History Main / LancerVsDragon

* ''Manga/{{Doraemon}}'' movies have the titular robot cat as Nobita's lancer, and he gets to face the dragon in a couple of his movies:

* ''Film/ThePrincessBride'': Inigo Montoya mentions to Wesley that he's seeking a six-fingered man who murdered his father when Inigo was a child; they separately learn that the killer is Count Rugan, Prince Humperdinck's personal torturer. When they infiltrate the castle during Humperdinck's wedding, Inigo pursues Rugan and, following a hard-fought duel, finally kills him and avenges his father.

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': The final episode showcases a climactic battle between Zuko, the show's deuteragonist, and Azula, his villainous sister who serves as the secondary villain of the final season. When he falls, the show's original Lancer, Katara, steps up to finish the job.

* ''Film/TheKiller'' ends its infamous [[BloodstainedGlassWindows Church shootout]] with Ah Jong, the hero, pursuing main villain Wong Hoi who had Jenny at gunpoint, as Jong's lancer Li Ying takes on Wong's dragon Paul. After swapping some lead, the lancer emerged victorious in time to interrupt a standoff between Ah Jong and Wong Hoi by holding Paul's head at gunpoint, only for Wong to pull a YouHaveFailedMe by shooting Paul over his failure.

* ''Manga/FairyTail'' largely averts this, with [[TheBigGuy Erza Scarlet]] instead being typically the one to take down the arc villain's Dragon, but the Tenrou Island arc plays it straight, with Grey Fullbuster being the one to defeat Ultear Milkovich, one of Hades' CoDragons.

** During the final battle of ''Film/BlackPanther'', [[TheLancer General Okoye]] has to fight her former lover W'Kabi, who has become TheDragon to [[BigBad Erik Killmonger]].

Compare TheHeart versus TheDarkChick variant (DesignatedGirlFight if both are female).

** ''Series/KamenRiderDrive'' features an inversion. It's [[TheLancer Gou]] (and Chase) who fight the BigBad [[spoiler:who Gou shares a [[ArchnemesisDad personal connection]] with]] while [[TheHero Shinnosuke]] (and [[spoiler:Heart]]) deal with his [[DragonInChief ultimate creation]], Sigma Circular.
** ''Series/KamenRiderBuild'': After becoming [[BigBad Evolt]]'s top henchman and getting his own Rider form, Utsumi has multiple fights with [[TheLancer Ryuga Banjo]].

This trope happens when TheLancer and TheDragon of a story face off against each other in a direct fight. Since they're not the focus of the story it can happen almost any time, although if it occurs during the climax, expect to see their fight interspersed with the main showdown between the hero and villain. Also, since both characters lack the superior PlotArmor of protagonist and antagonist, their duel can be more suspenseful since neither is guaranteed to survive. It often occurs as a part of TheRestShallPass scenario, especially in cases when it happens several times until only the hero remains. In such instances, it is almost guaranteed the Lancer and the Dragon will be the last ones left behind before the hero confronts the big bad.

Contrast with ItsPersonalWithTheDragon where the hero is the one who is fighting the Dragon.

** In the FinalBattle of ''Series/NinpuuSentaiHurricaneger'', [[spoiler:the Hurricanegers and the Gouraigers fight the Seven Dark Spears one last time. [[TheLeader HurricaneRed]] fights Sandaaru, the leader of the Spears and TheDragon overall, while [[TheLancer KabutoRaiger]] fights ''his'' Dragons Sargain and Satarakura.]]

* ''Film/UltramanZeroTheRevengeOfBelial'' has the titular Ultra fighting Belial in the climax, while Zero's new friends, Mirror Knight and Jean-Bot, fights Belial's CoDragons, Iaron and Darkgone, in that order.

* ''ComicBook/StarWarsMarvel2015'': During the "Hope Dies" arc, this happens between Darth Vader, the Emperor's cruel right hand, and Han Solo, Luke Skywalker's roguish comrade. After the Rebel fleet got caught up in a trap, with all of their X-Wings trapped on their cruisers unable to lift off, it's up to Han in the Millennium Falcon to confront Vader's TIE fighter on a solitary Main/OldSchoolDogfight.

** Played straight in ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'', as [[BigBad Ronan]]'s CoDragons Nebula and Korath are fought by [[TheLancer Gamora]] and [[TheBigGuy Drax]] respectively during the final battle.

* ''Videogame/CrashBandicoot3Warped'': N. Gin, the boss of the fourth warp room, is the BigBad's most loyal minion and a tech genius. Since battling him would require knowledge of how to pilot a space ship, Coco steps up to fight in Crash's place, as she is far more intelligent than the protagonist.

* ''Anime/DoraemonNobitaAndTheSpaceHeroes'': Despite his insistence to be the BigGood, Doraemon spends most of the film playing second fiddle to the ''actual'' main protagonist, Nobita, filling in the lancer position, and the climax have him battling Ikaros' dragon, Hyde in a frenetic chase sequence. Interestingly, ''both'' the lancer and dragon in this film are {{Leader Wannabe}}s, which seems to be intentional.

Compare TheChick versus TheDarkChick variant (DesignatedGirlFight).

Compare TheChick versus TheDarkChick variant (DesignatedGirlFight). See also SideCharactersReoccurringFoe, which is when this sort of conflict can happen between any two characters who aren't TheHero or the BigBad, and it happens more than once, not specifically at the climax.

* ''Manga/OnePiece'': Zoro is often pitted against the first mate of enemy crews or the right-hand man of non-pirate groups, particularly in the first half of the series. The most egregious examples are Cabaji in the Orange Town arc, Hatchan in Arlong Park arc, Mr. 1/Daz Bonez in the Alabasta arc, Ohm in the Skypiea arc, and Kaku during the Enies Lobby arc; all generally considered the second most dangerous of their groups.

Compare TheChick versus TheDarkChick variant (DesignatedGirlFight).

* ''Manga/OnePiece'': Zoro is often pitted against the first mate of enemy crews, particularly in the first half of the series. The most egregious examples being Cabaji in the Orange Town arc, Hatchan in Arlong Park arc, Mr. 1/Daz Bonez in the Alabasta arc, Ohm in the Skypiea arc, and Kaku during the Enies Lobby arc; all generally considered the second most dangerous of their groups.

* ''Manga/OnePiece'': Zoro is often pitted against the first mate of enemy crews, particularly in the first half of the series. The most egregious examples being Cabaji in the Orange Town arc, Hatchen in Arlong Park arc, Mr. 1/Daz Bonez in the Alabasta arc, Ohm in the Skypeia arc, and Kaku during the Enies Lobby. All generally considered the second most dangerous of their groups.