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{{trope}}{{Needs Image}}
{{quote|''Smile like you've got nothing to prove''
''No matter what you might do''
''There's always someone out there cooler than you''
|'''Ben Folds'''}}
The character who is the best-of-the-best with a supporting cast that [[Can't Catch Up]] comes across someone even better than them; [[The Ace|someone more powerful]] than the [[Superhero]], or more skilled than the [[Ninja]], or smarter than [[The Professor]], or richer and more important than the rich important guy, or a better banjo player than the master banjo player, etc.
It's not uncommon for the characters to be siblings, not unlike the [[Aloof Big Brother]]
By the end of the story, one of three things has usually happened: the regular character has been totally humiliated trying to beat the other character; he has grown up and realized that he just doesn't need to be the best, and becomes happy being ''second'' best; or has bested their superior. The most common ways for besting them in action shows is by outwitting or tricking them, finding their [[Achilles' Heel]], using a [[Forgotten Superweapon]], getting into an [[Unstoppable Rage]], or just a good old-fashioned [[David Versus Goliath]] confrontation. Sometimes, the character just has to get over their mental block/self-esteem issue, which was the problem all along.
This is generally just a one-shot character, but in continuing, action-oriented shows, this character can sometimes turn into a recurring villain or [[Big Bad]] with whom the Hero develops a rivalry. In many cases, the [[Green-Eyed Monster|rivalry]] is entirely one-sided (either the rival [[Unknown Rival|doesn't know that his challenger exists]]
Sometimes overlaps with [[The Ace]]. In a [[Monster Protection Racket]], a character can seem this way before they're revealed. See also [[Always Second Best]]. [[Always a Bigger Fish]] is the version for monsters.
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* ''[[Pokémon (anime)|Pokémon]]'': Gary Oak from the Kanto Arc to the end of the Johto Arc.
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** Harrison, during the Silver Conference.
** Tyson, during the Ever Grande Conference.
** Paul, during the Sinnoh Arc -- {{spoiler|until the Suzuran Conference.}}
** Tobias, during the Suzuran Conference.
** Shooti during the Unova Arc but quickly [[Subverted]] in his fourth
* Both Seta Noriyasu and Aoyama Tsuruko in ''[[Love Hina]]'' can outfight Aoyama Motoko.
** Granted, Seta is [[The Ace]] and Tsuruko is Motoko's older sister (older siblings tend to be like this).
* In ''[[Tower of God]]'', one character is so frustrated about this and [[Can't Catch Up]], that he decides to kill {{spoiler|Lahel}} to stop Baam from climbing. When Baam once again proves his genius by saving her with a technique he had just been shown, said character gives up and commits suicide.
{{quote|
* ''[[Ranma ½
** More appropriately, it's about discovering that the enemy is a one note wonder, and combat that avoids their special trick easily defeats them.
* In ''[[Spiral]]'', Narumi Ayumu's older brother, Kiyotaka, is far and away his superior (though he also seems to have vanished from the face of the earth for the anime portion of continuity).
* ''[[One Piece]]'' had Mihawk, the greatest swordsman in the world, who in his first appearance utterly trounces Roronoa Zoro (greatest swordsman in the ocean of East Blue) with a tiny dagger, but spares him because Zoro shows promise.
** Also, Luffy's Brother Ace. He was already [[Charles Atlas Superpower|stronger]] than Luffy ''before he got his [[Playing with Fire]] powers and after Luffy got his rubber-powers''.
*** And then it turns out that this has less to do with Ace being just that strong, and more to do with the fact that Luffy as a kid was a total wimp that couldn't even land a punch, let alone put up a fight.
* ''[[The Slayers]]'' had Luna Inverse, Lina's older sister and the only person in a world full of chaos-demon-gods who scared her. She could trounce any of the bad guys Lina faces, being a reincarnation of one of the world's supreme gods... if she had any ambition beyond being a part-time waitress.
* Himuro Hikaru of [[Dragon Drive]] to main character Reiji.
* Mizuno Ami of ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' had two. One turned out to have psychic powers from the [[Applied Phlebotinum|nijizuishou]], lost them, and became a love interest; the other was exclusive to her [[OVA]].
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* Whatever new skill Vegeta manages to acquire in ''[[Dragonball Z]]'', he always ends up falling behind Goku. His sense of jealousy and rivalry gets increasingly bitter since Goku doesn't care and treats him like an old friend. Also, Goku is a good guy who can almost treat gods on a first-name basis, while Vegeta {{spoiler|ends up in hell after his [[Heroic Sacrifice]]}}. At the end of the anime, he seems to have found some peace in always playing second fiddle to Goku.
** Also, this was the reason Muten Roshi went undercover to test his students on the Tenkaichi Budokai.
* Being about sports, this happens kind of a lot in ''[[Eyeshield 21]]'', where there's at least one of these on any major opposing team. For instance, Sena's come up against Riku, the guy who taught him how to run in the first place; Panther, at once a kindred spirit and a total opposite who is actually even faster than him; and Yamato
* And it's not only ''Eyeshield''. This is one of the biggest staples in sports manga ''as a whole''. Heck, even some ''main'' characters fits this trope, or become so as the plot goes on. Examples are...
** ''[[Captain Tsubasa]]'': Tsubasa himself (being [[The Ace]] of sorts), Wakabayashi, Hyuuga, Schneider, Pierre, Santana.
** ''[[Slam Dunk]]'': Sendoh, Fujima, Maki, the Sannoh team, Okita from the movies. Rukawa also was the
** ''[[The Prince of Tennis]]'': Tezuka, Atobe, Shiraishi, Chitose, Sanada, Yukimura, Renji, Ryoma himself.
*** Don't forget the doubles matches, especially during the Hyotei arc. "Sannin de doubles," anyone?
** ''[[Hajime no Ippo]]'': Ichirou Miyata at the beginning, Eiji Date, Ricardo Martinez.
***
** ''[[Future GPX Cyber Formula]]'': Hayato himself, as well as Kaga, Shinjyo, Randoll, Osamu (as Schumacher).
* ''[[Code Geass]]'': Schneizel is this to Lelouch. He is the only person he couldn't defeat in when they were kids. they tie when they played later. And the final battle was won by {{spoiler|Lelouch}} because he was able to think in ways his opponent couldn't.
* ''[[Highlander the Search For Vengeance]]'' features the main villain: Marcus Octavius, as Colin MacLeod's
* Miki Koishikawa from ''[[Marmalade Boy]]'' often saw her love rivals for Yuu's affections this way. Almost a whole episode in the anime is about Miki watching the beautiful and elegant Arimi Suzuki from afar and thinking she's just a little girl when compared to her.
* Kagome Higurashi has Kikyou, her past incarnation ''and'' love rival, as her
* [[Kare Kano
* [[Comic Book Adaptation|The manga chapter]] of ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha
** ''[[Nanoha Force
* As Peacock's number one talent, Ayaori serves as
* ''[[Kekkaishi
** [[Word of God]] even said the Tokiko is the best kekkaishi
** However, after much plot development, Yoshimori goes through more training, and eventually can do things not even Masamori can do.
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* Sakuma Ryuichi (and, to a lesser extent, Seguchi Tohma) are this for Shindou Shuichi in ''[[Gravitation]]''.
* In [[Great Mazinger]], Tetsuya is pictured to be much more superior than Koji in many ways during his introduction, being a basically same character with their only difference was Tetsuya being better, more mature but more arrogant than Koji. When Koji returns after being [[Put on a Bus]], it become apparent that Tetsuya has a weakness which was {{spoiler|none, on the flipside, Tetsuya himself don't even know that he is better than Koji and accepted by the others in the same way as Koji, and at the same time have a massive Inferiority complex. This caused a huge amount of problem.}}
* In ''[[Bleach]]'' Renji Abarai trained for decades to defeat Byakuya Kutchiki to reclaim his old relationship with his [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old|childhood friend]] Rukia whom he views as having been stolen from him when Byakuya adopted her into his clan. Not only does he completely fail to defeat Byakuya despite achieving bankai because a new bankai is nowhere near the level required to fight a captain, but some punk human kid who's been a Soul Reaper for all of two months shows up, kicks his ass, kicks Byakuya's ass, saves Rukia from being executed by Soul Society all despite having a brand new bankai himself. The only way it could possibly suck worse for Renji is if this upstart kid was the [[The Hero|main character]]. [[Oh Crap|Oh, wait...]]
** A more appropriate example would be [[The Hero|Ichigo]] himself. In record time, he becomes a shinigami capable of fighting and defeating captains to save Rukia and [[Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right|change Soul Society]] enough to ensure Rukia won't be executed once he's gone home. It seems as though he's achieved his goal when the real [[Big Bad|villain]] puts in his appearance, able to stop Ichigo's unstoppable blade with a single finger. The significance of this moment is lampshaded in the anime by having Aizen not only stop Ichigo's blade with his finger, ''but actually bring Ichigo's theme music to crashing halt mid-note''.
* In ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'', Negi's [[True Companions|Ala Alba]] has been trying to catch up to his [[Disappeared Dad|father's]] [[Badass Crew|Ala Rubra]] since before they were officially formed.
* Raigyo from ''[[Xam'd: Lost Memories]]'' exists to make protagonist Akiyuki feel terribly inadequate both as a Xam'd and as a crewmember of the Zanbani Postal Ship. The point is stressed further by the fact that Akiyuki is stuck mostly wearing Raigyo's hand-me-downs which, with Raikyo being a good head taller and utterly ripped, are almost comically oversized on the poor
** Let's not forget Furuichi's resentment towards Akiyuki, who has everything Furuichi
* Athrun Zala is this to fellow red suit Yzak Joule in ''[[Gundam Seed]]'', who always is at the top in everything. Though Yzak tries his hardest he never quite manages to get within Athrun's range and ends up being the No. 2. Let's say it does not really make things better that Athrun seems to be mostly oblivious to the fact that he is causing Yzak in fact a lot of [[Tsundere]] moments.
** Admittedly it's shown in a manga chapter, that Athrun did notice his rivalry with Yzak, and is as upset and serious about it then the other one, not wanting to lose by any means.
* In ''[[Crossbone Gundam]]: The Steel 7'', Giri (former [[Ace Pilot]] for [[The Empire|the Jupiter Empire]]) initially refuses to help [[La Résistance|the Crossbone Vanguard]] fight a revived Empire because he says it's not his concern anymore. Then he learns that the JE's leader is his own personal
* Hatake Kakashi, of ''[[Naruto]]', explains this to Team 7 after the Mist Hunter (Actually Haku) defeats Zabuza in a single attack.
{{quote|
* [[Hikaru no Go
* Deconstructed in ''[[Medaka Box]]''. The titular character can and does copy any physical ability she sees and any other character's "abnormal" power she comes in contact with. This means she can copy, say, Akune's "superhuman" abnormality, or Maguro's "perfection" abnormality...but she can also absorb and perfect things that don't need to be perfected, like {{spoiler|an abnormal desire to kill others, or the abnormal ability to cause everything you touch to decay.}}
* Master Hiko Seijuro of [[Rurouni Kenshin]]. Hiko chose Kenshin as his successor because of his spirit, but because Kenshin doesn't have the physique he will never reach Hiko's level. {{spoiler|Kenshin does defeat him once with the final succession move, but it's completely unblockable, even by someone like Hiko.}}
* As [[Big Bad|Anotsu]] from ''[[Blade of the Immortal]]'' so [[In Love with Your Carnage|poetically expressed himself]] concerning [[Lady of War|Makie]] as she [[Curb Stomp Battle|effortlessly slaughtered]] a dozen [[Elite Mook|shingyoutou-ryuu samurai]]:
{{quote|
* Both Keith/Sky High and Barnaby Brooks Jr. serve as this to Kotetsu/Wild Tiger in ''[[Tiger and Bunny]]'', in slightly different ways. Keith overshadows Kotetsu by the virtue of being [[The Ace|comically amazing in every way]]. Barnaby, on the other hand, gets to make Kotetsu feel inadequate by having the exact same powers while being younger, [[Bishonen|better looking]], more competent, and more loved by fans and sponsors alike. Later on in the series, however, {{spoiler|Kotetsu's
{{quote|
* Specklerex from ''[[Kimba the White Lion]]'' is a [[Reasonable Authority Figure]], but Caesar winds up being a more successful leader than he is. This leads to Specklerex developing [[Fantastic Racism]] towards white lions.
* ''[[
** Touma Kamijo to Accelerator. Despite Accelerator's genius intellect and [[Superpower Lottery]], Touma can kick his ass. Touma can easily solve problems without resorting to deadly force, Accelerator struggles with this. Touma can easily make connections with people and [[Defeat Means Friendship|befriend defeated foes]], Accelerator struggles to even open up to his adoptive family, etc. Accelerator is jealous, but awkwardly looks up to him.
** Touma Kamijo ''and'' Accelerator to Shiage Hamazura. Despite being a Grade-A [[Badass]] in his own right, Touma and Accelerator pretty much overshadow him. Touma is a [[Butt Monkey]], but Shiage's luck is even worse. Shiage doesn't hate them, instead seeing them as role models.
** Accelerator to Teikotu Kakine. Kakine's power and intellect rivals Accelerator's, but in the end, Accelerator is the #1 Esper and Kakine is the #2 Esper for a reason. Kakine hates him and desperately wants to kill him and prove his superiority.
** Kaori Kanzaki to Itsuwa. Kaori is stronger, the more skilled fighter, has bigger boobs, and in Itsuwa's mind is more beautiful. Itsuwa looks up to her, but worries that Kaori is more likely to win Touma's heart.
== Comic Books ==
* In the ''[[G.I. Joe]]'' Marvel comic series, before the actual events of the comic, Snake-Eyes became Storm Shadow's
* In the new ''[[The Transformers IDW|Transformers]]'' series from IDW, Sixshot seems to be ''every'' Decepticon's
* In many ways, and in a rare example of the
** [[Doctor Strange]] is Doom's
** Reed is also the
** Speaking of Dr. Strange, it may be more appropriate to say that he's this to Baron Mordo (the ''other'' former disciple of the Ancient One) rather than Doom; Doom certainly obsesses less about Strange in particular than the not-so-good Baron does.
** Furthermore, while Richards lends his name to the [[Reed Richards Is Useless]] trope for a good reason, Doom actually uses his incredible intellect to make Latveria, the nation he rules, into a high-technology utopia. However, Reed's technology is still usually superior to Doom's efforts.
* Similarly, this motivation is attributed to [[Lex Luthor|Lex Luthor's]] hatred of [[Superman]], starting with John Byrne's reboot in the 1980s. Lex Luthor was the most powerful man in Metropolis, with even politicians and law enforcement afraid to cross him, until Superman arrived in town and not only showed Lex up but emboldened the police and mayor to stand up to Lex as well. In John Byrne's version of the first meeting between Lex and Superman, Lex tried to hire Superman as one more obedient employee, and he has never forgiven Superman for being the first person in Metropolis ever to dare to say "no" to him. This is further compounded by the fact that, over the years, Superman's increasing popularity has drastically overshadowed Lex. And, of course, the obvious factor that Superman has a whole load of awesome super powers and Lex doesn't, which Lex is rather bitter about.
** Interestingly, Luthor has actually justified his hatred of Superman by claiming he is this to ''the entire human race'', and all human achievement pales when compared to the things "the alien" can do ''effortlessly''. Lex has even gone so far as to tell Superman that as soon as he's out of the picture he will solve all of humanity's problems himself, thus proving his superiority to all. However, this is proven as a petty lie after the events of [[
{{quote|
'''Superman''': [[Cut Lex Luthor a Check|You could have saved the world years ago if it mattered to you, Luthor]]. }}
** [[Captain Atom]] is this for the entire [[DC Universe]]. Whenever there is a threat that [[Superman]] can't handle for one reason or another, a threat that will spank [[Green Lantern]] and utterly humble [[Shazam|Captain Marvel]]... it almost always falls to [[Captain Atom]] to take care of, because there are no real limits to his powers because he is a [[Physical God]] to end all [[Physical God
* A lot of [[British Comics|British children's comics]], such as ''[[The Beano]]'' and ''[[The Dandy (comics)|The Dandy]]'', characters have fallen victim to this, due to the fact that many of them consist of groups of friends/sports teams/classes etc. where each character is centred around a particular attribute - clever, fat, short-sighted, whatever - and a common plot is to introduce them to an even more exaggerated version of themselves.
* The Human Torch played this role in early ''[[Spider-Man (Comic Book)|Spider-Man]]'' stories. No one character plays the role now.
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* The first page quote comes from ''[[She Hulk]]'', where the titular heroine fills this role for Titania and is the subject of her husband the Absorbing Man's lecture. She just can't beat her and it just drives her insane.
* In [[Bronze Age]] ''[[Superman]]'' comics, this was Vartox's shtick. Vartox was the superhero protector of a distant planet. He had been superheroing longer than Supes and had an even wider array of powers than he did. Fortunately, Vartox was a hero, and the two were nominally friends. ''Un''fortunately, Vartox frequently showed signs of emotional instability, and seemed to get mind-controlled or otherwise manipulated pretty much every time he showed up, so the two ''always'' got in a fight. Supes couldn't out-muscle him, so he always had to win by using his head.
* [[Batgirl|Stephanie Brown]], [[Never Be a Hero|who always failed to measure up to other superheroes and was constantly told to stop trying]], [[Took a Level
* [[Wolverine]] has often claimed to be the best there is at what he does. Perhaps no enemy of his has presented more conclusive evidence against this than Tomi Shido - the Gorgon. Faster, stronger, smarter, more agile, more silent, more skillful, all despite his mutant powers having nothing to do with any of these things. Many of Wolvie's enemies are in some way an equal match for him, but the Gorgon is, simply put, ''too much'' for ''Wolverine'', even according to the man himself. It took using his own [[Taken for Granite]] powers against him to put him away... but sometimes [[He's Back|you just can't keep a bad man down]].
** See also Mr. X, thought by many to be the most perfect killing machine the world has ever known. After the Gorgon, nobody's taken Wolvie to school quite like he has. And before you dismiss his [[Combat Clairvoyance]] as cheap, it's hard to argue with a guy who can kill you with both hands behind his back.
** While other writers would abandon the idea, [[Chris Claremont]] has stated that he intended Sabretooth to be Logan's someone better, explaining there relationship in an interview as;
{{quote|
* Like Wolverine above, Taskmaster is ''supposed'' to be this for the [[Marvel Universe]] mercenaries. Like Richard Dragon of DC, he's the one who "trains the best." DC stops Dragon from suffering from [[The Worf Effect]] or [[Badass Decay]] by not having him around when he's not teaching. Taskmaster gets his butt kicked all over.
** Taskmaster actually told [[Deadpool]] that ''Deadpool'' is really the best mercenary and possibly the best fighter on Earth. It's just that Deadpool's messed-up in the head, making him so crazy that no-one will hire him.
{{quote|
== Fan Fiction ==▼
* In ''[[Harry Potter and The Methods of Rationality (Fanfic)|Harry Potter and The Methods of Rationality]]'', Harry realizes Hermione's ability to rapidly assimilate information and do academic work better, as well as having unwavering morality is superior to him. Hermione, in contrast, recognizes that Harry is a [[Chessmaster]] that she frankly cannot outplot no matter what she tries, and that he's far less naive than her. Both of them are jealous of the other's better points.▼
* ''[[Calvin and Hobbes: The Series|Calvin and Hobbes The Series]]'' has [[Chaotic Evil|Thunderstorm]], who is eventually [[Sealed Evil in a Can|trapped underground]] (accidentally) by his [[Stupid Evil]] brother Brainstorm.▼
▲* In ''[[Harry Potter and
▲* ''[[Calvin and Hobbes:
== Film ==
* The movie ''[[Excalibur (film)|Excalibur]]'', Merlin warns [[King Arthur|Arthur]], "You must remember, there's always something cleverer than yourself." This was a particularly prescient warning since it was the first time Arthur faced Lancelot.
* Lancey Howard in ''[[The Cincinnati Kid]]''.
* Minnesota Fats from ''[[The Hustler (film)|The Hustler]]''.
* Woody and Buzz in the first ''[[Toy Story (franchise)|Toy Story]]'' movie, Buzz appears to be better at Woody in everything when he first arrives.
* Helen is this to Annie in ''[[Bridesmaids]]''. {{spoiler|It turns out that she's not-so-perfect after all, and far from what Annie thinks was upstaging her mainly out of thoughtless over-eagerness and a desire to fit in rather than maliciousness or competitiveness.}}
== Literature ==
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* The ''[[Goosebumps]]'' book ''How I Learned To Fly'' has Wilson, a character who is [[The Ace]] and [[The Rival]] to the protagonist, and seems to be able to do everything better than him. It ends up [[Hoist by His Own Petard|screwing him over in the end]].
* The novel (later [[The Film of the Book|turned into a film]]) ''[[Hating Alison Ashley]]'' is based on this.
* ''The Shadow Club'' by Neil Shusterman was devoted to this concept, with seven second-best children being driven to incredible lengths to humiliate their
** Then, for extra fun, a sequel is made in which
* After blowing through military academy in record time and without finding anyone who can match his strategic genius, the titular protagonist of ''[[Ender's Game]]'' meets a strange old man in Command School, who catches him off guard and beats him up. {{spoiler|Turns out the old guy is Mazer Rackham, the hero from the last war against the aliens, whose victory Ender is being groomed to repeat.}} His introduction is ''awesome'':
{{quote|
{{spoiler|'''Mazer Rackham:'''}} An enemy, Ender Wiggin. I am your enemy, the first one you've ever had that was smarter than you. There is no teacher but the enemy. No-one but the enemy will tell you what the enemy is going to do. No-one but the enemy will ever teach you how to destroy and conquer. Only the enemy shows you where you are weak. Only the enemy tells you where he is strong. And the rules of the game are what you can do to him and what you can stop him from doing to you. I am your enemy from now on. From now on, I am your teacher. }}
** Ender himself is the
** Ender also served this function to his older sibling Peter. While Peter was brilliant, he was too violent and wild to be accepted into battle school, while Ender had all the right qualifications. Peter didn't take it well.
*** Although Peter eventually managed to show him up by {{spoiler|getting elected President of the Human Race because of his Internet forum skills}}.
* In [[Timothy Zahn]]'s ''[[The Thrawn Trilogy]]'', (part of the ''[[Star Wars Expanded Universe]]''), we are introduced to Winter Celchu, Leia's aide and a friend from childhood, who had been invaluable during the less certain times of the Rebellion. Leia, when it comes to gracefulness and elegance, thinks of Winter as her
** Another way she might be Leia's
** In ''[[Outbound Flight]]'', the domineering Jedi Master Jorus C'baoth has a twenty-two year old Padawan, Lorana Jinzler, who doubts herself and isn't given much encouragement. C'baoth, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and their respective Padawans meet up, and C'baoth approves of the fourteen-year-old Anakin, predicting that he'll be a Jedi Knight before he's twenty. Poor Lorana winces, remembering that her Master hasn't even hinted about ''her'' knighthood, and wonders if Anakin is really that much stronger in the Force.
*** According to Obi-Wan Lorena is hardly a bad Jedi. In fact he admits that save for a lack of self-confidence she was well on her way towards being a good Jedi Knight. The problem is that she choose to compare herself to a Skywalker.
* Walter Tevis's
* [[What Could Have Been|Early drafts]] of ''[[Harry Potter and
** And Harry must deal with Cedric Diggory in the very same book.
** This builds up throughout the series between Harry and Ron. Harry is more popular with his classmates, cherished by all as [[The Chosen One]], [[The Ace|was Gryffndor's star Quidditch player]] since his first year, and even gets along better with Ron's family than Ron himself. All of this results in Ron having a massive Inferiority Complex throughout the series.
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** Harry still manages to beat them all, mostly by being way more [[Badass]], and maybe a little more clever.
** His [[Codex Alera]] spends a lot of time building up Aldrick as the best swordsman in existence, and then has his presumed dead former rival come back and beat the stuffing out of him at the climax of the first book.
* In ''[[Chalion|The Curse of
** Also, in the sequel ''Paladin of Souls'', Illvin muses that his elder half-brother was always better than him at everything they tried... {{spoiler|the one thing Illvin could do that his brother could not was fall in love with Ista. Aww.}}
* In ''[[The Wheel of Time]]'' the mythic hero Lews Therin Telamon inadvertently caused several of his own followers to switch sides by being too good and making them look too bad. Most notable is Demandred, who was slightly inferior to Lews Therin in appearance, height, age, power, romantic success, et cetera.
* In [[Child Ballad]] #132 ("The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood"), [[Robin Hood]] & [[Little John]] meet a pedlar in Sherwood Forest who beats both of them in hand-to-hand combat. He finally reveals his name to be "Gamble Gold" and himself to be an exile from England for
* In David Duncan's ''[[The Reluctant Swordsman]]'' series, Wallie Smith, transported into the body of the seventh level swordsman Shonshu, is given all of Shonshu's skill and ability with a blade. He's literally unbeatable except that a god tells him there's "one as good" out there somewhere. The climax of the book comes after Wallie has faced that one and discovers that {{spoiler|his protege, Nnanjji, has gone from being a second level to being the youngest seventh in history-- and easily bests the "one as good," making ''him'' the true destined wielder of the Goddess's Sword.}}
* Hiro Protagonist of ''[[Snow Crash]]'' [[Inverted Trope|actually expresses relief]] at meeting Raven, who is infinitely more badass than Hiro (or ''anyone'') could ever hope to be. Now that he knows that Raven will always be better than him, he reasons, he'll never again have to bother trying to be badass and can just get on with things.
* In ''[[Cryptonomicon]]'', another [[Neal Stephenson]] book, concerning weirdness instead of baddassness:
{{quote|
* Averted in Lawrence Watt-Evans's ''[[Lawrence Watt
* In the book ''[[Holes]]'', The main character always says that no matter how tough and scary you are, there is always someone that is tougher and scarier than you.
* A variant occurs in ''[[
* Pretty much the whole point of Wesley in ''[[The Princess Bride]]''. He outfights the world's greatest swordsman, beats up the world's strongest man, and fools the world's smartest man.
== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* The ''[[Six Million Dollar Man]]'' episode "Day of the Robot" features a robot that's stronger than Steve's bionics. Also, on the ''[[Bionic Woman]]'', the Fembots are stronger than Jaime Sommers.
* In ''[[Friends]]'', Chandler panics when Monica refers to a colleague as the funniest guy she's ever met.
** Chandler can also be seen to be paranoid about Richard being better than him, due to Monica having been in love with him, as well as being suave, rich and able to grow a
* ''[[Angel]]'' had the [[Buffy-Speak|weird undefined demon-ish...thing]] The Immortal, who in his single not-quite-appearance managed to embody Spike and Angel's insecurities, by constantly one-upping them at everything they
** Of course, later, it is established in the in-canon ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer|Buffy]]'' comics that {{spoiler|the Immortal wasn't dating Buffy, Spike and Angel had been fooled (by ''Andrew'', of all people) to keep Buffy a bit safer}}.
** Spike also feels this way towards Angelus - who is more skilled, tougher, and more attractive to Drusilla. And then both get souls and he feels this way towards Angel, who is skilled, tougher and more attractive to Buffy. Poor Spike just can't win.
** Angel himself felt paranoid that The Groosalugg was taking over his life.
* It's subverted in the ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' episode "[[The Ace|Superstar]]," when previously [[
** Also in ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'', when other slayers turn up (ironically, since there is only supposed to be one slayer, so Buffy is not used to rivals). Kendra is the model slayer in contrast to Buffy's casual and rule-breaking attitude. Faith is much cooler and more fun than Buffy, telling stories of her naked demon-fighting exploits, fascinating all Buffy's friends and Buffy's boy-toy of the week, etc. However, averted in that Buffy turns out to be a better fighter than both.
*** While Faith effortlessly draws all the attention away from Buffy in the episode where she first appears, later in the season she is complaining that ''Buffy'' is ''her''
*** Of course, this is messed up by a large chunk of the fandom seeing her as the better character.
** In the episode "A New Man", Giles feels his ''raison d'être'' slipping away when – among other things – Buffy tells him that Professor Walsh is the smartest person she's ever met. Buffy seems oblivious to the implied slight, though.
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** Inverted in "Mr. Monk and the Daredevil", where Monk is traumatised when he thinks that his arch-rival Harold Crenshaw (another OCD sufferer who goes to the same doctor he does) might have recovered from his condition, because "no matter how bad things got, I could always say to myself "at least I'm not Harold Crenshaw"".
* ''[[Frasier]]'': The new radio host Clint Webber is everything Frasier prides himself on being but more, (a polyglot, a gourmet chef, a great chess player, etc.) At the end of the episode Frasier has his revenge when he discovers that Clint's a terrible singer and tricks him into humiliating himself by suggesting he serenade Frasier's party-guests.
** Both Frasier and Niles live in terror of it some day being proven that one is
* ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'': In another example of the sibling being the rival,
** He also has to accept Samantha Carter.
*** Well, there's a reason why it's easy to accept [[Hot Scientist|Samantha Carter]]...
* An early episode of ''[[Scrubs]]'' has JD frustrated since even though he's at the top of his game there's another intern who keeps outshining him. However the other intern ends up {{spoiler|not being able to handle the emotional stress of working with sick people, and quits.}}
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** Say it with me: [[Two Words|World.]] [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Ship.]]
* Shawn Spencer of ''[[Psych]]'' encountered an FBI detective who was everything he wasn't in the episode ''Psy vs. Psy''. He got to upstage her in the end.
** Happened again with Declan Rand, who has become something of a recurring foil and romantic rival. He's also a phony (criminal profiler) who solves mysteries, but nto to make money, rather because he's a bored rich genius. Who has the lead singer for [[Tears for Fears]] over for lunch, and his own personal dessert chef.
* In ''[[Firefly]]'' River makes Simon (for whom " 'gifted' is the term") look like "an idiot child". However that doesn't seem to bother him. He's just [[Undying Loyalty|that kind]] of [[Big Brother Instinct]].
** Saffron is an expert seductress, but she meets her better in the form of Inara.
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* ''[[Chuck]]'' has both Bryce Larkin for the first two seasons and Daniel Shaw for most of the third.
* In ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'', Lore had emotions and humour while Data didn't. In ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine|Deep Space Nine]]'', Female Shapeshifter is better at shapeshifting than Odo.
** Actually, Data turned out to be Lore's
*** Which doesn't say a lot since everything about them is controlled by programming codes.
* In ''[[Full House]]'', Stephanie is the best speller in her class and is pumped for the spelling bee. When she loses that, and a subsequent unofficial rematch to classmate Davy Chu, the wind is knocked out of her sails and she storms off in a tantrum. Danny then gives her the "always someone better" speech.
** There's also an entire episode dedicated to Stephenie's Middle Child Syndrome, where she imagines both of her sisters upstaging her at everything.
* In ''[[Red Dwarf]]'', Arnold Rimmer's alternate-universe counterpart shows up and is better than him at ''everything''
** One of them was held back a grade in school. Instead of destroying his life it taught him that failure has real consequences. Consequences that can be overcome by effort.
* ''[[The Vampire Diaries]]'' - Caroline feels this way about Elena.
* In the first episode of season 2 of ''[[Glee]]'', Rachel discovers that the new exchange student is a better singer than she is.
** Rachel herself functions as the
** And Vocal Adrenaline as a whole is one for New Directions as a whole.
* In ''[[Community]]
** Also, in the paintball special, Josh Holloway guest stars, and Jeff becomes unnaturally jealous of his good looks.
** Don't forget Rich from the Pottery episode.
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** As well as the character in the pilot constantly described as "The Second Best Assassin In The World" much to his annoyance.
* In ''[[Downton Abbey]]'', Mary (and to a lesser extent, Sybil) for Edith.
== Newspaper Comics ==
* The character Topper from ''[[Dilbert]]''. He is really a better example of this trope than any of the examples in the other, more obscure categories like "Film" or "Television".
== [[Web Original]] ==
* In ''[[Less Than Three Comics]]''' Brat Pack, Firestorm is Lancer to Mr Perfect's Hero, and often finds himself in this type of relationship.
** Played somewhat straighter with Captain Awesome, who is Mr Perfect's
* Infinity, a very character from [[The Descendants]] is this for The Whitecoat and seemingly every other street level hero in New York.
* Jermaine performs this function for Lester in ''[[Awkward]]''. He knows it, revels in it, and lampshades it constantly.
{{quote|
'''Jermaine:''' Lester's such a great friend. I'm better than him at everything. Man, what would I do without him? }}
* [[The Nostalgia Critic]] ''thinks'' this, so he bitches out anyone that goes into his territory. Whether that's true or not is up for debate.
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* ''[[Mega Man (video game)|Mega Man]]'': Dr. Wily has always been second to Dr. Light, which is the main reason why he turned evil in the first place. He's the four years consecutive runner-up of the LIT Manual Design Contest. He has won the Silver prize at the worldwide engineering grand prix and was a nominee for the Nobel Prize in Physics. Guess who won all of these.
* A lot of the animosity between the [[Player Character]] and [[The Resenter|Junpei]] in [[Persona 3]] is specifically attributed to this trope.
** Although Junpei being as colossally inept as he is, everyone is the Someone Better.
* The Moriya shrine in ''[[Touhou]]''. The heroine, Reimu Hakurei, is a [[Miko]] who is jaded, lazy, sharp-tongued, and surrounded by [[Youkai]] friends and hang-ons that she was supposed to be exterminating. She's also [[Perpetual Poverty|completely broke]] because none of the humans want to venture into the shrine of a youkai exorcist when the shrine is full of partying youkai. Enter Sanae, an apparently kind and cheerful, if naive, foil to Reimu's [[Deadpan Snarker]] personality, whose shrine grows to be extremely popular in a short time and who later becomes a playable character when she tries her hand at Reimu's job. However, the game in which the rivals are ''introduced'' is not this, as they take aggressive action against her without understanding Gensokyo's political climate or her shrine's status as a [[Cosmic Keystone]].
** In general, Reimu is this to Marisa, along with [[Hard Work Hardly Works]].
* ''[[Inazuma Eleven]]'' in general.
* In the reboot of ''[[Syndicate]]'', Eurocorp is this to the multiplayer characters' syndicate Wulf Western. Tooltips for much of their equipment reveals that it was imperfectly replicated from Eurocorp's.
* [[Phantom Thief|Count Cannoli]] definitely sees Wario as this type of rival in ''[[Wario Master of Disguise]]'', as Wario barges into [[Show Within a Show|his TV show]], steals his wand and proceeds to one-up him as a master thief and perpetually beat him in battle. Making things worse for Cannoli's ego is being upstaged by whom he considers a [[Lower Class Lout]].
== Web Comics ==
* Dora's brother Sven in ''[[Questionable Content]]'' is more popular with the opposite sex (often stealing Dora's friends) and better at earning money than his sister, a fact that bothers her to no end.
* Played with in [http://samandfuzzy.com/1125 this] ''[[Sam and Fuzzy]]''.
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* Max Powers in ''[[PvP]]'' is, in Cole's own words, a better person than Cole in almost every way. Cole disliked him because he was a constant reminder of just how flawed a person Cole is in comparison.
* [[Played for Laughs]] in ''[[Moonstuck]]'' with Blueblood, who ends up outdoing heroine Woona in several ways... [[The Ghost|despite never actually appearing in the comic proper.]]
* Inverted in [https://www.bugmartini.com/comic/the-ninja-challenge/ this] ''[[Bug Martini]]'', where there's always someone worse.
== Western Animation ==
* In ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'', Lisa panics when a kid turns up who's smarter than she.
** Before the [[Flanderization]] which bears his name had set in, Ned Flanders was very much an
*** There's another joke in there about how Flanders is basically a nice, helpful guy, but Homer hates him more than anyone else solely for this reason. Of course, then Flanderization kicked in and he became insanely pious, which gave Homer a legit reason and lost the joke.
** Lester and Eliza (they one-up Bart and Lisa, [[Left Hanging|and then...]])
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*** She wasn't. Lisa was subconsciously telling Maggie what answers to give.
** The trope is also parodied in ''Homer at the Bat'':
{{quote|
'''Homer:''' Well, now that you're a little bit older, I can tell you that's a crock! No matter how good you are at something, there's always about a million people better than you.
'''Bart:''' Gotcha. Can't win, don't try. }}
* In the ''[[Thomas the Tank Engine]]'' [[The Movie|Movie]] ''The Great Discovery'' an engine named Stanley is introduced. The narrator describes him as "Shinier, bigger and stronger than Thomas". He's also instantly popular with all the other engines ''including'' the arrogant ones like [[
* ''[[Codename: Kids Next Door]]'', "Op DOGFIGHT" had a pilot known only as "The Kid" who kept shooting Numbuh Two down through most of the episode. It was never established whether he was truly a better pilot, or if it was due to his superior equipment. Given that Numbuh Two ''[[Gadgeteer Genius|builds]]'' all his own aircraft, neither of those possibilities is easy for him to live down.
* ''[[Batman: The
** Making it even more appropriate, the words "Always Someone Better" appear in the episode.
** The first episode plays out as if Bruce simply has performance anxiety while fighting someone on his own level in front of others. During a flashback of him and Kyodai training in the dojo, Kyodai soundly defeats him in front of their master and class. The fight at the climax of the episode plays out more or less the same way until some padding falls on top of Bruce's love interest, leaving her unharmed but obstructing her view of the fight. There might be some [[Fridge Brilliance]] here when you realize that Batman's persona and power are built around two things; being seen as little as possible in general, and being so skilled as to utterly dominate his enemies as quickly as possible. When both of these factors are taken away, Bruce freezes up.
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** Note also that the kid was specifically trying to be low-key about his talents---as he points out near the end of the episode, everybody else only found out how great he was at everything because ''they'' kept challenging ''him,'' trying to find something he wasn't perfect at. He only went along with it because they kept insisting.
* In one episode of ''[[The Powerpuff Girls]]'', the girls found themselves upstaged by "Major Man", a fairly conventional [[Superman]]-type hero, to the extent that the Mayor even called the girls to break off his (professional) relationship with them. Needless to say, Major Man was [[Fake Ultimate Hero|not all that he appeared]], and once again the day was saved... no thanks to him.
* Mandark in ''[[Dexter's
** And then came an episode where a ''female'' new student outdoes both of them, leading to some Roadrunner-esque attempts to take her out... until she says at the end she moved on to a different subject to excel at.
* Jonas Venture Jr. in ''[[The Venture Brothers]]''. Despite being eaten by his twin brother in the womb and spending 40 years inside him, within weeks of escaping he's already become a better super-scientist, has more friends, still has his hair, and is much more successful with the ladies (actually winning over Sally Impossible, the one female that Dr. Venture had any chance with). He even somehow has a better tan than Dr. Venture right after spending 40 years in his stomach.
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* In the '80s cartoon of ''[[Alvin and The Chipmunks]],'' Alvin encountered one of these in the person of a boy named Apollo Jones, who kept beating him at everything. It turned out that Apollo genuinely envied Alvin because Alvin had one thing he himself lacked - a family that could be bothered with him. Apollo's parents were rarely home and sent him extremely generic postcards from wherever they went. ("Dear Son, Congratulations on whatever it is you've done well lately.")
* ''[[Futurama]]'' has "Barbados Slim" as a limbo rival for Hermes. Slim generally outshines Hermes at everything, and is a real jerk about it too. He eventually goes so far as to steal his wife in the first movie, who he had previously been married to before Hermes came along. It is ultimately revealed that he has Olympic Gold medals in limbo AND sex, and the writers themselves loved the character so much that they were going to make a musical episode based solely around him until the news of their initial cancellation came up.
* Lila was introduced like this in ''[[Hey Arnold!]]!''. Helga, Phoebe, Rhonda and all the other girls were jealous of her beauty, her cute dresses and her sweet disposition and ostracized her out of jealousy. {{spoiler|It turns out Lila envied ''them'' because she not only was very shy, she had a sad home life with a [[Missing Mom]] and a sweet yet unemployed single dad.}}
* ''[[Bromwell High]]'' had a girl like this show up in one episode. She was middle-class, and therefore bested the girls at each of their defining qualities (cleverer than Natella, more powerful than Keisha, and more alluring than Latrina). The girls dealt with her by calling her parents to tell them all the horrible things that happen at the school.
* [[Big Bad]] Vlad Masters of ''[[Danny Phantom]]'' is the better of the two half ghosts. Better fighter, better strategist, better brains and brawn. Having twenty more years of experience certainly helps. Danny eventually [[Character Development|grows in power and is able to go toe-to-toe with him.]]
** In the last episode Vlad puts together a team of ghost fighters known as Masters' Blasters that proceed to hunt down and stop any ghosts before Danny can.
* In ''[[Lilo
* ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender
** Subverted, too, when Zuko's comments about Azula's insanity growing to the point where he can actually notice her bending being off makes it seem like he'll be able to beat her now...and he can't. Or at least he would've, but Azula is still smart enough to fight dirty. Katara, however, proves that ''she's'' this trope to Azula shortly thereafter, and even beats her in the same way Azula beat Zuko; improvising something unexpected when put on the spot, just more badass.
* In
* ''[[Squirrel Boy]]'' had Rodney's [[Jerkass]] cousin Eddie, a flying squirrel who constantly looked down on Rodney because he was a land squirrel. Typically Rodney would find a way to spite him such as invoking his phobia of rattlesnakes or stealing his favorite comb.
* In the ''[[My Little Pony:
* In ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]'', Chaos is a cat-like trickster being with godlike powers, with "more power in his little whisker than a palace full of genies!" However, by his own begrudging admission, Chaos' power is second to that of Fate, someone he can't help but dislike for this reason. Well, that and because Fate cheats at cards.
== Real Life ==
* How many sports rivalries are one sided? Chargers/Raiders, Michigan/Michigan State, Ohio State/Illinois, Oklahoma/Oklahoma State...
** With their recent{{when}} (and painful) fall from grace: The Dallas Cowboys to the New York Giants.
* "Wally Pipp Syndrome" is the fear that no matter how good you are at your job, someone better will take your place should you ever take a day off. Wally Pipp was a decent first baseman for the New York Yankees in the early 1920s, until he had to sit out a game with a bad migraine. His replacement - Lou Gehrig, who would play 2,130 consecutive games for the Yankees.
** This is also how Ben Roethlisberger got his start with the Pittsburgh Steelers; Tommy Maddox was injured, Ben took his place, cue 15-1 season and multiple Super Bowls over the next few years.
** Drew Bledsoe in 2001, after leading the Patriots to a Super Bowl, he gets hurt and replaced by some guy named Brady
* Like it says under video games above, play an online game long enough, and no matter how good you are, you'll eventually find someone who completely outclasses you.
* Musicians run into this problem all the time, especially at conservatories. Generally speaking, almost everyone who attends such a school (e.g., Juilliard) is the best in his or her own hometown. With everyone being so good, it's inevitable that someone is always going to be better. Sometimes, just walking into auditions and hearing the competition warm up is a very quick reminder of this trope.
*
* This frequently occurs with any type of top-ranked school, such as an elite university. Given the ultra competitive nature of college admissions nowadays, just getting admitted usually means that the person is probably one of the best and most outstanding students in his or her particular school system. However, when exam times comes around, someone has to end up on the lower end of the grading curve. For many students, it can be very traumatizing because it's the very first time they've ever been out of the top 5-10% grade-wise.
** It's been suggested that schools like Harvard made changes to admit students without top grades who excelled in other ways to deal with that very problem. They needed someone to be at the bottom of the class who wouldn't mess up the quad by blowing their brains out.
* The real life examples could be greatly shortened by saying, "Any elite group." To experience this trope yourself, try earning your way into an elite military unit, becoming an actor who doesn't pay rent waiting tables, being a chef who doesn't flip the occasional burger, getting your garage band signed to a real label, or making it to the top of your company's chain of executives. Very few will ''not'' run into this trope.
* Another place this happens is prison. You may go in being the biggest and baddest guy in the neighborhood, but there is always someone on the inside that is bigger and badder than you.
* [[wikipedia:Edward Pellew|Sir Edward Pellew, Lord Exmouth]], was a [[Badass]] [[Brits With Battleships|Royal Navy Officer]] in the [[Wooden Ships and Iron Men|French Revolutionary Wars]]
{{quote|
'''Israel Pellew''': (*pissed) I am his brother, Israel
'''Admiral Villneuve''': [[Oh Crap|What, are there two of them?]] ''[[Precision F-Strike|Merde]]''. }}
* Despite being just as outspoken as his brother, Peter Hitchens has never been quite on the same level of charm, wit and conversation as [[Christopher Hitchens]]. Which is perhaps one reason why he holds almost every single contrary opinion to his brother's.
{{reflist}}
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[[Category:Characterization Tropes]]
[[Category:Truth in Television]]
[[Category:
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