Archenemy: Difference between revisions
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*The law firm of [[Wolfram and Hart]] is the archenemy of [[Angel (Buffyverse)|Angel]] in his TV series. |
*The law firm of [[Wolfram and Hart]] is the archenemy of [[Angel (Buffyverse)|Angel]] in his TV series. |
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* [[The Master]] is the archenemy of [[Buffy Summers]] from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series |
* [[The Master]] is the archenemy of [[Buffy Summers]] from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series |
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Yosemite Sam is the number one archenemy of Bugs Bunny |
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===Cartoon and videogame archenemies=== |
===Cartoon and videogame archenemies=== |
Revision as of 00:33, 4 November 2006
An archenemy, archfoe, archvillain or archnemesis (sometimes spelled arch-enemy, arch-foe, arch-villain or arch-nemesis) is the principal enemy of a character in a work of fiction, often described as the hero's worst enemy (compare nemesis). The reason as to why the particular villain stands out more than the other rogues gallery villains varies, although they may be the hardest enemy to fight, the hero's opposite, the most often recurring villain, always bearing the most dangerous plots or poses the biggest threat, such as global domination in comparison to burglary, was once a friend of the hero, or is the source of constant tragedy, pain and horror to the hero.
It should be noted that just because a villain is a hero's arch-enemy does not necessarily mean that they are their greatest enemy, as there are often other enemies who may be considered more powerful, resourceful, intelligent and/or evil than the archvillain, or perhaps has larger-scale goals. For example in the Superman comics, Darkseid, who threatens the entire universe, is a much greater threat than Lex Luthor who usually just threatens Metropolis and sometimes the world. For these reasons, heroes sometimes team up with their archenemy to take down the greater threat (see below).
Comic book archenemies
- Apocalypse, archenemy of primarily Cable and secondarily the rest of the X-Men
- Black Tom Cassidy, archenemy of the X-Men's Banshee
- Deathstroke the Terminator (also known as Slade), archenemy of the Teen Titans
- Doctor Doom, archenemy of the Fantastic Four
- Doctor Emil Gargunza, archenemy of Miracleman
- Doctor Sivana, archenemy of DC Comics's Captain Marvel
- Green Goblin archenemy of Spider-Man
- Jigsaw, archenemy of The Punisher
- The Joker, most widely-recognized archenemy of Batman
- The Kingpin of Crime, archenemy of Daredevil
- Lex Luthor, archenemy of Superman
- The Leader, archenemy of the Hulk
- Magneto, archenemy of the X-Men in general and the team's founder, Professor X, in particular
- The Mandarin, archenemy of Iron Man
- Ming the Merciless, archenemy of Flash Gordon
- Mojo, archenemy of Longshot
- The Red Skull, archenemy of Captain America
- Sabretooth, archenemy of the X-Men's Wolverine
- Sinestro, the mentor and supervillain arch-nemesis of the superhero Green Lantern Hal Jordan
- The Singh Brotherhood, archenemies of The Phantom
- Thanos, archenemy of Marvel Comics's Captain Marvel
- cheetah,archenemy of wonderwoman
Literary archenemies
- Moby Dick is the archenemy of Captain Ahab in the classic novel, Moby-Dick
- Professor James Moriarty is the archenemy of Detective Sherlock Holmes in Sherlock Holmes media.
- Inspector Javert is the archenemy of Jean Valjean in the classic French novel, Les Misérables.
- Lord Voldemort is the archenemy of Harry Potter within the series.
- Saruman is the archenemy of Gandalf.
Film and television archenemies
- James Bond from the 007 series had two archenemies: Ernst Stavro Blofeld and the steel-toothed assassin Jaws
- Murdoc is the archenemy of Macgyver.
- Darth Vader is the archenemy of Luke Skywalker in the original Star Wars trilogy.
- Newman is the archenemy of Jerry Seinfeld in the TV show Seinfeld, constantly turning bad matters to worse for him.
- The Master is the archenemy of Doctor Who
- King Ghidorah is the archenemy of Godzilla.
- Paul Millander, a serial killer with an expert knowledge of forensic pathology, is the archenemy of forensic investigator Gil Grissom in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.
- The law firm of Wolfram and Hart is the archenemy of Angel in his TV series.
- The Master is the archenemy of Buffy Summers from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series
Yosemite Sam is the number one archenemy of Bugs Bunny
Cartoon and videogame archenemies
Listed in Alphabetical Order
- Bowser is the archenemy of Mario in the Nintendo and video-game series.
- Clayton is the archenemy of Tarzan
- Cobra Commander is the archenemy of G.I. Joe.
- Danielle Atron is the archenemy of Alex Mack in The Secret World of Alex Mack.
- David Xanatos, archenemy of Goliath
- Derek Powers is the archenemy of Terry McGinnis
- Doctor Drakken, archenemy of Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable
- Dr. Eggman (a.k.a. Dr. Robotnik) is the archenemy of Sonic The Hedgehog
- The Evil Emperor Zurg, archenemy of Space Ranger Buzz Lightyear
- "Endless" Mike Hellstrom is the archenemy of Big Pete in The Adventures of Pete & Pete. Likewise, Pitstain is the archenemy of Little Pete.
- Ganondorf is the archenemy of Link in the Legend of Zelda video-game series and is also the only Zelda character to have survived to the next game, (Link and most other Zelda characters are either descendents or ancestors from previous games).
- Gruntilda Winkybunion is the archenemy of Banjo and his sarcastic pal, Kazooie.
- King K. Rool is the archenemy of Donkey Kong in many of Nintendo's Donkey Kong games, including every game in Rare's Donkey Kong Country and Donkey Kong Land trilogies.
- King Dedede is the nemesis of Kirby
- Lord Recluse is the archenemy of The Statesman in City of Heroes.
- Megatron is the archenemy of Optimus Prime in the Transformers Universe. Likewise,
- Mozenrath is the archnemesis of Aladdin in the Aladdin TV series.
- Plankton is the archenemy of Spongebob Squarepants and Eugene H. Krabs. Squilliam is the archenemy of Squidward Tentacles.
- Principal McVicker and Coach Buzzcut are the main arch enemies of Beavis and Butt-head
- Rez is the archenemy of Gex
- Seifer Almasy is the archenemy of Squall Leonheart in the video game Final Fantasy VIII
- Sephiroth is the archenemy of Cloud Strife in the video game Final Fantasy VII and its sequel Final Fantasy: Advent Children.
- Skeletor is the archenemy of He-Man in the animated series He-Man and the Masters of the Universe.
- Sonsai X and his subordinates (most notably Berge Katse of Galactor), archenemies of Science Ninja Team Gatchaman
- Specter is the archenemy of Spike, Jimmy, Casi, Natalie, Hakese, Kei and Yumi in the Ape Escape series
- Syndrome, archenemy of the Incredible Family
- Timmy Turner has three archenemies: Vicky, Mr. Crocker and Francis.
- Timmy Turner's Dad's Archenemy is Dinkleberg.
- Unicron is the archenemy of Primus.
- Vilgax is the archenemy of Ben 10.
- Vlad Plasmius is the archenemy of Danny Phantom (Daniel Fenton) and Dani Phantom
Examples of heroes joining forces with their arch enemies to fight a more powerful threat
- The X-Men and Magneto against the likes of Apocalypse and Onslaught
- The Autobots and Decepticons against Unicron
- In Justice League Unlimited, Superman's Justice League and Lex Luthor's Secret Society against Darkseid
- Teen Titans - The Titans and Slade joining forces to battle Trigon
- Mario and Bowser against Smithy in Mario RPG
- Raiden joined forces with Quan Chi and Shang Tsung in 2004s Mortal kombat Deception to combat Onaga the Dragon King
- Doctor Doom has often temporarily allied with the superheroes of the Marvel Universe against major threats
- Danny Phantom (Daniel Fenton) and Vlad Plasmius have joined to battle Pariah Dark and Dark Danny
- Dr. Robotnik joined forces with Sonic the Hedgehog in Sonic Adventure 2 to stop the Space Colony ARK from crashing into Earth. Also, the two joined forces in Sonic Advance 3 for the final battle against Gemerl.
Heroes who do not have archenemies
The following heroes have no archenemies:
- Ethan Hunt, from the Mission: Impossible trilogy
- Indiana Jones
- Scooby Doo and Shaggy
- Ultraman
- Captain Underpants
Religious archenemies
An archenemy is used, in religion, often as the evil incarnate that plagues or tortures the god or gods. In Judaism, the archenemy is Satan and Anti-Semitism, most notably Hitler, the holocaust and the Diaspora. In sects of Christianity, the archenemy may be considered Satan, the Antichrist, the people who crucified Jesus or, in a few sects, the disciple Judas Iscariot. In Hinduism, the gods' archenemy is evil in general, although each individual person's archenemy is their karma. In Buddhism, the archenemy is generally desire and suffering. Scientology considers psychology and psychiatry to be a major enemy.
Debatable Archenemies
Although most people would consider the Joker to be Batman's archenemy, Joe Chill is the archenemy of Bruce Wayne. Also, the villain Hush has scared Batman noticably more than any other foe, even Bane, who has even broken Batman's back. Godzilla's archenemy could be considered King Ghidorah, Mechagodzilla or Destroyah. (Both Destroyah and Mechagodzilla have killed Godzilla, though due to radiation from the air or from Rodan, Godzilla has always been revived.) Spider-Man's archenemy has, for a long time, been considered the Green Goblin. However, Doctor Octopus, Sandman, and Venom have all left Spider-Man running and hiding out of fear, although due to being excluded from the Spider-Man: The Animated Series, the supervillain Sandman has fallen out of the spotlight (although he is shown on the trailer of Spider-Man 3, a strong indication of his next appearance). The Green Goblin 2- Harry Osborn- has brought and twisted moral confusion and psychological abuse upon the web-slinger. It could also be noted, however, that many debatable archenemies could in fact be regarded as an example of the "more powerful threat" listed above.
Pronunciation
The correct way to pronounce 'archenemy' is (art-ch-in-e-mee). However, there is a second pronunciation, which, although it is incorrect, is somewhat fluent. This incorrect pronunciation is (ark-in-e-mee). The Japanese use this pronunciation of "arch" (アーク Āku) in borrowed English words (アークエネミー Ākuenemī). アーチ (Āchi) would refer to an arch bridge or an archdam. The proper pronunciation would be アーチエネミー (Āchienemī) in katakana.