History Main / HeroicWannabe

* Utena from ''RevolutionaryGirlUtena'' desires to become the saintly Prince who saved her as a child, and most of the series deals with deconstructing, subverting, and arguably playing straight this concept as Utena is essentially sent through Hell and back, and that's before we find out that her memories of her encounter with the Prince are anything but fully accurate.

[[folder:Film]]

* Mr. Furious in ''Film/MysteryMen'' cultivates an anti-hero persona; he rests his laurels on an exaggerated story where he lifted a city bus (he pushed it while the driver accelerated), and tries to lend himself mystery with false names like "Phoenix Dark," "Phoenix Dirk," "Phoenix Dark Dirk," and "Dirk Steel" before finally admitting his name is actually Roy. Subverted in that when faced with an actual crisis, he actually ''does'' become superhumanly strong and agile when angered.
%%* The titular characters in ''Film/MysteryTeam''
* ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' opens with a group of Batman-wannabes trying to bust a mob deal, but get in over their heads within a few moments. The real Batman rescues and chastises them for trying to do Batman's job ''without'' Batman's training, experience, or equipment. [[spoiler:In a TooDumbToLive fashion, one of them is later captured and killed by the Joker.]]
* In ''Film/TheLionKing2'', [[BigBrotherBully Nuka]] is hopelessly envious of Kovu's exalted position, and takes every opportunity he can to remind people of this. His issues stem from [[FreudianExcuse maternal neglect]] and the lack of respect everyone else shows him. ([[{{Jerkass}} The latter is completely justified.]]

* Joxer from ''XenaWarriorPrincess'', who ends up making a HeroicSacrifice to save Gabrielle.

* An intern on {{Grimm}} is eventually outed as a hero-worshipper of the main character, Nick. He pretends to be a Grimm himself, believing that all Wesen must die and murdering two Wesen before Nick captures him. He is revealed to be a [[BoomerangBigot Wesen himself]].

* Moomintroll of ''TheMoomins''. He tries to be the hero so very, very hard.
* Billy Billions of Ben10Omniverse decides to create his own hero team in order to compete with Ben. It barely lasts more than a week before the teammates tear each other apart.

* [[http://www.errantstory.com/2003-03-03/66 Chris]] in ''ErrantStory''. Unfortunately for him, in this webcomic you actually have to be [[{{Badass}} seriously dangerous]] to be a main character.
* Anthony, of ''ThePlayersGuideToSISU'', is desperately struggling to be seen as a full-fledged hero, but hasn't made it yet. Possibly because of his elf obsession.

* A big theme in ''CrisisCore'' where [[FolkHero Sephiroth]] inspired desire to be heroes in Zack, Cloud and [[spoiler: Genesis]]. Most the game centers around their bumpy road towards achieving this.

* At the start of ''DhuxsScar'', a man named Dario assaults the titular character, a cursed angel that's just vaporized a woman and her son. He gets his hands blown off and his head pulped for his troubles.

* ''Fanfic/ParenthesesAntiFluffDrabble'': In one of the chapters, Ben percieves himself as one.

* [[Fanfic/ParenthesesAntiFluffDrabble ''Parentheses: Antifluff Drabble'']]: In one of the chapters, Ben percieves himself as one.

* ''MahoujinGuruGuru'' gives us two examples. First is main character Nike's father, who dreamed of being a Hero but was forced to give it up due to there being no evil to be Heroic ''at.'' He therefore raises Nike to become a Hero and, when evil does return, sends him out to battle it. The second example is Gale, who appears nearly OnceAnEpisode, faces the current crisis claiming himself the 'True Hero,' [[TheChewToy only to get beaten down and/or humiliated immediately after.]]

* Shingo Yabuki from the ''KingOfFighters'' series idolizes Kyo Kusanagi, to the point of mimicking his moves and speech. He's training to be as good as Kyo, and is convince that he, too, can "shoot fire."

* Dave Strider of {{Homestuck}} exhibits some Heroic Wannabe traits--he's expressed a fixation on becoming a "hero" and seems to be willing to sacrifice anything to save his friends.

* Jason from TrueBlood. He's constantly striving find some way to become a hero, but he tries to find short-cuts too often to be more than a wannabe.

* Captain Freedom (played by Dennis Dugan) from ''HillStreetBlues'', a homeless man with a penchant for justice who provided several PetTheDog moments for the precinct's gruff detective, Mick Belker.

* Katsushiro from ''SamuraiSeven'' -- character notes even say that he was supposed to look like his equipment had never been in a real fight before. Kikuchiyo from the same series is similar, though more in a PluckyComicRelief sense.

* [[Wrestling/BethPhoenix Phoenix]], a bully out to rid pro wrestling of "[[RealWomenDontWearDresses all the plastic excuses for women]]" so she can then focus on "all the worthless men", who wants to be looked up to by "all the little girls". Like a true bully and unlike a hero, she tends to freakout in the face of opponents she ''knows'' can hurt her (Wrestling/MsChif, [[TheGiant Psycho]], Wrestling/{{Boogeyman}})

* [[Wrestling/BethPhoenix Phoenix]], a bully out to rid pro wrestling of "[[RealWomenDontWearDresses all the plastic excuses for women]]" so she can then focus on "all the worthless men", who wants to be looked up to by "all the little girls". Like a true bully and unlike a hero, she tends to freakout in the face of opponents she ''knows'' can hurt her (Wrestling/MsChif, [[TheGiant Psycho]])

* Most of Nikki Roxx's more embarrassing or horrific defeats were half TheWorfEffect and half this trope. She is a big strong wrestler but nowhere near as big or strong as she thinks she is, as seen in various runs such as All Pro, LLF, Wrestling/{{SHIMMER}} but none more apparent than Wrestling/{{TNA}}, where her efforts to be helpful lead to the Wrestling/TheBeautifulPeople, who eventually ended Roxxi's TNA career.[[/folder]]

* Most of Nikki Roxx's more embarrassing or horrific defeats were half TheWorfEffect and half this trope. She is a big strong wrestler but nowhere near as big or strong as she thinks she is, as shown in her All Pro, LLF, Wrestling/{{SHIMMER}} and Wrestling/{{TNA}}. Especially TNA, where her efforts to be helpful lead to the [[CreateYourOwnVillain formation]] of Wrestling/TheBeautifulPeople, who eventually ended Roxxi's TNA career.[[/folder]]

* Emiya Shirou from ''FateStayNight'' wants to be a "Hero of Justice", following in his foster father's footsteps. Pretty much everyone around him tries to warn him of just what a bad idea this is, but it becomes the most pronounced with [[BelligerentSexualTension Rin]] and [[SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids Archer]] in the Unlimited Blade Works route. [[spoiler:In Archer's timeline, he took every opportunity he found to act as a hero, sacrificing everything else for the sake of others. His obsession led to him being ostracized and eventually killed as a scapegoat. Even when he [[DyingAlone died alone]] he didn't regret following his dream, but his existence as a Counter-Guardian changed that]].

* The aptly named superhero fanboy "Wannabe" in Seth Green's ''Freshmen'', [[MissedTheCall who was the only student out of the dorms]] when the AppliedPhlebotinum exploded and gave all of his classmates superpowers.

->''"The truth, Walker, is that you're here because you wanted to feel like something you're not. ''A hero''."''

* America from ''AxisPowersHetalia'' is this. However, before WWII, he doesn't sport this attitude.