Follow TV Tropes

Following

Foil / Western Animation

Go To

The following have their own pages:


    open/close all folders 

     A-D 
  • Unsurprisingly, the titular characters in The Adventures of Don Coyote and Sancho Panda closely followed the theme of the Cervantes work. The ever-hallucinating Don was the cloudcuckoolander who never met a damsel he didn't have the urge to save or a dragon he didn't have the urge to slay. Sancho remained his loyal, albeit cynical, voice of reason.
  • Aladdin: The Series: Mozenrath's the opposite of Aladdin in many ways — Aladdin wears street clothes, is tanned, and relies on his physical abilities to outwit the enemy. Mozenrath wears fancy clothes befitting a mage, is pale, and relies on magic and arcane knowledge to overpower his opposition.
  • ALVINNN!!! and the Chipmunks: Bocarter Humphrey to Derek Smalls. He is as mischievous as him, but rather than resorting to brute force, in order to assert his dominance, Bocarter attempts to buy influence, and resorts to unethical practices such as stealing and cheating in order to get his way. However, Bocarter is a whole lot worst as Bocarter is a complete narcissist and cares about no one but himself and his father and brother, while Derek is more of a bully than a criminal and doesn't hate the Chipmunks and Chipettes as much as Bocarter.
  • American Dad!: Greg Corbin and Terry Bates to Stan and Francine Smith. While Stan and Francine are an incredibly unstable couple, who abuse each other and are both incredibly shallow, Greg and Terry have more normal issues that don't tend to exceed mild bickering. That is of course, before Terry ultimately dumped Greg and left him.
  • American Dragon: Jake Long
    • Councilor Kulde to Councilor Chang. Arguably, to Chang. Unlike her, he shows a genuine supportive side towards Jake, and sees a lot of potential in him. And while he may respect the rules as much as she does, he's not afraid to bend them once in a while for those who've earned it.
    • Susans’ Family got a few.
      • Cathy and Susan: neither have the dragon powers but their eldest sons’ are both dragons. But where Susan supports her son and his decisions while still having a strict side to discipline Jakes’ behavior, Cathy tells Greggy what to do and thinks he’s a brave and able dragon despite the overwhelming evidence against it.
      • Hailey and Cathy’s children, while the former is mature and tries to treat others with respect, the latter are bratty but generally acts their age.
      • Greggy" Gregory to his older cousin, Jake. Both of them are from the same family and have a certain ego, but Jake is more mature in comparison as well as experienced while Greggy is still a newbie and lets his ego get the better of him.
    • Huntsboys #88 and #89 to Rose. While Rose is a conflicted and unwilling member of the Huntsclan, they are willing and eager, to the point where they are willing to lie to lift themselves up in Huntsclan status. Their overall incompetence, cowardliness, and self-serving nature is also in stark contrast to Rose's competence, bravery, and self-sacrificing nature.
  • Amphibia
    • Meta-wise, in comparison to recent Disney protagonists Star Butterfly and Mabel Pines, Anne shares their energy, lack of patience and curiosity but she's far more mature and savvy in contrast to their naivety and Cloudcuckoolander tendencies, needing for The Straight Man to keep them in check. Anne in contrast is the Straight Woman of the group.
    • In the proper show, Anne Boonchuy and Sasha Waybright contrast quite nicely with each other:
      • Where Anne managed to survive in the wild long enough to reach civilization, Sasha wasn't so lucky and became Grime's prisoner.
      • Where Anne initially had no easy way of escaping her Hated by All status among the populace of Wartwood, Sasha easily charmed the toad soldiers into loving her.
      • Where Anne remained mostly a common citizen of Wartwood, Sasha quickly climbed up the ranks on the Toad Tower, becoming Grime's second in-command.
      • She and Sasha both have a distorted view of friendship despite genuinely caring for one another. Sasha believes that friends are people who will do whatever you want as long as you compliment them, while Anne believes that she has to do whatever her friends want in order to "earn" their friendship.
      • Also regarding their arrogance and mistakes. Sasha practices Never My Fault, while Anne engages in My God, What Have I Done?. Whereas Anne is always horrified and apologetic on realizing she's done wrong to the Plantars or other frogs, Sasha is Obliviously Evil to the point that Sprig calling her out leads to her trying to kill him. Sasha is also blindsided when her wanting to "rescue" Anne and find a way home isn't enough to make up for her playing The Farmer and the Viper out of Captain Grime's own agenda to the innocent frogs that have housed Anne for several months.
    • Marcy Wu introduction and Sasha Waybright's couldn't be more night and day - from gushing over Anne's new frog family to saving Sprig without a concern of herself. It's a shame the Plantars couldn't have met her first.
    • What Marcy Wu has in intelligence, Anne Boonchuy makes up for with social skills.
  • Aqua Teen Hunger Force
    • Shake's personality highlights Meatwad's by contrast. Both of them are incredibly stupid (and sometimes even Too Dumb to Live), immature and possess the logic of a lunatic. However, they differ from each other in that:
      • Shake is an incredibly mean, self-serving, narcissistic, sociopathic douchebag who possesses a total disregard for life.
      • Meatwad is a perpetually sweet, childlike, and optimistic individual who always tries to do the right thing, even if too dim to be successful.
    • The Plutonians to the Mooninites. While they aren't arrogant Jerkasses like the Mooninites, they're also a lot less charismatic and aren't as good at manipulating people.
  • Arcane: A majority of the show's characters contrast to one another.
    • Vi and Jinx/Powder. In Act 1, they are a pair of sisters: Vi is the street-smart, competent older one, Powder is the more sensitive and sheltered younger one. Fast forward a few years and a couple of traumatic experiences, Vi is a hardened fighter who wants to stop Silco at all costs, while Jinx is the mentally unstable Daddy's Little Villain who opposes her.
    • Jayce and Viktor. Both are promising inventors and partners who pioneer Hextech for Piltover. Jayce gets caught up in Piltover's politics and considers using Hextech for war, but Viktor stays true to their original goal of wanting Hextech to improve the lives of regular citizens. In addition, Jayce is a fit and conventionally handsome man, while Viktor is sickly and disabled, which drives their attitudes — Jayce is hailed as the city's golden boy, while Viktor tinkers with the Hexcore to find a way to heal himself.
    • Vandar and Silco. Both were previously very close friends who wanted more for the undercity, but their differing attitudes led Vander to try and kill Silco. Vander's failed rebellion in the backstory led him to maintain a fragile peace with Piltover instead, which Silco — who wants to use Shimmer to fight Piltover — derides as weak. It's telling that after Silco is offered everything he wanted for Zaun at the price of Jinx, who was formerly Vander's foster daughter, who does he have a symbolic conversation with but Vander's statue?
    • Caitlyn and Marcus. Both are enforcers who clash over how to handle the threat of the undercity, but Marcus is a Dirty Cop on Silco's payroll, while Caitlyn is a Cowboy Cop who is determined to find out who is behind the attacks and, when she learns it's Silco, tries to stop him.
    • Vi and Caitlyn. Vi is a rough-and-tumble woman from the undercity who fights with her fists, Caitlyn is a refined noblewoman who fights with a gun.
    • Jinx and Ekko. They're a pair of Childhood Friends traumatized by the losses of their respective father figures, but while Ekko leads a rebellion against Silco, Jinx is his top enforcer. Ekko insists to Vi that Jinx is irredeemable, but appears to change his mind at the last minute.
  • As Told by Ginger
    • Lois Foutley a tough, wise, loving, plus-sized, working class mother that has to lay down the law with her kids and often lets them learn their own lessons, this in contrast to the other leaner mothers of the show (priggish Joann, vapid and posh Claire, and Macie's workaholic parents).
    • Joann Bishop to Lois Foutley. She's blonder, leaner, smaller, more stressed out, meaner, and less tolerant than Lois.
    • Claire Gripling to Lois Foutley, both are loving mothers, but Claire is quite out of touch with how things work in less affluent societies and families and carries off a very quiet, posh lifestyle with her children. Also matters in appearance to a lesser extent.
  • Atomic Puppet
    • Joey Felt and Captain Atomic to each other. Joey is a scrawny everyday kid who was catapulted into the life of a superhero by gaining superpowers from Captain Atomic's Puppet Permutation into AP, while Captain Atomic was a muscular celebrity crimefighter who was suddenly thrown into a more mundane life when he was rendered powerless by the same transformation. Joey is humble, friendly, and can be quite sensible for his age at times, while AP is arrogant, rude, and surprisingly immature sometimes. Joey's civilian life plays a prominent role in the series while we know absolutely nothing about Captain Atomic's secret identity (assuming he even had one) before he was transformed into AP.
    • Joey's status as Captain Atomic’s sidekick makes him one to his former sidekick Mookie. Whereas Mookie was shown to be a useless and incompetent sidekick that Captain Atomic never needed to help save the day, Joey having to put AP on his hand to reactivate his powers is literally the only way Captain Atomic can save the day now. Also, Mookie is obsessed with being respected and adored as a hero, while Joey is pretty happy with just having the privilege of helping Captain Atomic fight crime. These differences reflect Captain Atomic’s attitude towards them, as he found Mookie to be mostly annoying and pathetic, but genuinely respects Joey and considers him a true partner rather than a mere sidekick.
    • Absorbo Lad to Mookie (who he shares a voice actor with). Both share similar backstories as being wannabe superheroes who turned bad when they were dismissed by everyone else. But whereas Mookie wants to be a hero admired and worshiped by the people of Mega City despite his lack of superpowers, Absorbo Lad wants to be feared and hated by everyone so he can prove superpowers don't make one special or admirable. Furthermore, Mookie is big and fat but isn't taken seriously by anyone, while Absorbo Lad is small and scrawny but considered The Dreaded. This even extends to their costumes, with Mookie's looking professionally made and Absorbo Lad's being very amateurish.
  • Ben 10
    • Rook Blonko to Ben Tennyson; he is a By-the-Book Cop with no actual experience, in contrast with Ben being Taught by Experience with little training. Moreover, he relies on technology, while Ben relies on alien biological abilities. Word of God admitted this was the guiding purpose in his design.
    • Big Chill to Heatblast. Both are flying elemental aliens yet are not Ben's primary fliers in their respective sets (the role is instead given to Stinkfly in the original series and Jetray in Alien Force). However, Big Chill's main power is his cryokinesis while Heatblast is on the complete other end of the spectrum. Heatblast is durable enough to be thrown through buildings while Big Chill has to rely on his maneuverability and intangibility to merely stay in the fight.
    • Kenny Tennyson to his father Ben Tennyson. He acts a lot like his dad there are some key differences between Kenny and Ben: Kenny is far more tactical in his use of aliens than Ben was thanks to years watching his dad use them. He's also more appreciative of that kind of alien: his disappointment is more in not getting to pick his own aliens and the fact he has no offensive aliens than the aliens themselves (outside of Toepick), and he has a circle of friends, something ten year old Ben notably lacked.
    • The Esoterica the Forever Knights; both are ancient organisations of Well-Intentioned Extremists related to Dagon with superstitious tendencies. However, the Knights were created to protect Earth from him and despise aliens and magic, whereas the Esoterica worship him and believe in having more contact with aliens.
  • Big City Greens:
    • Remy to Cricket, being the nervous city boy to Cricket's bold country boy.
    • Andromeda to Tilly, being suspicious and serious to Tilly's curious and silly.
    • Chip Whistler to Bill Green. While Bill's a honest, Nice Guy that runs a small farm, Chip is a jerkass head of a supermarket that will resort to underhanded tactics in order to make a profit.
    • Gabriela to Gloria, being the sweet, jovial Born Lucky clown compared to Gloria's antsy, cynical Born Unlucky grump.
  • In The Boondocks
    • Huey and Riley Freeman take Sibling Yin-Yang to new heights. Huey is a quiet and responsible big brother, while Riley is a loud and obnoxious little brother.
    • Jazmine and Huey. While he is a stoic kid who is very mature for his age, Jazmine is naive, innocent, and curious about the world around her.
  • Carmen Sandiego
    • Shadow-san to Coach Brunt. Both were parental figures to Carmen, but Shadow-san was sterner, opposed of her becoming a VILE thief, and seemed to hate her, while Brunt was a Doting Parent, shed a tear of joy when Carmen enrolled in their school, and never shied away from showing love to her adopted daughter. And when Carmen underwent Heel–Face Turn, Brunt's response was to try and kill her, but it turned out that Shadow-san always cared for Carmen and didn't want her to become a VILE thief because he thought she was better than that.
    • Tigress this to Shadow-san since both of them have disdain for Carmen. The only difference is that Sheena has no redeeming qualities, whereas Shadow-san's attitude is a mask because he truly cares for Carmen.
    • Paper Star is this to Carmen inasmuch as Shadow-san views them both as too reckless. But whereas he truly cares for Carmen and knew she was too moral for VILE, he probably knew that Paper Star was a psychopath and thus truly disliked her.
    • Paper Star also this to Tigress, since they are both Dark Action Girls who actually fight Carmen directly, but while Tigress has a personal dislike of Carmen stemming from their academy days, she’s not nearly as good as she thinks she is. While Paper Star doesn’t have the personal vendetta and is an actual threat to Carmen.
  • In Central Park, Season 1 "Squirrel, Interrupted", when Bitsy meets with her brother Ambrose, we immediately see how they both differ from each other despite both being short, cranky, rich old people. Bitsy has no family of her own and Ambrose has a lot of family members who mooches off of him. Bitsy inherited her family's hotel and worked hard to turn it into a multi-million dollar business without any help, while Ambrose inherited their father's money and hasn't earned money himself that wasn't interest.
  • Clarence: Clarence Wendle to Belson Noles. Both have mothers who care about them but while Belson's mother lets him get away with everything and is a pushover, Mary is sweet but stern with Clarence. They both also have missing fathers, though Clarence's dad is out of the picture for unknown reasons (implied to be divorce) and he has a "Chad" to replace him while Belsons dad isn't around only because of work and he has no fraternal substitute. Clarence is also an optimist who loves everything while Belson is a pessimist who sees others as below him.
  • Class of 3000: Madison and Tamika. Both characters play stringed instruments, and have very little in the way of a brain-to-mouth filter. However, while Madison is way more chipper and an optimist, Tamika is more cynical and realistic. This dynamic is best highlighted in "Take a Hike!"
  • Craig of the Creek
    • Bryson Williams to Craig Williams. Craig is portrayed as more bolder, expressive and has a more cartoonish design while Bryson is shown to be more sensible, quiet, calmer and has a design that's more realistic for an African American boy.
    • Though they haven't appeared in a scene together, Laura Mercer seems to be one to Bernard Williams. While clearly frustrated with some of J.P.'s antics, she does reach out to her brother and is openly affectionate.
    • Maya to Kelsey. Both of them are tough swordsgirls but while Kelsey is short, expressive, and uses her fighting skills to help her friends, Maya is tall, stoic, and uses her power to enforce the King's will.
    • Randy's the total opposite of Maya: instead of a thin, serious girl, he's a big, friendly guy.
    • Like the Elders of the Creek, The Witches of the Creek are teenagers that Craig and company respect and occasionally turn to for help. But while the Elders take the traditions of the Creek to heart and give (what is to them) serious advice, the Witches take advantage of their naivete to mess with them because they're bored.
  • Danny Phantom
    • Valerie Gray became one to Paulina Sanchez, the other popular girl of Casper High. Paulina disliked Danny Fenton after meeting him and fell for Danny Phantom after he rescued her. Valerie disliked Danny Phantom after meeting him and fell for Danny Fenton after he saves her from a persistent Stalker with a Crush.
    • Danielle to Jazz Fenton. Jazz is Danny's older sister born naturally, Danielle is Danny's genetic sister created unnaturally. Jazz ends up a Badass Normal, while Danielle is born with superpowers like Danny's. While both have child-like qualities and enthusiasm, but Jazz is mature and very adept at looking after her younger brother, Danielle is immature and naive due to having lived only recently and needed to learn to trust Danny.
  • DC Super Hero Girls 2019
    • Giganta (Doris Zeul) to Supergirl (Kara Danvers). Both are the tomboy powerhouses of their respective groups with abrasive attitudes and come from scientifically advanced communities (though they're pretty Book Dumb regardless). Unlike Kara, Doris never feels guilty about exploiting her strength, and Doris's circle of friends encourage the worst out of her in villainy.
    • Giganta (Doris Zeul) also a foil to Karen Beecher due to her personality and powers being the complete opposite of hers.
    • Cavalier (Mortimer Drake) everything Green Arrow (Oliver Queen) would be without a conscience, and a sword in place of a bow.
    • Hawkman (Carter Hall) to Supergirl (Kara Danvers). Both are the muscle of their respective teams, but Supergirl is loud and quick-tempered while Hawkman is quiet and reserved.
  • Detentionaire: Biffy T. Goldstein to Lee Ping in a sense that he's a clique-less detention regular due to getting busted nearly every day for infractions that may or may not be his fault. He even has parents that are deeply involved in the MWF conspiracy.
  • Doug
    • Skeeter Valentine shares many of the same traits and interests as Doug Funnie, but he has much more self-confidence. Generally, he's much more likely to shake off an embarrassing incident or stand up to Roger. "Doug Grows Up" highlighted this, as well; while Doug angsts about being teased for being in the "childish" Bluff-Scouts and tries to change to fit in, Skeeter openly carries on with an activity he still enjoys.
    • Chalky Studebaker is essentially what Doug Funnie often imagines himself to be: the popular jock with good grades rather than the clumsy artist with average grades.
  • Duck Dodgers
    • Captain Duck Dodgers to the Martian Commander, X-2. Captain Dodgers is a self-serving, highly in-professional, incompetent, and shamelessly lazy leader, that none the less has the Undying Loyalty of his sole subordinate, while X-2 is a very loyal, professional, (comparably) competent, and hardworking leader, that none the less get no respect from the army of robots under his command.
    • Captain Star Johnson's basically the idle image of a space hero, to play off Dodgers.
  • Dude, That's My Ghost!: Billy Joe Cobra to Spencer Wright. Billy is very wild and out there, while Spencer is more down to earth and willing to think through situations than be impulsive about them.

    E-G 
  • Ed, Edd n Eddy
    • Edd to both his friends in a way: He's meek, timid, well-mannered and loves school and studying. Ed and Eddy are the exact opposite of this:
      • Edd can be considered the polar opposite of Ed. He is smart, weak, and a Neat Freak, while Ed is idiotic, strong, and The Pig-Pen.
      • Unlike Eddy, Edd is a selfless nice guy who typically tries to do the right thing and does not approve of Eddy's schemes to get money or his selfishness.
    • Ed to a lesser extent he also contrasts Eddy, since he's a Gentle Giant who's usually happy and almost never gets angry, while Eddy is short, grouchy, bad-tempered and often a Jerkass.
    • Eddy is much less friendly than his friends are. While Ed is rather unintelligent and Edd is altruistic, Eddy is rather cunning and is always looking for an opportunity for money.
    • Sarah's this to Jimmy, being the aggressive, manipulative, and psychotic Enfant Terrible to his sensitive, delicate, meek, and Prone to Tears.
    • Jimmy's one to Eddy in that Jimmy is a sweet and endearing Cheerful Child with a fragile mentality and idealistic outlook, while the former is a brutally honesty and cynical bully who dismisses child's play as old news.
    • Being a Nice Girl who is also considered very pretty by most of the cast, Nazz is the antithesis of Sarah and the Kankers.
  • Family Guy
  • In Gargoyles, one episode highlights the relationships between Elisa and her mother and Goliath and Angela.
    • Diane smothers Elisa (at least, in Elisa's opinion). Goliath keeps Angela at a distance (since it is gargoyle custom to not favor one child over another, even if one is his own biological child)
    • Elisa is tired of Diane's constant attention and involvement. Meanwhile, all Angela craves is for her father's recognition.
    • Jon Canmore/John Castaway one for Demona. He's a human who projects past transgressions onto all gargoyles, while Demona projects the same onto all humans.
  • Get Ed
    • Deets to the hot-headed Burn.
      • Also to Fizz in terms of combat capabilities. Fizz is great at shooting, but horrible at close-combat. Deets rocks at close-combat, but cannot aim to save her life.
  • Glitch Techs
    • Papi and Abuela Nieves to Miko's parents. Five's grandparents fully support his love for video games, practically had to force him to leave work at the taco trunk since the tournament is a big opportunity, and even took him to the tournament themselves in their thought-to-be-broken taco truck.
    • The Furious Four to Miko's siblings. While they are Massive Numbered Siblings who are completely unaware of one of their sibling's work for Glitch Techs (with the exception of Lexi and possibly Nica), they are complete opposites. Miko's siblings are mostly work (with Lexi and Nica learning to lighten up), while the Furious Four are mostly play. Miko's siblings mostly tidy up their house, while the Furious Four mostly leave their house a mess.
  • Goof Troop: PJ to Bobby. While PJ is rather quiet, cautious, and rather reluctant to join Max on his schemes, Bobby is eagerly willing to participate in them, has a louder and more masculine voice, and is more reckless. Incidentally, he's the one who ends up with Beret Girl in the end in contrast to Bobby who is too impulsive to successfully get Beret Girl to not turn him down.
  • Gravity Falls
    • Dipper and Mabel Pines. Dipper has a tendency to be serious and even a bit cynical, while Mabel is an extremely perky optimist. Unlike some pairs of foils, however, they are very attached to one another; they work together very well when it comes to dealing with all the supernatural forces they encounter, and have even taken to calling themselves "the Mystery Twins".
    • Dipper to the Author, his Grunkle Ford. They are interested in the paranormal and are dedicated to unlocking the secrets of Gravity Falls. The difference is that Ford mostly favors researching independently, while Dipper prefers having his friends and family by his side when going on adventures.
    • On the surface it seems that Stan and Ford acts similar to Mabel and Dipper, the former being considered the dumber twin and often tends to goof around a lot while the latter as the smarter twin where they love the supernatural and is dedicated to researching the mysteries of Gravity Falls. However Stan, like Dipper, often tends to get picked on by other people which resulted in his Inferiority Superiority Complex. He also treasures any family relationships he has like with kids Dipper and Mabel, and even goes so far as to sacrifice 30 years of his life just to try to bring his brother back. Ford on the other hand, like Mabel, has a problem with selfishness and is often Innocently Insensitive.
  • Green Eggs and Ham:
    • Guy and Sam's quest is paralleled by a cross-country trip undertaken by Michellee and EB, a mother-daughter pair whose dynamic is an inversion of the protagonists' with the former being quirkily cautious and the latter being sensibly adventurous.
    • The backgrounds for Guy and Sam are also a contrast to one another as revealed in Episode 10: Guy is a grouch but has a loving family who supports him being an inventor, while Sam is optimistic yet he was abandoned by his mother at a young age.
      • Guy the antsy, cynical Born Unlucky grump compared to the upbeat, jovial Born Lucky clown Sam. And their family lives are also different: he has a loving family who support his dreams, but which he believes are just pitying him because he's intimidated by their successes. Sam has no family to speak of, but tells everyone else that his mother was a wonderful person who did all sorts of nice things for him.
      • Sam the upbeat, jovial Born Lucky fool compared to the antsy, cynical Born Unlucky grump Guy. His family background is also the opposite of Guy's: Guy has a loving family while Sam has a mother who dumped him in an orphanage.
    • Michellee to Guy, being quirkily cautious to his sensibly cautious.
    • E.B. to Sam, being sensibly adventurous to his quirkily adventurous. And to her mother she's adventurous to her mother's constant nervousness.
    • The Goat to McWinkle. Both are after the Chickeraffe but they're on opposite sides of the law.
    • The Goat to Sam too. They both were hired by Snerz in regards to delivering said Chickeraffe, but Sam is truly happy and perky and, after a period of conflicting loyalty, is willing to send Mr. Jenkins home. Goat? Not so much. Furthermore, the Goat uses brute force in his methods, while Sam uses stealth and deception.
  • Grojband:
    • Trina Riffin provides two examples:
      • Personality-wise, Trina is this to her brother Corey. Whereas Corey is The Pollyanna who barely ever loses his temper and doesn't usually let a bad situation freak him out, Trina is filled to the brim with teen angst and hatred and has a Hair-Trigger Temper that makes her extremely emotional and overdramatic.
      • When it comes to romance, Trina is this to Laney. Trina completely worships the ground that her crush Nick Mallory walks on and will agree with anything he says no matter how contradictory or illogical. Laney, on the other hand, is unafraid of criticizing or calling out Corey whenever his Zany Schemes have gone too far despite her enormous crush on him. Trina is also completely obsessed with making Nick her boyfriend to the point where she is willing to hurt or sacrifice others just to date him. Meanwhile Laney cares more about getting to play music and hang out with her friends in Grojband than making Corey love her and will put her feelings for him aside for the sake of the band. Additionally, Corey has a strong friendship with Laney despite his obliviousness to her feelings, while Nick Mallory is almost entirely apathetic towards Trina. Basically, in Trina and Nick's relationship, Nick is an object of obsession to be won like a prize, while Corey and Laney's relationship demonstrates Laney views Corey as a genuine human being and treats him as such.
    • In the episode "Girl Fest", Laney is enraged to learn that her hero, the feminist rockstar Candy Jams, is a boy-obsessed girly girl who gets other people to write her songs for her. At first, Laney sounds like a hypocrite given that she is shown to have closet Girly Girl tendencies and a huge crush on Corey, and Grojband literally writes their songs using Trina's diary, but closer inspection reveals key differences. First, Candy Jams completely obsesses herself over boys like Nick Mallory in the same way Trina does, while Laney doesn't let her giant crush on Corey get in the way of her willingness to express herself. Second, Candy Jams's Girly Girl qualities are shown in how she uses her image to sell feminine products and doesn't actually care about her music, while Laney's true passion always lies in playing music with her bandmates. Third and finally, Candy Jams has her manager write her songs and doesn't even understand what she's singing, whereas Grojband takes inspiration from Trina's diary and writes their own lyrics from her entries instead of plagiarizing them word-for-wordnote .

    H-M 
  • Harley Quinn (2019)
    • Poison Ivy entire situation throughout Season 1 is contrasted with Harley Quinn. Harley wants to build a team, but Ivy funny enough treats them more like a family, whereas Harley treats them like a means to an end. Harley is highly ambitious, but lacks all forms of self-awareness, which leads to disaster. Ivy has no real ambition other than helping her best friend and she fully knows what she's about. Harley is obsessed with an utter nutjob who wants nothing to do with her and treats her like shit. Ivy dates a guy who is extremely goofy, but ultimately turns out to be great (and healthy) relationship-material.
    • Bane to Harley of all people. Like Harley, Bane isn't treated with any respect by his supervillain peers. Two-Face's treatment of Bane, in particular, is very similar to how the Joker manipulated Harley into being subservient to him. Unlike Harley, who eventually wises up and breaks from the Joker's control and abuse, Bane remains completely oblivious to the fact that Two-Face doesn't regard him as an equal even as the evidence is right in front of him.
    • Kite Man (Charles Brown) to The Joker. He's a D-Class villain while the Joker is The Dreaded, but unlike the Joker who is known to be abusive to Harley and doesn't care about what she feels, Kite Man truly cares about Ivy and treats her with respect. Also, the Joker is shown to have insecurity issues and hates it when people mock him, while Kite Man is looked upon as a loser but has enough self-confidence to brush it off.
  • The Hollow: The other kids act as this to Kai, Adam and Mira.
    • Vanessa and Mira are both the only female in their respective team, have dyed hair and become Kai's love interest for a short amount of time. But while Mira is a legitimately nice person who always tries to look for a peaceful solution first, Vanessa is a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing and a Dark Action Girl who has no problems with hurting or even potentially killing others, if it gets her what she wants. However this turns out only because in season one she knows its only a game so she considers her actions irrelevant due to this. Her digital Avatar based on her real personality is far more empathetic and even feels guilt for her actions.
    • Reeve and Adam both act as The Big Guy for their respective group and have powers that primarily focus on offense. However, while Adam is kind, good-natured and only attacks when he feels his friends are being threatened, Reeve is far more pro-active willing to use overwhelming force. The Hammer to Adam's scalpel. While Adam excels at being part of a team, Reeve is torn between his own sense of independence and the games need for teamwork.
    • Kai and Skeet both act as the seemingly harmless comedic relief in their groups, with both of them not really coming off as the sharpest tool in the shed upon first glance. But while Kai is actually extremely skilled in mechanics and gets over his cowardice later on, Skeetz really is as flighty as he looks and flat-out abandons his team when it seems like the odds are against them. However his digital Avatar based on his real personality in season 2 has hidden depths and dies bravely attempting to save Vanessa.
  • Inside Job (2021)
    • Brett Hand with Reagan Ridley. Being team co-leaders highlights their differences with Brett being a handsome and charismatic Nice Guy who's also Book Dumb, while Reagan is a brilliant genius who's plain looking and has No Social Skills.
    • Glenn Dolphman to Brett Hand, which "Clone Gunman" highlights. Brett is a Nice Guy who's also very attractive, while Glenn is a Jerkass along with being very ugly.
    • Rand Ridley to J.R. Scheimpough, with whom Rand co-founded Cognito Inc. They're both borderline supervillains who get off on being evil with a clear desire to rule the world. The difference is that J.R. is motivated by sheer greed to advance himself and while he's hardly a fatherly kind of leader, he's still seen as a Benevolent Boss by his underlings even while sending them on suicide missions or threatening their deaths. Rand, on the other hand, is motivated by sheer narcissism, wanting to make everyone fear, worship, and/or respect him. The few times Rand is shown to be in charge of anyone, he openly manipulates and abuses them for the pure delight of it.
  • Invader Zim
    • Dib to Zim. Both are single-mindedly driven and emotionally volatile egoists whose antics have made them outcasts among their peers, causing them to become fixated on accomplishing a goal of very little real importance for the sake of gaining the recognition that they believe themselves to be deserving of. While Zim's actions are completely governed by his warped sense of self-importance, though, Dib is occasionally able to look past his own selfishness and do genuine good for the sake of it, which has also given him a slightly greater amount of self-awareness.
    • Gaz to GIR. Both serve as junk food-guzzling sidekicks of questionable loyalty to obsessives with over-inflated senses of self-importance, but where GIR is manic, hyperactive and chipper, Gaz is aloof, sullen and disinterested. Both also tend to serve as an unforeseen third party that ultimately saves the day in the end, but while GIR generally does so by being an incompetent Spanner in the Works, Gaz does so by being a Hypercompetent Sidekick.
    • Professor Membrane to the Almighty Tallest. Both are distant authority figures that the main characters seek to gain the recognition of, but while the Tallest are lazy and incompetent despots who simply ignore Zim because they dislike him, Membrane is a brilliant Workaholic super scientist who only ignores his children as a result of his extremely busy schedule. It's also worth noting that the Tallest pay close attention to the information Zim gives to them about humanity (if only out of a Bile Fascination for how Humans Are Morons), while Membrane is an unflinching Agent Scully who refuses to even entertain his son's claims that aliens exist. Finally, both Membrane and the Tallest are shown at various points screwing around with puppet versions of themselves.
  • Jackie Chan Adventures: For Tohru ever since Hak Foo's first appearance. Hak Foo is fast, brash and clever, but not particularly intelligent and relies on martial arts while fighting. Tohru is slower, but more thoughtful, reserved and intelligent and relies on his strength and intuition in a fight.
  • Shego in Kim Possible highlights Dr. Drakken's ineptitude and Kim's earnestness with her sarcastic commentary.
  • Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts
    • Kipo Oak to Scarlemagne. Both originated from the same research experiment that Song and Lio were performing regarding how animals became Mutes, with Scarlemagne being a widely-known project and Kipo being a secret one. Both also had their homes destroyed by the same Mega-Monkey and were forced to travel the surface as a result. But while Kipo quickly found companionship and is able to easily sway others with her kindness, thus reinforcing her All-Loving Hero tendencies, Hugo spent much of his time alone and had any friendly actions rebuffed, making him deeply paranoid and forced to rely on his mind control abilities. And while Kipo believes in harmony between humans and Mutes, having grown up in a peaceful environment and having positive experiences with both groups, Hugo's suffering during testing and feelings of abandonment left him despising humans and desiring Mute supremacy.
      • Scarlemagne ends up supporting Kipo's vision of a society where humans and mutes live in harmony, but he remains a foil in that he does not share her optimism about how anyone can be redeemed, and sets out to assassinate Emilia even though it goes against all of Kipo's ideals.
    • Benson and Wolf. They are both human's who live on the surface but their personalities and skills are polar opposites. Benson is friendly and more then a bit mischievous, whereas Wolf is cold and no-nonsense. Benson has mute friends, Wolf has a hard time not killing mute's on sight. Benson survives with his wits and personality, Wolf survives by strength alone.
    • Dr. Emilia is this to Scarlemagne aka Hugo. Hugo had a loving family that discouraged him from abusing his power, while Emilia had a supportive brother but overbearing father who demanded she be ambitious. Emila choose to murder her own brother to become the saviour of humanity, Hugo would never hurt his adopted sister Kipo and even ended up dying to save her. Hugo's family (unintentionally) abandoned him, while Emilia abandoned her family.
  • Legend Quest: The climax reveals Leo San Juan to be this to Teodora Villaviciencio. Where he tried to refuse the call, Teodora jumped at it even giving up being with her family in order to save the world.
  • The Legion of Super-Heroes cartoon has a few of these:
  • Looney Tunes: Marvin the Martian was deliberately created as a contrast to Yosemite Sam; while Sam is loud and angry but still ultimately harmless, Marvin is calm and soft-spoken but capable of massive acts of destruction.
  • Marvel's Spider-Man
    • Anya Crazon serves as one to Gwen Stacy. Compared to Gwen, who becomes more open hearted, and is more of herself out the costume than in it (on top of being more emotionally vulnerable), she tends to be more cynical, has some skewed priorities, yet is also shown to be more level headed when it comes to heroics, with her ego downplayed.
    • Gwen Stacy to Anya Corazon. While Anya has some skewed priorities and is more more comfortable with heroics, Gwen is the opposite. She's very altruistic when out of costume, but when it comes to major tragedies and being in costume, she shows more emotional vulnerability.
    • Harry-Goblin is one to Spider-Man. While Spider-Man relies on spider strength, the Hobgoblin replies on an arsenal of weapons. Both make their own respective tech, however, Spider-Man has limited resources while the Hobgoblin has Oscorp's limitless resources to the point of mass-production for the Goblin Nation.
    • Goblin Nation to the Spider-Team. While the Spider-Team relies on spider strength, the Goblin Nation replies on an arsenal of weapons.
  • Mission Hill: Andy and Kevin. Andy is a world-weary slacker who spends his time drinking, trying to get laid, and griping about work instead of working. Kevin is an idealistic workaholic who spends his time studying, trying to get into a good college and playing video games.
  • My Life as a Teenage Robot: Brad to Jenny. While Jenny is super-powerful, but extremely self-conscious and would rather be a normal teenager, Brad is an ordinary guy who is extremely self-assured and desperately wants to be anything but a normal teenager.
  • My Little Pony 'n Friends: Shady is very pessimistic, timid, and clumsy, while Gusty is confident, brave, and athletic. These differences are highlighted in "Mish Mash Melee", where the frazzits reverse their personalities and they end up having each other's normal mannerisms.

    O-Y 
  • OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes
  • Over the Garden Wall
    • Wirt and Greg. The former is older, nerdy and anxious about everything; the latter is younger, silly and perpetually cheerful. As things grow grimmer for the two, Wirt becomes moody and falls under the Beast's power, while Greg keeps moving forward, albeit in a way that almost proves just as disastrous.
    • The Woodsman to Wirt, which emphasizes the latter's Character Development. His isolation and singleminded quest to keep his lantern lit mimics Wirt's fear of socializing and Wirt's preference of safe, no-brainer solutions to his problems. It's best seen when The Beast offers Wirt the chance to take on the Woodsman's role. Wirt (after his How We Got Here flashback showed him how flawed he was before entering the Unknown), refuses, having finally understood that such an existence is pointless and stupid.
    • Also Wirt and Jason Funderberker, his romantic rival. Although initially implied to be The Ace, he turns out to be d even more awkward than Wirt, but less self-conscious about it. Somewhat like Greg, he acts when Wirt is prone to equivocate, and thus Wirt thinks of him as superior.
  • The Owl House
    • Gus appears to be one to Luz, Willow and Amity in that he lacks the self-esteem problems they have suffered from, embracing all of his nerdiness without any regrets. Shown best when Luz tells Willow that she's the most powerful witch she knows after Eda and then tells Gus "No offense", to which his response is a casual "Not at all. I know what I'm about."
    • Edric & Emira Blight to there sister Amity. Amity first appears to be a bully, but ends up revealing Hidden Depths that puts her firmly in the Jerk with a Heart of Gold category. Edric and Emira first appear as cool, nice people, but end up revealing themselves to be callous bullies.
    • Edric & Emira Blight to Lilith Clawthorne. All three are magically gifted older siblings who have a conflicted relationship with their younger sister. But while Edric and Emira may be bullies, they seem to do it out of Tough Love and are genuinely remorseful after their prank in "Lost In Language" puts Amity's life at risk. In their next appearance, they're shown doting on her, while still making playful jibes at her, and are nothing but proud of her being a talented witch in her own right. Lilith insists to want nothing but Eda's good, but tries to impose her authority over her and make her bend to the coven system, and later it's revealed she is the one who cursed Eda out of spite and feelings of inferiority.
    • Boscha to Amity Blight. While Amity was initially obsessed with her status and challenging her competition, she ultimately is not cruel at heart but only became "cruel" because she did not want to show weakness. Boscha, however, is implied to have always been a cruel bully even when she was younger. She is a self-absorbed sociopath who is obsessed with her social status to the point that she enjoys bullying students weaker than her.
    • Emperor Belos/Philip Wittebane To Luz. Both ended up in the Demon Realm by accident, were unable to return home, and began studying magic in order to be able to make a gateway back to the human realm. However, Luz loves the Boiling Isles, moreso than she loves Earth, and forges strong relationships with some of the witches and demons living there, even coming to regard Eda and King as her surrogate family. As a result, while she is living the fantasy, she's living it in a way that has caused her to mature significantly and, in all likelihood, become better able to fit in in the Human Realm. Belos, by contrast, hates the Boiling Isles and its residents so much that he killed his own brother for falling in love with a witch, and his goal is to facilitate the genocide of all witches. Since almost everyone who becomes aware of who he actually is would turn against him immediately, and the few exceptions—Odalia Blight, Kikimora, and the Collector—think they benefit from his delusional mindset, he hasn't had friends, a Love Interest, or a Family of Choice to drag him into reality, meaning he's become so lost in his witch hunter fantasy that he has become an immature Knight Templar completely incapable of grasping that Human Realm values might have changed after almost four centuries.
  • Pantheon
    • David and Ellen's marriage to Cody and Laurie's. The former pair had a happy marriage as humans, but Ellen won't pursue a relationship with David as a UI, so they become Amicable Exes. The latter had a rockier marriage, but become more committed to and interdependent upon each other after Laurie becomes a UI.
    • Cary and Renee. Cary loses his commitment to the project due to paternal love for Caspian, whereas Renee's is unwavering due to her romantic love for the late Stephen Holstrom that will be "resurrected" through Caspian.
  • ReBoot: Hexadecimal to her brother, Megabyte. Both viruses, Hex is the chaos to Megabyte's order. In the end, their character developments take them in different directions. Hex saves the net and Mainframe having learned to be a sprite and in love. Megabyte embraces his viral being and makes his final stand an act of revenge against Mainframe.
  • Recess: Menlo could be considered one to Randall. Both are known for getting along better with teachers than their own peers, namely since they like to uphold the rules at the expense of their classmates. But while Randall is an deliberate nuisance who gets a kick out of troubling others, Menlo has better intentions and simply wants to keep things orderly, if a bit too much.
  • Rick and Morty:
    • Jerry is a foil to Rick. Rick is a sociopathic, brave, and brilliant scientist who the family will go along with despite being aware of his craziness, but despite all that, Rick will give up on things quite often when he personally decides it's too much work (i.e., abandoning Beth when she was a child when he couldn't handle parenthood). Jerry is comparatively noble, a Dirty Coward, a bit of a ditz who serves as the family's resident Butt-Monkey despite making good points about Rick's toxic influence, but despite his bad luck is a Determinator.
    • Turns out Evil Rick and Morty this to every other Rick and Morty in their dynamic. Whereas every other Rick and Morty team has Rick as the brilliant and devious leader and Morty as the feckless sidekick and smokescreen for Rick, turns out Evil Rick is the completely non-sapient smokescreen to Evil Morty.
    • Tony to Rick Sanchez. Both are men coping with past losses, but while Rick reacts to the uncaring void of the universe in mostly destructive or obsessive ways, Tony learns to take it in stride and is inspired to enjoy his fleeting life. He goes on to die shortly afterwards while committing to his newfound love of life, leaving behind friends and a loving family to mourn him. Meanwhile Rick has countless back-up plans to protect himself from death even in old age, and struggles with his relationships with his family.
  • She-Ra and the Princesses of Power
    • Glimmer's development is paralleled most clearly with Catra. Both care deeply for their friendship with Adora and dread losing that bond. Both are often rude to the people around them (intentionally or not). Both are desperate to prove their worth. The key difference between them is that Glimmer grew up with loving parents and is kind enough to know when she's gone too far. Catra in comparison grew up under the thumb of Shadow Weaver, lived in Adora's shadow and refuses to accept blame and digs herself deeper in an attempt to make all her crimes worth it. Upon losing Angella, Glimmer begins to make the exact same mistakes as Catra. This includes trusting Shadow Weaver, accusing Adora of jealousy when the latter voices her worries about Weaver, alienating her friends as she grabs more and more power, and nearly destroying the world because of her anger at Adora's supposed disrespect. Fittingly, both of their ambitions end in the same place: trapped together while Horde Prime holds his power over them, but with Catra a servant, and Glimmer a trophy.
    • Hordak to Horde Prime. Hordak begins the series with a black and red color scheme, in contrast to Horde Prime's white and green palette. Underneath his armor, Hordak's garment covers his chest but leaves his back, arms, and legs exposed, while Horde Prime's garment leaves his chest exposed but covers everything else. The Fright Zone has a sinister, gritty, industrial appearance, while Horde Prime's ship has a clean, sleek, futuristic appearance. Horde Prime is at the peak of his power and glory, while at the end of season 4, Hordak has lost everything. Horde Prime insists on uniformity in his clones, but everything about Hordak deviates from their uniformity. Hordak is an antisocial recluse, but relatively fair and permissive. Horde Prime is very superficially charming, but such a Control Freak he'll wipe out whole planets just to keep his image the way he likes it.
  • Spider-Man: The Animated Series
    • Anna Watson to J. Jonah Jameson, while the former distrusts Spider-Man, Anna dislikes Peter. Also, while Jameson has a love-hate relationship with Peter, Anna doesn't regard Spider-Man in anyway.
    • Terri Lee gets one of these in the episode "The Man Without Fear" in the form of Susan Choi, her Evil Counterpart who worked with Richard Fisk and The Kingpin in a plot to frame Peter Parker. Both are members of government run institutions who hold a position of authority, and they initially worked together to arrest Peter when it was believed he was guilty. However, Lee takes the need to gather all the evidence and perspectives of a situation first before rash action very seriously, and ends up confronting Choi over her decision to hunt Peter before finding anything else out. Of course, Choi's reason for hunting Parker without searching for more information is obvious, as she's really a plant working for Fiske. Also, while Choi just loved pushing Lee around verbally and brushing her off, when it came to a physical altercation, Lee made short work of Choi.
    • The Knight Templar Green Goblin persona is a foil to both Norman (whose desires it embodies) and the Hobgoblin, who cares only about himself.
    • Alisa Silver/Alisa Silvermane to Felicia Hardy. Both are love interests to Peter who are the daughters of criminals. However, they diverge in a few ways. Felicia's father disappeared when she was a child and she never knew he was a criminal until she was an adult; Alisa was raised by her father as Daddy's Little Villain. Whereas Alisa aided her father's crimes knowingly and willingly, Felicia was only a crook because of Kingpin holding her father hostage and ceased being his lackey once her father was out of danger. Alisa was attracted to Peter Parker but despised Spider-Man; Felicia was attracted to both Peter and Spider-Man, though the latter more than the former.
    • Alisa Silver/Alisa Silvermane can also be viewed as one to Vanessa Fisk. Both are morality pets to otherwise ruthless crime lords, with Alisa being Silvermane's daughter while Vanessa is Kingpin's wife. However, while Alisa is loyal to her father and aids in his career of crime, Vanessa wants Kingpin to abandon his life of crime. Vanessa ultimately leaves Kingpin after his feud with Silverman puts her in danger while Alisa remains loyal to her father. That Alisa basically looks like a younger version of Vanessa without the skunk stripe is probably not a coincidence.
  • Star Trek: Lower Decks
    • Boimler and Mariner serve as direct representatives of this with them having polar opposite personalities.
    • Delta Shift is considered this to the protagonists, who are Beta Shift.
    • Doctor T'Ana to the only previous Caitian character, M'Ress, who was a more traditional Cat Girl type in a TOS miniskirt.
    • In "Terminal Provocations", the character of Fletcher is introduced as the worst elements of both Boimler and Mariner combined. Despite his affable demeanor, he's a Dirty Coward who always claims it's Never My Fault, and he doesn't care about any rules while relying on his friends to bail him out. Mariner says that she's different because she would never endanger a fellow crewmate with her rule-breaking (well, except Boimler). Fletcher gets fired from Starfleet.
    • Ensign Fletcher to Ensign Beckett Mariner. While Mariner only breaks rules to make her job easier, and would never endanger the crew to benefit herself, Fletcher is just trying to cover his own ass with no regard for the consequences.
    • Ensign Fletcher to TNG's Reginald Barclay. Barclay is a good engineer whose skills are hampered by his crippling social anxiety, but he was willing to take steps to correct his own failings. Fletcher gets along with everyone as a front, but at the first sign of trouble, he will throw anyone under the bus to avoid taking responsibility, and he can't be expected to perform even the most basic task if he doesn't have someone keeping an eye on him.
    • Captain Amina Ramsey’s what Ensign Beckett Mariner could be if she took her career in Starfleet more seriously. Even their accents are different, with Mariner having a Valley Girl American accent and Ramsey having a posh British accent.
  • Star Wars Rebels has Maul as an Evil Mentor foil to Kanan, Ezra's Jedi mentor. They both genuinely care about him, have lost their families and cultures, and struggle with their place in the universe, but Maul's affection is twisted and manipulative while Kanan's is honest and true. To underscore this, certain heartwarming shots of Kanan and Ezra working together are often repeated with Maul substituting for Kanan and with a more sinister tone.
    • Ezra himself acts as a foil for Anakin Skywalker. He was also picked up later in life than most Jedi from a rough background, experimented with the Dark Side to try and save his loved ones, and has many of Anakin's flaws like anger, impulsiveness, and possessiveness. Unlike Anakin, he has a strong support system in his adopted family, who help guide him towards the right decisions and keep him grounded. It culminates in the finale with Palpatine himself appearing to try and corrupt Ezra using the same offer he gave Anakin (the power to save his family) if Ezra helps him. It almost works, but Ezra ultimately chooses to let them go.
  • In Teen Titans (2003)
    • Robin and Starfire. Starfire provides a more lighthearted, sympathetic contrast to Robin's Hot-Blooded seriousness. This makes her a frequent partner of Robin's during fights.
    • Raven and Starfire's differences are highlighted in the episode "Switched", where they switch bodies and must learn to use the other's powers. Raven's power relies on her being composed about her emotions, while Starfire's rely on the feelings themselves to function.
  • Tiny Toon Adventures
    • Elmyra Duff to Elmer Fudd. He is a hunter who is unable to pose an actual threat to an animal; she is a little girl who unintentionally harms animals while demonstrating her love for them.
    • The Woodpile Possum Clan to the Boo Family. Both are Cannibal Clans, but the Possums are dim-witted, savage, low-class and straight-forward predators, whilst the Boos act more refined and cultured, and so force their victims to go through a wedding ceremony first before eating them. Additionally, the Possums are mostly males, but the Boos are almost all female, and the Possums have a non-villainous clanmember, which the Boos don't.
    • The Boo Family to the Possums introduced earlier. Both are Cannibal Clans, but each is quite different to the other. The Boos consist of three females and one male, whilst the Possums consist of more males than females. The Possums are stereotypical savage, deformed, killer hillbillies, who simply leap on and attempt to devour whoever comes their way, whilst the Boos present an aristocratic mien and insist on doing things in the "well-mannered" way by wedding their victims before eating them. The Possums have a token non-villainous member, if the form of Banjo, whilst the Boos are all just straight-up villains. Finally, although both want to eat the bunnies, the Possums are more interested in eating Babs (perhaps because Buster's ability to make music with his body impresses them), whilst the Boos want to eat Buster.
  • TRON: Uprising
    • Tesler to Beck. Both are right-hand-men to two idealistic programs who seek the best for the Grid Tron and Clu, but Beck is a noble program who fights for freedom and the common program, while Tesler is a tyrant enforcing order at all costs.
    • Gornt to Paige. Gorn is also a medic (judging by her uniform). Unlike Paige, who is an Occupation commander but often questions morally ambiguous actions, Gorn is not formally part of Clu's forces but is always happy to assist Pavel by rewriting the memories of innocent programs.
  • Twelve Forever: Dustin Abbott seems to be a cautionary tale for his daughter Reggie. A man who refused to grow up, much like Reggie, and ended up disappointing and leaving his entire family because of his irresponsibility.
  • Ultimate Spider-Man
    • Flash Thompson/Agent Venom to Venom/The Patrioteer/Anti-Venom/Harry Osborn.
      • Though they rarely interact, he is in fact a Foil to Harry, especially regarding their relationships to Peter. Whereas Harry and Peter are friends, Flash has bullied Peter throughout most of their adolescent lives. On the flip-side, Harry manifests a grudge against Spider-Mannote  while Flash considers himself Spidey's biggest fan. When Flash becomes more amicable towards Peter, Harry becomes more distant (though they do patch things up before long). They're even Foils financially! Harry is rich, but humble enough not to flaunt itnote , whilst Flash is extremely boastful to hide the fact that he's dirt poor. They even share voice actors!
      • Unlike Harry, Flash is able to maintain complete control of the symbiote, and successfully become a hero with it.
    • Scarlet Spider is a mirror image of Spidey, with the same powers (mostly), a dark version of his origin (and his costume), considering himself to be a monster and a freak, isolating himself from others in a fashion not unlike Spidey prior to the series beginning, he doesn't have much of a sense of humour and relatively speaking, he is The Quiet One, who would much prefer to fight than talk.
    • Scorpion to Iron Fist. Both are skilled martial artists, but where Danny is kind, humble, and has a sense of honor, Scorpion is an arrogant, self-centered blowhard who cares only for himself and will gladly fight dirty to get what he wants. He's a dark reflection of what Danny would be if he let himself be controlled by his pride.
    • Deadpool/Wade Wilson to good-ol' friendly neighborhood Spidey. We crack jokes (a lot), talk to you guys, and have very similar costumes. But I'm a merc (with a mouth) who's got almost no moral compass while Spidey's a superhero who knows responsibility. Heck, he even says that if it wasn't for his aunt and (dead) uncle, he could've ended up the same as me!note 
  • VeggieTales
    • Bob to his best pal, Larry. Bob is more mature, serious and rational, while Larry is completely silly, eccentric and absentminded.
    • In The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie, according to audio commentary, this was intentional. Eloise is brave and hardworking and opinionated and basically everything that the Pirates have to learn to be.
  • Voltron: Legendary Defender
    • By Season 7, Takashi "Shiro" Shirogane become one to Sendak. After they manage to make it back to Earth, Allura is able to build a new prosthetic arm for him that functions similarly to Sendak's, being a free-floating appendage that is controlled mentally, though it's built to resemble a regular forearm unlike the enormous monstrosity Sendak uses. And during the final battle, since he is no longer the pilot of the Black Lion, he ends up in overall command of the Galaxy Garrison forces, commanding from the bridge of the Atlas much as Sendak does from the bridge of his command ship. Finally, after Shiro sneaks aboard Sendak's ship and disables it, the two of them have a final battle on the hull of the ship as it is in the process of crashing into Earth, with Sendak declaring his undying hatred for Shiro. In the end, Sendak is almost able to beat Shiro, but is ultimately saved when Keith intervenes and kills Sendak with his Bayard, showing the crucial difference between the two; Shiro has friends and allies to back him up, and Sendak, who earlier destroyed one of his one ships just to try and kill Voltron, has no one.
    • Keith to Shiro. Both are the Head of Voltron at different times, but Keith's loner tendencies and hotheadedness lead to difficult leadership and an underwhelming tenure as the head of Voltron. In contrast, Shiro is stoic, cool-headed, and plays well with others, which leads to many victories. The premier episode of Season 4 has Keith deciding that he works better as a solo operator, which culminated in him leaving team Voltron and joining the Blade of Marmora while Shiro leads Team Voltron and the entire coalition.
    • Lotor to Allura, during the white lion's trials; while he killed the lion yelling "Victory or death!" Allura fell onto her knees telling it, "I give up my life". While Lotor failed the trial, Allura succeeded.
    • The Blade of Marmora to Team Voltron. Voltron is a tiny group of idealistic Ragtag Bunch of Misfits thrown into battle unprepared, who compensate for their lack of experience by building strong bonds and combining skills (and robots) — they also have a No One Gets Left Behind policy. The Blades are a large organization of thoroughly trained Combat Pragmatists who are fairly uniform in mindset and opinions, and who outright avoid building strong relationships because they could be called on to sacrifice other members of the group at any time thanks to their policy of Knowledge Or Death.
  • Wander over Yonder
    • Ryder to Wander. Wander is innocent, compassionate, and helpful; Ryder is mean, underhanded, and selfish. He's also shows what Sylvia could have been like without Wander's influence.
    • Beep-Boop to Westley. Both obeyed tyrannical villains only to enjoy spending time with Wander. But while Westley was The Runt at the End with a fondness for good views and a desire to prove himself, Probe 13 was hyper-competent and needed to discover how much fun the world he wanted to destroy was. He also further demonstrates Dominator's Eviler than Thou status by being killed by his master, while Hater briefly mourned Westley's apparent death.
  • Welcome to the Wayne: Olly Timbers to Ansi Molina. Hyperactive and outgoing, compared to Ansi's introverted and shy nature.
  • Wishfart: Protagonist Dez has two major antitheses who represent everything he isn't as a leprechaun. The first is Evil Uncle Phil. Whereas Dez is a cheerful and optimistic Nice Guy who freely grants wishes to make others happy, Uncle Phil is a bitter and pessimistic jerkass who keeps his wishing power to himself in the most miserly manner to deprive others of happiness. The second is his rival Finnuala. While Dez takes great pride in how non-typical he is for a leprechaun and enjoys granting wishes wily-nily (even through they always go awry), Finnuala actively enforces leprechaun stereotypes and will never grant wishes to anyone unless they can catch her (despite the fact her wishes are always completely flawless).
  • Work It Out Wombats!: The Fishmans serve as foils to the crab family. Both are nuclear families with triplets. However, the crabs are farmers who live on land, while the Fishmans are entrepreneurs who live in water. Carly, Cece, and Clyde are all 5, while Frannie, Flip, and Finn are newborn babies. The crabs are quite shy, while the Fishmans seem to be more open, even inviting everyone to their baby shower. Finally, while the crab triplets act exactly alike, the fish triplets all have individual traits; Flip is big-eyed and quiet, Finn is the prankster, and Frannie likes leaping out of the water.
  • Zak Storm: Aside from their shared good heart and dream to escape The Bermuda Triangle, the titular hero Zak Storm and his first mate Cece are as different as night and day: While Zak is a hot-blooded human boy from a modest background who is prone to jokes and pranks, mostly fights with melee weapons and doesn't have much skill in weaponless combat, Cece is a young Atlantean princess who is always serious and rational and doesn't joke around much. She also uses a gun as a weapon but is also very skilled in martial arts.

Top