaul.
** In ''Asterix and Caesar's Gift'', Caesar grants the deed to the village to an ignoble retired legionary as a prank, who in turn trades it for a jar of wine. The new deed-owners go to the village, and eventually end up challenging Vitalstatistix to an election. Geriatrix also gets in on the action, but nobody pays attention to him.

* ''Fanfic/TheRigelBlackChronicles'': Leo became the Rogue, king of the Lower Alleys, by besting all comers in single combat, and has to regularly defend his title from friendly or unfriendly hopefuls. The stated aim of this rule is to ensure that the king is prepared to defend his people.
--> '''Leo''': It's a monstrously unsatisfying system, for the king at least. If he wins, he gets my position, but if I win, I get nothing for my troubles.

* The Kingdom of Wakanda in ''Film/BlackPanther2018'' has a system in which during the coronation ceremony, nobles with royal blood from each of the five constituent tribes are given the opportunity to challenge the crown prince in a fight to the death/submission. The winner becomes the new king of Wakanda. By the time of the film, the challenge ritual seems to have become a minor point of formality kept for tradition's sake. When M'Baku ''actually'' challenges T'Challa for the throne, everyone is genuinely shocked. [[spoiler:Erik, as T'Challa's long-lost cousin, is able to challenge T'Challa later, but although he appears to win after throwing T'Challa off a waterfall, T'Challa's survival and return to the fold a few days later triggers a brief civil war, T'Challa observing that the challenge was technically never completed as he didn't yield and he clearly isn't dead]].

* ''Film/TheChroniclesOfRiddick2004'' has the "[[YouKillItYouBoughtIt You keep what you kill]]" principle embedded in Necromonger religion, which [[spoiler:leads to this trope occurring for Riddick after he kills the Lord Marshall]].

* ''Film/HellboyIITheGoldenArmy'' had the "challenge the leader to stop the army" version down to a pat. After fighting the Golden Army for a few minutes, the heroes realize that there are far too many MechaMooks for them to deal with, with the few they did destroy magically [[PullingThemselvesTogether reassembling themselves]] anyway. Hellboy challenges the elven Prince Nuada to a duel for control of the Golden Army and since Hellboy's father is a member of Hell's nobility, he has that right. [[spoiler:Nuada is actually winning the duel until his sister Nuala kills herself, their bound lifeforce also resulting in Nuada's death.]]

* ''LightNovel/ThatTimeIGotReincarnatedAsASlime'': This is how advancement in the military of the [[TheEmpire Eastern Empire]] works, as they're firm believers of AsskickingLeadsToLeadership. Indeed, to become the commander of one of the military divisions, you are ''expected'' to be capable of defeating anyone and everyone under your command, so this system helps in proving your credentials. Rank-based duels where lower-ranked members challenge their superiors for their positions are common, but also have strict regulations in order to avoid spiraling into uncontrolled KlingonPromotion, backstabbing, and bloodbaths. A third party must arbitrate, witnesses must be present for certification, duels are forbidden during military maneuvers, and if you challenge someone and lose or kill your opponent, you have to wait a year before challenging again in order to discourage the act of losing valuable human resources (while your higher-ranked defender can kill the challenger with no penalty under the idea of a fatal YouAreNotReady). [[spoiler:This is how Yuuki Kagurazaka is able to catapult himself from fresh addition to the Composite Division to its commander in less than a year of joining the Empire.]]

* ''TabletopGame/ArsMagica'': One prerequisite for the title of [[TheArchmage Archmage]] is to defeat a sitting Archmage at a challenge of their own design -- sometimes a WizardDuel, sometimes a bizarre CookingDuel. The sitting Archmage isn't deposed, but after seven losses, they can't be challenged again and are widely seen as disgraced, so it's very bad form in MagicalSociety to challenge one who's suffered five or six losses.

''To be the man, you've got to beat the man.''

* Can easily happen in ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'''s Clan society, where trial by combat is a common way for the ruling warrior caste to settle disputes and grudges already and even ''rank'' is generally determined by combat performance up until one reaches the highest levels. Seeking advancement or the removal of an incompetent-looking immediate superior by challenging them for their position is explicitly ''allowed'' as long as protocol is observed (and can often pass even if it's not, depending on circumstances).

** Orks decide their leaders based on single combat ranging from low cunning to high explosives, but usually pit fighting. They do this because orks consider skill in combat more important than any real leadership capability, intelligence or strategic merit. [[BoisterousBruiser Orks being orks]], though, there isn't a formal system (formality being a foreign concept to orks) in place for managing challenges. Notably, they aren't required to be one-on-one, although ganging up isn't allowed (they'd have to share power, another thing orks don't understand). When a high-ranking ork boss dies, a free-for-all is the usual result. This can be used to great effect against them: the [[Literature/CiaphasCain Siege of Perlia]], for instance, collapsed when Cain inadvertently challenged the Warboss to a duel and won, causing a fight to break out among the subordinate clan bosses -- who were promptly roasted by a flamer courtesy Imperial reinforcements. Each clan boss's own court of nobs broke into infighting in a similar manner, and the whole Waaagh! was broken up in jig time by the Imperial Guard counterattack.

* The Kingdom of Wakanda in ''Film/BlackPanther2018'' has a system in which during the coronation ceremony, nobles with royal blood from each of the five constituent tribes are given the opportunity to challenge the crown prince in a fight to the death/submission. The winner becomes the new king of Wakanda. By the time of the film, the challenge ritual seems to have becomes a minor point of formality kept for tradition's sake. When M'Baku ''actually'' challenges T'Challa for the throne, everyone is genuinely shocked. [[spoiler:Erik, as T'Challa's long-lost cousin, is able to challenge T'Challa later, but although he appears to win after throwing T'Challa off a waterfall, T'Challa's survival and return to the fold a few days later triggers a brief civil war, T'Challa observing that the challenge was technically never completed as he didn't yield and he clearly isn't dead]].

* Following the collapse of their EenieMeenieMinyMoai-building society and years of brutal chaos, the native populace of Rapa Nui (Easter Island) hit upon a means of averting constant warfare, the ritual of the Bird Man. The first man to retrieve the egg of a specific holy seabird from a tiny nearby islet would rule Rapa Nui for a year, then pass his authority on to the next Bird Man. As the islet was a long and treacherous swim away, waterless, and only intermittently used as a nest site by the birds in question, it was a dangerous task that not every challenger for the chiefdom survived.

* The Kingdom of Wakanda in ''Film/{{Black Panther|2018}}'' has a system in which during the coronation ceremony, nobles with royal blood from each of the five constituent tribes are given the opportunity to challenge the crown prince in a fight to the death/submission. The winner becomes the new king of Wakanda. By the time of the film, the challenge ritual seems to have becomes a minor point of formality kept for tradition's sake. When M'Baku ''actually'' challenges T'Challa for the throne, everyone is genuinely shocked. [[spoiler:Erik, as T'Challa's long-lost cousin, is able to challenge T'Challa later, but although he appears to win after throwing T'Challa off a waterfall, T'Challa's survival and return to the fold a few days later triggers a brief civil war, T'Challa observing that the challenge was technically never completed as he didn't yield and he clearly isn't dead]].

* ''Film/TheChroniclesOfRiddick'' has the "[[YouKillItYouBoughtIt You keep what you kill]]" principle embedded in Necromonger religion, which [[spoiler:leads to this trope occurring for Riddick after he kills the Lord Marshall]].