Enemy Mine: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

[[File:Scott Pilgrim - Enemy Mine.jpg|link=Scott Pilgrim|frame]]

 

A shorter form of the phrase: ''The enemy of my enemy is my friend''. Another phrase used to describe this is "War makes for strange bedfellows." This results in a scenario where foes must work together to achieve a common goal.

Finally, this is an opportunity to show the villains as being more competent than they typically are. While they're defeated by the heroes week after week, the bad guys can actually contribute to the defeat of whatever threat they're teaming up with the heroes against.

 

 

Not to be confused with the Dennis Quaid movie/Barry Longyear story ''[[Enemy Mine (film)|Enemy Mine]]''. We also sincerely hope that you did not have a slip of the finger and ended up here instead of at [[Enemy Mime]]. For an enemy that ''is'' a mine, see [[Action Bomb]], and for a different kind of mine which is filled with enemies, see [[Dug Too Deep]].

 

{{examples}}

* Subverted in ''[[UFO Robo Grendizer]]''. In one of the manga versions, ''[[Great Mazinger]]'' [[Big Bad]], Emperor of Darkness, offered ''[[Mazinger Z|Kouji Kabuto]]'' an alliance to fight [[Alien Invasion|the Vegans]]. It was subverted because Kouji refused the offer and [[Big Bad]] King Vega {{spoiler|killed the Emperor to impede that alliance and get ridden of a possible enemy and competitor.}}

* In the anime version of ''[[Valkyria Chronicles]]'', Episode 12 has Welkin and Faldio team up with Jaeger and Selvaria to foil a plot to to kidnap Princess Cordelia (and Alicia, who was captured in the process) and use her to BS an impromptu alliance between the Federation and Gallia, which is really a cheap way for Prime Minster Borg to usurp the throne "legally" and force the Imperial forces into a two front war situation, which at best leaves him in control of Gallia with Federation backing and gives the Imperial forces pause, or at worst ensures the Imperials are forced to fight a much bigger enemy on two fronts, with either outcome leaving him at an advantage. Everyone launches obvious objections to Welkin's proposed Enemy Mine until Welkin points out the massive mutual gain they stand to profit from, leading to a brief Imperial-Gallia alliance to foil the plot.

*** Near the beginning of the Android Saga, Krillin mentions this pattern when Bulma asks the guys why they don't just find Dr. Gero and stop him from ever creating the Androids. So long as they have a common enemy, Vegeta is less likely to revert to being a full-blown villain.

* Every time Gun for Hire Katana joins the rest of the Techode pilots in ''[[Gad Guard]]'' to stop a rogue Gad from destroying everything it touches. Interesting in that half the team (both girls, who met him under different circumstances) don't consider him an enemy. His adorable [[Morality Pet]] helps.

** {{spoiler|You can also add Mr. 2 Bon Clay to the list of former enemies Luffy has teamed up with in Impel Down (though its debatable whether Bon Clay still counts as a bad guy).}}

*** {{spoiler|Debatable? I think that debate was settled when Bon Clay sacrificed himself to help Luffy escape, ''for the second time''.}}

**** Taken [[Up to Eleven]] in the Whitebeard War arc. {{spoiler|Crocodile protecting Luffy, fighting alongside the Whitebeard pirates, and generally being the closest thing to altruistic he's ever been thus far. Buggy fights on Luffy's behalf (even if Luffy forced him into it). This war is absolutely crazy in the temporary partnerships it has formed.}}

** Earlier on, Luffy's crew, the Galley-La company, and the Franky Family, despite having fought in a three-way battle before, team up when they realize that they're facing the same enemy, albeit for different reasons (rescuing Robin, dealing with Iceberg's assassins and preventing Pluton's revival, and saving Franky, respectively). Then again, the Galley-La crew had been fighting the Straw Hats under the mistaken belief that they were responsible for the attempt on Iceberg's life, which they just realized.

* In ''[[Ranma ½]]'', several Enemy Mine alliances emerge among the various members of the [[Love Dodecahedron]]. Shampoo, Ukyō and Kodachi regularly team up against any external threat to Ranma (or a new potential suitor). Ranma himself teams with Ryōga and Mousse against Prince Herb. Ranma and Ryōga do this often enough that they inch into [[Friendly Enemy]] territory by the end of the series.

** And inverted with Ryōga and Mousse in the anime: although they aren't enemies when they initially team up against their common enemy Ranma, by the end of the episode, they work so poorly together that they can't stand each other. The fact that Mousse is far more ruthless than Ryōga, and also has no qualms whatsoever about hurting others to get rid of Ranma—even Akane Tendō, Ryōga's [[All Love Is Unrequited|oblivious crush]]—does not help matters.

* In the final 3 chapters of ''[[Psyren]]'', Yoshina Ageha teams up with {{spoiler|Amagi Miroku against Mithra.}}

* Anytime [[Inuyasha]] and [[Aloof Big Brother|Sesshomaru]] team up, this happens, though at the end of each scenario Sesshy walks off just a little more of an [[Anti-Hero]] than before.

 

== Comic Books ==

** He has his own reasons for this: {{spoiler|it helps [[Norman Osborn]] in his ploy to take over SHIELD and instigate the [[Dark Reign (comics)|Dark Reign]]}}.

*** Actually, it's implied that {{spoiler|The Hood had no idea of Osborn's plan, until he called together the Cabal for the first time. The Hood would have let the assembled forces fight the Skrulls, if not for the simple fact that if the Skrulls destroy the Earth, ''they destroy his business''.}}

* [[Spider-Woman]] called a truce with several former enemies - including Gypsy Moth, Flying Tiger, and Daddy Longlegs - to escape the clutches of the Locksmith in the [[Series Finale| 50th issue of her series]], and even invited a few of them to her apartment later! Unfortunately, said party was [[Halfway Plot Switch| interrupted by the darker threat of the story.]]

* Cassie and [[Child's Play (film)|Chucky]] in ''[[Hack Slash]] Vs. Chucky''.

* In ''Cosmic Odyssey'', [[New Gods|Darkseid and Highfather]] team up, recruiting [[Superman]], [[Batman]], and various other DC Universe heroes to prevent the [[Eldritch Abomination|Anti-Life Entity]] from [[The End of the World as We Know It|destroying the entire galaxy]]. [[Sarcasm Mode|To everyone's great surprise]], [[Darkseid]] [[Chronic Backstabbing Disorder|betrays his newfound allies]], only to be stopped by Batman's [[Betrayal Insurance]].

** This was hardly the first or the last time that [[Darkseid]] pulled one of these. In ''[[Crisis on Infinite Earths]]'', for example, ended up being instrumental in finally defeating the Anti-Monitor (but making it very clear he was only doing it not to help the heroes or anything, but rather to ensure that the Anti-Monitor wouldn't destroy everything).

* In the ''[[Darkwing Duck (comics)|Darkwing Duck]]'' comic revival, Steelbeak teams up with Darkwing to stop [[Bigger Bad|F.O.W.L. High Command's]] plan to unleash [[Eldritch Abomination|Duckthulu]], because [[Even Evil Has Standards]].

* {{spoiler|After the death of the Human Torch}}, [[Doctor Doom]] and [[Fantastic Four (Comic Book)|Reed Richards]] have ''very'' reluctantly agreed to work together in the Future Foundation. This arrangement was brokered by Reed's genius daughter Valeria who convinced Reed that the FF needed someone as ruthlessly pragmatic as Doom if they were going to save the world. She got Doom on board by {{spoiler|promising to help undo the brain damage the Intelligensia inflicted on him in [[Fall of the Hulks]]}}.

* The example from [[Wild Mass Guessing]] for ''[[The X-Files/WMG|The X-Files]]'', suggesting that as soon as the aliens arrive on Earth, they'll promptly be beaten back by ''every single [[Monster of the Week]]'', who tend to favor continuing to live on their planet.

* In ''[[Aeon Natum Engel]]'', during the Herald fight, the Migou recall some of their forces so that the NEG Military, with the newly freed-up forces, can assist in defeating the Herald. Humanity doesn't return the favor.

* ''[[A Dark Knight Over Sin City]]'' features [[Batman]] and the [[Anti-Hero|anti-heroes]] from [[Sin City]] teaming up together and with other criminals in order to achieve their goals.

* In ''[[Hogyoku Ex Machina]]'', Yoruichi is surprised when she finds out that the Vizards fought alongside Soul Society against [[Big Bad|Aizen]] in the [[Time Travel|original timeline]], since they have no reason to like them. [[The Smart Guy|Ishida]] suggests it was because of this trope.

** Subverted in one of the scenes set in [[Ghost in the Machine|Jade's mindscape]]—Hero tries to form an alliance against [[Super-Powered Evil Side|The Queen]] with his apparent rival Father, but is rejected.

** In a similar subversion, the J-Team refuses to ally with [[Future Badass|Karasu]] against Drago, as they don't see any good coming from working with a Shadowkhan.

 

== Films -- Animation ==

* This trope is the whole point of ''[[Monsters vs. Aliens]]'', though the monsters [[Anti-Villain|are pretty good-natured]].

* In the ''[[Futurama]]'' movie "Bender's Big Score", not only is the Robot Devil providing music at {{spoiler|Leela's abortive wedding}}, but they later team up with the robot mafia and evil robotic Santa to take Earth back from the scammer aliens.

 

== Films -- Live Action ==

* This is the whole premise behind [[Independence Day]].

* The Sci-Fi movie ''[[Enemy Mine (film)|Enemy Mine]]'' (1985) (directed by Wolfgang Petersen), starring Dennis Quaid as a human space marine and Louis Gossett Jr. as an alien soldier. In the midst of an interstellar war between their species, both crash-landed their vessels on a desolate planet and must work together to survive. Years later, after the alien soldier gave birth to a baby alien and died from complications, Dennis Quaid's character raises his adoptive alien son and must protect him and himself from human scavengers who use captured aliens as slaves, until they're both finally found and rescued. It is implied that this event helps to end the war.

* In the ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]'' franchise, every character views the others as either enemies or [[Good Is Dumb|incredibly stupid]] pawns, but will readily concede to work together when their priorities mesh. These unholy alliances tend to confuse casual viewers, who are convinced (''très'' incorrectly) that the adversarial role Barbossa plays in the first film completely contradicts the compatriot role he plays in the third.

* Battra and Mothra, mortal enemies of one another, joined forces in order to stop [[Godzilla]] in ''[[Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle for Earth|Godzilla and Mothra The Battle For Earth]]''.

* This is what prompts the partnership between Wikus and Christopher in ''[[District 9]]''. {{spoiler|Christopher has spent 20 years collecting enough [[Green Rocks|fluid]] to power the aliens' buried shuttle so he can take the mothership and get help, but just as he gets the last of it, his shack is searched by [[Middle Management Mook|Wikus]], who accidentally inhales some of the fluid and starts [[Body Horror|transforming into an alien]]. On the run from his own [[Mega Corp|company]], Wikus teams up with Christopher to get the fluid back from MNU, on the condition that Christopher change Wikus back into a human. It doesn't really [[Bittersweet Ending|work out that way]], but by then Wikus has had enough [[Character Development]] to be okay with it.}}

* ''[[The Matrix Revolutions]]''. Neo and the Machines must work together to destroy Smith before he takes over both the Matrix and the Machine World. {{spoiler|After Neo allows Smith to possess him, the Machines use their power through Neo's body to destroy all of the Smith clones.}}

* Kind of lampshaded in ''[[Ocean's Eleven|Ocean's Thirteen]]'', when they decide to include Benedict in their plan:

{{quote|'''Linus:''' We've shaken every tree...

* [[Will Smith]]'s character in ''[[Enemy of the State]]'' pulls an on-the-fly [[Batman Gambit]] which ties up two troublesome loose ends by getting them to deal with each other. Through some fast talking and well chosen ambiguous language, he {{spoiler|sets up a [[Mexican Standoff]] between a rogue NSA team that has taken him hostage and a gang of trigger happy goodfellas who are looking for a fight.}} It does not end well for any of them.

* In ''[[Blade II]]'', Blade teams up with the vampires to fight a subspecies of super-vampires that prey on everyone. The vampires end up betraying Blade two-thirds of the way through the movie. Nomak (the lead super-vamp) points out the trope: "Is the enemy of my enemy my friend? Or just another enemy?"

* Balthazar and Mathayas resort to this in ''[[The Scorpion King]]'' in order to take down Emperor Memmon.

* Subverted by ''[[Transformers: Dark of the Moon]]''. Prime and Megatron teaming up to battle a greater threat is fairly common in ''Transformers'' media, but this time {{spoiler|when Megatron offers a truce, Prime responds by cutting his head off}}.

* In ''[[Once Upon a Texas Train]]'', the retired outlaws and the retired Rangers are forced to combine forces to combat a gang of younger, more ruthless outlaws.

 

* ''[[The Enemy Papers|Enemy Mine]]'' by Barry B. Longyear, the basis for the movie mentioned above.

* In William King's ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'' novel ''[[Space Wolf]]'', the Marines chose Ragnar and Strybjorn for Marines when they were fighting each other to the death, and both were mortally wounded. Ragnar's desire for [[Revenge]] is kept at bay by the knowledge that the Marines will not let him. {{spoiler|Finally, when they are fighting Chaos Space Marines, Strybjorn saves Ragnar's life, and shortly thereafter goes down. Ragnar realizes that he neither should nor does want Strybjorn to die; he sends the others on and [[No One Gets Left Behind|stays to treat and bring Strybjorn with them]].}}

* And in the ''[[Warchild Series]]'', Captain Azarcon, a [[Space Marine]], and Niko, human sympathizer of the alien [[La Résistance|resistance]] work together to {{spoiler|rescue hostages and capture gunrunners. This collaboration leads to the end of the war... for a time, anyway.}}

** The fact that each man at least respects the other's abilities helps.

* ''[[Worldwar]]'', by [[Harry Turtledove]]. Aliens invade in 1942. The Axis are working with the Allies. Another one occurs between the Jews in Europe and the Race. Aliens who never figured out discrimination or Nazi Germany. Played with in the sense that they aren't quite sure who'd be worse for mankind. (The Jews play it both ways,[[Heel Face Revolving Door|working with the Race or the Germans depending on who's a bigger threat at the time.]])

* ''[[The Thrawn Trilogy]]'': Mara Jade sees her having to constantly work with Luke as this trope, especially with that [[Kill Me Now or Forever Stay Your Hand|not-so-covert wish to kill him]]. He doesn't see it the same way, though. At the end of the trilogy, they've become [[Fire-Forged Friends]], and by the ''[[New Jedi Order]]'' series, they're a married [[Battle Couple]].

* ''[[The Truce At Bakura]]'' is this trope personified, with the Imperials forced to work with the Rebels to defeat the evil Ssi-Ruuk. {{spoiler|Once it becomes clear that the aliens are in retreat, the Empire reverts back to their evil selves and re-declares war on the Alliance.}}

** ''Edge of Battle'' has {{spoiler|Zakharov and Task Force TALON}} reluctantly cooperating after Comandante Veracruz's double-cross, though it doesn't last.

** ''Strike Force'' is centred on an Iranian coup leader and former enemy of Dreamland who now needs their help. The blurb tells you as much!

* ''The White Rose'' by Glen Cook. In the final battle the Lady—sorceress leader of the northern empire—needs the help of the white rose to take down the dominator, her husband and a much better sorcerer. The white rose creates a area where magic cannot be used and therefore is vital to taking down the greatest sorcerer in known history.

* In ''[[The Icewind Dale Trilogy|Streams of Silver]]'', Drizzt Do'Urden and Artemis Entreri declared a temporary truce in order to join forces against a common enemy. Some time later, in ''[[Legacy of the Drow Series|Starless Night]]'', Catti-Brie and Entreri teamed up to rescue Drizzt from the drow, who were holding all three of them captive and who would have eventually executed both Drizzt and Entreri. (Or condemned them to a [[Fate Worse Than Death]].)

* Bertie Wooster and {{spoiler|Sir Roderick Glossop}} team up in ''[[Jeeves and Wooster (novel)|Thank You, Jeeves]]'' and end up getting along very well, even exchanging invitations to lunch. Bertie notes that he can't be all bad, since he {{spoiler|beat up Chuffy's [[Bratty Half-Pint]] cousin Seabury}}.

 

* ''[[The X-Files]]'' episode "En Ami". And "Tunguska"/"Terma" as well, although that turned out to be a set-up.

** In a later season of ''Voyager'', in the episode where the Delta Flyer is introduced, B'Elanna Torres learns that the Maquis lost back home. She turns depressed and does dangerous things in the Holodeck with the safety off, and because most of the ship has all but forgotten their initial division between Starfleet and Maquis, they don't know what's wrong with her.

** When they first re-establish contact with Starfleet, Janeway mentions to Chekotay that she actually ''had'' forgotten the implications of the mixed crew after they had been working together for so long.

*** The irony of this is that, if the Narn surrender treaty didn't include such harsh penalties for G'Kar just killing Londo, he might happily have helped. However, thanks to the excessive measures taken to prevent narns attacking centauri, this was the only way G'Kar would ever get to see Londo die.

*** Further irony is piled on by finally [[Playing with a Trope|playing the trope straight]] when Londo's [[Prophecy Twist]] kicks in. At that point G'Kar is one of the last two friends Londo has.

* ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' features this a great many times. It seems to be one of the favorite negotiating tactics of the Tau'ri in particular.

** Ba'al has had to join forces with SG-1 to defeat his master Anubis and the greater threat of the Replicators during the "Reckoning" two-parter. This is not the last time they'd work with him. Initially subverted, as Ba'al asked SG-1 for an alliance and was flat-out rejected by Jack O'Neill.

* In ''[[Kamen Rider Decade]]'''s final arc, the separate [[Kamen Rider]] worlds are pitted against each other in a giant war, with the losers being erased from existence, so naturally Riders and Kaijin put aside their differences in order to protect their universes. Tsukasa, in the meantime, tries to convince everyone to focus on the common enemy in [[Legion of Doom|Daishocker]]; it works almost too late, but then the death of [[Kamen Rider X|Apollo Geist]] actually accelerates the destruction rather than stopping it. [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|Dammit]].

 

* Since most wrestlers [[Kayfabe|theoretically]] have little say on who they either fight or team with, an Enemy Mine often occurs when an on-screen authority figure randomly decides two people who don't like each other will team up against a common enemy. This used to happen all the time with [[Stone Cold Steve Austin]] and [[Dwayne Johnson|The Rock]]. An example would be when Stone Cold was booked to fight [[The Undertaker]] and Rock against [[Triple H]] at ''Over the Edge 1998,'' one ''Raw'' saw Austin and Rock being forced to team together against Undertaker and [[Triple H]]. Since Undertaker and [[Triple H]] were members of the same stable, the story of the match was whether Austin and Rock (who only weeks earlier were in a bitter feud) could put up with each other long enough to survive.

** This specific Enemy Mine would occur several times through 1999, not all of them being in official matches. For example: the ''[[WWE Smackdown|SmackDown]]'' pilot in which the Corporate Ministry came together in the first place.

* Often happens in [[Royal Rumble]]s and Battle Royals, as many wrestlers team up to eliminate the biggest wrestlers.

 

 

* ''[[Mage: The Awakening]]'' generally sees the Pentacle Orders locked in battle against the [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|Seers of the Throne]]. However, when a Left-Handed Legacy (servants of the [[Eldritch Abomination|Abyss]]) makes itself known, both sides will declare a truce and stamp it out as best they can.

** ''[[Mage: The Ascension]]'' has much the same dynamic, with the Traditions and the Technocracy setting aside their conflict long enough to take down a [[Omnicidal Maniac|Nephandus]] or Marauder.

* In ''[[Paranoia (game)|Paranoia]]'', even if someone's ideology is directly opposed to yours (Psion vs. Anti-Mutant, Corpore Metal vs. Frankenstein Destroyers), alliances can always shift to suit the demands of the moment. You can always hose them later.

 

* In ''[[The Taming of the Shrew]]'', several men are rivals for the hand of the fair Bianca, but her father won't let any of them marry her unless her shrewish older sister, Katarina, is married off first. Realizing that there's no point in fighting each other if they don't have a chance, the suitors decide to work together to get Katarina a husband.

 

* In ''[[Final Fantasy X-2]]'', the Leblanc Syndicate, who are enemies originally, become allies of the Gullwings in Chapter 3. This is different, however, in that they remain allies for the rest of the game, even helping in the fight against {{spoiler|Vegnagun}}.

* In ''[[City of Heroes]]'', in the Valentine's Day 2006 and 2007 events, the missions to unlock special prizes required mixed hero-villain teams to complete. As well, the issue 10 update included a whole hero-villain co-op zone, the Rikti War Zone.

**** Supplementary materials like the short stories that came with the collectors' editions establish that the humans had indeed earned the grudging respect of the Elites, because they were doing comparatively well in the war despite inferior numbers and technology (turning what should have been a speedbump for the Covenant into a pyrrhic victory). Further, these materials establish that the Elites are very confused why the Prophets are strictly pursuing a genocidal war of annihilation against the humans (which is secretly because the humans are the ''real'' successors to the Forerunners, not the Prophets). It turns out that, if this were just a normal Covenant war of expansion, after so many years of impressive fighting, if the Elites were in charge they would have offered humanity the option to surrender by now, and join the Covenant. They'd be slave-soldiers, but it wouldn't be the genocide the Prophets were planning. Further, the Elites think humans would be a huge step up from their current frontline soldiers, the Grunts.

** Speaking of Bungie, while it isn't exactly an example of this trope, you do join forces with the Pfhor in ''[[Marathon Trilogy|Marathon]]'', and you do so because if you do, [[Big Bad|Tycho]] will decide to keep T'fear from killing all of the humans. It doesn't really matter, since you just go to an alternate reality after he tries to kill you for trying to escape slavery.

* In ''[[Devil May Cry]] 3'', hero Dante teams up with his brother and enemy Vergil to fight the penultimate boss. It's barely cold when Vergil challenges Dante for ownership of the [[Infinity+1 Sword|Force Edge]].

* ''[[StarCraft]]'' is full of those, especially in the [[Expansion Pack]]. It starts with Raynor being forced to team up with the Sons of Korhal to evacuate his [[Doomed Hometown|Doomed Homeplanet]] and ends up with a three-way alliance between the Terrans, Protoss ''and'' Zerg against the Earth Directorate and immature Overmind they were trying to control.

** In fact, a massive part of ''Wrath'' is how the Horde and Alliance start with this and end trying to kill each other and letting the Lich King off to the side to kill them both. In ''Cataclysm'', Deathwing has become a greater threat than the scourge was because the Alliance and Horde have lost all pretense of working together on anything.

** In ''Rise of the Zandalari'', Vol'jin, leader of the Horde's Darkspear Trolls, is so concerned about the uprising of the other evil troll factions, that he sends emissaries to both the Horde and the Alliance. Instead of trying to get Warchief Hellscream and King Wrynn to work together, he reaches out to the individual heroes, and the smaller groups within the Horde and Alliance that are directly in the Trolls' path.

* Occurs in ''[[Might and Magic|Might and Magic VII]]'', with reformed [[Magnificent Bastard]] Archibald Ironfist assisting the party in rescuing his brother King Roland and taking on the Kreegans.

** The climax of the [[Heroes of Might and Magic|Restoration Wars]] featured a team-up between Catherine Ironfist and a faction of Necromancers that had gotten tired of Catherine's father's rule (events earlier in the story had lead to his reanimation at the Necromancers' hands, only for him to promptly off their king and take control himself).

* Mid- to late-game players of recent games in the ''[[X Universe]]'' series can befriend the [[Yakuza|Yaki]] faction by various means. They can then make use of their [[NGO Superpower]] status to steal ships from "Return Ship" missions, by docking the ship at the shipyard in Senator's Badlands. The [[Space Police]] sent to destroy the stolen ship will spawn and immediately come under attack by the Yaki, [[Curb Stomp Battle|who have an Akuma destroyer at their disposal]].

* In ''[[Kid Icarus: Uprising|Kid Icarus Uprising]]'', immediately after a [[Melee a Trois]] between Pit, {{spoiler|Viridi's Forces of Nature}}, and {{spoiler|Hades's Underworld forces}}, the fight is put on hold to deal with {{spoiler|an alien invasion}} out of nowhere. Though {{spoiler|Hades}} still can't resist dropping a [[Chest Monster]] in Pit's path at every opportunity, {{spoiler|Viridi}} takes to the team-up very well, and remains a tenuous ally for the rest of the game.

 

* ''[[Red vs. Blue]]'', as mentioned above, in which the red and blue teams often join up to battle O'Malley, and later the Meta.

* ''[[Haloid]]''. When Samus and MC first meet, Samus attacks MC for no good reason and they start a running battle. When more Covenant troops show up, Samus and MC join forces to fight them, including a [[Back-to-Back Badasses]] moment.

** [[Justified Trope|Not entirely for no good reason]]. Niether Samus nor MC recognize the other as human at first, and [[Poor Communication Kills|each presumes the other to be more of the enemy]]. Once Samus is down to her Zero Suit, MC stops attacking her {{spoiler|[[Hello, Nurse!|for more than one reason]]}}, and once Samus gets a good look at {{spoiler|Nicole}} through the visor, she stops attacking {{spoiler|her}} as well.

* In episode 9 of ''[[Mega Man Dies at the End]]'', {{spoiler|Mega Man and Dr. Wily}} have to work together to escape from the guards.

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

* ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'' lampshades this with Maxim 29 from ''The Seventy Maxims of Maximally Effective Mercenaries'': "The enemy of my enemy is my enemy's enemy. No more. No less."

** Also, due to his [[Sociopathic Hero]] nature, almost any time Bun-Bun is persuaded to help the other characters has shades of this.

* In ''[[The Order of the Stick]]'', Elan and Thog temporarily team up to escape from prison and travel back to the Order after Elan "fast-talk" Thog. Being both [[Cloudcuckoolander]]s, they get along surprisingly well.

** While Elan sees {{spoiler|his father}} Tarquin as evil and [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0762.html doesn't want his help at first], later when it comes to [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0818.html defeating Nale] they rather [[Agree to Disagree]].

** In the [[Prequel]], the appropriately-named ''[[Start of Darkness]]'', Right-Eye attempts (unsuccessfully) to ally with human wizard Eugene Greenhilt, despite hating humans, in order to eliminate the threat [[Big Bad]] Xykon poses to his own goblin minions.

* ''[[Basic Instructions]]'': [http://basicinstructions.net/basic-instructions/2011/3/3/how-to-unite-against-a-common-foe.html How to Unite Against a Common Foe]

* In ''[[Fafnir the Dragon]]'', the far right wing of the Republican Party allies itself with al Qaeda to kill [[Barack Obama]] on the day of his inauguration, which sets off the first arc of the series.

* The [[Anti-Hero|pirates]] and the [[Anti-Villain|Imperial Guard]] of [[Dubious Company]] are forced into this after Izor's Amazing Plan gets screwed and throws everyone into an alternate dimension.

She joins my friends to hers, [[Band of Brothers|making a band]]

Of sunshine fire, to fight the truly cruel." }}

 

* In ''[[The Gamers Alliance]]'', [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|Kagetsu I]] begins working with the Grand Alliance against [[Complete Monster|Arawn Losstarot]] when the Alliance saves Kagetsu's wife Marya from Arawn's stronghold. Likewise a group of [[Religion of Evil|clerics of Mardük]] and [[Worthy Opponent|Samachi]] work with the Alliance against the [[The Legions of Hell|Northern Horde]] during the battle of Vanna despite their animosity which stems all the way from the Great War.

* In ''[[Survival of the Fittest]]'', Shameeca Mitchell and Heath Trennoby enlist the aid of [[Anti-Villain]] Bobby Jacks in order to mount a rescue from [[Jerkass|all around asshole]] Lenny Priestly. Admittedly Shameeca hadn't met Bobby before this point, but she was well aware that he was a killer.

{{quote|Master: You know, Doctor, I believe TV Tropes calls this situation "Enemy Mine". It seems we must join forces to face this common threat.

Doctor: -sigh- [[Yaoi Fangirl|The fangirls]] [[Foe Yay|are going to have a field day with this...]] }}

 

* In ''[[Transformers Generation 1]]'' it's not unusual to see the Autobots and Decepticons (or [[Expy|expies]] of them) joining forces to take on a greater threat. It just takes a greater threat to make them do it. Usually [[Planet Eater|Unicron]], but not always.

** In ''[[Transformers Animated]]'', during the second season finale, {{spoiler|the Autobots and Decepticons' latest battle is interrupted by Starscream and his clones. The Autobots and Decepticons end up fighting the same enemy, and at one point Optimus and Megatron have a [[Back-to-Back Badasses]] moment... only for Megatron to grab Optimus and use him as a living shield. The clones eventually turn on Starscream later, join Megatron, and everyone is back to square one.}}

** ''[[Transformers Armada]]'' is ''technically'' an anime, but whatever. In any case, its very ''title'' refers to the Autobot-Decepticon alliance formed in the final episodes to combat Unicron.

** ''[[Transformers Prime]]''. The Autobots temporarily team up with Megatron to stop Unicron from awakening.

** [[Wonder Woman]] and Hades against Felix Faust although this wasn't by choice. She was ordered to reinstate Hades by the Gods, and when she still had some reluctance, it ended when Hermes pointed out how Faust was indirectly harming Wonder Woman's magical friends by usurping Hades' post.

* In ''[[Code Lyoko]]'' episode "Marabounta", Jérémie's newest attempt to destroy XANA goes haywire and threatens to destroy Lyoko itself. XANA sends monsters to help the good guys destroy the threat. When the combined team is victorious, the heroes expect the monsters to immediately turn on them. Instead, the monsters bow and then leave without incident.

* In ''[[The Fairly OddParents]]'' "Wishology" trilogy, all of Timmy's friends and allies except for Mark are captured. Needing help, he recruits [[Ax Crazy|Vicky]], [[Evil Teacher|Crocker]], and [[Galactic Conqueror|Dark Laser]] to battle the Darkness. He needs to offer them something: 20 dollars, a look at his fairies, and an opportunity to destroy him when it's over, respectively.

* Happened several times on ''[[Gargoyles]]''. David Xanatos is such a [[Magnificent Bastard]] that the Manhattan Clan always suspected they were being used. Occasionally they were wrong.

** While not quite an ''enemy mine'' per se, they also had some help from Sideshow Bob in identifying the real culprit of Homer's kidnapping in "Wedding for Disaster" {{spoiler|it was Patty and Selma Bouvier, the latter of whom was ironically a former near-victim of Sideshow Bob.}}

* In ''[[Star Wars: The Clone Wars|Star Wars the Clone Wars]]'', as part of the Nightsister trilogy, Asajj Ventress is betrayed by Dooku. Seeking vengeance, she recruits none other than {{spoiler|Darth Maul's brother}}, Savage Opress, to infiltrate Dooku's inner circle as his new apprentice and ultimately assassinate him. However, in so doing, she forces him to kill his own brother as a demonstration of his loyalty and rage and then proceeds to treat him just as badly as Dooku treated her that Savage's loyalty to Ventress is only held together via brainwashing techniques and Savage's mutual hatred of Dooku, manifested after Dooku ceaselessly tortures him with force lightning.

** This finally results in the ultimate battle, in which Asajj and Savage finally team up to bring down Dooku. However, during the battle, Asajj callously makes it apparent that Savage is really just her pawn, causing him to furiously force choke Dooku ''and'' her, which in turn causes them to briefly ally against him before [[Chronic Backstabbing Disorder|turning on each other again]]. Then there's the fact that Anakin and Obi-Wan, the Jedi sent to pursue Savage following his brutal rampage on Devaron, and the Separatist Droid Army unwittingly aid each other in battling Savage following Ventress' escape from the battle. {{spoiler|His subsequent escape and quest to find his long-lost brother and former Sith apprentice Darth Maul to aid him in his quest for vengeance against Dooku, Ventress, the Jedi, etc., etc., etc., should prove to yield even more conflicting loyalties when those upcoming episode(s) finally air}}.

* In season two of ''[[The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes|Avengers Earths Mightiest Heroes]]'', the [[Legion of Doom|Masters of Evil]] were forced to team-up with the Avengers against the Enchantress and the Executioner, who were killing off the Masters one-by-one in a [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]].

 

* The proverb is of either ancient Arabic or Chinese origin, but the closest you're going to get to a [[Trope Namer]] is [[Niccolo Machiavelli]], who coined this principle: The neighbour is the natural enemy; hence the neighbour to the neighbour is the natural ally.

* This happened a lot during [[World War II]]:

*** There is evidence that at one point Germany offered to let the USSR join the Axis, but the USSR wanted too much in exchange (control of Finland, Turkey, and eventually the Persian Gulf). Plans to invade the USSR were drawn up soon after.

*** In ''Mein Kampf'' Hitler declares his intention to conquer USSR. It appears that the Soviet Union was the only place where it was read.

** Winston Churchill was a staunch anti-Communist, but he promised help to the Soviet Union immediately after Hitler attacked it. He once said, "If Hitler invaded Hell I would make at least a favorable reference to the devil in the House of Commons."

** Various people classified as sub-humans by the Nazis, such as Japanese, Chechens and Indians, teamed up with the Nazis against a common enemy (the Soviet Union for Chechens, Britain for Indians). Many slavonic people actually served in the Wehrmacht itself.

** Similarly, the alliance between militant feminists and the Christian Right in banning the wearing of burqas (as seen in France and Belgium). Militant feminists think burqas oppress women and restrict their rights while the Christian Right tend to cite "fundamentalism" creeping into society. Although burqas are banned in several explicitly Islamic nations already, so it's a bit more complicated than that, and burqa bans create an enemy mine on the other side of the fence: religious Muslims and political liberals (in the "small l" sense of "let people do what they want within reason."

** The list of things these two factions agree on gets longer: both have been critical of [[The New Rock and Roll|heavy rock music,]] have shown a liking for [[Moral Guardians|purging libraries]] of controversial books, both favor harsh 'law and order' stances against sex crimes, lean towards thinking that [[All Men Are Perverts]] whom it is woman's duty to [[Women Are Wiser|set on the straight and narrow]] and in extreme cases, fully believe that [[Sex Is Evil]].

* Islamic and Christian fundamentalists are generally opposed to each other, with the subscribing to opposing religions and all. However, creationist works and arguments critical of Darwinism tend to pass between both groups, as do tracts critical of homosexuality.

* The ongoing problem of piracy near the coast of Somalia has occasionally forced the naval forces of countries that would otherwise be enemies to invoke this trope by fighting together in skirmishes against the Somali pirates. A notable example of this was seen when the crew of the American USS ''James E. Williams'' fought alongside North Korean sailors to defeat pirates who had captured a North Korean cargo ship in late 2007.

** Similarly in 1824, [[John Quincy Adams]] and Henry Clay against [[Andrew Jackson]].

* Astonishingly common in US political history, compared to other countries. In fact, both main parties were this during a great deal of their history. To make things further complicated, there often have been alliances between members of opposite parties, which sometimes lead to political realignments. Indeed, both the Whig and the Republican parties were in large part formed by different interests that teamed up in opposition to the policies of the Democratic governments of the day.

* In 2006, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo tried to change the constitution to allow himself to contest for a third term in office the next year. This led to a feud with his Vice President (and heir-apparent) Atiku Abubakar. To stop the amendment, Atiku teamed up with opposition leader Muhamadu Buhari who was planning a presidential bid as well. They successfully kept Obasanjo out of the race, but their alliance fell apart soon after since neither would step aside for/endorse the other. Obasanjo's new hand-picked successor, Yar'Adua, won.

* In a more martial Nigerian example, imprisoned Niger Delta rebels like Isaac Boro were released by the government and admitted into the Federal Army to help thwart the Biafran secession. The Niger Deltans figured being minority ethnicities in a Nigeria with 3 mutually hostile major tribes was more palatable than being minority ethnicities in a Biafra with 1 very dominant tribe, the Ibo.

* The alliance between the Kingdom of France and the Sublime Ottoman Porte; it was one of the first major alliances between a Christian and a Muslim state, directed against the Habsburg Empire.

** And then again between Catholic France and Protestant Sweden during the [[Thirty Years' War]]; once again to limit the Habsburg power. Cardinal Richelieu practically invented realpolitik. Sweden also was for a short time allied with its [[Arch Enemy]] Denmark-Norway during the war...but then Denmark-Norway allied with the Habsburgs in the late part of the war.

** The sovereignty issue is a sticking point for many left-wing nationalists in Canada as well. The progressive Council of Canadians has found itself on the same side as right-wing border groups like the American Minutemen, both of whom see continental integration as a threat to their countries' sovereignty.

** Ron Paul and a number of Tea Partiers have also found common ground with the left-wing Occupy Wall Street, particularly over corporate welfare, Wall Street bailouts, foreign wars, and marijuana legalization.

* This trope is one of the reasons [[Drill Sergeant Nasty]] exists. Even if 40 people in a platoon can't agree on ANYTHING else, they can always unite around the fact that the sergeant's an ass.

* In street demonstrations against Israel, the crowd will often include fundamentalist Muslims, anarchists, neo-Nazis, and anti-Zionist Hassidic Jews who believe the Messiah must come before Jews return to Israel.

* [[Slayer]], bane of Religious Conservatives everywhere (at least in the 80's), released a ''pro-life song''.

* Another great example from history is the Catholics and the Protestants for teaming up against the Anabaptists. In the end the took back the city of Munster and then called it a day for their alliance and begin to promptly fight one another again.

* The pro-life movement includes numerous groups arguing from different angles, many of whom wouldn't usually agree with the religious conservatives traditionally associated with the movement. Staunch atheists, self-styled liberals, American Democrats and feminists of various kinds have all been known to team up with them.

* The Hangook peninsula has two oppressive dictatorships with poor records on human rights. Naturally ''everyone in the world except China'' helps the southern one because it's not trying to start World War 3.

 

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