History Main / TheGunfighterWannabe

* The Ultimate Nullifier in ''Vengeance'', a rookie hero dressed in an all-white version of Captain America's costume (sans mask because he's just too damn pretty) and wielding two PowerNullifier pistols that he spins frequently. In his mind, he ''is'' the modern heroic ideal.
* Parodied in one ''ComicStrip/TheFarSide'' cartoon, where the defeated reads out outcome #3 nearly word-for-word. Except that this was a ''Ping Pong match.''

* Ron Howard's character in ''Film/TheShootist'' is type 1.
* Dealing with Wannabes is a major theme of ''Film/TheGunfighter''. [[spoiler:It starts with scenario 2, then has scenario 1, and finishes with number 3.]]
* ''Film/{{Unforgiven}}'' has a hanger-on called the Schofield Kid. In a dark version of variant 1 he realizes he doesn't really have it in him to be a killer only after he murders an unarmed man on the toilet.
** The original script says he drowned himself out of guilt.
* Jim AKA The Waco Kid, (a RetiredBadass from ''Film/BlazingSaddles'') recalls encountering a lot of these types back when he was the FastestGunInTheWest and how "it got so that every pissant prairie punk who thought he could shoot a gun would ride into town to try out The Waco Kid", including the one that sent him into his HeroicBSOD: a six year old kid with a revolver. ([[CrossesTheLineTwice Who promptly shot Jim in the ass]] [[SatireParodyPastiche when he threw down his guns and walked away]]).

* Marston in ''Film/QuigleyDownUnder'' is a Big Fish in a Small Pond. He ''thinks'' he's a fast gun, on his cattle station in the Australian Outback, but at the time the movie starts he has never met an actual gunslinger. [[spoiler:Sure enough, he's not as fast as Quigley.]]
* ''Film/IShotJesseJames'': A type 1 version appears here, taking shots at Robert Ford from a distance before giving up because he ran out of ammo. He admits that he only did it because he wants the reputation of killing the man who killed UsefulNotes/JesseJames, and Bob is understandably angry. [[PetTheDog He lets the boy go, however,]] but not before warning him to never do it again.
* ''Film/TheMagnificentSeven2016'': Earl, a.k.a. '[[TheTropeKid the Two Gun Kid]]', is a gunfighter wannabe who challenges Faraday to a gunfight early in the film. Faraday shoots off his ear to teach him a lesson.
* ''Film/TheMagnificentSeven(1960)'' has Chico, the young hotshot who realizes in the end he is cut out to be a farmer, not a gunfighter.
--> '''Hilario:''' He is very young and very proud.\\
'''Chris''': The graveyards are full of boys who were very young and very proud.

* In ''Film/CurseOfTheUndead'', Tim Carter is a young hothead who straps on his guns to take revenge on the man he believes murdered his father. Unfortunately his mouth is faster than his draw.

* The short story "The Conqueror" by Creator/RichardMatheson plays with this. [[spoiler: It starts as Type 3, only the kid is just plain ambushed by the friends of the men he killed and shot to pieces. And then we find out that he may just have been a PsychopathicManchild who was planning to kill his way across the plains as the baddest gunfighter ever.]]
* ''Along the Scenic Route'' by Creator/HarlanEllison plays with variant 3, adding the extra Ellison sweetness of the dueling taking place between armed cars on the highways; all entirely government sanctioned, and unavoidable if you want to use the highways.

** Danny Crowe is actually a KnifeNut variant. He prides himself on his knife skills and is working up his courage to test the '21 foot rule' (supposedly if a gun fighter and a knife fighter are separated by less than 21 feet, the knife fighter can run in and kill the gun fighter before the later has time to draw and fire) against an experienced gunfighter. The first time he chickens out, the second time he is interrupted when a car hits him and the third time [[spoiler: he trips and stabs himself to death]]..

* ''Series/TheMandalorian'': In the fifth episode, the Mando is roped into helping a wannabe bounty hunter who's trying to establish a reputation for himself by [[BullyingADragon taking on a deadly assassin that no other hunter will go near]]. [[spoiler:They succeed... only for the wannabe to learn about Mando's recent falling out with the Guild, deciding that he can turn him in and get an even ''better'' reputation boost. Unsurprisingly, he ends up dead for his troubles.]]

* The parody song ''The Ballad of Irving'' (the 142nd-fastest Gun in the West), by Frank Gallop (listen [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD8EtvWW8nw here]]). Popularized by repeated airings on the Creator/DrDemento show.

* "Brownsville Girl" by Music/BobDylan uses ''Film/TheGunfighter'' as a central theme, with the narrator trying to figure out if he's TheGunslinger or The Gunfighter Wannabe after all he's been through.

* You fight a number 1 in ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption'' as part of a sidequest. It serves as a TakeThat against 50s-style movie cowboys. The character in question is a runaway actor from a cowboy movie who has become convinced that he has what it takes to become a real gunslinger. He changes his mind and returns to the set after John Marston shoots the gun out of his hand.

* In ''VideoGame/ArcanumOfSteamworksAndMagickObscura'', the training master for the Guns skill deliberately mutilated his hand after killing a Gunfighter Wannabe in a completely one-sided gunfight.

* ''Along the Scenic Route'' by Creator/HarlanEllison plays with variant 3, adding the extra Ellison sweetness of the duelling taking place between armed cars on the highways; all entirely government sanctioned, and unavoidable if you want to use the highways.

* Marston in ''Film/QuigleyDownUnder'' is a Big Fish in a Small Pond. He ''thinks'' he's a fast gun, on his cattle station in the Australian Outback, but at the time the movie starts he has never met an actual gunslinger.

In a rarer scenario, TheGunfighterWannabe challenges someone who he thinks is TheGunslinger but isn't. So the Wannabe ends up killing some {{Cowboy}} or CitySlicker, and is promptly branded an {{Outlaw}} -- but discovers that he lacks the ''cojones'' for banditry. This version of the storyline usually ends with the other bandits killing or abandoning him. Occasionally this results in a HeelFaceTurn, but since RedemptionEqualsDeath, it usually doesn't end well.

* ''Film/TheMagnificentSeven'' (1960) has Chico, the young hotshot who realizes in the end he is cut out to be a farmer, not a gunfighter.

* ''Film/TheMagnificentSeven2016'': Earl, a.k.a. '[[TheTropeKid the Two Gun Kid]]', is a gunfighter wannabe who challenges Faraday to a gunfight early in the film. Faraday shoots off his ear to teach him a lesson.

* Jim AKA The Waco Kid, (a RetiredBadass from ''Film/BlazingSaddles'') recalls encountering a lot of these types back when he was the FastestGunInTheWest and how "it got so that every piss-ass prairie punk who thought he could shoot a gun would ride into town to try out The Waco Kid", including the one that sent him into his HeroicBSOD: a six year old kid with a revolver. ([[CrossesTheLineTwice Who promptly shot Jim in the ass]] [[SatireParodyPastiche when he threw down his guns and walked away]]).

* [[JiveTurkey Da Samurai]] from ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'' is, as his name suggests, a {{Samurai}} take on the archetype (type 1). A flamboyant braggart, he is [[NormalFishInASmallPond not a]] '''[[NormalFishInASmallPond terrible]]''' [[NormalFishInASmallPond fighter]] but thinks he's much hotter stuff than he really is due to never having met anyone able to outmatch him in the small community he lives in. When he meets Jack - who has [[CharlesAtlasSuperpower inhuman physical capacities as a result of his training]] and [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu beats the tar out of an evil god on a daily basis]] - he insists on challenging him to a battle. Jack [[CurbStompBattle absolutely humiliates him]] with nothing but a bamboo stick, then saves his life when an army of robotic assassins attacks. [[spoiler:When Da Samurai [[TakingTheBullet proceeds to do the same for Jack]], the latter admits that he at least has the spirit of a samurai.]] In season 5, it turns out [[spoiler:he gave up on his aspirations and now works as a humble bartender.]]

* In ''Film/TheIsland1980'', Justin obsessed with firearms and even emotionally blackmails his father into buying him one, despite the obvious discomfort that Maynard (who is a [[DadTheVeteran veteran]] of UsefulNotes/TheKoreanWar) has with the idea of his son owning a gun. When forcibly recruited into the pirates, he sees this as opportunity to live out his gunslinger fantasies. He is actually an excellent, but starts to crack under pressure after he kills his first man.

* ''Along the Scenic Route'' by Creator/RayBradbury plays with variant 3, adding the extra Bradbury sweetness of the duelling taking place between armed cars on the highways; all entirely government sanctioned, and unavoidable if you want to use the highways.

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* "Brownsville Girl" by Music/BobDylan uses ''TheGunfighter'' as a central theme, with the narrator trying to figure out if he's TheGunslinger or TheGunfighterWannabe after all he's been through.

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->'''Hilario''': ''Very young, and very proud.''\\
'''Chris''': ''Well, the graveyards are full of boys who were very young, and very proud''

* Parodied in one ''ComicStrip/TheFarSide'' cartoon, where the defeated reads out outcome #3 nearly word-for-word. Except that this was a ''PingPong match.''

* Brockie Drummond in ''Film/FiftyGuns'' likes to think he is good with a gun, but his only successes come from shooting from ambush. In his first attempt to face down Griff in a showdown, he balks and lets Griff get close enough to [[PistolWhipping pistol whip]] him. In his second showdown with Griff, [[spoiler:Griff shoots him dead]].

-->-- ''Film/TheMagnificentSeven''

* In ''VideoGame/ArcanumOfSteamworksAndMagickObscura'', the training master for the guns skill deliberately mutilated his hand after he killed a GunfighterWannabe in a completely one-sided gunfight.

* Many a mook in ''Anime/BlackLagoon'' falls under this trope, with fatal consequences for them. Most notable is [[TooDumbToLive Chaka]]. He's obsessed with how awesome [[RevolversAreJustBetter his revolver is]] and immediately tries talking tough to [[ActionGirl Revy]] as soon as he meets her. He doesn't get better, though she's not the one who ultimately ends him. [[spoiler:It's Manslayer Ginji, who relieves him of both his gun and his hands before sending him into a pool to drown]].

* Many a mook in ''Anime/BlackLagoon'' falls under this trope, with fatal consequences for them. Most notable is [[TooDumbToLive Chaka]]. He's obsessed with how awesome [[RevolversAreJustBetter his revolver is]] and immediately tries talking tough to [[ActionGirl Revy]] as soon as he meets her. He doesn't get better.

* Major Ocelot in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3'' is a pretty solid YoungGun, being a 20-year-old MAJOR in charge of his own unit who can [[ImprobableAimingSkills easily kill people with ricochet shots]]. Unfortunately when you put him up against [[AlwaysABiggerFish Naked Snake]] it shoves him violently into this trope by comparison, leaving him to be tossed about and take a motorcycle wheel to the face as if he wasn't a threat at all. A combination of Snake's [[StealthMentor Stealth Mentoring]] and a good dose of FoeYay on Ocelot's side is what turns him into the MagnificentBastard he is in later games.
** In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'' a Diamond Dog is one of these, complete with a not-so-QuickDraw. Ocelot a thing or too such as not using a semi-automatic like a revolver when it jams.

* ''Film/TheMagnificentSeven2016'': Earl, a.k.a. '[[TheTropeKid the Two Gun Kid', is a gunfighter wannabe who challenges Faraday to a gunfight early in the film. Faraday shoots off his ear to teach him a lesson.