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[[quoteright:300:[[JusticeLeagueOfAmerica http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/designated-girl-fight_justice-league_9904.jpg]]]]

->"''Hey, can someone explain to me why I'm always fighting skanky chicks who fly? I mean, Sabine, Samantha, Tsukiko... I bet even the druid's hawk was some sort of a bird-hussy. I should take a level of ranger so I can choose Favored Enemy (Airborne Tramp).''"
-->-- '''Haley''', ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0518.html #518]]

%% One quote is sufficient. Please place additional entries on the quotes tab.

An unspoken version of WouldntHitAGirl, when there's a team with one ActionGirl, and there's [[TheSmurfettePrinciple one female opponent among several men]], the two will always take care of each other. She might take out one of the guys, too, but the men will keep to themselves. It's not universal enough to list aversions, but it's definitely noticeable.

Essentially, when the Hero needs to fight a girl, he must get a Pinch Hitter to take his spot. Sometimes the Hero's girlfriend gets this as her role. Often the job of TheChick in the FiveManBand is to smack the [[TheDarkChick supervillainess]] around, essentially becoming the team's Designated Hitter for all female villains.

If one girl is the [[EvilCounterpart morality-reversed equivalent of the other]], the odds are increased exponentially.

This tends to be the end result of a basically gendered aspect of many superheroes: male superheros tend to have a generally male RoguesGallery, while superheroines tend to have [[MonogenderMonsters female villains]]. Thus, a LegionOfDoom team-up tends to be fought along gender lines.

Might lead to a CatFight, but more often nowadays the fight is otherwise played seriously. Compare CounterpartCombatCoordination.

----
!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: {{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]
* The Angewomon/[=LadyDevimon=] catfight in ''Anime/DigimonAdventure'' comes to mind. Though in this case, it's more Angewomon wanted to take [=LadyDevimon=] out herself and rebuked anyone who tried to help, and [=LadyDevimon=] was Piemon's [[TheDragon Dragon]]. The fight was later repeated in ''Anime/DigimonAdventure02'', with this [=LadyDevimon=] serving Daemon instead.
* In ''Anime/DigimonFrontier'', Izumi has the most fights against Ranamon, and Ranamon was her ''only'' kill and scan in the entire series.
* Averted in ''Anime/DigimonSavers''. Kurata assembles a team of PsychoRangers to fight the main PowerTrio, but the female members of each don't battle each other. Instead, [[TheDarkChick Nanami]] takes on fellow TeenGenius Touma and [[TheChick Yoshino]] faces her StalkerWithACrush Ivan. In fact, Nanami and Yoshino had almost no interaction at all during the series, unusual in that this was the ''Digimon'' iteration in which {{fanservice}} started being a thing that regularly happens.
* Semi-played in ''Anime/DigimonXrosWars'' - Mervamon was one of two Digimon present for the final fight against Lilithmon, but she was working together with Beelzebumon for the entire fight, and he's the one who [[TakingYouWithMe takes Lilithmon out]].
* ''[[KenichiTheMightiestDisciple History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi]]'':
** Played straight, mostly because of Kenichi's WouldntHitAGirl honor.
** [[SexyMentor Shigure Kousaka]] has had several several fights versus female opponents, including against Yami's [[LadyOfWar Mikumo Kushinada]].
** Mostly subverted in "the protection of the swords" arc and "the american base" arc.
* In the Kyoto Arc of ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'':
** The men are sent off to Shishio's lair, while the rest of the gang stays behind - and are subsequently attacked by the rest of the Ten Swords. Since the show lacks a variety of villainesses, Kaoru and Misao get their first and pretty much only real fight against Kamatari... a crossdresser.
** Weirdly, the trope was almost not-followed-by-the-letter back then. Okina's division of enemies at first had Kaoru and Yahiko assigned to face Hen-ya, and Misao would face Kamatari alone. But then some insults from both parties reassembled them to what it ended up as. In fact, the original division would've made far more sense, as letting a novice swordsman such as Yahiko to fight by himself is not a good idea in any way...
* Part of the new footage in the ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'' CompilationMovie includes a fight between [[ActionGirl Yoko]] and [[DarkActionGirl Adiane]] outside of their [[HumongousMecha Ganmen]], most of which Yoko spends sporting GodivaHair and culminating in Yoko somehow [[HairyHammerspace hiding a pistol in her hair scrunchie]].
* In ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'': out of twenty competitors in the Chuunin exams, six were female. Sakura and Ino, past rivals, fought each other, as did [[SatelliteCharacter Tenten]] and [[BlowYouAway Temari.]] Averted with Hinata (who faced Neji) and Kin (who faced Shikamaru). Though it should be noted that in the absence of a female hero, [[RunningGag Shikamaru will always ends up fighting the female villains.]] Also averted in Part II outside of fillers.
** The ''Naruto'' movies seem to avert this, especially the early ones. In the first one, Sakura and Sasuke collaborated into blowing up a female-male duo, while in the second movie, Naruto, Sakura, Shikamaru, Kankuro and Gaara faced three female villains (whom they killed.. quite gruesomely). Played straight in the third movie, where Sakura fights the only female villain in the film.
* In ''ShamanKing'', it is noticeable that one of the two all-girl teams, Hao's Hanagumi (Team Flowers), fights two battles against three females- once against Anna, Tamao, and Jun, and another against the team "Magical Princess".
* In ''Manga/PokemonSpecial'', this doesn't extend to sanctioned matches, such as gym battles, but against bad guys, yup, girls tend to match up with each other. If genders don't match up in those ultimate battles against good and evil, that's just because the gender ratio isn't evened out as many girls will paired up against each other, and whoever is left gets to fight a guy.
** [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in [[Anime/{{Pokemon}} Pokemon Best Wishes]] with Pidove VS Snivy. Snivy (female) had been stopping all of Ash's attempts to capture it by using Attract on all of his pokemon. Then out comes Pidove, whose gender Ash was unaware of, and ''she'' proved immune to Attract due to also being female. It's a DesignatedGirlFight since Pidove was the only pokemon able to fight Snivy.
* In ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'':
** Matsumoto and [[spoiler:Hinamori]] fight against Harribel's all female group of fraccion. When [[EccentricMentor Yamamoto]] fought them, they [[FusionDance combined to form]] [[OneWingedAngel a giant, not-at-all-female monster.]]
** Let's not forget that Yoruichi fought Soi Fon (one of two female captains in a group of 13). Orihime fought a female hollow to protect Tatsuki, while all the other boys fought male hollows, though the thing wasn't especially feminine looking.
** Averted later when Toshiro fights Harribel and Soi Fon, Baraggan. Ishida also fought Cirucci.
** Played straight in the Substitute Shinigami Arc, [[spoiler:with Rukia facing Riruka.]]
** And averted in the Vandereich arc: [[spoiler: Bambietta fights Komamura, Soifon fights a male Vandereich and Rangiku tag-teams with Toshirot to fight another male.]]
* In ''GunXSword'', the first time we see Fasalina in action Carmen is the only one around to fight her, this is turns into a challenge so that Carmen is always looking for Fasalina, conveniently pairing them in fights.
* In ''{{Hellsing}}'': Seras Victoria kills Jessica, the ''female'' vampire in volume one, then she fights Zorin Blitz in a big battle. Although later it seems she was going to battle [[spoiler:the Captain]], that fight ended up more [[spoiler:about Pip vs Captain with him giving the deadly blow.]]
** [[spoiler: Well, Pip did deliver the final blow, but that's it. Unless guiding Seras during her duel with the captain counted as doing something.]]
* Semi-averted in ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist''. Riza Hawkeye is the only female member of Mustang's team and Lust is Father's only daughter, so naturally an altercation between the two occurs. However, this isn't really a fight so much as Hawkeye redundantly shooting Lust repeatedly until Mustang comes along to finish things.
* Bizarrely [[PlayingWithATrope played with]] in OnePiece. When Ivankov is breaking out of Impel Down he's confronted with one of the wardens, [[TheSmurfettePrinciple the only female among them]]. In order to fight her, Iva uses his Devil Fruit powers to physically turn himself into a woman.
** Played with in the Baroque Works Saga - amongst the final team that fights the heroes, there are two girls. One of them, Miss Merrychristmas, is not exactly... ladylike. She, along with her partner, fights Chopper and Usopp. Miss Doublefinger, on the other hand, who is a typical DarkActionGirl, have a one-on-one fight with Nami.
** Zig-zagged in the CP 9 Saga: The CP 9 have one female member, [[spoiler:Kalifa]]. At first she fights Sanji - he is much stronger than her, but the fight still ends with obvious results, due to Sanji rather wanting to die than kicking a girl. A short while later she is pitted against Nami, and we get the straight example.
** Averted in the Punk Hazard arc. Monet, the female on Clown's team, fights male Zoro and female Tashigi together, with Zoro doing most of the work. This fight also contrasts him to Sanji - Sanji would have fallen over at once to Monet's sex appeal, while Zoro has no problems chopping her into tiny bits (luckily for her, she has a Devil Fruit preventing this from being fatal).
* In the FatalFury [[TheAnimeOfTheGame motion picture]], Mai Shiranui ''finally'' [[FauxActionGirl kicks her bad fighting luck aside]] as she faces Panni, the local DarkActionGirl, to help solve a HostageSituation. [[CurbStompBattle And totally curb-stomps her.]]
* In ''Manga/FairyTail'', most of Lucy's 1vs1-opponents are females (Shelly, the brainwashed Juvia, Angel, Flare), but she has also defeated males (Bixlow and Byro). Erza however fights usually against the strong ones (TheDragon guys), with a few of them being female (Ikaruga, Erza Knightwalker). The Daimatou Enbou plays this tropes straight where almost every female fights another female (Lucy vs Flare, Mirajane vs Jenny, Kagura vs Yukino, Wendy vs Chelia). It takes UpToEleven during the Naval Battle where six of seven participants are females and fighting in swimsuits. After that, there is ''Erza vs Kagura vs Minerva''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Comic Books]]
* At least once Comicbook/{{Superman}}, who won't hit a woman, has stepped aside and let WonderWoman take care of things.
* WonderWoman generally tends to have a more feminine RoguesGallery than most heroes, partially because of this trope.
* The ''JusticeLeague'' comics have the Crime Syndicate of America, an [[ThePsychoRangers evil version of the Justice league]] from a MirrorUniverse. In their first (Pre-Crisis) battle in the comics, the authors mostly avoid the common cliche of having the characters fight the mirror versions of themselves. The one exception is Superwoman, the evil counterpart of Wonder Woman, who fights Wonder Woman because they didn't want to show a man and woman fighting.
* They used it in ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'', which was particularly irritating since they're usually pretty aware of superhero tropes. The fact that one of the girls involved had a mind-controlled dinosaur makes it only slightly better. Granted, girls tend to outnumber guys on this team.
* Averted in Robert Rodi's ''Codename: Knockout'' series. Angela and Go-Go are fighting their British counterparts and losing... so they switch "dance partners".
* ''Comicbook/{{X-Men}}'':
** When the X-Men first fought AlphaFlight, Storm and Snowbird went at it, even though Storm's powers were a better match for Shaman's and Snowbird had more in common with {{Wolverine}}.
** Also, during a battle between the X-Men and Magneto's first Brotherhood of Mutants, Jean Grey was more than eager to fight against the Scarlet Witch, as the guys wouldn't fight her.
* The Marvel vs. DC/DC vs. Marvel miniseries had [[Comicbook/{{X-Men}} Storm]] fighting WonderWoman (the two most popular heroines in theri respective universes) and Electra fighting Catwoman (the two {{Femme Fatale}}s). It's averted, however, when teen heroes Robin and Jubilee are paired off, though he does manage to defeat her without hitting her.
* In the early issues of MaximumCarnage, Black Cat immediately went for Shriek when Team Venom found Team Carnage. Justified in that Shriek was likely the only one of the villains that the [[BadassNormal non-super-powered]] Black Cat would have had a chance in defeating.
* Archie's ''SonicTheHedgehog'' comics featured a mirror universe in which the Freedom Fighters were evil, and inevitably this led to a confrontation between them in one issue. Initially this fight seems to go this way, as Princess Sally fights her own EvilCounterpart, but the trope is quickly subverted when the heroes realize fighting a mirror image is difficult...so they [[RockPaperSwitch switch partners]]. Cue Sonic literally punching the evil Princess Sally in the jaw.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Fan Fic]]
* In the ''FanFic/TamersForeverSeries'' there is a brief battle between Rosemon and Sakuyamon. However this is actually [[JustifiedTrope justified]] as both these women are actually the most competant fighters in the area. (not including those who are borderline catatonic)
* In FanFic/UltimateReImaginings, [[spoiler: Emma and Natasha]] fight, although this is justified as the latter is trying to kill the former and aren't pulling punches.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Film]]
* In the final battle in ''HotFuzz'', Skinner's attack secretary is taken out by Doris, the one female police officer. This does not go without lampshading.
* ''Film/SupermanII'' has the evil Kryptonian woman Ursa getting punched out by Lois Lane (and apparently falling to her death) after getting depowered. Superman himself never hits her, even when she's as strong as he is.
* In ''Film/VanHelsing'', the female sidekick kills Dracula's last vampire bride, but does not get to kill Dracula, even though she was supposedly fated to do it.
* In ''Cradle2TheGrave'', Gabrielle Union fights Kelly "Lady Deathstrike" Hu.
* Jinx vs. Miranda Frost in ''Film/DieAnotherDay'', although the JamesBond series has featured occasions where Bond has fought and killed women.
* In ''Film/BatmanAndRobin'' the movie, Poison Ivy was reserved for Batgirl. She takes out both Robin and Batman with astonishing ease in her lair -- should Barbara not have butted in and become Batgirl all by herself, Poison Ivy [[NearVillainVictory would actually have won]].
* Averted in ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'', those who predicted the spoiler in advance were expecting a [[IncrediblyLamePun Catfight]] between [[spoiler:Talia Al Ghul]] and ComicBook/{{Catwoman}}, but it didn't happen.
* ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom'' has a Designated Kid Fight when Short Round takes on [[spoiler:the Maharajah]].
* In ''Film/GIJoeTheRiseOfCobra'' when Cobra invades GI Joe headquarters, redheaded Joe Scarlett has a brutal fight with TheBaroness.
* In ''DragonballEvolution'': Goku fights Piccolo alone while Bulma and Yamcha run to safety. Then, Yamcha disappears inexplicably while Bulma fights Piccolo's female minion Mai. This may be because there's no way Bulma could help Goku fight Piccolo, but there's also no way she'd stand a chance against Mai either ... at least, not the way [[FauxActionGirl she's been portrayed]].
* The older ''Dragon Ball: The Magic Begins'' averts this by having Pigsy shoot the henchwoman.
* ''Film/BulletproofMonk'' has one where ActionGirl Jade gets in a fight with TheDragon, who happens to be the Nazi villain's relative. It's Jaime King versus Victoria Smurfit; for a fight to the death, hotness ensues remarkably quickly.
* ''{{Push}}''. Cassie and the Triad girl fight. Double points since they had the same power as well.
* The fight between Evy and Anck-Su-Namun near the end of ''Film/TheMummyReturns''. The first film has a subversion, with Jonathan fighting Anck-Su-Namun. Although Evy and Anck-Su-Namun have significant history that would make them want to fight for personal reasons, and Evy is far more capable than Jonathan. It's less about not wanting to hit a girl and more about not getting your ass kicked by a girl.
* Subverted in ''ConanTheBarbarian''. It ''looks'' like this is going to happen, as Valeria goes after the Princess while the boys are holding off an army of mooks -- but Valeria is far too badass to get into a catfight, and promptly passes the (now stunned and tied) princess to Conan.
* ''ScottPilgrimVsTheWorld'':
** It has Knives vs. Ramona fighting for Scott's affection. There is also Ramona VS. Roxy.
** The Ramona vs. Roxy fight has an interesting half-aversion partway in. It's pointed out that Scott ''has'' to be the one to finish off Roxy, but Scott WouldntHitAGirl. To deal with this, Ramona simply gets behind Scott, grabs his arms, and uses him as a PeoplePuppet to continue fighting Roxy.
* Melina vs. Lori in the original ''Film/TotalRecall1990'', though Quaid still gets to finish off Lori.
** [[Film/TotalRecal2012 The remake]] has Melina fighting Lori, as well.
* The live action ''Tekken'' movie has Nina and Christie face off in an intergender tournament. This is also averted when Nina and Anna try to assassinate Jin and Christy kicks plenty of ass against Kazuya's soldiers.
* ''Film/JudgeDredd''. While Dredd battles Rico, DarkActionGirl Dr. Ilsa Hayden has a CatFight with ActionGirl Judge Hershey.
* ''Film/MissionImpossible'', in which token heroine Jane Carter squares off with token sexy female assassin Sabine Moreau.
* Subverted in ''X-Men: First Class'' in the final fight as the enemy team has one girl while the heroes have two. None of them interact as [[DarkActionGirl Angel]] gets stopped by Havok and Banshee while Mystique helps Beast take out Azazel.
** ''X-Men: The Last Stand'' plays it straight, however, and has Storm squaring off against against Callisto on two occasions.
* ''Resident Evil: Retribution'' features Alice facing off against a brainwashed Jill Valentine and an evil clone of Rain Ocampo from the first movie. There's also a mini-scuffle between her and CanonImmigrant Ada Wong early on.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* Happens in ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'':
** Because Rand refuses to hurt women. Different from most implementations of this trope in that the implications of his unwillingness to fight women are actually addressed in the books.
** Practically deconstructed, when Moiraine has to step up and take on the vastly more powerful Lanfear because he can't make himself fight her, [[spoiler: and apparently dies in battle. Rand has a HeroicBSOD as a result.]]
* In the final battle of ''HarryPotter/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'':
** While Voldemort is fighting two teachers (one of them female) and an Auror, his [[TheDragon Dragon]] Bellatrix Lestrange is fighting three schoolgirls...[[spoiler:and she gets offed by one of them's MamaBear.]]
** According to WordOfGod it's also Bellatrix who kills [[spoiler: Tonks]].
** Earlier in the seventh book, Luna Lovegood stuns Alecto Carrow presumably so Harry wouldn't have to.
** Also notable is the fifth book when Dumbledore uses his magic to bring the statues in the Ministry of Magic to life. The statue of the witch goes for Bellatrix.
* ''TheFaerieQueene'', Book 5: The female knight Britomart fights the evil Amazon queen Radigund because her boyfriend [[DistressedDude Artegall]] had to learn the hard way that WouldntHitAGirl should not apply when said girl is trying to kill you.
* OlderThanFeudalism: Happens in ''Literature/TheIliad'', [[SlidingScaleOfGenderInequality which is to be expected]] in an ancien Greek story. When the gods decide to stop fighting by supporting their favorites and fight directly, [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Hera]] picks a fight with Artemis and sends her home crying to Zeus in a CurbStompBattle.
* Faye and Toshiko's battle in ''[[Literature/TheGrimnoirChronicles Hard Magic]]''. Unlike most example it's the most impressive and spectacular throwdown in a novel chock-full of them.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* Literally OnceAnEpisode for ''WaterlooRoad''.
* Olivia Benson from ''LawAndOrderSVU''
* Fi from ''Series/BurnNotice''.
* Batgirl in most versions, especially the LampshadeHanging-laden 1960s {{Camp}} ''Series/{{Batman}}''.
* Lampshaded, after a fashion, in an episode of ''DukesOfHazzard'': when the group pairs off for the big brawl at the end of the episode, Cooter laments that the only person left for him to fight is a girl. Cue [[MsFanservice Daisy]], who steps forward and says, "Oh, no, she's mine!"
* In the BBC series of ''Series/RobinHood'', whenever the outlaws fought the law, Kate would always make a beeline for Isabella, the [[BettyAndVeronica Veronica to her Betty]], and her rival for Robin's affection. It was only a matter of time before the catfight ensued.
* In ''Franchise/PowerRangers'', whenever both heroes and villains have combatants of both genders on the field, the guys tend to break off into one skirmish while the girls have their own fight. However, averted when at least one side is composed of only a single gender (or even a single ''person'' as is normal for villains; with either the MonsterOfTheWeek or TheDragon), as the neither side will hold back due to gender.
** Done very frustratingly when ''Series/PowerRangersNinjaStorm'' and ''Series/PowerRangersDinoThunder'' crossed over, where the mind controlled Ninja Rangers team squared off against the Dino Rangers; as the show broke its unofficial color-coding rules to have the female Blue Ninja Ranger and Yellow Dino Ranger fight each other instead of their like-colored male counterparts.
** In the original ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'', it was fairly common to see Jason, Zack and Billy fighting Goldar while Trini and Kimberly fought Scorpina. This was back before Goldar [[VillainDecay stopped being a threat to any of them]] and Scorpina getting PutOnABus, of course.
* Also used a lot in ''Rangers''' source material ''Franchise/SuperSentai'', in which TheChick fights the DarkChick or DarkActionGirl.
** Dynaman has Zenobia against [=DynaPink=] in... [[{{Fanservice}} a battle that had them end up stripping]].
** Zyuranger has Lamie (who'd become Scorpina above) against [=PteraRanger=]
** Megaranger has Shibolena against [=MegaYellow=]. Evidence? If you watch the show carefully whenever Shibolena fight she always fight her.
** Gogo V has Venus against [=GoPink=]. [[spoiler:Also singing battle in ep 45]]
** Timeranger has Lila against [=TimePink=]. For 10 seconds.
** Hurricanger has Furabijo against [=HurricaneBlue=].
** Shinkenger has Dayu against [=ShinkenPink=]
* Frequently justified in series by JossWhedon, as [[AmazonBrigade they are the ones]] [[ActionGirl who often have the fighting ability/powers]]. They are then done brutally and without patronizing.
* Particularly in Season 3 of ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': [[ActionGirl Buffy]] vs. [[DarkActionGirl Faith]]. We get a rehash when Faith pulls an UnexplainedRecovery in Season 4.
* Similarly, in ''Series/{{Firefly}}'', [[HookerWithAHeartOfGold Inara]] heads off on her own to try to stop [[TheVamp Saffron's]] plans twice. The first time, Inara loses a martial arts catfight to Saffron, who doesn't get away for long. The second time, Inara gets the upper hand by watching the end of the crew's impressive Gambit.
* In the ''StarTrek/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "Mirror, Mirror," it's Uhura who steps in to disarm Marlena Moreau when the latter pulls a knife.
** In the episode "The Gamesters of Triskelion", Kirk, Chekov, and Uhura face two male and two female gladiators. Kirk and Chekov take one male each, while Uhura has to fight ''both'' women.
** In a frist season Next Generation episode, Tasha has to fight a chick to the death for the amusement of their hosts. Dead girl gets better.
* In ''Series/{{Chuck}}'', any and all female spies will be taken care of by--you guessed it--Sarah. The traitor in the C.A.T. Squad? Check. La Ciudad? Check. The female spy at her high school reunion? Check. And that fight was ''wet''.
* Used in the ''{{Sliders}}'' episode "Data World". A villain sends a male and a female {{Mook}} after the Sliders. When the male shows up, the three guys fight him while Maggie (the team's ActionGirl) simply runs and hides. When the female arrives, ''then'' Maggie steps up and declares, "This one is ''mine''!"
* ''UnnaturalHistory'': Maggie and the female scientist in "Thor's Slammer".
* A fair number of episodes of ''Series/{{Alias}}'' have this. Sydney's a trained spook, and always has a gun, but if a female enemy spook shows up, the gun will be kicked from her hand, and the two of them will throw down.
* Subverted in the season 3 finale of ''{{Series/Merlin}}''. Gwen goes for [[DarkActionGirl Morgana]] but, being untrained in sword fighting, is easily defeated leaving it to Merlin to take her on. Also it's [[BadassGrandpa Gaius]] who takes out Morgause.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]
* Very common in ProfessionalWrestling during random two guys + one chicks tag match. When the female wrestler from one side tags in, the one on the other team will inevitably do the same in a matters of seconds. Often it's actually in the rules that they must tag in. In fact, this is given its own name. Frequently they'll mention the difference between a "Men fight Men, Women fight Women" match and an "All Bets are Off" match. One is an "Intergender Tag Team Match" the other is a "Mixed Tag Match." The Wrestling/{{WWE}} only has men fighting men and women fighting women.
** In recent years, there have also been an increased number of regulations enforced either by the networks or the companies themselves that they are not allowed to show Man-On-Woman violence, which pretty much means mixed gender matches are impossible, unless it's completely one sided with women beating on men without the man even getting a shot off, which in turn would be completely anti-competitive and would seem to reinforce the problematic AbuseIsOkayIfItsFemaleOnMale.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Toys]]
* ''{{Franchise/BIONICLE}}'' had a lot of these [[TheSmurfettePrinciple on the rare occasion that a female antagonist turned up]] - Helryx vs Tuyet and Gali vs Gorast come to mind.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'', where Peach and Mimi face off one on one at the end.
* The slap fight between Tifa and Scarlet near the end of the second disc of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII''.
* Averted in ''TheKingOfFighters '97''. The New Faces team is more or less an [[ThePsychoRangers evil counterpart]] to Japan's Hero Team, but the resident lightning user (Shermie) is female. Although considering that she's [[{{Bishonen}} Benimaru's]] counterpart, perhaps it's being played straight...
** Also averted in the ''Treasures of God'' path. You ''can'' make Chizuru fight Shermie, but this is completely optional.
** In general, fighting games tend to zig-zag the trope to Hell and back. You ''can'' have a DesignatedGirlFight if you choose an ActionGirl as your chara and have her face a female enemy, but there are more than one ways to avert this unless said fight is pre-determined by plot and/or paths.
* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil5'':
** Used to a degree, during the two-on-two boss battle with Wesker and [[spoiler:Jill]]. If Chris keeps Wesker's attention on him, Sheva will engage and attempt to restrain [[spoiler:Jill]] to keep her out of the fight.
** Averted if you play as Sheva, where Chris will offer to take care of [[spoiler:Jill]] while she deals with Wesker.
* In ''SamuraiWarriors 2'', Oichi and Nohime's Gaiden battles are ''literal'' Designated Girl Fights, as they challenge each other (and all of the female characters, plus [[DudeLooksLikeALady Ranmaru]] [[ViewerGenderConfusion Mori]]) to see who the fairest in the land is. At the beginning of said battles, an absolutely delighted OdaNobunaga eggs them on.
* In ''DynastyWarriors 6'', when Yue Ying and Zhen Ji encounter each other at the battle of Han Zhong, they exchange insults about each other's husbands. Depending on which side of the battle you're playing, the dialogue will change slightly, but whichever one is on your side will land the final zinger, and the other will become enraged and go into hyper mode.
* ''DissidiaFinalFantasy'':
** Subverted in the opening cinematic: It at first appears that [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI FF6's]] [[SquishyWizard Terra]] and [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII FF8's]] [[TheVamp Ultimecia]] are having a magic duel, but it's actually a trick: Ultimecia is working with [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyII FF2's]] [[SorcerousOverlord Emperor]], hanging back on the sidelines, to make Terra fall into one of his [[TrapMaster traps]].
** It is averted in cinematics for ''[[{{Prequel}} Dissidia Duodecim]]''--from what we've seen thusfar, [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII Lightning]] faces [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyI Garland]] and [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII Laguna and Ultimecia]] fight each other, as do [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Tifa and Sephiroth]], [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI Shantotto, Prishe]], and [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI Terra]] haven't been depicted fighting any particular opponent, and we've yet to see the [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIII Cloud of Darkness]] at all.
** ...And now it's evident that, of the three female protagonists who were prominent in the 12th cycle, only Tifa adhered to this trope and ended up facing off against another woman (Ultimecia); [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX Yuna]] was pitted against the Emperor (for what he did to Tidus and Jecht), and Lightning remained against Garland. And, in another aversion (...sort of?) though the Cloud of Darkness [[NoBiologicalSex isn't technically female]] (on account of being an AnthropomorphicPersonification), its opponent ended up being Laguna (whose [[MythologyGag leg cramps]] [[DistractedByTheSexy promptly started acting up]]).
* Inverted in ''{{Summoner}}'', when [[spoiler:Jekhar and Rosalind fight Sornehan and Galienne]], the player might be tempted pair them up in this fashion, but [[spoiler: Sornehan is invulnerable to physical damage, while Galienne is invulnerable to magic, which makes such a match-up UnWinnable since Jekhar is TheBigGuy and Rosalind is a WhiteMage]].
* In ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIV'' Chun-li and Cammy's designated rival fights are against Crimson Viper. Taken further in [[UpdatedRerelease Super Street Fighter 4]] where the fight is against the new bad girl Juri.
** And then it's averted when Chun-Li is either TheRival or one of them to ''four'' males: Vega, Balrog, Gen and Yun (''Arcade Edition'' only). Out of the other girls, only Ibuki and Sakura play it straight in Ibuki's route: Makoto fights Fei-Long, Sakura doubles as Dan's rival, Rose both has Ryu as her rival ''and'' is one of Guy's possible rivals (the other being Cody), and both Juri and Viper can have male rivals too (Bison, for Juri; Hakan, for Viper).
* Originally averted by the old ''SmackdownvsRaw'' games, which allowed male on female matches and even had an 'undetermined' gender to allow characters to win both male and female titles. One entry in the series actually had a challenge mission that tasked the player with using [[FauxActionGirl Candice Michelle]] to defeat [[MightyGlacier The Great Khali]]. Unfortunately the series has succumbed to political correctness in recent years and the the only match type that can feature both males and females is the mixed tag match. If you are controlling a male character then the game makes it almost impossible for you to strike a female competitor and you are forced to tag out. If you do somehow manage to land a blow then you automatically lose the match by DQ.
* Averted in SonicRiders, in which Tails's rival, Wave, is female.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* Mostly averted in ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' as males in the comic are willing (and in some cases, [[HeroicComedicSociopath more than willing]]) to take on female opponents (Belkar vs Hag, Roy vs Sabine, Roy vs Miko, Belkar vs Miko, Hinjo vs Miko, Redcloak vs Miko, everyone vs Miko, [[RunningGag notice a pattern here?]]). However, Haley has [[LampshadeHanging noted]] that she has a tendency to end up fighting flying, murderous skanks. She even cracks a line that Leeky's Animal Companion was likely some sort of bird-hussy.
* ''Webcomic/ProblemSleuth'': Hysterical Dame and Nervous Broad are the ones who fight and defeat Madame Murel; all three are the {{Distaff Counterpart}}s of Problem Sleuth, Pickle Inspector and Mobster Kingpin.
* Averted in ''TheLawOfPurple'', as most guys have no problems hitting girls.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* In ''Roleplay/TheGamersAlliance'', [[TheLadette Ax]] battles [[LadyOfWar Varalia]] in the Ruined Kingdom.
* In the [[http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/thatguywiththeglasses/nostalgia-critic/6719-1-year-anniversary-video TGWTG Team Brawl]] Spoony made WebVideo/TheNostalgiaChick fight That Chick with the Goggles while he would take Bennet the Sage. As Nostalgia Chick and That Chick with the Goggles fight Spoony and Bennet simply grabbed their cellphones and started taking pictures.
* Thoroughly averted in ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'', where virtually ''all'' of [[ActionGirl Tex's]] battles have been against men.
* ''WebOriginal/EpicRapBattlesOfHistory''. The only boy vs. girl battle they've done (Adam vs. Eve) ended with the two making up and going for lunch. The only other two battles with females have been girl-on-girl (Palin vs. Lady Gaga and Cleopatra vs. Marilyn Monroe).
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/HeathcliffAndTheCatillacCats'' had an episode featuring a female opponent for Heathcliff, Terrible Tammy, who tried to take over Heathcliff's territory. He couldn't hit her, but his otherwise ladylike girlfriend Sonja didn't mind beating her up.
* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'':
** Generally averted, but in one of the earliest episodes, the only girl of the hive (Jinx) fights one of the two girls of the team (Raven). Even though there were two girls, Starfire was helping Cyborg at the time. Possible LampshadeHanging from this quote from Jinx: "You fight like a boy!"
** Jinx is Raven's ShadowArchetype, so they end up fighting whenever the groups battle anyway.
** When Trigon makes EvilCounterpart to three of the Titans (including Starfire) this ''looks'' to be the case as they fight their own mirrors, but then they do a RockPaperSwitch.
* The two-parter origin episode for Two-Face in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' had Two-Face's fiancee step out of her NeutralFemale role to attack the mob boss's one female minion, who was about to underhandedly enter the battle with the guys herself.
* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyondReturnOfTheJoker'':
** The big reveal flashback has Batgirl stay behind to battle and then chase down a fleeing HarleyQuinn, leaving a tortured and psychotically broken Tim Drake behind while she gave chase.
** Harley Quinn gets into a particularly brutal fight with Mercy Graves, LexLuthor's [[BodyguardBabes female bodyguard]] during the crossover with ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries''. She [[BoundAndGagged later tapes up and gags]] Mercy as a bit of payback, but in the end, it's Mercy who has the last laugh. Literally, since she laughs her butt off while watching Harley getting hauled to jail.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'' made its version of Poison Ivy significantly younger than her comics counterpart so that she would be the same age as Batgirl. Her first appearance was in Batgirl's introductory episode and any time she shows up as the villain of the week, it is typically a spotlight episode for Batgirl.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' episode "Secret Society part II" The JL and Gorilla Grodd's Secret Society battle in a football stadium. Superman is about to punch Giganta (who in this version is more girly than the ''SuperFriends'' version) but hesitates when she pulls the "[[WouldntHitAGirl You wouldn't hit a woman would ya?]]" line. Behind Superman, Wonder Woman answers "I would!" flying in and knocking Giganta out.
** It was invoked in the later episode 'Grudge Match', in which the villainess Roulette was having difficulty attracting spectators for her underground superhuman fight club. She got the idea to abduct superheroines, and brainwash them into fighting each other [[CatFight in order to draw the crowds]]. The episode culminated in Hawkgirl, Black Canary, Vixen and Huntress all trying to pacify the still-brainwashed Wonder Woman.
* Played straight in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueCrisisOnTwoEarths'' where the only villains Wonder Woman fights in the whole movie are all female.
* Basically any ''{{Toyetic}}'' animated cartoon from the 1980's that had a female team member on the good guys' side had a counterpart on the opposing team. This was particularly apparent in the show ''WesternAnimation/{{Visionaries}}'' which had people who could temporarily turn into magical animals. Galadria of the heroic Spectral Knights turned into a dolphin, and thus the only villain she could fight was Virulina of the evil Darkling Lords, who turned into a shark.
* ''[[WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfTheGalaxyRangers Galaxy Rangers]]'' managed to be an aversion most of the time, despite having a female BigBad and several ActionGirl characters among the guest cast and RoguesGallery. The notable exception was in "Scarecrow's Revenge" where the titular villain turned Maya BrainwashedAndCrazy and sent her against Niko. The scene's almost a punchline in the fandom, as Maya had been hitting on [[ChickMagnet Goose]] earlier.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/MegaMan'' cartoon, one episode had Roll attacked by a female cosmetics robot who gave her a bad facial. Megaman gave the robot an equally bad facial with a tube of makeup, and offered to fight her, but Roll insisted that she handle this.
* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'':
** Season two largely subverts it. The good guys team is two boys and one, later two girls. The evil team is female-only. So the good guys have to hit girls. But Sokka and Aang have no problem with that as long as they are ''dangerous'' girls.
** Played with and justified during the GrandFinale. Zuko and Azula end up in an Agni Kai and he almost wins [[spoiler: but Katara is the one who ends up defeating her]].
** Played straight when Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee attack Suki and the other Kiyoshi Warriors even though they're all female. Ty Lee even tells them that they're not prettier than them. The next time Suki runs into Azula and Ty Lee at the Boiling Rock, she looks forward to the rematch since it's personal.
* The PacMan cartoon had Pac-Man and Ms Pac-Man as the good guys, and four male ghosts and one female ghost as the bad guys. Guess who fought whom?
* Because {{Popeye}} [[WouldntHitAGirl won't hit a woman,]] he's always a bit helpless against a female antagonist. Olive is perfectly willing to step in and clobber them, though, with a little spinach boost.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Real Life]]
* Odd TruthInTelevision: Lions. If an alien lioness wanders into another pride's territory, the pride's females will attack her, while the male(s) watch and do nothing. If a strange male comes in, it'll primarily rely on the pride's male(s). The females often get involved because if the male stranger wins, they'll have to say bye-bye to their cubs.
* It's TruthInTelevision for most actual martial artists. Most tournaments are divided by age, rank, and gender. Classes, too, for the most part, will try to partner girls with girls during drills and sparring matches. It's done because a) it eliminates a biological strength advantage, and b) sparring and grappling with an opposite gender opponent you don't know well can be very awkward.
** In competition, it's true that most tournaments are divided by gender, just like almost all sports. In drills and practice sparring, it depends on the martial art and individual school. Some martial arts don't depend as much on either grappling or strength, so there's little reason to segregate opponents by gender.
** Schools that focus more on self-defense avert this with sparring, figuring that a woman should know how to handle herself against a larger man.
* When observing the fighting behavior of vervet monkeys, Cheney and Seyferth witnessed an incident that fits perfectly: Two male monkeys (call them Albert and Bob) fought with each other. Twenty minutes later, the revenge came in the form of Albert's sister suddenly attacking Bob's sister.
[[/folder]]

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