Rank these villain/hero rivalries!

Good comicbook antagonists are not just about the hate or the colorful schemes, they can also challenge heroes in different levels, even going as far as to compete with them for similar goals. Instead of being one-sided these polar opposites recognize each other and have some respect for what they mean or stand for.

Since this is a great concept, why not play in rivalries? I thought about some of the most emblematic ones that came to mind (they are different from one another, so maybe you'll find they aren't really rivalries, that's fine, use this thread at your leisure).

Anyways, my picks:

Magneto and Professor X.
Loki and Thor.
Doctor Doom and Reed Richards.
Hercules and Ares.
Sinestro and Hal Jordan.

I wish I had more DC examples in mind but my mind since to be dry 😛

The only antagonists in that list is Magneto/Xavier. Doom and Reed is entirely one-sided since Doom just hates on Reed, Hercules and Ares are gods and cannot be compared or whatsoever, Loki and Thor are just a sibling rivalry gone cosmic and while superior to Hal/Sinestro have a workplace dispute and are not really antagonists so to speak.

A lot of these guys aren't truly villains, at least in recent memory. Loki and Thor work together, Ares was a bona fide Avenger and Magneto was part of the X men

Originally posted by riv6672
The only antagonists in that list is Magneto/Xavier. Doom and Reed is entirely one-sided since Doom just hates on Reed, Hercules and Ares are gods and cannot be compared or whatsoever, Loki and Thor are just a sibling rivalry gone cosmic and while superior to Hal/Sinestro have a workplace dispute and are not really antagonists so to speak.

Doom hates Reed, but he also sees him as one of the smartest men he knows, deep down he considers him the only one able to keep up with him and give him a challenge 👆

Herc/Ares and Loki/Thor, per your own words, are a sibling rivalry, totally a rivalry 👆

You just described Hal/Sinestro like a dispute, which is the origin of the very word "antagonist" 👆

But I guess it's my fault for telling you to nitpick me on the OP 😛

Antagonists are people a group of people or institutions that represent the opposition against which the protagonist must contend.
As originally envisioned this is Magneto and the Brotherhood and Xavier and the School for Gifted Youngsters. So, they count.

The operative word in workplace rivalry is rivalry. It comes from the Latin, riv6672. 🙂

LOL Hal/Sinestro as "workplace dispute"! Makes it sound like Sinestro was pissed off with Hal because he borrowed his pencil sharpener and forgot to return it!

Originally posted by wuleecat
LOL Hal/Sinestro as "workplace dispute"! Makes it sound like Sinestro was pissed off with Hal because he borrowed his pencil sharpener and forgot to return it!

Originally posted by riv6672
Antagonists are people a group of people or institutions that represent the opposition against which the protagonist must contend.
As originally envisioned this is Magneto and the Brotherhood and Xavier and the School for Gifted Youngsters. So, they count.

The operative word in workplace rivalry is rivalry. It comes from the Latin, riv6672. 🙂

Here my friend, I found a very technical an obscure site that refutes your tight definition of an antagonist: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antagonist

They even use the world "rivalry" on it.

But what do I know right? English is not my first language, obviously you win 👆

Originally posted by riv6672
How ELSE do you think Sinestro gets his mustache so pointy??? 😉

😄

Originally posted by Bentley
But what do I know right? English is not my first language, obviously you win 👆

Originally posted by riv6672
Well since you're putting words in my mouth to make it seem i'm trying to put you down, i guess i do win? 🤨

Easiest win ever!

Can't you accept victory without kicking a man while he's down? ahah

There you go putting words in my mouth again. Or rather my foot in your ribs. 😂

I honestly wouldn't consider Xavier and Magneto to fit the bill, really. Not always anyway. Their relationship veers wildly from trying to kill each other to homosexual tension at times, so it's hard to classify them properly, imo.

Though you covered that in the op, so...

You really get homosexual tension from those two?
I always got more of a dirty old man vibe from them. Both have gone after way younger women...

You know, I can't go around pretending I give a sh_t about X-men characters 😎

Originally posted by DarkSaint85
A lot of these guys aren't truly villains, at least in recent memory. Loki and Thor work together, Ares was a bona fide Avenger and Magneto was part of the X men

Again, what's a true villain in this day and age? The kids want to see Sabretooth leading the Avengers and Carnage dating Mary Jane, we cannot disappoint the kids.

Edit:

Originally posted by riv6672
You really get homosexual tension from those two?
I always got more if a dirty old man vibe from them. Both have gone after way younger women...

Now Frank Miller has to write those two.

Originally posted by riv6672
You really get homosexual tension from those two?
I always got more of a dirty old man vibe from them. Both have gone after way younger women...

It goes both ways. It veers between them, etc.

Haha you said they go both ways! 😆

abhi and carver 😛

What about Batman and the Joker? I always thought they had something of a yin/yang psychology going, almost a sense of ... mutual "ownership"? Eg...

"Nobody kills the Bat but me!"
-- Mr. J

Wolverine and Sabertooth fits this thread to a tee.