History Main / LeaderWannabe

Compare UnfitForGreatness, contrast ReluctantRuler.

** In ''[[VideoGame/SonicBoom Snic Boom: Rise of Lyric]]'', Knuckles tries to take charge of the group at the Purification Plant, stating that Sonic and Amy take the elevator while he and Tails return to town in case it's attacked again, never mind that he took offense to Amy ''[[ByNoIMeanYes suggesting the exact same thing moments before]]''. Nobody took him seriously there.

** Sasuke Uchiha in the latter half of Part II in [[spoiler: If he's not abandoning his teammates for his own goals, proclaiming he'll be Hokage without listening to anyone else, and finally ''panicking'' when Obito tries a TotalPartyKill and decides to abandon everyone else but Naruto and Jugo to sacrifice one of his snakes in the process. It becomes abundantly clear the leader role isn't what he's able to do.]]

* In the first season of ''WesternAnimation/TotalDramaIsland'', [[AlphaBitch Heather]] was this. It probably would have gone better if she didn't treat all her teammates like crap.

* Sasuke Uchiha in the latter half of Part II in ''Manga/{{Naruto}}''. [[spoiler: If he's not abandoning his teammates for his own goals, proclaiming he'll be Hokage without listening to anyone else, and finally ''panicking'' when Obito tries a TotalPartyKill and decides to abandon everyone else but Naruto and Jugo to sacrifice one of his snakes in the process. It becomes abundantly clear the leader role isn't what he's able to do.]]

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 [[TheFaceOfTheBand the "face" of the team]]. Because of these perks, many people desperately want to be TheLeader of their team.

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

This trope often manifests as the character declaring himself the leader of whatever group he wants to lead, but no one acknowledges him, often because he either annoying, does nothing to contribute, or a combination of the two. They will often be a MilesGloriosus.

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]

->'''Mal''': You wanna run this ship?\\
'''Jayne''': Yes.\\
'''Mal''': Well... you can't.
-->-- '''''Film/{{Serenity}}'''''

[[AC:Anime and Manga]]

[[AC:Comics]]

[[AC:{{Film}}]]

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]

[[AC:Live Action TV]]
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': After Harmony & Spike break up, Harm decides to become the leader of a vampire den of her own. Upon hearing about this:
-->Buffy: ''Harmony'' has '''[[EvilMinions minions]]'''?
** In Season 7 Buffy gets this from some of the Potentials, notably Kennedy. She ends up being [[AchillesInHisTent temporarily deposed]] in favour of Faith, who didn't actually want the job.

* In ''{{Series/Justified}}'' Devil is TheDragon to Boyd Crowder. Ehen Boyd goes to prison for assaulting a US Marshall, Devil decides that it is his time to be in charge of the gang. However, Boyd does not plan to be in prison for long and left precise instructions about what is to be done in his absence. Boyd's girlfriend Ava tries to remind Devil of this but Devil refuses to take orders from a woman even if she is speaking for Boyd. Ava refuses to be disrespected and corrects Devil's attitude by hitting him in the face with a frying pan. When Boyd gets out and takes back control of the gang Devil [[spoiler: becomes TheStarscream and tries to take over by killing Boyd]].

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[[AC:Web Comics]]
* 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... or so it appears. Later chapters have some of the trolls admitting that, against all logic, Karkat actually made for a pretty decent leader: he kept everyone on track and his angry ranting and verbal abuse tended to annoy the trolls into actually ''doing'' things rather than just wasting time. It helps that Karkat does genuinely care about his friends underneath all the vitriol. Even when he renounces the leadership title due to his perceived failures, his friends still have confidence in him:
-->'''Karkat''': Maybe I'll die in the process of saving someone more crucial to victory? If that's what it takes to be a part of this, then so be it. I'm in.
-->'''Kanaya''': Statements like that are why you're our leader, Karkat.
-->'''Karkat''': I'm not your fucking leader anymore!
-->'''Kanaya''': Statements like that are ''also'' why you're our leader.

[[AC:Western Animation]]

* Jafar in ''{{Disney/Aladdin}}''.
** [[WesternAnimation/AladdinTheSeries The TV series]] had Abis Mal, who often plots to become sultan - apparently just to wear the Sultan's NiceHat.

* Texas in ''{{WesternAnimation/Motorcity}}'', while not really resentful of Mike Chilton, believes he should be [[TheDitz (or believes he ''is'')]] the leader. This is notable in "Texas-ify It" and "Threat Level: Texas!" the latter being a RecapEpisode in which he claims to have been responsible for several of Mike's accomplishments.

* ''WesternAnimation/SuperRobotMonkeyTeamHyperforceGo'': At the start of Season 3, with Chiro missing and Antauri [[spoiler: seemingly dead]], Sprx and Gibson spend quite a bit of time arguing over who is third-in-command and should therefore take over, even to the detriment of their attempts to find Chiro. After everything's over, they ask Antauri to clarify for the record who third-in-command actually is. [[spoiler: It's Nova.]]

* Sky from ''Series/PowerRangersSPD''. His goal is to become the Red Ranger, the leader of the Power Rangers. He finally achieves this in the finale.

** In ''[[VideoGame/SonicBoom Snic Boom: Rise of Lyric]]'', Knuckles tries to take charge of the group at the Purification Plant, stating that Sonic and Amy take the elevator while he and Tails return to town in case it's attacked again, never mind that he took offense to Amy ''[[NoExceptYes suggesting the exact same thing moments before]]''. Nobody took him seriously there.

* Junpei from ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'' is jealous of the main character after he becomes the leader of the group because he's the only one who can actually summon his persona at the time.

-->--'''''Film/{{Serenity}}'''''

* Sasuke Uchiha in the latter half of Part II in ''{{Naruto}}''. [[spoiler: If he's not abandoning his teammates for his own goals, proclaiming he'll be Hokage without listening to anyone else, and finally ''panicking'' when Obito tries a TotalPartyKill and decides to abandon everyone else but Naruto and Jugo to sacrifice one of his snakes in the process. It becomes abundantly clear the leader role isn't what he's able to do.]]

* ''ButchCassidyAndTheSundanceKid''. When Butch and the Kid return to the Hole in the Wall Gang they find that Harvey wants to take over from Butch. Harvey challenges Butch to a fight, but Butch takes him out with a surprise GroinAttack.

* Weiss, in the first volume of ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'', tries to get herself declared leader of the team. She fails because none of her teammates even like her- much less follow orders from her- and Professor Port recognizes that it is caused by her ego and persuades her to drop it. Unusually for the trope, Weiss is partly justified in her rebellion (Ruby being an inexperienced goofball who slacks off in class) and both girls end up [[TheAesop learning]] that leadership has to be ''earned'', not demanded.

->Mal: You wanna run this ship?
->Jayne: Yes.
->Mal: Well... you can't.

* In an episode of ''Series/{{Leverage}}'' Hardison decides that he would like to in charge of a con for once. He threatens to go on strike if he is not given a chance so the group makes him temporary leader. He approaches the con as if he was designing a video game and has great initial success but ultimately he overcomplicates things and it almost blows up in his face.

->Jayne: Yes Yes.

->Jayne: [[BluntYes Yes]].
-->({{Beat}})
->Mal: [[RhetoricalQuestionBlunder Well...]] [[LameComeback you can't]].

A SisterTrope to TheTeamWannabe.

* Buttercup of ''ThePowerpuffGirls'' believes sometimes that she should be the leader instead of Blossom.

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

* {{Iznogoud}} and his "[[CatchPhrase I want to be caliph in the caliph's place!]]"