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{{trope}}
{{quote|''"Nobody kills my'' ''[[Enemy Mine|wingman]]'' ''but me!"''|'''[[The Joker]]''', ''[[Batman:
One person or group considers another person or group as [[The Rival|their rival]], and will not allow anyone else to be the one to defeat them. This can sometimes lead to them [[Rivals Team Up|helping their rival]] [[Enemy Mine|against other enemies]], justifying it with [[I Was Just Passing Through|a lame excuse]], to make sure that they survive until the final battle between the rivals. Sometimes, this trope can become the basis of a [[Heel Face Turn]]. It also frequently leads to [[Not So Different]] and [[Antagonist in Mourning]].
This is also the one-sided obsession of the [[Unknown Rival]]. It's also a big no-no on the [[Evil Overlord List]] (see [[Evil Overlord List Cellblock A|#
Can lead into [[Foe Yay]] if this excuse is used too much; and opportunities to defeat the rival are not taken.
Compare [[Only I Can Kill Him]], for where the character in question really is the only one who can defeat the rival. Also compare [[Leave Him to Me]], [[Hypocritical Heartwarming]].
{{examples}}
* Inverted by Stain in ''[[My Hero Academia]]'' who is okay with being killed by All Might, but isn't okay with being killed by anyone else.
▲== Anime & Manga ==
* [[Black Butler]], especially season 2; Sebastian contractually owns Ciel's soul & literally kills anyone who tries to kill Ciel before he can, even other demons. In the anime he actually does try to murder Ciel.
* ''[[
▲* [[Black Butler]], especially season 2; Sebastian contractually owns Ciel's soul & literally kills anyone who tries to kill Ciel before he can, even other demons. In the anime he actually does try to murder Ciel.
▲* ''[[Gintama (Manga)|Gintama]]'' - Kamui [[In Love With Your Carnage|gets excited]] watching Gintoki fight Hosen. He declares Gintoki is his (prey) and that he won't allow anyone else to touch him. He even leaves Yoshiwara alone so that nobody will come after Gintoki, and to a lesser extent Kagura.
* Goemon and Lupin from ''[[Lupin III]]'' is an archetypal example of the [[Heel Face Turn]] variant of this trope in Anime. In addition, Detective Zenigata and Lupin are another example from the same series.
* Nagi and Ryoko in the 1st ''[[Tenchi Muyo!]]'' TV series. {{spoiler|Nagi joins in the heroes' effort to save Jurai from the usurper Kagato, just to make sure nobody else gets a chance to kill Ryoko.}}
* Kougaiji's group and the Sanzo Party in ''[[Saiyuki]]''.
** Until they became allies & focused on the common enemy.
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* Suzuka and Gene Starwind in ''[[Outlaw Star]]'' (The [[Heel Face Turn]] variant again, and probably a [[Homage]] to ''[[Lupin III]]'').
* Suzu and Tetsunosuke in ''[[Peacemaker Kurogane]]'' (though Suzu later feels this much more than Tetsunosuke).
* [[Ranma
* Rau Le Cruset in [[Gundam Seed]] believes he is the only one who can kill... [[Dark Messiah|everything]]. Especially Kira.
* Jin and Mugen, mutually, in ''[[Samurai Champloo]]''.
** Becomes the main theme throughout "[[Samurai Champloo]]", especially with the main characters: [[Red Oni, Blue Oni|Jin and Mugen]] each live this trope in their [[Friendly Enemy|friendship]] and ardently believes that they are only ones to kill each other. This also is ''the only thing'' that keeps them with Fuu throughout the show as they promised her that they would not kill each other until they help her find "the samurai that smells of sunflowers". Additionally Fuu spends the entire show trying to find the samurai who smells of sunflowers {{spoiler|so that she can exact her revenge against him for abandoning her and her mother when Fuu was little. She is robbed of this pleasure when she finds him dying in the last episode.}}
** Also, the secondary and tertiary characters follow this trope with many of Jin's former dojo partners hunting him down {{spoiler|so they can exact their revenge against him for killing their master}}, all while believing that none should rob them of the opportunity to do so. Mugen too was betrayed by {{spoiler|his friend}} in the past and thus thought that he would be the only one to kill him too. Sheesh, this show must believe that revenge is a dish best served by yourself.
*** Created an interesting situation in which {{spoiler|one of Mugen's old partners shows up and subsequently betrays Mugen, seemingly killing him. Jin proceeds to kill him for killing the man he was supposed to defeat, but when Mugen shows up alive, he is extremely angry at Jin for killing the other man he thought only he was allowed to kill.}}
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* Oogami Souma and Tsubasa in ''[[Kannazuki no Miko]]''. In an odd, twisted way, also Himemiya Chikane and Kurusugawa Himeko.
* Hydra and Warukyure (Valkyrie) in ''[[UFO Princess Valkyrie]]''.
* Sakurazuka Seiishirou (Sakurazukamori) and Sumeragi Subaru in ''[[X
* Seto Kaiba and Yugi Muto, or rather "the other Yugi", in ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]''. In Season 4 of the anime, Yugi loses to [[The Dragon]]. When Kaiba hears this, he throws what can only be described as a "temper tantrum".
** [[Bigger Bad|Bakura]] also, as he wants Yugi's Millennium Puzzle and thus will allow no one else to claim it before he does.
** Yugi Muto and the pharaoh, actually, when it comes time for the Ceremonial Duel. Even in the anime when Kaiba strangles Yugi, Yugi refuses to let anyone else fight his other half. {{spoiler|And then [[Badass Normal|Yugi totally wins.]]}}
* Goku and Vegeta in ''[[
** And what about Piccolo in the last two arcs of Dragonball (pre-Z). The last arc especially.
** In one of the non-canonical movies, Vegeta hilariously shouts ''"Kakarotto wa '''ore no mono da!!'''"'' ("Kakarot is ''mine!''") when Android 13 is beating his rival to death, and charges in to protect Goku. Obviously in context it's something like "he's ''my'' prey, screw off," but it was all too easy for [[Yaoi Fangirl
*** Likewise (but without the [[Ho Yay]] potential), when the main series, Goku (weakened by disease) is being trounced by Android 19, Vegeta comes to his rescue. He then informs 19 that "Nobody kills Kakarot while I'm around! Destiny has reserved that pleasure for me!"
* In the second season of ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'', the protagonists and antagonists both constantly forsake team combat and outside intervention in favor of fighting the same opponent they faced in the first episode one-on-one. This most notably produces the Fate/Signum rivalry, for which the [[Heel Face Turn]], [[Not So Different]], and [[Antagonist in Mourning]] options are all realized.
* Iscariot is this to ''[[Hellsing]]'', to such an extent that Anderson's squad of [[Church Militant
** Well, that is because of this trope ''and'' the fact that Iscariot is a rival vampire-killing organization anyway.
* In ''[[
** Based on the final fight between {{spoiler|Justice and Afro}} it would seem in reality that the only one who should've been allowed challenge the Number 2 was {{spoiler|the Number 3, Number 10 being the one anyone and everyone could challenge. Given the other 8 headbands had been lost/collected by Justice and nobody knows about them Afro}} is the one left dealing with the irritating hoards of wannabes.
* Suzuhara Misaki in ''[[Angelic Layer]]'' has Hatoko, and in the anime, Oujirou and Shuu have the same relationship.
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** Loly pulls out the stops for this one. She wants to kill Orihime twice, but when Orihime's threatened by Yammy, even though Loly clearly stands no chance, she calls on her released form to defend the human.
* In ''[[Kikaider]]'', Hakaider/Saburo's main objective is to destroy the titular android. He resolves the existential crisis of that being his only reason to exist by destroying any other [[Monster of the Week]] that comes close to killing Kikaider, while pushing him to his limits so he can get his money's worth out of his goal when the time comes.
* Kyuzo embodies this trope with regards to Kambei in ''[[
* Variant: ''[[Golgo 13]]'' makes a point of not allowing anyone else to kill his target when hired for an assassination. Not even themselves. When they die, it must be by his hand.
* ''[[Inuyasha]]'': When Sesshoumaru's first introduced to the story, the implication is that the two brothers had a [[Sibling Rivalry]] but mostly just tried to ignore the other existed. This turns into a [[Cain and Abel]] situation after Inuyasha is given claim to the sword Sesshoumaru had spent years searching for eventually culminating in Sesshoumaru stating that the only one allowed to defeat Inuyasha is him. From that point on, it becomes more and more obvious the excuses to avoid actually killing Inuyasha are starting to creep in, especially when he begins adding [[I Was Just Passing Through]] to his repetoire as well.
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* In ''[[Rozen Maiden|Rozen Maiden Träumend]]'', the first season's [[Big Bad]] Suigintou gives an entire speech about how she will be the one to ultimately defeat Shinku {{spoiler|while taking a fatal barrage of crystal arrows, shielding Shinku from harm and dying in her arms}}.
* Pixy Misa in ''[[Pretty Sammy|Magical Project S]]'' often talks about how she will be the one to defeat Pretty Sammy and nobody else.
* Kyouko, the main character of the manga ''[[Skip Beat
* This is pretty much Aptom's raison d'etre in ''[[Guyver]]'', his sole goal in life is to defeat Sho in combat.
* Until their promotion in ''[[Pokémon (
** Also, if you think about the movies, Team Rocket often helps out Ash and company because, as Meowth put it in the dub of the third movie, "[[Genre Savvy|If anything ever happened to you, we'd be out of show biz!]]"
* Rather explicitly used in ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]'' with Vicious and Spike, with Vicious even telling Spike in the final episode: "I've told you before that I am the only one who can kill you." Unlike most examples of this trope though, Vicious never rescues Spike from any other opponents who might be able to off him. This line weirdly seems to imply Spike ''can't'' be killed by anyone else.
* Atobe Keigo's attitude towards Tezuka Kunimitsu in ''[[The Prince of Tennis]]''. In the manga it's more like the most prominent of several rivalries that Atobe has with several players (Sanada and Echizen are the other two), while the anime (and the fandom) exaggerates it to the point of almost stalkerish obsession.
* ''[[The Lucifer and Biscuit Hammer]]'': "Princess" Sami is determined to save Earth from a mage bent on cracking it open with a gigantic hammer... so that ''she'' can destroy it herself!
* In ''[[Baccano
** He gives a similar response to [[Talkative Loon|Graham Spectre]], stating, "I like brazen, impudent guys that only I can kill." Graham may as well have [[Ho Yay|taken it for a love confession]].
* Yajirou towards The Jester in ''[[Grenadier]]'' after he finds out who he really is.
* [[Hilarity Ensues|Hilariously]] [[Subverted Trope|subverted]] in ''[[Clannad (
{{quote|
'''Tomoyo:''' "Exactly. See you." (begins to walk away)
'''Youhei:''' "No! You're supposed to say, 'I don't want to see you lose to anyone other than me.'" }}
* In ''[[Battle B-daman]]'', [[Anti-Hero]] Enjyu is obsessed with defeating [[The Hero]] Yamato Delgato and ends up secretly helping the main gang because doing otherwise would let [[Big Bad]] Marda-B defeat Yamato.
* Yami from ''[[To
** Or it is because, as Yami justifies it, so that she can stay on Earth since she likes it there.
* [[Large Ham|Graham]] [[Hot-Blooded|Aker]] of ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 00]]'' believes that he's the only one allowed to defeat Setsuna F. Seiei (or more to the point, Setsuna's Gundam). Setsuna has more important things to do.
** In the side stories, this trope is how [[Psycho for Hire|Fon Spaak]]'s relationship with Celestial Being begins. In 00P, he manages put together some clues and begins to suspect the existence of some sort of secret organization. He then organizes an ambush and has his ass promptly handed to him a Gundam, but Celestial Being's supercomputer orders the pilot to let Fon go, because he's too good to just kill off and won't leak the information anyway because... well, see the page title.
* Hermit to Kenichi in ''[[Kenichi:
* ''[[Kiddy Grade]]'': Un-ou to Éclair.
* From ''[[Liar Game]]'', it appears that Yokoya is heading towards this path in regards to both Nao and Akiyama. At first, it seemed that he only wanted to crush Nao in an attempt to defeat Akiyama. But after the Pandemic Game, he's got his sights set on defeating Nao as well.
* Suzaku is this to Zero (and, indeed, whoever he feels is "wrong") in ''[[Code Geass]]'', though somewhat subverted in that he does not go out of his way to protect them from others who decide to take the opportunity. He will complain, but that's about it.
** This is pretty much his role in {{spoiler|Zero Requiem}}.
* The jury is still out, but this may have been {{spoiler|Trafalgar Law's}} motivation for saving Luffy in ''[[One Piece]]'' due to him ''frequently'' denying considering Luffy a friend.
** He says he considers Luffy a [[Worthy Opponent]] and thinks it would be "lame" for Luffy to die prematurely.
* ''[[Monster (
* ''[[The Tower of Druaga (
* Chapter 290, as well as chapters 310+ of ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' shows that Fate really just wants to fight and defeat Negi. [[Foe Yay|Above all else.]]
** He takes it up a level in chapter 314, to the point of {{spoiler|attacking one of his "brothers" about to finish off one of Negi's students}}.
* A really weird inverted example in ''[[
* Hayato and Kaga in ''[[
* In the anime version of [[
* Arguably, both played straight and somewhat averted in ''[[Black Cat (
* ''[[Medaka Box]]'': Pretty much invoked word for word by all of Medaka's former enemies, including the Plus in support for her against {{spoiler|Kumagawa}}.
* In ''[[Fate
* In chapter 213 of ''[[D
== Comic Books ==
* When [[Superman]] was killed by Doomsday, [[Lex Luthor]] (disguised as his own son; long story) starts attacking the corpse of Superman-killer Doomsday in a rage with a chair. The people present assume it's because he's angry at Superman's murderer. He is, but not for the reasons they think.
** He reacted the same way (and for the same reason) when he thought the Silver Banshee had successfully killed Superman.
** The film adaptation of the Doomsday storyline, ''[[Superman: Doomsday]]'', has a similar reaction from Lex. He's pretty ticked off that an "intergalactic soccer hooligan" robbed him of the chance to defeat Superman with some sort of brilliant gambit. Of course, Lex was responsible for releasing said hooligan, but even then he can't take credit because Mercy Graves destroyed the evidence. {{spoiler|So he kills Mercy instead.}}
** One more for the road: Early on in [[Post-Crisis]] history, Superman's first battle with the Kryptonite-powered Metallo went badly for the Man of Steel. Just as the villain was about to finish him, Lex's agents arrived and took Metallo away. In ''Superman Villains Secret Files'', Lex explained the issue to his infant daughter with "Well, I couldn't allow a fool like Corben to enjoy the killing blow, could I?"
* In ''[[Doctor Strange]]'', Dormammu is so obsessed with destroying Strange himself that he practically gave up [[A God Am I|godhood]] just to fight him. What's more, he has fought Strange hand-to-hand, [[Just Shoot Him|rather than obliterating him with his superior power]] and subsequently lost in an attempt to feed his ego. He has probably done a veritable list of stupid deeds purely to spite his nemesis.
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** Before the New 52 reboot, Joker had taken it upon himself to kill anyone who tried to kill Batman; only he can kill Batman & only Batman can kill him. Nothing more romantic than double homicide & hate is just another kind of love.
* Averted with tragicomic results in a Marvel ''What If?'' where [[The Punisher]] killed [[Spider-Man]] during their first meeting. Instead of being pissed, his rogue's gallery threw a party, with the Punisher as the guest of honor. Unfortunately for them, they've misunderstood the Punisher's motives, and he takes the opportunity to mow them all down.
* Megatron uses this trope to his advantage in the ''[[Transformers: Shattered Glass]]'' comics. He knows full well that an Autobot would never kill him out of fear of what Optimus would do to them later for destroying Megatron before he got the chance. They're even afraid to tell Optimus that Megatron MIGHT be dead. For those unfamiliar with ''[[Transformers: Shattered Glass|Shattered Glass]]'', it's a universe where the Autobots are evil conquerors and the Decepticons are heroic freedom fighters.
* This is something of an inversion of their relationship in the [[Marvel]] ''[[The Transformers (
* Daken has this with his [[Wolverine|father]], he fought [[Deadpool]] when it seemed he was about to kill Logan. Of course Wolverine set the whole thing up.
* [[Incredible Hulk
** The Leader has this for the Hulk as well. He even got a bit depressed when he found out Hulk was shot into space.
* Betty and Veronica would ''clearly'' rather [[Archie]] choose the other, rather than [[Third Option Love Interest|Cheryl Blossom]].
* [[Doctor Doom]] is perfectly willing to save [[The Fantastic Four]] from certain death at the hands of anyone else, just so that he can kill them himself later. However, he only cares about this if [[Arch Enemy|Reed Richards]] is with them — if only the other three are in danger, he couldn't care less.
* This is Dr. Eggman's attitude toward Sonic in ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (
== Film ==
* In ''[[Once Upon a Time
* In ''[[
* In ''[[Dark Knight Trilogy|The Dark Knight]]'', just after Batman has saved the Joker.
{{quote|
* ''[[X-Men (
* In the aftermath of the climatic battle at the end of ''[[Gangs of New York]]'', {{spoiler|Bill the Butcher is mortally wounded by shrapnel from a random cannon blast. Amsterdam is furious that he wasn't able to kill Bill himself and properly avenge his father.}}
* In ''[[Enemy
* ''[[Transformers Film Series|Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen]]'', Optimus Prime is the only one capable of killing The Fallen.
** ''Dark of the Moon'': {{spoiler|Megatron blasts [[Face Heel Turn|Sentinel]] [[Fallen Hero|Prime]] just when he's about to finish off Optimus}}.
* ''[[The Road Warrior]]''. Wez decides Max is his target. "No, no, he's ''mine''."
* Luke and Vader in ''[[Star Wars]]''. Yoda even says "You must confront Vader."
* In ''Circus'', Moose is told by his boss that Leo is responsible for killing his mistress. He tracks down Leo, finds him being threatend by a pair of [[Loan Shark
== Literature ==
* [[Harry Potter]] was, in fact, ''prophesied'' to be the only one to defeat Voldemort; it was a [[Self-Fulfilling Prophecy]], since Voldemort's preemptive strike gave Harry both means and motive.
** Voldemort, however, ''was not'', so his adamant intention to kill the boy personally was [[Idiot Ball|completely ungrounded]] and in the end became his undoing.
** Subverted when Harry returns to Hogwarts in ''Deathly Hallows'' when he invokes something like this - Neville points out that while Harry was off chasing Horcruxes, he'd been fairly effectively leading the resistance in his absence and Luna points out that she'd worked out how to find the penultimate Horcrus before Harry (or even Hermione) had.
* In ''The [[Wheel of Time]]'', Black Sister Elza Penfell destroys one of her superiors (though she is unaware that he is her superior because he is in disguise) who is trying to kill Rand al'Thor, because she believes Rand must stay alive long enough to face (and be destroyed by) the [[Big Bad|Dark One]].
* In one of the ''[[
* Sandor Clegane in ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'' gets particularly irritated when anyone apart from him expresses an interest in killing [[Cain and Abel|his brother]], the pathologically nasty Gregor Clegane, who permanently disfigured Sandor in his youth. As Littlefinger explains to Ned, "Gregor was ''his'' to loathe, not yours to kill."
* In ''[[Stardust (
* Inverted: In Charles Stross' ''[[The Laundry Series|The Jennifer Morgue]]'' {{spoiler|a villain sets up a geas making him vulnerable to only one hero, one who suffers under the handicap of being (in the novel's universe) fictional}}.
* Pretty much [[Stationery Voyagers|Cybomec]]'s attitude about some random Yehtzig nearly snuffing Neone. Cue the [[Gory Discretion Shot]] when he uses his new Preamble body powers to [[Heroes (TV series)|pull a Sylar]] on the Yehtzig.
** Alhox is involuntarily the only one who can ''fight'' Melchar. Let alone defeat him. Everyone else just kinda gets instantly humiliated by Melchar's black magic.
* In [[Dan Abnett]]'s ''[[
** Also, in Ghostmaker, Rawne and Gaunt team up to survive the blizzard and the Ork assault. Despite Rawne hating Gaunt's guts, he helps Gaunt and himself partly for this reason. (The other part was [[I Owe You My Life]] [[Honor Before Reason|Whether I Like It Or Not]].)
* In Greg Rucka's second ''[[Perfect Dark]]'' novel, the Big Bag does this in concern to Joanna Dark, the hero. Joanna points out that she herself is ill, mainly because of a barely-healed gunshot wound to the stomach. The Big Bad pulls a gun, reverses and blam. Now both have a gunshot wound to the stomach. Now nobody can say the fight was unequal.
* Agrus Kos from the Ravnica Block ''[[Magic:
* In the epic ''[[Mahabharata]]'', Karna after [[The Reveal]] vows to his mother that either he will kill his half-sibling and eternal rival, Arjuna or he would be killed by him. For Karna, Arjuna is the only one allowed to defeat him.
* Happens all the time between Canim and Alerans in ''[[Codex Alera]]''. In Canim culture, a respected enemy is considered more valuable than a friend. Many times in the fourth and fifth books, if certain situations were taking place entirely between humans or even if the roles of humans and Canim were reversed, characters would justify their actions to rivals or authority figures by calling an Aleran a friend or ally who needs their help. Since they're Canim or talking to Canim, though, they go to great lengths to make it clear that they don't like helping the Aleran, but neither another rival nor the [[Big Bad]] can be allowed to kill them, so...
* ''[[Redwall]]'''s Marlfoxes are a [[Big Screwed-Up Family]] with no problems killing each other off at the drop of a hat. However, they have a strict "blood for blood" rule if an outsider kills one of them, and they will enthusiastically enforce this rule.
* When the Phoners in Stephen King's ''[[Cell]]'' tell you not to touch one of their enemies, they mean that if you kill one of them, they'll make an example of you
== Live-Action TV ==
* [[Triple H]] and [[Chris Benoit]] in [[WWE]], during their World Championship feud. This reached a point where, when [[Randy Orton]], [[Triple H]]'s protege, defeated Benoit for the title, [[Triple H]] turned on Orton out of jealousy.▼
** This trope applied to [[Dwayne Johnson|The Rock]] and [[Stone Cold Steve Austin]] at Backlash 2000, where longtime [[The Rival|rival]] of the Rock helped Rocky beat HHH for the WWF title so that HHH couldn't beat him.▼
* The Master from ''[[Doctor Who]]'', despite often trying to kill the Doctor, agrees to try and save his life in "The Five Doctors", because (in his words) "the cosmos without the Doctor scarcely bears thinking about."
** This is actually a recurring trait with them. During Trial of the Time Lord, the Master actually flat out says he'll help defeat the Valeyard because he wanted to defeat the Doctor himself. Even in the End of Time, the Master, sacrifices himself to save the Doctor from the Time Lords. Add in the epic amounts of ''[[Foe Yay]]'' between these two, and it might just be that all the Master wants is to "keep" the Doctor all for himself, which he actually does in Sound of the Drums/Last of the Time Lords!
* Inversion: Lindsey in ''[[
** This is a common [[Joss Whedon]] technique: a character may ''think'' that only one person is able to defeat them, but Joss delights in pointing out that unless they're supernaturally powerful (and sometimes not even then), they die just the same from one gun as another.
* In ''[[Kamen Rider Black]]'' villain Birugenia decides that he will be the one to defeat Kamen Rider and constantly gets in the way of his allies plans when it seems possible they might actually defeat Kamen Rider.
** In ''[[Kamen Rider Decade]]'', Kaito refers to this trope by name in the last episode, expressing his feelings towards Tsukasa's decision to go and fight Apollo Geist, and something [[Ho Yay|a little more]] [[Alternate Character Interpretation|if you see him as such]].
* A version of this shows up in the ''[[Babylon
* In ''[[
* In an interview with William Campbell, the actor who played the Klingon Koloth on the ''[[Star Trek]]'' episode "The Trouble with Tribbles", Campbell revealed that the original plan was to make Koloth a recurring villain, sort of the Klingons' opposite number to Kirk. He saw Koloth as someone who respected Kirk as an adversary, and would even protect Kirk from other assailants on occasion, explaining that "No one can kill you but me."
* Lucifer has this view about Michael in ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]''. Going so far as to {{spoiler|blow up Castiel for throwing a Molotov Cocktail of holy fire.}}
* This is Patrick Jane's attitude about Red John in ''[[The Mentalist]]'', but not to the point of helping him out of other scrapes.
* ''[[Spartacus: Blood and Sand]]'': Crixus expressed this sentiment towards Spartacus during and after the Segovax incident.
== Professional Wrestling ==
▲* [[Triple H]] and [[Chris Benoit]] in [[World Wrestling Entertainment|WWE]], during their World Championship feud. This reached a point where, when [[Randy Orton]], [[Triple H]]'s protege, defeated Benoit for the title, [[Triple H]] turned on Orton out of jealousy.
▲
== Video Games ==
* Alexander and Zetta in ''[[Makai Kingdom]]''
* Jin Uzuki and Margulis in the ''[[
** Also, Jr. and Albedo - this is stated explicitly in the second game
* Bass is actually a playable character in a few ''[[Mega Man (
* Inversion from the ''[[Suikoden]]'' series: Clive, Kelley, and Elza started as [[Two Guys and
* Scorpion wants to kill Sub-Zero in ''[[Mortal Kombat]]'', to pay him back for killing him (as illustrated in ''Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero''). At the end of the first Mortal Kombat, he succeeds. Then after discovering that Sub-Zero had a younger brother, Scorpion then subverted this to some extent by vowing to be the younger Sub-Zero's guardian as an act of penance for killing his brother. Quan-Chi then reverts it back to normal for ''[[
* In ''[[Star Fox (
** ''Starfox Command'' explains this a little better. Because they flew under Andross's colors in other games, Wolf and his teammates have had a bounty placed on their heads by Corneria. And since Starfox used to do mercenary work for the Cornerian army, Wolf can't really be blamed for being a little bit defensive whenever Fox and his team shows up, even if they 'should' be working together against the Big Bad. This doesn't make it any less corny when the big ''[[Enemy Mine]]'' moment actually happens.
* Heather in ''[[Silent Hill 3]]'', when {{spoiler|Claudia eats the baby God fetus, and proceeds to give birth to it (seriously, how does that work?). Shortly afterwords, the God presumably killed Claudia, as she was pulled down the hole at over 300 mph. Heather then proceeds to state, "No! You can't die! I wanted to kill you!"}}
* A variant of this is used in two of the Mario games. In ''[[
* In ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'', Liquid was the only one allowed to kill his father, but Snake had already killed the old man twice. This makes Liquid seriously pissed, and he take up his father's mantle of destroying the world to prove himself better than his father once and for all. And to kill Snake in revenge. Those two goals go hand in hand.
** Ocelot and Naked Snake in ''[[Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater]]''. Especially noticeable when Snake chose to jump off the waterfall rather than get shot by Ocelot. A ''[[Slow Motion Fall]]'' scene occurred, while Ocelot ran in slow motion towards Snake while calling his name. Right after, Ocelot whispered, "Don't die on me yet."
*** Yeah. He got over that fast. Especially since he ends up joining Big Boss {{spoiler|after Major Zero brings them all together}} and in ''[[Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots]]'' Big Momma says that {{spoiler|Ocelot was fighting for Big Boss.}} Kind of a [[Heel Face Turn]] right there. From wanting to kill him to following him around.
*** This ended up being one of those cases where the [[Ho Yay]] actually became canon. That's right, {{spoiler|Ocelot fell in love with Big Boss.}}
* Regulus takes this to the extreme in ''[[
* In the first ''[[Samurai Warriors]]'' game, the wife of [[Oda Nobunaga]] cites this as the reason for being at his side (historically, there had been suspicions that she was married to Nobunaga so she'd assassinate him), but in both of her endings she seems to have more or less given up on the idea of actually killing him (except to threaten it every once in a while halfheartedly as a very kinky form of foreplay). In later games she's pretty much head over heels in love with him from the get go, though still very much a sadist.
* The rivalry between Kyo Kusanagi and Iori Yagami in ''[[The King of Fighters]]'' is this from Iori's point of view.
* In ''[[Super Robot Wars Original Generation]]'' {{spoiler|Zengar's Grungust Type-3 has just been pretty well demolished by one of the Inspectors, when who should show up but Wodan Ymir, Zengar's doppelganger from a different dimension. Everyone thinks he's here to finish Zengar off...and instead he attacks the Inspector. A few minutes later, when Zengar gets into the Daizengar, only to find none of its weapons work, Wodan once again makes the save by throwing him the Type-3 Zankantou. His whole reason for doing this, as he points out, is that ''he'' will be the one to defeat Zengar, so that he can stop being one of the Shadow Mirrors' soulless puppets and finally be his true self.}}
* Frog to Magus in ''[[
* In ''[[Ryu ga Gotoku|Yakuza]]'', one of Goro Majima's henchmen attempts to kill Kazuma Kiryuu with a dagger while his back is turned. Majima throws himself in front of the blade, taking a ''near-fatal stab wound to the gut'' rather than risk Kiryuu dying at anyone's hands but his own.
* [[
** Also, in the mission where you have to rescue Lucky:
{{quote|
* In ''[[
* ''[[
** Their battle didn't end just there, either. Their battle has carried on to a [[Advent Children|sequel movie]], a [[Kingdom Hearts|crossover game]], the [[Kingdom Hearts II
** Sephiroth has specifically stated Cloud is the "only one" who can destroy him. In every appearance he has had, he has been fought by [[Kingdom Hearts|Sora]], [[Dissidia Final Fantasy|The Warrior of Light]], [[Final Fantasy II
* ''[[Fate/stay
* ''[[
** Kokonoe is an even worse version. She had to be the one to frag Terumi, no one else. Even if she had to use nukes.
* The 8-Bit version of ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog 2]]'', sees Dr. Robotnik catch Sonic the instant before he falls into a lava pit only to drop him into an adjacent, much less deadly self-devised trap. Can be seen at 1:50 [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvKZOZv7iDI here.]
Line 222 ⟶ 218:
* Applies to Fayt and Albel of ''[[Star Ocean 3]]'' as Albel saves Fayt's ass on one occasion because "You worms…are…my prey… I’m not going to let…anyone else have you…".
* Lili towards Asuka in [[Tekken]]. She even jumps on a certain android attacking Asuka and screams "I'm the only person allowed to defeat you!" Keep in mind this android has ''chainsaws'' for arms, and previously cut a limo in half while chasing them; lengthways. Therefore could have easily killed Lili. Any wonder why this is a budding [[Crack Pairing|Crack Pairing?]]
* Bastion, the hero of [[Vanguard Bandits]] is the only one who can land the killing blow on the [[Final Boss
* Aveline says this regarding Isabela in [[Dragon Age II]] at the end of Act II, {{spoiler|when the Arishok states that they'll only leave Kirkwall with both Isabela and the Tome she stole from them}}.
* Raz in [[
* In ''[[Ratchet and Clank: All 4 One]]'' when you play as Qwark and Dr. Nefarious, if Qwark is killed, Nefarious will yell, "No one kills Qwark but me!" Also, {{spoiler|Nefarious saves Qwark from being possessed by the [[Big Bad]] towards the end of the game.}}
== Web Comics ==
* In ''[[Antihero for Hire]]'', Wizard to Dechs, Dechs to Hector.
* Seen [https://web.archive.org/web/20100811082534/http://www.dominic-deegan.com/view.php?date=2003-08-01 here] in ''[[Dominic Deegan]]: Oracle For Hire'', but [[Subverted Trope|subverted]] over the [https://web.archive.org/web/20100811081403/http://www.dominic-deegan.com/view.php?date=2003-08-02 next] [https://web.archive.org/web/20100811075840/http://www.dominic-deegan.com/view.php?date=2003-08-04 three] [https://web.archive.org/web/20130511023925/http://www.dominic-deegan.com/view.php?date=2003-08-05 strips], which make it clear that Jacob's motives for killing the Chosen were [[Batman Gambit|purely selfish.]]
* In ''[[Adventurers
* In ''[[The Order of the Stick
** Also [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] When [[The Rival|Crystal]] is more than willing to let Haley go so that she can take another level of Assassin from all the free XP she gets in order to be at exactly the same level as Haley whenever they meet.
** Elan's father Tarquin inverts this. Elan is the only one he will allow to defeat
** Speaking of Nale, his girlfriend Sabine won't let anyone except her kill Haley, and gets extremely mad at him when he (posing as Elan), seduces Haley with the intent to kill her. Notably, being a succubus, Sabine is more upset about the attempted murder than the seduction, and is only placated when Nale ensures her that he was only going to capture Haley so they could "romantically" kill her together.
* ''[[Narbonic]]'': When Helen hears that the Dave Conspiracy has hired Mell to kill Dr. Narbon, she exclaims, "I don't care if they ''are'' a powerful top-secret conspiracy! No one takes out a hit on my mother! Her head is ''mine'', darn it!"
* Parodied in ''[[Looking for Group]]'' when Benny heals the mortally wounded man who killed her lover, just long enough to smash his head with a mace.
* In ''[[Brawl in
* ''[[Last
{{quote|
* Taken to an extreme in ''[[Spacetrawler]]'': Growp won't allow anyone else to kill Emily. So when his teammates fire at Emily, he shields her from the energy blasts--[[Taking the Bullet|with his own body]].
* In [[Goblins]], Dellyn knows Thaco has some sort of trickery planned when Thaco challenges him to a duel, but still accepts when Thaco points out that [[Batman Gambit|Dellyn would rather kill Thaco personally than let one of his men do it for him]].
== Web Original ==
* In a recent fight between [[Psycho Lesbian|Laeil Burbank]] and [[Evil Redheads|Melina Frost]] in ''[[Survival of the Fittest]]'', Madison Conner suddenly appears and attacks Laeil to keep her from killing Melina before she can. Laeil also swears to be the only one to kill Melina, as well as kill anyone who tries to beat her to it. {{spoiler|She fails on both accounts as Melina and her killer [[Mutual Kill|kill each other]]. [[Villainous Breakdown|She doesn't take it well.]]}}
* Near the end of ''[[I'm a Marvel And
{{quote|
'''Green Goblin''': The hell it wasn't! You threatened to wipe out Spider-Man and everything he stands for! That's ''my'' job! }}
* At the end of Season 2 of [[Stupid Mario Brothers]] it is Wario's reason for {{spoiler|killing Nox Decious}}
* On [[
== Western Animation ==
* ''[[Kim Possible]]'': Shego's only mildly annoyed (by her standards, anyway) when she gets imprisoned by Drakken's new alien sidekick. But when she realizes that the new girl has a chance of beating Kim, ''that'' pisses her off enough to break free and put a stop to it.
{{quote|
* ''[[Danny Phantom]]''. Skulker is constantly agreeing to work together with Danny and co. in order to save the world, Ghost Zone, or [[The End of the World
* ''[[Transformers]]''. Especially in the Unicron Trilogy, it seems like Megatron always seems to single out Optimus in combat. Also, in the third series of [[The Original Series]], Cyclonus occasionally saved the life of Ultra Magnus because so he could be the one to kill him.
** [[Transformers Generation
** The Megatron of ''[[Transformers Prime]]'' has the same complex, and does not react well to Starscream trying to deal with the Autobots behind his back. "NO ONE RIDS ME OF OPTIMUS PRIME BUT ''ME''! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?! DO YOU!"
** Forget the Optimus/Megatron rivalry...Starscream, a [[The Dragon|Dragon]] so treacherous he's [[The Starscream|got his own trope]], is so obsessed with being the only one allowed to defeat, defy or otherwise annoy Megatron; he goes into an apparently righteous rage when Skyfire, Thrust, Sideways and ''the Constructicons'' even allude to an [[Enemy Civil War]]. Hell, he even saves Megatron from someone else's betrayal in "Atlantis, Arise!" It's a safe bet that he only went along with Blitzwing and Astrotrain's plan in "Triple Takeover" because they let him be the one to lead Megatron into the trap.
* ''[[The Venture Brothers]]'': The Monarch and Baron Ãœnderbheit compete for this role against Thaddeus Venture, with The Monarch's unexplained obsession forming the basis of a comical deconstruction of this trope as a form of addiction.
** In general, the Guild of Calamitous Intent arranges these through the villains and protagonists so that there is ''supposed'' to be only one person you can defeat you. This is what gets the Monarch in trouble with the Guild originally, he wasn't the person who was allowed to defeat Venture.
* Proto Man and Mega Man in the US series of ''[[Mega Man (
** Specifically, in the ''very first episode'' when Wily wants to [[Just Shoot Him|blast Mega Man,]] Proto Man smashes the necessary button before Wily can press it and tells Wily that Mega is "his". And in "Future Shock", Mega's attempt to use the stolen time machine (long story) is thwarted by a low-powered bomb planted in the
* Prince Zuko in ''[[
** Also somewhat inverted later when {{spoiler|Zuko decides the one to kill his father has to be ''Aang'', not himself, even when he [[Kill Him Already|had the opportunity]].}}
** Likewise, in the series finale, {{spoiler|Iroh refuses to fight Fire Lord Ozai (despite being the only other person powerful enough to beat him), because the Avatar has to do it himself to truly achieve peace. The Avatar carries considerably more clout than two exiles, who would be treated as such.}}
* In a literal sense, Demona and [[Macbeth]] in ''[[
* In more than one episode of ''[[Batman: The
** Brutally [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] in "[[Mad Love]]" when [[Psycho Supporter|Harley]] captures [[Batman]] with the idea of getting him out of the way, so she and "Mistah J" can be together at last. Batman suckers her into calling the Joker, supposedly so that he will have no [[Never Found the Body|doubt]] that [[Killed Off for Real|Batman is indeed dead]]. What the [[Ax Crazy|Joker]] does to her next [[Battle Discretion Shot|has even the Bat disgusted]]. (She tries to calm Joker down by pointing out how he inspired her scheme, [[Don't Explain the Joke|but that doesn't help]].) Earlier in that same episode, after Batman's been caught in a cloud of knock-out gas:
{{quote|
'''Joker''': ''I'' give the punchlines around here, ''got it?''
'''Harley''': Yes sir. }}
** In the comic book ''Mad Love'', which inspired the episode, the Joker throws poor Harley out of a fifth story window after arriving on the scene.
** This is carried over to ''[[
** Also displayed in ''[[Batman:
* Sinedd to D'Jok in ''[[Galactik Football]]'', apparently.
* In the ''[[Legion of Super
* ''[[Batman Beyond]]'': this was the reason given by the Stalker after he rescued Terry.
* In one episode of ''[[Beavis and Butthead]]'', a candy salesman gets mad at the duo for eating all the product they were supposed to sell. When he begins attacking the two of them for it, the teacher, Coach Buzzcut, steps in and beats him up, proclaiming, "This is MY class, I do the ass-kicking around here!"
* Zim of ''[[Invader Zim]]'' is out to destroy the Earth, but won't stop at anything to thwart anyone else who tries to do it <s>more</s> competently.
* In the ''[[Family Guy]]'' episode "And Then There Were Fewer", {{spoiler|Diane Simmons}} attempts to kill Lois. However, Stewie shoots {{spoiler|Diane}} so that ''he'' can be the one to kill Lois.
* Something similar happens in ''[[Rugrats in Paris]]: The Movie'' when Angelica is telling off [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] Coco LaBouche about what she was doing:
{{quote|
* A less [[Foe Yay]] and more innocent version of this occurs in the cartoon ''[[Arthur]]''. In one episode, the moose kid, George, is being picked on by bullies. Then Binky, the established bully of the series approaches them and says, "Hey! You can't pick on that kid! He's in my class!" George looks relieved, until Binky adds, "Only ''I'' get to pick on him!"
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[[Category:Action Adventure Tropes]]
[[Category:Arch Enemy]]
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