Follow TV Tropes

Following

History EvilVersusEvil / LiveActionTV

Go To

OR

Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None


** The Asurans battled the Wraith, erasing human life to deplete the Wraith's "food sources". In the end the Asurans proved to by far the greater threat, leading to an [[EnemyMine alliance]] between the humans and a Wraith faction to eliminate them.

to:

** The Asurans battled the Wraith, erasing human life to deplete the Wraith's "food sources". In the end the Asurans proved to be by far the greater threat, leading to an [[EnemyMine alliance]] between the humans and a Wraith faction to eliminate them.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None

Added DiffLines:

** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E10TheEatersOfLight "The Eaters Of Light"]], a Pict settlement, about to be wiped out or enslaved by the Ninth Roman Legion, try to harness an evil creature, which they were pledged to protect the world from, to defeat the conquerors. They were hoping they'd wipe each other out...
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None

Added DiffLines:

** Season 13's BigBadEnsemble is this. Lucifer, who wants to get back to his world and find his son, Asmodeus, who wants to keep the power that comes with being King of Hell, and the Apocalypse World's Michael, who wants to bring his crusade to the main reality. [[spoiler: Asmodeus ends up being burned alive by [[TheDogBitesBack Gabriel]], whom he imprisoned and tortured for years, thus taking him out of the game.]] Meanwhile, in "Exodus", Lucifer has to team up with Team Free Will and friends in order to escape the alternate world safely, thus pitting him directly at odds with Michael, who had briefly captured him earlier on in the season. [[spoiler: And then Lucifer's VillainousBreakdown in the season finale forces Michael to ally himself with Team Free Will in order to defeat a powered-up Lucifer, who fed on his own son's {{Nephilim}} grace.]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None


* The ''Series/NightGallery'' segment "The Devil is Mocked" revolves around Nazi officers meeting Count Dracula during World War II. In his introduction, Rod Serling describes the story as Evil colliding with Evil.

to:

* The ''Series/NightGallery'' segment "The Devil is Not Mocked" revolves around Nazi officers meeting Count Dracula during World War II. In his introduction, Rod Serling describes the story as Evil colliding with Evil.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None


** This feud continues into the second season, although they brief [[EnemyMine team up to stop a greater threat]], only for Regina to end up ''joining'' said threat, and when Gold screws her over with that, she finds a way to hurt him back. Additionally, Captain Hook's whole motivation on the show is too destroy Gold for {{Revenge}}, and then [[spoiler: Tamara and Greg]] enter the picture to go against Regina, with their clash being described in actual TV promos as "Evil Versus Evil".

to:

** This feud continues into the second season, although they brief briefly [[EnemyMine team up to stop a greater threat]], only for Regina to end up ''joining'' said threat, and when Gold screws her over with that, she finds a way to hurt him back. Additionally, Captain Hook's whole motivation on the show is too destroy Gold for {{Revenge}}, and then [[spoiler: Tamara and Greg]] enter the picture to go against Regina, with their clash being described in actual TV promos as "Evil Versus Evil".
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None

Added DiffLines:

** Season 7 brings this back in a huge way. Gothel vs. Facilier is probably the most notable, but before Facilier entered the picture, Drizella served as the season's StarterVillain and was in opposition to Gothel. And then there was SerialKillerKiller [[spoiler:Hansel]], the AxCrazy KnightTemplar.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None

Added DiffLines:

** In a crossover with ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', it was Wolfram and Hart who [[spoiler: sent the amulet to Sunnydale, via Angel, which allowed the Scoobies to defeat the First Evil in the ''Buffy'' series finale.]]

Changed: 831

Removed: 827

Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None


The Originals:
The entire show is evil vs evil. The Mikelson siblings are vampires who don't care about anyone outside of their family and don't have a problem with murder or torture as long as it isn't happening to them or their loved ones (although they even go after each other sometimes). Yet, the viewer still roots for them because there are even worse bad guys. Ex. In season 2, their aunt of questionable sanity wants to kidnap Klaus Mikelson's infant daughter Hope and she doesn't care who gets hurt. In the current season, season 4, a ghost known as "The Hollow" wants to return to physical form and seeks to do this by sacrificing innocent children, including Hope Mikelson. The sibling's actions are still reprehensible, but you can't help but want them to defeat the bad guys who seek to harm Hope, who is just an innocent child.

to:

The Originals:\n *The Originals: The entire show is evil vs evil. The Mikelson siblings are vampires who don't care about anyone outside of their family and don't have a problem with murder or torture as long as it isn't happening to them or their loved ones (although they even go after each other sometimes). Yet, the viewer still roots for them because there are even worse bad guys. Ex. In season 2, their aunt of questionable sanity wants to kidnap Klaus Mikelson's infant daughter Hope and she doesn't care who gets hurt. In the current season, season 4, a ghost known as "The Hollow" wants to return to physical form and seeks to do this by sacrificing innocent children, including Hope Mikelson. The sibling's actions are still reprehensible, but you can't help but want them to defeat the bad guys who seek to harm Hope, who is just an innocent child.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None


The Originals

to:

The OriginalsOriginals:

Added: 13

Changed: 13

Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None


%%The Originals

to:

%%The %%
The
Originals

Changed: 845

Removed: 827

Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None



%%The Originals

The entire show is evil vs evil. The Mikelson siblings are vampires who don't care about anyone outside of their family and don't have a problem with murder or torture as long as it isn't happening to them or their loved ones (although they even go after each other sometimes). Yet, the viewer still roots for them because there are even worse bad guys. Ex. In season 2, their aunt of questionable sanity wants to kidnap Klaus Mikelson's infant daughter Hope and she doesn't care who gets hurt. In the current season, season 4, a ghost known as "The Hollow" wants to return to physical form and seeks to do this by sacrificing innocent children, including Hope Mikelson. The sibling's actions are still reprehensible, but you can't help but want them to defeat the bad guys who seek to harm Hope, who is just an innocent child.

to:

\n %%The Originals

Originals
The entire show is evil vs evil. The Mikelson siblings are vampires who don't care about anyone outside of their family and don't have a problem with murder or torture as long as it isn't happening to them or their loved ones (although they even go after each other sometimes). Yet, the viewer still roots for them because there are even worse bad guys. Ex. In season 2, their aunt of questionable sanity wants to kidnap Klaus Mikelson's infant daughter Hope and she doesn't care who gets hurt. In the current season, season 4, a ghost known as "The Hollow" wants to return to physical form and seeks to do this by sacrificing innocent children, including Hope Mikelson. The sibling's actions are still reprehensible, but you can't help but want them to defeat the bad guys who seek to harm Hope, who is just an innocent child.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None


%%
The Originals

to:

%%
The Originals

%%The Originals
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
Added example, "The Originals"

Added DiffLines:

The Originals
The entire show is evil vs evil. The Mikelson siblings are vampires who don't care about anyone outside of their family and don't have a problem with murder or torture as long as it isn't happening to them or their loved ones (although they even go after each other sometimes). Yet, the viewer still roots for them because there are even worse bad guys. Ex. In season 2, their aunt of questionable sanity wants to kidnap Klaus Mikelson's infant daughter Hope and she doesn't care who gets hurt. In the current season, season 4, a ghost known as "The Hollow" wants to return to physical form and seeks to do this by sacrificing innocent children, including Hope Mikelson. The sibling's actions are still reprehensible, but you can't help but want them to defeat the bad guys who seek to harm Hope, who is just an innocent child.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None

Added DiffLines:

* Occurs frequently in ''Series/OrphanBlack'' due to the fact that the main characters attract the attention of multiple competing conspiracies.
** In the first season, the main characters were attacked on two sides by the Neolutionists and the Proletheans, who also hated each other. The Neolutionists are into ethically dodgy scientific research and want to own the clones, and are opposed by the Proletheans, who are violent religious extremists. Later, it revealed that there are at least two rival branches of the Proletheans.
** Then there's the Dyad Institute, a MegaCorp that [[spoiler: had a hand in creating and monitoring the clones]]. It was infiltrated by [[spoiler: Neolutionists, though its not clear whether all of Dyad was converted, or only a portion of it. The agent Ferdinand is closely associated with Dyad, but defects after learning he was being used by the Neolutionists, whom he despises]].
** There's also [[spoiler:Project Castor]], revealed in the season 2 finale. It's goal was to [[spoiler:raise a set of male clones from birth to be the ultimate soldiers, but in the present their leader plans to use the clones' unique biology to create a biological weapon]]. At the end of season 3, [[spoiler: Sarah manages to get Ferdinand to go after them]].
** In the same AmbiguouslyEvil category there's Topside, a shadow cabal that seems to control elements of Dyad and other companies/projects, possibly including [[spoiler:Castor]]. It all comes back around to [[spoiler:Neolution running everything behind the scenes]] by the season 3 finale.
** Season four gives us [[spoiler:several Neolution factions against each other, none of whom are ultimately suggested to be particularly heroic but some of whom are undoubtedly more sinister than others. However, by the season finale, while a number of other long-running mysteries of the show have been resolved, Neolution's internal politics have proven to be more complex and inscrutable than ever, and it's difficult to know even where anyone's loyalties lie.]]
Willbyr MOD

Changed: 196

Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None


[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/yakuza_vs_mafia_5.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:some caption text]]

to:

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/yakuza_vs_mafia_5.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:some caption text]]
%% Image removed per Image Pickin' thread: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1479147001093889300
%% Please see thread to discuss a new image.
%%
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None

Added DiffLines:

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/yakuza_vs_mafia_5.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:some caption text]]

Changed: 27

Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None


** ''[[Series/PowerRangersMegaforce Power Rangers Super Megaforce]]'': [[Series/PowerRangersSamurai Professor Cog]] lures the Megaforce Rangers to Corinth so he and his Grinders can invade Earth unimpeded, but Prince Vekar refuses to be one-upped, so he and the rest of the Armada come to Earth to battle Cog while the Rangers are occupied.

to:

** ''[[Series/PowerRangersMegaforce Power Rangers Super Megaforce]]'': [[Series/PowerRangersSamurai Professor Cog]] lures the Megaforce Rangers to Corinth [[Series/PowerRangersRPM Corinth]] so he and his Grinders can invade Earth unimpeded, but Prince Vekar refuses to be one-upped, so he and the rest of the Armada come to Earth to battle Cog while the Rangers are occupied.

Changed: 10

Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None


** ''[[Series/PowerRangersMegaforce Power Rangers Super Megaforce]]'': [[Series/PowerRangersRPM Professor Cog]] lures the Megaforce Rangers to Corinth so he and his Grinders can invade Earth unimpeded, but Prince Vekar refuses to be one-upped, so he and the rest of the Armada come to Earth to battle Cog while the Rangers are occupied.

to:

** ''[[Series/PowerRangersMegaforce Power Rangers Super Megaforce]]'': [[Series/PowerRangersRPM [[Series/PowerRangersSamurai Professor Cog]] lures the Megaforce Rangers to Corinth so he and his Grinders can invade Earth unimpeded, but Prince Vekar refuses to be one-upped, so he and the rest of the Armada come to Earth to battle Cog while the Rangers are occupied.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None


* ''Series/TwinPeaks''loves this trope. Ben Horne in particular wages war against Catherine Martell, the Renaults and Leo Johnson when he wants him out the way, Hank is pitted against them too and Windom Earle is an enemy to both Leo and BOB himself.

to:

* ''Series/TwinPeaks''loves ''Series/TwinPeaks'' loves this trope. Ben Horne in particular wages war against Catherine Martell, the Renaults and Leo Johnson when he wants him out the way, Hank is pitted against them too and Windom Earle is an enemy to both Leo and BOB himself.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None

Added DiffLines:

* ''Series/TwinPeaks''loves this trope. Ben Horne in particular wages war against Catherine Martell, the Renaults and Leo Johnson when he wants him out the way, Hank is pitted against them too and Windom Earle is an enemy to both Leo and BOB himself.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None


** An example in season 4 was Gus versus the Cartel. During that conflict, Gus's organization was portrayed in ALighterShadeOfBlack, though even that was demolished shortly afterward when Gus threatened Walt that he would [[spoiler: kill Walt's entire family, including his infant daughter if he got in his way to eliminate Hank.]]

to:

** An example in season 4 was Gus versus the Cartel. During that conflict, Gus's organization was portrayed in ALighterShadeOfBlack, though even that was demolished shortly afterward when Gus threatened Walt that he would [[spoiler: kill Walt's entire family, including his infant daughter if he got in his way to eliminate Hank.]] The cartel, particularly Hector, serves as the secondary antagonist to Gus for most of the series and as such it is fitting that [[spoiler: Gus and Hector go out together]].
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None


* Season 3 of ''TheWire'' had The Barksdale Gang VS. Marlo Stanfield and his crew.

to:

* Season 3 of ''TheWire'' ''Series/TheWire'' had The Barksdale Gang VS. Marlo Stanfield and his crew.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None

Added DiffLines:

** In the Series 9 premiere, Missy (aka [[spoiler:the Master]]) came up against the Daleks, and was delighted to finally get to meet and potentially match wits with [[spoiler:Davros]].
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None

Added DiffLines:

** Crowley ends up as part of this trope a lot -- he spends most of Season 9 fighting an EnemyCivilWar against [[TheStarscream Abaddon]] for control of Hell, and significant chunks of Seasons 10 and 11 see him in power struggles with [[spoiler: his mother]] [[WickedWitch Rowena]].
** Season 11 as a whole seems to be setting up [[spoiler: the [[TheBusCameBack returned]] Lucifer]] as the only one who will be able to fight [[TheAntiGod the Darkness]]. Which technically is also a case of EvilVersusOblivion, given their respective goals.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None


* ''SonsOfAnarchy'': The Sons are an outlaw biker gang who spend the series alternately allied with or fighting against DirtyCops, [[ThoseWackyNazis Neo Nazis]], [[TheTriadsAndTheTongs Chinese Traids]], [[TheCartel Mexican drug cartels]], [[AllBikersAreHellsAngels other biker gangs]], [[WesternTerrorists the IRA]], [[RuthlessForeignGangsters the Russian Mafia]], GangBangers and a CorruptCorporateExecutive.

to:

* ''SonsOfAnarchy'': ''Series/SonsOfAnarchy'': The Sons are an outlaw biker gang who spend the series alternately allied with or fighting against DirtyCops, [[ThoseWackyNazis Neo Nazis]], [[TheTriadsAndTheTongs Chinese Traids]], [[TheCartel Mexican drug cartels]], [[AllBikersAreHellsAngels other biker gangs]], [[WesternTerrorists the IRA]], [[RuthlessForeignGangsters the Russian Mafia]], GangBangers and a CorruptCorporateExecutive.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None

Added DiffLines:

* Season 3 of ''TheWire'' had The Barksdale Gang VS. Marlo Stanfield and his crew.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None

Added DiffLines:

*The ''Series/NightGallery'' segment "The Devil is Mocked" revolves around Nazi officers meeting Count Dracula during World War II. In his introduction, Rod Serling describes the story as Evil colliding with Evil.

Added: 910

Changed: 64

Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None


** Ingrid and Mr. Gold/Rumplestiltskin fit this trope in season 4a. In Season 4b, Maleficent and Rumple, who began as a BigBadDuumvirate, eventually dissolve into this when Maleficent fears Rumple will betray her and betrays him first.



** In season 4, it's the berserkers (controlled by [[spoiler: Kate Argent]] vs. The Benefactor ([[spoiler: actually Peter Hale)).

to:

** In season 4, it's the berserkers (controlled by [[spoiler: Kate Argent]] vs. The Benefactor ([[spoiler: actually Peter Hale)).Benefactor.
* ''Series/TrueBlood'' has had this at times.
** In season 4, [[BigBadDuumvirate Marnie Stonebrook and Antonia Gavilan]] are trying to kill vampires. While Antonia has does have her reasons against the vampires some of them are innocent, however, some of them are evil, leading to this trope.
** In the season 5 finale, [[BigBad Lilith]] begins pitting the Authority members against one another by telling each of them they are chosen to lead her army. As a result, the villains begin trying to kill the others who oppose them.
** In Season 6, the BigBad, Sarah Newlin, is locking away vampires in a prison. While many of the vampires are dangerous and evil, Sarah is no better.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None


** Crowley becomes the instigator of this again in Season 6; it's eventually revealed that [[EldritchAbomination The Mother of All]] came to Earth and started building armies of monsters in response to Crowley's plans to steal all the souls from Purgatory - the Mother's domain. And when the Mother's killed, the last few episodes of the season are still spent dealing with this trope, as the Winchesters find themselves stuck in the middle of the power struggle between the remaining [[BigBadEnsemble contenders for the position of]] BigBad: Crowley, Raphael, and Castiel, who has [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope jumped off the slippery slope]] to prevent Raphael from turning the planet into a graveyard by restarting the Apocalypse. In the end Castiel decides to cut Crowley out of the deal, in response to which Crowley teams up with Raphael, but Castiel {{Out Gambit|ted}}s them both. He kills Raphael, ascents to [[AGodAmI godhood]], and makes Crowley his servant not much later. In season 7 he's killed due to the strain of containing inside himself, in addition to millions of souls, the Leviathans - absolutely ancient creatures from Purgatory who wish only to consume. Which leads to...

to:

** Crowley becomes the instigator of this again in Season 6; it's eventually revealed that [[EldritchAbomination The Mother of All]] came to Earth and started building armies of monsters in response to Crowley's plans to steal all the souls from Purgatory - the Mother's domain. And when the Mother's killed, the last few episodes of the season are still spent dealing with this trope, as the Winchesters find themselves stuck in the middle of the power struggle between the remaining [[BigBadEnsemble contenders for the position of]] BigBad: Crowley, Raphael, and Castiel, [[spoiler:Castiel]], who has [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope jumped off the slippery slope]] to prevent Raphael [[spoiler:Raphael from turning the planet into a graveyard by restarting the Apocalypse. Apocalypse.]] In the end Castiel [[spoiler:Castiel decides to cut Crowley out of the deal, in response to which Crowley teams up with Raphael, but Castiel {{Out Gambit|ted}}s them both. He kills Raphael, ascents to [[AGodAmI godhood]], and makes Crowley his servant not much later. In season 7 he's killed due to the strain of containing inside himself, in addition to millions of souls, the Leviathans - absolutely ancient creatures from Purgatory who wish only to consume. Which leads to...]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None

Added DiffLines:

* ''Series/TwentyFour'': Does this A LOT; probably because most evil plots involve groups of bad guys working together (a bit of TruthInTelevision). But since they're bad guys, they'll turn on each other in a heartbeat.
* ''Series/SixHundredSixtySixParkAvenue'': Gavin versus Victor Shaw.
* ''Series/{{Angel}}'':
** Darla and Drusilla [[spoiler: killed the entire Wolfram and Hart Special Projects division, except for Lindsey and Lilah.]]
** The Beast and its master were enemies of the five members of the Ra-Tet, at least two of whom were evil.
** One of those two, who appeared in the form of a little girl, took action against Sahjahn to stop him from butchering every living thing he encountered.
** The Beast arc actually has its own Evil vs. Evil arc with [[spoiler: Angelus]] directly working against the Beast (eventually killing him) and its master, at least up until [[spoiler: said master actually blackmails Angelus with the threat of permanently restoring his soul to him so that he'll never resurface from Angel's personality again.]]
** There's the Beast [[spoiler: slaughtering every single person working for LA's Wolfram and Hart branch.]]
* In ''Series/BabylonFive'' the main conflict of the series at first appears to be one between the Angelic Vorlons and the Demonic Shadows, but in reality it's more like [[LawfulEvil Fascists]] versus [[ChaoticEvil Anarchists]] respectively, who are using the lesser planets as pawns in a cosmic proxy war, and neither are on 'our' side.
* ''Series/BreakingBad'':
** While originally Walter White was on the very dark grey part of BlackAndGrayMorality in his conflict against Gustavo Fring, by the end, he clearly crossed the line into this territory [[spoiler:going so far as to poison an innocent child to enact his BatmanGambit]], as his transformation into a VillainProtagonist was [[ProtagonistJourneyToVillain completed]].
** An example in season 4 was Gus versus the Cartel. During that conflict, Gus's organization was portrayed in ALighterShadeOfBlack, though even that was demolished shortly afterward when Gus threatened Walt that he would [[spoiler: kill Walt's entire family, including his infant daughter if he got in his way to eliminate Hank.]]
* ''Series/BurnNotice'': Team Westen makes extremely frequent use of this. Michael is an expert at manipulating people into doing dirty work for him.
* ''Series/DeadliestWarrior'': InvokedTrope at least once a season: TheMafia vs. the {{Yakuza}} [[spoiler: the Mafia won]]; the [[UsefulNotes/TheTroubles Irish Republican Army]] vs. the [[TheWarOnTerror Taliban]] [[spoiler: the IRA won]]; the [[UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar Viet Cong]] vs. the [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII Waffen SS]] [[spoiler: the SS won]]; the [[TheCartel Medellin Cartel]] vs. [[RuthlessModernPirates Somali pirates]] [[spoiler: Somalis won]]; UsefulNotes/SaddamHussein vs. [[UsefulNotes/{{Cambodia}} Pol Pot]] [[spoiler: Hussein won]]; and [[SociopathicSoldier Hernan Cortez]] vs. [[AxCrazy Ivan the Terrible]] [[spoiler: Cortez won]]. They even did one between two legendary horror monsters: {{Vampire}}s vs. {{Zombie|Apocalypse}}s [[spoiler: Vampires won]]. When an Evil Versus Evil battle was up, the show would append to its standard DontTryThisAtHome disclaimer [[AndThatsTerrible that the program in no way encourages or endorses the views of either participant or group thereof]].
* ''Series/{{Dexter}}'': This show is made of this, what with the title character being a serial killer that targets criminals, mostly other serial killers.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
** Season 8 had this OncePerEpisode with TheMaster and whatever monster he had [[TheStarscream allied]] himself with. Some larger-scale examples include: the Sontaran-Rutan war, the Dalek-Movellan war, the Dalek civil war, and the Dalek-Cyberman battle ([[CurbStompBattle such as it was]]).
** And now, it appears [[spoiler: that the war between the Time-Lords and Daleks became this.]]
** The war between the Kaleds and the Thals started out as BlackAndGrayMorality or even BlackAndWhiteMorality, but by the time of the classic ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E4GenesisOfTheDaleks Genesis of the Daleks]]'', it had become very close to being Evil Versus Evil: the Daleks and Thals are both prepared to commit outright genocide against the others (which the Thals actually do, although their genocide is not complete), and the Thals (who up until that episode had been presented rather sympathetically) utilise slave labour and do not care in the slightest about the mortality rate of their slaves. Despite that, the Kaleds and Thals are both presented as generally less evil than the Daleks and Davros, and in a clear case of EvenEvilHasStandards, plenty of Kaleds are appalled by Davros' genetic manipulation of the Daleks into {{Omnicidal Maniac}}s. Indeed, more Kaleds are presented sympathetically in this episode than unsympathetically, despite the fact that the episode doesn't scrimp on the not-very-subtle Nazi allegory and makes it plain that Kaled society at large is monstrous.[[note]](While the Thals' more monstrous portrayal in this episode might seem to be a case of HeWhoFightsMonsters or TookALevelInJerkass, this episode was set ''before'' any other portrayal of the Thals, so this would mean that chronologically, this would be an ''inversion'' of TookALevelInJerkass. On the other hand, the war is described as having gone on for hundreds of years, so it is quite possible that neither the Thals nor the Daleks were anywhere near so monstrous at the start of the war).[[/note]] It's revealed in the ''first'' Dalek story from the Thals themselves that there weren't "good guys" during the original war, have changed in the years since, and aren't proud of their history. They wonder if the Daleks, whom they haven't seen in a while, have un-taken their level in {{Jerkass}}. ([[OmnicidalManiac They haven't, of course]].)
** In the Doctor Who Comic ''Deathworld'', the Ice Warriors and Cybermen battle over the planet Yama-10.
** In Black Legacy the Cybermen fight against the Apocalypse Device, which was so terrible it wiped out its Creators, the Deathsmiths of Goth. Finally Cyberleader Maxel self-destructs his ship to prevent it escaping its world.
* ''Series/DowntonAbbey'': Sarah O'Brien and Thomas Barrow were best friends who used to join up to play cruel tricks on others, including trying to frame Bates for theft and in O'Brien's case the far more serious 'trick' of causing a miscarriage for one of the other characters. By series three, because Barrow was unkind to her nephew, Alfred, O'Brien and Barrow became enemies and turned their tricks on each other.
* ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' has Scarrans vs. Peacekeepers. Both sides want to take over the galaxy and kill everyone who disagrees with them. Scorpius tries to convince John that the Scarrans are worse, but, given that the Peacekeepers have been hunting him down for a few years, it rings hollow.
* ''Series/{{Heroes}}'': Gives us the conflict between insane serial killer Sylar and ruthless KnightTemplar organisation the Company.
* In most ''Franchise/KamenRider'' shows, especially those in the modern era, present these sorts of conflicts. Sometimes, it's one monster fighting another monster, such as [[Series/KamenRiderOOO The Greeed]] at most times when it comes to stealing Core Medals from each other. Other times, it's a villainous Rider taking on an equally villainous monster, like with [[Series/KamenRiderDouble Kamen Rider Eternal vs. the Eyes Dopant]].
* ''Series/{{Lost}}'': Has the conflict between [[spoiler:Ben Linus and Charles Widmore]] in seasons 4 and 5, as they vie for control of the island. In season 6, it seems to be setting the stage for another one in addition: [[spoiler:Charles Widmore versus the show's real BigBad, The Man In Black.]] By the end of the series, [[spoiler: Ben gets redeemed. And Charles seemed to be on that track, but then Ben killed him... His full redemption doesn't come until after that.]]
* ''Series/MastersOfHorror'': The episode "Pick Me Up" has Wheeler, a serial killer truck driver, V.S. Walker, a serial killer hitchhiker. The eventual winner? [[spoiler: The serial killing ambulance driver duo who pick them up at episode end.]]
* ''Series/OnceUponATime'':
** By the end of the first season Regina ([[Literature/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs the Evil Queen]]) and Mr. Gold (Literature/{{Rumpelstiltskin}}) have all but declared war on each other. It really starts when Regina uses the theft of Gold's TragicKeepsake to force him to admit that he remembers who he really is, then [[BigBadDuumvirate team up]] to [[spoiler: frame Mary Margaret (Snow White) for murder]], only for Regina to [[OutGambitted realize too late]] that Gold manipulated the whole thing so that by the end [[spoiler: it was obvious that Mary was framed and all of the evidence pointed at Regina]].
** This feud continues into the second season, although they brief [[EnemyMine team up to stop a greater threat]], only for Regina to end up ''joining'' said threat, and when Gold screws her over with that, she finds a way to hurt him back. Additionally, Captain Hook's whole motivation on the show is too destroy Gold for {{Revenge}}, and then [[spoiler: Tamara and Greg]] enter the picture to go against Regina, with their clash being described in actual TV promos as "Evil Versus Evil".
** When the third season brings the Wicked Witch of the West in gunning for Regina, the promos hype it as "Wicked Versus Evil." Less prevalent in-series, as Regina's HeelFaceTurn has really started to take hold, and [[spoiler:is what enables her to defeat the Witch in "Kansas."]]
* The bad guys in ''Series/PersonOfInterest'' have a habit of killing each other.
* ''Franchise/PowerRangers''
** ''Series/PowerRangersZeo'': This show saw Rita and Zedd attempting to undermine the Machine Empire. In the end, it was ''Rita and Zedd'' that destroyed The Empire, rather than the heroes.
** ''Series/PowerRangersInSpace'': Ecliptor and Darkonda fight each other on several occasions.
** ''Series/PowerRangersDinoThunder'': Had Mesogog, the current BigBad, [[VillainTeamUp team up]] with [[Series/PowerRangersNinjaStorm the previous season's]] BigBad Lothor. Once their plans fail, they instantly turn on one another and duke it out. Being the present BigBad, Mesogog ultimately wins.
---> '''Mesogog''': Looks like this planet has one too many evil villains, and I have no intention of leaving.
** ''Series/PowerRangersOperationOverdrive'': This trope is a major part. The Corona Aurora, an object of god-like power, is so sought after that there are a total of four distinct villain factions fighting the Rangers and one another for it; they occasionally get along, but most of the time, they're fighting one another as often as they fight the Rangers. Even after being shown they're a much greater threat working together, they go right back to trying to kill each other afterwards.
** ''[[Series/PowerRangersMegaforce Power Rangers Super Megaforce]]'': [[Series/PowerRangersRPM Professor Cog]] lures the Megaforce Rangers to Corinth so he and his Grinders can invade Earth unimpeded, but Prince Vekar refuses to be one-upped, so he and the rest of the Armada come to Earth to battle Cog while the Rangers are occupied.
* ''Series/{{Revolution}}'': The minute [[Creator/DavidLyons Sebastian "Bass" Monroe]] and [[Creator/ColmFeore Randall Flynn]] teamed up at the end of [[Recap/RevolutionS1E11TheStand episode 11]], savvy viewers knew that they would have to turn on each other at some point. Bass is a former marine who rules the Monroe Republic as a dictator, and has a lot of loyal (or cowed) men and weapons at his command. Randall, in contrast, is a former bureaucrat who dresses up sharply, relies on slasher smiles and bargaining, is a non-combatant who mostly operates solo (he had one goon named Mr. Austin, but the guy backstabbed him and got killed off in [[Recap/RevolutionS1E16TheLoveBoat episode 16]]), must rely on electrical toys to take down people, and has to rely on Monroe's men to protect him when he goes out into the field. [[spoiler: Sure enough, [[Recap/RevolutionS1E18Clue episode 18]] has Bass confront Randall about holding out on him about the Tower and orders him killed. Randall is easily defeated in this brief confrontation, but he survived by offering to take Monroe to the Tower himself and had to get reduced to a mere toady to stay alive]].
* ''Series/{{Smallville}}'': The episode "Injustice". A group of [[BoxedCrook supervillains]] are sent to take down [[TheJuggernaut Doomsday]].
* ''SonsOfAnarchy'': The Sons are an outlaw biker gang who spend the series alternately allied with or fighting against DirtyCops, [[ThoseWackyNazis Neo Nazis]], [[TheTriadsAndTheTongs Chinese Traids]], [[TheCartel Mexican drug cartels]], [[AllBikersAreHellsAngels other biker gangs]], [[WesternTerrorists the IRA]], [[RuthlessForeignGangsters the Russian Mafia]], GangBangers and a CorruptCorporateExecutive.
* ''Series/SpartacusBloodAndSand'': The villains may all be against Spartacus and his allies, but that doesn't mean they have any true loyalty towards one another. They're all perfectly happy to backstab and murder one another to succeed. Then a much darker example occurs in ''War of The Damned'' where some Romans are portrayed as decent people caught up in a war, and some of the rebels are basically psychotic murderers. It's sort of a combination of GreyAndGrayMorality and this trope.
* ''Series/StargateSG1'':
** We have the tyrannical Goa'uld fighting each other over territory and other things and have the Replicators (except for the later human-form replicators they're not evil per se, but [[HordeOfAlienLocusts a threat to all life]]) fighting everyone, including the Goa'uld.
** The Trust is a shadowy group of Earth businessmen who try to assassinate Senator Kinsey in season 6, then briefly take the Earth/Goa'uld war into their own hands in season 8.
* ''Series/StargateAtlantis'':
** The Asurans battled the Wraith, erasing human life to deplete the Wraith's "food sources". In the end the Asurans proved to by far the greater threat, leading to an [[EnemyMine alliance]] between the humans and a Wraith faction to eliminate them.
** The Wraith are no more friendly amongst themselves than the Goa'uld -- that alliance contains ''nine'' factions, not the three you'd assume at first glance.
** There's a less direct example in the episode "Critical Mass". The Trust, having been taken over by the Goa'uld, plans to blow up Atlantis in order to prevent the Wraith from gaining access to the city, making their way to the Milky Way and gaining a foothold in our galaxy. The fact that it would have dealt a significant blow to Earth was just the icing on the cake. With the SGC, the Tok'ra, the Free Jaffa Nation, the Ori and the Lucian Alliance to contend with, the last thing that the few remaining Goa'uld needed was another enemy to fight. Unfortunately, we never got to see a proper encounter between the Goa'uld and the Wraith.
* ''Franchise/StarTrek'':
** When they're not fighting the Federation, the Klingons and the Romulans spend most of their time fighting each other. Or other Klingons. Actually, Klingons don't get along with anyone, really.
** In fact, during ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', [[BloodKnight Klingons]] went to war against the [[DirtyCommunists Cardassians]] midway through the series' run, before [[BigBad Gul Dukat]] enlisted the aid of the [[LawfulEvil Dominion]] to drive the Klingons almost to the brink of defeat, before the [[BlackAndGrayMorality Federation]] (and later, the [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder Romulans]]) stepped in to help.
** Playing the trope more straight, Species 8472 versus the Borg in ''Series/StarTrekVoyager''. (That was how they met Seven of Nine.) A later episode {{retcon}}ned their OmnicidalManiac tendencies (they had no qualms about [[EarthShatteringKaboom blowing up planets]], and Kes clearly [[PsychicPowers read]] murder in their minds) into a simple misunderstanding. The game ''VideoGame/StarTrekArmada II'' retcons them ''back''.
** The ''[[Series/StarTrekEnterprise Enterprise]]'' story "In a Mirror, Darkly" is also an example of this trope- the being set entirely in the mirror universe, there are no good guys, and the [[VillainProtagonist protagonists]] delight in backstabbing one another at the least possible opportunity as well as fighting the Tholians.
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'':
** The [[CrapsackWorld standard operating environment]]. Sam and Dean, who frequently drift into being [[AntiHero anti-heroes]] in their own right, are surrounded by [[BigBad major league evil]] - and often find themselves stuck working with it against something even worse. You know that things are bad when Heaven is run by [[CouncilOfAngels jerks]] and [[HaveYouSeenMyGod God]] is off on sabbatical somewhere, leaving you to deal with angels and demons that are often kind of hard to tell apart.
** The demon Crowley is an amusing example of this. He manipulates and double-crosses everybody in sight, from the protagonists to his own demonic peers, in order to save his own neck, his comfortable job as a soul merchant and (incidental to those goals) the world. Though a useful ally and unusually honest for a demon, he never makes any attempt to pretend he isn't evil. This makes it all the more impressive that he convinces the good guys to keep working with him even after they've been tricked, thrown under the bus, beaten half-senseless and otherwise abused as a result of listening to him.
** Crowley becomes the instigator of this again in Season 6; it's eventually revealed that [[EldritchAbomination The Mother of All]] came to Earth and started building armies of monsters in response to Crowley's plans to steal all the souls from Purgatory - the Mother's domain. And when the Mother's killed, the last few episodes of the season are still spent dealing with this trope, as the Winchesters find themselves stuck in the middle of the power struggle between the remaining [[BigBadEnsemble contenders for the position of]] BigBad: Crowley, Raphael, and Castiel, who has [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope jumped off the slippery slope]] to prevent Raphael from turning the planet into a graveyard by restarting the Apocalypse. In the end Castiel decides to cut Crowley out of the deal, in response to which Crowley teams up with Raphael, but Castiel {{Out Gambit|ted}}s them both. He kills Raphael, ascents to [[AGodAmI godhood]], and makes Crowley his servant not much later. In season 7 he's killed due to the strain of containing inside himself, in addition to millions of souls, the Leviathans - absolutely ancient creatures from Purgatory who wish only to consume. Which leads to...
** Crowley instigating this ''again'' in season 7. He attempts a VillainTeamUp with the [[EldritchAbomination Leviathans]]' nominal leader, but is brusquely rejected. Then he orders his demonic forces to ignore the Winchesters so they can hunt Leviathans around the clock.
* Each season of ''Series/TeenWolf'' (or half season in 3A's case) usually has some form of this by the end.
** In Season 1, it's the Alpha vs. Kate Argent.
** In Season 2, it's the Kanima and its master vs. Gerard Argent.
** In Season 3A, it's the Alpha Pack versus the Darach.
** Season 3B is the exception, as the Nogitsune is the sole villain for the arc.
** In season 4, it's the berserkers (controlled by [[spoiler: Kate Argent]] vs. The Benefactor ([[spoiler: actually Peter Hale)).
----

Top