History ArchEnemy / LiveActionTV

* ''ArchEnemy/{{Arrowverse}}''
* ''ArchEnemy/MarvelCinematicUniverse''

Works with their own pages:

* ''Series/{{Gotham}}'':
** Oswald Cobblepot has a knack for making these:
*** Fish Mooney was Oswald's first enemy. Oswald tried to get her ousted from the mob, when Fish found out she tried to have him killed. Over the course of Season 1 Oswald and Fish attempt to out maneuver each other. [[spoiler:After Oswald kills her, he achieves his goal of ruling the Gotham underworld]].
*** Salvatore Maroni was another road block on Penguin's path to controlling crime in Gotham. Oswald served as a mole in Maroni's organization for Falcone and murdered Maroni's friend Frankie Carbone. When Maroni found out, he tried to have Oswald crushed to death. [[spoiler:Ironically, Maroni was taken care of for Oswald by Fish]].
*** Theo Galavan became Oswald's greatest enemy after he [[spoiler:kidnapped and murdered Penguin's mother]] and led a manhunt for his capture. [[spoiler:After Galavan came back from the dead, Penguin had him killed again, this time with a rocket launcher]]. This also extends to his sister Tabitha Galavan, [[spoiler:who was the one who threw the knife that killed his mom]]. He only lets her live as a favor to Butch. [[spoiler:That is until he finally decides he's had enough and kills both Butch and Tabitha]].
*** Edward Nygma and Oswald were friends once, that all changed after [[spoiler:Oswald murdered Ed's girlfriend out of jealousy]]. Not only did Ed [[spoiler: reject Oswald's affection, Ed also cost him the mayors office and his criminal empire and came as close as any ever had to killing Penguin]]. Penguin bounced back and had Ed [[spoiler:frozen in a block of ice]]. Ed is later freed and they are ready to kill each other again. [[spoiler:Eventually subverted after Penguin reawakens his Riddler personality and later saves his life from Sofia's men -- when Riddler later betrays him he tells him he has [[NothingPersonal no ill will towards him]], he's just doing it to protect Lee]].
*** Finally he has Sofia Falcone who pretended to be his friend while she was really [[spoiler: plotting to take his throne as head mod boss and using him in an overly elaborate revenge plot against Gordon]]. Just like with Maroni, [[spoiler:she is taken down, but not by Oswald]].
** James Gordon also has a number of these, several he shares with Oswald:
*** His Ex-fiancée Barbara Kean after she went insane. [[spoiler:Barbara attempted to murder both Jim and his then-girlfriend Lee multiple times and joined Theo Galavan rampage. Even after moving on from her vendetta against Jim, she always seems to be in his way]]. [[spoiler: Eventually subverted, after they sleep together during a low moment for both of them, Barbara becomes pregnant with his child, so they finally bury the hatchet]].
*** Gordon makes it clear that he's not buying Theo Galavan act, they land on each others hit list.
*** Just like Penguin, Edward Nygma was once more or less friends Jim. After Ed began murdering people however, Jim started to investigate the disappearance of one of his victims, so Ed [[spoiler: framed Jim for the murder of a fellow officer. Jim's arrest led to Lee's miscarriage and her falling for another man]].
*** After his [[spoiler:sister's death]], which he blames Gordon for, Jervis Tetch swore to destroy everything Jim loved. Jervis [[spoiler: kidnapped both of Gordon's love interests and forced him to choose between their lives. Jervis also infected Lee's fiancée Mario with his virus, it didn't end well]].
*** Whereas her father eventually made peace with Gordon after Mario's death, Sofia Falcone's hatred of Gordon never subsided. She arranges for [[spoiler: Lazlo Valentin to pretend to be a serial killer named Professor Pyg so she can trick Gordon into performing some illegal act so he'll be under her thumb. Thankfully, Lee shoots her in the head putting her into a permanent coma]].
** By the later seasons, Bruce Wayne has three of these. Fittingly, two are [[CaptainErsatz based]] on different versions of [[ComicBook/TheJoker Batman's worst enemy from the comics]]:
*** First, there's [[LaughablyEvil Jerome Valeska]], who has kidnapped and tried to kill Bruce multiple times, and is significant to Bruce's development as a hero, because at one point Bruce believes that he's responsible for [[ParentalSubstitute Alfred's]] death, and he decides against killing him in revenge despite that. That means that he's ultimately responsible for Bruce's decision to follow at least [[ThouShaltNotKill one significant rule]] while working as a vigilante.
*** Season 4 introduces Jerome's twin brother, Jeremiah Valeska, a young genius engineer who appears to be Jerome's good counterpart, at least until [[spoiler: he gets sprayed with [[AppliedPhlebotinum Jerome's insanity gas]], which drives him insane and transforms him into [[FromBadToWorse an even more unhinged version of Jerome who also has the education to create more sophisticated bombs than his brother.]] He is close friends with Bruce for awhile before he reveals himself as a villain, and is [[StalkerWithoutACrush extremely obsessed]] with being connected to Bruce through either friendship or hatred, to the point where he [[InvokedTrope tries to deliberately set himself up as Bruce's arch enemy]] by doing terrible things to him and the people he loves. Seeing as Jeremiah is the brother who eventually becomes the Joker, he eventually succeeds.]]
*** Finally, there is [[ComicBook/RasAlGhul Ra's Al-Ghul]], who, like [[spoiler: Jeremiah]], thinks he's acting in Bruce's best interests while putting him through multiple horrible ordeals because he thinks that his actions will help form Bruce into a hero.

* ''Series/{{Smallville}}'':
** Clark Kent has ComicBook/LexLuthor and Zod. Lex is his one-time best friend turned bitter professional and romantic rival, delving into supervillainy at the same time that Clark is hitting his stride as a superhero; the entire series is essentially spent building up to a confrontation between the two. Zod is a former friend and ally of Clark's father, Jor-El, with Clark inheriting the grudge. Given that Zod corrupted Brainiac, created Doomsday, and blew up Krypton he's responsible for almost every horrible thing that's happened in Clark's life, and his multi-seasonal attempts to TakeOverTheWorld only turn it more personal.
** Lex's father, Lionel Luthor, is the archenemy of Clark's adoptive father, Jonathan Kent. The two spend their entire time on the show at war for the souls of their sons, while doing everything they can to tear one another down. Lionel (and his alternate universe doppelganger) would also place an impressive third on Clark's enemy.

* ''[[Series/WonderWoman1975 Wonder Woman]]'': TheBaroness Von Gunther was the only enemy Wonder Woman faced in the comics that was showed in the series, and no one of Franchise/WonderWoman's original villains in the TV series ever recurred, but it's implied that [[LargeHam Marion Mariposa]] did appear in a previous, unbroadcast adventure, as he is talked about last seen presumably drowned in the North Sea. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5ERHpdE1Bs The interesting part is that he is not Wonder Woman's enemy]], but [[GovernmentAgencyOfFiction IADC agent]] [[SecretIdentity Diana Prince's]] enemy. For Diana Prince and Marion Mariposa, ItsPersonal.
-->'''Marion Mariposa:''' ''Oh, why are you so unpleased to see a familiar face? [[SchmuckBait Did you enjoy the candy I sent you?]]''\\
'''Diana Prince''', waking from her induced sleep: ''Not in the least, [[KnockoutGas and I enjoyed the flowers even less]].''\\
'''Marion Mariposa:''' ''[[FauxAffablyEvil What's the matter? Lost your sense of humor?]]''\\
'''Diana Prince:''' ''I was hoping we were rid of yours. [[NoOneCouldSurviveThat Weren't you supposed to be drowned at the north sea after our last encounter?]]''\\
'''Marion Mariposa:''' ''By now you should know that I have my entrances and exits carefully choreographed, Diana. I had one of my submarines pick me.''

->''"Every fairy tale needs a good old-fashioned villain. You need me, or you're nothing. Because we're just alike, [[Characters/SherlockSherlockHolmes you]] and I - except you're ''[[GoodIsBoring boring]]''."''
-->-- '''[[Characters/SherlockJimMoriarty Jim Moriarty]]''', ''Series/{{Sherlock}}''

* ''Series/DoctorWho''
** In terms of species, the Doctor's greatest enemies are the Daleks, the only foe to have appeared in every Doctor's television era, and responsible for many companion departures and the Last Great Time War that left the Doctor the last of the Time Lords. Behind them are the Cybermen, the Doctor's second most recurring enemies, and responsible for at least two of their regenerations, and even more companion exits than the Daleks. In terms of individuals, the Doctor has his old friend, TheMaster, and Davros, the creator of the Daleks. Following the Last Great Time War, Rassilon, the founder of Time Lord society resurrected for the war, became another major thorn in the Doctor's side, being one of the reasons the Time Lord embraced the war and become warmongers, despite the Doctor's efforts to keep them peaceful.
** However, in both the television series and the expanded media, each Doctor has at least one personal rival of their own, either by having a personel beef with that specific Doctor, or by being their most recurring enemy:
*** First Doctor: The Black Dalek Leader, the Meddling Monk and the Celestial Toymaker.
*** Second Doctor: The Cybermen, the Great Intelligence, the War Chief and the Quarks.
*** Third Doctor: The "UNIT era" Master and the Daleks.
*** Fourth Doctor: Davros and the "Decayed" Master.
*** Fifth Doctor: The "Tremas" Master and the Mara.
*** Sixth Doctor: Davros, Sil and the Valeyard.
*** Seventh Doctor: Fenric and Death.
*** Eighth Doctor: The Master and the Dalek Time Controller.
*** War Doctor: Rassilon and the Dalek Time Strategist.
*** Ninth Doctor: The Daleks and the Slitheen family.
*** Tenth Doctor: The Cult of Skaro and the "Saxon" Master.
*** Eleventh Doctor: The Silence and the Great Intelligence.
*** Twelfth Doctor: Missy and the Cybermen.
*** Thirteenth Doctor: The "Spy" Master and T'zim-Sha.
** The Great Intelligence is this to Clara Oswald as well.
** Captain John Hart to Jack Harkness in ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'', though the two act more as FriendlyEnemies in their DistaffCounterpart relationship, helped by the fact that they had had a fling while working for the Time Agency together.
** In ''Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures'', the Trickster is Sarah Jane's ultimate enemy, having devised many plots to remove her from the equation and allow Earth to succumb to chaos, often requiring her to make hard sacrifices to stop him. Next to him are Mrs. Wormwood, the creator of Sarah Jane's adopted son, who makes a claim to being his "real" mother to drive a edge between them, and the Slitheen family, the most recurring enemies in Sarah Jane's RoguesGallery. Sarah Jane also has Androvax, an alien who once [[GrandTheftMe possessed her body]].
** Inspector Drake was this to K9's team in ''Series/{{K9}}'', until he was ReassignedToAntarctica and replaced by Inspector Thorne, who become an even more hated adversary even before he revealed himself as an advocate for K9's true arch-foes; the Korven.
** Corakinus to the Coal Hill Defenders in ''Series/{{Class|2016}}''.

*** First Doctor: The Black Dalek Leader and the Celestial Toymaker.
*** Second Doctor: The Cybermen, the Great Intelligence and the Quarks.

*** Sixth Doctor: Davros and the Valeyard.

*** First Doctor: The Black Dalek Leader, the Meddling Monk and the Celestial Toymaker.

*** Sixth Doctor: Davros, Sil and the Valeyard.

** Anthony Cooper is is this to the two main characters whose lives he ruined long before they came to the Island, John Locke and James "Sawyer" Ford.

* ''Film/DeadAndDeader'': Lieutenant Bobby Quinn has [[spoiler:Dr. Scott, who sent his mercenary team on the mission that got them killed, and intends to harvest his blood to sell off the zombie plague as an immortality serum.]]

* ''Film/PerfectAssassins'': Ben Carroway has Dr. Sam Greely, a PsychoPsychologist who experimented on him as a child, framed his mom for the crimes, and then made her disappear.

*** First Doctor: The Black Dalek Leader and the Celestial Toymaker.

*** Sixth Doctor: Davros and the Valeyard.

*** First Doctor: The Daleks, with the First Doctor having gone up against them in more stories than any other Doctor of the Classic Era.
*** Second Doctor: The Cybermen, who took the role of the Doctor's most recurring foes after the Daleks were PutOnABus. The Great Intelligence is a secondary one, facing the Second Doctor twice and being one of his most recurring foes.
*** Third Doctor: The Master, who was easily the Third Doctor's most recurring and personal foe.
*** Fourth Doctor: Davros, who created the Daleks and serves as the complete antithesis to the Doctor, and the Master yet again.
*** Fifth Doctor: The Master, who was easily the foe the Fifth Doctor went up against the most, and the Mara, who starts off a VillainOfTheWeek before returning once more.
*** Sixth Doctor: The Valeyard, acting as the BigBad of an entire season-long StoryArc and literally being [[spoiler:the Doctor's [[EvilCounterpart dark half]]]].
*** Seventh Doctor: Fenric, an evil entity which turns out to have been the BigBad behind various plots during the Seventh Doctor's tenure.
*** Eighth Doctor: The Master, acting as the BigBad of the Eighth Doctor's one TV movie. The audios add in the Dalek Time Controller, a Dalek whose knowledge of the flow of time and how to manipulate it make it one of the Eighth Doctor's most cunning foes.

*** Ninth Doctor: The Daleks, more specifically the Dalek Emperor, whose actions in the Time War left a lasting impact on the Doctor and the state of the universe by the time of the revival.
*** Tenth Doctor: The Cult of Skaro, by virtue of being the Doctor's most recurring foes, and the "Saxon" Master.
*** Eleventh Doctor: The Silence, who are the cause of the Eleventh Doctor's overall MythArc, and the Great Intelligence, which is hell bent on getting revenge on him.
*** Twelfth Doctor: Missy and the Cybermen, the foes the Twelfth Doctor encounters the most, although the former is considerably more personal of an enemy.
*** Thirteenth Doctor: The "Spy" Master, T'zim-Sha, and the Ravager siblings Swarm and Azure.

*** Gremlin is a SerialKiller and the only survivor of the Sabbath ritual besides Haruto hilsemf. He is also [[spoiler:Haruto's [[FinalBoss final opponent]].]]

** ''Series/GoGoSentaiBoukenger'': Of the four contenders in the BigBadEnsemble, Creator King Ryuuwon is this for Satoru Akashi/Bouken Red, having once been an adventurer like him until he grew cynical and became obsessed with proving himself better than everyone.

** John Luther has Alice Morgan, a murderer who is [[{{Yandere}} obsessed with John]], although they have a FriendlyEnemy relationship throughout the series. [[spoiler:Alice kills Luther's partner DS Catherine Halliday in thew GrandFinale, shortly before her own death.]]

*** Thirteenth Doctor: The "Spy" Master and T'zim-Sha.

%%** ''[[Series/KamenRiderFaiz Kamen Rider 555]]'': Takumi Inui/Kamen Rider Faiz/Wolf Orphnoch and Kiba Yuji/Kamen Rider Orga/Horse Orphnoch.Philip/Raito Sonozaki/Kamen Rider Double and Katsumi Daido/Kamen Rider Eternal. Ryu Terui/Kamen Rider Accel and Shinkuro Isaka/Weather Dopant.

%%** ''Series/KamenRiderDouble'': Philip/Raito Sonozaki/Kamen Rider Double and Ryuubee Sonozaki/Terror Dopant.

*** First Doctor: The Black Dalek Leader, and the Celestial Toymaker.
*** Second Doctor: The Cybermen, the Great Intelligence, and the Quarks.
*** Third Doctor: The "UNIT era" Master and the Daleks.
*** Fourth Doctor: Davros and the "Decayed" Master.
*** Fifth Doctor: The "Tremas" Master and the Mara.
*** Sixth Doctor: Davros and the Valeyard.
*** Seventh Doctor: Fenric and Death.
*** Eighth Doctor: The Master and the Dalek Time Controller.

*** Ninth Doctor: The Daleks and the Slitheen family.
*** Tenth Doctor: The Cult of Skaro and the "Saxon" Master.
*** Eleventh Doctor: The Silence and the Great Intelligence.
*** Twelfth Doctor: Missy and the Cybermen.

** ''Series/KamenRiderDecade'': Tsukasa Kadoya/Kamen Rider Decade has Narutaki, a preacher who claims Decade is a threat to the multiverse.

** ''Series/KamenRiderGaim'': Kouta Kazuaraba/Kamen Rider Gaim and Mitsuzane Kureshima/Kamen Rider Ryugen.

** ''Series/KamenRiderExAid'': Emu Hojo/Kamen Rider Ex-Aid has Kuroto Dan/Kamen Rider Genm (who infected him with the Bugstar Virus), Masamune Dan (who blackmailed Emu's father into letting Kuroto experiment on Emu, and who blackmailed Hiiro Kagami into betraying Emu), and Parado ([[spoiler:a villain who manifested out of Emu's desire to have a friend to play with]]). Hiiro Kagami/Kamen Rider Brave and Taiga Hanaya/Kamen Rider Snipe also both have one in the Graphite Bugster, who killed Saki (the girlfriend of Hiiro and patient of Taiga).

* ''Series/{{Castle}}'': Castle and Beckett each have one. Castle's is the SerialKiller [[TheSociopath 3XK]] (AKA [[spoiler: Jerry Tyson]]), who becomes fixated on Castle after his first appearance and returns a number of times to torment him. Meanwhile, Becket's is the [[YouKilledMyFather man who had her mother Johanna murdered]], [[spoiler: [[CorruptPolitician Senator William Bracken]]]].

* ''Franchise/StarTrek''
** ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'': The Klingons to Kirk and his crew. Or, at least, between ''Film/StarTrekIIITheSearchForSpock'' and ''Film/StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry'' (it lacks that personal umph until a Klingon [[spoiler:kills Kirk's son]], and the events in ''The Undiscovered Country'' leads to Kirk getting over his hatred).
*** While Khan's role in the film ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'' elevated him to the status of Kirk and Spock's nemesis, in the series the only individual enemy they encounter twice is IneffectualSympatheticVillain Harry Mudd. He and Kirk definitely possess a talent for getting under each other's skin and both seem keen to humiliate the other.
** ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': The Borg to both Picard and his crew.
*** Q definitely started out as this, using the Enterprise crew as his subjects in testing humanity, although his relationship with Picard became more complex as time went on, with him turning into more of an EvilMentor figure.
** ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'':
*** Gul Dukat and the Dominion to Benjamin Sisko and his crew. And on a more personal level, Dukat to Garak. The hatred becomes equally personal between Dukat and Sisko by the end of the series. [[spoiler:And then Dukat becomes [[DarkMessiah the Emissary of the Pah-Wraiths]] to match Sisko's role as [[TheMessiah the Emissary of the Prophets]].]]
*** Kang, Koloth, and Kor have The Albino, the main villain of "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS02E19BloodOath Blood Oath]]". These three were responsible for breaking The Albino's power base in the late [=23rd=] century, and he retaliated by poisoning their sons. The three Klingons (plus Curzon Dax as the godfather of Kang's son) swore a BloodOath to kill The Albino, which lasted for nearly a century before The Albino offered them an opportunity to engage him, an encounter that claimed the lives of Kang and Koloth, though not before Kang was able to kill him.
** ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'': The Borg, especially the Borg Queen, to Janeway and her crew.
*** Seska initially filled this role, specifically to Chakotay. As his former lover and a former member of his crew, he took her betraying Voyager to the Kazon hard and saw it as his personal responsibility to bring her down. For her part, Seska had a StalkerWithACrush attachment to Chakotay, even stealing his DNA and attempting to impregnate herself with it in order to create a connection between them.
** ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'': Silik to Captain Archer and his crew. He's the leader of the Suliban Cabal and the local representative of a faction in the Temporal Cold War, in much the same way that Archer often ends up working for the Time Agents trying to preserve the timeline. He comes to view Archer as a WorthyOpponent with their encounters taking on an increasingly personal tone.
** ''Series/StarTrekPicard'': The Qowat Milat has been the thorn in the sides of the Tal Shiar and the Zhat Vash for so long that it's traditional for a Zhat Vash and a Qowat Milat to engage in a one-on-one, unarmed duel, as Narissa and Elnor do in "Nepenthe." In "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2", Elnor is willing to kill an unarmed Narek simply because of the latter's affiliation with the Zhat Vash.

*** Hank Schrader views Heisenberg as his. This feeling is multiplied even more from Hank's side when [[spoiler:Hank finds out his trusted brother-in-law ''is'' Heisenberg, hating him so much he allied with Jesse to take him down. From Walt's side though, he would rather very much prefer Hank doesn't investigate him further, not wanting to harm his brother-in-law.]]
*** Gus Fring very much becomes this to Walter White. Interestingly throughout their feud, we see signs that Gus and Walt really aren't that different, and in fact, Walt admires Gus in many ways.

*** Jimmy [=McGill=] has his brother Chuck. Despite [[spoiler:Chuck dying about halfway through the show's run]], he continues to cast a shadow over Jimmy's actions for the rest of the series.
*** In Season 6, Jimmy and Kim have Howard Hamlin, who they framed as a drug addict.
*** Nacho Varga has Lalo Salamanca.

* ''Series/TwentyFour'': Jack Bauer has three over the course of the series.