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[[File:jojowham 8060.jpg|link=JoJo's Bizarre Adventure|frame]]
{{quote|''"I regret that we meet in this way. [[Not So Different|You and I are of a kind.]] In a different reality, I could have called you friend."''
|'''Romulan Commander''', ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series]]'', [[Star Trek/Recap/S1/E14 Balance of Terror|"Balance of Terror"]]}}
{{quote|''"You may have only enemies whom you can hate, not enemies you despise. You must be proud of your enemy: then the successes of your enemy are your successes too."''
|'''Zarathustra''', ''Thus Spake Zarathustra'' ([[Peep Show|not to be confused with]] ''[[Chicken Run]]'')}}
The equal and opposite enemy to the hero, who, save for the tragic circumstances of his life, upbringing, political ideology, or financial situation, might have been the hero's best friend. Unfortunately, though, he must be the hero's opposition. Evenly matched, with a sense of honor that allows the hero to trust him about a select few things, and an honest respect for the hero, the '''Worthy Opponent''' also fights to the same standards of fairness as the hero; he will not shoot you [[In the Back]], and may even prevent someone else from doing so; in military situations, he will obey [[The Laws and Customs of War]]. The
The
This is usually the only enemy to whom you may say that [[It Has Been an Honor]]. And most often, these feelings are mutual between you. When he gets beaten and stays alive, he will be a [[Graceful Loser]]. Despite their honor, they rarely seem to [[My Country, Right or Wrong|decide to stop enabling their country]] or [[My Master, Right or Wrong|their leader]] to do evil.
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When worthy opponents are of different genders, it can develop into a situation of [[Dating Catwoman]].
See also [[Antagonist in Mourning]], [[Anti-Villain]], [[
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** Vice Admiral Garp was the Worthy Opponent of none other than Gold Roger himself. So much so that Roger, {{spoiler|knowing he would soon die, entrusted Garp with the life of his unborn child.}}
** Luffy and {{spoiler|Koby}} are probably going to end up like this, now that {{spoiler|Koby knows Soru and they are on opposing sides, yet remain best friends.}} And either or both Eustass Kidd and Trafalger Law for the Pirate rival.
** Mihawk's goal in life is to find one. Initially, he thought it would be Shanks, but he gave up the rivalry with him after Shanks lost his left arm and (mostly) retired. While he hasn't truly found one yet, he feels Zoro has the potential to become such. In fact, Mihawk sees Zoro so much as his Worthy Opponent that not only does he decide to spare Zoro's life after their first battle, he also {{spoiler|'''trains Zoro during the timeskip!'''}}
** Fleet Admiral Sengoku and Whitebeard. The commander-in-chief of the Marines also says he was the best of the pirates.
** Whitebeard and Shanks are both members of the Yonko, reigning over the New World, but when another Yonko, Kaidou, attempted to attack Whitebeard when the latter was distracted trying to rescue Ace from the World Government, Shanks stopped him. And later, {{spoiler|after Whitebeard's death, Shanks stepped in and allowed the Whitebeard pirates to bury his and Ace's bodies without the Marines defacing them.}}
** Possibly the only man who could have been this to Gol D. Roger himself was {{spoiler|Monkey D. Dragon, Luffy's father. The one battle between them ended in a stalemate, both of them badly hurt and exhausted. The two likely were both rivals and allies - if anything, when Dragon witnessed Roger's execution, it was one of only two of his appearances when he is not smiling.}}
* ''[[Ghost in the Shell]]'' is full with Worthy Opponents. ''Kuze Hideo'' from the second season of ''[[Stand Alone Complex]]'' is a prime example, though it gets more complicated in later episodes.
* ''[[Azumanga Daioh]]'' plays this rather humorously as Kagura is transferred to the class midway through the series. She immediately decides to take on the tall and popular Sakaki as her rival, believing that the feeling of competitiveness will be reciprocated. However, Sakaki wants to do nothing but dream of cats and do cute things and doesn't even realize that Kagura believes that they are rivals.
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* [[Disney Ducks Comic Universe|Scrooge McDuck]] and Arpin Lusene have a Rich Victim - [[Gentleman Thief]] type of mutual respect in [[Don Rosa]]'s comics. Lusene is a very good sport about losing, and Scrooge admits that the Frenchman is the greatest threat his fortune has (which says a lot, coming from him).
* In one issue of Marvel's ''[[G.I. Joe]]'' comic, Ace and Wild Weasel (with Lady Jaye and [[The Baroness]] as co-pilots) accidentally encounter each other while flying their jet fighters one day. They spend the entire issue using every trick they know to try to shoot the other out of the sky. At the end, they both realize that they're completely out of ammunition. They fly their heavily-damaged planes past each other close enough to [[It Has Been an Honor|salute]], then fly home (while their respective co-pilots ask, "That's it? We're just going to let them go?").
* [[The Flash]] and his Rogues have great respect for one another in nearly ever incarnation to varying degrees. In fact most of the time the rouges plans are just ways to get Flash to become a better hero.
** When Johnny Quick attacked Captain Cold, he discovered how dangerous this guy can be when willing to do his worst rather than only brawling.
{{quote|'''Captain Cold''': See, the Flash and I got ''mutual respect''. That's the difference between you and him. Besides {{spoiler|having ''two'' legs}}.}}
* In [[Usagi Yojimbo]], Usagi and [[The Dragon|Captain Torame]] in "The Dragon Bellow Conspiracy"; both are good samurai (Torame exemplifies loyalty and he'll stay by his lord's side even though he knows his lord is wicked) and express regret that they have to be enemies.
* [[Marvel Comics]] have traditionally referred to their rivals [[DC Comics]] as "The Distinguished Competition".
* The Death of Spider-Man arc averts this big time. Peter is faced against the Sinister Six with a bullet in his hip and takes the time to say Electro was his greatest adversary and it was an honor to fight him. But naturally this being Spidey he says he didn't really mean it and he doesn't even give Electro a second thought.
== Fan Works ==
* Hilariously subverted in the ''[[Firefly]]'' fanfic ''[[Forward]]'', where the [[Arrogant Kung Fu Guy]] Si Quan confronts River, sizes her up, and considers her a worthy opponent who can test his abilities. {{spoiler|River disagrees, and shoots him in the head.}}
* [[Villain Protagonist]] Tyrin Lieph and the [[Man Behind the Man|advisor]] to the krogan overlord, Halak Marr, in ''
* Katara and Azula in ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender Revised]]''. Over the course of various battles and confrontations, the two develop a begrudging respect for each other.
* In the ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]'' fanfic ''[[Jewel of Darkness]]'', resident [[Psycho for Hire]] [[The Brute|Guerra]] views Cyborg as this, as he was the only one of the Titans to provide him with a decent fight, and actually managed to defeat him. It gets to the point that, during a fight with Robin, Guerra compares his fighting style with Cyborg's, and while he loses all interest in the Titans after his contract with Midnight expires, he's still looking forward to a rematch with Cyborg.
* In the ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion|Evangelion]]'' fic ''[[Nobody Dies]]'', Zeruel appears to consider Shinji Ikari to be this. According to Junior, Zeruel actually fears Shinji, and this is why, when he attacks, he singles Shinji out among all other opposition. Shinji himself is rather astonished by that revelation.
{{quote|'''Shinji''': "That... that thing killed three Cherubim, took a nuclear missile to the ''face'' and it's ''afraid'' of me?"
'''Junior''': {{smallcaps|You have battled the Father. You have slain more of that which you call Angels than any other. You are the one whom the Angels fear, Pilot Ikari. He is coming to do battle with you, as you are the only one upon the Earth whom he feels is his equal.}} }}
== Film - Animated ==
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* In the ''[[Honor Harrington]]'' series, Thomas Theisman would qualify, taking into account that Honor ''fears'' and respects him at the same time. Lester Tourville, too, arguably.
** Victor Cachat and Anton Zilwicki.
***They are arguably more an example of [[Enemy Mine]]. They are espionage agents from enemy states that have happen to both have a passion for destroying slavers, which project is by coincidence held in sympathy for the most part by their respective states
** The People's Navy and the Royal Manticoran Navy are generally like this and [[Nothing Personal|just want to shoot at each other like professionals]]. Nasty things are done by fanatics like State Sec or the Masadans.
**Zilwiki in ''From the Highlands'' says that even some State Sec agents can count as [[Worthy Opponent|Worthy Opponents]]. State Sec human resources(or whatever they call it) filters the sadists from the patriots, sending the sadists to run concentration camps and the patriots to do field ops. Thus Victor Cachet while he was once a State Sec man was never one of ''those'' kind.
* In [[David Gemmell]]'s ''Ravenheart''. One of the Villain's men, Huntsekker, kills one of his own men for breaking a promise made to one of the enemy
* Irene Adler to [[Sherlock Holmes]].
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* The marlin that nearly kills Santiago in ''[[The Old Man and the Sea]]'' is strongly portrayed this way.
* Martel is portrayed this way in [[The Elenium]], despite his betrayal of the Pandion Knights. Before the final duel, he espresses a similar sentiment about Kurik. {{spoiler|When Martel is killed, Sparhawk and Sephrenia both mourn over him, and Martel calls them "the only two people that I ever loved"}}
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** [[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]: ''By Inferno's Light''. Worf has spent the last several days fighting Jem'Hadar in death matches. When he finally faces the biggest and most badass of them, his refusal to quit makes the Jem'Hadar back down.
{{quote|'''Ikat'ika:''' I yield. I cannot defeat this Klingon. All I can do is kill him. And that no longer holds my interest.}}
** In ''Deep Space Nine'''s [[Series Finale]], Quark explicitly invoked this with Odo, who was leaving, unlikely to ever return. To Quark's face, Odo sneered at the thought ... but a minute or so later he admitted to Kira that he '''would''' miss "even Quark."
* Of the three men who pursue [[The A-Team]] over the course of the first four seasons, only Colonel Decker actually seems to view the team (particularly Hannibal) in this way. He has a definite grudging respect for them. Hannibal, in turn, actually seems to admire Decker's relentlessness.
* This is sort-of played with on ''[[The Colbert Report]]'' with the segment "Formidable Opponent", where Stephen debates ''himself'', with the footage flipped and the background color changed (from red to blue, naturally).
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== [[Newspaper
* Parodied in [http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2004-08-01/ this] ''[[Dilbert]]'' strip.
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== Theatre ==
* ''[[1776 (musical)|1776]]'' has John Dickinson for John Adams. When Dickinson {{spoiler|refuses to sign the Declaration, saying he cannot in good conscience sign such a document while still hoping for a reconciliation with England, he then says that while he cannot sign, he "regards America no less than does Mr. Adams" and vows to "join the Army and fight in her defense"}}. Adams' response to this is to {{spoiler|lead a standing ovation, saying, "Gentlemen of the Congress, I say, 'Yea, John Dickinson.'"}} In real life, Dickinson would go on to {{spoiler|become
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* The Paladin considers Sebastian this in [[True Villains]].
* ''[[Girl Genius]]'' has [[Super Soldier|Jägermonster]] culture where [[Nice Hat|hats]] play an important role. The only way for a living Jäger to honorably acquire a hat is:
{{quote|# Find a Worthy Enemy who got a hat... and approximately the same head size.
# Fight him/her/it, whether as a part of actual combat or as a friendly brawl to 3 knock-downs, per traditional Jäger "duel code".
# Win and take the hat as a [[Battle Trophy]].
# If the opponent was particularly famous and the hat is nice, see #2 again - now every Jäger willing to contest it may book a fight. }}
** Oggie expressed respect for Martellus, while they were temporary allies without expectations that this will hold for longer than the rest of a day. Soon after taunting the real Storm King, at that.
{{quote|Hyu iz a real pain in de neck — but hyu gots de schtuff to be a king, no qvestion. }}
* ''The Ascension Chronicles'' has [https://ascensioncomic.com/comic/8-16-20-p8/ a scene] where an Imperial Consortium commander explains the big picture to a younger officer:
{{quote|'''Legate Argane''': I just wish my mark on history wasn't "the first to lose [[Puny Earthlings|to the humans]]".
'''Lord Commodore Vycohl''': Nonsense, Legate! You young lords can never accept the truth of the "first proving". You validated this war, Argane. Proved the enemy worthy.}}
== Web Original ==
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* In the ''[[Family Guy]]'' episode "Emission Impossible", Stewie and Bertram refer to each other as worthy adversaries.
* [[Complete Monster|Dr. Robotnik]] tells Sonic that he's this in ''[[Sonic Sat AM]].''
* In the 80's ''[[G.I. Joe]]'' cartoon, there were many times where it seemed Destro viewed the heroes this way, even though their peacekeeping goals conflicted with his warmongering arms dealing. He was likely the villain most likely to aid them - so long as he benefitted from doing so.
* [[Big Bad|Father]] towards [[Big Good| Numbuh 362]] on ''[[Codename: Kids Next Door]]''. In "Operation: A.R.C.T.I.C." he seems pleased to find an autograph book with her signature in it, and the two seemed able to have a somewhat civil conversation in "Operation: I.T." before actually fighting.
== [[Real Life]] ==
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* Raizo Tanaka. He was one of Japan's finest naval officers and the leader of the legendary Tokyo Express in the Solomon Islands Campaign in 1942-43. He kept Japanese outposts alive, and evacuated them when the time came, in the teeth of the American naval and air forces, fighting a number of fierce actions. Fortunately for American arms, envy of his success and anger at his lack of tact caused the Obstructive Bureaucrats of the Imperial Japanese Navy to beach him.
** Isoroku Yamamoto, the architect of Pearl Harbor, had a tremendous respect and appreciation for the military power of the United States, gained whilst working as a Japanese naval attache in Washington. He repeatedly advised the Japanese government not to pursue a course of war against the USA and was vocally opposed to the Tripartite Pact (the alliance with Germany and Italy), which led to him receiving death threats. When ordered to present a plan for a sneak attack on the US fleet, he judged it futile, claiming that even in the best-case scenario (the destruction of the US carriers), all he would gain is six to twelve months of freedom of action in the Pacific before the US gained the upper hand, and sure enough, the US achieved this by winning the Battle of Midway just six months after Pearl Harbor. Whilst Yamamoto's respect for the military and naval power of the United States was high, this was not entirely reciprocated, as his role in planning the 'cowardly' Pearl Harbor attack made him more a figure of hate than respect. That said, the Americans did 'honour' him by going to the trouble of sending a long-range intercept mission to shoot down his aircraft when they learned its flight-plan through code intercepts.
** The memoirs of Tameichi Hara, a Japanese captain (and more than a bit of a [[Worthy Opponent]] himself from the US point of view) are full of this. He often takes the time to compliment the Americans and when it comes to judging naval efficiency [[HAD to Be Sharp|he knew]] what he was talking about.
* The military ethic has analogies to the legal ethic in that it presumes that a professional soldier will do his best for the State he serves (barring Very Exceptional Circumstances like [[Those Wacky Nazis]]) just as a lawyer does the same for his client. Thus many soldiers do not think it contradictory to try to kill someone and yet admire them, as killing is their job but hating isn't, as, after all, enemy soldiers [[Not So Different|aren't much different from themselves]].
** The problem with this is, while it sounds nice and fine when you talk about it theoretically in your peaceful home, in real wars, people always develop hatred and contempt for their opponent. It's always "exceptional" when it's real. Turn on the TV. When was the last time you saw any soldier bow to their enemy's guts or cleverness?
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** Since a good deal of Saladin's praise comes from Christian monks who chronicled the events, it's hard to argue. On the other side, Muslim chroniclers exclaimed that Balian, who had defended Jerusalem, held a rank in their eyes equal to a king. He had asked Saladin for leave to evacuate his wife and children from the Holy City, and Saladin agreed on the condition that he does not return to take up arms. When Balian got there though, the people implored him to stay, citing the greater need of Christendom. He stayed and defended the city, and when the time came to negotiate terms with Saladin, the sultan reportedly held no ill feelings to Balian for breaking his oath, and sent an escort to guide his family back to Tripoli.
** Richard the Lionheart was apparently this back to Saladin, as he was in general. In fact, he ordered the crossbowman who had mortally wounded him to be pardoned and set free. Unfortunately, after Richard died, a certain mercenary captain in his army, named Mercadier, said Screw it, Richard won't argue, and had the poor kid flayed alive.
* In Budapest's historic Castle District, which had seen hard fighting in 1686 when a Christian army (re)conquered it after 150 years of Turkish rule, can be seen "The Monument of the last Turkish governor" erected by the victors, with the following epitaph:"Here fell the last Turkish governor, Pasha and commander of Buda, Abdurrahman Abdi Arnaut on 9 late-summer month of 1686, in his 70th year of age. He was a noble enemy and a hero, may he rest in peace." [https://web.archive.org/web/20111105190614/http://www.multigotours.com/eng/travels/view/52
* One of the first things the [[Israelis With Infrared Missiles|Israel Defense Forces]] did after the [[Useful Notes/Arab-Israeli Conflict|conquest of Jerusalem in 1967]] was to build a memorial to the [[Warriors of Desert Winds|Jordanian Arab Legion]], who had defended East Jerusalem and the West Bank valiantly but suffered from a complete lack of air support (the IDF had taken out more or less the whole Royal Jordanian Air Force within 45 minutes of the opening of the war).
* Australians and Turks respect one another a lot. Why? Because they were the very embodiment of this trope to one another in [[World War I]], during the Gallipoli campaign - Australia was Turkey's worthy adversary, and Turkey was Australia's. Though both sides fought with [[Determinator|extreme tenacity and dedication]], they also fought one another with a great degree of honour. The Turks eventually renamed the beach where the invasion took place "ANZAC Cove" in honour of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps; in return for this, the Australians established the only war memorial in the Australian capital ever dedicated to a former enemy - a tribute to the Turkish commander at Gallipoli, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
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* Survivors of the USS Johnston after the [[You Shall Not Pass|Samar Island Action]] in Leyte Gulf claim to have been [[Japanese Politeness|saluted]] by a retreating Japanese ship. Either the witness was delusional from hours in the water or the commander was an [[Good Old Ways|old school]] [[Officer and a Gentleman]] rather then a member of the new-fangled millitarist cult. In any case that was what was reported.
* Brazil sent an Expeditionary Force of soldiers to Europe in World War II. Arlindo Lúcio da Silva, Geraldo Baeta da Cruz and Geraldo Rodrigues de Souza, separated from their unit, were surrounded by a German force in Italy on 14 April 1945. [[Last Stand|Refusing to surrender, they fought to their deaths]], [[Dying Moment of Awesome|making a bayonet charge when their ammunition was gone]]. Burying them, the Germans placed a cross over their graves inscribed 'Drei brasilianische Helden' (Three Brazilian Heroes).
* British Major John Acland returning from a [[American Revolution| tough service]] in New York in 1777 (otherwise known as [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast| "The Year of the Bloody Sevens"]]) walked into an [[Smoky Gentlemen's Club|officer's club]] in London. While he was there a patron who of course [[Miles Gloriosus|had never fought against Americans]] waxed eloquently about the [[You Rebel Scum|cowardice and incompetence]] of Americans. That was naturally a [[Throwing Down the Gauntlet| grave insult]] not only to Americans but to Acland who after all had survived a conspicuously unpleasant campaign. As a result they met the following morning [[Ten Paces and Turn| in the traditional manner]] and Aclund rather ironically died defending his former enemies against an insult.
* A lighthearted version of this was Eddie Rickenbacker's recollection of a series of fights with a German scout plane in the chapter ''Rumpler Number 16'' from his memoirs ''Fighting the Flying Circus''. He had a running series of encounters over several patrols but was unable to bring it down.
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