Basic Trope: Two heroes, on the same side, and working for the same goals, attack each other.
- Straight: Actionman and the Swordsman are both trying to bring down Emperor Evulz, but they attack each other the first time they meet.
- Exaggerated: Actionman and the Swordsman burst into Emperor Evulz's lair, but try to kill each other while Evulz watches on and laughs.
- Downplayed: When Actionman and Swordsman first meet, they grapple with each other a little but they quickly realize they're both heroes going after the same guy and decide to team up.
- Justified:
- Actionman thought the Swordsman was a criminal.
- Actionman knows Swordsman is an Anti-Hero out to kill Evulz and since he has a strict Thou Shalt Not Kill policy, decides to take him down before going after the villain.
- Mind Control or something similar may be at work, forcing the heroes to fight.
- Actionman and Swordsman feel that only one of them should take out Emperor Evulz first.
- Inverted: Enemy Civil War
- Subverted: The Swordsman talks his way out of a fight with Actionman by explaining who he is, and they avoid a battle.
- Double Subverted: But they have a lighthearted sparring match as soon as they get the opportunity.
- Parodied:
- Actionman and the Swordsman recognize each other as heroes, but attack each other anyways because "it's traditional"
- They work out their differences via thumbwrestling... Epic thumbwrestling!
- Zig Zagged: The Swordsman and Actionman frequently change allegiances for expedience, sometimes fighting together, and sometimes fighting each other.
- Averted: Actionman and the Swordsman recognize each other from the news and greet each other cordially.
- Enforced: The entire fanbase wants to see a fight between Actionman and the Swordsman.
- Lampshaded: "Next time we meet, could we not beat each other to a pulp?"
- Invoked:
- The Swordsman tests every new hero he meets, in order to ensure their competence.
- Emperor Evulz manipulates the heroes into conflict with one another.
- Exploited: Emperor Evulz takes the time Actionman and the Swordsman will spend fighting into account when developing a timetable for his evil plan.
- Defied:
- Even though the Swordsman attacks him, Actionman refuses to fight back until the Swordsman realizes they're not enemies.
- Actionman and Swordsman get guns pointed at their heads by Rabid Roger with the threat that it doesn't matters who starts the fight, nobody is going to survive it, so why not take a couple of seconds to cool the hell down and look for someone that really deserves that killing impulse, huh?
- Actionman and Swordsman immediately prioritize murdering Emperor Evulz over any mutual animosity and walk away.
- Actionman and Swordsman, both lifelong partners, laugh at the notion that Emperor Evulz wants them to fight each other, and promptly gang up on Evulz with little mercy.
- Discussed: Emperor Evulz, watching the fight from afar, mutters to himself, "They're after me, yet they've started fighting each oth- Oh hell yes!"
- Conversed: "I've wanted to see these two fight forever! A fanboy's dream come true at last!"
- Deconstructed:
- Emperor Evulz is a competent Manipulative Bastard who constantly tricks heroes into fighting each other, and when they've weakened themselves too much, swoops in for the kill.
- Actionman turns out to be a bigger badass than Swordsman and all this does is buy Evulz one more second of life as Actionman removes Swordsman as a threatnote , analyzes the situation, figures out he was not part of Evulz's forces and comes after Evulz with one more person added to the list of people he needs to avenge.
- Actually trying to kill each other is a level of vitriol that does not builds many relationships. Even when they let bygones be bygones, it's an elephant in the room.
- Reconstructed: Emperor Evulz is a competent Manipulative Bastard, but also The Man Behind the Curtain from taking only easy victories. The heroes, meanwhile, have gotten tougher and smarter by practicing on each other, and when they finally unite, they crush Evulz.
- Implied: Actionman and Swordsman mention their first meeting with Actionman saying, "It was a tough fight... then we decided to go after Emperor Evulz".
- Played For Laughs: Rookie Boy attacks Swordsman when they meet, only for Swordsman shout What the Hell, Hero?? Rookie Boy nervously and embarrassingly mentions he thought it was proper protocol.
- Played For Drama: Actionman and Swordsman fight when they first meet, resulting in one of them being killed by accident.
- Played For Horror:
- Swordsman is a Zombie Infectee and too far gone in rationality to accept Actionman's decision to grant him a Mercy Kill, making things a whole lot worse. For extra horror points, Swordsman probably infected Actionman during the fight, and it's not revealed until it's too late.
- Actionman and/or Swordsman are psychotic superheroes who invoke this tradition to get away with murdering other superheroes.
Wait! If you'd just go back to Let's You and Him Fight, you'd see I'm on your side!
