"Suit up boys, we're back in the saddle!"
— Peter Venkman, Extreme Ghostbusters, as The Real Ghostbusters take their first new case in almost a decade.
When someone who no longer fights on the front lines, perhaps because they got promoted to a desk job, or decided that they were getting too old for this and retired, returns to battle, either out of boredom or necessity. Can often apply to The Captain, a Four-Star Badass, or maybe even The President or the King.
Related to 10-Minute Retirement. In the case of Back in the Saddle, the retirement or promotion typically won't happen in the same story arc as the return to the action. This trope also applies to being Kicked Upstairs or being otherwise made into a Desk Jockey.
A sister-trope to He's Back!, where the hero is out of action because of a Heroic BSoD or otherwise loses his groove.
If a group is involved, may require Putting the Band Back Together. Often a harbinger of Still Got It.
Examples
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Advertising
- Parodied in a Tostitos commercial where several former NFL players like Dan Marino, Jerry Rice, Emmett Smith, and Randy Moss, un-retired to play in the NFL again with hilarious results, e.g. Marino gets flagged for a "delay of game" penalty due to taking too long to read the planned plays.
Anime & Manga
- Macross 7: In the final few episodes, both Max and Miria retake their positions as Valkyrie pilots and it is glorious.
- Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam: Amuro Ray - the Ace Pilot from the original Mobile Suit Gundam - is retired, and living in virtual house-arrest, since the Terran Government suspects that he might have spacer sympathies. As it turns out, they're right - after an encounter with the new hero, Kamille Bidan, he decides to join up with the AEUG, and jump back into the pilot seat of a Humongous Mecha. (Though, sadly, he didn't retrieve the original Gundam from the nearby museum as many probably had hoped.)
Comic Books
- Both Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and Kingdom Come feature superheroes coming back from retirement.
- And in The Dark Knight Returns, Batman gets in a saddle.
- Young Justice (2019): Kon-El's old Young Justice pals Robin, Impulse and Wonder Girl manage to track him down on Gemworld where he was trapped when the timeline got mangled during Flashpoint and discover he's become a farmer, gotten married and had a child. He rejoins the team and starts being a superhero again after being reconnected with his old friends.
Fan Works
- The Scary Cases of Scooby-Doo actually starts at an indeterminate period after the Mystery Inc. gang retired from solving mysteries, and they're simply having fun visiting a haunted house attraction that opened in their town...At least, until a seemingly real amphibious monster shows up. Despite Fred trying to get the gang to ignore the monster, they nonetheless solve the "Scooby-Doo" Hoax behind it and get back into business.
Films — Live-Action
- In The Dark Knight Rises, two characters do this:
- Commissioner Gordon hasn't had much to do since Gotham City became (mostly) peaceful. He gets back into the swing of things when Bane comes to town.
- Batman has been retired for years at the beginning of the film, but he gets so antsy that he's back in the Batpod's saddle within thirty minutes.
- Hot Shots! Part Deux. After Topper Harley's I Will Fight No More Forever retirement from the military, he's called back to duty when his old boss is captured while on a rescue mission.
- Independence Day: President Whitmore, getting back in the cockpit to rally the surviving military forces after they have been on the wrong side of a Curb-Stomp Battle in order to Save the World. Foreshadowed earlier in the film with discussion that he was elected as the youthful war hero, only to be seen as being too young to be an effective politician. Quite a few of the other pilots were long-since retired, including Russell, who hadn't flown a military jet since the Vietnam War.
- Predator (1987). Dillon, who at one time been one of Dutch's comrades but ended up a pencil pusher at the CIA. He went along on the mission to save his CIA friends.
- Space Cowboys. A team of retired test pilots are called into action to repair a faulty satellite.
- Starship Troopers (1997). Rico's teacher Mr. Rasczak retired from the Mobile Infantry and became a school teacher, probably because he lost part of his left arm. After the start of the Bug War, he rejoins the Mobile Infantry with the rank of Lieutenant, with a cybernetic replacement on the stump of his arm. There's also Drill Sergeant Zim, who is so eager to get back on the front lines that he deliberately gets himself demoted to Private to do so.
- Happens to Rico himself in Starship Troopers: Invasion. Long since promoted in the now years-long war he returns to duty when the mission needs more help.
- Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
CaptainAdmiral Kirk, who's been working a desk as Chief of Naval Operations for several years, uses the V'Ger crisis to get himself returned to the Enterprise. This is a subverted example in that Admiral Kirk is not in fact in command of the Enterprise, but rather is in command of the mission the Enterprise is on. Captain Decker has the responsibility (and arguably, the fun) of commanding the ship itself. Furthermore, it gets Deconstructed because Kirk has been behind a desk for several years, and thus his instincts are rusty, on top of the ship having been so heavily redesigned and refitted that she is no longer the ship he spent five years commanding anyways.- Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan:
- Doctor McCoy implores Admiral Kirk to get out from behind the desk and get in another starship, "before you really do grow old."
- Admiral Kirk initially tries to insist that Captain Spock, the ship's commander, stay in command of the ship during the mission, as Captain Decker did in the previous film, but Spock insisted that the Enterprise rightfully belonged to Kirk. Maybe because he knew what happened to the last guy.
- In Star Trek: Generations, Kirk gives Picard a piece of cautionary advice to never let himself be put behind a desk. It's also averted at the beginning of the film when Captain Harriman offers to let Kirk take command of the Enterprise-B during a crisis, but Kirk says that Harriman's place is in the center seat.
- Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan:
Literature
- Artemis Fowl: Commander Root reactivates himself as a field agent when a hostage situation goes bad. Normally this requires extensive paperwork and an interview with the commanding officer, fortunately Root happens to have quite a lot of influence with him...
- In the Deathstalker series as part of Owen's plan to overthrow Empress Lionstone they plan to recruit Jack Random, the "professional rebel". To their surprise, Random is now an old, world-weary retiree who, after one defeat too many, has taken up janitorial duties. They manage to bring him back in and he proves to still have a good bit of fight in him.
- The Dresden Files: in Skin Game
- Michael Carpenter (with Uriel's help) finds the strength to once more pick Amorachius and leave his home to help his friends from evil.
- Harry invokes this to warn the Fomor that Chicago is under his protection once more.
- In Harry Potter, Mad Eye Moody is retired but is called back to active service by Dumbledore when Voldemort comes Back from the Dead.
Live-Action TV
- Buck Rogers in the 25th Century episode "Return of the Fighting 69th". A long-retired bomber pilot and the rest of the crew from his squadron are called back to duty because they're the only ones who can navigate a treacherous asteroid belt.
- The Good Wife: Main protagonist Alicia Florrick is a Georgetown law grad, but hasn't practiced in over a decade, having retired to start a family with her husband Peter. The pilot episode sees her having to restart her legal career to keep their two teenagers fed and housed after Peter is sent to prison for corruption, which means starting back as a first-year associate at the height of a major recession.
- M*A*S*H:
- There's a subversion when an old friend of Colonel Potter's shows up wounded at the 4077th. Potter initially thinks he transferred from the rear because he wanted to be useful again, but his friend tells him he only accepted a front-line command to earn his Combat Infantry badge (which would mean a promotion and a better retirement). The men under his command tell Potter he was utterly hopeless in the field and nearly got them all killed.
- Potter plays this straight when he first appeares. He's a Desk Jockey for two years before being sent to command the 4077, and Hawkeye is worried they were given a quack for a surgeon. Potter shows he Still Got It.
- Power Rangers:
- In Power Rangers Wild Force, literally all of the retired Red Rangers return to action during the events of Forever Red. Then again, the Power Rangers have a saying, "Once a Ranger, always a Ranger."
- Power Rangers Cosmic Fury: After Ollie Akana is Brainwashed and Crazy, Billy Cranston, the very first Blue Ranger who left all the way back in Power Rangers Zeo, returns to active duty.
- The Price Is Right: For April Fools' Day 2015, announcer George Gray introduced host Drew Carey, but instead, original host Bob Barker walked in and handled the first Item Up For Bids and pricing game of the day (Lucky Seven), showing that even in his 90s, he still had the traits that made him one of the most iconic game show hosts.
- Stargate SG-1 has had General Hammond coming to The Squad's rescue on a number of occasions. The most noteworthy case probably being when he showed up with his Big Damn Gunship in the Season 7 finale.
- General O'Neill got to pull one of these in a later season when The Squad finds an Atlantean Puddlejumper, which he uses to save the day because he is one of the few people they know of who can operate one.
- In Upstairs, Downstairs, James Bellamy is given a staff job when his views on the battle of Mons in World War I are made public by Tory sympathisers. Later on, due to the frustrations of being away from the real fighting, and with the help of Hazel, who pulls a few strings for him, he returns to the front as a Major.
- The 2024 miniseries for Zorro concerns Don Diego having retired as Zorro for 20 years. He takes up the reins as mayor of Los Angeles, only to learn that his late father owes a huge debt to Don Emmanuel, which he is unable to pay. After Don Emmanuel enforces slavery to make up the difference and it's made clear that a bureaucratic approach won't work, Diego wears the mask and cape of Zorro once more in an effort to oppose Emmanuel and make things right.
Professional Wrestling
- Lou Thesz wrestled in seven different decades, unsuccessfully retiring several times only to be called on when it was time to save a struggling territory or launch the career of a new star like Gara Singh, El Canek, or Masahiro Chono (the latter being his student).
- After overcoming his drug addiction, Eddie Guerrero returned to the independent circuit for the first time in five years for the Heartland Wrestling Association, picking up relatively easy wins against familiar opponents in similar situations like Jamie Noble or tagging alongside others of similar status such as D'Lo Brown and Val Venis. His first one-on-one match against an unfamiliar opponent, Impact Championship Wrestling's singles champion Low Ki, saw Guerrero lose in a shocking upset.
- Haitian wrestler Tyree Pride had retired from in-ring competition and become a wrestler, most memorably for National Wrestling Alliance World Heavyweight Champion Tokyo Monster Kahagas. But when Ring Warriors joined the NWA and was the focal point of the Alliance's attempt to re-establish itself in the Caribbean, Pride was pulled out of retirement to give the fans a familiar face to cheer.
- Sting retired from being TNA's general manager and ended his retirement as a wrestler after coming to the conclusion he couldn't do anything about the damage Bobby Roode was doing to the company's image without coming off as biased against the champion. He decided to rise through the ranks until he could take the belt off Roode personally, although Bobby ended up losing the belt before Sting got a chance.
- Believing he had accomplished everything he cared to accomplish as a professional wrestler, Kurt Angle voluntarily retired from in-ring competition to become the director of wrestling operations in TNA out of the belief the company needed better guidance after the abuses of Dixie Carter and MVP. His rise to the position coincided with MVP being forced to wrestle again, although part of MVP's abuses were that he continued to insert himself into matches in spite of the unfair advantage his position gave him. He had only stopped wrestling because of a knee injury and had turned his abuses to instead showing overt favoritism to Bobby Lashley.
- Lexie Fyfe, who had retired from ring work to run SHIMMER's sister promotion SHINE, was "forced" out of retirement via an Engineered Public Confession by Allison Danger, who wasn't about to let her off the hook on the subject of sending Portia Perez out of SHIMMER with a loss. Danger also got Daizee Haze to return, while Perez herself recruited The Lovely Lacey...though Lacey got out of the saddle and went back to managing when her regular partners Radiant Rain and Jetta got back on.
- El Hijo Del Santo, who had previously hung up his boots after getting discouraging results from his doctor's physical, returned to competing in the ring for his Todo X el Todo promotion in 2015. The next year the reason why became obvious. He was preparing to guide the career of his son, El Santo Jr, who debuted as his Tag Team partner in The Crash.
- AJ Lee retired from wrestling due to a career-ending injury, believing that she had accomplished everything she could in her career, and to not get caught up in her Real Life husband CM Punk's then-ongoing dispute with WWE. Even after her body healed, she refrained from returning in the ring due to being content with her life and having carved out a successful career as a writer, wanting to give younger women their own chance at the spotlight. It wasn't until after Punk reconciled with and returned to WWE that AJ found herself lacing up the boots again to aid her husband in his blood feud with Seth Rollins by neutralizing Rollins' wife, Becky Lynch.
Video Games
- In Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War, Dietrich Kellerman, the legendary Belkan Ace Pilot-turned-Veteran Instructor (and you have to be really good to become a legend of the Belkan Air Force), is sent back to the frontlines during the Belkan War to boost the troops' morale.
- Flower Knight Girl: Miyako Wasure previously retired from her Flower Knight career after marrying her prior Knight Commander to care for both them and the Flower Knights of her hometown, but would end up losing everything in Amawashi — including her memories. Following her recovery, she resolves to take up the Flower Knight profession again, motivated by the determination of the children of Peach Blossom Spring who have experienced their own loss like her but courageously move on towards a brighter future.
- I Was a Teenage Exocolonist: Chief Surveyor Tonin will retire near the end of the second year, giving command of the surveyors to his second-in-command, Utopia. However, second-in-command positions are informal for most of the game, resulting in newly minted official second-in-command positions getting filled via election near the end of it. Some choices can result in Utopia's elected second-in-command being Tonin, who has come out of retirement.
- In Metal Gear Solid, Solid Snake
gets back to businessis kidnapped and forcibly recruited after retiring to raise sled dogs in Alaska. - From Metal Wolf Chaos, Vice President of the United States Richard Hawk forces President Michael Wilson into premature retirement through a Military Coup. Michael isn't having any of it, and quickly leaves retirement to fight for burning American justice.
- Mewgenics: After returning from an adventure, the party of cats you used are now considered retired, so they can't go on another adventure again. However, if the homestead is attacked by a House Boss, you're given the chance to send your high-level retired cats back into action one more time.
- PAYDAY 3: The premise revolves around former members of the Payday Gang being forced to unretire from heisting, having done so at the end of PAYDAY 2.
- This gets Lt. General Raul of Radiant Historia killed in one of many false bad endings.
- An odd example in StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm — Kerrigan has spent several years not being human, so she's understandably been sidelined during her recovery process (and while the heroes find out how much they can trust her). When the Dominion shows up at the remote facility where she's hiding, though, she is forced to defend herself and then fight her way out of the base in a mission that is actually called "Back in the Saddle".
Web Original
- A backstory element of Noob includes the retirement Spectre, the UltimateGamer386 of the time and Amaras' mentor. One of the twists of the story includes Spectre coming back after a new faction was added to the game in which the story is set.
Western Animation
- In Batman Beyond, Bruce Wayne has long since retired from being Batman due to old age and a crippling heart condition. He now mentors and acts as the Voice with an Internet Connection to the new Batman. However, on two occasions he's taken up the fight again. On the first, he did it with the aid of Powered Armor. On the second, he was returned to a younger age through the use of a Lazarus Pit. Both times, his heroic theme from Batman: The Animated Series plays for him. Both can be conveniently watched here
.
- Extreme Ghostbusters: Egon Spengler reunites with the rest of the original Ghostbusters (Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and Winston Zeddemore) in the series' final episode. Venkman even quotes the trope name verbatum.
Venkman: Suit up boys, we're back in the saddle!
- Jackie Chan Adventures: In "The Dog and Piggy Show", Jackie tells Jade that the crotchety old Uncle was a kickass martial artist when he was his age. Meanwhile, Uncle discovers that the Dog Talisman possesses the powers of immortality and rejuvenation, which he secretly uses to help Jackie fight the Dark Hand's newest enforcer, the freelancer Hak Foo.
- King of the Hill: Deconstructed in "Bills Are Made To Be Broken". After Bill's record for most touchdowns at Arlen High is unfairly broken, Hank finds out that Bill is technically eligible to play and tie the record (even though Bill was okay with it being broken). However, in the 20+ years since Bill last played football, the fact that he's a fat, out-of-shape man in his 40s makes him not as energetic as he used to be and tires out quickly, saying that he can train or play the game; he can't do both. And when he plays the game, he keeps on going and scores, but the younger players piling on him quickly takes a toll on his body, managing to break his legs. And while he gets that touchdown, he's unable to move and is presumably carted off and has to rehab.
- In The Powerpuff Girls (1998), the decrepitly old Captain Righteous and Lefty are brought out of retirement because of their reputation in the past of being the only ones able to stop the Ministry of Pain. The Ministry themselves are also decrepitly old and have gone senile. They could have easily been stopped by the Powerpuffs, though Blossom insists that Righteous and Lefty be allowed to do it because the girls needed to respect their elders.
- Star Wars Rebels: The first arc of season 2 revolves around finding a surviving clone commander, CT-7567 "Captain Rex". While at first he is reluctant to get back into a war after so many years, the Jedi sent to recruit him accidentally brought the Empire with them. The ensuing fight between the clones and the Empire resparks Rex's Blood Knight heritage and he officially joins the rebellion.
- Wing Commander Academy: In one episode, the Tiger's Claw is attacked while most of her fighter wing is away. Because his remaining pilots are badly outnumbered, Commodore Tolwyn decides to climb into a fighter to personally take part in the fighting.
- Also inverted in at least one episode, where Tolwyn has Maverick stay aboard the Claw and supervise from the bridge while the rest of the fighter wing goes to fight the Kilrathi, in order to teach the cadet what it means to be in command, knowing that others might die following your orders.
Real Life
- In November of 1915, First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill resigned from the government to take a commission as an Army officer on the Western Front. Churchill had previously served in the British Army from 1895-1900.
- In 1898, former Confederate General (and, before he resigned his commission to join the Southern cause, US Army Lieutenant) Joseph Wheeler volunteered for duty with the US Army as the Spanish-American War broke out and returned to the front lines as a brevet major general (i.e. a temporary wartime rank—he was formally reappointed to the general rank in the regular army after the war, however.). Wheeler was the only former Confederate general to see combat as a US Army general after the Civil War when he led US cavalry forces in Cuba. Apparently, he was confused as to whom he was fighting in Cuba as he apocryphally shouted in the middle of a battle, "Let's go boys! We got the damnyankees on the run again!" note Later, when Wheeler appeared at the commemoration for the 100th anniversary of West Point wearing the uniform of a US Army general, which had hardly changed since Civil War, his former Confederate colleague and fellow West Pointer James Longstreet joked that he should like to predecease Wheeler just to see the looks on Jubal Early's (a famous Confederate general who was a fierce devotee to the Lost Cause) face when Wheeler shows up in afterlife wearing the blue (i.e. Union) uniform.