Worthy Opponents

Product Information

James McCudden: Rhys-Davids came in for a shower of congratulations, and no one deserved them better, but as the boy himself said to me, "Oh, if I could only have brought him down alive," and his remark was in agreement with my own thoughts.

Superman and Spider-Man: The duel between Superman and Hulk ends with the latter deciding to trust the former and calm down, reasoning that someone who can withstand one of his enraged beatdowns is not a puny human and deserves respect. Shawn Michaels— nobody ever came as close to ending the Streak as Shawn Michaels did at WrestleMania XXV at that point in time, until it was broken. Mari sees Asuka like this. She realizes that the red-haired girl is at her level and finds her exciting, like a really challenging summit that she wants to climb. Asuka is not impressed, though, and she only wants to beat Mari.But wait! There is more! As Mar-Vell reaches Death's door...He sees Thanos of Titan, who was dead at that time. He walks up to him and says that an end like this was unworthy of his greatest enemy and then proceeds to battle him, calling forth upon the souls of defeated enemies of the Captain until he reaches Death, and hence, relief and rest from life's burdens. Some say this is Starlin's best work. When the time finally comes that the Goa'uld Hegemony is forced to surrender to the Celestial Empire in The (Questionable) Burdens of Leadership of a Troll Emperor , Yu is pleased to note that at least he lost to an enemy he could respect. However, this is entirely one-sided as by the time the Goa'uld surrender, Naruto was only willing to allow it because he'd become so bored with the war. LuFisto thought this way of Ayako Hamada, granting her a shot at her nCw Femme Fatales Title Belt because a match with her was "A dream come true."

Spartacus: War of the Damned: Crassus clearly respects Spartacus for rising to what he is now, his skills as a warrior, and his brilliancy as a leader. At the end he's defeated Spartacus' forces and lost to Spartacus in personal combat, and is clearly in awe of him. Spartacus for his part, clearly recognizes Crassus as his most dangerous foe and seems to have a grudging respect for that. However, he also hates everything that Crassus stands for, namely Rome. Elseworlds story Superman 1939 #215: "Lois Lane...Dead...Yet Alive" involved a minor villain named Dimension Master killing Lois Lane, and Superman having to deal with it. Dimension Master then has his shapeshifter wife briefly disguise herself as Lois just to further torment him. At this, Dimension Master is suddenly defeated by Luthor and Brainiac. Supes asks in astonishment why they are helping him, and they tell him that even though they are his enemies, they respect him, and they couldn't stand watching D.M.'s pointless cruelty.In The Bloody Ashikabi , both the Gringotts goblins and Karasuba view each other as the only worthwhile opponents they've had in a long time. It's the main reason Gringotts thinks so highly of Harry and his group. Advice and Trust: Asuka regards Shinji as hers: he is nearly as good as her, and he can challenge her in the battlefield, forcing her to improve her piloting and fighting skills and perform better. After getting together she looks forward to make him fight hard to keep up with her, and when he feels glum because he seems unable to match her, she cheers him up and encourages him to keep chasing her. Jerry Lawler became this for The Miz up to their match in Elimination Chamber 2011. The Monday before the match, The Miz announces that Lawler's mother passed the Saturday before and gives him his deep condolences. Instead of bad-mouthing him, Miz takes the time to state that he doesn't want this passing to get in the way of their match and to have a good fight (although thanks to Michael Cole, it didn't turn out to really be a good fight). He respects Tony enough that when he was believed dead, Doom declared a national day of mourning in Latveria. In the Family Guy episode "Emission Impossible", Stewie and Bertram refer to each other as worthy adversaries.

He views his cup bearer at Harrenhal as more competent than all his advisers and she's one of the few people to get away with snarking at him, because Tywin enjoys that she's sharp and gutsy enough to match him. Of course ironies of ironies, what he doesn't know is that she's actually Arya Stark, the daughter of his archenemy. Whether he would have been more impressed with her if he'd known she was the runaway Stark daughter and managed to survive right under his nose, or just angered at her brazenness was never explored. Nikita Koloff started out as a standard Foreign Wrestling Heel, then became a Worthy Opponent to Magnum T.A.; when Magnum's career was ended by a car accident in 1986, Nikita became an Antagonist in Mourning, which eventually led to a Heel–Face Turn. However, he also clearly has a lot of resentment for the "Honorable Ned Stark" for how he thinks he wouldn't even give him a chance to explain why he killed Aerys, and judging him as being a dishonorable wretch for this genuinely well-intentioned and heroic action, despite Ned not being as squeaky clean as others believed.New Gods: While a terrible parent to all of his children, Darkseid actually respects his son Orion despite actively opposing him and everything he stands for; unlike his loyal son Kalibak who isn't that bright and somewhat incompetent, Orion is a highly competent warrior. This is entirely one-sided, though, as Orion despises Darkseid and his biological relatives, though this doesn't stop Kalibak from being immensly jealous of Orion. Peter Pan has Captain Hook, who views Peter as this. Peter doesn't really care, but when Hook thinks he's killed Pan, he says "So passeth a Worthy Opponent." However, the college football rivalry (and to a lesser extent, the rivalry in other sports) between Army and Navy has to be the best example of this. Although the two teams are fierce rivals on the field, and cries of "Beat Army!" and "Beat Navy!" are heard year-round, they have high respect for each other, knowing that in a few years, they could be fighting alongside each other on a real battlefield. At the end of each game, the winning team joins the student body of the losing team in singing that school's alma mater, and then the losers join in with the winners to sing theirs. Tyrion: I admired her... she wanted to have me executed but I admired her. She was a strong woman and she was fierce when it came to protecting her children.

True Villains: The Paladin sees the Living Legend Sebastian as this, but soon becomes disgusted by his Face–Heel Turn. Despite their fierce and often ruthless battles, Battler often inspires the same respect he gains for his opponents. They include Beatrice, Erika and Knox, although the first one evolves into something more. Battler tries to extend this sentiment to Bernkastel right before their final battle, but she clearly does not reciprocate it.

When David Von Erich died in 1984, Michael Hayes praised him as one on World Class' TV show. The Von Erichs and the Fabulous Freebirds were bitter enemies at that time. Rango receives this from Rattlesnake Jake at the end of the film. "I tip my hat to you. One legend to another." Zim and Dib from Invader Zim are certainly worthy of one another; in "Room With a Moose" Zim even notes that he's telling Dib his evil plan because he's the only human smart enough to appreciate it. Doesn't mean they are particularly good at what they do though. At the tail end of TNA's 2014 (and Spike TV deal) Eric Young stated that if he had to name a professional wrestler in the world at the time better than Bobby Roode, he wouldn't be able to do it. He then rhetorically asked "Is Eric Young as good Bobby Roode" and basically said "yes". They were competing to challenge World Heavyweight Champion Bobby Lashley, whom Roode thought of as this ( but not MVP or Kenny King). Much to her chagrin, Asuka ended up seeing Shinji like her greatest challenge after their first meetings.