History Main / IWorkAlone

* In ''VideoGame/PotionPermit'', Matheo refuses to let the Chemist help him find the cure for a new disease that's spreading around Moonbury because he distrusts them and is determined to discover an all-natural cure for it, in order to maintain his family's tradition of using natural remedies.

This is a character who is defined by their insistence on, well, working alone. They refuse partnerships or offers to join teams, and even if they do end up allying with the heroes, they will prefer to operate by themselves.

* ''Series/Hunter1984''. This is why detectives Rick Hunter and Dee Dee [=McCall=] team up in the first place. [[DaChief Captain Cain]] demands that Hunter work with a partner to keep his CowboyCop tendencies under control, so Hunter makes a deal with [=McCall=] (whom he already knows, but apparently hasn't been partnered with before) to pretend to be his partner while they work their separate cases. However Cain quickly gets wise to this trick and threatens to call them on the radio and if they both can't answer to show they're working together ("In the car, or in the can"), Hunter will be in trouble. However our heroes quickly find they like working together anyway.

Can overlap with AloofAlly, who ''has'' teammates and allies but is distant from them. See also InformedLoner, who ''claims'' to always be alone but is actually surrounded by people, and IneffectualLoner, whose attempts to work alone are not effective; those guys usually end up embracing ThePowerOfFriendship. Contrast with IJustWantToHaveFriends, TrueCompanions, or YouAreNotAlone. Not to be confused with LeaveMeAlone, a StockPhrase for when you reject others' attempts at companionship, although someone who works alone may occasionally say it.

* ''Series/TheBoys2019''. In "Cherry", superhero Starlight isn't happy to be teamed-up with Deep, not least because his EstablishingCharacterMoment was coercing her into having sex with him. Starlight tries to argue this trope, but her Vought corporate minders won't let her because team-ups are good for ratings, (but also because they're worried that she might make a mistake, which does in fact happen once she's by herself).

* On ''Series/TheXFiles'', Mulder is originally portrayed this way. He hates the fact that he's been partnered with Scully and spends most of the first season alternating between annoying the hell out of her and being nice to her. By season two, though, he doesn't work alone... he just works with Scully. And if he can't work with Scully, he wants to work alone. He doesn't like to be partnered with anyone else even for a short time. Scully does the same thing in season 8 when partnered with John Doggett.

** The Spider-Men are established to work solo in their respective home universes and don't usually work in teams, which shows when they do team up. They each operate individually rather than as a team, and do not coordinate their attacks to better defeat their adversaries.

* Mirko in ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'' is a high-ranking pro hero who never takes on sidekicks and dislikes teaming up with other pros, only doing so when the government orders her to. This is because she's a BloodKnight who feels that teaming up would make her fights too easy.

Alternatively, this can be due to their cultural beliefs that stems from values of [[IndividualismVsCollectivism self-sufficiency, self-reliance, and personal growth]], these individualists view working solo as being more efficient than working with a group (whom they view as collectivists).

* ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'' brings us "Solos ," who, as their name suggests, are Edgerunners who prefer to work without a team, for various reasons. Given that Night City is a WretchedHive where you can die in a million different ways ''per day'', Solos who survive their contracts on their own typically become legends, and are often [[OneManArmy One-Person Armies]] in their own rights. [[spoiler:One such solo is [[PlayerCharacter V]] who, after an abortive heist that left everyone but them dead, more or less is ''forced'' to become a solo because no one is crazy enough to partner up with them again; however, as a result, they build up their reputation as someone who gets shit done ''despite'' not having a team behind them.]]

* [[CrazySurvivalist Bill]] from ''VideoGame/TheLastOfUs'' firmly believes that depending on others is stupid and that you should only count on yourself. [[{{Jerkass}} He is extremely rude]] and [[TeethClenchedTeamwork only seems to work with you to get you out of his holdout]], not because you need his help.

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemHeroes'' features "Solo"-type skills, which grant stat buffs and/or other benefits to their users if they are not adjacent to a space occupied by an ally unit of theirs. Several Heroes' [[WeaponSpecialization personal weapons]] and base skill sets focus on staying away from allies and fighting all by their lonesomes. The [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration reasons for this]] tend to vary, whether it be because said Heroes don't have sociable personalities (like Sirius, who keeps his real identity a secret and works with Marth for his own personal reasons), are used to isolation to some degree (like Shamir, who is a sniper whose job requires her to be away from the group), [[LeeroyJenkins are reckless and charge head first into battle]] (like Ephraim, who is a BloodKnight par excellence), or that they don't want allies to get caught in the crossfire of their abnormal powers (like the Fallen versions of Corrin, who constantly work to constrain their feral dragon instincts).
* Aloy in ''VideoGame/HorizonZeroDawn'' usually insists on trying to do everything herself, running off on her allies to save the world. This makes sense, given that she's lived most of her life as an outcast and has relied on herself. However, her allies are very devoted to her, and most of them are pretty skilled, so her behavior primarily annoys them. In ''VideoGame/HorizonForbiddenWest'', however, she needs to learn not to work alone and to work with her friends after facing a more significant threat.
* Spoken verbatim by White in ''VideoGame/NeonWhite'', who rebuffs any attempt the rest of the Neons make at teaming up with him.
* ''VideoGame/TheWalkingDead'':
** [[ActionGirl Molly]] from Season 1. She had been alone since she lost her sister when they left Crawford. While she enjoys her time with the group, she leaves, thinking it's for the best. She may also leave the group involuntarily if Lee accidentally shoots her in the shoulder at the school while trying to shoot walkers.
** [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute Jane]] in Season 2, who is similar to Molly except that in Jane's case, it's a DeconstructedTrope - she's introduced as a cold, pragmatic badass just like Molly was. However, as she stays and works with the group, [[DefrostingIceQueen she thaws out]] and it becomes apparent that she just holds this trope as her ''modus operandi'' because she's scared of losing people close to her, just like her younger sister, Jaime. With that in mind, it explains why [[spoiler:she pulls this trope straight-up and leaves the group after Sarah is eaten alive.]]
** In Season 1 Episode 4, Lee can elect to look for Clementine alone, even if the other characters beg him to let them help. Some players felt that they didn't want to put the group in danger, and that finding Clem was Lee's job alone to do.

* Aloy in ''VideoGame/HorizonZeroDawn'' and ''VideoGame/HorizonForbiddenWest'' usually insists on trying to do everything herself, running off on her allies to save the world. This makes sense given that she's lived most of her life as an outcast and has relied on herself. However, her allies are very devoted to her and most of them are quite skilled, so her behavior mostly serves to really annoy them. In the second game, however, she needs to learn to not work alone after facing a bigger threat.

* Used (word for word) in ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'': Buddy Pine, Mr. Incredible's self-proclaimed "biggest fan", invites himself on the hero's adventures, only to be rejected on the grounds that he's a kid in way over his head and that Mr. Incredible prefers to do his heroics alone. Buddy grows up to become the supervillain Syndrome and embarks on a decades-long revenge quest against not only Mr. Incredible, [[DisproportionateRetribution but all superheroes everywhere.]] He even brings this up after (seemingly) ''murdering Mr. Incredible's entire family.''

* One of the first things Gadgetmobile says in Film/InspectorGadget1999 after being activated.

* On ''WesternAnimation/{{TOTS}}'', J.P. likes to maintain that this is the case with him, though he'll often budge with persuasion.