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Crossovers
  • In the Altered Destinies Fan Verse, the daughters of both Hiroshi Managi and Hikaru Daitokuji are Dating What Daddy Hates. In Hiroshi’s case, not only did Beatrice torment his daughter before they moved to Nerima, she is the granddaughter of his greatest enemy, and Ekko was born using The Baby Trap. Hikaru, by contrast, is just a Politically Incorrect Villain. Also, other than referring to B-ko as A-ko’s roommate under his breath there is no sign that that Hiroshi is an Obnoxious In Law. Hikaru, however refers to his first grand child as "it", only acknowledges his second granddaughter because B-ko is the one giving birth to her, and the only reason he wasn’t able to blackmail his daughter into leaving A-ko and marrying the MAN of his choice is because Martha had better lawyers than he did.
  • Avenger of Steel establishes that Superman is essentially a foil to Loki, as both of them were raised by a species other than their species of birth, but where Loki set out to conquer other races because he came to believe he deserved to rule, Superman has dedicated himself to protecting lesser races.
  • BlazBlue Alternative: Remnant:
    • Luna and Emerald both grew up as orphans who had to steal just to stay alive before being taken in by a Parental Substitute figure, which is all something they bond over, but that's where the similarities end. Luna grew up outside the kingdoms, had her brother to care for, and was taken in by Jubei, who treats her and Sena like genuine people and cares for them. Emerald grew up in Vale her whole life, had no one to rely upon but herself, and was taken in by Cinder, who sees her as nothing more than a tool to be used until the time comes to discard her.
    • Yang and Pyrrha in terms of Semblances, which is something they even discuss. Both are powerful combat oriented Semblances, but Pyrrha uses hers to avoid getting hit while Yang's only works when she takes a hit.
    • Penny and Noel due to both being Murakumo Units that were Happily Adopted but differ in everything else. Noel spent her whole life with no knowledge on her origins, while Penny grew up with full knowledge on what she was. Both are Socially Awkward Heroes, but Noel is a shy wallflower while Penny is highly extroverted. When Noel first learns the truth, she suffers from a massive case of Clone Angst due to the revelations while Penny, having always known the truth, has had far more time to cope.
    • Ragna and Jin are both practically polar opposites despite being brothers. Ragna is aggressive and rude to a fault, while Jin is cold and apathetic in equal measure. Ragna was the last of the siblings to be adopted while Jin was the first. Ragna loathes using his Semblance in battle and will only do so when pressed while Jin makes active use of his Semblance even outside of combat. In terms of reputation, while both are the most powerful students of their respective academies, Ragna is widely disliked and regarded as his school's "problem child" while Jin is lauded as "The Pride of Atlas Academy". Further contrasting the two is their relationships with their teammates, which is shown in Chapter 49, where Jin coldly orders his team to leave without a shred of care while Ragna gently reassures his teammates that nothing bad will happen.
  • Code Jedi:
    • Lelouch/Zero and Anakin/Vader: Similarly, they both dress in black with a cape and mask, prefer to lead their forces in battle themselves, have a mother they both loved deeply who died which is a catalyst for their darkest thoughts, and a best friend on the opposite side of the war. As for differences, Vader is an unstoppable monster and incredible pilot while Lelouch is physically weak and a mediocre Knightmare pilot(for now anyway), Vader wears his suit and mask primarily because he needs them to survive while Lelouch wears his mask to hide his identity to protect his sister and be a symbol of hope to other rebels. Anakin was born a slave who eventually became a Jedi while Lelouch was a prince who was then exiled (coincidently this major change in their lives happened to both of them when they were the same age). Also, despite having great darkness in him, Lelouch still has something, or someone, keeping his darkness from completely overcoming him, his sister Nunnally. Contrastly, Vader has no one who can keep his darker impulses in check, rather he has those like Palpatine who encourage his cruel actions.
    • Lelouch and Luke: Similarly, the two are rebel commanders. They both have fathers who they loathe and wish to destroy (though in Luke's case he doesn't know yet). Have magic powers that they use to help accomplish their goals and have mentors to teach them about said powers who are both well over a hundred years old. Had a crush on their sister at one point in their lives (though Luke didn't know Leia was his sister when he did have a crush on her, and it was Lelouch's half-sister Euphemia who he had a crush on). Both are a child of royalty (even though in Luke's case his mother gave up the throne long before he was born). As for differences, Luke is an Ace Pilot and leaves the planning to more capable people, whereas Lelouch is a tactical genius and physically weak. Luke embodies Light Is Good while Lelouch is Dark Is Not Evil. Luke grew up alone on Tatooine, while Lelouch always had his sister by his side. Luke is a genuinely heroic individual while Lelouch is more of an anti-hero.
  • Child of the Storm has a few:
  • Deadly Nightshade gives one to Damian Wayne in the person of Hawthorne Isley, also a son of Batman who was raised by his villainous mother and don't enter his father's life until hitting the double digits. Where Damian is very much a Badass Normal Tyke Bomb, Harry inherited magical ability and plant-control from his mom who raised him as normally she could. And while Damian always knew he was "the son of Batman", Harry is totally unaware of his dad's Secret Identity.
  • Equestria Girls: Friendship Souls: Several, particularly between the human world and Equestrian versions of the characters.
    • Captain Blueblood and Prince Blueblood, Prince Blueblood is a shallow Prince Charmless with no depth, only holds his position by blood, has shown no appreciable skill, and blew off Rarity, while Captain Blueblood is a boorish, foppish noble, he was born with The Gift, the more martial culture of Soul Society ensures that he has the power and skill needed of his position, and after his defeat by Rarity he listens to her criticisms and shows Hidden Depths beginning to put forth the effort to improve himself.
    • Pony Starlight and Human Starlight Glimmer as villains. Pony Starlight is unstable Large Ham, while Human Starlight is a composed Cold Ham, Pony Starlight is a Psychopathic Woman Child with a Vague Age who is at most in her twenties, while Human Starlight is defined by being an Older and Wiser villain who has refined her skills as a woman in her thirties, Pony Starlight ruled over a town as a dictator, manipulating them into giving up their individuality while denying her own absurd magical talent, Human Starlight revels in her great power which she spent decades building and refining while surrounding herself with a small cabal of talented and unique individuals who willingly serve her knowing what they're getting into, Pony Starlight became Twilight's apprentice while Human Starlight holds seniority over Sunset as the Hero's Evil Predecessor, Pony Starlight's plans regularly suffer from Didn't Think This Through while Human Starlight is The Chessmaster who can play Xanatos Speedchess when things get dicey, Pony Starlight's appearence invokes They Look Just Like Everyone Else!, while Human Starlight wears a flamboyant outfit that consists of a Spy Catsuit, Too Many Belts, and a Badass Longcoat, Pony Starlight's Start of Darkness was caused by Sunburst moving away causing her to commit petty Disproportionate Retribution against a working society, while Human Starlight's Start of Darkness and madness was caused by a broken system that caused Sunburst to unjustly be sent to Hell.
    • King Sombra to Quincy King Sombra, King Sombra is Obviously Evil with a 0% Approval Rating among the Crystal Ponies as The Dreaded who he turned into a Slave Race, Quincy Sombra is Ambiguously Evil and acts as A Father to His Men to the Quincy, who all willingly serve him with Undying Loyalty. In the comics Sombra usurped the Crystal Empire from Princess Amore while Quincy Sombra is the rightful king of the Quincy, being the progenitor of the race, King Sombra was an Evil Overlord while Quincy Sombra acts as The Good King, King Sombra spent a thousand years being sealed away while Quincy Sombra has been active for over a thousand years. However, several comments and Sombra's own words imply there was a time he was like his Equestrian counterpart before he Took a Level in Kindness.
    • Equestrian Discord towards Human Discord. Equestrian Discord is his words most powerful magic user while Human Discord is his world's greatest Mad Scientist, even creating the Hogyoku. Equestrian Discord was his own act at first feeling like he needed no friends or allies, while Human Discord was a part of an organization like Soul Society and even after being exiled was joined by his closest friends and allies. Equestrian Discord was turned to stone because Celestia and Luna would not tolerate his cruelty while Soul Society allowed Human Discord to perform unethical experiments as the head of Hitsuyo Aku. Both Discords were once evil in one way or another, but Equestrian Discord's god like powers gave him an extreme Lack of Empathy making his reformation very difficult even with friends while the weaker Human Discord could more easily emphasize with others and once he actually got to know his test subjects he turned into a better man all by himself eventually going as far to become the Big Good in contrast to the still unreliable Spirit of Chaos.
  • Fallout: Equestria: Snowfall gives us one to Red Eye: The Shadow King, better known as King Sombra. Both want to restore Equestria to it's former glory, both are actively trying to do so, (although Sombra is doing so a bit more slowly) and both are using the main character to do this. The key difference is that while Red Eye is a Well-Intentioned Extremist genuinely willing to make Equestria a better place, to the point that he plans on killing himself so someone like him isn't around to ruin his new world, Sombra is every bit the evil tyrant who appeared on the show, and probably just wants the Crystal Empire back for purely selfish reasons.
  • Fate/Black Reflection: Saber and Ichigo are polar opposites of one another. Saber is a stoic knight with a golden sword who wears predominantly white and blue, whereas Ichigo is an emotional samurai with a jet black blade whose bankai outfit incorporates black and red. Saber's Excalibur is a beam of holy light, while Ichigo's Getsuga Tensho is a ray of spiritual darkness. Even their motivations are opposite: Saber desperately wants the Holy Grail whereas Ichigo has no interest in it at all and is just participating in the war to keep the Grail out of the hands of anyone who might misuse it for something horrible.
  • Fatherhood Platon: Greg Universe and Martin Blyndeff are both wacky bumblers who struggle with parenting. Both lost their significant other and are raising their child alone, with Grag losing his girlfriend Rose, who died giving birth to their son Steven, and Martin losing his wife Calliope in a fire accident four years ago and is raising his daughters Molly and Lorelai. The key difference is that Greg ‘’tries’’ to be a decent parent, and despite his mistakes, he’s a genuinely good parent and caring person, while Martin is too happy to neglect his kid and, despite appearing to be a goofy, fun-loving parent, is actually a very selfish man. Flashbacks revealed that Greg was immature in his past and relied on his friends for help, but eventually matured, got a job, and became more considerate towards his friends. According to the Word of God, Martin and his wife perfectly balanced each other out, with him making the toys in their business while his wife does the business work, but it’s made clear that he never matured as a person even if his wife did balance him in the past. Greg is heartbroken by the loss of his love, Rose, but does not let that affect him being a parent and trying to move on; Martin completely ignores the death of his wife and puts all the responsibilities his wife had on running their business onto his daughter Molly while he slacked off and became a worse person than he was before. The story made clear that despite his immaturity and flaws, Greg is a good man and a good parent, while if Martin ever had positive traits and ever tried to be a good parent, those traits are gone, and now he’s just a bad person and bad parent.
  • In the Phineas and Ferb/The Simpsons crossover fic The Flynns Move To Springfield, Isabella and Lisa are foils to each other. Isabella is a kind, friendly Naïve Newcomer. Lisa is a spoiled, vain Alpha Bitch who treats others like dirt. Lisa is initially an Affably Evil Villain with Good Publicity, whilst Isabella is largely unnoticed by classmates. However, when Isabella gets the lead role in the school play, their positions flip, with Isabella becoming more popular and Lisa becoming more pshycopathic as jealousy begins to take her over. Essentially, the higher one ascends, the lower the other falls.
    • Several more... benevolent examples occur in another crossover A Tale of Two Geniuses, in which most of the drama and humour comes from the similarities and differences of the leads.
    • Bart vs. Phineas: Both are quite clever (and have a healthy Friendly Rivalry), but have differing personalities, as Phineas is idealistic, sweet-natured and well-mannered, while Bart is cynical, sarcastic and rude.
    • Bart vs. Ferb: Both are sidekicks, with genuine respect for each other. They both have a dark side, but they have different personalities. Ferb is mild-tempered and quietly influential, preventing Phineas from going overboard, while Bart's flamboyance and irresponsibility are the tip of his self-destructive behaviour, leading to a Sibling Rivalry with his "genius" (Lisa).
    • Lisa vs. Isabella: Both are intelligent young girls. However, Isabella is a lot more calmer and friendlier than the socially awkward, short-tempered Lisa.
    • David Shapiro (the story's Big Bad) himself has traits that resonate or clash with each of the leads. He's an almost giftedly intelligent inventor (Phineas). He's quite theatrical and self-centred (Bart). He blatantly manipulates emotions (Ferb). He disregards human life and freedom (Lisa). He lacks any and all empathy (Isabella) and is coldly logical (again, Phineas).
  • Lisa and Seras in Honey and Vinegar. Both of them being the special women in Dracula's life (Lisa as the woman he loves and Seras as his daughter), but practically being polar opposite to each other. Lisa is a human woman who dislikes violence, is rather naïve, wants to use whatever knowledge she gains to help others, and looks for the best in everyone, human or otherwise, even if there might be nothing there. Seras is a century old vampire who is a crass, rude cynic who is expectant of the worst, doesn't see the point in using what she knows to help others, and relishes in when she gets to cut loose and kill whatever she hates.
  • Ben Tennyson and Jotaro Kujo serve as this in JoJo's Alien Adventure.
  • When Dumbledore compares a young Tom Riddle and Artemis Fowl in King of Serpents: Game of Shadows, he reflects that both of them are brilliant, deceptive and curious handsome youths. However, while Riddle is able to associate with people without truly connecting with them, Artemis utterly fails to bond with people he doesn't actually like. Also, Artemis has no interest in ruling the world, because he refuses to deal with human stupidity.
  • Knight of Death and Rebirth has many:
    • Druella To Lelouch, all the way.
      • Druella is the biggest proponent of her mother's cause, and has already caused numerous realms to fall under her banner. Lelouch, meanwhile, stands as the greatest threat to that same cause, especially since he is now immune to the effects of Demonic Energy.
      • Druella has the full support of her family while Lelouch is only supported by his sister, instead relying upon his Family of Choice.
      • Most of Druella's followers are brainwashed Yes-Women while Lelouch's followers are his True Companions.
      • Druella is unable to comprehend why Lelouch opposes her, while Lelouch understands Druella and her mother's cause, but finds them repugnant.
      • Druella's ultimate goal would result in the functional extinction of mankind, while Lelouch's end goal for Midgard would allow for true coexistence between human and monster.
    • Comparably, Druella is one to Cornelia. Both are leading generals in the conquest of their respective worlds, have a sense of filial piety, care well for their underlings, and are assisted by two Co-Dragons (Kuroferuru to Darlton and Lucella to Guilford). Cornelia is driven by vengeance and is more loyal to the Emperor while Druella is more of a Dragon with an Agenda and seeks to create her own utopia.
    • Francisca to Nunnally:
      • Both are royalty who were horribly disabled and somehow managed to overcome their disabilities. However, Francisca’s isolation has made her mentally unstable than she would if she would have been given a normal life like Nunnally.
    • Parshe to Mimil, who also serves as a Shadow Archetype. While Parshe has fallen into an unhealthy obsession with Elt, Mimil has overcome her personal problems where only he provided support.
  • The Last Son of Tomorrow puts Terry McGinnis as the Good Counterpart to Lex Luthor, both of them heading powerful corporations, being responsible for many brilliant tech-advances and having a secret agenda. But where Lex is a certified genius who squanders his smarts by trying to dominate the world, Terry relies on his alien supercomputer to genuinely help people. Also, their relationship with Superman wildly differs - Arch-Enemy on one hand, Intergenerational Friendship on the other.
    • It's actually implied Superman is aware of this and went out of his way to befriend Terry because he wants to ensure there won't be another Luthor on the rise.
  • Metroid: Kamen Rider Generations:
    • Samus has some dynamics of this when it comes to two of her Kamen Rider companions, Mitsuzane Kureshima (Kamen Rider Ryugen) and Gou Shijima (Kamen Rider Mach)
      • Samus to Mitsuzane: Both have their own dark sides and different personalities. Samus is mostly unaffected by any traumatic experiences back in her world, while Mitsuzane is utterly an insecure man and can be interpreted as what Samus would be like if he keeps losing the people he's close to. Samus represents the idealism and morality that Micchy has since lost, while Micchy himself serves as a moral compass and Love Interest to Samus. On the positive side, they are motivated to protect humankind from any threat that no one has ever faced.
      • Samus to Gou: Both are incredibly athletic at a metaphysical level. Samus does not brag about her accomplishments as the greatest bounty hunter in the galaxy as she lives to fight as her sole duty. Gou is outwardly loudmouthed, arrogant and showy, doesn't have any problem to make a dramatic entrance.
    • Gou and Mitsuzane are this to one another. Both are somewhat cynical and tend to rub each other the wrong way, making jokes at anyone's expense to hide their pain. Mitsuzane is mild-mannered and level-headed in contrast to the Motor Mouthed and hot-tempered Gou.
  • Mia Fey: Ace Attorney – The Fool's Turnabout: Mia Fey and Sae Niijima. Both of them are lawyers with younger sisters who look up to them. In addition, they have cases of Parental Abandonment that pushed them into the path they are now. However, aside from the fact that Mia is a defense attorney and Sae is a prosecutor, they have some obvious differences. While Mia has become more idealistic and maintains a better relationship with Maya, Sae has grown bitter and cynical and has a strained relationship with Makoto at best. In addition, Mia does her best to practice law the honest way to defend people who need defending. Sae is an Amoral Attorney who only cares about winning, even if that means doing things like forcing false confessions or manipulating evidence. This is something that helps Mia push Sae's Character Development along.
  • In Necessary to Win, a Girls und Panzer and Saki crossover found here, there are a few cases.
    • Maho and Teru. The former is forced to keep distance from Miho as a result of having to be the Nishizumi heiress, which involves a cold and professional facade, but follows that role and fulfills her mother's expectations so that Miho will be able to live freely. The latter does not care whether her parents approve or disapprove of her doing tankery, and treats Saki coldly while putting on a cheerful face for the public.
    • Yukari and Nodoka's families. Yukari has not made many friends through tankery until recently, but while her parents don't understand tankery well, they are supportive of her interest in it. By contrast, Nodoka has made friends through tankery, but her parents disapprove of her doing it.
    • Also Hana's mother and Nodoka's father. Hana's mother is, in most cases, warm and caring to Hana, but also takes it personally when Hana goes into tankery against her wishes, since she is a traditional woman and wants Hana to inherit the Isuzu school of flower arranging. Nodoka's father is stern and emotionally distant, thinks tankery is a waste of time that distracts Nodoka from working toward a good job, but according to Nodoka, would not think as much of tradition and has a less specific goal for her, career-wise.
    • The Nishizumi and Atago families. The former is highly traditional and is determined to win at all costs, while the latter has been established more recently, and is more concerned with players improving themselves, including learning from defeat. Specific members also contrast with each other.
      • Shiho Nishizumi is cold, ruthless and distant from others. Masae Atago is warm, personable, and cares a great deal for her children and the rest of her family.
      • Their eldest daughters. Maho Nishizumi is outwardly cold, and reveals very little about herself, including how much she cares for her sister, to her subordinates. Hiroe Atago is hot tempered and somewhat brutally honest, while more openly caring for her younger sister.
      • Their younger daughters. Miho Nishizumi initially wanted to emulate her sister, but after realizing that Maho wanted her to find her own way of tankery, set out to find a way of tankery different from that of her family. Kinue Atago was initially uninterested in tankery, but once getting involved, is largely content to follow her sister's footsteps.
  • Roller Brawl and Mega Man in Roller Brawl: The Mega Cyborg serve as this to each other.
    • There's the obvious Pink Girl, Blue Boy orientation in their color scheme. More specifically, Mega Man's blue and cyan coloration lends to Light Is Good, whereas Roller Brawl's pink and black applies more to Dark Is Not Evil.
    • They also gender-invert Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: Mega Man prefers to use the Mega Buster, while Roller Brawl prefers her unique Leech Claws.
    • Their origins put them opposite sides of Magic Versus Science: Rock is a Robot Kid built to be a lab assistant to one of the greatest scientists on Earth, while Roller Brawl is a vampire from a land of magic.
    • Personality-wise, they also contrast heavily. Rock is a pacifist at heart, not wishing to destroy his enemies if he can, and is generally well-mannered and polite. Roller Brawl, however, is a Blood Knight who relishes combat and is considerably more brash and ill-tempered, being unafraid to fight if she has to.
  • Sanduleak serves as this to Betelgeuse in Say It Thrice. Both are poltergeists who were named for stars and have annoying limitations on their powers. However, Betelgeuse is more of an Anti-Hero, with his own dubious moral code and standards, and has a Morality Pet (Lydia) who keeps him from being too awful. Sanduleak, on the other hand, has all of Betelgeuse's flaws turned up to eleven without any of his virtues to provide counterbalance. Naturally, they despise one another.
  • The Charmed (1998)/Angel crossover series Sent to the Witch establishes Angel and Cole as this in The Love of a Vampire in particular, with both characters demons with souls trying to redeem themselves of their recent turn to evil, with the difference being that there is a clearer line between Angel and Angelus than there is between Cole and the Source.
  • From Son of Sparda D×D, a crossover between High School D×D and Devil May Cry:
    • Dante and Issei since both are grade-A perverts bearing demonic power. While Dante has lived with the supernatural his entire life, Issei is completely new to it. Dante's casual attitude gives off an air of incompetence that leads to him being underestimated, whereas Issei's early incompetence is much more genuine (generally, Dante's more of The Ace while Issei is more of a Classical Anti-Hero). Reflecting their perverted sides, Dante enjoys ogling women's butts, while Issei prefers breasts.
    • Dante and Raynare. Both being half-breeds with more Daddy Issues than can be counted. Dante's been able to move past this problem while Raynare is just beginning to deal with them. While Dante actively rejected his father and his lineage, Raynare embraced her heritage in a desperate attempt to gain her father's approval. Also, Dante's father is long since dead and ended the war against the demons, where as Raynare's is alive and actively trying to restart a war.
  • A Supe of a Man: Both Homelander and Clark dislike their celebrity status and the public relations they perform on behalf of Vought, but for different reasons. Clark is a genuine good guy and loves helping people and is exhausted by the corruption and backstabbing of Vought and the pressures of public life. Homelander hates having to play the good guy because it prevents him from indulging in his psychotic whims.
  • Similar to how he has one with Shirou Emiya in his debut, Archer!EMIYA is one for Izuku Midoriya in Timeless Academia, especially when it comes to their views on heroism. Izuku is an Ideal Hero who's more focused on saving lives despite being new to the game of being a hero. EMIYA in contrast is not only more experienced, but is also a Knight in Sour Armor, Combat Pragmatist, and Pragmatic Hero who looks down on idealists and is a firm believer that a hero either must or will eventually lose their ideals the more they try to save lives and that Izuku's goal of trying to save EVERYONE is straight up impossible and suicidal.
  • In The Ultimate Big Brother, Charlotte Katakuri is this to two characters.
  • The V in River basically establishes River Tam (Firefly) as a foil to V (V for Vendetta) when she reflects on a recent request for her to be a symbol for the new rebellion against the Alliance; she explicitly reflects on how Fawkes lost and V had nothing to live for after he won, whereas River accepts that she has her friends and family on Serenity.
  • When they eventually meet in Walking in the Shadows, Xander and Raven physically, spiritually, and mentally. Xander's Tall, Dark, and Handsome with a healthy tan while Raven's a short and pale goth. He's outgoing and goofy while she's The Stoic by necessity. Xander willingly became a cleric of Aphrodite (and Eros), gaining Super-Strength and the ability to heal mental and emotional trauma via Intimate Healing. Raven is the daughter of Trigon whose powers lend more towards support roles and can heal physical damage with her soul. Lastly, Raven is a powerful sorceress while Xander is an artificer who can make magical artifacts but not cast spells.
  • In Xenophobia Samus serves as this to Ripley given to their similar personalities and their combat experiences. Both have a parent-child bonds with Hector and Newt, respectively.

    A-F 
Animorphs
  • In Animorphs Redux, this basically applies to David and Melissa's dynamic, as while they are both 'the sixth Animorph', where David's similarities to the rest of the team prevented him from fitting in, Melissa's own ties to the team, such as her sharing Marco's fondness for sci-fi or Rachel's interest in gymnastics, helps her fit in with the others, reinforcing how David's own flaws prevented him fitting into the team rather than the idea that adding anyone to the team would be a bad idea.
  • Dæmorphing draws parallels between the Hork-Bajir and Chee. Both are artificial races who were created to be harmless and can see the Dust, but the Hork-Bajir are short-lived, were forced to learn how to fight, and never let their souls get damaged; while the Chee are immortal, couldn't fight even if they wanted to due to their programming, and disabled their ability to see the Dust, damaging their souls in the process.

Arrowverse

  • What It Takes: Quentin Lance and Oliver Queen. Both have difficult relationships with the main protagonist Laurel Lance (Quentin's eldest daughter and Oliver's ex-girlfriend/One True Love), but Quentin's is because of Laurel's perceived failings while studiously ignoring his own faults, while Oliver's is because he's an Insecure Love Interest who has never felt good enough for Laurel, putting all of the faults of their relationship on himself. Quentin ends up betraying Laurel by exposing her as Black Canary and siding with a terrorist, thoroughly destroying her life, while Oliver drops everything to go help her the moment he learns she's in potentially fatal danger, destroying his life in the process. Quentin becomes one of the most hated men in the planet for unwittingly helping Darhk destroy the world, while Oliver becomes revered as a hero for helping save the very world Darhk tried to destroy. Finally, Quentin is unable to reconcile with Laurel, having finally crossed the one line she couldn't forgive, and dies alone, a depressed and broken man, while Oliver successfully rekindles his romance with Laurel and ends the story looking forward to a happy future with her.

Avatar: The Last Airbender

  • In Reluctant Hero:
    • Pakku and Yugato are highly skilled Masters in their elements, chosen amongst the White Lotus to teach the Avatar. While Pakku is brutal verging on sadistic with his student, gaining Zuko's hatred and mistrust, Yugato does his best to help the youth to open and comfort him. It can be linked to their respective opinions about the new Avatar: Pakku sees a willful teen whose pride needs to be broken, Yugato sees a confused boy struggling with his newfound destiny and the duties coming with it.
    • The Water and Fire princesses, Yue and Azula, couldn't be more different if they tried. Yue is the ultimate Nice Girl who's ready to help a boy from another nation, while Azula is so callous she hopes her own brother died to let her gain the throne.

Batman

  • The Redemption of Harley Quinn: Lyle Bolton and Aaron Cash are both tough-as-nails Arkham wardens, but while Bolton is a cruel sadist, Cash treats the prisoners civily. (Well, until he gets to confront his daughter's murderer. But even then, he doesn't go too far so he can keep his humanity.)

Beetlejuice

  • In Sleeping Beetle, the Arc Villain Vasile is this for Beetlejuice. Their origin stories bear enough similarities that they started out the same way, but over time Vasile's bloodthirst and desire for revenge caused him to become a kind of vampire ghost known as a strigoi mort, making him literally bloodthirsty. Beetlejuice, on the other hand, was content to funnel his powers into annoying the hell out of others for his own amusement, and has mellowed over time instead of getting worse.

Brightburn

  • In A Monster's Nature, it has been affirmed that part of Caitlyn's role is to serve as a foil to Brandon's ship, encouraging Brandon's humanity where the ship amplified his alien nature, to the extent that Brandon and Caitlyn's relationship became 'official' after Brandon 'introduced' her to the ship and both relationships were essentially 'ended' at the same time when Brandon destroyed the ship and abandoned Caitlyn after killing the Breyers, although Brandon does go back to Caitlyn later.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

  • Taaroko's Buffy the Vampire Slayer;
    • Angel and Spike continue to act as this to each other, to the point that Spike's soul is taken from him by Drusilla after Angel becomes human, turning him back into a 'normal' vampire, because Spike can't be bothered to keep trying to be a hero now that Buffy's chosen Angel (although Word of God notes that this was mainly because Drusilla caught Spike in a moment of Alcohol-Induced Idiocy).
    • Later chapters also contrast Spike to Nyx, the Slayer-turned-vampire who kills Slayers; while they have both killed Slayers, Spike only did it twice for the sheer thrill of it and each of his victories genuinely meant something to him, where Nyx kills Slayers out of an established routine to prove her superiority without any real passion behind her actions.

Cross Ange

  • Cross Ange The Knight Of Hilda: Blitz, aka the Boss of the Network, serves as this for Jill as the commander of Arzenal. Both are the respective leaders of their factions, both have a Dark and Troubled Past and a devoted protégé, (Rio and Salia respectively). Unlike Jill, who after losing everything is openly willing to use her subordinates as tools for her personal revenge, Boss's motivation is to protect others, he is A Father to His Men, and his relationship with Rio is defined by mutual respect and honesty.

Danganronpa

Danny Phantom

  • Danny Phantom: Stranded:
    • Mother and daughter Stella Bevier and Star Strong are this to each other. Both of them were spoiled upperclass girls that fell in love with middle-class nice guys. Both of them used to be kinder when they were younger, before corrupting influences caused them to become meaner. But the two of them took different paths in life. When Stella married Johnathan Strong, she was genuinely in love with him and was a good mother to their daughter Star. However, different values and upbringings eventually caused them to drift apart over the years - Stella was raised to believe that her opinion mattered more than what the commoners believed, and while she did love Johnathan, she never grew or matured as a person because his influence did not change her for the better. This resulted in Stella growing more selfish and thoughtless over the years, to the point where Stella ended the marriage when she ran away with an upper-class Frenchman, and she neglected Star in favor of her new family, while she merely spoiled Star instead. Star used to be a happy, nice girl as a child. However, her parents divorce and her mother's corrupting influence and actions caused Star to be insecure enough to befriend toxic friends and become the selfish, shallow, two-dimensional popular girl that we saw in cannon. But being stranded on an island with Danny Fenton, someone she used to mock and look down on made her look at her life and change for the better. Their experience on the island, where they were forced to work together, causes them to bond and makes her realize that she was mean to him for shallow reasons. She eventually becomes friends with Danny and begins to develop feelings for him soon after. Danny's influence causes Star to eventually reject the toxic influence of her mother and A-Lister friends, as she found the courage to leave the A-Listers and become a kinder, braver and overall better person.
    • Johnathan Strong to Jean-Luc. Both are wealthy men with teenage daughters and were at one point, romantically involved with Stella. However, Johnathan is a hardworking, no-nonsense lawyer who loves his daughter but has little time to spend with her due to his career. Jean-Luc is a shameless, womanizing owner of a vineyard who spoils his own daughter rotten and does nothing to curb her attitude.
    • Colette Bevier to Paulina Sanchez. Paulina is a Hispanic girl born in Amity Park who has a crush on Danny Phantom and used to be friends with Star while Colette is a French girl who has a crush on Danny Fenton and has never gotten along with Star.
    • Suzette Dumont to Jean-Luc, both being French and running businesses. Whereas Jean-Luc runs a wine company and has no problem valuing himself and pretty women over everyone else, Suzette runs a charity and has more of a moral compass. Unfortunately, what she shares in common with her husband is that they are both neglectful of their daughter. Jean-Luc spoils his daughter and lets her have free reign to do what she wants, while Suzette prioritizes her jobs and charity work over her daughter to the point where she rarely interacts with her face.

DARK MOON: THE BLOOD ALTAR

  • My Deepest, Darkest Secret:
    • The Decelis vampires and Sunshine City werewolves, as per usual, and here in this story it's more obvious:
    • Enzy gets one with Richard. Both of them have been entranced by Solon's beauty at first sight, however while Richard ultimately feels nothing but lust for the hybrid, Enzy immediately grew to wholeheartedly love Solon as he is. It's best shown with how Solon feels about them: Solon loves Enzy back to the point where he was delighted to hear that they're true mates and feels safe and happy with him, while he utterly hates and fears Richard for giving him a large amount of trauma that lasts into adulthood.
    • Solon to Sooha, big time.
      • Both have been noted by many to be extraordinarily powerful (especially compared to the Decelis vampires and Sunshine City werewolves), have been unfairly ostracized in their childhood for being different (Sooha due to her Super-Strength and Solon due to his "weird looks"), eventually got accepted into a tight-knit group of brothers that are a different species from them (the Decelis vampires for Sooha and the Sunshine City werewolves for Solon) and later develop romantic feelings for the member they first met and became the closest to (Heli for Sooha and Enzy for Solon), but while Solon is a unique vampire-werewolf hybrid, Sooha is an otherwise normal human who just happens to have special abilities.
      • Personality-wise, Solon is very shy and pre-Character Development hid his misery and warm heart with a Tsundere-like Ice King façade (and even after his Character Development he's still somewhat timid when it comes to sharing how he feels), plus due to being a child of two warring worlds and having felt like an outcast even amongst his Family of Choice for most of his life, he knows what it's like to be hated for something he was born with and is unprejudiced as a result. Sooha, on the other hand, is more confident, friendlier, pretty cheerful and open with her feelings, such as the fact that she utterly loathes vampires because of her Childhood Friend being killed by one.
      • Their differences are further reflected on how they reacted to two surprising reveals about themselves and their loved ones: Solon was understandably shocked to discover that he's half-werewolf and Dardan being his paternal grandfather, but ultimately accepted both truths in a calm and quick way. Sooha, on the other hand, firmly remained in denial over the fact that she's the reincarnation of Princess Selen, and her friends actually being vampires, and reacts with violent fury, from grabbing Marge by the collar and demanding to know if she was lying (even using her Super-Strength in her hold) to yelling angrily at the brothers for lying to her and then storming off, and it was never stated if she accepted any of her truths yet.
      • As for how their relationship with their respective groups goes, by the end of the story Solon is now an official member of Khan's pack plus has a loving marriage with Enzy and later adopts a daughter with him while Sooha leaves the vampire brothers halfway in the story and doesn't get together with Heli.

DC Animated Universe

  • Sparks Fly: Lois Lane and Leslie Willis aka Livewire have this dynamic. Leslie is a Large Ham Radio Shock Jock who's friends with Clark Kent after he saved her life, calling him "Smallville" as an Affectionate Nickname, but doesn't care for Superman and is a rather nice person under her radio personality who's also a proud geek. Lois Lane is a Intrepid Reporter who dislikes Clark, calling him "Smallville" as an insult, but is professionally and romantically interested in Superman. She also happens to be a mild example of a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing and is rather touchy about being a Closet Geek.
    • As chapter 12 shows, while Lois is happy to throw herself into danger as part of her job to get the big scoop, Leslie has to be threatened into doing a concert during a record thunderstorm, citing that she's anti-authority, not suicidal.

Disgaea

  • Wolf in the Streets, Sardine in the Sheets:
    • Fenrich and Kurtis's reasons for getting involved with Valvatorez are connected: Kurtis is staying at his rehabilitation home as one of his 'prinnies', while Fenrich starts working as his assistant... but was actually hired to kidnap Kurtis and eliminate Valvatorez. Both hold themselves as a distance from the other residents, but Kurtis regards them all fondly, while Fenrich doesn't want to admit how attached he's getting. Near the end of the main story, Kurtis declares that one of the reasons that he's able to forgive Fenrich for working with Carter is because of their similarities — namely the fact that both of them fell for his lies, but turned upon him after realizing the truth.
    • Emizel and Fuka (along with Desco) ended up staying with Valvatorez after their fathers got into legal trouble; Hugo and Genjuro are both serving time in prison for their crimes. While Emizel has come to terms with the situation and done his best to adjust, Fuka refuses to accept reality, dismissing her traumatic memories of the lab accident as 'just a dream' and insisting that her father is just absorbed in one of his projects.

Dragon Ball

Family Guy

  • Family Guy Fanon:
    • The fanfic does one for Meg to Chris in terms of school life. Though they're both teenagers (okay, Chris is an early teenager, but still), Meg is a social outcast at James Woods High, where she faces being bullied on by students, teachers, and even Principal Shephard, with one episode revealed that Shephard made a rule where Meg had to wear a brown paper bag over her head when she went to school. Chris on the other hand, is more well liked at Buddy Cianci Jr. High, as he well-liked by a good majority of students and even some off the teachers as shown with his friendship with Randall Fargus. The only expectation this is Principal Sloan.
      • In Season 5 when Chris starts attending James Woods High, he's more on equal footing with Meg, but still foils with her in some ways. While Meg is constantly trying to fit in and be in the "in" crowd, Chris more likes where he is as an outcast. Though this may be because he knows he's not as unpopular as Meg, but is dangerously close, and led to him trying his best to stay where he is and not sink any deeper.
    • Peter to Stan Thompson. Both are fathers that are related to the Griffin family in one way and both are jerks that still care at the end of the day, but both are completely different than more in terms of size. Peter's a blue-collar worker with a livable income and has a more laid-back persona, while Stan is a lower worker, being an ex-Mafia member and having a way stricter persona due to his Mafia past.

Fate/stay night

  • Fate/Harem Antics:
    • Angelica Ainsworth is a stoic Punch-Clock Villain. Her Servant Jeanne d'Arc Alter is a boisterous Card-Carrying Villain.
    • Illya is an albino Older Than They Look girl who while innocent looking can be the craziest of the Masters. Her Servant Raikou is a dark-haired fully-developed woman who while belonging in the Berserker class, is actually quite sane.
    • Miyu is a quiet, lonely girl who barely even leaves her house and has little interest in the Holy Grail, only joining because she misinterpreted what the War entailed. Her Servant Elizabeth Bathory is a loud socialite who wants everyone to love her and flies into a blind rage if anyone implies there's something wrong with her singing.
    • Fiore is a gentle Delicate and Sickly girl with a single simple wish, who dislikes fighting but does so in the most efficient way possible. Her Servant Oda Nobunaga is a Large Ham Boisterous Bruiser Blood Knight who doesn't care what happens as long as she gets a good fight out of it. Fiore's brother Caules cares about her very much while Nobunaga's brother Nobukatsu betrayed her.

Fairy Tail

Fifty Shades of Grey

  • Sharon to Ana in Lucky Number Thirteen. They have both been involved in BDSM relationships with Christian Grey and look superficially alike. However, while Ana was a virgin before meeting Christian and knows virtually nothing about BDSM, Sharon has been involved in the scene for a few years and is quite experienced. While Ana is rather shy and unconfident, Sharon is assertive and very comfortable in her own skin. Ana finds almost everything to do with sex and BDSM scandalising and embarrassing, while Sharon is a lot more casual and even blunt about it. Ana is also unsure about being a 'natural' submissive (which is what Christian calls her), while Sharon knows she's submissive and is completely fine with it as long as it's on her terms.

Five Nights at Freddy's

  • AIEchidna's Five Nights at Freddy's
    • Freddy Fazbear to Sparky the Dog. Freddy is a rampaging homicidal maniac with a endless bloodlust who would kill his teammates with no hesitation while Sparky is a Gentle Giant at heart, unable to harm a fly, all the while remaining loyal to his friends until the very ending.
    • Nightmare to Fredbear. Nightmare is a sadistic Grim Reaper who, while taking souls who have only cheated death unfairly or who are close to dying, either stalks them in their last moments or, in the case of cheaters (or sometimes out of spite), plays a sadistic game with them. Fredbear, meanwhile, is a polite fellow who gladly guides Michael through and tries to help him out of the situation Nightmare had placed him in. (Word of God states that like how Nightmare is Death, Fredbear (albiet assumedly not the real one) is considered to be Life.)
    • Bonnie the Bunny to Chica the Chicken. Bonnie can barely muster up any courage to speak to Freddy, much less talk back to him, only being able to respond with whimpers and whines. Chica, on the other hand, is able to do so much as be sarcastic to Freddy and get away with it. The fact they're implied to be in love with each other only makes this cuter.

Friends

  • "The One Where Heckles Has An Existential Crisis" is based around the premise that the girls' downstairs neighbour, Mr Heckles, was Chandler's future self from a timeline where he never got over his commitment issues, with the result that Monica married Richard due to Chandler's inability to commit to their relationship. When Heckles talks with the future Ross about Monica's life with Richard, the contrast between Chandler and Richard as a partner for Monica is made clear, as Richard gave Monica her dream wedding where Chandler preferred to save the money for their life together, their relationship is companionable rather than the energy of her bond with Chandler, Richard saw her as a spouse where Chandler always saw her as an equal, etc. These observations from Ross help affirm Heckles' decision to subtly encourage his past self to change so that he can give Monica the life she deserved, as opposed to just settling for a good life.

    G-L 
Godzilla / King Kong / MonsterVerse
  • Abraxas (Hrodvitnon): Both Viv and San (the protagonists) have several contrasts with several other characters – besides Alan Jonah (who represents an opposite reaction to grief in Vivienne's case and an opposite reaction to getting separated from family in San's case), Viv and San have Foils in Godzilla (an old and experienced Titan to Viv and San's technical youth and inexperience), Manda (a possible divine reincarnation with an innocent mind in contrast to Viv and San's trauma and Viv's forced resurrection by the Satanic Archetype), Thor (who isn't invigorated to live like Vivienne is), and Madison (who indirectly lost her chance to have Vivienne as her family in the same moment that San got his own). They aren't the only ones either – Jonah and Ghidorah are Foils, and Mark Russell has Foils in Thor and Ren Serizawa.

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi / The Untamed

  • Second Bite of the Cherry: Lan Wangji and Wei Ying's relationship was encouraged to deviate from Qingheng-jun and the previous Madam Lan's relationship by the Lan elders. Lan Wangji still fell in love with a young girl he met outside the sect, but she came to return his love instead of being locked away by him.
    • They also are contrasting with Jiang Yanli and Yu Ziyuan's own relationships. Where Lan Wangji and Wei Ying are in a Perfectly Arranged Marriage, both Jiang women's intended husbands aren't too happy about them.
    • Both Lan Qiren and Yu Ziyuan bear a grudge towards Cangse Sanren, but he genuinely puts effort into becoming a Parental Substitute to the woman's daughter while Yu Ziyuan never could bring herself to set her envy aside in canon.

Harry Potter

  • The Power of Seven sees quite a few characters become foils to each other in terms of the impact their attitudes towards sex has on their relationships with others;
    • Ron and Ginny are a comparatively dark example of this as they each find themselves aroused by watching others have sex, but for Ron it's all about perving over such a hot sight, where Ginny is primarily aroused by the emotional aspect of the act when watching Harry doing it, such as Harry's genuine dedication to making Luna feel good.
    • Katie and Demelza provide a fascinating contrast due to them helping Harry explore the extreme sides of his issues with control. After Harry has spent most of his life with the Dursleys belittling him and various factions of the wizarding world directing his destiny, he has come to resent feeling as though he has no control in a situation; Katie's subtle domination of him helps him accept that surrendering control doesn't always have to be a bad thing, while Demelza's submission to and trust in him empowers Harry and helps him gain confidence in himself.
    • Ginny and Fleur serve as an unexpected contrast to each other in their initial attitudes towards sex, with Ginny embracing her high sex drive while Fleur tries to deny it.
    • Chapter 49 sets up Gabrielle Delacour as a contrast to Demelza Robbins; where both are superficially 'devoted' to Harry, Gabrielle is essentially attracted to Harry's celebrity image and fantasizes about having him to herself where Demelza was seduced by Harry rather than the 'Boy-Who-Lived' and only pursued a relationship with Ginny's permission.
  • In Birds of a Feather, Tom Riddle explicitly thinks of Hermione as his foil (the two were born in the same era and were acquainted with each other before Hogwarts), Hermione providing Tom with an alternative perspective on his actions and the reason for certain rules that subtly encourage both of them to become more moderate, Tom less inclined to consider threats as a viable solution while Hermione encourages herself to take a more practical and less purely moral view to make her points.

The Hunger Games

  • The Parts We Play:
    • In District One, Marvel joined the Academy of his own choice with the dream of being a ‘hero’, while Glimmer is revealed to be a legacy tribute who was pressured into joining by her father as she had a better chance than her brothers.
    • Cato and Clove are set up as a new style of ‘star-crossed lovers’ in contrast to Katniss and Peeta, with the tributes from Two ruthless killers who fight only for each other where Peeta and Katniss’s actions are often based around saving others.
    • Peeta and Gale are this to each other as always, with Gale almost ‘demanding’ a relationship with Katniss due to her pregnancy where Peeta never seeks anything but Katniss’s happiness, even if it costs him his own life.
    • To better oppose the Careers’ Alliance, Peeta and Prim form their own team with Thresh, Rue and Rani, focused more on protecting each other than eliminating their enemies and with a clear promise that they won’t attack each other unless one of them attacks first.
  • Valkyrie on Fire:
    • Glimmer and Katniss are obvious examples of this, with Glimmer the outgoing blonde Femme Fatale while Katniss is a quieter brunette tomboy, although they make a good team nevertheless.
    • Even Katniss's stylist Cinna is given a Foil in the form of Puella, District One’s stylist, as Puella goes to far too much effort to make himself and his creations stand out where Cinna draws a clear line between making a dramatic impression and pure lack of taste.

Invader Zim

  • The New Adventures of Invader Zim:
    • Gaz and Viera — both are Goths, but while one is every anti-social, misanthropic cliche in the book, the other is a genuinely nice and caring person.
    • Zim and Tak both fled demeaning assignments to prove themselves as Invaders, and are obsessed with proving themselves. The difference is that Zim is an outcast and fails as an Invader because he destroys everything around him, making him a danger to the Empire that was sent on a fake mission to get rid of him; meanwhile, Tak is an excellent Invader and it's implied she would have been a great asset to the Empire, and her mission is real as a chance to become a real Invader.
    • Skoodge and Tenn are both Hypercompetent Sidekicks to more maniacal partners. The difference is that despite being a successful Invader that conquered the first planet for the Empire, Skoodge is an outcast because of his height, his contributions are ignored, and he's often abused by the Tallest. Tenn is a respected Invader because of both her height and skills. They both were betrayed by the Tallest, with Skoodge being used as artillery against said planet after he pacified it, and then had his achievement given to someone else, while Tenn was forgotten by the Tallest on a mission. Another major difference is that Skoodge joins Zim's rebellion, in response to the Tallest treating him like crap, while Tenn stays loyal to the Tallest because they at least bothered to acknowledge her.
    • Darth and Skoodge were both born different and could not meet the standards of Irken society, with Darth born blind and Skoodge born short. But the difference is how their Tallest treated them and how it affected them. Tallest Miyuki had taken sympathy on Darth and had him spared, allowing him to rise to lead the Consulars. Tallest Red and Purple hate and abuse Skoodge; because of that, despite being a skilled Invader, his contributions are ignored and given credit to someone else. Due to this, Darth stays loyal to the Empire and respects his Tallest's memory, while Skoodge turned again the Empire to get revenge on his Tallest.

Jackie Chan Adventures

  • Queen of All Oni: Anton Mortimer is one to Jade Chan. They're both Genre Savvy villains, but Mortimer is nothing more than a Big Bad Wannabe and is oblivious to it, unlike Jade who poses a legitimate threat, and he's a Bad Boss in contrast to Jade being a Benevolent Boss.
  • The Ultimate Evil:
    • Shendu and Valmont have their similarities as cruel and ruthless masterminds willing to stoop to underhanded methods just like in canon, but they also have their differences, as Valerie explicitly and passionately points out. Notably, Shendu is motivated by power, but he isn't blinded to the bigger picture by petty greed as Valmont is, Shendu is significantly more open and honest to his enemies about his evilness, and Shendu's smugness is quite justified unlike Valmont's.
    • Shendu has another one in his brother Hsi Wu. Besides their shared origins, they both discover they respectively have a human Other among the heroes, and both actively seek to bind themselves to their Other, initially against said Other's will. But whereas Shendu seeks to make Valerie fall in love with him and slowly comes to love her in turn, Hsi Wu makes it clear he cares nothing about Jade's feelings or welfare, only about how much power she can grant him. Furthermore, whereas Shendu binds himself to Valerie the natural way, Hsi Wu eventually resorts out of desperation to performing an unnatural perversion of the binding in order to merge with Jade.
    • Shendu's future son Drago is yet another one to him. They're both technically half-demon hybrids (Shendu's father was a demon whilst his mother was a goddess, and Drago is a Half-Human Hybrid demon), and they both have unresolved issues involving a Missing Mom whom they have definitively more emotion for than their fathers. They've also both shown signs of developing a romantic attraction towards a human woman respectively, and Valerie is something of a Morality Chain or Morality Pet for both demons. Interestingly, Drago being treated lovelessly by the maddened and embittered future version of Shendu and used by him as a weapon is a case of History Repeats in regards to what Shendu's own mother did to him and his siblings. It's heavily suggested that Drago was born of a loving union between Shendu and Valerie, whereas Shendu was born of a loveless union between Tiamat and the demon Typhon and was intended to be a Tyke Bomb from the start. Shendu and Drago are both motivated by revenge against the Chan Clan (Shendu for them defeating and humiliating him, Drago for the apparent death of his mother in the Bad Future). Whereas Shendu exhibits a borderline sociopathic Lack of Empathy for everyone except Valerie, Drago has shown signs of a deep-seated need for meaningful emotional relationships which Shendu lacks, and Drago's love for his mother Valerie is more pronounced than Shendu's unresolved issues with his own mother.
    • Tarakudo is a fourth example for Shendu. After Shendu has successfully binded himself to Valerie, Shendu and Tarakudo are both intelligent, regal and sophisticated demons who are practically Physical Gods by the standards of the setting's supernatural world, and who were once great rulers of the ancient world. They're also both driven by revenge on the one(s) who previously defeated them, and both of them respectively try to entice a female member of the Chan Clan over to their side and later in some way make that member of the Chan Clan a supernaturally powered protégé who's part of their forces. But whereas Shendu attempts to patiently seduce Valerie to join him and Valerie does eventually bind herself to him of her own consent (albeit when she was partly brainwashed), Tarakudo just takes a shortcut by forcibly transforming Jade back into her Superpowered Evil Side.

The Legend of Korra

  • In the The Legend of Korra fanfic Book Five: Legends, Temuji is an obvious one for Korra. He and Fumiko also act as one for Mako and Bolin collectively, as a pair of bending siblings who’ve lost all family except for each other. Their (original) elements even match. Retroactively some elements of Temuji also match Asami's story arc about missing a deceased parent, though whereas Asami came to terms with this, sadly Temuji did not.
  • The Legend of Genji: Korra's successor Genji has this dynamic with the false Avatar Luan. Luan is a fake Avatar who spent most of his life being groomed for the position and believing that he was the real deal. Genji is the real Avatar, but grew up unaware of his true destiny and is completely unprepared for the responsibilities that come with being the Avatar. Luan comes from an upper-middle class family in Gaoling and lives in the Earth Federation Royal Palace, while Genji comes from a poor background and lives in a rundown apartment. Luan is an international celebrity who's highly popular in the Earth Federation, while Genji is a nobody whose sandbender heritage alone would probably earn him scorn from most of the Federation's citizens. Luan was given the best education that money and fame could buy, whereas Genji dropped out of his school. Luan strongly supports the Earth Federation and the policies of its president, whereas Genji feels nothing but contempt for both.

Love Live!

  • Flowers Drenched in Vodka: Maki and Eli, as pointed out by the former. Both struggle with substance abuse problems- Maki with tobacco, Eli with alcohol- but while Maki is trying to quit, Eli's alcoholism is ruining her life and her relationship.

Luca

    M-R 
Marvel Universe
  • In FIRE! (DarkMark), Red Skull regards himself as Captain America's opposite.
    Red Skull: "Oh, Captain, you truly amuse me. Look at us. Thesis and antithesis. Each of us was no more than a symbol, Captain. A symbol our governments created to spur on the ones who fought for them. Did you know there were fiction magazines devoted to my exploits in the Fatherland, Captain? Not unlike your cheap pamphlets of colored paper over here, fictionalizing your battles. The Red Skull was their hero, Captain. He was the fearsome foe of the enemies of the Reich, the upholder of truth, justice, and the Aryan way, the only one strong enough to stand against the damnable traitor, Hauptmann Amerika, who slaughtered the flower of Deutschland's youth! That was what I was, Captain America. That is what I am. I am no less a hero than you."

Marvel Cinematic Universe

  • In born of hell('s kitchen):
    • Both Peter's parents contrast each other — Matt is openly the more doting one who has no qualms being empathic and is comfortable with his powers, yet he often doubts himself and needs his friends' advice. Jessica is rather more strict and reserved, quite worried about using her abilities in her mundane life, but is strong-willed enough to put herself together on her own.
    • The Walkers vs the Defenders and affiliates. Both Dorothy and Trish are deliberately kept unaware of Peter's existence in spite of their legal ties to him, as Jessica fears they would hurt him out of carelessness or self-interest. On the other side, the Defenders are introduced to Peter as a Family of Choice and rally together to ensure his protection, even if they're "only" his parents' friends.
    • Ned Leeds is blatantly compared to Foggy Nelson when Matt discovers the boy is his son's best friend who does all the talking, and is generally lighter-hearted. However, the parallels stop with their reaction to their best friend revealing he's less than ordinary: Foggy was immediately freaked and worried, and would obviously rather have Matt hanging Daredevil back to lead a happier, safer civilian life, while Ned was completely ecstatic to learn about Peter's superpowers and doesn't see why the other boy feels reluctant about outing his abilities to his parents.
  • There's Always Enough Blame to Go Around: Tony and Steve contrast each other. There's the canon differences: Tony is a Gadgeteer Genius and billionaire who runs a Fiction 500 but is a normal man physically, while Steve is a Super-Soldier who was poor growing up and has no job outside of being a superhero. But there's also their approach to being part of the Avengers in the story. Tony takes on far more responsibility than he should, causing him to get involved in situations that are frankly none of his business and "robbing others of their own agency and right to self-determination" in his therapists words. In contrast, Steve doesn't take on nearly enough responsibility, focusing too much on fighting evil to properly pay attention to his other duties, with his therapist explaining that he got several of his teammates involved in a situation where they had a lot to lose but nothing to gain*. Though for both of them, their biggest problem is not telling others what they're doing and why.

Mega Man

  • In Mega Man: Defender of the Human Race, Dr. Light and Dr. Wily contrast in every way, from personality to backstory.
    • Kalinka and Tron Bonne; both have an attraction to Mega Man but only one is love. Also, Roll and Tron both care for their robot companions but are on opposite sides of the law.
    • Mega Man, Proto Man, and Bass all qualify too.
    • George Cochran is an honest politician who believes in equality for robots, but his son William is a fervent anti-robot racist.
  • In Mega Man Reawakened, Megaman and Bass are both the doctors' grandsons, and humans who have been rebuilt as robots, but which side they're on is different.
    • Bass and Blues are driven by power, but while Bass is hotheaded, Blues is calm and rational.

Miraculous Ladybug

  • Burning Bridges, Building Confidence:
    • Cole/Vexxin versus Adrien/Chat Noir is set up even before Master Fu makes her the new Fox. In fact, the main reason Fu decides another permanent hero is needed in the first place is because Chat is deliberately neglecting his duties, sitting on the sidelines and letting Ladybug fight alone in order to try and force her to 'admit she needs him' and agree to become his girlfriend. Cole reams him out for this, and when he still refuses to act, arms herself and jumps into the fray. Unlike Adrien, she takes her duties very seriously, coordinating and corroborating with Ladybug. Despite being warned that he's on thin ice, Chat continues to treat superheroics like a game and being generally disrespectful.
    • Alya and Nino handle the classroom conflict very differently. While Alya becomes Lila's most violent and vicious defender, trusting her new BFF's claims without question, Nino quietly develops doubts and eventually seeks out answers for himself. Upon realizing just how awful they've all become, he approaches Marinette and her new circle of friends, admits he was wrong, and accepts their understandable reluctance to trust him. He works on proving his sincerity and desire to become a better person, while Alya continues spiraling ever further out of control, refusing to even consider the possibility that she's done anything wrong even as she faces ever harsher consequences for her actions.
    • Alya and Adrien also serve as foils to each other. While Adrien is fully aware of Lila's true nature and Alya is completely taken in by her lies, and he isn't viciously defensive of her, he also doesn't do anything to help Marinette. Both blame her and Cole for the classroom drama — Alya because Lila has convinced her that Mari is the Bitch in Sheep's Clothing and that Cole's just a Jerkass; Adrien because he's certain Lila would have left them alone if they didn't stand up to her. Both are completely self-righteous in their convictions and blatant hypocrisy.
  • Dread String of Fate: Adrien is unaware that Fate really DOES favor him, or that Marinette/Ladybug has been tied to him by the Red String of Fate... which is wrapped around her neck, strangling her. This ignorance does not stop him from being a Manipulative Bastard who acts entitled towards Ladybug as Chat Noir or expecting her to comply with his wishes as Adrien. Luka, by contrast, becomes increasingly aware of Fate's pull on Marinette and wants nothing more than to free her, with no ulterior motives — to the point that he's sincerely disturbed to learn she's falling for him, as he fears this makes him Secretly Selfish.
  • Fashion Upgrade:
    • Marinette's new classmates to her old ones. While Marinette's former classmates have no ill intentions and are still friendly with her after she moves out, they don't pay close enough attention to realize when Marinette is overwhelmed or stressed out, instead blindly assuming that she'll be able to handle anything thrown at her. By contrast, Marinette's new classmates pay attention to when she's stressed and work to support her, taking the initiative to help out instead of waiting to be asked or leaving Marinette to do everything herself.
    • Bustier to Mendeleiev. Both teachers are shown to genuinely care about their students, and their students like and respect them as teachers. However, while Bustier is kind and well-liked, she has no idea how to handle conflict, pushing that burden onto Marinette rather than deal with it herself. Mendeleiev, while much stricter and less outwardly likeable, is shown to be the more effective and competent teacher; she has established strategies for helping calm down upset students to prevent akumatizations, and her firm discipline helps put a stop to conflicts between her students before they can escalate like Lila's lies did in Bustier's class.
    • Marinette herself to her classmates; Marinette was Bustier's Hypercompetent Sidekick and her class's main organizer and planner before moving out. It's her influence that helps tailor the project assignment to her former classmates' skills and interests, much to their gratitude since it makes their work easier. Marinette's classmates attempt to repay the favor by assigning a project tailored to her interests. However, they fail to take into account how much work goes into a fashion show or the fact that Marinette's new classmates might not be able to participate. They instead blindly assume that Marinette will be able to get it done, which creates a great deal of stress for her and gets them called out on their lack of organization.
  • I See What You Do Behind Closed Doors:
    • Both Marinette and Adrien are in love with a version of their respective Love Interests that only exist in the confines of their own head: Marinette believes that Adrien is caring and compassionate when he's really self-absorbed, while Adrien is convinced that Ladybug is Playing Hard to Get when she repeatedly rejects all of his unwanted advances as Chat Noir. Both initially ignore evidence that they're wrong about each other; however, Marinette grows out of this once she gets enough glimpses Beneath the Mask, while Adrien continues to ignore all evidence that he's barking up the wrong tree.
    • Lila and Adrien are both Bitches in Sheep's Clothing who manipulate others by acting sweet and charming while secretly not caring about who gets hurt so long as they get what they want out of their victims. One critical difference, however, is that while both lack empathy, Lila at least understands it enough to spin it to her advantage, such as when she's Playing the Victim Card. Adrien, by contrast, is so disconnected that he can't comprehend why Marinette gets upset by his neglectful behavior and refusal to support her. In addition, Lila accepts her eventual exposure with grace, laughing about how much fun she had deceiving everyone for so long, while Adrien was so upset by Marinette breaking up with him that he got akumatized, resulting in him losing even more as a result.
    • Much like Adrien, Ms. Bustier acts oblivious to problems in order to avoid dealing with them directly. But while Adrien discourages Marinette from doing anything about Lila, Ms. Bustier actually expects Marinette to step up and handle any classroom quarrels and conflicts in her stead so that she doesn't have to. Both are also confused when Marinette doesn't act the way they expect her to.
  • Juleka vs. the Forces of the Universe:
    • Juleka and Alya both serve as Shippers On Deck for Marinette and Luka/Adrien, respectively. But their approaches couldn't be more different:
      • Alya treats Marinette as effectively incompetent, blaming her for every failed Zany Scheme and forcing her towards Adrien at every opportunity she can possibly manufacture, ignoring her discomfort. After all, she knows what's best for her bestie~! She also casually insults Marinette behind her back, justifying her pushiness to the rest of the girl squad by insisting she can't accomplish anything without help.
      • Juleka, on the other hand, sees and sympathizes with Marinette's discomfort, and is more concerned with ensuring that she's happy than seeing her ship sail. She questions her own motivations before seeing that her efforts are having a positive effect on her friend. She also takes a much subtler approach than Alya, serving as an unseen guiding hand rather than literally grabbing, shoving and manhandling her around.
    • Luka and Adrien serve as Marinette's potential Love Interests, and are similarly stark in their differences:
      • Luka sincerely cares about Marinette as a person, encouraging her to relax, be herself and be comfortable. He's also willing to let her go if that will make her happier, quietly stepping aside when Adrien is around out of the belief that that's for the best. As Viperion, he works well with Ladybug, coordinating with her and listening to her plans.
      • Adrien barely acknowledges Marinette's existence beyond being 'just a friend' from school, and seems utterly oblivious to her crush, though Juleka wonders whether he's truly clueless. Meanwhile, as Chat Noir, he constantly forces his flirtations upon Ladybug, insisting that they're meant to be together regardless of how she feels about it. He also regularly ignores her attempts to strategize and coordinate in favor of doing whatever he pleases.
    • Purple Tigress and Chat Noir are both cat-themed superheroes, something he uses as an excuse to invade her personal space after deciding she's not an immediate threat to his 'partnership' with Ladybug. Despite his claims of having a 'special bond with his lady', however, Chat refuses to actually work with her, proving himself to be The Millstone over and over again, whereas Purple Tigress swiftly demonstrates what an actual partnership looks like.
  • Leave for Mendeleiev:
    • Ms. Mendeleiev has a reputation for being one of the strictest teachers at Francoise Dupont, while her coworker Mme Bustier believes that she's known for being the nicest. However, Bustier's also a Horrible Judge of Character convinced that Chloé 'just needs some good role models' to help her excel, and forces her other students to forgive her many, many trespasses against them and Turn the Other Cheek. This blatant favoritism lets Chloé get away with blatantly bullying others — yet Bustier claims that there were never any problems back when Marinette was still one of her students. By contrast, Mendeleiev actually intervenes whenever she notices Chloé acting up, much to Marinette's utter shock.
    • Aurore provides a look at what a less self-absorbed Chloé could be like. Both are highly confident blondes, but while Chloé enjoys tearing others down, Aurore prefers propping them up. She's not completely above being petty or jealous, as her rivalry with Mirelle demonstrates; however, Aurore recognizes when she's being uncharitable and makes an effort to temper her own behavior, whereas Chloé has no intention of ever reining herself in or being any less of a Spoiled Brat.
    • Jean shares Adrien/Chat Noir's love of puns and can be a bit of a gadfly, taking his teasing too far at times. However, he is far more socially aware and adept than the other blond boy, and has a much better sense of when it's best to back down. Adrien has no sense of such boundaries, only caring about what HE wants and how HE feels... and getting extremely annoyed whenever others don't comply.
    • Kim and Nino both used to be friends with Marinette before growing apart. While Kim has a Jerkass Realization about letting Chloé get away with bullying her and vows to become better, Nino folds like wet tissue paper when Chloé blackmails her way into 'helping' with his movie and shunts the blame off onto Marinette, berating her for not 'standing up for herself' even while expecting her to stick around.
    • While Nadja is an experienced reporter, she displays incredibly unprofessional behavior during her exclusive interview with Ladybug and Chat Noir, treating the opportunity as nothing more than a chance to grill them about their 'relationship status'. Aurore, by contrast, actually pays attention to Ladybug's clear discomfort and steers the interview towards more practical topics.
    • Nathaniel serves as another foil to Adrien. Both act entitled towards Ladybug purely because of their respective crushes on her, and throw petty fits when their delusions don't play out the way they want. Neither learns anything from being called out on their behavior; instead, they sulk about it and plot petty revenge. Both also take an interest in Marinette — Adrien when he thinks she might be Ladybug, and Nathaniel when he decides to give up on Ladybug.
  • Long Con sets Marinette and Lila up as narrative foils when Marinette decides to use her own tactics against her. While both are deceiving their classmates, Marinette is doing so in hopes of encouraging them to stop blindly trusting Lila and investigate things themselves. While she notes that they have Secretly Selfish reasons for supporting Lila, she doesn't condemn them for this, noting how she has her own ulterior motives at times, and feels guilty about tricking them. Lila, by contrast, feels no guilt or shame whatsoever; she takes pleasure in deceiving them, and when she's finally exposed, cheerfully calls them out for being Secretly Selfish.
  • Marinette's Week Off: In the sequel, Marinette's classmates eventually learn that Marinette has started a successful acting career. While both Lila and Alya immediately start scheming to take advantage of her newfound fame, Lila fully recognizes that she can't openly be a Fair-Weather Foe; if she switches tactics too brazenly and acts like she's already friends with Marinette after slandering her as a so-called bully, her classmates might catch on to her Celebrity Lies. Alya, by contrast, has no reservations whatsoever about "reclaiming" Marinette as her bestie. When questioned on this, she outright admits that she just wants to exploit her former friend's connections, much to the collective disgust of Nino and the rest of the class.
  • Of Patience and Pettiness:
    • Rose creates a striking contrast with Alya. After Lila is exposed, Rose is one of the few classmates who fully recognizes just how badly she hurt Marinette and apologizes along with Juleka, accepting that they need to earn back her trust. Alya, on the other hand, refuses to acknowledge that she did anything wrong, or that she isn't 'besties' with Mari anymore after how she acted.
      • This is further exemplified by their respective reactions to Marinette befriending Kagami. Though surprised, Rose is also delighted by the news, gushing about all the things the two of them could do together. Alya, meanwhile, blows off the idea that she could ever like her romantic rival, and gets increasingly pissed off at her for insisting that they aren't even rivals anymore.
    • Alya and Chloé handle being forcibly retired very differently. As much as she enjoyed being Queen Bee, Chloé also recognizes the security risk her exposed identity poses, and focuses on becoming a better person so that she can prove herself potentially worthy of another Miraculous. Alya, on the other hand, staunchly insists that the Fox is hers, even revealing herself as the former Fox to their whole class — and claiming that Ladybug will forgive this because of how she let Chloé continue in the past.
  • In the Ms. Bustier chapter of ChaoticNeutral's Salt Series, a former student of hers comes to talk to her current class. Upon realizing that Bustier expects her to support her toxic teaching practices, the guest goes off, revealing that she and her classmates are loose counterparts of her latest students, and revealing the damage she's done to their lives:
    • Vivienne, like Marinette, was one of her former 'model students', expected to Turn the Other Cheek and set a good example for everyone, as well as put their needs ahead of her own. The only reason she's doing well for herself now is because she's spent years deprogramming herself through therapy, learning how to stop being an Extreme Doormat, serving as everyone else's stepping stone and punching bag.
    • Henrik, her other 'star student' and Adrien's counterpart, wasn't as lucky. He's become trapped in a loveless marriage with Delia, Lila's counterpart, who regularly cheats on and abuses him, even going so far as poisoning him in hopes of hastening his demise. Yet he stays with her, insisting that he can 'help her be better'.
    • Candance, Chloé's counterpart, got away with bullying and belittling her classmates. Rather than following their 'shining examples', she simply learned that she could make things go her way by throwing tantrums until people gave in to her whims. This has gotten her repeatedly arrested for public disturbances, with the latest incident adding assaulting a police officer into the mix.
    • Elodie, like Alya, grew up believing that she's always right and that anything is justified in the pursuit of her goals. This led to her becoming a Cowboy Cop who keeps getting her work thrown out due to her refusing to follow official channels and do things properly.
  • Tattered Remains of Broken Dreams (Yours, Not Mine):
    • When Marinette discovers that her classmates have torn up her school sketchbook, both Alya and Rose are particularly surprised by how calmly she takes it; Alya snaps at her "Don't you care?", frustrated by how her former bestie isn't crying over the loss, while Rose points out that she'd worked hard on all of its contents. This underscores how both care about her feelings, but Alya only cares about using them to hurt Marinette.
    • Alya refuses to admit she was wrong to Easily Condemn Marinette without any evidence of her supposed crimes, and never apologizes or tries to mend their broken bond, too busy feeling sorry for herself and wishing she'd be Easily Forgiven without having to do anything to make amends. Rose, by contrast, is the first to apologize, and while she's rejected at first, goes on to prove that she actually has learned from the incident and has had a full Jerkass Realization about how they all took Marinette's generosity for granted.
    • Both Adrien and Chloé know just how much the design work Marinette was doing for her classmates was worth. Adrien is deeply reluctant to reveal any of this information to his friends, while Chloé gleefully provides a far more detailed estimate about how much Marinette could have charged for each of the outfits she was making them for free before they destroyed her sketchbook.
  • Truth and Consequences:
    • In the sequel Mending Warped Designs, Big Bad Duumvirate Kaiser Long and Firebird are presented almost as the Evil Counterpart to Ladybug and Chat Noir, having been teenagers chosen and trained by a Miraculous Master to wield the powers of Creation and Destruction, who ultimately fall in love and become a deadly Battle Couple. Their interactions on and off the battlefield paint a picture of what Marinette and Adrien could've become if the previous story hadn't shattered their relationship and trust in one another: an unstoppable duo whose skills perfectly compliment one anothers' and whose every move is perfectly in sink. Even their civilian lives as Felix and Bridgitte closely resembles Marinette's dream life with Adrien from before.
  • Watch Me Burn makes Mr. Ramier a foil to Adrien/Chat Noir:
    • Adrien learns Ladybug's Secret Identity and immediately exploits it, keeping Marinette unaware of what he knows as he starts dating her while intentionally amping up his harassment of her as Chat Noir purely because the contrast amuses him. By contrast, Ladybug is forced to entrust Mr. Ramier with her secret identity, something he treats with respect and understanding.
    • Chat Noir blithely dismisses the damage and death being done by akuma, declaring that it doesn't matter since the Miraculous Cure will 'magically fix everything'... provided, of course, that he lets Ladybug use it. Mr. Ramier, meanwhile, is utterly horrified by the things he did while akumatized, especially when he realizes he killed Adrien himself.
  • Weight Off Your Shoulder:
    • Thanks to being treated as The Scapegoat for everything that went wrong, Marinette developed a Guilt Complex to the point where she tends to reflexively blame herself for any issues that arise... to the point that she decided that she should renounce her Guardianship and pass the Earrings on to a successor after Alya and the Girl Posse trampled all over her boundaries while demanding she spill all her secrets. By contrast, the new Ladybug is much firmer with enforcing her boundaries. While she does apologize when things don't go according to her plans, that's as far as she goes — she refuses to let others pin the blame for their mistakes on her.
    • The new Ladybug also takes a much stricter approach when dealing with Chat Noir, Chloé, and other obstacles standing between her and her goals. Marinette was forced to constantly placate her "partner", catering to his ego and Skewed Priorities in hopes of getting him to cooperate with her, while the new Ladybug puts her foot down and warns him to either shape up or risk losing his Miraculous.
    • Adrien is shown to be just as self-absorbed as Chloé, merely better at hiding it. He lets his selfishness show more clearly as Chat Noir, and lowers the mask after Chloé's Karma Houdini Warranty runs out, trying to convince her long-time victims that they should feel sorry for her rather than being happy that she's finally facing consequences for her bratty behavior.
    • Adrien also acts as a foil to Future!Alix in how both of them want to restore the toxic status quo. Neither one gives a damn about how much Chloé and Hawk/Shadow Moth have hurt others, or how they will continue to do so if left unchecked. They only care about keeping things just the way they were, telling the victims — and future victims — of their crimes that they should "suck it up" and endure.
      • In various Bad Futures, Adrien staunchly refuses to change: either he leaves all the heavy lifting to Marinette in an All Take and No Give relationship, expecting her to keep things afloat as his "everyday Ladybug", or he pulls a Face–Heel Turn while refusing to accept that his father was evil all along. This mirrors how Future!Alix similarly rejects reality, wanting to force Marinette to continue being utterly miserable as Ladybug, carrying the burden of being responsible all by herself.
    • Future!Alix is the antithesis of Marinette. While Marinette has high empathy for others, blames herself for everything that goes wrong, and is desperate to stop Hawk/Shadow Moth from continuing his reign of terror, Future!Alix blithely dismisses the horrors he's wrought as "no big deal" and "just how it has to be." Her Lack of Empathy is further underscored by the revelation that she's not just "preserving the timeline" as she claims, but has been screwing with it all along to try and force Marinette and Adrien together, despite this spawning a number of Bad Futures. While Marinette takes the existence of just one Bad Future as a sign that she needs to drastically change tactics, Future!Alix refuses to admit that her efforts might be All for Nothing, much less actively making things worse.

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED

  • Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Paradox
    • Akiza Izinski acts as one to three notable female characters in the Cosmic Era:
      • Flay Allster: Both redheads have a close relationship with their fathers, with their deaths serving as Cynicism Catalyst for their daughters — Flay's father, George is a politician in the Atlantic Federation who is also a member of Blue Cosmos, was killed by ZAFT skirmish. Akiza's father committed suicide due to being a descendant of the Zala family, having to bear the brunt of Patrick Zala's sins during the first PLANT-Alliance conflict; since then, she ran away from home and took on her current identity. Flay is emotionally fragile while Akiza is always calm and dead serious when under pressure. Flay's relationship with Kira only caused more emotional damage to both of them. However, Akiza and Flay's relationship basically helped the latter pull herself together after surviving the war.
      • Lacus Clyne: Lacus is a prim and proper lady but has a very complex worldview and a charismatic leader. Akiza is blunt and masculine but has a very complex worldview despite coming from a Bad Future, Akiza is a seasoned veteran even on the frontlines.
      • Cagalli Yula Athha: Both share similar quirks given that Akiza is a descendant of Cagalli herself. The only main difference is that Cagalli is feisty, loud, passionate, and if anything, reckless. Akiza is stoic, level-headed, knows how to think things through, and pragmatic when the situation demands.

My Hero Academia

  • In Amazing Fantasy, Izuku is as much an Expy of Peter as he is a foil. Both of them were scrawny nerds who were given the chance to become heroes by a spider-bite. Peter is a veteran who has been in the business for decades and has been ground down by everything he's lost in his crusade to help people. He's motivated by his failure to stop the crook who killed Uncle Ben, but that mantra has become far more bitter in recent years and he sometimes wishes he could just stop. Despite this, he's confident and great at what he does, hoping to keep Izuku from stumbling on his own path towards becoming a Hero. Izuku just got his powers and has no idea what he's doing. He has always wanted to be a Hero, having been inspired by All Might's example rather than personal tragedy. He's jittery and unsure of himself, wondering if he'd just be wasting Peter's time by becoming his student. Peter is also a constant quipper and jokester, while Izuku Cannot Tell a Joke.
  • King:
    • Shouto's past experience with Fujimori sets him up as a foil to Bakugou. Both are victims of his manipulation and Gaslightings, but with one critical difference: Shouto wasn't Fujimori's client. Endeavor was. This makes Shouto deeply suspicious of why U.A. is having Fujimori handle Katsuki's case, and sets them against each other.
    • Shouto, Izuku, and Ejirou's respective reactions to Katsuki's legal woes have them serving as narrative foils to each other. Shouto immediately suspects the worst, and presses him the hardest to reveal the Awful Truth. Ejirou doesn't want to believe Shouto's theories, and winds up as the last one holding out any hope, while Izuku is caught in the middle: reluctant to accept the notion that his Childhood Friend could have committed a heinous crime, but also all too aware of how cruel his former bully can be.
    • Katsuki and Aizawa both find themselves trapped not just by pressure from U.A. and Fujimori, but by their own behavior, as their abrasive personas do them no favors when it comes to dealing with the situation at hand. Their respective histories come back to haunt them, and by the end, everybody else in their class is convinced that Katsuki happily got away with murder, and that Aizawa expelled Shouto without any hesitation or remorse.
  • Bakugou, Tokoyami and Ochako's experiences lead to them becoming foils to each other in Mastermind: Rise of Anarchy:
    • Bakugou has become a social pariah for the role he played in creating Mastermind, which he denies — he only blames himself for not ensuring that Deku 'remembered his place'. Over time, he spirals ever further down the road of vigilantism as an outlet for his anger, unwilling or unable to see how his actions make him like Mastermind himself.
    • Fumikage similarly finds himself regarded with suspicion; unlike Katsuki, however, this has nothing to do with his own behavior and is more guilt by association with his former mentor, a now-defected Hawks. His attitude towards Hero Society is more mixed Katsuki and Ochako's, as he recognizes the darkness and flaws inherit in the system. Neito Monoma, the traitor at UA, also regards him as a worthy candidate for potential conversion, unlike the other two.
    • Ochako throws herself into training out of Survivor Guilt and the desire to 'make up for' being unable to prevent All Might's death at the USJ. This single-minded focus makes her prime material for a replacement 'Symbol of Peace' for others to latch onto, sharply contrasting Bakugou and Tokoyami's ostracization.
  • Mean Rabbit:
    • Miruko and Aizawa are both shown to be harsh teachers who don't mince words when it comes to how unfair life can be. But where Miruko concentrates on working with Izuku, giving him advice and guidance and building up a rapport with her charge, Aizawa instead contributes to the problem. Life is unfair, and he'll teach his students that by being blatantly unfair and outright sadistic himself. Miruko proves herself worthy of trust, while Aizawa tells Class 1-A outright not to trust or rely upon him, creating discord through his 'logical ruses'.
      • Toshinori, meanwhile, proves to be a softer touch as a teacher. Inexperienced, but far more willing to give his students a break, hear them out, and work with them. While far from perfect, he establishes himself as a more Reasonable Authority Figure compared to Aizawa, gradually earning trust and regard.
  • Midoriya, Plus Three-Sixty-Five: The majority of the older Izuku's classmates in 1-A reflect Katsuki's own circumstances, illustrating how much further he could slide into Nominal Hero. Having been praised and given special treatment for their powerful Quirks, with adults looking the other way and letting their misbehavior slide, they naturally expect that to continue at U.A. None of them know how to handle a teacher who actually enforces consequences, leading to the class getting whittled down quickly as he expels them for stunts like a barely-averted Deadly Prank and underaged drinking.
  • Sleeper Hit AU:
    • Bakugou and Aizawa both personally wronged Midoriya for their own selfish interests. Bakugou bullied and belittled him for years, while Aizawa fudged the results of his assessment so he could expel him on the very first day and ensure there was room for Shinsou while keeping Hagakure around. Each recognized his potential, but Aizawa deemed it 'not good enough for U.A.' while Bakugou just saw it as a threat. But while Aizawa came to regret his actions over time, Bakugou remained convinced that his cruelty was completely justified. When they become aware that Midoriya has become the Quirkless Pro Hero Sleeper Hit, Bakugou goes spiraling out of control while Aizawa faces the consequences with dignity. Both also voluntarily confess the full extent of their crimes in front of somebody they care about - Shinsou and Kirishima, respectively - but Bakugou does so believing that his reasoning justifies his cruelty, and is stunned by Kirishima's rebuke.
    • Imari, the long-fingered boy who used to follow Katsuki's lead in bullying Midoriya, serves as another foil for him. While both were motivated by their personal insecurities, with Bakugou's severe Inferiority Superiority Complex and Imari fearing that his 'lame Quirk' would get him bullied if he didn't join in, the latter came to regret his behavior and quietly reformed on his own.

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

Naruto

  • Androgyninja's A Drop of Poison:
    • Team Seven struggles to get along, as both Naruto and Sasuke prove difficult for Sakura to work with. Both boys are prideful and headstrong; however, of the pair, Naruto is more sincerely oblivious to how his actions are impacting Sakura. Sasuke, by contrast, intentionally bullies and berates her, and encourages Naruto to resent her successes since that means they're being outdone by a girl.
    • Iruka immediately calls out and punishes Sasuke for telling Sakura that she's nothing more than expendable Cannon Fodder. Kakashi does nothing at all, sitting there silently and letting Sasuke spit bile unchallenged. Worse, he actively encourages Sasuke's gender-fueled rivalry with her, leaving Sakura to assume their team leader agrees with every hateful thing Sasuke says.
    • Both Kakashi and Shibi subject Sakura to Secret Tests of Character. While Kakashi's are shown to be dangerous, ill-timed and ill-considered, none of Shibi's tests put Sakura in any kind of danger. Shibi also pays attention to the results and rewards her for impressing him, while Kakashi doesn't do anything with what he learns about her.
    • Genma also serves as a foil for Kakashi by proving to be an attentive and thoughtful teacher, while Kakashi continues ignoring her in favor of the boys.
  • Compass of Thy Soul has several parallels between Uchiha Kita and Uzumaki Mito:
    • Both were in an Arranged Marriage. Kita and Madara worked hard during their betrothal to make their eventual marriage work and are very much Happily Married, while Hashirama and Mito seem to be cordial with each other but no more.
    • Kita is several years younger than Madara, while Mito is older than Hashirama.
    • Kita works with Madara and has equal say in clan matters to him. Mito often has to work around her husband and Hashirama does not seem to value her opinions and experience.
    • Kita is a self-taught seal mistress of the Performer variety, while Mito had an extensive training and is distinctly Technician in style.
  • Sasuke becomes this to Obito in Growing Strong. Both are Uchiha boys who fell in love with a female teammate whose name starts by "Ri", who serves as their Morality Chain and whose death awakens the Mangekyo Sharingan for their suitors. However, while Obito was unable to save Rin and decided to destroy reality for replacing it with an eternal dream, Sasuke did succeed to bring Riko back from the dead. Oh, and it costs him one Sharingan, which is another similarity with Obito.
  • Kokuten:
    • The two Uchiha original characters are foils to each other in regards to their loyalty to their clan. Naori is Fugaku's (the Clan's Head) sister and values family a lot. She sticks to her brother's side and supports the coup because the village has treated her clan unfairly. By contrast, Fukurou is Itachi's (the Uchiha Heir and prodigy) fiancée and hates how her standing in the clan greatly restrains her life. She thinks the Uchiha are but a bunch of people sharing the same surname so, while being indifferent towards the coup, opts to be loyal to Konoha and act as their mole. Interestingly enough, both of them are noncombat-oriented kunoichi, instead focusing on sensing and tracking.
    • Itachi and Fukurou are this when we analyze the reasons why they have betrayed the Uchiha Clan. Itachi's is the same as in canon — a civil war would severely undermine Konoha's military power and prestige, leaving it vulnerable before the other hidden villages. Fukurou's, on the other hand, is much more selfish and relatable — she loathes the position she was born into as the daughter of two Uchiha council members because it robs her of her freedom. For instance, she's betrothed to the Clan Head's son and was forced to the outer rings of ANBU (therefore undermining her career) to better serve the Clan's goals.
    • Kid!Sasuke and teenager!Sasuke. The former is naive and loves his "aniki" and mother above everything else while seeking his father's approval. The latter is cynical, hates his older brother with a passion, thinks he's done mourning his mother, and only regards his father as someone who will never be satisfied with him. What he seeks is revenge. Neither of them is particularly loyal to either Konoha or the Uchiha Clan. Kid!Sasuke because he didn't notice and teenage!Sasuke because he now understands both sides are in the wrong. Both of them sort of merge after teenager!Sasuke uncovers the ugly truth, rekindles his love towards his brother, gains the Mangekyou after seeing his mother die, and notices how much Itachi (silently) misses his kid brother.
  • Space to Breathe:
    • Ibiki takes Sakura as an apprentice after finding her fuming over an argument with her teammates and providing a sympathetic ear. While he initially downplays the severity of her problem, telling her that she needs to learn how to work with Team Seven, he still hears her out and adjusts his opinion upon hearing more, providing a sharp contrast with how Kakashi completely dismissed her point of view and did nothing to help her. This continues into her apprenticeship; Ibiki isn't accustomed to dealing with genin, but makes real effort to adjust accordingly and doesn't shy away from asking others for help. Things Kakashi refused to do for any of his students, resulting in Team Seven's decline and eventual dissolution.
    • Shino rapidly readjusts his opinion of Sakura after their preliminary match in the Chunin Exams, recognizing how much she's grown since their Academy days and respecting her skills. By contrast, both Sasuke and Naruto have trouble seeing past their initial impressions of her — Sasuke staunchly insists that she's still just as "weak and useless as ever", while Naruto is caught up in Loving a Shadow and projecting his personal desires onto her.
    • Naruto and Sasuke effectively drive Sakura away from Team Seven by refusing to see her for who she is. However, Sasuke shows no remorse for this, digging his heels in and delving deeper into his selfish delusions. Naruto is more Innocently Insensitive and eventually has a Jerkass Realization about how they treated her, spurring a confrontation where he argues with Sasuke over how they should apologize and make amends.
  • Shino of Team 8 is more intellectual and methodical than his emotionally-driven teammates, and has a happy family life, while Naruto is an orphan and Hinata's family is abusive.
  • What You Knead:
    • Jiraiya reflects the path that Kakashi avoided taking here: while Kakashi discovered a healthier coping mechanism by learning how to bake, Jiraiya continues with his more self-destructive, unhealthier habits. He repeatedly scorns and insults Kakashi's methods, making fun of how he struggles to learn new recipes, failing to notice that Kakashi enjoys baking specifically because it's taught him that Mistakes Are Not the End of the World. Some of Kakashi's annoyance with the ero-sennin has shades of I Hate Past Me, underscored by how Jiraiya remains one of his favorite authors, yet he has still stopped following the Icha Icha series so closely, preferring to pick the books up from the library rather than purchasing his own copies.
    • The Sandaime cites Kakashi's similarities with Sasuke as precisely the reason why he wants him to exit the reserves in order to become his jounin instructor:
      Hiruzen: If ever there was an ideal role model for a young man who has lost everything and is subsequently drowning himself in darkness because he doesn't know a better way, I think it would be you.
    • The bridgemaker Tazuna and Gato both treat the ninja they hired as their respective bodyguards with incredible disrespect. Tazuna does so due to underestimating Team Seven since it's mostly made up of inexperienced kids, while Gato is simply an arrogant Jerkass who believes he can just afford to replace Zabuza and Haku. Tazuna eventually has a Jerkass Realization after Kakashi calls him out, as well as witnessing firsthand the bond between Team Seven and realizing that they're more than just hired help. Gato has no such moment of clarity, and ultimately dies at Zabuza's hands after laughing at a similarily humanizing scene.
  • Your Heart a Haven of Thorns:
    • Kakashi and Hiruzen have both failed to fulfil their respective duties and responsibilities towards Team Seven, and are accordingly raked over the coals for this by Kikyō. Kakashi's problems stem from his Dark and Troubled Past making him reluctant to get too attached to the new Team Seven, while Hiruzen is a Hypocrite who pretends that he's putting The Needs of the Many first and foremost. Kakashi also sincerely regrets his mistakes and works to make amends, while Hiruzen doubles down and digs himself deeper.
    • Naruto immediately recognizes and appreciates the depths of the sacrifice Sakura made in order to protect her teammates in the Forest of Death, praising her bravery and reassuring her that she's stronger than she realized. Sasuke, by contrast, proves to be an Ungrateful Bastard who immediately insults and belittles her until she stands up for herself and calls him out on his ingratitude.
    • Hiruzen is shown to have much more in common with his summon Enma than he initially realized when he learns that the Monkey King once demanded the pelt of a tiger cub while bartering with her clan. Enma's arrogant confidence that he'll never have to face the consequences of his actions reflects how Hiruzen feels similarly secure in his own position — a Fatal Flaw that ensures the expiration of Enma's Karma Houdini Warranty, along with Hiruzen's own.

Persona 4

  • Persona 4 SILVER BLUE:
    • Labrys is this to Yu Narukami, the original main character of the original Persona 4. They’re both silver-haired newcomers to Inaba who end up getting tangled in a supernatural murder mystery, they both have access to the power of the wild card and they both care a lot about their friends and loved ones. However, Yu is cool, Stoic, reactive and remains calm in face of all the weirdness he ends up facing in Inaba, and he’s level-headed. On the other hand, Labrys is more brash, curious, active, hotheaded, emotional and she’s more likely to get shocked or surprised by all the new, crazy things she encounters in Inaba. Basically, Yu is Blue Oni, while Labrys is more Red Oni. Also, it’s worth mentionning that while they were both bestowed special gifts by a higher power at the start of their respective adventures, Yu was just an Ordinary High-School Student with a normal life who ends up being given the power to be special, while Labrys was someone who already had special powers from the get-go and who was gifted the opportunity to live a normal life instead. Thus, while both of their lives are equally normal and special in their own ways, Yu’s life got relatively more special, while Labrys’s life got relatively more normal.

Prehistoric Park

  • Prehistoric Park Reimagined:
    • Jack and Leon: Both are emotionally uncertain people who hide their insecurities and are eager to impress, but, whilst Leon is introverted, scholarly and emotionally guarded, Jack is a Book Dumb extrovert, who is a lot more hot-headed and emotional.
    • Collete and Leon. Both of them give off an impression of being rather aloof, guarded, and antisocial, except around a very small number of close friends. Leon, however, is perfectly willing to expand his group of friends just the tiniest amount if he meets the right people, never even tries to hide which people he feels close to, and his aloofness is very rarely (if ever) deliberate on his part. Colette, however, is a lot more slow to trust people, tries to hide whether or not she likes domeone, and her aloofness is mostly a deliberate facade.
    • Arlo and Shorty, who form a Sensitive Guy and Manly Man pairing:
      • Physically, Arlo is a long, lightly built diplodocid, who is a solid grey, whilst Shorty is a tall, bulky brachiosaur with red skin with black patches.
      • In regards to their personalities, Arlo is a Cowardly Lion, whilst Shorty is a Boisterous Bruiser.
    • Dag and Smokey. Both are the comparatively more antagonistic rivals to a Pleistocene La Brea predator (Diego for Smokey and Nero for Dag). But while Smokey is a big, strong, and tough bear that would be more than capable of killing Diego (and, indeed, very nearly did), Dag is a comparatively small, scrawny coyote that would have no chance in a fair fight against Nero the dire wolf.

Pokémon

Rango

  • Old West:
    • Henry to Rattlesnake Jake. Both of them are dangerous snake cowboys for hire, but Henry is younger than Grace Glossy and his interactions with her are just plain lecherous, whereas Jake is older than Grace and develops genuine feelings for her.
    • Grace's estranged husband Benjamin Hares is another one to Jake. Benjamin is a cowardly fraud who cares only about himself and relies on the law when it suits him. Jake makes no bones about his disregard towards the law, but he has a code of personal honor. Benjamin seduced Grace by acting like a perfect gentleman and showed his bad qualities after they were married. Jake starts out on hostile terms with Grace before he gradually shows her his kinder side. To further drive the point home about the difference between Jake and Benjamin, the latter is a gopher snake, a non-venomous species that mimics the venomous rattlesnakes to ward off predators.

Ranma ½

  • Akane in Ranma: Happenstance Gone Right serves as a foil to Ukyou and Shampoo to highlight why they're better fiances for Ranma. Ukyou and Shampoo are both extremely skilled cooks whereas Akane is a Lethal Chef. Akane claims to be a serious martial artist despite rarely training and treating martial arts as a hobby while Ukyou and Shampoo train constantly in their free time. Both girls are openly affectionate with Ranma whereas Akane is a world class Tsundere. And finally, while Akane is freaked out by Ranma's girl form, neither Ukyou nor Shampoo have a problem with it.

Robotech

  • In Marque and Reprisal, Itzak is a foil to the canon character Annie. While they are both the same age, Itzak is quiet and reserved. Of course, his father had been killed early in the story.

RWBY

  • Oobleck and Alpha in In the Kingdom's Service are both directors in the Vale Secret Service but are complete opposites. Oobleck is A Father to His Men who knowingly gives up potential intel to kill the one responsible for one of his agents' deaths while Alpha callously has anyone who might have shaky loyalty tortured until they either break or die. Oobleck intends to return the stolen Paladin to Atlas after having a look at the insides but otherwise keeps everything above board. Alpha has an Atlas agent kidnapped and tortured for first the Paladin's location then for information on it's specs. Finally, Oobleck is a Well-Intentioned Extremist who genuinely wants to help protect Vale and it's citizens but hates the Dirty Business he has to engage in to do so and ultimately makes a Heroic Sacrifice to save the city. By contrast, Alpha is a Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist who only cares about staying in power, and outright says he'd let tens of thousands die to protect himself. The most obvious contrast shows in their opinions on the Mountain Glenn: Oobleck considers it a tragedy and confesses that Roman is right to want him dead for the deaths he caused that day; Alpha doesn't care it happened as the thousands of deaths solved Vale's overpopulation problem and that it was only the destitute and desperate who died rather than "anyone who mattered".
  • The Makings of Team CRME: Cinder Fall and Mercury Black are presented this way in CRME. They're both sadistic sociopaths who became that way because they were abused by their parents. They also ended up killing their respective abusers and taking on many of their behaviors. However, their ways of dealing with it are directly opposed to each other. Mercury just wants to forget his past and live in the moment, not caring about what happens. Cinder refuses to let go of her past and is fueled by a desire to conquer the world that allowed her to suffer from it. She considers herself to be a leader and he simply follows whatever directions he is given. He accepts that he has very little control over his life, while she does everything to attain control and power over everyone else. There are other notable points. Because of the last point, Cinder fancies herself as a leader while Mercury is fine with being a follower. They also deal with the similarities to their parents differently. Mercury seems to acknowledge that he has taken after his father (aside from the drinking problem). Cinder refuses to see any similarities between her and her mother other than sadism and good looks while still decrying her mother. While he sees an abusive relationship for what it is and rightly calls it out, she is so hypocritical to the idea that she is emotionally abusing Emerald.
  • RWBY: Scars:
    • Ruby and Neo are both childish teens who strongly resemble their huntress Missing Moms, but Ruby is a Badass Adorable Kid Hero and Neo is a violent Psychopathic Manchild.
    • Taiyang and the criminal Roman are both single fathers whose lovers went on a mission and never came back. They're both overprotective of their daughters, who greatly resemble their mother's. Roman is more proactive than Taiyang, actively trying to stop Neo from getting into trouble, while Taiyang stays out of trouble. Taiyang is also secretly Ruby's step-father.
    • Neo's mom Eon and Ruby's mother Summer were both headstrong huntresses who died on a mission. They also both have a Strong Family Resemblance with their daughters. But, while Summer loved her child and was extremely caring, Eon was colder towards Neo and had mixed-feelings towards her daughter's Creepy Child Troubling Unchildlike Behavior.
    • Weiss and her twin Whitley both want the best for their family's company. While Weiss does care for her family (minus her abusive father Jacques), Whitley hates his family (minus his twin Weiss). Weiss is caring once her guard goes down, while Whitley seems nice until his true intentions come apparent. To add to this, Whitley gets a scar on the opposite side of his face from his sister's.
    • Melanie and Miltia Malachite are foils to Ruby and Yang. They're sisters who deeply care for one another. Yang and Militia both have strong Big Sister Instinct towards their sister.
    • Roman was once a bright-eyed hunter-in-training like Ruby, but after he was unjustly kicked out of Beacon and arrested for a crime he didn't commit, he lost his way. While in jail, he was asked to be involved in a crime and that's how he got involved with the illegal dust trade.
    • Pyrrha and Cinder both end up being foils for one another. Cinder is what Pyrrha could be like if she gets caught up in her pain, hate for the world, and vengeful feelings over Jaune's death.

    S-W 
The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System: Ren Zha Fanpai Zijiu Xitong
  • Another Time, Another Place, Another Story:
    • Shen Yuan and Liu Qingge both transmigrate in a very different world after a sudden death and decide they are not interested in suffering the messy fate intended for them by the storyline because they would rather focus on cultivating and doting on their not-acknowledged-as-such crush. However, Liu Qingge manages to escape the difficulties Shen Yuan had to endure because his System is not as sadistic, he's helped by the other transmigrator and his blunt, straightforward character makes him prone to openly confront the problem instead of trying to work around it.
    • Liu Qingge also parallels Luo Binghe in his modern incarnation, as he was abandoned in infancy and raised in poverty by an adoptive elder citizen, is very much a fighter and hopelessly crushing on Shen Yuan. However, Luo Binghe at his best hides a nasty temper under his sweetness and never manages to make his Shizun reciprocate his affection — Liu Qingge is firmly sane in spite of his occasional bursts of temper and accidentally seduces his martial brother without being aware of his own feelings.
  • In Araceil's Untameable, this is the reason Yue Qingyuan loathes Bingge that much. Both men fell in love with Shen Qingqiu and considered breaking the target of their affection into a compliant, mindless doll, but Yue Qingyuan ultimately decided he cared too much for Shen Qingqiu as a person entitled to his own choices to go through it. Bingge followed the opposite path, only caring about indulging his lust.
  • In Every night you stay I'll be watching you, Luo Binghe and Liu Qingge are both in love with Shen Qingqiu, but their opinions about how you should care for your partner are wildly divergent. Luo Binghe's understanding of relationships is rooted in violence and possessiveness due to his abusive past, he doesn't get boundaries and isn't interested in having hobbies or friendships beyond what he deems useful to his goal of gaining Shen Qingqiu's affections. On the other hand, Liu Qingge refuses to do anything his partner finds uncomfortable, focuses on making the mood romantic instead of sexual, and has duties and interests that lead him to be apart of Shen Qingqiu sometimes. These different perspectives reflect their status — Luo Binghe is deemed too young to have a real chance with Shen Qingqiu, as shown by his mental lack of maturity, while Liu Qingge's greater life experience allows him to be picked as Shen Qingqiu's lover.
  • Roulette Wheel Of Fate turns Bingge, Bingmei and Liu Qingge into foils for each other.
    • As protagonists, Bingge is the only one who was intended to be such from the beginning and stayed such — Bingmei was born the protagonist but lost his status courtesy of his untimely death by Bingge's hands, while Liu Qingge is an Ascended Extra who was supposed to die early in the storyline but was rescued and evolved in a fully-fledged character.
    • Regarding their moral alignment and competence level, Bingge firmly is a Villain Protagonist who's responsible for several thousands of deaths across the multiverse and is treated by everyone as a very high-level threat, Bingmei is a more of a Classical Anti-Hero since he's struggling with his darker impulses and is far outclassed by his two foils, and Liu Qingge is presented as The Hero played straight for his righteousness and exceptional martial prowess.
    • About their relationship with Shen Qingqiu, both Binghe desperately crave their Shizun's love yet fail to obtain it, Bingge because he's utterly unhinged and willing to rape his Lust Object, Bingmei because he's unable to escape Bingge's shadow as the monster he could potentially become and Shen Qingqiu cannot see him as more than a child and his bumbling student. It contrasts with Liu Qingge who stands on equal ground with Shen Qingqiu and doesn't even try to woo the man yet slowly gains his trust and affection by his kindness and protectiveness.

Sherlock Holmes

  • In the Deliver Us from Evil Series, Inspector Patterson serves as a stark foil to Sherlock Holmes, though the two do not even meet in the first book. The people who know these men are unsettled by the similarities (right down to nearly-identical looks), but they also see the differences. Patterson is basically Holmes up to eleven. Patterson works as a deconstruction of the popular image of Sherlock Holmes, both in-universe and in Real Life. The author has said, "I think that by Patterson living the image Holmes attempts to project, it makes Holmes that much more human."

The Simpsons

  • In the Simpsons AU fic The Fourth Simpson Child, Lisa and Samantha serve as stark foils to each other. Lisa is cold, self-absorbed and cynical, and, as The Un-Favourite, motivated entirely by jealousy of her older sister. Samantha on the other hand is a friendly Wide-Eyed Idealist who is Homer and Marge's favourite. Samantha is legitimately talented, but ditzy and is kind to everyone she meets (as seen with the bullies, Fat Tony and eventually Sideshow Bob). Lisa is less talented, but is a Smug Snake Insufferable Genius, has virtually no contact with anyone except her family and she has no friends. Even their bedrooms play off of each other. Samantha's room has light blue cloud wallpaper, a "WELCOME" notice on the door, with pictures on the wall of herself and her friends, in which she is always smiling. Lisa's room has dark red wallpaper, has a "GO AWAY" notice on the door and has pictures of herself with a sour expression on her face.

Smallville

  • En Tempus Veritas: During the brief period when Lois and Lana are each aware of the other’s pregnancy (Lana believing she's pregnant with Lex's child while Lois is pregnant with Clark's), they are clearly presented as contrasts to each other, with Lana trying to hide her pregnancy and rarely aware of the baby as anything other than what ties her to Lex while Lois is more comfortable showing her baby bump to Clark and those close to her while reveling in the moments when it kicks.

The Smurfs

  • Smurf Village Upturned: Brainy and Vanity complement and contrast each other in various ways:
    • Vanity is much more dubious about Roesia and her generous offer to share her blessing of Insight, but ultimately leans towards trusting her due to having spent more time in her company than Brainy had. Ironically, Brainy had privately decided to defer to his judgment for precisely that reason.
    • The power Roesia grants Brainy is incomplete; while both gain the ability to see into the souls of their fellow smurfs, he has one blind spot: himself. Vanity, meanwhile, is able to see both himself and Brainy just fine, along with the others, but refuses to indulge Brainy's curiosity.
    • Brainy suffers Power Incontinence, but also gradually becomes obsessed with his newfound ability, flipping back and forth before finding it a terrible burden and wishing to expand it. By contrast, Vanity seems to become completely absorbed in himself... as a coping mechanism and a way to avoid using his Insight upon others, finding it to be far too invasive for his tastes.
    • In Part Two, both cope with their guilt and grief over what happened differently. Vanity blames himself for being taken in by her trickery, while Brainy knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that their actions had no real impact upon Roesia's plans... thanks to the very same Insight she granted him, as it malfunctioned and gave him a clear view of her psyche after they were trapped.

South Park

  • My Super Best Friend
    • Heidi and Nichole serve as this to each other:
      • Both were nice girls that Kyle had a crush on at some point whose attempt to start a relationship with either of them failed due to Cartman's interference, and both of them offered to help Kyle recover from his trauma. However, Kyle holds Heidi in contempt due to Heidi's past mistreatment of him and rejects her help when she offered it, while Kyle didn't hold anything against Nichole when she hooked up with Token, was on neutral terms with her a while and accepts her help when she offers it.
      • Both Heidi and Nichole decided to comfort a boy, Cartman and Kyle respectively, when they found themselves isolated from their peers which resulted in an Odd Friendship between them. However Heidi's friendship with Cartman would become a romantic relationship which becomes toxic as a result of Cartman being dishonest and manipulative to Heidi, leading to her to break up with Cartman and cutting all ties with him. In contrast, Nichole's relationship with Kyle never goes beyond friendship, but it's nonetheless a healthy one due to Kyle being honest and open to Nichole, and the two remain in close contact even after Nichole gets back together with Token.
      • Both Heidi and Nichole also broke up with their boyfriends, Cartman and Token respectively, by the time the story takes place. However, Heidi and Cartman stay broken up throughout the whole story while the ending implies that Nichole and Token have gotten back together.
    • Heidi also serves as this to Cartman, as Heidi use to been just like Cartman and both have tormented Kyle resulting in Kyle holding contempt for both of them. However, Heidi would feel awful for how she treated Kyle, wanting to make amends with him and become a better person, which eventually leads to Kyle forgiving her in the end, while Cartman doesn't and stays a jerkass who continues to torment Kyle, resulting in Kyle giving Cartman a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown. Also, by taking personal responsibility for her previous actions and atone for them, Heidi is a able to improve her life and become happy again, while Cartman grows more miserable and eventually ends up with nothing, as a result of him still blaming others for his problems and play the victim.

Splatoon

  • Inkopolis Chaos: Behind their shared red ink, Ruby Diorite has numerous differences from Scarlet Spiker:
    • Ruby was once a tragic Anti-Villain who thought her actions were good prior to her redemption; Scarlet is a Card-Carrying Villain.
    • Ruby was quite stoic during her misguided deeds; Scarlet shows overt delight at her misdeeds.
    • Ruby is willing to protect her allies at all costs; Scarlet has no qualms with abusing and endangering her gang.
    • Ruby is an Octoling; Scarlet is an Inkling.
    • Ruby gives up her life to save Jade; Scarlet is unwillingly killed by Jade to save the protagonists.

Star Trek

  • In The Prodigal Daughter, witnessing the fake Equinox and their treatment of Marla encourages Janeway to be less willing to condemn the original Equinox crew for their actions, as there is a difference between a crew driven to desperate measures to survive an impossible situation and a group that cold-bloodedly decided to recreate a system that uses innocent creatures for fuel to deal with a potential future threat.
  • In Doctor Ghemor, I Presume?, both Tekeny Ghemor and Richard Bashir are parental figures for Julian, were responsible for him receiving unwanted alterations and cause him much distress. However, Richard is unambiguously abusive towards his flesh-and-blood child, genetically reconstructing the boy to better fit his own grandiose plans of notoriety and success while stubbornly refusing to admit he could be in the wrong. By contrast, Ghemor was just as much of a victim as Julian regarding the young man being briefly turned into a Cardassian, encouraging him to pursue what makes Julian himself happy and deeply caring for the doctor even if they have no biological relationship whatsoever.

Supernatural

  • The fanfic trilogy The Styne Saga - Endangered, Coercion, and Dynasty - expands on the Styne family seen in Season 10 to make them more explicit foils to the Winchesters, with both families defined by the supernatural - the Winchesters fighting it while the Stynes use it - but the Stynes are clearly presented as having extremely warped ideas about the true nature of family. When they learn of Sam's status as Lucifer's vessel and attempt to bring him into the family, while Jacob Styne develops a particular focus on Sam, he clearly only 'loves' Sam for what he believes Sam could be rather than accepting Sam for what he actually is. This is even reflected in their contrasting perspectives on their responsibilities for the lives lost by their actions, with the Stynes constantly blaming the Winchesters for the Stynes who die in their confrontations rather than accepting that they would have all lived if they'd just left Sam Winchester alone, in sharp contrast to the Winchesters blaming themselves for the innocents they couldn't save.

Sword Art Online

  • Sword Art Online Abridged likes to play characters off its take on Kirito:
    • Asuna is initially introduced as Kirito's opposite, a complete noob to video games who doesn't even know how to open SAO's menu, but with natural talent and months of work she manages to become a successful and high-ranking member of one of the game's top guilds. But as the series goes on and we learn more about her, it becomes apparent that Asuna might be even more messed-up than Kirito, she's just better at hiding it.
    • The series also manages to rebuild the Mirror Character dynamic between Kirito and Kayaba. Both are Insufferable Geniuses who think they're Surrounded by Idiots, both feel like they're at their best when they've escaped into a virtual world, and they even get each others' movie references. But by the end of the first season, Kirito's gone through enough Character Development to be willing to fight to save his fellow players, even if he despises them, and even if it means giving up his heroic existence in SAO.
    • Season Two introduces Suguha, who in this treatment is a Little Sister Bully who revels in being able to thrash Kirito in kendo and constantly belittles him with sarcasm and insults. Which is to say that she behaves just like Kirito did in SAO at the start of the series, except in real life. The other twist is that while Kirito retreats into virtual reality to indulge his Power Fantasy and be the bully rather than the bullied, when we meet Suguha's online persona, she's roleplaying (badly) as a Damsel in Distress in an I Have You Now, My Pretty scenario.

Tangled: The Series

  • Darkest Destiny
    • Cassandra and Varian are foils to each other, as they were in Season 3.
    • Catalina and Kiera are this to Cass and Rapunzel, again building on their portrayal in the series. Catalina asks Kiera to leave her alone because she fears she's a danger to herself and others, and Kiera acquiesces. This is in stark contrast to Cassandra's inability to let Rapunzel go, and her never acknowledging the danger she poses to Corona. Catalina is the most important person in Kiera's world, and Rapunzel is the most important person in the world to Cass. Even if she doesn't know how to show it.
    • Pontius Maximilian III is one to Zhan Tri. Both of them emotionally manipulate Cassandra for their own goals but whereas Zhan Tri intended to rid herself of Cassandra once she served her purpose, Pontius knows that trying to usurp Cassandra would be suicide and it's better to just be her advisor as her aim to Take Over the World coincides with his and the rest of the Blades of the Holy Sun's own mission of making Corona the dominant force in the world.

Teen Titans (2003)

Total Drama

  • Despair Island: Geoff to Owen in this story. Both are optimistic, none-too-bright, fun-loving blonds who still manage to keep their heads up in their nightmarish scenario, but the similarities end there. Whereas Owen ends up annoying his whole team with his positive attitude, extreme enthusiasm for everything, and oblivious and oafish behaviour, Geoff is liked by his teammates for his optimistic nature, has a more laidback approach to everything going on around him, and is generally much more aware of his surroundings and how he affects others. As a result, Owen becomes the first executed on his team while Geoff makes it all the way to the finals.
  • Erin's Total Magical Adventure
    • Coco to Hollie. Coco is ditzy, spoiled, and cheery to highlight Hollie's shy, insecure, goofy, clumsy, and intelligent nature.
    • While Serenata's sweet, naive, energetic, and peppy, her twin sister's Sonata is tough, hardcore, and sarcastic.
  • Random Drama Series: Contessa to Scarlett. Both are bespectacled, intelligent and socially awkward girls who suffered from bullying during their early teen years, went through a Break the Cutie period at one point during their time on the show that damaged their self esteem but eventually recovered from it, and even managed to reach the finale and win in their second seasons. However while Scarlett kept her distance before driving everyone away as a result of going berserk and only had one person supporting her, Contessa only had one person support her with everyone else believing she let what happen in season seven affect her and not do anything to help.
  • Total Drama Do Over: Mel for Nathaniel (her devilish nature contradicts his angelic one), Charlotte (similar to Nathaniel's case), and Courtney (both having been in a love triangle with Duncan as well as having similar lust/chastity conflict as the other two cases).
  • Total Drama Genesis
    • Xidorn to Seraphina. Both enjoy horror movies and are honest people, but Seraphina is Brutally Honest while Xidorn Will Not Tell a Lie. Seraphina is also The Cynic and Pragmatic Hero while Xidorn is The Idealist and Ideal Hero.
    • Easton to Weston. Both seem similar at first, being identical twins. Easton is intelligent, seeks independence and wants more than his small town. Weston is not as bright, wants to always be with his brother and doesn't like change.
    • Word of God confirms Pascal was meant to be a foil to two other characters:
      • To Seraphina. While she is cynical and appears anti-social, she ends up becoming a friend to many and a good person. Yet while Pascal is an optimist and acts nice, he's trying to manipulate everyone to win the game.
      • To Kalino. Both are villains, Pascal is energetic, over the top and is focused on the endgame while Kalino is mellow, subtler in his strategic moves and goes with the flow.
  • Total Drama Letterz: Kim Rosefelt is essentially what happens when you take Tabitha Barringtom, remove the redeeming qualities she had, take her atrocities up to eleven, and make her hate anyone that isn't part of her ethnicity.
  • Total Drama: Superstar Showdown
    • Flora could be seen as one to Gail: Both were 'boring girls' from Tokyo who became Ensemble Darkhorses and gained fans, but while Flora made it late pre-merge and is kind, Gail was eliminated early pre-merge and is Ax-Crazy.
    • Flora to Chelsey as well. Both are extremely well-liked brunette girls from their respective seasons, but Chelsey is a selfish popular girl while Flora is a kindhearted 'boring' girl.
    • Tolkien to Trick. While they have many similarities (see 'Not So Different'), Tolkien is nerdy, fails in his romantic pursuits and is kind. In contrast, Trick is an athlete, in a serious relationship with someone and a jerk.
  • Total Mutated Revenge Of The Island: Danni is this to Jo. They are both extremely athletic girls who want to win, but while Jo is brash, tomboyish and cruel, Danni is careful, feminine and friendly.
  • Total Shuffled Island Series: Scarlett and Jo, being arch-enemies, are this to each other. Aside from Scarlett being an Evil Genius and Jo being a Lightning Bruiser, Scarlett is also a manipulator who can pretend to be a team player but in reality she only cares about herself and has no problems sacrificing others at her convenience; Jo, on the other hand, despite starting as a Jerk Jock, eventually has some Character Development and learns to genuinely care about others and to value teamwork.
  • Total Zeksmit Series
    • Hosts Ezekiel and Justin. The former is disliked by near-the entire cast so far, very ignorant to new tradition, and pretty damn wordy. But seems to have a good heart buried somewhere under that egotism. The latter is popular with the contestants (except Gwen at least), always teaching Ezekiel how the new world works, and much more laconic unless he really needs to explain something. But he seems to be a jerk under all of that.
    • Eva and Courtney are already contrasted. Namely, in how they do their two eliminations in their teams. While Courtney uses simple popularity by (mostly accidentally) persuading Lindsay and Beth to be on her side, and Leshawna's elimination wasn't even part of her plan, Eva uses lies, manipulation, and guilt to get the contestants she wants out. And unlike Courtney, who is trying to stay on the game, Eva is also using these eliminations as a scare-tactac to show her that she's not messing around.
  • Unbreakable Red Silken Thread: Cody and Heather's relationship is compared to Duncan and Gwen's.

The Owl House

  • Learning How to Be a Witch
    • Lucila Maribella Sofia Noceda
      • To Philip Whitibane, very much. Like him, she becomes trapped in the demon realm with her sibling. But while Philip despised the Boiling Isles, wanted to eliminate any witch he could, and even murdered his brother for falling in love with a witch, Lucila eventually found the beauty of the Boiling Isles, befriended some witches, and very much allowed her sister to be together with a witch.
      • To Hunter, as they're both 16, but both don't have access to magic unlike normal witches. Hunter grew up in a toxic environment while Lucila grew up happy, and their personalities are very different, yet they find common ground within each other.
      • Also to Lilith, as both are older than their siblings and like Lilith, Lucila does care about Luz.
  • The Seventh Son : Both Luz Noceda and Booker Bridges are social outcasts, but both differ in their response to it.
    • Luz prefers to Turn the Other Cheek and deals with her problems by laughing them off.
    • Booker uses his fists and aggressions to deal with them.

The Venture Bros.

The Worst Witch

  • In Prince, a visit by another magic school results in a meeting with Prince, who essentially serves as a foil for both Esmerelda Hallow and Mildred herself. Like Esmerelda, Prince is a first-born child, but unlike Esmerelda's more mature approach to her status, Prince is utterly convinced of his own superiority and lords his status over everyone else, to the point of screaming like a baby when he doesn't like his food and demands to use only his own personal toilet. At the same time, Prince serves as a foil to Mildred because he is his school's 'worst wizard' (even if he believes he's actually great) because he never puts any effort into his studies, whereas Mildred is only the 'worst witch' due to her lack of experience. Prince's headmaster openly muses that Mildred is likely to go further than Prince despite this contrast in their backgrounds as Mildred actually tries to learn and improve herself where Prince coasts through life without putting any effort into his studies.

Warrior Cats

  • Better Bones AU: Leafpool serves as a foil to Jayfeather, with Leafpool being a resigned fatalist who hates being punished for her happiness and being a pawn to StarClan but doesn't feel there is much she can do about it, while Jayfeather openly defies StarClan any chance he gets.

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