Let's You and Him Fight: Difference between revisions

* The entire Soul Society arc of ''[[Bleach]]'' is a giant Let's You And Him Fight situation engineered by the [[Big Bad]] to keep both heroic parties busy while he was trying to get his hands on the [[MacGuffin]].

** In the Hueco Mundo arc, Kuchiki Byakuya and Zaraki Kenpachi are supposed to fight Espada Yammy, but end up being more interested in fighting each other. Of course, Yammy was going to have none of it, and Byakuya [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]] this trope.

* [[Villain Sue|Naraku]] from ''[[Inuyasha]]'' should have won an Oscar for the number of times he plotted his enemies (and allies) against each other. One particularly nasty example is when he told Sango that Inuyasha slaughtered everyone in her village, leading her to almost kill herself trying to get revenge. Another such instance is when Naraku lures both Koga and Inuyasha to his castle and sets them up to make Koga believe Inuyasha wiped out his clan, tricking them into a life-and-death battle; then sends in his subordinates to kill the survivor. Of course, in both cases, he had arranged the massacre himself.

* Subverted in ''[[Samurai Champloo]]''. In the first episode both Mugen and Jin get into separate fights with the samurai in the town they are wandering through. When the two cross paths, Mugen believes Jin is one of the samurai sent to kill him and immediately attacks. When Mugen learns that Jin actually killed the town's samurai, Mugen becomes even more excited at the prospect of fighting a tougher opponent. The entire show consists of Mugen and Jin trying to fulfill their obligation to Fuu so they can finally fight each other, and the series constantly hints that no matter how close Mugen and Jin grow in their quest, their eventual duel will be to the death. {{spoiler|Averted in the end when they decide not to, having come to like one another far too much.}}

** It's played straight during the first episode, where Suzaku attacks Lelouch because he thinks he's a terrorist (which was not yet the case).

* ''[[One Piece]]'' puts an interesting spin on this. In the Whiskey Peak arc, the crew had been proudly welcomed by the town, which was used by bounty hunters from Baroque Works to rob and/ or kill unsuspecting pirates while they slept. When the bounty hunters attack Zoro, he defeats them all. A chain of events are set up for the saga as he comes face to face with two agents of the aforementioned organization, Mr. 5 and Ms. Valentine. But [[Idiot Hero|Luffy]], after learning Zoro attacked the other Baroque Works agents and unaware they weren't as nice as they seemed, becomes enraged and attacks Zoro, who calmly tries to explain before Luffy attacks him anyway. The two of them fight while the agents continue to complete their mission, but after Luffy and Zoro keep attacking them while they fight, Mr. 5 and Ms. Valentine try to kill them themselves...

'''Mr. 5 and Ms. Valentine''': (''[[Oh Crap|expressing extreme shock]]'')<br />

'''Luffy and Zoro''': You're interfering... (''[[Combat Uninterruptus|punching the agents aside]]'') ...with our fight!! }}

* The [[DC Comics]] series ''[[Birds of Prey]]'' once [[Lampshade Hanging|hung a lampshade]] on the trope with novice a crime fighter who was styling herself as the new [[Batgirl]]. Using her teleporting powers she had been watching the heroes for a long time and knew not only that they were good guys, but also their names, secret identities and powers, and when they set up an ambush one evening to try and find out who has been masquerading as Batgirl (Something Oracle, the ''original'' Batgirl, does not take lightly) she could not have been happier. As they are fighting [[Casual Danger Dialogue|she happily converses with all the participants]] and explains that after they are done fighting they can all be good friends and teammates, because she had gained the impression that fighting at the first meeting was the traditional thing to do.

* [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] ''hard'' in an issue of ''[[The Flash]]'' where he and the Pied Piper almost come to blows while investigating the murders of some homeless people.

'''Piper:''' Let's cut to the part where we team up, okay? }}

* Rift does this in ''[[Milestone Comics|World's Collide]]'' to [[Superman]] and Icon, [[Lampshade Hanging|stating that the two similar characters had to fight because that's what they're supposed to do]]. They play along and pull their punches. Rift is [[Genre Savvy]] enough to realize this and forces them into real [[No-Holds-Barred Beatdown]] when he states the loser's universe would be destroyed.

* Some titles like ''[[The Hulk]]'' can usually pull these off repeatedly due to his unstable mental nature. One day he's a giant with the mind of Bruce Banner, the next an unthinking ball of green rage. Getting these fights to stop usually involves a [[Cooldown Hug]] and the inevitable [[Hulks Cooldown Hug Corollary]] to avoid a change in the [[Status Quo Is God|Status Quo]].

** Lampshaded in one instance by Hulk ''himself''. Granted he was in the middle of his "smart hulk" phase, but during the Marvel Knights sagas he runs into [[Ghost Rider]].

* In the first ''[[Spider-Man]]/[[Batman]]'', it's [[Averted Trope|averted]] in that Spider-Man turns out of be a huge Bat-fanboy, basically winning Batman over with ''sheer persistence''; the only resemblance of a fight was a punch by Batman and a Judo Throw by Spidey. By the second crossover, they basically shake hands and agree to team, with Spider-Man pointing out to a resistant Batman that they went through all of this the first time; they could either waste time fighting between themselves and approaching the case from different angles, or they could pool their resources from the start and work together. After a moment, Batman conceded the point.

* ''[[Sleepwalker]]'s'' lack of understanding about the human world and its heroes led him to end up fighting with [[Spider-Man]], Deathlok and [[Ghost Rider]] at different points in his short-lived series. Thankfully, both of the comic's regular readers were spared [[X-Men|Wolverine]] and [[The Punisher]] guest starring.

* ''[[Batman: No Man's Land|Batman No Mans Land]]'' has an amusing aversion. Bane manipulates several of the various Gotham gangs into thinking Two-Face has murdered several of their compatriots. Two of the gangs, the Street Demonz and the Eightballs, run into each other while out for revenge and ''immediately'' team up to stage an assault on Two-Face's headquarters. No argument, no tension, no Mexican Standoff, no nothing. Apparently, ''common street gangs'' are better at teamwork than most crime fighters in the DCU.

* Also subverted in ''[[Spider-Girl]]'', [http://asylums.insanejournal.com/scans_daily/774475.html#cutid1 when she runs into Araña] (Grown up version of the 616 Araña), who wants to fight her. May absolutely refuses, since she refuses to turn "the hero biz" into some sort of "who's stronger" contest and runs away. But Araña chases her and goads her into fighting. From the start of the sequence;

* Lampshaded in ''[[Exiles]]'' and played straight dozens of times.

* Lampshaded in ''[[Aztek|Aztek: The Ultimate Man]]''. When the [[Genre Savvy]] Aztek is confronted by an angry [[Green Lantern]] out for a fight, he simply swipes Kyle's [[Green Lantern Ring|Power Ring]] and then hands it straight back.

'''Kyle:''' Ring first, ''then'' friends. }}

* [[Deadpool]] once explained the ''real'' reason heroes do this: '''It's fun.'''

'''Deadpool''': BLASPHEMY! ''All'' fights are necessary! }}

* In the ''Soviet Super Soldiers'' oneshot, the Crimson Dynamo laments that "a prerequisite to every visit I make to the United States seems to be a completely gratuitous battle against people I don't even know."

* Lampshaded in The Spectacular Spiderman #13 where, before teaming up, Razorback attacks Spiderman because "Isn't that what superheroes do when they first meet?"

* In his first encounter with the [[Legion of Super-Heroes (comics)|Legion of Super-Heroes]], the clone Superboy mistakes them for villains. If you [[Wingdinglish|translate the Interlac]], Saturn Girl says "This must be the 20th century tradition of fighting then teaming-up I've heard about."

Also subverted in a different meeting of Superboy and a Legion team {{spoiler|turns out the mission team had been pretending to be average citizens and had insuated themselves into his life beforehand}} }}

* One issue of the ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (comics)|Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' comic, "Rogue Rouge", dedicates itself to setting up a surprisingly brutal fight between Bunnie Rabbot and Rouge the Bat. It is a [[Cat Fight]] with a generous amount of [[Fan Service]] and [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] at the end with a page of sheepish "boy, that was silly" dialogue.

* ''[[The Forbidden Kingdom]]''. It having ''[[Jet Li]] and [[Jackie Chan]] in the same movie first time ever!!'', of course they have to fight at first. This is achieved by having Jet Li's character first steal the [[MacGuffin]], taking Chan's character and the kid to be a couple of thieves.

* Hilariously averted in the first ''[[X-Men (film)|X Men]]'' film, where Cyclops demands that Wolverine prove that he isn't the [[Shape Shifter]] Mystique:

Wolverine: [[Something Only They Would Say|You're a dick]].<br />

Cyclops: (pause) Okay. }}

* ''[[Arthur, King of Time and Space]]'' [http://arthurkingoftimeandspace.com/0570.htm here], partly for the pun and {{spoiler|partly as part of a quick little [[Plan]] by Morgan}}.

* In [http://circusknights.smackjeeves.com Circus Knights], the school's protectors attack Domino because he's carrying an unconscious girl, and someone's been going around putting girls in comas. About twenty pages later, one of the protectors points out that the girl Domino is carrying [http://circusknights.smackjeeves.com/comics/233060/page-59/ "Has shown signs of Narcolepsy."]

* ''[[Girl Genius]]'' has done a variant on this... until ''just'' before the Big Impressive Fight started, {{spoiler|she ''[[Grand Theft Me|was]]'' the Big Bad.}}

** Also, it now is home to what may be the [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20081013 first ever] version of this trope intentionally enacted by both heroes.

* From the [[DCAU]]:

** In the [[Superman: The Animated Series]] and [[Batman: The Animated Series]] crossover, there is a scene where Superman meets Batman for the first time while he is in the process of crossing two lines: a) Don't threaten and/or beat up the mooks any more than is necessary and b) Don't do it on Superman's turf. Supes tries to get Batman to stand down. Batman throws Superman across the room. A second later, Superman has him pinned to the wall, commenting that he had heard he was crazy, but "I didn't think you were ''stupid''." Then Batman gets out the Kryptonite...

** The ''[[The Zeta Project|Zeta Project]]'' episode "Shadows" sets things up so that, in a spot of havoc by the rogue infiltration unit [[IU 7]], [[Batman Beyond|Batman]] becomes convinced that Zeta has returned to his old ways. Their encounter doesn't have the same visceral satisfaction of many other examples, as Zeta is barely even defending himself.

** [[Static Shock|Static]] is giving Batman a hand with a villain's time machine in the Batcave when he's flung 40 years into the future. [[Batman Beyond|The new Batman]], not recognizing him and reasonably considering him an intruder, tussles with him until the elderly Bruce Wayne breaks it up. He's been expecting this day, and he needs them both for a mission ...