History Main / TheKirk

* Meowth of Team Rocket in ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'', although they're all pretty much on equal footing (early in the series, however, Meowth claimed to be the leader of the Trio and this may be why). Meowth typically subverts this by wholeheartedly agreeing with whichever one of his teammates happens to have the same ideas in mind he has.

* Marika in ''LightNovel/BodaciousSpacePirates'' fits this role perfectly, with Chiaki taking the roll of TheSpock.
* Hikaru in ''Manga/MagicKnightRayearth'' fills this role. She's the closest thing to TheLeader that the group has, with a cooler head than [[TheMcCoy Umi]] and a more gung-ho attitude than [[TheSpock Fuu]]. She's especially affected by the end of the first half and [[spoiler:ends up taking one hell of a third option to fix the Pillar System at the end of Part II by applying the power to ''everyone'']].

* ''Franchise/StarWars'': Obi-Wan Kenobi displays elements of this {{trope}} in the {{Prequel}} Trilogy, alongside [[AntiHero Anakin Skywalker]]'s TheMcCoy with various members of the Jedi Council serving as TheSpock. In the Original Trilogy Luke became The Kirk, but only in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', because by that point he has learned controlled emotions. For example, Obi-wan told him that he has to kill his father in order to bring peace, but Luke gives a logical suggestion that maybe he can be saved because Vader didn't kill Luke, and if he was truly evil he would have killed him. His [[TheLeader leadership]] skills have also improved over the last two movies.
* According to co-writer Roberto Orci, ''Film/StarTrek2009'' maintains this {{trope}}, but swaps [[TheCaptain Kirk]] and [[TheMedic McCoy]]:
-->"[[TheMedic McCoy]] in a way represents for us, or represented for us, the extremes of The Kirk and The Spock. If [[TheSpock Spock]] is [[StrawVulcan extreme logic]], ... extreme science, and [[TheCaptain Kirk]] is extreme emotion and intuition, here you have a very colorful doctor, essentially [[TheHeart a very humanistic scientist]]. So he, in a way, is literally and figuratively a representation of [[EmotionsVsStoicism two extremes]] that often served as the glue that held [[FreudianTrio the trio]] together."

* in Film/GalaxyQuest Jason Nesmith (Creator/TimAllen) starts as an Expy for Creator/WilliamShatner, but through the story he becomes more like his universe character, Captain Peter Quincy Taggart. In doing so he becomes TheKirk and TheCaptain, as he leads the others in saving the day, both for the Thermians, and back home on Earth.

* Literature/HarryPotter is very much this, with [[TheLancer Ron]] as his [[TheMcCoy McCoy]] and [[TheSmartGuy Hermione]] as TheSpock. Initially played straight, but the dynamic is played with in later books.
* Franchise/NancyDrew is commonly written as being The Kirk between cousins Bess Marvin and George Fayne.
* The titular character of ''Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland'' is this in the original novel as well as many adaptations, compromising the strict rules of Victorian England with the sheer insanity of [[{{cloudcuckooland}} Wonderland]]. She's simultaneously a {{Cloudcuckoolander}} in the former setting, while the [[OnlySaneMan Only Sane Woman]] in the latter, which is especially poignant given [[spoiler:that Wonderland is AllJustADream for her]].
* ''Literature/AscendanceOfABookworm'': Karstedt ends up in that position by default in regards to his childhood companions Ferdinand and Sylvester. Ferdinand grew up to become a person so coldly rational and result-oriented that he cares more about the results than other people's feelings, making him TheSpock of the group without contest. Sylvester is a ManChild who can sometimes be too soft on his family members, and hence definitely the group's TheMcCoy. Karstedt, meanwhile, is just as likely to join Ferdinand in playing CloudcuckoolandersMinder to Sylvester as he is to join Sylvester in scolding Ferdinand for being too hard on someone.

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* ''LightNovel/AscendanceOfABookworm'': Karstedt ends up in that position by default in regards to his childhood companions Ferdinand and Sylvester. Ferdinand grew up to become a person so coldly rational and result-oriented that he cares more about the results than other people's feelings, making him TheSpock of the group without contest. Sylvester is a ManChild who can sometimes be too soft on his family members, and hence definitely the group's TheMcCoy. Karstedt, meanwhile, is just as likely to join Ferdinand in playing CloudcuckoolandersMinder to Sylvester as he is to join Sylvester in scolding Ferdinand for being too hard on someone.

** In the occasion the three people are together side by side, Kyril plays this role as {{mentor}} of [[TheMcCoy Sanakan]] (HotBlooded) and [[TheSpock Hugh]] (TheSpeechless)[[note]]difficulty in emotion expression[[/note]]. He's a {{downplayed}} example though, since he rarely needs to choose between or favour one another.
** Celestine is a [[PlayedStraight straighter]] example. She has to balance the philosophies of [[HonorBeforeReason Claudia]] and [[NoNonsenseNemesis Kyril]] respectively.
** Prim qualifies as this in the remastered version, soothing the choler between the more [[TheMcCoy emotional]] Alicia and the more [[TheSpock distant]] Kyril.

* Mac from ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'' is constantly flip flopping between being as idiotic and delusional as [[TheId Charlie]] or as comparatively rational as [[TheSuperego Dennis]].

* Yellowstone: Kayce Dutton fills this role, tough yet compassionate, balancing out Beth as The [=McCoy=] and Jamie as The Spock. In a more literal sense, he is the only Dutton who gets along with all the other Duttons, as well as the only Dutton every other Dutton likes.

* Yellowstone: Kayce Dutton fills this role, tough yet compassionate, balancing out Beth as The McCoy and Jamie as The Spock. In a more literal sense, he is the only Dutton who gets along with all the other Duttons, as well as the only Dutton every other Dutton likes.

** Which makes Carter a good fit for the new leader in ''Series/StargateAtlantis,'' replacing another Kirk figure, Dr. Weir. The leader of the main team, Sheppard, tends a bit toward TheMcCoy-ish in his thinking, though he does have the Kirk-ish role in picking the proper course of action out of [=McKay=]'s stream-of-consciousness TVGenius-ness, Ronon's rashness, and Teyla's more [[TheMcCoy McCoy-ish]] tendencies. [=McKay=]has pointed this out several times, most comically in "[=McKay=]and Mrs. Miller" when Sheppard first meets McKay's sister and says "I know exactly what you're doing...Kirk" in response to his being charming to her

** Which makes Carter a good fit for the new leader in ''Series/StargateAtlantis,'' replacing another Kirk figure, Dr. Weir. The leader of the main team, Sheppard, tends a bit toward TheMcCoy-ish in his thinking, though he does have the Kirk-ish role in picking the proper course of action out of [=McKay=]'s stream-of-consciousness TVGenius-ness, Ronon's rashness, and Teyla's more [[TheMcCoy McCoy-ish]] tendencies. McKay has pointed this out several times, most comically in "McKay and Mrs. Miller" when Sheppard first meets McKay's sister and says "I know exactly what you're doing...Kirk" in response to his being charming to her

** Which makes Carter a good fit for the new leader in ''Series/StargateAtlantis,'' replacing another Kirk figure, Dr. Weir. The leader of the main team, Sheppard, tends a bit toward TheMcCoy-ish in his thinking, though he does have the Kirk-ish role in picking the proper course of action out of [=McKay=]'s stream-of-consciousness TVGenius-ness, Ronon's rashness, and Teyla's more [[TheMcCoy McCoy-ish]] tendencies.