Retired Badass: Difference between revisions

[[File:lazy_dadlazy dad.jpg|link=Scamp|frame|Tramp doesn't come out of retirement very easily.]]

{{quote|''"Just when I thought I was out they ''pull'' me back in!"''|'''Michael Corleone''', ''[[The Godfather]] 3''}}

Just as [[Badass|badassesbadass]]es come in many different varieties, so do retired badasses. Some are happily retired from adventuring, sports, fighting, or whatever they used to do and are content to [[Home, Sweet Home|live a normal life in a normal little town]], or even the simple life in [[Arcadia]]. Some have become shopkeepers who just do a little work to keep in touch with people and get by in their old age. Some get promoted within their organization to a [[Desk Jockey]] supervisory role. Often, they spend all their time [[Call to Agriculture|tending a field]]. Some of them never really get into retirement because every time they start to settle into it they [[Ten-Minute Retirement|get jolted back out]]. Maybe they have [[In Harm's Way|a secret longing to get back into the game]], (whatever it may be) or regrets about the past. [[Heroic Neutral|Often they're perfectly happy in their retirement]] and are pointedly ignoring events of the outside world until the evil [[Mooks]] of whatever [[Big Bad]] that is looking to take over the world come in and wreck his shop, then laugh at him because, after all, what can an old man do about it? It doesn't take long for the asskickery to commence.

One thing badasses of all types have in common is that they're magnets for trouble, and even in retirement this doesn't change. Occasionally these guys get pulled back into action because the [[Big Bad]] (or his men) know his reputation and come to make trouble. Other times it's because a young [[Arrogant Kung Fu Guy]] wants to make a reputation by beating the old legend. Perhaps the most frequent case is that when the heroes are in trouble and need help to accomplish their goals, they will come to the [['''Retired Badass]]''' either for physical help or advice about their quest, or because the retired badass is a past teacher, [[Mentor]], even father figure.

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

** Hiko Seijuro, Kenshin's former mentor that he has been estranged from for a dozen years by the time Kenshin comes to him for help in the series (It doesn't help that he actually left against Hiko's wishes). Although Hiko is probably the most powerful character in the series, he is content to live away from people and make a living by creating pottery. After much persuading he helps Kenshin [[Took a Level Inin Badass|take yet another level in badass]], and protects some of Kenshin's friends from a giant member of a [[Quirky Miniboss Squad]] (as well as [[Warrior Therapist|helping the guy work his issues]]). Despite knowing about the threat of [[Big Bad]] Shishio, however, he gives no hint he had any intention of doing anything about it.

*** That plot was recycled for the ''Ishinshishi e no Requiem'' movie, where one of the main characters (Takimi Shigure) was an ex-samurai who became a school retainer and the caretaker of his best friend's sister {{spoiler|whom Kenshin killed in the war}}.

** The title character himself is a [[Retired Badass]], and would very much like to stay that way. Of course plot always intervenes.

* ''[[Bleach]]''

* Andrei Rublev, Team Satomi's [[Zen Survivor|Zen-style]] coach from ''[[IGPX: Immortal Grand Prix|IGPX]]'' doesn't seem very Badass-y at first: portly, almost perpetually sullen, with an inflated ego way out of proportion to his apparent effect on the team. However, he's a prime example of this trope because of who he used to be: {{spoiler|the legendary IGPX pilot known as Rocket G}}. In the second season, he dusts off his skills {{spoiler|to act as a temporary replacement for Amy, who was injured in a race against newcomers Team White Snow, }} and steps onto the track twice more before fading back into his coach role.

* Joseph Joestar in Part 3 of ''[[JoJo's Bizarre Adventure]]''. It's worth noting that he looks quite a bit like Sean Connery in his later years, and Connery tends to play [[Retired Badass]] character quite a bit.

* Cologne from ''[[Ranma ½|Ranma 1/2]]'' is a quintessential example of the trope. She has been shown to be ''the'' most formidable martial artist in the series, with abilities far surpassing anything the main characters can do (and quite possibly above Happosai's level.) Yet, she's perfectly content running the Cat Cafe and letting the weirdness erupt around her, occasionally providing nuggets of information and only rarely being an active participant herself.

** Chef "Red-Leg" Zeff of ''[[One Piece]]'' was a great pirate in his prime who survived intact sailing on the Grand Line for over a year (outside the GL that's quite a feat). Even his "moment of retirement" had shades of [[Badass]]. Depending on whether you read the manga or watched the anime respectively, he either ate his own leg so a young Sanji could survive off the actual food, or cut it off to rescue a drowning Sanji. Even as a peg-legged old man, he still has the Stuff, kicking so hard it blew away bullets fired towards him. Though he prefers to let the youngsters handle things.

* In ''[[W.I.T.C.H.]]'', Hay Lin's grandma Yan Lin fits, as (when she as younger) ''she'' had her granddaughter's place in the Kandracar [[Five-Man Band]].

** Also, [[Batman]]'s majordomo Alfred. Several of his origins highlight his retired bad ass status. RAF, Special Forces... the job title he's retired from varies [[Depending Onon the AuthorWriter]], but they're all [[Badass]] military positions.

* Scrooge McDuck. In the ''[[DuckTales (1987)]]'' [[Animated Adaptation]], he lacks the "retired."

* Sam's Granny Ruth, from ''[[Sam and Max]]''. She ran a Jail much like Alcatraz during the Cold War.

* [[Batman|Batmans]]s buttler Alfred usually is portrayed as a very intelligent and resourceful man, but not a fighter. In ''[[The Dark Knight Saga]]'', he is played by [[Michael Caine]], which still makes him the perfect elderly english gentleman, but also makes it completely natural when he mention that he did some armed work in the jungles of Burma when he was a younger man, which strongly implies him being ex special forces, probably SAS.

** Arguably it centers more on [[Papa Wolf]], but this trope plays a role too.

* Yoda of the original ''[[Star Wars]]'' trilogy.

** And then later, we have Death ''choosing'' retirement to leave things to his granddaughter (and heir apparent) Susan. [[Superpowerful Genetics|She]] [[Refusal of the Call|was not happy about it]]. [[The Call Knows Where You Live|REALLY not happy about it]]. ([[Beware the Nice Ones|And it's not a good idea to piss her off]]). Unfortunately, no matter how many times she quits, [[You Can't Fight Fate]] and she still keeps getting dragged back in.

** Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg would also count. They're supposedly permanently retired. ... Apparently. ... [[Got the Call on Speed Dial|yet they always find their way to the center of, well, everything]].

* Rather common in fantasy fiction. Many fantasy authors will return to the same setting again and again, progressing the time line, cranking out more novels, and retiring earlier heroes to give newer generations their own chance to shine. And it's particularly common in novels franchised from games like ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' or ''[[Warhammer 40K40,000]]'', where you'll have multiple authors all progressing the plot in the one setting. Sometimes it gets to the stage where you can't move for kindly old priests, world-weary old nobles, and rough-around-the-edges old innkeepers who were asskicking adventurers five or six books ago. And if the new crop of heroes ever needs a seasoned adventuring veteran to show them the ropes and give them a hook to connect with an existing storyline, they can't swing a cat without hitting at least one gruff mysterious stranger who turns out to be the famous heroic whatsisname in the flesh.

** This is cited as one of the reasons ''[[Forgotten Realms]]'' was moved forward a good century! Drizzt and Elminster are just about the only two still around, and they're both very, very busy.

* [[Lois McMaster Bujold]]'s [[Vorkosigan Saga]]: [[Action Girl|Cordelia]] [[Action Mom|Vorkosigan]] retired after a legendary [[Mama Bear]] incident and has been [[Yamato Nadeshiko|happily]] [[Warrior Therapist|mentoring]] the younger generation ever since. Somewhat inverted in that she's never needed to come out of retirement, barring a few well-deserved verbal smackdowns.

* [[Robin Hobb]]'s ''Tawny Man Trilogy'' starts with the main character being called back from his retirement from being an assasin, a spy and king's man, to serve and teach the new generation.

* Kit Carson of ''[[Time Scout]]'' was forced into retirement by math. If he had continued to work, he would have died. Full stop.

== [[Live -Action TV]] ==

* ''[[Bones|]]'': Max Brennan]], [[Papa Wolf|the kindest guy who will stab you to death, gut you, put you on a stick and set you on fire if you put his family in danger]]. Normally he's a science teacher who loves kids. Mess with his kids and he comes out of retirement.

** Jack himself attempts to retire <s>twice</s> FOUR''four TIMEStimes''. The first time is following the first season. Jack is not retired in the true sense and listed as inactive. This is mainly due to the breakdown of his relationship with Kim, as well as suicidal thoughts following the big twist at the end of the season. Even so he's pretty quick to tell people he doesn't work for CTU anymore. Next is between seasons three and four, where he opts for a desk job in the Department of Defense. The third time is between seasons six and seven where he chooses simply not to come back to the United States. [[But Thou Must!|Obviously, this doesn't quite work out.]] As of Day 8, Jack is FINALLY truly retired from government work. He even tells someone this in the trailer for the season. He's living peacefully in New York City with Kim and his grandchild (guess this means you can add [[Retired Badass]] as well). [[Desk Jockey|No DoD desk job]], [[He's Just Hiding|no running from China]] and [[Walking the Earth|no trip to Africa]]. Needless to say since this is 24 it's not going to last long. Near the end of said trailer cue [[Dramatic Gun Cock]] and typical [[Crowning Music of Awesome]] that goes with nearly everything 24 related.

* Sam Axe in ''[[Burn Notice]]''. He's a former... <s> something or other (it's not explicitly mentioned what he was)</s> Navy SEAL Commander with buddies in seemingly every major US Agency. At the beginning of the show, he was making a living mooching off retired women in Miami. When his friend Michael comes back to town, however, he proves himself to be just as [[Badass]] as he ever was.

** Lampshaded in "Friends Like These" when the [[Dangerously Genre Savvy|supposedly bad guy]] Sam's interrogating is actually Serbian intelligence. He proceeds to try and psych Sam out by asking him what he used to do before he was an "errand boy" and figures out Sam is ex-military. He insults the SEALs to bait Sam into coming closer, then knocks Sam down and disarms him.

* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'''s Rupert Giles, the [[Smart Guy|bookish demon expert]] of the group, has a hinted-at past as rebellious badass "Ripper", but now all he does is sit around in the library and help out a few kids. Except for, you know, when he ''charged into the Big Bad's headquarters'', no support, ''completely'' alone, with a flaming baseball bat. And kicked vampire ass.

* Claude Rains, the Invisible Man from ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' is a variant of this. Subverted somewhat, as he's less of a Retired Badass and more of a Screw-This-I'm-Outta-Here Badass.

* ''[[NCIS|]]'': Mike Franks]], [[Cynical Mentor|Gibbs's mentor]], is this. Implied that he retired {{spoiler|[[Heroic BSOD|due to the Khobar Towers bombing]]}}, then he went to live in a beach at Mexico. Whenever a situation arises that has him come back to the United States, however, he turns to be still quite good at what he used to do, and during at least ''two'' cases he got and trailed leads ''before'' Gibbs did, in one of these occasions taking the [[Monster of the Week|episode's villain]] himself. He also sneaked by and terminated {{spoiler|Jenny Sheppard's killers}} and was instrumental in a case holding some keys to Gibb's past.

* Samuel Colt of ''[[Supernatural]]'', as shown in one of the Time Travel episodes. When two demons come knocking, he tells them quite politely to walk away, he's retired. When they refuse, he kills both of them in the span of two seconds, and only laments that they knocked over his bottle of whiskey.

* On ''[[Leverage]]'', [[Gentleman Thief|Archie Leach]] is this. He is also [[Classy Cat Burglar|Parker's]] mentor and father figure. With a [[Stun Gun|taser]] built into his cane.

* In ''[[Bionicle]]'', Turaga are Toa who retired by sacrificing their powers to save Matoran. The only ones we've seen this happen to did it as self-sacrifice (and for all we know that may be the only way ''to'' do it), so they tend to be of the zen variant.

* Sometimes found in ''[[Dungeons and& Dragons]]'' either as something that happens during the course of the story, or as a small event when, say, an innkeeper pulls the mace down off his wall to help the heroes and show that it's not just ornamental. Having the [[You All Meet in An Inn|'adventure inn']] be run by a retired high-level adventurer is something of an old cliché in the game.

** At least prior to the recent [[Reset Button]], it seems the Forgotten Realms is stuffed full of [[Retired Badass]] characters... and then stuffed some more.

*** Whole areas populated by these. One example would be ''City of Ravens Bluff'' <ref>still available [http://forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=13961 in old free downloads]</ref> -- during—during the city's raise as a major trade port its populace grew from about 17000 resident and 3000 adventuring to about 30000 settled plus 10000 adventurers -- fairadventurers—fair number being high-level, with the heads of local Wizards Guild equal in power to less powerful among the rulers of [[The Magocracy|magocracies]], and so on. Dales are different, but Dalesfolk tend to be very tough. In both cases, locals who live to tell interesting tales ''and'' outside adventurers who like the atmosphere end up settling there.

* Laike from ''[[Lunar Silver Star Story Complete|Lunar: Silver Star Story]]'' is still an adventurer despite being retired from heroism. He just does it for kicks.

* Garcia from ''[[Fire Emblem: theThe Sacred Stones]]'' retired from Renais's army when his wife died. He was talked into coming out of retirement by his son Ross after helping Eirika's army ward off bandits who were attacking their village.

* ''[[Mass Effect]] 2'' has Dr. Mordin Solus, an old <ref> Technically, he is in his early thirties, but given the Salarian short life span it makes him a seasoned adult</ref> Salarian doctor who set up a free clinic in the slums of a space-borne [[Wretched Hive]] so he could [[The Atoner|spent his final years helping people]]. He is also a former black ops science specialist who's very handy with a submachine gun, casually murders mercenaries who try to shake his clinic down and hangs their corpses outside as a warning, and willingly enlists on a suicide mission to stop the Collectors and their Reaper masters.

* In ''[[Assassin's Creed: Revelations]]'', Ezio leaves the Brotherhood to settle down with Sofia at the end of the game. ''Embers'' picks up more than a decade after this and he's still able to keep up with [[Action Girl|Shao Jun]]. She's ''46 years'' Ezio's junior, too.

* Shin&Atilde;Shiné and Shaedo in ''[http://www.newrem.com NewRem Comics]''. Both characters had played major parts in saving the world, the former even having at one point been made the world's goddess, before moving on to lives of internet-trolling and video-game playing, respectively.

* In ''[[Bruno the Bandit]]'', the protagonist's mother Eunyce is eventually revealed to be one of these. Before that, she's entirely retired; afterward, she comes out of retirement more or less permanently, ready to use her skills whenever necessary.

* ''[[Girl Genius]]'' gave us:

* The original Uncle Sam in the ''[[Less Than Three Comics|LessThanThree]]''-Verse.

* The seventy-something headmistress Elizabeth Carson of [[Super-Hero School|Whateley Academy]] in the ''[[Whateley Universe]]''. When Syndicate dropships and the unstoppable cyborg Assassin Deathlist invade her school, the gloves come off. Oh, she turns out to be Lady Astarte, possibly the greatest superheroine still around.

* Burt from ''[[Were Alive|We're Alive]]''. He's a former Marine gunnery sergeant who owns a gun shop with enough weaponry to equip a [[More Dakka|small army]], carries a silver plated Desert Eagle [[I Call It Vera|named Shirley]], and kills zombies while singing [[Soundtrack Dissonance|"Mary Had A Little Lamb"]].

* Yamauchi-sensei from ''[[Greek Ninja]]'' is a retired ninja.

** Iroh might also count as a temporary example. Although not really active anyway through the first two seasons, he is genuinely willing to chuck all other concerns to run a tea house in Ba Sing Se.

* In ''[[Spider-Man: The Animated Series]]'', [[Captain America (comics)]] fought on a team of six other superheroes, who are drawn back into Nazi fighting when they are in their 70s.

* Princess Celestia and Princess Luna from ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]''. They were the original wielders of the Elements Of Harmony in ancient times and used them to save the world from Discord's tyranny. Then Luna [[Fallen Hero|fell to evil and became Nightmare Moon]], forcing Celestia to save the world from her. In modern day, Twilight Sparkle and her friends now wield the Elements (which they used to restore Luna to good), so the Princesses largely stick to their offical business. However, a bit of Celestia's former badass reappeared when confronting Discord.

* On some episodes ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' that take place in the past, Grandpa Simpson is revealed to have been a really awesome war hero. He is shown saving his comrades from a grenade and rescuing Santa Clause from a younger Mr. Burns. He was in nearly every branch of the military and fought in both world wars. This makes his current position as the useless, senile old man even more depressing. He [[Throw the Dog a Bone|occasionally gets to do something cool]], though, like when he and Bart tried to steal the Hellfish treasure or when he helped catch the Springfield Cat Burglar.

* Edward Teach (aka Blackbeard) retired from piracy after ditching most of his crew and settled down to live as a country gentleman in South Carolina. Of course, this didn't keep him from taking the old ship out every once in a while and indulging in some piracy when he got bored. Bribes to the governor and local judges ensured that the authorities looked the other way.

* John L. Burns was a veteran of the War of 1812 and the Mexican War. At the ripe old age of 68, he was constable of Gettysburg PA. The Civil War Battle of Gettysburg began a few months shy of his 70th birthday, and Burns snagged his old flintlock and walked out to the battle lines. His ass-kicking abilities undiminished by age, he joined the Union soldiers (who were mostly a third or a quarter of his age) and showed them how it was done, even shooting a Confederate officer off his horse. Neither you or I will be this cool when we're 70.

* Buzz Aldrin--formerAldrin—former NASA astronaut, decorated Air Force fighter pilot, second man to walk on the moon, MIT doctoral degree holder, and well...you get the idea--hadidea—had enough of conspiracy theorist crackpot Bart Sibrel's heckling and punched him right in the kisser [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOo6aHSY8hU on video] when he was [[Badass Grandpa|72 years old]] And despite taking place in September 2002, the incident is ''still'' the second suggested result when "Buzz Aldrin" is typed into Google search.