Go-Karting with Bowser



""For me, the interesting relationship is the one between Mario and Bowser; I mean on some days they fight to the death in fiery climactic showdowns, while on other days they go go-karting together, play tennis, even team up in some of the RPGs. Sure, he kidnaps the Princess a whole bunch, but no-one seems to begrudge him for that anymore; it's just what he does. It's like begrudging a dog for licking its own balls.""

- Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw, Zero Punctuation: Super Mario Galaxy.

*Gasp!* The hero and his arch rival are staring each other down! This is it! We're getting the Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny... wait, why are they sitting down and playing a game of checkers?

Not all heroes and villains are actively out for each others' blood, some heroes are reasonable and tolerant, and a few baddies can feign civility. On more extreme ends, enemies who are opposites (ideologically or otherwise) can engage in a peaceful activity to have a bout of diplomacy. But just like a Sympathetic POV can show even the antagonists have a good side, likewise Friendly Enemies can sit down and have a nice chat every so often. In the end, they're not there to engage in fisticuffs, though they may engage in a bout or two of social combat. Rather, they're there just to meet as friendly rivals and maybe, just maybe, win the other person over to their point of view. After all, a wise man once said, "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer."

Essentially, the heroes join the Villains Out Shopping. Occasionally, it will be a dinner date, and it can happen frequently when the hero is Living with the Villain, especially if they are Punch Clock Hero and Villain. If the bout is meant to emphasize their mutual intelligence, they'll probably play chess.

Now, this all sounds very nice and cheerful, right? Maybe people don't have to hate each other, even if they're opposed? However, this can take an entirely different feel if the villain is a Karma Houdini who has committed horrible crimes and is getting special consideration because he and the Hero share history.

This trope commonly comes up when the cast involves itself as a Universal Adaptor Cast, where they might be bitter enemies in one canon but are neutral or even friendly in another.

The title is a reference to a Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw review showcasing how Mario and Bowser of Super Mario Bros. are apparently on pretty genial terms, even though Bowser keeps kidnapping the princess. "It's practically expected".

Compare Dating Catwoman. Contrast Did Mom Just Have Tea with Cthulhu?. If the enemies happen to be deities as well, it's God Karting with Beelzebub. If, rather than Go Karting With Bowser, you're instead playing Energy Ball Pong with Ganondorf, that's Tennis Boss.

Anime and Manga

 * The Tomaso family is supposed to be big enemies of the Vongolas in Reborn. Longchamp Naito, however, seems perfectly fine with doing just about anything with Tsuna.
 * Ranma ½: The title hero has this relationship with all his enemies/rivals. One minute they'll be trying to kill Ranma, the next they'll be eating dinner with him. Mostly this is due to their respect for each other as martial artists, and Ranma's casual nature and confidence. Others are generally either plotting against him during dinner, or else just doing it because it gets them close to Akane.
 * Happens in episode 19 of the original Mobile Suit Gundam, when Zeon lieutenant Ramba Ral and his subordinates buy Amuro a meal despite apparently knowing that he's a Federation soldier.
 * Later in the series, Amuro is visiting a neutral colony and his electric car bogs down in some mud. Who should happen to stop and help out? The Rival Char Aznable, of course. In this case, they're both in uniform at the time and of course Amuro recognizes Char (it's kind of hard to miss a man in a custom red uniform and large silver mask), but all Char knows is that Amuro is a young Federation soldier and not the pilot of the "White Devil" that's been a thorn in his side for months (though he does later make the connection).
 * Again in the original series, mixed with a Worthy Opponent moment: after their plan to blow up the Gundam narrowly fails, a group of Zeon soldiers dresses in civilian clothes and comes to say hi. Bright immediately understand they were the guys who planted bombs on the Gundam, but shuts up and lets them go.
 * A similar version happens in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED when an incognito Andrew Waltfeld has a friendly debate about kebab sauces with Kira and Cagalli, then invites them back to his place to give Cagalli a dress to replace the one that was messed up in a terrorist attack. Of course, at this point, Andy reveals that he's the Desert Tiger of ZAFT, and has known that the kids are with the Earth Alliance the whole time...
 * Ironically he ends up helping them in the end with little ill will towards Kira for killing his girlfriend.
 * Happens AGAIN in After War Gundam X in episode 20. While on shore leave at an industrialized island, Bottle Fairy and Dark-Skinned Blond Toniya ends up becoming friends with only recently recovered ex-Yandere Ennil El, who has spent most of the past three arcs trying to kill Garrod. They have a very good time together, neither one aware of the other's identity... and then Ennil finds out. Even after that point, she and Toniya still view each other as friends and Ennil does eventually undergo a Heel Face Turn.
 * In a lesser example, Gundam Wing gives us Zechs. Viewing your rival as a Worthy Opponent is nothing new to Gundam, but Zechs goes beyond that by rebuilding Heero's self-destructed Gundam so they can have a fair fight. When he finally meets Heero face-to-face, Zechs is about as nice to the boy as he gets with anyone while still maintaining his mask.
 * Happens, sorta (it smells more like a negotiation ), in Mahou Sensei Negima!, when Fate and Negi go to a coffee shop. The two of them then get into a heated arguement, with magic and power flying around, over which is better: coffee or tea.
 * Earlier in the series, Negi is taking care of Evangeline while she is sick, afterwhich she stops skipping classes. . The series rarely has straightforward villains.
 * The Team Rocket trio in Pokémon occasionally partake in this, perhaps most blatantly in one episode where everyone enters a orienteering contest..
 * Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple: Kenichi ends up in this situation when he thinks the very imposing Ethan Stanley is going to challenge him to a fight, and instead they end up discussing non-violent compromises over tea. It ends up he's a combination Anti-Villain / Punch Clock Villain who's only fighting to help his annoying sister.
 * What makes this situation even funnier is the fact when, just as Ethan is about to tell Kenichi his offer, he suddenly gets summonned by cell-phone to go on a burglaring mission and, as Kenichi is unwilling to suddenly part from Ethan, he accompanies Ethan on this mission as a sideline observer! Immediately after the mission is over, the interrupted conversation continues.
 * While, unfortunately, the non-violent compromises are not used, they still sit down to tea several more times. You gotta give the guy credit for  even though he's so much nicer to Kenichi than Kenichi's supposed "best friend" Nijima. Kenichi even brings the entire class to
 * This happens quite a lot in Spiral. Although it often does end up ugly, most of the time the opposite factions tend to just discuss their strategies, taunt each other, and/or sympathize with each other. Examples: After Kanone called Eyes to confirm that he's, Eyes goes to fetch him at the airport - Kanone isn't surprised.   They call each other regularly, even in the middle of life-or-death battles, and have tea once it's over. Before the big fight, Kanone also holds non-violent discussions with his 'schoolmates' Kousuke and Ryouko (although his attempts to do the same with Ayumu and Hiyono always end up threatening or more). Hizumi and Ayumu live together and have lots of fun, despite the fact that   In Alive, Amanae lives for some time with Imari, then Kousuke and company.
 * Busou Renkin has Kazuki, Tokiko and Captain Bravo eating at a burger joint with Papillion.
 * Despite the fact that Lambdadelta is working specifically to trap her for all eternity and torture her slowly, that doesn't stop Bernkastel from having sleepovers with her in Umineko no Naku Koro ni.
 * Also, Battler and Beatrice have a really playful relationship from the start, which is a little weird.
 * In one episode of Zero Zero Nine One, the title Agent 009-1 Mylene Hoffman was being hunted by a highly skilled hitman who only worked during the day, and refused to fight her at night. So for several days they both tried (and failed) to kill each other during the day, and acted civil towards each other at night, even having drinks and going out on at least one dinner date. On the last night, after another long day of trying to kill each other, Mylene even invites him to her room and has sex with him. She is eventually able to kill him in their next fight.
 * Death Note: May as well call this trope "Tennis with Kira". (Though L does it to test Light and vice versa; the intensity of the match is nothing compared to the mental tennis required to follow the I Know You Know I Know.)
 * Inverted in the Yu-Gi-Oh!! universe, where the villains usually try to accomplish their goals by competing against the heroes in serious and occasionally deadly Card Games, and even nonthreatening duels are anything but friendly, even if its between characters that normally;are friends.
 * Hao/Zeke and Yoh Asakura from the Shaman King manga go to a café and talk over a cup of coffee as to why they're doing what they're doing.
 * The absurdity of this little talk is even lampshaded by Ren and a few others who question Yoh's judgment.
 * Sonic the Hedgehog The Movie: Sonic's girlfriend Sara plays video games with Dr. Eggman, her kidnapper.
 * Code Geass does this with great effect, as the protagonist Lelouch and his eventual rival Suzaku were close childhood friends. Upon meeting up seven years later, they start going to school together, hanging out with Lelouch's sister...and then fighting each other in giant robots in an attempt to change Japan, for better or for worse.
 * In addition to that, another one of their classmates is Kallen, Lelouch's ace pilot and in the second season, Brittanian knights Gino and Anya join the school. Gino represents this trope particularly well. The fact Kallen repeatedly tries to cook his Humongous Mecha from the inside out with him still inside is absolutely no reason for him not to try and have a friendly schoolbuddies relationship with her.
 * Though
 * Axis Powers Hetalia has some comic strips based on the WWII Christmas Truces, as described in the Real Life section. And depending on the time period the strip is set in, nations that were enemies in other strips will be friends/co-operative/tolerant of the other's presence, as in real life.

Comic Books

 * An Astro City special has the Samaritan (an Expy of Superman) meet with Infidel, a foe he exiled to a pocket dimension to keep him from destroying reality, once a year for dinner. The fact that they meet the occasion with virtually the exact same thoughts and feelings indicates they're really Not So Different. Note also that this was the result of the realization that if they had continued to struggle against one another, neither of them would ever be able to win since they're so evenly matched. Instead, they're fairly content to just use words to try to convince each other to come over to the other side.
 * In the Black Adam mini-series, he and foe-turned-friend-turned-foe Atom Smasher meet in a restaurant, both in their secret identities. They don't fight, though they almost come to blows. Amazingly, this is actually character development, showing that both (or at least Atom Smasher) have moved past the whole Khandaq affair.
 * In Teen Titans, Deathstroke and Beast Boy meet in a coffeeshop to discuss . This happens AFTER Beast Boy tried to kill him (and was unable to go through with it).
 * Marvel Comics' estranged Titan brothers Eros (good) and Thanos (evil) meet on good terms once every year, as a favor to their father Mentor.
 * The Flash occasionally has such moments with his closest foes, collectively known as "The Rogues Gallery ". One afternoon the Trickster and Captain Cold are attempting to freeze the city. Then later, they and Flash go out for drinks.
 * The Flash does not have this relationship with Gorilla Grodd, Zoom, or Kadabra because It's Personal. Grodd, Zoom , and Kadabra The other villains of the city tend to just be trying to make a (dis)honest living or tried to reform and failed.
 * The current miniseries Rogue's Revenge has tried to Retcon the death of Bart Allen (who was The Flash at the time) by saying that The Rogues didn't know what they were getting into, and had been tricked into it by Inertia; one of their regular rules is, "Never kill a speedster." And now they're going to even the score...
 * Before that, after Wally West's identity became public, Captain Cold (the "leader" of The Rogues) decreed that no-one was to ever harm a member of his family.
 * In Justice League Unlimited, this much friendlier relationship is shown when he simply sits down and convinces the Trickster to take his medicine again (after Orion was about ready to administer his form of interrogation).
 * It also comes up in Batman the Brave And The Bold, when the Rogues flat-out admit they miss the vanished Barry, compare Bats and the other Flashes unfavourably to him, and come close to tears when he returns.
 * Professor Xavier, leader of the X-Men, and Magneto, their arch-nemesis, were once best of friends. Occasionally, they still find time for a game of chess or a philosophical discussion in between Magneto trying to kill Xavier's students.
 * In the Ultimate Universe, Xavier visits museums with Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch when they lead the brotherhood of mutants during Magneto's death. Such places are neutral ground. Magneto and Xavier are not as friendly in this universe, unless the former is brainwashed.
 * Batman
 * At least one story has Bats visiting Arkham Asylum to play chess with Two-Face.
 * Oddly enough, in a lot of continuities, wanting this sort of relationship with Batman is the Riddler's entire character motivation. He even once gave an interview with reporters where he said he doesn't want to hurt anyone, he just wants to play puzzles with Batman. Batman is always reluctant to give him any attention, though.
 * In a Fantastic Four one-shot, Reed Richards and Dr. Doom resumed an unfinished chess game from their college days from memory, even as they were fighting each other. And earlier in that one-shot, before they began fighting again, they were quite civil with each other.
 * In the Flashback Universe, Saturn Knight and Lady Nemo are arch-enemies and ex-lovers still secretly pining for one another; They meet peacefully once every year for reasons unclear even to themselves.
 * Wonder Woman
 * While her rogues are inconsistent at best, she and longtime foe Circe occasionally engage in this, likely a result of that time that Circe brainwashed herself into becoming Diana's best friend. In the only part of the v3 reboot that made any sense at all, she seems to consider her stealing of Diana's powers and job to be doing her a favor, and they confide their respective emo to each other before Circe disappears after the fight.
 * Another recent issue has her talking about men with Giganta.
 * The supervillain Angle Man attended Donna Troy's funeral, though at this point he was effectively retired.
 * In an early issue of Sonic the Hedgehog, Snivley and some Swatbots interrupt a hockey game the Mobians are playing simply because they wanted to play themselves. Robotnik finds out and ups the stakes on the game, but Snively really wanted to play for fun.
 * Zot has a rather extreme example. 9-Jack-9 is Zot's archnemisis responsible for the death of Zot's parents. He also visits on Zot's birthday on friendly terms and plays in his Uncle Max's band. Even though he killed Zot's parents. It should be noted that neither Zot or Uncle Max were aware of his identiy as a bandmate, and Zot quite openly hates him and is fuming when he shows up at his party. The canoncial explanation for why Zot or Uncle Max never do anything is because they're just that nice.
 * As shown in the trope image, the superheroes of The DC Universe once faced off against the villains in a "friendly" baseball game. All to settle a bet between the villainous married couple, Sportsmaster and Huntress, over "whether villains can win." Uncle Sam and Amazo handle umpiring duties. It Makes Sense in Context... barely.
 * An Elliot S! Maggin Superman story has Luthor always escaping on a certain date each year, eventually Superman figures out he's trying to celebrate the birthday of Albert Einstein, one of his heroes. Superman arranges for himself and Luthor to have a private tour of the Einstein section of the Smithsonian. Luthor actually tears up as he sees the statue. As Luthor is taken back to jail he tells Superman, "Thanks for everything!" Definitely a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming.
 * In Young Justice, Zandia - a country ruled and inhabited mostly by super-villains - was allowed to compete in DC-Earth's version of the 2000 Summer Olympics. Sadly, the readers didn't get to see most of them actually compete, as the story focused solely on the archery event. Ultimately subverted, however, as their leader - the Brain - was planning to sabotage the events due to a deal made with a geneticist called The Baron, who promised to create a new body for the Brain in exchange for doing so.
 * Watchmen: The Comedian and Moloch appear to have this relationship. When The Comedian learns about, it seems Moloch is the first person he goes to, drunk and crying. He even refers to Moloch as the closest thing he has to a friend. Later, Moloch is among Comedian's former teammates at his funeral.
 * Mickey Mouse and Pete seem to have this relationship, especially in the Disney Italia comics. In one issue, Pete will have tried (and failed) to kill Mickey. The next, he'll be at Mickey's, asking if he could come in to watch TV. And Mickey will invite him in, because, well... it's Pete.

Fan Works

 * The Kim Possible fanfic Best Enemies has Kim and Shego meeting every Friday night to chat over coffee.
 * Death Note and Lupin III crossover, idiot, has Misa and Fujiko playing tennis. Who wins? The latter.

Film

 * It's certainly a James Bond trope. Bond has played cards with villains in the past. The main difference is that this is usually before they start trying to kill each other. There's also the golf game between Bond and Goldfinger.
 * In the first X-Men movie, Professor X playing Chess with Magneto.
 * Superthief (DeNiro) and supercop (Pacino) sit down for coffee in Heat.
 * In the classic film Pepe Le Moko and its American remake Algiers, Inspector Slimane makes a friendly visit to the titular jewel thief daily, all the while developing a Batman Gambit to put him in jail.
 * God and Satan (both played by George Burns) play poker in Oh, God!, You Devil. Of course, it's not exactly a friendly game, given that the stakes are a person's soul.
 * In What Did You Do in the War, Daddy?, an Italian village is having a festival. Rather than fight them, (It was set in World War II after all), the Allied forces party with them.
 * In Renoir's World War One POW film La Grande Illusion, the French and German officers are friendly, with mutual acquaintances. This is quite a common trope in prisoner-of-war movies, but it also has a political subtext.
 * In Scott Pilgrim vs. the World Scott and  talk about maybe getting breakfast sometime.
 * Being Victorian Gentlemen, Sherlock Holmes and James Moriarty share a friendly game of blitz chess and trade snark while discussing their plans to thwart the other.

Literature

 * In the Renaissance epics of Charlemagne and his Paladins, Orlando Innamorato and Orlando Furioso, the Christians and Saracens are engaged in a long world war that can only end with the extinction of either Islam or Christianity. Rulers on both sides invite enemies into their homes, during which everyone is quite civil.
 * Older Than Print: In a 12th-century Arthurian romance by Chretien De Troyes, Lancelot is in an epic contest of arms with another knight (possibly in Black). After swinging at one another for quite some time, they take a break, have a chat, get their breath back, and start back up again. They're quite civil. Quite like a certain film.
 * Aziraphale and Crowley's relationship in Good Omens started out like this and only got closer. By the time the story gets underway The reason given for their "Arrangement" is that they realised "they have more in common with their immediate opponents than their remote allies" and a certain acceptance of the inevitable, rather than ideological slippage. Aziraphale honestly believes in his cause and Crowley enjoys his work, but neither sees what they do as particularly important in determining the contest between Good and Evil.  Word of God states that they're now living together in a cottage somewhere.
 * In The Dresden Files Mother Summer and Mother Winter, the two most powerful queens of their respective fairy court live in the same cabin and get along fine, despite their respective courts being at war.
 * The whole Big Screwed-Up Family in Chronicles of Amber. The bitter antagonists like nothing better than a good old natter. In effect the opposing, godlike immortal they are facing at swords length is still family, and killing them immediately would foreclose the news on plots, treachery, births, deaths and marriages. More generally the series features an unusual amount of civil interaction between characters in such deadly opposition that normally you would expect just threats and violence.
 * This is mostly explained by the curse power that all Amberites have enabling them to karmically nuke their adversary if they get pissed enough. Therefore, they need to play everything as "strictly business" to avoid karmic nuclear war that would destroy Amber. And then there are vendettas. And (formerly) King Oberon capable of enforcing his rules.
 * It's a matter of etiquette in part. Plus, they are all family. After Rinaldo killed Caine avenging Brand, there was a bit of posturing between Julian making it clear that he has intent to avenge Caine in turn and Rinaldo making it clear he doesn't care much. After this, Julian provided him and his friend a nice dinner and they chatted a little about how Brand was before going mad.
 * There's also deep sample bias. The Amberites we know are the ones who chose to hang out in Amber or at least keep in touch and accepted the implications. Some others got really, really fed up with this atmosphere (we know of at least Delwin and Sand). But they took the only sane choice left: walked far away into the Shadows, never called back and consistently refused invitations (via Trumps) to get involved in Yet Another Family Mess ever after, which removed them from the picture almost completely.
 * In The Hollows novels despite the fact that Trent Kalamack has tried to kill Rachel Morgan one more than one occasion, killed an acquaintance, tried to get her to kill a personal rival and frame her for the deed and works to corrupt her to work for him they often go out socially together to have drinks and dinner and he has her over to the house on occasion. For her part Rachel will do legitimate work for him, is good friends with his chief bodyguard and was once a bridesmaid for his wedding.
 * In Going Postal, Reacher Gilt was more than willing to have a little chat and pay the bill for Moist von Lipwig's dinner in Ankh-Morpork's most expensive restaurant, despite being the main villain for the book. Even though
 * The Harry Potter parody series Barry Trotter did this once in Barry Trotter and the Unnecessary Sequel,.
 * In Anne Rice's Memnoch the Devil, Lestat overhears God and the Devil chatting in a coffee house.
 * Magician Roogna and Magician Murphy in Castle Roogna—part of Piers Anthony's Xanth series—are quite civil to each other, and consider their battle for rulership of the humans in Xanth akin to a strategy game or contest. Others might see it differently, especially when
 * In The Hobbit, Bilbo and Gollum tell each other riddles. (Though it's clear there, and made even moreso in The Lord of the Rings, that Gollum would've happily killed Bilbo, and the latter was just trying to buy time so he could get out of there.) Riddles are also Serious Business in Middle Earth.
 * One of the best moments in J P Martin's Uncle series is when Uncle's sworn enemies show up and they all celebrate Christmas together. It's casually mentioned that this is an annual tradition. Of course, the enemies get food, presents, and a chance to observe the house/castle/kingdom that they want to take over. But considering how they usually upset Uncle's refined sensibilities, have attempted many times to rob him, have stabbed him with skewers, and enjoy spreading inaccurate malevolent propaganda about him, you do have to wonder what's in it for him. Perhaps just Rule of Funny?
 * In Warrior Cats, there are gatherings that are a temporary truce between the four clans that happens once a month.

Live-Action TV

 * The relationship between Mike/Joel and the bots and the current villains in Mystery Science Theater 3000.
 * In Being Human (UK), Mitchell and Herrick have a relatively friendly and jovial relationship when they're not arguing dramatically or fighting.
 * we get Tom and Hal. Tom is a werewolf raised by his werewolf daddy to stake all vampires on sight and treat them as threats. Hal struggles to keep from killing people, but has a very bloody past They eventually get to be pretty good friends.
 * Star Trek: The Next Generation shows that rival houses of Klingons and their allies will often get together at the local tavern and drink a few brewskies with each other, all the while jovially teasing each other about how they'll kill each other next time they're on the battlefield. Klingon warriors want to die in honourable battle; it's the most honourable way to die. If you kill a Klingon warrior in honourable combat you are doing him a favour—no wonder they are on friendly terms when they are not actually fighting. They also point out that, in the crowded bar, no-one can really tell who is on which side. They're all just warriors out for a drink.
 * Colonel Klink and the prisoners often engage in (seemingly) friendly camaraderie in Hogan's Heroes. As senior POW officer Hogan sometimes gets invited to dinner or parties with visiting guests, and occasionally Klink agrees to participate in prisoner recreational activities. One scene has Hogan peacefully playing chess with Klink—he throws the game, but takes advantage of the kommandant's distraction to steal his dinner and later convinces him that he was so focused on the game that he forgot he was eating.
 * Buffy the Vampire Slayer has a number of examples of this:
 * Ethan Rayne taking Giles out for a pint when he finds out Giles was fired from the Watchers Council.
 * Spike is practically a Go Kart magnet. Nearly every main character, up to and including Buffy's mom, gets a scene where they're chatting amiably with him like he's not evil. And that's before.
 * In the 1960s Batman TV series, one of the episodes involves Batman and The Joker facing off in a surfing contest. The Joker doesn't even cheat!

Newspaper Comics

 * The lions in Pearls Before Swine try to be friends with Zebra, even though they admittedly would eat him should their wives catch and kill him (female lions are the real hunters). To their credit, they warn him about his personality traits that make him look like easy prey - like driving a Prius and subscribing to Oprah's Book Club.
 * In one arc of Peanuts strips, Peppermint Patty is practicing figure skating, when a group of mean hockey players try to chase her off the ice rink; Marcie tries to run out and help her, only to slip, fall, and wind up with a concussion. In the last strip of the arc, Patty visits Marcy at home, telling her she went to get revenge on the hockey players, only to wind up playing center for their team.

Tabletop Games

 * In some depictions, a few of the Archangels and Demon Princes in In Nomine will get together and talk about the old days while at the same time their servants are elsewhere fighting to the death.
 * In the D&D Planescape setting, you might find a celestial deva and a pit fiend (or maybe even a pit fiend and a balor) calmly discussing philosophy in a tavern in Sigil, and not think much of it. However, Sigil is under the protection of the Lady of Pain, who can keep out gods and flay virtually anyone (including said gods) with a glance. Making trouble there is not a good idea. Although, it also might be a good idea to eavesdrop on such a conversation - whatever a powerful planar leader says to another might well be very important.
 * Apparently the denizens of the Warhammer Fantasy Battle world occasionally put down the swords and crossbows to duke it out in a friendly (okay, not that friendly) game of Blood Bowl. It's a very violent sport, sure, but it's still a sport, as opposed to a battle.
 * It has been stated by Gamesworkshop that the two settings are not the same and the Blood Bowl-verse is actually a alternate universe of the Warhammer world where certain events didn't take place.
 * One of the many supplements released for Champions, "Neutral Ground", details a private "gentleman's club" called "The Sanctuary" that allows both heroes and villains to join, as long as they agree to not try and pound the snot out of each other while the heroes and villains are both there. One of the most frequent occurrences encountered by players is Doctor Destroyer (The Champions Universe expy of both Doctor Doom and Darkseid) playing chess with an old nemesis.

Video Games
""Repeated home invasions and sexual assaults normally lead to restraining orders, not golf invitations.""
 * The canonical example of this trope is Mario Kart.
 * Read more: 5 Reasons Bowser Is The Most Successful Video Game Character


 * In Super Mario Galaxy, Bowser even flat-out states that he likes having Mario as an arch-enemy.
 * He previously stated this in Super Mario 64 DS. Mario is the only character who is allowed to access the final area because "Mario is the only one I [Bowser] can call my rival."
 * In Mario Party 5, after Bowser is defeated in Story Mode, he reveals his dream: . He then bids the player a friendly farewell,.
 * When you think about it Bowser's been trying to kidnap Peach and beat Mario since they were babies. It's like a routine, if he stopped doing it they'd probably worry that something was wrong. This is implied to be the case in Super Mario RPG, in which the constant kidnappings are mentioned several times and at one point, Bowser even laments being broken out of his routine and reminisces on how the kidnapping attempts usually go.
 * Mario explains his logic in this interview:

"Mario: Well, you know what dey say, keep you friends-a close, and you enemies-a closer. But dey also say, if you enemy is a gigantic spiky creature, who breathes-a da fire, keep him-a super-duper close!"


 * In the Super Smash Bros. Brawl story mode The Subspace Emissary, Peach stops a fight between her partner Sheik and Fox to have tea. Fox instantly becomes their friend.
 * Kirby and King Dedede should count as well.
 * Really, the game as a whole is a very "fighting" version of Mario Kart anyway. Even after losing a match to long-time nemesis Link, Ganondorf will still politely (if begrudgingly) stand in the background and applaud.


 * Jade Empire has two representatives of the Way of the Open Palm and the Way of the Closed Fist (the game's rough way of saying "Good" and "Evil") meet once a year to play a game vaguely reminiscent of go. Without any pieces. Or a BOARD. Once you've chosen one philosophy for your own and learn the corresponding martial art, the two conclude their game and vow to meet up next year... if something bad doesn't happen in the time in-between.
 * Harman and Kun Lan in Killer7.
 * In The Sims 2, anyone whom you're furious with or enemies with can be invited to a wedding. And they'll come. And share cake, toast to you and even clap for you when it's over. But next time you see them, they're back to fighting you.
 * Phoenix has a Spot of t... coffee with Godot, right after the end of their last trial together in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations. Also, Apollo and Trucy went together to Klavier Gavin's concert in Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney.
 * That said, Trucy is (or had rather become) a huge fan of Gavin's band, and Apollo was never really that hostile towards Klavier anyway—he just doesn't like the loud music. On the other hand, Ema Skye would rather have coated her left arm in Snackoos and eaten it than wind up running security for the gig out of her personal loathing for Gavin, and makes this sentiment loud and clear when she meets up with Apollo backstage.
 * Truth in Television: Attorneys are often chummy with each other outside of court, even if they represent opposing sides of a case. It's part professional courtesy and part realism: just because your lawyer fights tooth and nail for your case doesn't actually mean he believes in you. It's what they get paid to do.
 * Oh boy, Phoenix and Edgeworth. They were childhood friends, . They snark at each other a lot, but it's quite clear that they mean a lot to each other, platonically or not, and that they're there for each other when it counts - just look at . They count as fairly close friends at the very least, and even though they don't exactly seem to hang out much, this can probably be attributed more to the rather standoffish type of person Edgeworth is than to them not getting along.
 * In Final Fantasy VI, after having spent half the game chasing Terra, having sentenced Celes (a former General in their army) to death, occupied Edgar and Sabin's kingdom, destroyed Doma, killed countless Espers, and basically waging war against the entire world (a war which he was close to winning), Emperor Gestahl invites the heroes to a nice and civilized diplomatic dinner, just to show he's not a bad guy anymore. (He still is. The whole thing was a ruse.)
 * It's worth noting he blamed Kefka for almost everything, even going as far as asking the party what should they do with said Ax Crazy/Caligula/NietzscheWannabe/Omnicidal Maniac, trope overdose etc. One of the options is to execute him, though the correct choice is to leave him in jail.
 * It's also worth mentioning that
 * King Dedede and Kirby have this kind of relationship normally—their adversarial bouts are the exception.
 * Dedede's generally back to playing as the main villain in spinoffs and other non main game titles. Generally brought on by his hatred of the stars(makes you wonder why he lives on Popstar).
 * Kirby games do this a lot. For example, Kirby can choose to use his Copy Ability to make a "helper" (for example, Fighter Kirby summons Knuckle Joe), who are friendly versions of the enemies swallowed. Chef Kawasaki is a mini-boss in Kirby Super Star, but in the anime, he gives Kirby a (short-lived) job at his restaurant. In fact, the only characters who are consistently evil seem to be the final bosses.
 * Judging by the way the original developers handled the franchise, Crash Bandicoot seems to have a bit of this going on with Dr. Neo Cortex, specifically in Crash Team Racing where the good guys and bad guys are all just go-karting along before the plot happens... and then they all go-kart around some more.
 * Practically every ending of every installment of Touhou Project have the main characters sit down and drink tea with the last boss after they save the world from the said last boss.
 * To be fair, the characters are mostly friendly to one another, ignoring the complicated mesh of rivalries. Most of the villains are just Youkai who get it into their head to do something destructive. In fact, Go-Karting with Bowser is the entire idea behind Mountain of Faith's Extra stage.
 * The NES game Eight Eyes shows your character having tea with a boss after defeating him/her.
 * Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball. Characters that would otherwise be at each other's throats just want to relax at the beach. Even characters like Ayane/Kasumi, Helena/Ayane, and Christie/Helena, who all pretty much have a kill on sight method of greeting each other in canon have only a small grudge. Justified though, as it's All Just a Dream by Zack.
 * There's an old Namco platforming game for the Sega Genesis called Talmit's Adventure, where the leading character, Talmit, had to beat 3 of the Mole King's underlings to save three fairies and their princess trapped in magical orbs, complete with Smooch of Victory. Nothing wrong with that, until you realize that every single boss battle is a Mini-game with lots of The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard. The minigames, themselves prove to be quite entertaining though, even, surprisingly, the Rock Paper Scissors battle with a twist. After beating the last world, you are pitted against the Mole King who plays a variation of Whack-a-Mole against you. The ridiculousness of this is even taken in account by the Big Bad himself, who after losing attacks you and becomes the first and last real boss of the game.
 * Done quite literally in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. The 'hero', C.J. literally kills his way through Mad Dogg's orginization so a friend, OG Loc, can jumpstart a music career. Then, in order to restart Mad Dogg's career (a movie which greatly benefits C.J.) he and Mad Dogg chase OG Loc through the streets of Los Santos...on go karts. In order to get a valued rhyme book back. Apparently Madd Dog cannot make up new rhymes on his own. M.D. has 'so far' not discovered that C.J. was the one to kill his co-workers and leave his mansion filled with bodies.
 * In City of Heroes, the heroes and villains can fight over an island in Bloody Bay or Warburg, protect/invade Paragon City in Siren's Call, or fight over the future in Recluse's Victory. Alternatively, they can have a drink and go on a few missions together in the Pocket D dance club, work to protect the past in Cimerora and the Midnighter's Club, and fight aliens in the Rikti War Zone.
 * Sonic & Sega All Star Racing of course, Sonic is seeing karting with Eggman, Shadow & Knuckles.
 * Shadow's profile actually reminds you of his Character Development from revenge-driven maniac to The Lancer.
 * You can also go karting with Eggman in Sonic Drift, and karting (more so airboarding) with Shadow in Sonic Riders.
 * And in Sonic R it's not just Robotnik but four of his creations: Metal Sonic, Metal Knuckles, Tails Doll, and Egg Robo.
 * Konami Krazy Racers allows you to play as Dracula himself, Castlevania music and race tracks included. The sequel Kracy Kart Racing added Pyramid Head as a new racer.
 * In one of the endings of The Bard's Tale,
 * The Hoyle's Book of Games series, by Sierra Entertainment, is a video game collection of card and later board games. In the first game, you could choose opponents from the heroes of various Sierra games. The Third game (the second was a collection of solitaire games so...) also allowed you to sit down and board games with various Sierra villains, such as Sludge Vohaul and Mordack. They generally made villainous comments, though.
 * In Donkey Kong 64,
 * Rayman M (known as Rayman Arena in the US) has Rayman and his friends and enemies engage in a racing competition, although the canonicity thereof is uncertain. (They can still beat each other up in the battle segments, though.)
 * In Nicktoons MLB, you can play baseball with Zim and The Flying Dutchman!
 * Heavy Rain has this with a golf match between Scott Shelby and Charles Kramer.
 * One of Tsukihime side stories, "The Tohno Family Con Game", is about most of the cast playing a game of tag, villains included. Amusingly, the villains are generally more affable toward everybody than much of Shiki's Unwanted Harem. Technically Fanfic but it was included by Type Moon on the fandisc.
 * In a more canonical example, in the very first scene after branching onto Kohaku's route in the original visual novel, Shiki, the main hero, meets the main antagonist who's been trying to kill him since he was a kid, and is a serial killer/vampire/cannibal, Granted,  In the end, the villain does try to start a fight, but Shiki
 * This theme is somewhat continued in another side story, "Drinking, Dreaming Moon", where they drink alcohol together and talk about how nice it might have been had the villain never turned evil to begin with, and reminiscing on how great of friends they could have been. But then Shiki wakes up and finds that it was All Just a Dream}...
 * Played straight in Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep, with the Rumble Racing minigame, as well as some of the Command Boards. You play against Gantu, Captain Hook, Maleficent...
 * Fate/stay night is filled with these.
 * In Heavens Feel, Shirou shares a table at a Chinese restaurant with Kirei, by all rights his arch-nemesis,, in basically every scenario, who calmly reveals that he was a villain for the first time in this particular scenario (after Shirou already guessed it). And he offers Shirou some of his Mapo Tofu. Twice.
 * Lancer loves this trope. In Unlimited Blade Works, he is trying to have a friendly chat with the heroes, and Rin complains that they're supposed to be enemies. He remarks how back in his day it was normal for enemies to dine and party together when they weren't in battle. Rin claims that those days have long went out of style. To which Lancer replies, "Really? This age sure is boring."
 * In the Fate/Zero prequel, Saber, Gilgamesh, and Rider all have a drinking contest against each other, to "prove who's the greatest king." Meanwhile, Saber and Rider's mortal partners are hiding off to the side and amazed at the proceedings.
 * In Heavens Feel again, Rider has tried to kill Shirou several times already,, and just nearly turned all the heroes to stone the previous afternoon, but then she's suddenly  . He is understandably uncomfortable..
 * In all three scenarios, Shirou and Rin spend most of the story living together and competing in meal preparation, all the while Rin is constantly reminding Shirou (and you) that they are enemies who will have to kill each other before it's all over.
 * In both Fate and Heavens Feel,,  .  . Nevermind that she's been his greatest threat and tried to kill him countless times (and possibly succeeded) up until this point.
 * Just about the entirety of Fate/hollow ataraxia is built around this trope. It's all done for fan enjoyment, of course.
 * The Alien vs. Predator arcade game lets you do "alien hunting with the Predators", as two out of four player characters are Predator Warrior and Predator Hunter.

Web Animation

 * Homestar Runner
 * In one cartoon, Strong Sad mentions that he and The Cheat play Jenga on Tuesdays. Despite claiming to hate Homestar, it seems that Strong Bad tends to tolerate him more and more as time passes. They even starred in Dangeresque 1: Dangeresque, Too? together. Then again, Strong Bad seems to drag everybody into his Dangeresque movies, whether they want to or not. ** On the "Cheat Commandos", Blue Laser invites the Commandos for a Thanksgiving Dinner. The invitation was for everyone, but the team decided not to tell their leader Gunhaver, since he has a hard time relaxing.
 * In Red vs. Blue, many of the non-story-related comedy shorts feature the Red and Blue teams hanging out together and discussing various subjects from E3 to zombie apocalypses. They're still somewhat antagonistic towards each other, though.

Web Comics
"Elan: I know that sometimes, the hero has to play baccarat with the enemy, even though logically it would make more sense for them to just be trying to kill each other. What I don't know is how to play baccarat."
 * Garnet and Gure: "Baby Wesker Numbah One!"
 * Helen and Madblood's date in Narbonic, though in this case it's an Affably Evil Villain Protagonist and a rival Mad Scientist. Their relationship throughout the comic oscillates between awkward flirtation and trying to wipe each other off the map.
 * Happened in Antihero for Hire, though it was a game of chess between two antagonists, rather than between a hero and a villain. However, considering that they're very much antagonistic towards each other as well, it still seems to count. One basically goes "I'll kill you last", while the other responds with "Not if I find a way to mind-control you first, you won't."
 * There's a related melee scene in El Goonish Shive. The three members of a Quirky Miniboss Squad confront three main characters. The noble one attacks in order to subdue the protagonists before the Big Bad can arrive to kill them instead. The twisted one attacks in bloodlust. The slow one has no incentive to do either, and is left standing awkwardly with the third main character. After a moment they have a thumb war.
 * Brawl in the Family
 * Initially disguised it in this strip.
 * This one has another take on it, and on how the go-karting is related to the conflict.
 * Made fun of in this Deviant ART comic.
 * Lampshaded in this page of Order of the Stick.


 * Evil Inc. has the two (arguably) main caharacters, Captain Heroic and Match Girl, being husband and wife in their off hours, but battling each other while "on the job".

Web Original
"The Joker: Call me insane but I consider us friends I've brought the DVD so we can watch it again!"
 * The Spoony Experiment: Dr. Insano and Spoony still apparently live together despite the former having killed the latter (he got better). Insano even fixed Spoony's Atari Jaguar so he could play the Highlander game, although that might not have been a completely kind act.
 * In The Key Of Awesome's parody of The Dark Knight, Alfred arranges a session of this so Batman and the Joker can figure out the plot.


 * Nitro Game Injection: There is an episode of the show named after this trope.
 * Homestar Runner: The Thanksgiving-themed Cheat Commandos toon "Let Us Give TANKS!", in which Cheat Commandos and Blue Laser put their differences aside and have Thanksgiving dinner together. Hilarity Ensues when Gunhaver didn't get the invitation and launches an attack.
 * Assist Me: The whole premise is Max teaching Marvel vs. Capcom 3 Characters how to be better at the game ranging from his roomate Doctor Doom to Phoenix.
 * Mario's numerous roles are evidence of a multiverse in Cracked.com's #15 Science Lesson As Taught by Famous Video Games.

Western Animation
"Megabyte: I've always wanted to do that."
 * Plankton from SpongeBob SquarePants worked with a bunch of other characters, including Mr. Krabs, on giving SpongeBob a surprise party. Part of his role was to pick spongebob's pockets for his housekey. When he observed that the keyring also had a key to the Krusty Krab, he decided he should seize the opportunity to break in. This scheme was thwarted very quickly.
 * Tom and Jerry. Especially in the cartoons made in the Seventies.
 * A good example is "The Truce Hurts", even though it is short-lived, in which Tom and Jerry, as well as Spike, put their differences aside and get along with each, only to once again be mortal enemies by the end of the cartoon.
 * Most of the Looney Tunes antagonistic relationships are like this, Depending on the Writer.
 * Bugs and Daffy particularly.
 * Especially exemplary of this trope is the relationship between Ralph Wolf and Sam Sheepdog. On the job, they take every opportunity to try to beat the other to a pulp, but when the day is done, they talk to each other like old chums.
 * Pegleg Pete (a.k.a. Black Pete, Big Bad Pete, Perilous Pete, Putrid Pete) has this relationship with the rest of the core Mickey Mouse Funny Animal crew. At times he's a genial but gruff neighbor, at other times he's a gigantic hulking gangster.
 * The villain version came first. The neighbor role (e.g. the one you see in Goof Troop) seems to have started as an attempt to soften him up, though it ended up simply coexisting with more ruthless roles.
 * In a Christmas episode of House of Mouse, Minnie is threatened with mistletoe by Mortimer Mouse. Pete shows up, seemingly about to make the situation worse (in the old days his motives mainly revolved around kidnapping her for himself), when suddenly he swoops in and gives Mortimer a big smooch to scare him off. In what is both an entirely bizarre or an entirely awesome moment, Minnie and Pete high-five each other.
 * Bluto and Popeye get along great—when Olive Oyl isn't around. But when she gets involved...
 * Unless they get their orange juice. No, really.
 * Megabyte of ReBoot takes a break from his plotting to rock out in a guitar duel with the protagonist at the resident Bratty Half-Pint's birthday party.


 * In the Disney Channel animated series Phineas and Ferb, the crimefighting platypus Agent P and his archnemesis Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz are often seen as very amiable foes, with their roles as good guy and bad guy often being alluded to as mere jobs they have to do. Dr. Doofenshmirtz even goes so far in certain episodes to have Perry sit in a waiting room so the German doctor can finish a plot, or to exclaim to Perry that he doesn't want to fight, it's his weekend off. In a recent episode, he even says that he considers Perry his best friend... right before Perry uppercuts him out of the spaceship they were on.
 * The same can be said for episodes where Candace willingly participates in Phineas and Ferb's activities without trying to bust them for it.
 * This is supposed to be the relationship between the Guild of Calamitous Intent and the good guys they're arching on The Venture Brothers; the Monarch's genuine (if totally irrational) hatred for Dr. Venture is what sets him apart from normal villains. Sergeant Hatred, on the other hand, has no trouble inviting his arch-nemesis to a barbecue. This arguably lead to Hatred's Heel Face Turn. Although Hatred himself admits he was being particularly civil to Dr. Venture just to piss the Monarch off because the Monarch's henchmen had been stealing parts from his hovertank, a fact of which the Monarch believed him to be blissfully unaware.
 * Mr. Krabs and Plankton in SpongeBob SquarePants play cards together. Which, of course, is part of Plankton's scheme to throw the card games to fool Krabs into putting something valuable, like SpongeBob's contract, on the line. In the episode "Band Geeks", Krabs and Plankton both perform in Squidward's band.
 * Spongebob frequently partakes in this. Don't be surprised if Plankton is among his guests at one of his parties.
 * On The Fairly OddParents, an entire episode was based around the fairies, the anti-fairies, and the pixies competing in the Fairy World Games. Also, Juandissimo gets along great with Timmy when Remy's not around.
 * Kim Possible and Shego seem to mutually respect each other, despite their normal levels of animosity. They've been known to chat in the middle of fights. In the episode "Sick Day" Kim and Shego, who were both suffering from colds, sneezed at the same time and said, "Bless you," before resuming the fight.
 * In the Freakazoid! episode "In Arms Way", Freakazoid has a flashback to the time that he and several of the show's villains participated in a "Superhero-Villain All-Star Benefit Softball Game".
 * Johnny Test: Johnny literally has a go-kart race with Brain Freezer and Mister Mittens. They're both members of The Johnny-Hating Evil Force Five.
 * The Simpsons. Bart Simpson and Principal Skinner on several occasions. In a rather poignant early episode when Skinner was sacked, he and Bart actually become good friends. When Skinner rejoins the military Bart even admits to Lisa that he misses him as a friend but misses him even more as an enemy. After Bart helps Skinner become principal again they both realize their friendship can only continue if Bart becomes a good student—something they both know isn't going to happen.
 * Optimus Prime and Megatron: playing golf.
 * In |Toy Story 2, Utility Belt Buzz is actually last seen playing catch with Emperor Zurg after the latter is revealed to have survived a fall into an elevator shaft.
 * Well, apparently, Zurg is Buzz's father.
 * Halfway invoked in Xiaolin Showdown after the monks team up with Jack Spicer in order to defeat Wuya. After they succeed Jack calls off the truce but Omi manages to guilt trip him (by using his Puppy Dog Eyes) into offering to take everyone out for ice cream whenever they aren't fighting. The monks gladly accept the offer, but since they never actually stopped fighting, it never comes to fruition.
 * In Batman: The Animated Series, you have Batman's villains The Joker, Penguin, Two-Face, Killer Croc and Poison Ivy playing cards, having coffee and talking about how they came this close to killing the Bat. When does it all end? When Batman shows up to ruin their game. Who's the real villain here?
 * InStreet Sharks, the Seaviates aren't above pulling harmless pranks on the Sharks when they're not trying to kick each others' fins.
 * In Celebrity Deathmatch episode, Deathcon 2001, just before getting his revenge at Nick Diamond for injuring his eye, Zatar the Alien goes do some shopping for Ultraman shirts.

Real Life
"Jesse Owens: Hitler didn't snub me — it was our president who snubbed me."
 * The Christmas truces from the First World War.
 * Also from the First World War, the early airplane pilots were often pre-war flight pioneers, and knew each other from various contests and meetings and the like. Only after some time they began to greet the other guy with bullets instead of salute.
 * By the late 1980s it wasn't all that uncommon for former WWII soldiers from all sides to attend each others' reunions, perhaps because they had something in common with their former enemies (the shared experience of combat) that they couldn't share with the people back home.
 * Ace Japanese fighter pilot Saburo Sakai died of a heart attack as he was reaching over a table to shake the hand of a USAF colonel who had invited Sakai to give a speech. After the war Sakai became a committed pacifist and devoted the remaining nearly 60 years of his life to reconciling himself with the United States in general, and with the families of those pilots he had shot down in combat in particular.
 * Federal and Confederate soldiers both showed up to commemorate the anniversaries of Civil War battles at least as far as fifty years after war ended. This actually got very ugly on the 50th Anniversary of Gettysburg. Some Confederate survivors mirrored Pickett's charge and Union survivors basically said "They didn't succeed then, they won't succeed now!" and proceeded to have eighty-somethings beating on each other in the July heat in 1913.
 * That was probably awful to watch, but in simple text, it sounds like a Crowning Moment of Funny.
 * General Joseph E. Johnston, the Confederate officer who led the troops opposed to Sherman's march, helped to carry Sherman's coffin at his funeral. The funeral was on a cold day and one of Johnston's friends told him to wear a hat, but he refused to out of respect for Sherman saying, "If I were in his place and he standing here in mine, he would not put on his hat." He got a cold that developed into pneumonia and died shortly thereafter (but cold weather doesn't cause colds, germs do, so it's unrelated, but it makes for a good story).
 * During the Italian campaign of World War II, members of the British Parliament complained when it became known that Montgomery had invited a captured German general to dinner as a courtesy. Churchill, referencing Montgomery's well-known spartan lifestyle and tastes, replied that he had dined with Montgomery, and his sympathies were entirely with the German.
 * On the other hand, after the German surrender in Tunisia in 1943, some US officers suggested to general Eisenhower that he ought to invite his German counterpart to dinner as a courtesy. Eisenhower refused because he found the idea of nicely chatting with an enemy commander unappealing.
 * A team of Ku Klux Klansmen vs. a team of Jews at baseball anyone?
 * The link seems to indicate that the Jewish team was a last-minute substitution, rather than any sort of conscious outreach by either side. It'd be interesting to see how the game actually played out.
 * Following the sinking of the American Cruiser USS Indianapolis by the Imperial Japanese Submarine I-58, the Captain of the Indianapolis, Captain Charles B. McVay, was court martialed. The Captain of the submarine that sank his his ship, Commander Mochitsura Hashimoto, testified at his court martial that Captain McVay's actions were not responsible for the sinking, and actually spearheaded post-war efforts to clear Captain McVay's name stating in a letter to Senator John W. Warner, then head of the Senate Armed Services Committee. "I have met many of your brave men who survived the sinking of the Indianapolis. I would like to join them in urging that your national legislature clear their captain's name."
 * Unfortunately for McVay's reputation, even after a joint resolution from Congress, signed by then President Clinton in October 2000, and the US Navy admitting it screwed up, his record still retains the conviction for the loss of the Indianapolis.
 * The Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union in 1957.
 * This was unfortunately marred when, on Yuri Gagarin's death, the Soviets refused to grant entry visas to the contingent, including astronauts, NASA sent to the funeral services.
 * The Cold War in general featured a whole bunch of this, since little actual killing was going on and the United States and Soviet Union technically recognized and were at peace with each other. American and Soviet diplomats were frequently good—if careful—friends with one another, and most famously, Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev struck up a friendship in the mid-1980s.
 * The fact that this was true and not particularly well-hidden led some to speculate as early as the 1970s that a complete rapprochement between the US and USSR was in the offing. They were right—in 1989, Gorbachev officially stated that the United States was no longer a strategic enemy of the Soviet Union, and the USSR backed the US up politically in the Gulf War—but unfortunately for these prognosticators, the Soviet Republics decided to declare independence from the USSR one by one, until the Russian SFSR, the largest SSR, did so, leaving the Soviet Union a mere scrap of paper.
 * Kenshin Uesugi and Shingen Takeda, during the Warring States period in Japan, though it only happened once, and the rest of the time they only sent letters while trying to outmaneuver one another in combat.
 * Brian Bendis and Geoff Johns are rivals in work and good friends who like to play video games with each other after that.
 * Marvel and DC in general are this, since they've made crossover works together.
 * The Olympic Games are a prime setting for this sort of thing.
 * 1936 Berlin Games showing off Nazi Germany, only for Jesse Owens to show up "Aryan superiority". Which also illustrates how such tension provides opportunities for something to backfire in the more embarrassing ways, while also attracting attention:


 * And any match between US and Soviets during the Cold War (especially the infamous hockey match in 1980, a.k.a. the "Miracle on Ice").
 * Even more so during the ancient Olympic games, when it was customary for city-states at war to declare a truce for the duration of the games. Sadly, a number of modern Olympics have been canceled as a result of war, or otherwise marred by politics.
 * The World Cup also has some calmative effects at times — see the Côte d'Ivoire truce in 2006.
 * According to popular history, when Richard the Lionheart came down with the red fever, Saladin sent him a basket of rare fruits as a "get well" present.
 * Popular history?
 * Richard the Lionheart and Saladin did seem to respect each other.
 * Similarly, when Sengoku-era Japanese warlord Uesugi Kenshin sent his rival Takeda Shingen some much-needed salt (a valuable commodity in those days), and after Takeda's passing the two clans became allies against rising power Oda Nobunaga.
 * The President's Press Secretary vs. the White House Press Corp. As Tony Snow (second press secretary of the second Bush) put it "It's adversarial, not antagonistic" when asked how he could like and respect Helen Thomas (who didn't like the second Bush).
 * Like the above: lawyers. The legal system (in America) is partly built around the idea that every argument has two sides (at least), and that each side will be represented by a professional bound by a code of conduct. That code recognizes that these professionals may very well know each other and are bound to leave all personal connections (positive or negative) at the door and represent their clients professionally and to the best of their abilities. Then they go to lunch and talk about their kids.
 * Often, politicians (and others involved in the political process, e.g. aides, staffers, and journalists) who are on opposite sides of the political spectrum, and bitterly oppose each other's policies, are, outside the political arena, good friends. A good example of this is Bill Clinton and George (H.W.) Bush.
 * This sometimes leads to some really Odd Friendships: Would you believe, for instance, that Hunter S. Thompson and Pat Buchanan accounted each other as friends?
 * Cal Thomas and Bob Beckel are newspaper columnists on polar opposites of the political spectrum (Thomas the conservative, Beckel the liberal) who wrote a book together titled Common Ground. The book's general premise was about the country's two political sides needing to talk and negotiate with each other in order to fix the country's problems.
 * Ping Pong diplomacy between the U.S. and People's Republic of China in the 1970's.
 * Surprisingly common in the Arab-Israeli Conflict. The situation is complex, but here goes:
 * Since Israel and Egypt signed their peace treaty in 1979, the Egyptian and Israeli peoples have generally viewed each other with suspicion if not outright hostility. That hasn't prevented the Israeli prime ministers from being quite buddy-buddy with Egyptian presidents—senior Israeli officials visited Egypt regularly, and the administration rolled out the red carpet every time. The IDF and Egyptian military are quite close, and the Egyptian intelligence services have proven quite happy to divulge information on Hamas to Aman (Israeli military intelligence), the Mossad, and Shabak (the Israeli FBI).
 * Similarly, the Palestinian Authority's security forces have been cooperating consistently with their Israeli counterparts since about mid-2007 at the very latest. The PA captures, tries, and punishes terrorists wanted by Israel regularly; as a result, the period since 2007 has seen virtually no deaths either on the Israeli or the Palestinian side from the West Bank (Gaza is of course another matter). Furthermore, the Israeli and Palestinian negotiators have been at it so long that after a long day of negotiating, they usually end up telling jokes and asking about one another's families, and are reported to complain to one another about their political superiors' shortcomings all the damn time.
 * Somewhat differently, the monarchies of the Gulf have a rather peculiar relationship with Israel; while none officially recognize Israel, several (Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar at least) have entertained Israeli officials, officially or unofficially, and treated them well. Business between them is booming (albeit through third parties), and a few have let Israel open consular offices in their countries.
 * And finally, Jordan. Of course, Jordan has always seen Israel as a Worthy Opponent rather than the evil enemy of the people, so perhaps it isn't surprising that the Israeli and Jordanian governments get along swimmingly.
 * Due to the rules of chivalry, this happened fairly often as a knight was obligated to treat captured opponents with respect and even provide food, entertainment and lodgings like a guest. It helped that the captured enemy was often ransomed and the "hospitality" was added to the bill.