History Main / RudeHeroNiceSidekick

* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}''. DependingOnTheWriter, common in the [[{{Batman}} Bat Clan]] (and surrounding).

* ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'': Guts is a NominalHero, and initially a NinetiesAntiHero, who is deliberately callous and mean to anyone who tries to make friends with him, [[JerkassFacade partly for their own good]]. Puck, his FairyCompanion, is a cheerful soul with a strong moral compass, often criticizing Guts for antagonizing people and acting as his MoralityChain whether he admits it or not.

* Spike started off as this to Twilight Sparkle the grumpy antisocial pony in ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' prior to the latter's CharacterDevelopment.

* In ''Videogame/HelpTheHero'':

* When Sazh and Lightning travel together at the beginning of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'', he serves as a PluckyComicRelief to her stoic grimness.

* In Film/{{Maleficent}}, Maleficent is the anti hero who curses an infant to fall into an eternal coma on her sixteenth birthday, while Diaval serves Maleficent because he owes his life to her, and is actually very fond of the infant Maleficent cursed. [[spoiler: Maleficent eventually comes to like the kid, too, and tries to remove the curse.]]

* ''Film/SkyHigh2005'': All the "hero" kids were obnoxious stuck up {{Jerk Jock}}s. All the kids relegated to "{{sidekick}}" were fairly decent (until Will got some AcquiredSituationalNarcissism upon becoming a hero).
* In Film/{{Maleficent}}, Maleficent is the anti hero who curses an infant to fall into an eternal coma on her sixteenth birthday, while Diaval serves Maleficent because he owes his life to her, and is actually very fond of the infant Maleficent cursed. [[spoiler: Maleficent eventually comes to like the kid, too, and tries to remove the curse.]]

* Many incarnations of Dr. John Watson in the Literature/SherlockHolmes stories. It's particularly notable in ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'', which plays up Holmes' personal dysfunction.

* In ''Literature/TheWitling'', Yoninne and Ajão have this dynamic. At first, young and hotheaded Yoninne, who swears like a sailor, has to make heroic efforts just to be cordial to the natives of Giri, almost all of whom are medieval {{psychic|Powers}} supremacists capable of killing her on a whim. It's down to sheer luck that she doesn't end up getting casually murdered, while her partner, the old and frail Ajão, relies more on diplomacy and intelligence to avoid an untimely death.

* In ''BlazbluePhaseShift'', the nice and caring Celica plays the nice sidekick to the sardonic and rude hero Bloodedge.
* ''Literature/DiaryOfAWimpyKid'': Greg is the rude and jerky protagonist, while his best friend/sidekick Rowley is more cheerful and innocent (and constantly taken advantage of by Greg).

* In ''Series/HouseMD'', Dr. Wilson and Dr. House have this dynamic; House is a {{Jerkass}} who very rarely shows anything other than total disdain for others' feelings and is only interested in the puzzles presented by their medical cases, while Wilson is an oncologist (a doctor specializing in cancer) who makes a habit of caring ''too much'' for his patients and his friends. They rarely work together, but are best friends, and House often uses Wilson to bounce ideas off of when he's stumped on a case. Appropriately, the characters of House and Wilson are based on [[Literature/SherlockHolmes Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson]], who are also an example--note the similarity in their names (House/Holmes, Wilson/Watson).
* ''Series/{{Galavant}}'': At the start of the series Galavant is arrogant, standoffish, and heartbroken. His squire, Sid, is much more affable and approachable despite being a ServileSnarker.

%%* Otacon in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid''. This is particularly evident before Snake [[DefrostingIceQueen defrosts]]. '''ZCE'''
%%** In-universe, Otacon does all the talking with their then-unknown sponsors in MGS2.
* When Sazh and Lightning travel together at the beginning of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'', he serves as a PluckyComicRelief to her stoic grimness.
* ''VideoGame/KingOfFighters''. The cheerful Kula and the mature, soft-spoken Maxima plays nice sidekicks to the AntiHero K'.

* Inverted in the ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooie'' series. Banjo is easygoing, wise, friendly, peaceful, and polite. He hardly ever insults anyone (and when he does, he usually apologizes). His sidekick, Kazooie, on the other hand, is rude, sassy, hot-tempered, slightly egotistical, and frequently provokes and insults others. This may be because almost everyone she met has insulted her in some way. [[note]] For example, Bottles called her Banjo's "strange friend" and asked if she could talk, and Mumbo Jumbo called her the "Filthy Feathered one".[[/note]]
* In ''Videogame/HelpTheHero'':
** The Hero (Count Thrashwood): A bit egotistical, but also a bit dim. He thinks he can do no wrong and that everyone else was put on this earth to admire or worship him. Add in a lot of narcissism about his good looks, and you've got, well... picture Prince Charming from Shrek, but give him some combat skills.
** The Sidekick (Percival): Aside from a few snarky retorts, he's the everyman we're supposed to identify with. He does the grunt work, but also does the strategic thinking during the preparation for battle (what are the monsters weaknesses that Thrashwood can exploit?).

* While more of an AntiHero, space captain Zapp Branigan from ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' is a {{Jerkass}}, while his co-pilot, the alien Kif Kroker is a SensitiveGuy.
* Spike started off as this to Twilight Sparkle the grumpy antisocial pony in ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' prior to the latter's CharacterDevelopment.
* ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyTest'': Johnny is an AnnoyingYoungerSibling who [[NiceJobBreakingItHero breaks it]] OnceAnEpisode, though his more reasonable sidekick dog Dukey tries to get him to avoid doing so (and usually fails).

* ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain'': The Brain is an InsufferableGenius who is mean and condescending to everyone, while Pinky is a MinionWithAnFInEvil who still likes and admires Brain, no matter how much abuse he gets from him.

* ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'': Eddy is the arrogant, hot-tempered leader and his two sidekicks are: Ed, a KindheartedSimpleton, and Edd, a sensitive guy who tries to be the voice of reason.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'': Barney is the easygoing best friend/sidekick to the more aggressive protagonist Fred Flintstone.
* ''WesternAnimation/DanVs'': Dan is a mean and short-tempered AntiHero, in contrast to his ExtremeDoormat sidekick Chris.

* ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck'' is a JerkWithAHeartOfGold who has "an ego the size of a small planet" and is prone to being dismissive towards people, especially if he feels they're being stupid or stealing his spotlight. His sidekick[=/=]HeterosexualLifePartner Launchpad [=McQuack=] is friendly if somewhat of a ditz. [[JustifiedTrope Launchpad and Gosalyn were meant to "ground" Darkwing and keep him in check.]]

* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40K'' has its usual twisted take on this: AxCrazy BloodKnight Kharn the Betrayer serves as his Primarch's cooler-headed sidekick in canon. The guy who kills his own men if he misses against the enemy, who believes " "Attack!" is the only order worth remembering", who gained his title after slaughtering both his men and the enemy for not fighting hard enough... Used to be the one with the better temper.

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* Otacon in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid''. This is particularly evident before Snake [[DefrostingIceQueen defrosts]]. '''ZCE'''
** In-universe, Otacon does all the talking with their then-unknown sponsors in MGS2.

* Inverted in the ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooie'' series. Banjo is easygoing, wise, friendly, peaceful, and polite. He hardly ever insults anyone (and when he does, he usually apologizes). His sidekick, Kazooie, on the other hand, is rude, sassy, hot-tempered, slightly egotistical, and frequently provokes and insults others. This may be because almost everyone she met has insulted her in some way. [[note]] For example, Bottles called her Banjo's "strange friend" and asked if she could talk, and Mumbo Jumbo called her the "Filthy Feathered one".

* While more of an AntiHero, space captain Zapp Branigan from ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' is a Jerkass, while his co-pilot, the alien Kif Kroker is a SensitiveGuy.

* ''WesternAnimation/DanVs: Dan is a mean and short-tempered AntiHero, in contrast to his ExtremeDoormat sidekick Chris.

* While more of an AntiHero, space captain Zapp Branigan from ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' is a JerkJock, while his co-pilot, the alien Kif Kroker is a SensitiveGuy.

* ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyTest'' is an AnnoyingYoungerSibling who [[NiceJobBreakingItHero breaks it]] OnceAnEpisode, though his more reasonable sidekick dog Dukey tries to get him to avoid doing so (and usually fails).

* ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain''. The Brain is an InsufferableGenius who is mean and condescending to everyone, while Pinky is a MinionWithAnFInEvil who still likes and admires Brain, no matter how much abuse he gets from him.

* Season One ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' has Steven as this to the Crystal Gems, all of whom are kind of dismissive of the humans. Amethyst is a rude prankster. Pearl disdains them, and Garnet just thinks they have more important things to do than coddle humans, and doesn't mince words telling them so. Steven, like his mother Rose, is compassionate and sweet and wants everyone to get along, so smooths over the Gems' brusqueness with humans to a point. The Gems have gone through CharacterDevelopment by Season Two, and so has Steven. So he's less a sidekick and they're a little more tolerant of humans.

* ''Film/SkyHigh2005'': All the "hero" kids were obnoxious stuck up {{Jerk Jock}}s. All the kids relegated to "{{sidekick}}" were fairly decent (until Will did kind of a FaceHeelTurn upon becoming a hero).

* In the ''Literature/GentlemanBastard'' series, the protagonist, Locke Lamora, is a fairly amoral character who is characterized as being somewhat obnoxious and [[TooCleverByHalf letting his cleverness and tongue get ahead of him]]. His best friend and "sidekick", Jean Tannen, is a GeniusBruiser who is generally polite and friendly unless roused, and while still a con artist, is overall more moral.

* ''Film/SkyHigh'': All the "hero" kids were obnoxious stuck up {{Jerk Jock}}s. All the kids relegated to "{{sidekick}}" were fairly decent (until Will did kind of a FaceHeelTurn upon becoming a hero).

* In ''Literature/TheWitling'', Yoninne and Ajão have this dynamic. At first, young and hotheaded Yoninne, who swears like a sailor, has to make heroic efforts just to be cordial to the natives of Giri, almost all of whom are medieval {{psychic|Powers}} supremacists capable of killing her on a whim. It's down to sheer luck that she doesn't end up getting casually murdered, while her partner, the old and frail Ajão, relies more on diplomacy and intelligence to avoid an untimely death.

* ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'': At least initially, [[ChessmasterSidekick Armin]] is more gentle and compassionate compared to Eren's hate-fueled kill-everything mentality.

''DAN004 wuz ere takin over ur druft''

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