History Main / LeaderWannabe

* {{Hawkeye}}, when he joined ComicBook/TheAvengers, spent all his time harassing Captain America.

* Karkat in ''{{Webcomic/Homestuck}}'' decides to be the leader of the trolls' session, mainly because he wants to feel important, possibly also because he's too high-strung to leave bad enough alone. Despite how much he talks about being the leader, the fact is everyone mostly just does whatever bullshit they'd have done anyway and doesn't really follow his directions any more than anyone else's.

* Raye in the dubbed version of ''Anime/SailorMoon'' would take any chance to complain that Serena didn't deserve to be leader of the Sailor Scouts and try to take over the position herself. This runs a strong contrast to the original Rei, who simply pushed harder for Usagi to stop flaking and goofing off.

* {{Hawkeye}}, when he joined ComicBook/TheAvengers, stayed all his time harassing Captain America.

* From ''[[Literature/{{Redwall}} The Taggerung]]'', Gruven Zann wants to hold that title, and even claims to do so by boasting that [[YouKillItYouBoughtIt he killed the previous Taggerung]].
* In ''Literature/WarriorCats'', many young cats claim they want to be leader someday, though most of them are just happy to be warriors when they become older. The most notable example of a cat wishing to become leader is the series' BigBad: he attempts to secretly kill the Clan leader in order to become leader himself - as second-in-command, he gets the position if she dies.

** [[WesternAnimation/AladdinTheSeries The TV series]] had Abis Mal, who often plots to become sultan - apparently just to wear the Sultan's CoolHat.

** The TV series had Abis Mal, who often plots to become sultan - apparently just to wear the Sultan's CoolHat.

* Sten sort of drifts into this in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' when (or is it if? not sure if it is dependent on player choice) when he confronts the player character before going into the cultist village and claims he is taking control of the party.

->Mal: [[RhetoricalQuestionBlunder Well...]] [[BuffySpeak you can't]].

* When [[{{Robin}} Damian Wayne]] briefly joined the ComicBook/TeenTitans (at [[{{Nightwing}} Dick Grayson]]-[[TakingUpTheMantle as]]-{{Batman}}'s urging), he immediately declared himself leader (since the current {{Robin}} is traditionally the leader of the team), but this led to conflict with Red Robin (Tim Drake), the actual leader of the Titans.

->Mal: Well, you can't.

* Sten sort of drifts into this in ''VideoGame/DragonAge'' when (or is it if? not sure if it is dependent on player choice) when he confronts the player character before going into the cultist village and claims he is taking control of the party.

* Sky from ''Series/PowerRangersSPD''. He finally achieves this in the finale.

* {{Hawkeye}}, when he joined TheAvengers, stayed all his time harassing Captain America.

* Hawkeye, when he joined the Avengers, stayed all his time harassing Captain America.

->Jayne: Yes.
->Mal: [[LameComeback Well, you can't.]]

Who doesn't want to be TheLeader? Your team/army/country listens to you and respects you, you're the one to come up with the team's attack plan, and when all of you get publicly recognized, you get most or all of the credit for saving the day because you're the "face" of the team. Because of these perks, many people desperately want to be TheLeader of their team.

Those aren't, however, the only reasons a character wants to be TheLeader. There are times when a character [[TheResenter resents]] the actual leader of the group, either due to an ego issue or due to justified resentment of TheLeader's methods. TheLancer is likely to be a Leader Wannabe, because of his position on the team. Other times the Lancer ''doesn't'' especially want to lead but the Leader assumes he does, causing the Leader to watch his back unnecessarily.

SuperTrope to TheStarscream. SisterTrope to TheTeamWannabe.

* ''Film/{{Serenity}}''. Jayne tries this at one point when he's disgusted with Mal's leadership.

->Mal: Well, you can't.

Those aren't, however, the only reasons a character wants to be TheLeader. There are times when a character [[TheResenter resents]] the actual leader of the group, either due to an ego issue or due to justified resentment of TheLeader's methods. TheLancer is likely to be a LeaderWannabe, because of his position on the team. Other times the Lancer ''doesn't'' especially want to lead but the Leader assumes he does, causing the Leader to watch his back unnecessarily.

* ''{{Serenity}}''. Jayne tries this at one point when he's disgusted with Mal's leadership.

* From ''[[{{Redwall}} The Taggerung]]'', Gruven Zann wants to hold that title, and even claims to do so by boasting that [[YouKillItYouBoughtIt he killed the previous Taggerung]].

* ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': After Harmony & Spike break up, Harm decides to become the leader of a vampire den of her own. Upon hearing about this:

* Sky from ''PowerRangersSPD''. He finally achieves this in the finale.

* On {{MASH}}, Frank Burns often would covet being the CO, and would thus relish the times when (as 2nd in command) he would be temporarily put into command (his underlings, not so much).

* Lily in VideoGame/TheWalkingDead attempts to lead the group, but most of the survivors, except her father Larry, listen to Kenny instead when it comes to important issues or life-threatening situations.

Who doesn't want to be TheLeader? Your team listens to you and respects you, you're the one to come up with the team's attack plan, and when the team gets publicly recognized, you get most or all of the credit for saving the day because you're the "face" of the team. Because of these perks, many people desperately want to be TheLeader of their team.

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!!Examples

** The TV series had Abis Mal, who often plots to become sultan - apparently just to wear the Sultan's CoolHat.