History Main / InspectorJavert

** Technically also applies in ''Film/MissionImpossibleFallout'', as the 'Javert' equivalent, CIA agent August Walker, is [[spoiler:actually the BigBad, who is working as a mole in the CIA to try and provoke them into going after Hunt]].

* Solomon, the leader of G3 ([[AlliterativeName Galactic Guardian Group]]) in ''WesternAnimation/SymBionicTitan''. He's not a villain but still is suspicious of whoever's controlling the Titan.

** Morgan. He starts out as a WellIntentionedExtremist and almost malicious about it, but after seven books or so his opinion of Harry gets upgraded to "reckless and unpredictable but probably not evil" (which, to be fair, is pretty accurate). He's at least suspicious until [[spoiler: the book he dies in]], but he eventually becomes willing to listen to Harry and give him a chance.
** [[ActionGirl Murphy]] occasionally acts as this, as well, though only in the first book-- after Harry fully explains TheMasquerade to her in ''Summer Knight'' (rather than giving her minimum information as cases demanded), she's ''much'' more cooperative.

---> "It's obvious these kids are innocent, but you're too dumb to realise it"

If sometimes {{clueless|Detective}}, Inspector Javert is the [[WellIntentionedExtremist well-intentioned]] law enforcement officer (or detective, or BountyHunter) who honestly (if sometimes wrongly) believes that the hero is a bad guy and [[{{Determinator}} doggedly pursues him]] in a SternChase, seeking to get him. However, the trope is not confined to heroes, and the Javert frequently finds himself pursuing criminals of all stripes, often the powerful or influential Mafia Boss or VillainWithGoodPublicity. In that case, he will be treated in-story as a noble hero who is [[IncorruptiblePurePureness completely immune to temptation]] and utterly dedicated to his duty. This can even [[DisproportionateRetribution apply]] to petty criminals, resulting in, say, [[Literature/LesMiserables ten years spent chasing down a thief who stole a loaf of bread.]]

* ''Film/{{Red}}'': Agent William Cooper. He's a CIA agent tasked to hunt down the main characters and doesn't question the motive behind the mission because he's just simply doing his job. Once he discovers the real truth behind [[spoiler:the kidnapping of the Vice President and the conspiracy behind it, he not only lets the main characters go but ''shoots his boss dead'' and then "handles" the fallout of the whole affair]].

* Taken UpToEleven in ''Deux Hommes dans la Ville'' (a.k.a. ''Two Against the Law'' and ''Two Men in Town''), where it is a major plot drive. In fact, a main cause of the film's DownerEnding.

* Four of the five ''Film/MissionImpossible'' films have one in pursuit of Ethan Hunt (IMF superiors Kittridge and Brassel in the first and third films respectively, inspector Sidorov in the fourth and CIA agent Hunley in the fifth). The [[Film/MissionImpossibleII second film]] is the only exception.

* While Inspector Uhl in the film ''Film/TheIllusionist'' is tireless in his pursuit, he is a likeable guy and more of an ObstructiveBureaucrat than an actual villain.

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond:'' Barbara tends to come off as such towards Terry. It's shown to its greatest extent in "Eyewitness," in which Spellbinder uses his illusion technology to make Barbara believe that Batman had murdered Mad Stan in cold blood. When he is exposed and promptly arrested, Spellbinder takes the time to taunt Barbara:

* Goyoda Heiji/Bob Copper in ''VideoGame/MegaManStarForce''. He has a valid reason to believe Mega Man is bad in the anime, as he at one point cuts open a truck full of radio viruses slated (presumably) for cleaning or deletion while trying to escape a particularly nasty enemy. Though the man is [[WhatAnIdiot hilariously incompetent]] at this, despite being very competent at everything else regarding his job, and very, very persistent. Geo seems to be incredibly good at this ClarkKenting thing.

* When it comes to hunting down the ''ComicBook/IncredibleHulk'', General Ross slides among three tropes: this, GeneralRipper, and KnightTemplar. HeWhoFightsMonsters comes into play [[spoiler: as in his pursuit of destroying the Hulk he himself becomes [[EvilCounterpart the Red Hulk]]]].

* In ''Series/ThePRetender'', Miss Parker led the Centre Pursuit Team to hunt down Jarod across the United States.

** The crossover spin-off game ''VideoGame/BlazBlueCrossTagBattle'' has [[VideoGame/UnderNightInBirth Orie]] and [[WebAnimation/{{RWBY}} Weiss]] fall under this upon confronting Ragna after finding one his [[RunningGag badly-drawn wanted posters]]. Hazama, [[VillainHasAPoint of all people]], [[WhatTheHellHero calls them out on it]].

* The Seeker in ''Literature/TheHost'', who is convinced that Wanderer is still alive even after she disappears after days in the desert and continues to search for her for months.

* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/ThomasAndFriends'' had Thomas run afoul of a particularly overzealous constable who makes a big deal out of Thomas travelling down a tramway without cowcatchers and side plates, [[IdiotHero to which Thomas remarks that he doesn't catch cows]]. The constable marks Thomas as a [[{{Delinquents}} regular law breaker]], despite the fact that his predecessor [[FriendOnTheForce whom Thomas was good friends with]] had no problem with Thomas using that road. Supplementary materials written by the Reverend Awdry explain that the offending officer enforced small laws that none of his peers really cared about. In the time that the episode takes place in (1951), the law in question, a Ministry of Transportation regulation, had actually been repealed for several years, meaning that the constable was ''enforcing an outdated law''.

[[caption-width-right:350:Do they ''ever'' leave him alone? Answer: no.]]

[[caption-width-right:350:Do they ''ever'' leave him alone? Answer is NO.]]

[[caption-width-right:350:Do they ''ever'' leave him alone? [[spoiler:Answer is NO.]]]]

[[caption-width-right:350:Do they ''ever'' leave him alone? [[spoiler:Answer is: NO.]]]]

* Quite a few of Literature/{{Discworld}} City Watch books deliberately set up Commander Sam Vimes as a subversion of this trope. He is absolutely dedicated to the law in letter and in spirit, and will doggedly pursue any criminal...[[ToBeLawfulOrGood So long as their crime warrants it]], because Sam Vimes understands on a very deep and personal level the difference between crimes of desperation and crimes of malice. This is made most obvious in ''Literature/{{Night Watch|Discworld}}'', which is a WholePlotReference to the TropeNamer... [[SubvertedTrope with the important twist]] that the "Valjean" of the story is actually TheSociopath and a serial armed robber with several murders to his name and the "Javert" is Vimes himself, a tough but utterly fair OldFashionedCopper who probably stole a few loaves of bread himself as a young boy because it was that or starve.

* ComicBook/CaptainAmerica is this in ''Target X''. He feels personally responsible for all the killings ComicBook/{{X 23}} has carried out because she slipped his grasp after her field test by masquerading as a wounded survivor. He reveals he's been tracking her down ever since (approximately ''six years'') and is obsessed with bringing her to justice. He's driven to the point where he completely ignores [[ComicBook/{{Daredevil}} Matt Murdock's]] attempts to warn him that S.H.I.E.L.D. won't care really about justice but instead will use her as a weapon the same way she was used by the Facility. Before he can actually turn her over, however, he recognizes the truth of this and that Laura was as much a victim as the people she killed and lets her go.

** [[ComicBook/BlackPanther T'Challa]] is this during his introductory appearance in ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar''. After his father is killed in a bombing at a United Nations summit, he resolves to [[YouKilledMyFather have his vengeance]] on Bucky Barnes, who has been publicly blamed for the attack. Of course, Bucky was framed for the attack by Helmut Zemo, but T'Challa assumes his attempts to flee from justice are a sign of guilt and doesn't listen when Bucky proclaims his innocence. Ultimately, [[spoiler:T'Challa realizes his mistake upon overhearing Zemo admit to the bombing while eavesdropping on Barnes, and subsequently takes Zemo into custody; to make up for his hasty judgment, he allows the still-wanted Barnes to take refuge in Wakanda]].

** Laurel Lance is this in Season 2, switching roles with her father Quentin. After blaming the Arrow for Tommy Merlin's death she concludes his brand of justice is not what she thought it was until she reconsiders later in the season.

** The entire government of Gallifrey is this to the Doctor from as far back as the Second Doctor story [[Recap/DoctorWhoS6E7TheWarGames "The War Games"]], and have escalated to truly monstrous UngratefulBastard levels by [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E10FaceTheRaven "Face the Raven"]]. This has come to bite them in the ass, however, because their constant belief that the Doctor conspires against them has him declare "ThenLetMeBeEvil" in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E12HellBent "Hell Bent"]], and ''seriously'' tries to do so.

* ''Franchise/StarTrek'':
** In an episode of ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', a renegade Star Fleet officer acknowledges Captain Sisko's pursuit of him as well-intentioned, while he considers himself a Jean Valjean character. Sisko's reaction is to "[[InvokedTrope become Javert]]", and act like a villain, manipulating his quarry into surrendering in an act of self-sacrifice. He does this by [[spoiler: [[DesignatedHero releasing a chemical weapon on a human-inhabited world that makes it uninhabitable to humans]] in retaliation for Eddington doing the same thing to a Cardassian-inhabited planet]]. This is one of the most polarising episodes in the series as a result, and cemented Sisko's reputation as a ''[[GoodIsNotSoft very]]'' [[IDidWhatIHadToDo different]] kind of Starfleet officer to any previous protagonist in the franchise.
** The entire Federation is this in the eyes of the Maquis. It's somewhat telling that the destroyed Maquis ship whose crew later joined ''Voyager'' is mentioned as having being named the ''Valjean''.
** [[Literature/LesMiserables The trope namer]] is explicitly discussed in the episode. Sisko and Dax read a digital copy of the novel while discussing how to use it to thwart Eddington's plans (since Eddington sees himself as Valjean specifically as he has also read the novel), and Dax says she is not a fan of Victor Hugo's writing, saying it is too sprawling for her taste.

* Noel in ''VideoGame/{{Blazblue}}'' is this when she comes across Ragna, the highest bounty criminal wanted by her organisation NOL. This was dropped as she came to learn [[HeroWithBadPublicity about him personally]]. It helps that she's [[NiceGirl far nicer]] and [[ButtMonkey more sympathetic]] the other holders of this trope. Her friend Tsubaki is a straighter example, as she actively hates Ragna since she (wrongly) believes that he's the cause of all her friends' suffering. Unlike Noel, Tsubaki refuses to view Ragna as anything more than a criminal.

* Jim from ''WesternAnimation/CodeLyoko'' is this for Season 1. He suspects that Jeremie and his friends are up to no good since they've been sneaking around a lot within the last few months. Near the end of the season, his determination to find out the truth leads to him chasing Jeremie through the dorms, which leads to the latter getting a twisted ankle and Jim being fired. But that leads to him learning the truth and becoming an ally, meaning that after the gang presses the ResetButton, he becomes a much better character.

* Renee Montoya plays this role in the early episodes of ''Series/{{Gotham}}'' pursuing the mistaken belief that Jim Gordon [[spoiler: framed Mario Pepper and murdered Oswald Copplepot]]. The situation is further complicated by the fact that Jim is engaged to her ex Barbara and she continues to carry feelings for Barbara. Her partner Crispus Allen calls her out of this saying she is taking things too personally.

* ''Manga/OnePiece'':
** [[SuperSmoke Smoker]], and by extension [[BadassAdorable Tashigi]]. Subverted when Smoker was proven right about the chaos Luffy would cause.
** It's also confirmed that [[OldSoldier Vice-Admiral Garp]] was this to Gold Roger. [[spoiler:He still agreed to raise Roger's son, at the other's request]].