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{{trope}}
{{quote|"''I think you and I are destined to do this forever.''"
|'''[[The Joker]]''', ''[[The Dark Knight Saga|The Dark Knight]]''}}
An archenemy, archfoe, archnemesis, or simply nemesis is some character's designated and most important enemy.
The
The
A hero's archenemy is not necessarily the biggest threat to them. [[Lex Luthor]] is considered Superman's archenemy; Brainiac is smarter and [[Darkseid]] is vastly more powerful and [[Sliding Scale of Villain Threat|dangerous]], but for Lex - and, to a lesser extent, for Superman - it's ''personal'' between them.
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A hero may possess more than one archenemy if more than one villain from his [[Rogues Gallery]] stand out, or if a former Arch Enemy dies and new one comes in to the picture. As an example, consider [[Spider-Man]]: the Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, and Venom have all established themselves as recurring and iconic foes of Spider-Man, each of whom has been considered the wallcrawler's Arch Enemy at different points in time.
Lastly, remember that this generally refers to the enemy ''[[The Hero]]'' considers to be his
Beware of letting an Arch Enemy fall victim to [[Villain Decay]].
See also [[Breakout Villain]], for those instances when a run-of-the-mill villain ascends to Arch Enemy status.
Not to be confused with ''[[Nemesis]]'' the comic. Also not to be confused with the Swedish death metal band. See Also [[Sitcom Arch Nemesis]].
=== The Arch Enemy is more prone to certain tropes than the common villain: ===▼
* [[Animal Nemesis]]
* [[Antagonist in Mourning]]
* [[Break Them
* [[Chronic Villainy]]
* [[Classic Villain]]
* [[Draco in Leather Pants]]
* [[Driven
* [[Enemy Mine]]
* [[Evil Counterpart]]
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* [[Not So Different]]
* [[The Only One Allowed to Defeat You]]
* [[Pick
* [[The Resenter]]
* [[Rival Turned Evil]]
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* [[Worthy Opponent]]
== Anime and Manga ==▼
▲{{examples|Examples}}
* Light and L from ''[[
▲== Anime ==
▲* Light and L from ''[[Death Note (Manga)|Death Note]]'' are each other's archenemies in a morally ambiguous situation.
** Near is Mello's archenemy even though they're theoretically on the same side.
* Baikinman from ''Soreike! [[
* In ''[[Shakugan no Shana]]'', Wilhelmina Carmel explicitly refer to Sabrac, The Destructive Blade, as her nemesis.
* Seto Kaiba in ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' might qualify, though he could also be considered a rival to Yugi. He even invokes this trope in the [[Yu-Gi-Oh!:
{{quote|
** [[Complete Monster|Yami]] [[The Sociopath|Bakura]] is this to Yami Yugi.
* ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro
* In ''[[Umineko no Naku Koro
* Spike in ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]'' has [[Evil Counterpart]] Vicious. He also has [[Lord Error
* Negi Springfield in ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' has Fate (no, not that [[
** [[Schoolgirl Lesbians|Setsuna]] has her own Arch Enemy in the [[Psycho Lesbian|psychotic]] Tsukuyomi.
* Zero and Suzaku in ''[[
** For Lelouch himself, both Charles and Schneizel follow this straight. And maddeningly enough, he has the misfortune {{spoiler|[[Et Tu, Brute?|to get sold out to both to them]] when they've already caused him enough grief for several lifetimes}}.
* In ''[[
* In ''[[
* Char Aznable and Amuro Ray are perhaps the most iconic throughout the ''[[Gundam]]'' fandom. What started out as a professional military rivalry, later turned deeply personal after {{spoiler|the death of Char's assistant Lahlah Sune, whom both men loved, when she attempted to intervene in a battle between the two of them.}}
* In the latest entry, ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 00]]'' Graham Acre considers Setsuna F. Seiei and his Gundam Exia his arch nemesis for their crimes (though he calls it a special kind of love...) But he's really more [[The Rival]] in that regard. A better fit for Setsuna's archnemesis is [[The Sociopath|psychopathic]] [[Blood Knight]] Ali Al-Saachez for destroying not just his life, but also killing off Lockon Stratos' family as well.
* In ''[[G Gundam]]'' the Canadian fighter Andrew Graham considers the Russian Fighter Argo Gulski his nemesis because he blames him for his wife's death. Also Domo Kasshu's and Master Asia's difficult relationship might be some kind of arch nemesis.
* Gauron and Sousuke in ''[[Full Metal Panic!]]!''. The feeling tends to be a ''lot'' more one-sided on Gauron's part, as he makes it his personal mission to put himself in a position where he can constantly antagonize Sousuke. It's so bad, it's to the point where it's suggested that he actually ''[[Stalker
* In ''[[Gundam Wing]]'' [[The Rival|Zechs]] spends too much time on the good side to be this for [[The Hero|Heero]] despite their constant battles, but Wufei definitely has one in [[Magnificent Bastard|Treize]] [[Ubermensch|Kushrenada]].
* Rau Le Creuset of ''[[Gundam Seed]]'' is the
* In ''[[Gundam Seed Destiny]]'' [[Hero
* ''[[Pokémon (
** The original enmity was between Ash and Gary, with Gary rubbing his superiority in Ash's nose and Ash going crazy as he tried to catch up. They eventually buried the hatchet when they finally battled at the Johto League. Although Ash beat Gary, [[Defeat Means Friendship]] and they became friendly rivals afterward.
** Ash later developed a more bitter rivalry with Paul over their methods of training Pokemon. A combination of [[Break the Haughty]] on Paul's part and Ash eventually beating him in the Sinnoh League again led them to bury the hatchet, and while they didn't exactly become friends afterward, they did develop a new respect for one another.
** Galactic Commander Saturn's Toxicroak to Brock's Croagunk.
** Team Rocket's Meowth feels this way towards ''every'' Persian he comes across.
* Ranma of ''[[Ranma
* Harima the delinquent in ''[[School Rumble]]'' had Hanai the class president. Harima's love rival is Karasuma. Eri & Yakumo too.
* Makoto and Jinnai in ''[[El Hazard]]''.
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** Ed and Envy in the first version of the anime, as well as Mustang and Pride.
* ''[[Gun X Sword]]'' - Justifying the [[Designated Girl Fight]], Carmen 99 and Fasalina are arch enemies. Fasalina is responsible for destroying Carmen's hometown, causing the death of Carmen's best friend from childhood, and Carmen ends up blamed for Fasalina's actions and shunned and exiled from her town.
* [[Monster (
* Griffith to Guts in ''[[Berserk]]''. The Skull Knight also has one in Void, the leader of the Godhand.
* Neo Saiba to Taichi Yagami in ''[[
* Kyubey to Akemi Homura in ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]''. {{spoiler|[[Groundhog Day Loop|There are some parallel to]] [[Higurashi no Naku Koro
* ''[[
* Inuyasha has Naraku.
* In ''[[Durarara!!]]'', while almost anyone can set off Shizuo's [[Hair
== Comic Books ==
* Most [[Superhero
* [[Superman]] has [[Lex Luthor]], [[Brainiac]] and [[Darkseid]].
** [[Lex Luthor]] is Superman's ultimate archenemy and typically uses his brain against the Man of Steel's brawn, carefully avoiding any actions that could make Superman be justified in attacking him. To the point where only the muckraking [[Secret Identity Identity|Clark Kent]], not Superman, can even put a scratch on Luthor.
** After Luthor, [[Brainiac]] comes in a close second, even holding the last surviving Kryptonian city hostage [[My Greatest Failure|for decades]]. That's pretty personal. As one writer pointed out, he's the alien Superman isn't, an evil [[Alien Invasion|otherworldy invader]] instead of a messianic refugee.
** [[Darkseid]] holds a pretty good claim to the title as well in some (read: galactic-level) contexts, seeing as he can match Luthor's brains and Big Blue's brawn. His main draw, however, is being the foil to Clarks' morality- he is every bit as [[Complete Monster|evil]] as Superman is good, and is perhaps the enemy Superman hates the most for the amount of horror he is responsible for, and the fact that, while in broad terms the likes of Zod, Brainiac and Luthor commit evil for [[Despotism Justifies the Means|power or glory]], Darkseid commits evil [[For the Evulz|for the sake of evil]].
*** As an aside, General Zod is the
*** The idea of Zod being Jor-El's
* [[Batman]] has Joker, Hugo Strange, Rā's al Ghūl, Two-Face and the Penguin.
** [[The Joker]] is [[Batman]]'s archenemy. His insanity and chaotic nature are the complete opposite of Batman's rigidly, even obsessively ordered intelligence. Though it's also their similarities. Many people have said that Batman is just as insane as [[The Joker]], he just manifests it in a different and positive way and keeps control over it. [[The Joker]] himself has pointed this out numerous times and in many adaptations.
{{quote|
:* Harley Quinn usually likes Batman and most of his allies, often having an [[Odd Friendship]] with Batgirl. The only character she vehemently calls her arch-enemy is Punchline, a character designed to be a [[Darker and Edgier]] foil to Harley. The first time they met is was hate at first sight for both of them.
* The wrathful vengeance of [[Doctor Doom]] will never be sated! Never — until the earth runs red with the blood of that accursed '''[[Fantastic Four (Comic Book)|REED RICHARDS!!]]'''
* [[Sinestro]] is [[Green Lantern
* [[Wonder Woman]]'s is generally Circe or Cheetah, depending on who's writing. Ares gets in on the act too. He was, after all, her original [[The Golden Age of Comic Books|Golden Age]] arch enemy.
** The post-Flashpoint series is starting to play up Hera herself as the [[Big Bad]].
* Black Manta is [[
** Aquaman's archenemy used to be [[Cain and Abel|his brother]], Ocean Master. Manta got promoted to [[Big Bad]] when he killed Aquaman's infant son.
* Deathstroke the Terminator is Robin/Nightwing's archenemy. In the Teen Titans cartoon, anyway. For a while, Nightwing's archenemy was Blockbuster {{spoiler|until he was killed as Nightwing stepped aside to let it happen}}.
** A case could be made for Deathstroke being Grayson's archenemies in the comics. Of all the Titans, Slade hated Grayson the most. Whenever Slade and Grayson were in the same fight, regardless of how many others were involved, they nearly always went after each other. This animosity was ramped up immensely when Slade orchestrated the destruction of Blüdhaven, Nightwing's "Gotham" so to speak, and, when he, even more recently, cybernetically hijacked Damian Wayne's body in an attempt to kill Grayson.
*** Deathstroke also harbors a grudge against Grayson for "[[Heel Face Turn|stealing his kids]]" from him
* Doctor Sivana for [[Shazam|Captain Marvel]]. Or Black Adam, though he's sometimes an [[Anti
* [[The Flash]]. Flash varies from era to era.
** Professor Zoom/The Reverse Flash.
** Captain Cold, considering he's the leader of the Rogues and his most persistent foe.
** In the [[Golden Age]] comics, it was the Thinker, who appeared more often than any other villain. In the [[Silver Age]], it was Gorilla Grodd, who was the one exception in his roster of [[Harmless Villain]] antagonists. In the [[Bronze Age]] it was Zoom/Reverse-Flash and his repeated attempts to outright steal his foe's life, who eventually {{spoiler|killed his wife.}} Wally West in the [[Modern Age]] had Vandal Savage at first, and later the acclaimed Mark Waid run boosted Abra Kadabra to this role by making that villain much [[Darker and Edgier]]. Finally, Geoff Johns promoted Captain Cold to leader of the
** Another candidate for Wally's
* Then, the Justice League's arch-nemesis is the Legion of Doom/Injustice League/Injustice Gang.
** The Justice Society's arch-enemy is the Injustice Society of the World.
* Merlyn is considered [[Green Arrow]]'s arch-enemy. Due to both being skilled archers.
* [[Captain Atom]] had General Wade Eiling. Although Cap [[Magnificent Bastard|didn't know that Eiling was his arch-enemy]].
* [[Superman]] [[Evil Counterpart|Prime]] possibly sees the fourth [[Flash]] (Bart Allen), the second [[Green Lantern
* [[Jonah Hex]] has Quentin Turnbull.
* [[New Gods|Orion, Mister Miracle, and the Forever People]] all have Darkseid.
** Existence, all superheroes, all living beings, and every single universe in the history, future, present moment, or wiped timeline of reality has [[Crisis
* The [[Legion of Super-Heroes (
** The Time Trapper is another arch-enemy of the Legion.
* [[Spider-Man]] has various Arch Enemies. Part of the reason this situation arises is that the Green Goblin [[Comic Book Death|died in the 70s]] and spent a good 20-odd years before he came back to torment his foe, which is probably the record for dead A-list villains to beat; it also means that Ock and Venom are arguably more famous, even though the Goblin is easily the most dangerous of the three. The other reason is that the Goblin, as Norman Osborn, suffered frequent bouts of amnesia in the run up to his death so he didn't even remember that he was Spidey's arch-enemy, which helped Doc Ock who was the next most formidable villain. Venom appeared in the 80s and made his chops by being in some ways a more personal (and visually stunning) enemy than either of the other two (that and overexposure). So essentially, Spidey has three arch-enemies because they kept replacing each other. However, since his return the Goblin has cemented himself as Spidey's one true Arch-foe.
** [[Norman Osborn|The Green Goblin]]. Unlike most superhero arch-villains, he actually ''is'' the most dangerous foe of his enemy, possessing far greater resources and deep personal information that the others mostly all lack. There's also the whole "best friend's father" thing. He once collected nearly all of Spidey's main enemies into the Sinister Twelve, and was recently the arch-villain for the entire Marvel Earth.
** Doctor Octopus: What Peter could end up becoming if he abused his intelligence and powers. (Peter was even a former student of his in [[Spider
** Venom: [[Evil Counterpart]]. Not only is he effectively an even stronger version of Spidey himself, but Peter's [[Spider Sense]] doesn't work on him, which means Eddie / Venom could be right behind him without Peter knowing. Venom's initial grudge against him was kind of weak, but every adaptation makes it a lot more personal.
*** Venom could also be considered to show great power with no responsibility. He more or less said so himself in an Annual back-up story.
*** In addition to Spidey, Venom has Carnage, his son, as an arch-enemy. Spiderman can't normally defeat Carnage on his own. The fact that venom willingly comes to aid Spiderman shows that me must hate Carnage more. Either that, or he just wants to be the one to deliever the killing blow.
**** Venom and Carnage both hate Toxin, Carnages Son and Venoms grandson. This doesn't make him an arch enemy, but it is worth noting.
* [[Magneto]] is Professor X's archenemy, extending to the [[X-Men]]. They are often actually [[Friendly Enemy|friendly enemies]].
** The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants serves as a collective archenemy to the X-Men as a whole.
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** The dread demon Dormammu.
** Also his [[Evil Counterpart]] Baron Mordo and the dream demon Nightmare.
* [[Captain America (comics)]] has the Red Skull and the Barons Zemo (both the father and son).
* [[Iron Man]]'s traditional archenemy was The Mandarin, but he's faded a bit over time as the [[Yellow Peril]] aspect of the character is no longer kosher.
** Seeing as at least ten different people have taken up the mantle, the Crimson Dynamo certainly is one of his most recurring and dangerous enemies.
** After the Mandarin, Obadiah Stane would probably be Tony's next greatest arch-enemy. Just like Tony, he is a businessman with powered armour (towards the end), only much, much more ruthless than Tony. He also had a major effect on Tony's life, and ruined him financially for months.
* [[The Punisher]] has Jigsaw. In The Punisher's case, "
* [[Daredevil]]
** Bullseye.
** Kingpin (who would also be a impressive fourth place on Spidey's archenemy list).
** Originally, as written by [[Stan Lee]], it was the Owl.
* [[Silver Surfer]]
** Galactus, depending on the day of the week.
** Also Mephisto, who hates Norrin for just being so danged ''good.''
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** And now replaced by Talon and possibly the whole Fraternity of Rapors, real creators of his armor.
* The [[Black Panther]] and Klaw.
* [[The Mighty Thor]] and his brother [[Loki
* The [[
** The Leader.
** And The Abomination. And Gen. Thunderbolt Ross {{spoiler|who was revealed to be the [[Evil Counterpart|Red Hulk]]}}, bringing this feud to new, even more bitter heights.
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* [[ROM Spaceknight]] and the Dire Wraiths.
* The [[Micronauts]] and Baron Karza.
* [[Captain Mar-Vell]] had [[Thanos]]. Although Thanos did double duty as Adam Warlock's arch enemy, too. And he screwed with the [[Silver Surfer]] pretty seriously, too. After arcs like ''Infinity Gauntlet'' and other stories on that scale a case could be made that Thanos is the
* The Octopus is the archenemy of [[The Spirit]].
* Colonel Olrik is the archenemy of [[Blake and Mortimer]].
* The Shredder to the [[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]] and their [[The Obi
* [[Atomic Robo]] has the Nazi Baron Heinrich von Helsingard. Dr. Dinosaur may also qualify for Robo in modern times.
** Thomas Edison for Nikola Tesla and, by extension, Robo.
* One volume of ''[[Powers]]'' deconstructs the usual comic treatment of archenemies. It shows what were essentially the world's first superhero and supervillain. The two are immortal and have existed since humanity was still diverging from the ape, and have had a grudge just as long. When they meet for the last time in the present day, the hero, (who has a case of [[The Fog of Ages]]) demands to know why he and the villain have been fighting so long. The villain, whose memory is not impaired like the hero's, admits that he can no longer even remember what originally sparked their feud.
* While ''[[
* The Iron Major is [[Sgt
* Raven Red, an [[Evil Counterpart]] of Jet, is the only villain to appear more than once in ''[[Jet Dream (Comic Book)|Jet Dream]]''.
* ''[[Sin City]]'' villains usually don't live past their initial story but Manute has menaced Dwight McCarthy enough times to count. {{spoiler|Manute is dead now but he shows up anyway due to the nonlinear timeline.}}
** The Yellow Bastard did go up against Hartigan a few times before kicking the bucket. We only ended up seeing two confrontations in the same story, though.
* After becoming evil, being killed, and then brought back to life, Maxwell Lord has become the archenemy to [[Booster Gold]].
* As with the Brotherhood being the collective archenemy of the X-Men, [[The Avengers (Comic Book)|The Avengers]] have the Masters of Evil.
* Baron Wolfgang von Strucker has served this mainly to [[Nick Fury]], but also a bit to [[Captain America (comics)]]. Makes sense seeing as he's the leader of HYDRA.
* The Fabulous Frog-Man is a [[Super Zero]] wearing the [[Power Armor]] of his father ([[Daredevil]] villain Leap Frog) which he cannot control so he just bounces around aimlessly and sometimes gets lucky. The White Rabbit is a ditzy [[Harmless Villain
* The [[Martian Manhunter]] has had several contenders over the years including Commander Blanx and his [[Expy]] (and J'onn's [[Evil Twin]]) Malefic. The best example, however, may well be [[Galactic Conqueror]] and [[The Juggernaut|walking engine of destruction]], Despero. While Despero is usually a [[Justice League]] calibre threat, J'onn is always the one he attacks first, and he takes a [[Kick the Dog|perverse delight]] in forcing the Martian to telepathically relive the destruction of Mars. At one point, Despero went so far as to [[Mind Rape]] J'onn into believing he was on a Mars that hadn't been destroyed by Blanx and/or Malefic...only to then invade the dream and personally slaughter the psychic constructs of J'onn's family that he had created. J'onn ''hates'' Despero about as much as [[The Messiah|he hates anyone]], and is usually the JLA member who ends up having to put the crazed being down at the end of his rampages.
* In their fictional universe the characters from the two [[British Comics]] ''[[The Beano]]'' and ''[[The Dandy (
** This arch-enemy comic rivalry was taken [[Up to Eleven]] in the Fleetway comic ''[[
* Darkhell is this to [[Les Legendaires
** Darkhell had his own arch-ennemy, Skroa (though more of a [[The Rival|Rival]] than an actual one) before the Legendaries formed, but ended up defeating him.
* Generation X (specifically M, although he targeted the rest of the team as well) had Emplate.
* Moon Knight had Raoul Bushman, who like him was a mercenary, only more violent and bloodthirsty.
* Spawn has the Violator,Malebolgia,and Jason Wynn.
* Savage Dragon has the Overlord, Cyberface, and Damien Darklord.
* Hellboy has Ordru Jahad and Grigori rasputin.
== Film ==
* Rene Belloq from ''[[
* Darth Vader is [[Star Wars|Luke Skywalker]]'s archenemy; meanwhile, Vader probably counted [[The Obi
* [[Godzilla]]: King Ghidorah who fought Godzilla in eight films across four continuities. In one of them he's, oddly enough, the good guy. Mechagodzilla might also count, being Godzilla's most recurring enemy after Ghidorah. Both are [[Hero
* ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]'''s Jack Sparrow and Barbossa. Once both men have died at least once, the conflict between them becomes more of a friendly rivalry.
** Commodore Norrington might also want to put himself in for consideration as Jack's
** Cutler Beckett may qualify, as he has been the source of much/most of Jack's problems in his life. When using Jack's compass, it points him towards Jack, and Jack guesses that what Beckett wants most in the world is to see Jack dead.
* David Allen Griffin to Joel Campbell in ''[[The Watcher (
* In ''[[The Prestige]]'', Borden and Angier start as friendly rivals, but the two become arch-enemies when one loses a wife. By the end, one has lost his wife and his life, the other reaches a [[Pyrrhic Victory]] in besting his enemy but losing his brother and wife as well.
* [[The Matrix|Neo]] to Smith.
* Castor Troy for Sean Archer in ''[[Face Off]]''.
* [[No Name Given|Harmonica]] and [[Complete Monster|Frank]] in ''[[Once Upon a Time
* Since Bruce Willis turns out to be a comic book superhero in ''[[Unbreakable]]'', it only stands to reason that he'd have an arch-enemy. {{spoiler|One who is right under his nose.}}
* ''[[Mystery Team]]'': Old Man McGinty
* In
== Literature ==
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* In ''[[The Dark Tower]]'', Walter is Roland's archenemy, but not the [[Big Bad]].
* Ernst Stavro Blofeld becomes [[James Bond]]'s archenemy over the course of three books, until Bond himself comes to think of it as a blood feud and refuses to get MI6 involved.
* Voldemort to [[Harry Potter (
** Rita Skeeter to Hermione Granger.
** Bellatrix Lestrange to Neville Longbottom, Hermione Granger and the Weasley family.
* Morjin to Valashu in the ''[[Ea Cycle]]''.
* In the original ''[[Dracula (novel)|Dracula]]'' novel and in many of the movies, Dracula has the Van Helsing clan as his archenemies. In parrticular, Dracula
* ''[[Soon I Will Be Invincible]]'': After defeating Doctor Impossible and discovering her ties to him, Fatale considers this might make him her
{{quote|
* Hakeswill in [[Sharpe]] seems to dedicate himself expressly to making Sharpe's life miserable - he has him flogged in pre-[[Canon]], he has Harper flogged after figuring out how close he and Sharpe are, he attempts to rape and {{spoiler|eventually murders}} Sharpe's wife... Sharpe tries and fails to kill him in repeated inventive ways before {{spoiler|he finally gets to give him the coup de grace at his execution}}.
** Once Hakeswill had been written out of the novels, this role was arguably taken over by Major Ducos, a French spymaster who is constantly coming up with schemes to hamstring, if not outright stop, the British war effort, as well as to humiliate, discredit and kill Sharpe in the process.
** The Duke of Wellington and [[Napoleon Bonaparte]], historical archenemies, both show up in the series.
* John Devil, from the eponymous novel by Paul Feval is the archenemy of Inspector Gregory Temple, as well as being one of the earliest super-villains, anticipating the aforementioned Moriarty with about 30 years.
* Carl Peterson was the
* Ballmeyer, {{spoiler|aka Detective Frederic Larsan}} is the
* Franny Roote in Reginald Hill's [[Dalziel and Pascoe]] novels: although Hill dispatches Roote to jail in the series' second novel, ''An Advancement of Learning'', he resurrects him as Pascoe's obsession in ''Arms and the Women'', ''Dialogues of the Dead'', and ''Death's Jest-Book'', then finally elevates him to true archenemy status in ''A Cure for All Diseases''.
* Visser Three to the [[
** He was also Elfangor's
* Chauvelin for the eponymous hero of ''[[The Scarlet Pimpernel (
* In the [[Backstory]] of [[Robert E. Howard]]'s [[Conan the Barbarian]] story "The Phoenix on the Sword", Set was this to Epemitreus. Which is part of why he helps Conan against Thoth-amon, one of Set's votaries.
* The Deaf Man in the ''[[
* [[Companions Quartet]] has Kullervo for the main character Connie
* In the ''[[
* In the ''[[Shannara]]'' franchise, Bremen the last of the original Druids, and Brona the [[Sorcerous Overlord|Warlock Lord]] (who betrayed and destroyed the Druid Order) were this in the [[Backstory]]. This was eventually expanded on in ''[[First King of Shannara]]'', where we see that Bremen in particular took this very personally. In ''[[The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara]]'' the Ilse Witch thinks that she and [[The Mentor|Walker]] are archenemies but in reality she's been duped, and he wants to save her. A straight example in ''Voyage'' is [[Warrior Prince|Elven Prince]] [[Classical
* In ''[[The Wheel of Time]]'' the Forsaken [[The Dragon|Ishmael]] {{spoiler|Later Moridin}} clearly views himself as this to [[The Chosen One|Rand Al'Thor]].
* ''[[Redwall]]'' has had a few examples, but the most obvious are Swartt Sixclaw and Sunflash the Mace from ''Outcast of Redwall''. When Sunflash maims Swartt's trademark sixclawed paw while escaping enslavement, a feud is struck that will haunt them both for their entire lives. From the time they are teenagers until Swartt's death in late middle age, they are always hunting one another.
== Live-Action TV ==
* ''[[
** [[The Master (trope)|The Master]] (at one point the Doctor specifically refers to him as "my archenemy") and Davros to the Doctor. Also the Daleks are the most recurring villains and were described as the Doctor's archenemy by Amy Pond in "Victory of the Daleks".
** Each Doctor appeares to have a personal rival...
*** 1: The Daleks and the Monk
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*** 7: Death and the Timewyrm
*** 8: The Master
*** 9: The Daleks and Blon Fel-Fotch Passameer-Day Slitheen
*** 10: The Daleks and the Master
*** 11: The Silence
** Madame Kovarian to the Pond/Williams family
** The Daleks as Doctor's ultimate archnemesis was best summed up when the Eleventh Doctor took a wrench and proceeded to beat one with it;
{{quote|
* In ''[[
* Drake/Thorne, the Jixen and the Korven to K9's team in ''[[
* Captain John Hart to Jack Harkness in ''[[
* For a while in ''[[
** The evil trio in season 6 considers itself the archnemesis of Buffy, but... yeah... She doesn't take them serious either.
** [[Rival Turned Evil|Faith]] is probably the closest thing to playing this trope straight. Even after Faith's [[Heel Face Turn]] when the two are supposed to be on the same side during Season 7 and the Season 8 comic, they can't help fighting and sometimes trying to kill each other.
** [[Joss Whedon]] plays with this trope again in ''[[
{{quote|
* [[The Colbert Report
** The rivalry intensified after Rain soundly defeated Colbert in a [[Cooking Duel|Dance Battle]].
** Second place for his archenemy is probably Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton of DC. They always fight whenever she is on, but it is not mean spirited.
* Sylar and Mohinder in ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]''. While there are many other contenders, with this couple there's the whole "[[You Killed My Father]]" issue. Also, since Sylar did a {{spoiler|[[Heel Face Turn]], he's on the same team as all his other supposed-arch enemies. But then Mohinder had a turn of his own, so}} he and Sylar are still on opposite sides of the fight.
** Later in the series, Sylar seems much less interested in Mohinder, and starts spending more time [[Heel Face Brainwashing|thinking he's]] {{spoiler|[[Heel Face Brainwashing|Nathan Petrelli]]}}, [[Stalker
** Also, Hiro and Adam Monroe. Although Hiro defines "The Speedster" as his.
** Claire has Eric Doyle, the creepy Puppet Master.
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** Arthur Petrelli was Peter's arch enemy. They even had a climactic final showdown where Peter displayed more guts and smarts without powers than he had in every episode where he HAD them.
** And now Nathan is playing the nemesis role with his reason Lex Luthor styled knight templar turn.
** Some of those examples don't really fit the Arch enemy type of relationship.
** Peter and Sylar for the first 3 volumes. Even after Peter gets nerfed he is still always there to foil Sylar's plans.
** HRG and Sylar. Only because Sylar is ALWAYS messing with Claire.
** Sylar to Claire. Sucks for Claire since there is NOTHING she can do against him.
** Arthur and Angela Petrelli.
** Doyle was an arch enemy...for Claire's biological mother! Claire barely takes him seriously and Doyle is even quite civil towards her in volume 5.
** Matt Parkman and Sylar can be added to the list as of volume 5.
* ''[[Law and Order: Criminal Intent]]'': Det. Robert Goren's arch-enemy is [[Depraved Bisexual]] Nicole Wallace {{spoiler|now deceased}}. Nicole is oh-for-two in [[Hannibal Lecture]] attempts (well, technically oh-for-three, but #3 was rather weak).
* [[I Am Legion|Lucy Butler]] is the archenemy of [[The Profiler|Frank Black]] on the television show ''[[Millennium (TV series)|Millennium]]''.
* Arguably, Adrian [[
* ''[[
** George and Elaine each have their own as well: Lloyd Braun and Sue Ellen Mischke, respectively. In these cases, the rivals seem unaware that George and Elaine aren't their friends and are actively rooting or plotting against them.
* ''[[Captain Power and
* Sue Sylvester from ''[[
* Callisto is the archenemy of Xena in ''[[Xena: Warrior Princess]]''
* [[Wicked Stepmother|Hera]] is the archenemy of Hercules in ''[[
* Recent developments in ''[[Top Gear]]'' seem to be pitting [[Formula One|Rubens Barrichello]] as [[Badass Driver|The Stig's]] archenemy after Barrichello beat the Stig's lap record.
* ''[[
** The Klingons to Kirk and his crew in [[Star Trek:
** Gul Dukat and the Dominion to Benjamin Sisko and his crew in ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
** The Borg to both Picard and his crew in ''[[Star Trek:
* On ''[[
* Gus Fring very much becomes this to Walter White on ''[[Breaking Bad]]''. Interestingly throughout their feud we see signs that Gus and Walt really aren't that different.
* ''[[
** In the early seasons of the show, forensically-gifted special effects artist and [[Evil Genius]] Paul Millander served as the arch enemy to team leader Gil Grissom.
** [[Serial Killer]] Nate Haskell was the archenemy of Ray Langston and the purest example of this trope on the show. When the two are first introduced Langston is lecturing Criminology and Haskell is a frequent "guest" speaker from his prison cell via video link, and grows to treat Ray as a [[Friendly Enemy]] (Ray, in contrast, just thinks Haskell is a [[Complete Monster|despicable monster]]). He assists the team in capturing one of Ray's other nemesis', [[Mad Doctor]] [[Serial Killer]] Doctor Jekyll, just to get the chance to attack and nearly kill Ray. It emerges that they both share a particular gene that has been linked to a predisposition to violence, and both had violent abusive fathers, meaning Haskell is Ray's [[Shadow Archetype]] as he secretly fears they are [[Not So Different]] and Haskell is what he could become. In season 11 Haskell escapes and engages in [[Criminal Mind Games]] with him, culminating in abducting Langston's ex-wife, murdering her new husband, just to torment Ray, and in the series finale {{spoiler|Ray snaps, and proceeds to beat and ''murder'' him.}}
* ''[[
** That being said, the rogue Wraith/human [[Half
* In ''[[
* Lampshaded in ''[[
{{quote|
'''Sherlock Holmes''': What?
'''Dr. John Watson''': In real life. People don't have archenemies.
'''Sherlock Holmes''': That sounds a bit dull. So what do people have in their REAL lives?
'''Dr. John Watson''': Friends, people they like, people they don't like, boyfriends, girlfriends...
'''Sherlock Holmes''': Like I said, dull. }}
* Black peppercorns are Yeheskel's enemy on ''[[Bitchin
* The [[Wonder Woman (TV series)|Wonder Woman TV series]]: [[The Baroness]] Von Gunther was the only enemy Wonder Woman faced in the comics that was showed in the series, and no one of [[Wonder Woman]]’s original villains in the TV series ever recurred, but it’s implied that [[Large Ham|Marion Mariposa]] did appear in a previous, unbroadcast adventure, as he is talked about last seen presumably drowned in the North Sea. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5ERHpdE1Bs The interesting part is that he is not Wonder Woman’s enemy], but [[Government Agency of Fiction|IADC agent]] [[Secret Identity|Diana Prince’s]] enemy. For Diana Prince and Marion Mariposa, [[
{{quote|
'''Diana Prince''', waking from her induced sleep: ''Not in the least, [[Knockout Gas|and I enjoyed the flowers even less]].''
'''Marion Mariposa:''' ''[[Faux Affably Evil|What’s the matter? Lost your sense of humor?]]''
'''Diana Prince:''' ''I was hoping we were rid of yours. [[No One Could Survive That|Weren’t you supposed to be drowned at the north sea after our last encounter?]]''
'''Marion Mariposa:''' ''[[Dangerously Genre Savvy|By now you should know that I have my entrances and exits carefully choreographed, Diana. I had one of my submarines pick me]].'' }}
* {{spoiler|[[The Mole|Nina]] [[
== Myth and Legend ==
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* [[Egyptian Mythology|Ra and Apophis/Apep.]]
** Osiris and Set. Later Horus and Set.
== Newspaper Comics ==
* [[Flash Gordon (
* [[
* [[Dick Tracy (
* [[Prince Valiant]] had Sligon, the tyrant who usurped his father's throne.
* [[Buck Rogers]] had Killer Kane.
* The old melodrama spoof ''Hairbreadth Harry'' had the title character fighting a [[Dastardly Whiplash]] named Rudolph Rassendale--although Rudy was arguably the [[Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain|real star of the strip]].
== Professional Sports ==▼
* The Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Francisco Giants have been arch rivals since the 1800s, from their days in New York, all the way across the coast when they both moved to California.▼
* The New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox, the American League's, and possibly Major League Baseball's, bitterest rivalry.▼
* In basketball, there really is no better rivalry than that between the Lakers and the Celtics. This one is born out of success, as opposed to any local enmity.▼
* Michigan State University's football and basketball teams, both called the Spartans, are each this to their University of Michigan counterparts, both called the Wolverines, and the feeling is mutual.▼
** MSU may consider Michigan its archenemy, but Wolverines fans would count Ohio State as theirs.▼
* Really, there are far too many sports examples to list here. At nearly every level, if a team plays, it's got an arch-enemy and there is much hatred to be had.▼
* Duke vs. UNC. One of the biggest rivalry in college sports.▼
* Celtic and Rangers in Scottish [[The Beautiful Game|football]].▼
* Ajax Amsterdam and Feyenoord in the Dutch [[The Beautiful Game|football]] League.▼
== Professional Wrestling ==
* Wrestling tends to avoid this, due to frequent [[Heel Face Turn
** [[
*** [[Ric Flair]] and Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat
** [[Bret Hart|Bret 'Hitman' Hart]] and [[Shawn Michaels]] (also true in [[Real Life]]).
*** Before that, [[Hulk Hogan]] and [[Randy Savage]], in both the [[
** [[Triple H]] and [[Dwayne Johnson|The Rock]]
** [[Stone Cold Steve Austin]] and [[Vince McMahon]] ... or whoever else happened to be in charge. Also, Stone Cold and The Rock.
** [[The Undertaker]], being in the business a long time, has had several.
*** [[Kane (
*** [[Mick Foley|Mankind]], he and Taker fought in the most violent match in the history of the [[
*** [[Shawn Michaels]], the rivalry that changed history. He fought Taker in the first ever Hell in a Cell, a Casket Match, a World Championship match, and ''two'' [[Wrestlemania]] matches.
** [[John Cena]] and [[Edge]].
** [[Matt Hardy]] and [[Edge]]. Also, The Hardys and [[Edge]] / [[Christian]] for that matter.
** [[Bryan Danielson]] has both Austin Aries and Nigel McGuinness
*** And now, [http://fans.wwe.com/p.a.t.v neckties]{{Dead link}}
** [[Kenta Kobashi]] and Mitsuharu Misawa
*** Which became the case after politics ended the eternal rivalry between Misawa and Toshiaki Kawada.
** [[Legacy Character]] Tiger Mask's arch enemy has always been Black Tiger.
** Bobo Brazil and the Original Sheik
** Tommy Dreamer & [[
** Masato Tanaka and Mike Awesome, who feuded across Japan and [[ECW]].
** Notable archenemies of [[Jeff Hardy]]'s including [[CM Punk]] and [[Edge]].
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* In the fandom, [[Wrestlecrap]] and Kent Jones (their [[Message Board]] went as far as to filter Kent Jones' name as "Can't Shoot," "I like tired fads," etc.). They also hate 420Chan's /wooo/.
* Due to pro wrestling's nature as a staged sport, as well as the close bonds of trust most wrestlers have with one another (literally putting their lives in each other's hands), many of the cases listed here (not all) are actually good friends in real life, with a great amount of respect for one another. Even [[Bret Hart]] and [[Shawn Michaels]], whose real life rivalry was as legendary as any staged rivalry in the sport (before they finally buried the hatchet), expressed tremendous respect for each other's skill and ability, while personally despising one another.
* [[WCW]] to [[
▲== Sports ==
▲* The Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Francisco Giants have been arch rivals since the 1800s, from their days in New York, all the way across the coast when they both moved to California.
▲* The New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox, the American League's, and possibly Major League Baseball's, bitterest rivalry.
▲* In basketball, there really is no better rivalry than that between the Lakers and the Celtics. This one is born out of success, as opposed to any local enmity.
▲* Michigan State University's football and basketball teams, both called the Spartans, are each this to their University of Michigan counterparts, both called the Wolverines, and the feeling is mutual.
▲** MSU may consider Michigan its archenemy, but Wolverines fans would count Ohio State as theirs.
▲* Really, there are far too many sports examples to list here. At nearly every level, if a team plays, it's got an arch-enemy and there is much hatred to be had.
▲* Duke vs. UNC. One of the biggest rivalry in college sports.
▲* Celtic and Rangers in Scottish [[The Beautiful Game|football]].
▲* Ajax Amsterdam and Feyenoord in the Dutch [[The Beautiful Game|football]] League.
== Tabletop Games ==
* ''[[Magic:
* While everyone in ''[[Warhammer
** The Chaos Gods are kept in a perpetual [[Enemy Civil War]] with rare alliances (fortunately), because they represent radically opposite urges: Tzeentch is [[Light Is Not Good|hope and change]] while Nurgle is despair and entropy; Khorne is rage and violence while Slaanesh is pleasure and excess. And ultimately, they view the [[God
** As an illustration of how deeply the Ultramarines vs Word Bearers hatred runs: in the [[Horus Heresy]] novels, it is revealed that the Ultramarines keep a precise count of time since the beginning of a battle - known as the Mark. The Mark of Calth, for the battle in which the Word Bearers first attacked the Ultramarines, will be left running until every Word Bearer is dead. Meaning that an Ultramarine can give you a precise count of how long it is they have wanted the Word Bearers to die, even ''ten thousand years'' after the original battle. Now ''that'' is enmity.
* [[Eric and the Dread Gazebo]].
* [[Dungeons
** Speaking of ''[[Dungeons
** Giants and Dragons are hated enemies. They've been at war so long that no living giant or dragon can remember how this enmity started, and seeing as both often have lifespans of centuries, that's really saying something.
* In the ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! (Tabletop Game)|Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' card game, this seems to be the case between [https://yugioh.fandom.com/wiki/D.D._Warrior_Lady D.D. Warrior Lady] and [https://yugioh.fandom.com/wiki/Warrior_Dai_Grepher Warrior Dai Grepher]. They are clearly seen fighting on several Spell and Trap Cards in a feud that started when she was [https://yugioh.fandom.com/wiki/Warrior_Lady_of_the_Wasteland Warrior Lady of the Wasteland] and continued when he became Dark Lucious. The first one was [https://yugioh.fandom.com/wiki/Simultaneous_Loss Simultaneous Loss], but there were several others. The motives behind this conflict are a mystery, especially seeing as many cards suggest they used to be in the same unit under [https://yugioh.fandom.com/wiki/Freed_the_Matchless_General Freed.]
== Video Games ==
* From the ''[[Resident Evil]] series Chris Redfield has Big Bad Albert Wesker as his Arch Enemy.
* Bowser is [[Super Mario Bros.|Mario]]'s archenemy, hating him for always foiling his plans. [[Lampshade Hanging]] occurs in [[
* Ganondorf is [[The Legend of Zelda
** However, Link is a [[Legacy Character]], and no version of him has fought Ganondorf more than once. It is possible that Ganondorf considers all pointy-eared, green-suited blond boys to be his archenemy, while each Link just thinks of Ganondorf as another Rogue.
** However each Link is usually educated about the Triforce and how they are fated to face Ganon some way or another. But particularly Link from ''[[The Legend of Zelda:
** Justified, and borderline Deconstructed, in ''[[The Legend of Zelda
** It's also mildly subversive, since the revelation that {{spoiler|Zelda is the mortal incarnation of Hylia, the goddess who initially sealed Demise,}} means ''she'' was his original archenemy, not Link.
* Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik is [[Sonic the Hedgehog|Sonic]]'s archenemy.
** And in the [[
* Dr. Wily is ''[[Mega Man (
* This, like every other trope, gets lampooned in ''[[Kingdom of Loathing]]'': the player receives a quest from their guild to retrieve an item stolen by their Nemesis. The player wasn't aware that they even had a Nemesis before that.
* Ridley in the ''[[Metroid]]'' games, to Samus Aran. This one [[
** When Samus approaches him, Ridley is watching the chaos and fire his pirates have caused, and actually gets a sad look for a moment when he sees her. Then Samus' mother runs to save her from Ridley, and he promptly goes back to normal and kills Samus' mother in front of her.
** In the manga, he also mocks her about how he killed her parents.
* The old [[Donkey Kong]] had [[Mario]] but the new one has King K. Rool in the ''[[Donkey Kong Country]]'' games.
* [[Kirby]] has King Dedede, although they've grown to be more friendly rivals because Dedede is a [[Harmless Villain]].
* [[Star Fox (
** Perhaps Wolf after Andross is defeated for good. The two teams have worked together though.
* Many ''[[Fire Emblem]]'' Lords get at least one
** ''[[Fire Emblem Elibe]]'' - Eliwood had Nergal, Lyn vs her uncle
** ''[[Fire Emblem:
** ''[[
*** Ike vs The Black Knight
*** Micaiah vs Jared
*** The Bird Tribes vs the Bengion Senate
* ''[[F
* ''[[Guilty Gear]]'':
* Many characters in ''[[
** Also Ryu vs. Akuma.
* The original ''[[Street Fighter]]'' had Sagat as Ryu's original Rival, and it may have been that way ever since.
* ''Fatal Fury'' has Geese Howard, who could practically be considered an archenemy to Southtown as a whole. Terry Bogard actually winds up adopting his son, Rock (who despises his father anyway, since Geese abandoned Rock's mother).
* Iori Yagami and Kyo Kusanagi in ''[[
* [[Dracula]] has the entire Belmont clan (as well as the Belnades and Morris families, [[Archnemesis Dad| and his own son, Alucard]].) as his running archenemies in the ''[[Castlevania]]'' games.<ref>
* ''[[Mortal Kombat]]'' has these all over the board. Liu Kang's archenemy is Shang Tsung, Sonya Blade has an archenemy in Kano, Scorpion has Sub-Zero and Quan Chi as successive archenemies, Kitana has her evil clone Mileena, Raiden has Quan Chi and Shinnok as archenemies, Kung Lao has a nemesis in Baraka, Cyrax has his [[Evil Counterpart]] Sektor and everyone from Earth Realm had Shao Kahn as a nemesis.
* In the ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'' series the main protagonist is constantly facing of against Ocelot and/or Liquid, though none of them'd ever use titles as arch-nemesis.
** Skull Face is the primary true arch enemy of Metal Gear Solid V after he wipes out Snake's entire base. The survivors are referenced as Captain Ahab's obsession with Moby Dick in their quest for revenge.
* ''[[World of Warcraft]]''
** The biggest example is the [[Forever War]] between the Alliance and the Horde. They've often had to cooperate against common enemies, some leaders have ''tried'' to make peace, and some have come close to succeeding. Unfortunately, any truce between them will ''always'' be temporary, seeing as [[Gameplay and Story Segregation|there's no way to do so without eliminating PVP from the game entirely.]]
** Varian Wrynn is technically the archenemy of Thrall, though this is mostly one-sided since it's only really Varian who wants to kill Thrall, while Thrall himself would gladly declare peace. Meanwhile, Garrosh Hellscream represents the anti-Alliance hate on the Horde side. He and Varian almost try to kill each other ''on a diplomatic meeting''.
** Thrall would probably think of Kil'jaeden as his archenemy, since he was the one who originally corrupted the Orcs and currently leads the [[Legions of Hell|Burning Legion]]. Kil'jaeden, though, [[But for Me It Was Tuesday|probably wouldn't think much of Thrall at all]].
** Kl'jaeden and their subservient eredar are definite arch-enemies of the whole draenei race and their leader Velen - they once were one race, before Sargeras arrived with [[The Corruption]]. From then on, draenei where on the run from eredar for millenia, until they settled on Azeroth for their final stand.
** The
** In the ''Wrath Of The Lich King'' expansion, Arthas, the titular Lich King is an archenemy of [[The Messiah|Tirion Fordring]] ''and'' [[Dark Action Girl|Sylvanas Windrunner]] in addition to being a [[Big Bad]] for the expansion.
** In a lesser example there is Loken, archenemy of Thorim, who orchestrated first his [[Heroic BSOD]], then the recovery from it, which only led into another trap.
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* ''Daiku no Gensan'' - The President of Kuromoku-gumi, Hyosuke Kuromoku, for Genzo. Only ''one'' game in the series has not featured the Kuromoku-Gumi and Hyosuke as major villains.
* ''[[Crash Bandicoot]]'' - Crash has Doctor Neo Cortex. In the same series there is also the rivalry between sentient voodooo masks Aku Aku and Uka Uka
* Asha the Assassin becomes [[
* ''[[Empire Earth]]'''s 2nd campaign focuses on Great Britain and France's feud through the ages.
* ''[[Fate/stay
** Kotomine was also the
{{quote|
'''Shirou:''' "Are you saying I will remain until the very end?"
'''Kotomine:''' "Of course. [[Taking Up the Mantle|You are Emiya Kiritsugu now.]] [[No Ending|There is no way you cannot win.]]" }}
* In ''[[Ratchet and Clank]]'', Captain Qwark and Dr. Nefarious are considered this, although neither seem to consider the other that big of a threat ([[Miles Gloriosus|though Qwark obviously does]]). In ''A Crack in Time'', Nefarious also calls Ratchet and Clank his archnemeses. While the Doctor considers the eponymous duo the far more formidable opponents, [[
* In ''[[God of War (
* In ''[[Return to Castle Wolfenstein]]'' and ''[[Wolfenstein (
* In ''
* In ''[[
* The ten heroes and their respective villains, [[Female Angel, Male Demon|Chaos and Cosmos]], and [[Final Fantasy XI
** More in depth we have...
*** From ''[[
*** From ''[[
*** ''[[
*** ''[[
*** From ''[[
*** ''[[
*** ''[[
*** ''[[
*** From ''[[
*** ''[[
** The prequel ''Dissidia 012'' reveals the Emperor is actually more an Arch Enemy to the ''Final Fantasy X'' cast as an [[Expy]] of
* Ultimately, Sora and {{spoiler|Xehanort}} in the ''Kingdom Hearts'' series. Sora is [[The Messiah]], while all the conflict in the games was caused by {{spoiler|Xehanort}} in one way or another.
* ''[[Legacy of Kain]]'' gives us [[Animated Armor|Malek]] and [[The Mentor|Vorador]] in ''Blood Omen'', [[Evil Overlord|The Sarafan Lord]] and [[Our Vampires Are Different|Janos]] [[Our Angels Are Different|Audron]] in ''Blood Omen 2'', and [[Magnificent Bastard|Kain]] and [[Fallen Angel|Raziel]] throughout the series. All of these are slightly one sided, though. While Malek had a deep personal hatred for Vorador, Vorador didn't think much of him and for the most part hated his order and humanity in general. Janos hated the Sarafan Lord {{spoiler|for holding him prisoner for four hundred years, starving him of blood}} but the Sarafan Lord's issue was with vampires in general and he considered Janos little more than a tool. Raziel, likewise, hated Kain on a very personal level, but Kain's actions against him were necessary evils. Kain himself had much more personal grudges against Malek and the Sarafan Lord than he did against Raziel, and possibly his true arch enemy was [[The Chessmaster|Moebius]]. And in the end it turns out Kain was the arch enemy of {{spoiler|the Elder God, who manipulated people across centuries to try and kill Kain, due to Kain's destiny to become the Scion of Balance, the only being that can destroy the Elder God}}.
* ''[[Knights of the Old Republic]]'': Malak and Revan, and arguably a parallel with Saul Karath and Carth Onasi.
* ''[[Space Quest]]'': Sludge Vohaul, despite appearing in only two games (but heavily implied to be behind the events of the first).
* ''[[King's Quest]]'': The Black Cloak Society to the Daventry royal family. The extent of which of the series' foes were part of the Society is debatable, but at least four (Hagatha, Mannanan, Mordak, Alhazred) have some kind of tie. The [[Fan Remake]] of ''[[King's Quest II]]'' cranks it up a bit with a designated archenemy, Morgelien (aka "The Father").
* ''[[
* The Grey Wardens and the Darkspawn of ''[[Dragon Age]]''. The Grey Wardens were founded specifically to prevent the Darkspawn from destroying Thedas and will do ''anything'' to accomplish this task. The feeling is mutual during
** Arl Rendon Howe for the human noble PC, (possibly) Prince Bhelen for the dwarf noble PC, Jarvia for the dwarf commoner PC, Vaughn for the city elf PC, Loghain for Alistair.
*
* The God Wars Dungeon in ''[[Runescape]]'' would imply that the four Gods involved consider each other Arch Enemies, since even after thousands of years, the 4-way free-for-all is still going on. Saradomin and Zamorak are probably the most literally example in the game, even though they aren't technically the "Good" and "Evil" Gods.
* The [https://championsonline.fandom.com/wiki/Nemesis Nemesis System] in ''[[Champions Online]]'' lets you create a customized arch-enemy for your hero once you hit level 25. And if you finally defeat and jail your nemesis, you can create another to take over for them.
== Web Comics ==
* Hitlerella is Wonderella's archenemy in ''[[The Non
▲* Grace and Damien were arch enemies in ''[[El Goonish Shive (Webcomic)|El Goonish Shive]]''
* ''[[The Wotch]]'' - Xaos to The Wotch.
▲* Hitlerella is Wonderella's archenemy in ''[[The Non Adventures of Wonderella (Webcomic)|The Non Adventures of Wonderella]]''.
* ''[[The
** Xykon is archenemy to Roy Greenhilt by inheritance. The twist here is that Xykon rarely if ever [[Unknown Rival|remembers who Greenhilt even]] ''[[Unknown Rival|is]]'', let alone that he's supposed to be his nemesis. He is aware he has nemeses, but [[Complete Monster|Xykon]] has [[Moral Event Horizon|ruined so many lives]] (and [[Fate Worse Than Death|afterlives]]) that [[But for Me It Was Tuesday|he can't be bothered to remember any single one in particular]].
** Elan has [[Evil Twin|Nale]] and Haley has Crystal (even if she has no idea what an arch-nemesis is) and Sabine.
** The main female in every evil joint the Order encounters is bound to become an
*** Belkar, at least, is of the impression that Sabine is Haley's one true archenemy. This is actually Lampshaded by Haley, who notes this tendency and comments that she should have chosen 'Favored Enemy - [[Sensible Heroes, Skimpy Villains|Flying Skank]]' as her class ability.
* ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' - Bun-Bun's arch-nemesis is Santa Claus, whom he tries to kill every Christmas that he's not stuck in an endless void outside of time. Bun-Bun doesn't actually remember ''why'' he hates Santa so much, but he's not about to let that stand in the way of a good grudge.
* ''[[
* ''[[
* ''[[Dan and
* '[[Lightbringer (web comic)|Lightbringer]]'' - Darkbringer for Lightbringer. Go figure.
* Superhero Plot Twist from [[Acrobat]] has [[Plot Hole]] (yes, that's how they're calling themselves). [[
* ''[[Energize]]'' - Energize has Saroth and Cheggras, while Ferless has Death.
* ''[[
* ''[[Mechagical Girl Lisa
* ''[[Hero By Night]]'' - The Hero and Iron Talon
* ''[[
* ''[[Last
** There's probably a little between Slick and Geisha as well, but [[Foe Yay|there may be more to it]].
* ''[http://zeera.comicgenesis.com Zeera The Space Pirate]'' has [[The Rival|rival]] [[Space Pirate
* In ''[[Spinnerette]]'', Spinnerette's arch nemesis is... Spinnerette. No, this isn't a case of [[Enemy Within]], they just both happened to pick the same supranym. And then started fighting over it. They now distinguish each other as "Good Spinnerette" and "Evil Spinnerette."
*
* ''[[Sinfest]]'':
== Web Original ==
* [[
* By the end of ''[[Kate Modern]]'', [[Ax Crazy]] [[Phlebotinum Rebel]] {{spoiler|Terrence}} has become the Arch Enemy of the entire K-Team.
* ''[[
{{quote|
* ''[[
** Another major enemy of Linkara's is the Spider-Man story ''One More Day''.
** Mechakara is a better example, as he is Linkara's most determined enemy. He has been destroyed twice and came back stronger then ever.
* In ''[[Survival of the Fittest]]'', both the winner of V1 and the winner of V2 have their own arch enemies. The V1 Winner, Adam Dodd, has Cody Jenson, who killed his girlfriend, raped one of his friends, and beat his other friend into unconsciousness. The V2 Winner, Bryan Calvert, has Mariavel Varella, who killed his girlfriend [[Cycle of Revenge|after swearing vengeance on Bryan for killing her boyfriend]]. Neil Sinclair (who was not the winner, but definitely the hero) of V3 had Danya himself.
* ''[[Agamemnon Tiberius Vacuum]]'' claims Brooke Brodack is his nemesis (a claim she embraces). What exactly the past relationship between the two that lead to this is, is still unclear.
* ''[[Downfall (
* ''[[
* The ''[[Global Guardians PBEM Universe]]'' is a superhero setting. Everybody has an
* Ranger and Ice in ''[[Comic Fury Werewolf]]''. It's pretty funny.
* The title character of ''[[Finister2]]''
* In ''[[The Intercontinental Union of Disgusting Characters]]'', Peter Perfect is Ringman's arch enemy, and Sick Sword is Omnion's arch enemy.
** In the 2nd sequel, Ringman actually becomes Tiamat's arch enemy, even though he personally never laid a glove on her; then because of his bid to free the centaurs, Ringman even becomes the [[Big Bad|Dungeon Master]]'s arch enemy.
* Cassidy Cain & Deus are a [[Classy Cat Burglar]] vs. [[Phantom Thief]] version of this in ''[[Grandmaster of Theft]]''. [[Mind Game Ship|Which is]] [[Villainous Crush|just]] [[I Love You Because I Can't Control You|what]] [[Battle of Wits|Deus wants]].
* Prefessor CGI is this to Hewy in ''[[Mr. Coat and Friends]]''.
* In his ''[[
* [[
▲* [[OMF Gcata]]'s Jesse Cox has declared that [[Husky Starcraft]] is his arch enemy (replacing Inanimate Objects and [[Total Biscuit]], in order of previous priority) from the results of the second [[The Game Station]] podcast.
* Liam the Leprechaun tends to be this to [[The Annoying Orange]] at times.
== Western Animation ==
* Cartman and Kyle from ''[[
* The Monarch from ''[[
{{quote|
'''The Monarch''': ''(awkwardly) Well, I- he- he's my nemesis. My archenemy.''
'''Dean''': ''I don't think pop thinks you're his archenemy.''
'''The Monarch''': ''Come on, I'm sure the walls of the Venture Compound are practically caked with the lingering curses of the Monarch's name.''
'''Dean''': ''Uhh, no. I've never even heard him mention you.''
'''Hank''': ''Yeah, I always thought Baron Underbheit was dad's arch-enemy.''
'''The Monarch''': ''(astounded) Underbheit!?! Why, that dime-store Doctor Doom isn't fit to -- just you wait till your father calls me back!!'' }}
** Initially, at least. The Monarch quickly revealed himself to be a [[Not
** Underbheit, on the other hand, has made very rare appearances now and again, until [[La Résistance]] deposed him of his throne. He hasn't been, and (according to [[DVD Commentary]]) probably won't be, heard from again.
*** He has been. About halfway through Season 4, he teamed up with Phantom Limb {{spoiler|and Professor Impossible.}}
** And, as of season three's "Home Is Where The Hate Is", Dr. Venture's new archenemy was Sergeant Hatred, who was assigned by the [[Weird Trade Union|Guild of Calamitous Intent]]. His actual goal is to be as ''nice'' to Dr. Venture as possible, so as to annoy the Monarch and pay him back for his henchmen robbing him. However Hatred eventually becomes the new Venture Bodyguard and Monarch gets himself a free pass to antagonize Venture once again.
** ''[[
* Captain Hero on ''[[Drawn Together]]'' belatedly realized that the random homeless guy they ran over was "My... ARCH... ''NEMESIS''!"
** As an added, subtlety that would only be found on this show, his goal is not Captain Hero's destruction, but to get him to wash his balls. And has succeeded multiple times.
* ''[[
** HIM for Bubbles.
** The Gangreen Gang for Buttercup.
* Dexter from ''[[
** Dee-Dee's arch-nemesis is Lala Vava, Mandark's sister.
* David Xanatos to Goliath in ''[[
** Though Xanatos fits best from a series standpoint, from a ''personal'' standpoint Demona, the Archmage, and Thailog might also want to claim that spot. From the same series, Tony Dracon is Elisa Maza's
* We never learn the details, but as per some kind of feud stretching to before the series, Dr. Quest and Dr. Zin seem to both hate and grudgingly respect one another's guts in ''[[Jonny Quest]]''.
* In ''[[
* ''[[The Simpsons (
{{quote|
** In the movies-within-the-show, McBain's archrival is Mendoza. [[Big No|Mendoza!!!!!!!]]
** Even Maggie has the the one-eyebrowed Baby Gerald, [[Noodle Incident| although it's a mystery as to ''why'']].
** Homer's archenemies are Mr. Burns, Ned Flanders and Frank Grimes.
** Although with Grimes it's mainly one sided, Homer seemed to actually quite like him.
* Cobra Commander to Duke and the [[G.I. Joe]].
* Marvin the Martian is this to ''[[Duck Dodgers]]'', although he's the [[Dragon-in-Chief]] to Queen Tyr'ahnee, who is both an enemy and [[Dating Catwoman|love interest]] to Dodgers.
* In ''[[Transformers]]'', Megatron is Optimus Prime's archenemy. Or [[Beast Wars
** ''[[Transformers Prime (Animation)|Transformers Prime]]'' uses this trope a lot -- in addition to [[Big Bad|Megatron]] and [[The Hero|Optimus]], there's [[The Brute|Breakdown]] and [[The Big Guy|Bulkhead]], [[The Dark Chick|Airachnid]] and [[The Lancer|Arcee]], and in the background mythology, [[Bigger Bad|Unicron]] and [[Big Good|Primus]].▼
** Also, in ''[[Transformers Generation 1]]'', the titanic Metroplex is a long-standing foe of the equally gigantic Trypticon, their hatred of each other surpassing the typical Autobot-Decepticon enmity.
▲** ''[[
* Vlad Plasmius to the titular character in ''[[Danny Phantom]]''.
* Each of the [[Teen Titans (
** Slade to Robin.
** Brother Blood to Cyborg.
** Blackfire to Starfire.
** Trigon to Raven.
** Terra to Beast Boy (because she was his [[Psycho Ex
** And the Brotherhood of Evil to
*** On a personal level the Brotherhood (and specifically, the Brain) is Beast Boy's
* ''[[
* Dr. Drakken is [[
** Ron's Arch Foe is Monkey Fist, but that's mostly because Fist is the only one who recognizes Ron's name; that and the "Mystical Monkey Power."
*** There's also Gil, [[Never My Fault|who blames Ron]] for his mutation.
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* In the [[DCAU]], [[Lex Luthor]] is still [[Superman]]'s primary enemy, but [[Darkseid]] and [[Omnicidal Maniac|Brainiac]] [[Eviler Than Thou|surpass]] him whenever they show up.
** And yet Luthor has survived direct dealings with both of them while even as both suffered grievous defeat. He was {{spoiler|fused with Brainiac}} and {{spoiler|personally put away Darkseid with the Anti-Life Equation who, it should be added, was even fused with Brainiac at the time}}.
* The Joker and Batman in ''[[Batman:
* Mocked (unsurprisingly) by ''[[The Tick (animation)|The Tick]]'':
{{quote|
'''Brainchild:''' So, at last, The Tick, my arch enemy, sits helpless before me!
'''The Tick:''' 'Arch enemy'? You must be joking, Charles. I mean, I don't like you and everything but if I ever ''do'' have an arch enemy it's not going to be some creepy little brat with a glass head. }}
* [[The Brute|Ernie the Giant Chicken]] to Peter Griffin on ''[[Family Guy]]''. Or [[Corrupt Corporate
** Stewie to his half-brother Bertram.
* For some reason or another, In [[Spider-Man]]'s cartoon from the 80s, his arch enemy was Doctor Doom. While the two have had s few historic encounters with one another in the comics, Doom is otherwise always depicted as an enemy of the [[Fantastic Four]] above all else.
* Using similar logic to the ''[[
** [[Disney Ducks Comic Universe|In the comics]], he has two, Flimheart Glomgold and John D. Rockerduck.
* [[Big Bad|Imperiex]] and [[Superman]] clone Kell-El in the ''[[Legion of Super
*
* [[
* ''[[Freakazoid
* Vicky on ''[[The Fairly
* Blight to the new Batman (''[[
* ''[[
** Ben Tennyson - Vilgax, Kevin 11 (until [[Heel Face Turn]]), Ghostfreak, Dr. Animo, Eon, Albedo,Will Harangue and Diagon.
** Gwen Tennyson - Hex, Charmcaster (until [[Heel Face Turn]]) and Sunny.
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** Kevin E. Levin - Vulkanus, Darkstar, Argit, Ragnarok and Aggregor
** Team Tennyson - Forever Knights, Negative 10, Highbreed(until [[Heel Face Turn]]), Aggregor, and Diagon.
* Perry the Platypus and Dr Doofenschmirtz from ''[[
* Dr. Pretorius to ''[[The Mask (
* Looking at the ''[[
* The Evil Emperor Zurg to the title character of ''[[
* In ''[[
* Emperor Krulos to Questar and the ''[[Dino Riders]]''.
* Mon*Star to Stargazer, Quicksilver and the ''[[
* Heather to Gwen in ''[[
* Van Kleiss and Quarry to Rex in ''[[
* ''[[
* The Huntsman is Jake's
* In ''[[
* [[
* [[
* Coop and Kat on ''[[Kid
* Mrs. Boots is Buckley's in ''[[Slacker Cats]]''.
* [[Mickey Mouse]] has two arch-enemies: [[Pete]] and the Phantom Blot, the latter
* ''[[
* Rudy Tabootie, Mr. Wilter and Reggie Bullnerd in ''[[
* Eric Needles and Professor Pampelmoose in ''[[Sidekick (
* Tak, [[Fat Bastard|Cheif]] and [[Gonk|Lok]] in ''[[Tak and
* ''[[Star Wars: Clone Wars]]'': The Mon Calamri often fight with the Quarren, both species are natives of the planet Dac.
* Doc Terror to the [[
* Often played for laught in ''[[Darkwing Duck]]'', where Darkwing would frequently refer as his archenemy/archrival/archnemesis ''any'' villain he would have met at least twice. Even a guys whose only power was to ''have a bunch of penguins at his service to commit robberies'' was once referred as his archenemy. However, from a serious point of view, at least three antagonists can be seen as his archenemies:
** [[Psycho Electro|Megavolt]] initially owned the role, being both the first villain Darkwing
** [[Evil Counterpart|Negaduck]] is mostly considered as the main archenemy, due to both being an evil counterpart of the hero, the leader of the [[Five
** [[Magnificent Bastard|Taurus Bulba]], while having only two appearances in the animated
* [[Creepy Child|The Delightful Children]] and Kids Next Door but especially Numbuh 1 in ''[[Codename
== Real Life ==
==
* Keith Baker is the archenemy of Rich Burlew, creator of ''[[
{{quote|
'''Vaarsuvius:''' "Oh?"
'''Durkon:''' "They could have magic trains."
'''Vaarsuvius:''' "Point taken." }}
** And Baker also turns up in [[Start of Darkness]] (the trope namer, that is) as one of Xykon's rivals for the position of second-in-command to the Unholy Master early on in the book.
* Bobby Kennedy and [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] hated, ''hated'' each other with a passion. Bobby felt Johnson was a devious coward, Johnson thought Bobby was a foul tempered "little shit." Intensified tenfold after [[John F. Kennedy|JFK's]] [[Who Shot JFK?|assassination]].
** Also, [[The Fog Of War|Robert McNamara]], the Secretary of Defense and a close personal friend of Bobby's who only got ''closer'' to him after Jack's assassination, got caught in the crossfire. This may have influenced some of Johnson's decisions in [[The Vietnam War]].
* Mark Gottlieb, the rules manager of ''[[Magic:
* [
* [[John Adams]] and [[Thomas Jefferson]], the second and third presidents respectively, were this; after [[George Washington]] left the office, these two formed bitterly divided parties against each other. Ironically, due to how voting worked at the time, Jefferson wound up as vice president to Adams when he entered office, making things even worse than they were before. After both of their terms as president were over, however, they went on to become good friends.
** Actually, they were good friends before Adams became president, having collaborated on the Declaration of Independence and worked together overseas. But when their political ideologies started to diverge, their relationship fell apart. Luckily they patched it up when they retired.
** Then there was [
** Another example from US politics: [[Bill Clinton]] and Newt Gingrich.
** In the current{{when}} Congress, John Boehner vs. Nancy Pelosi and Mitch McConnell vs. Harry Reid.
* Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz fought for years over who invented calculus.
** Newton also hated Robert Hooke with a passion.
* Liberal William Lyon Mackenzie King and Conservative Arthur Meighen were bitter rivals in university, and the bad blood between them carried over when they both went into politics. Both men would serve as prime minister of Canada and led their parties against each other, but this trope was arguably subverted because King repeatedly wiped the floor with Meighen in their political [[Curb Stomp Battle
* Half a century earlier, a much more balanced version of this played out in Britain between [[William Gladstone]] and [[
* Conservative political consultant Mary Matalin once called Liberal political consultant James Carville her "arch-nemesis" and her "worst enemy" when it came to political campaigns. And she said this ''after'' she [[Dating Catwoman|married him and gave birth to his children]] (they apparently never talk politics at home).
* [[The Roman Republic|Marius and Sulla, Caesar and Cato, Crassus and Pompey, Antony and Cicero, Antony and Octavian]].
* [[Hunter S. Thompson]], author of [[Fear and Loathing
{{quote|
==
* England and France have historically been enemies that never got along and warred constantly. Nowadays they're kinda like [[Vitriolic Best Buds]] instead.
** Similar with France and Germany.
** England
** Sweden and Denmark also have this.
* Athens and Sparta, even as there were some times that they helped one another.
* The U.S. and the Soviet Union during the [[Cold War]]. Became more like [[The Rival|rivals]] during [
** The US-Soviet rivalry is odd in that the recent rise of China as an economic superpower seems to have made some Americans [[Why
* The Roman and Persian Empires battled each other for ''centuries'', but Rome's traditional archenemy was Carthage, as per ''[[
* Greece and the Ottoman Empire. North and South Korea. China and Japan. Japan and Korea, Israel and Palestine. Really, it could go on and on...
* The United States Republican and Democratic parties in general and their presidential nominees every four years.
Line 696 ⟶ 689:
** India and Japan are petitioning for permanent security council seats, while Pakistan and Korea are in committee to vote them down. This would strangely make Mexico a burgeoning rival for Brazil.
* Australia and New Zealand - but only in the sporting arena, elsewhere we're [[Vitriolic Best Buds]] at worst, [[Best Friends]] when having to be part of [[The Squad]] at best...
* In any [
** Pepsi and Coke
** [[Marvel Comics]] and [[DC Comics]]
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*** Disney and [[Warner Brothers]] were this in the field of animated shorts before that format mostly disappeared. Nowadays, there's a bit of this between [[Disney Toon]] Studios (which makes films, mostly [[Direct to Video|direct-to-video]] ones) and Walt Disney Television Animation on one side vs. and Warner Bros. Animation (which also does TV shows and direct-to-video films) on the other side.
*** And since Disney owns Marvel now and DC has been owned by Warner Bros, the Marvel/DC rivalry takes on an extra layer.
*** [[Toon Disney]] vs. [[Nicktoons]] before Toon Disney ceased to exist.
*** In TV in general, Disney channel vs. Nickelodeon
*** In theme parks, Disney World vs. Universal Studios
** [[Pixar]] and [[
* At times, Gladstone and Disraeli, the head of the major rival parties in parliament in the UK in the Victorian Age, were ''personal archenemies'', while their respective parties were full-time organization archenemies.
* The African countries of [[
{{reflist}}
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[[Category:Older Than Radio]]
[[Category:The Renaissance Age of Animation]]
[[Category:The Millennium Age of Animation]]
[[Category:Villains]]
[[Category:Arch Enemy]]
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