History Main / BackToBackBadasses

* Characters/{{Superman|TheCharacter}} and Characters/{{Batman|TheCharacter}} [[https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-6f5bc809274cc40c02da3f7e727bb75c.webp gloriously do it]] in ''ComicBook/PublicEnemies''. Completed with CasualDangerDialogue.

** Characters/MarvelComicsPeterParker Spider-Man]] and his fellow street hero [[Characters/MarvelComicsMattMurdock Daredevil]] can always [[https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQUPRyyPpBf0Yrywrj-OW9c5HLCvr-hle67Dw&usqp=CAU pull this off]], even [[https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSQgMkqUlV7Cmki4qPQzxo3DMbJpJIJdcno9w&usqp=CAU upside]] down.

* In one of the most memorable moments of ''Film/XxXReturnOfXanderCage'', Adele and Serena are this in the most literal way imaginable during the final shootout, going GunsAkimbo on the mercs like they never did anything else in their lives.

* Batman and Robin. The [[Series/Batman1966 Adam West and Burt Ward version]] especially loved this trope. (To the point that this was referred to then used, though slightly subverted, in Blankman.)

** In season 8, [[spoiler:[[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Carolina]], [[OnlySaneMan Wash]], [[TheNeidermeyer Sarge]], [[ProfessionalButtKisser Simmons]], [[ButtMonkey Grif]], [[AmbiguouslyGay Donut]], [[LovableSexManiac Tucker]], and [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass Caboose]] do this against an army of Tex drones.]]

** Zuko and Iroh also do it while preparing to [[strike: face off against]] [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome lay the smackdown on half a dozen seasoned earthbenders.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'': In "Prisoners of Love," [[EnemyMine Danny and Skulker]] against Walker's prison guards.
** Also occurs briefly in "Pirate Radio," with Danny and Dash battling a group of... well, pirate ghosts.

* Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'' in the episode "Tag Sale -- You're It!" Dr. Orpheus tries to invoke this when the villains run amok at Dr. Venture's yard sale. Venture, however, wants no part of the chaos and goes inside his house.

* ''Manhwa/TheBreaker'': Chun Woo and Shiho in the Koa Tower fight.

* ''Manhua/RavagesOfTime'':
** Liaoyuan Huo and Lu Bu teamed up to kill Dong Zhuo, who was one step ahead and ambushed them with a izable force, plus two skilled assassins. By the time reinforcements arrive, all the ambushers are dead.
** Liaoyun Huo and Sun Ce faced off an army back to back. [[spoiler:Or rather, Liaoyuan Huo and 'Sun Ce', a.k.a. Ling Cao.]]
** Gan Ning and Huang Zhong against about 5 very pissed off elite generals of Sun clan. And Huang Zhong gets them both out of it with some helps from the sideline and the spirit of camaraderie.

* Xing and Tarras from ''Manhwa/WitchHunter'' pull this when they are surrounded by townsfolk being controlled by a Witch.

[[folder:Music]]
* DJ Format, "3 Feet Deep": "Back to back in a pose similar to Jean-Claude" (Van Damme).
* The band, Underdog sings about this in their song, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "Back to Back,"]] both metaphorically and literally.
* The former quote at the top of the page comes from a Music/PrettyMaids song, appropriately titled "Back to Back" (which has been covered by Music/{{Hammerfall}}).

[[folder:Pinballs]]
* The backbox translite for Creator/SternPinball's ''[[Pinball/IronManStern Iron Man]]'' shows Iron Man and War Machine in this pose.

[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]
* Former nemeses Wrestling/EddieKingston and [[Wrestling/LarrySweeney "Sweet N Sour" Larry Sweeney]] in the ring during the brawl at the start of the Torneo Cibernetico between Team Wrestling/{{CHIKARA}}[[note]]Kingston/Sweeney[=/=]Wrestling/{{UltraMantis Black}}[=/=]Wrestling/MikeQuackenbush[=/=]Wrestling/{{Jigsaw|Wrestling}}[=/=]Wrestling/{{Hallowicked}}[=/=]Wrestling/{{Icarus|Wrestling}}[=/=][[Wrestling/ShaneStorm STIGMA]][[/note]]-Wrestling/DieBruderschaftDesKreuzes[[note]]Ares[=/=]Wrestling/ClaudioCastagnoli[=/=]Wrestling/{{Tursas}}[=/=]Wrestling/PinkieSanchez[=/=]Tim Donst[=/=]Wrestling/SaraDelRey[=/=]Wrestling/DaizeeHaze[=/=][[Wrestling/HunterJohnston Delirious]][[/note]] at ''CHIKARA The Dark [=Ciberknetico=]'', October 23, 2010.

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* In ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' there are is [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=78968 a pair of samurai brothers]] (click in the "Other variations" to see the other card) in the Kamigawa block, who when played at the same time gain bonuses to attack and defence because they are fighting back to back.
* In the Polish RPG ''TabletopGame/{{Neuroshima}}'', there is a system of friendship, with one of the highest levels being named "Let's stand back to back and pull out the guns".
* In the ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' backstory, before [[MessianicArchetype the Emperor]] and his [[TrulySingleParent "son"]] [[SatanicArchetype Horus]] [[CallingTheOldManOut had a falling out]] (resulting in a galaxy-wide civil war) they invoked this when ambushed at Reillis.
* In ''[[TabletopGame/IronKingdoms Warmachine]]'', the Great Bears of Gallowswood from [[GloriousMotherRussia Khador]] are a trio of survivors/good buddies who stick back to back to back and slam into the enemy like a wrecking ball of death.

** Odd example here: In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade'', there are two characters, Dart (a Pirate/Berserker) and Geitz (a Warrior), who're like SwornBrothers, and also two of the strongest characters in the game. On the overworld map, if you place them adjacent to one another, their sprites are back-to-back. Whether or not this was intentional or pure coincidence isn't clear.

** Odd example here: In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade'', there are two characters, Dart (a Pirate/Berserker) and Geitz (a Warrior), who're like BloodBrothers, and also two of the strongest characters in the game. On the overworld map, if you place them adjacent to one another, their sprites are back-to-back. Whether or not this was intentional or pure coincidence isn't clear.

** In the anime of the Namek saga, [[https://pm1.narvii.com/5905/34721283b524f2ca8518872538578eadc60fc575_hq.jpg Goku and Frieza do this]] in the middle of their fight with each other.

** Spidey and his fellow street hero Characters/{{Daredevil|MattMurdock}} can always [[https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQUPRyyPpBf0Yrywrj-OW9c5HLCvr-hle67Dw&usqp=CAU pull this off]], even [[https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSQgMkqUlV7Cmki4qPQzxo3DMbJpJIJdcno9w&usqp=CAU upside]] down.

* In ''ComicBook/{{Thunderbolts}}'', the Thunderbolts and [[Characters/SpiderManPeterParker Spider-Man]] were together when a villain tried to [[BrainwashedAndCrazy take over]] their minds. Only Mach-1 and Spider-Man fought off the control, and had to fight as Back To Back Badasses. (A severe shock for Mach-1, who [[HeelFaceTurn found]] that after that, he could not frame Spider-Man for murder.)

** When they aren't at each other's throats, [[Characters/MarvelComicsCyclops Cyclops]] and Characters/{{Wolverine|JamesLoganHowlett}} [[https://i.pinimg.com/originals/3f/b9/05/3fb905cdab9b5aa32cecb95c4b64ce1f.jpg pull this off spectacularly]].

** Characters/{{Deadpool|WadeWilson}} and Characters/{{Cable|NathanSummers}} do this frequently, often lampshaded.

** [[http://community.fortunecity.ws/lavendar/hellraiser/638/Group/Group07.jpg Vegeta and Goku]] can always pull this off, taken [[ExaggeratedTrope Up to Eleven]] [[https://d.newsweek.com/en/full/1206366/dragon-ball-super-broly-goku-vegeta.jpg?w=1600&h=1600&q=88&f=44c705b1d6c073a8a2da2e5d7da779dd during their combined attack]] in ''Anime/DragonBallSuperBroly''.

** Gohan and Videl [[https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcREI8afeIl9cQGs11SbtehFBwGCkLJNLoCwjQ&usqp=CAU do this]] in ''Anime/DragonBallZWrathOfTheDragon'' as part of their Superhero BattleCouple routine. In ''VideoGame/DragonBallFighterZ'' [[https://gfycat.com/selfreliantornatecowrie they do it as part of their combined attacks together]].

* DigimonFrontier: The Royal Knights do this on their debut. The Digidestined run around them to try to catch them off guard while the two knights stand calmly together, casually taking them down when the digidestined attack.

** Franchise/{{Superman}} and Franchise/{{Batman}} in ''WesternAnimation/SupermanBatmanPublicEnemies''
** ''WesternAnimation/SupermanBatmanApocalypse'': Franchise/WonderWoman and Big Barda while fighting the Female Furies.

* Subverted (kind of) in the film ''Film/StuckOnYou''. Walt and Bob get into a bar fight and use this method to defeat a much larger group in a decidedly badass action scene. They're conjoined twins attached at the hip, so they were not truly back-to-back and weren't really given a choice about how to fight.

* ''Series/{{Willow}}:'' Kit and Elora do this so they can keep watch on Airk and the Gales, but because both of them want to talk to Airk they keep having to awkwardly spin around so the other one can have their turn facing him.

* ''WesternAnimation/LegionOfSuperHeroes'' had Timber Wolf and Lightning Lad do this in the second episode against [[EvilutionaryBiologist Dr. Londo's]] robots and mutated animals. They ended up switching battle partners with Lightning Lad taking care of the robots and Timber Wolf dealing with the animals.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/ThunderCats2011'' episode "Old Friends" Captains Grune and Panthro do this while quite unfazed by the long odds against them on a battlefield full of their [[{{Lizardfolk}} Lizard]] enemies

Obviously invokes the ConservationOfNinjitsu. Contrast BadassBack. Geometrical opposite of MexicanStandoff. May overlap with BackToBackPoster and BadassMindsThinkAlike.

* ''Franchise/SpiderMan'':

** Shockingly Spidey and his ArchEnemy [[Characters/MarvelComicsNormanOsborn Green Goblin]] [[https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcREpO6cu2kgwT3xfMPRMefZVHDFkkqxF6_2IA&usqp=CAU do this]] in #850 of ''ComicBook/TheAmazingSpiderManNickSpencer'', [[TeethClenchedTeamwork Peter hates every second of it]].

* Creator/JohnWoo's ''Film/TheKiller'' had the titular assassin and his maverick cop ally fighting back to back against an army of bad guys during the final shootout at the church.

* [[VideoGame/{{Metroid}} Samus]] and [[RememberTheNewGuy Anthony Higgs]] do this in one trailer for ''VideoGame/MetroidOtherM''.