History Foil / WesternAnimation

* The ''WesternAnimation/LegionOfSuperHeroes'' cartoon has a few of these:

** Reeve and Adam both act as TheBigGuy 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.

** Vinny to Brian. Though they're both talking dogs, Brian is an atheist (pseudo-)intellectual with strong left-wing views, while Vinnie is religious, a bit of a musclehead, and doesn't try to hide his prejudices against homosexuals and other minorities. Despite this, most fanfics and fanart portray the two as getting along well. Whether they actually could remains to be seen, however.
** Vinny another one in New Brian, this time in terms of personality. [[BitchInSheepsClothing In terms of exterior, New Brian seemed genuinely polite and friendly, but when he finds out Stewie dislikes him, he reveals his true smug personality.]] [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold In contrast, Vinnie seemed rough and tough but when he finds out that Stewie dislikes him because he replaced Brian, he offers him his sympathies and emotional support, showing how he's genuinely kindhearted deep down.]]

* ''Foil/TheVentureBrothers''

** Also Wirt and Jason Funderberker, his romantic rival. Although initially implied to be TheAce, he turns out to be [[ExtravertedNerd 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.

*** 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-Man[[note]]partly because he uses Spider-Man as a scapegoat for his own problems[[/note]] 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 it[[note]]limousine rides and a random "richboy" party aside[[/note]], whilst Flash is extremely [[MilesGloriosus boastful]] to hide the fact that he's dirt poor. They even share [[TalkingToHimself voice actors]]!

* 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.

** 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 [[CharacterDevelopment 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 LoveInterest, or a FamilyOfChoice to drag him into reality, meaning he's become [[PsychopathicManchild so lost in his witch hunter fantasy]] that he has become an immature KnightTemplar completely incapable of grasping that Human Realm values ''might'' have changed after almost four centuries.

** [[TheChick Saturn Girl]] is calmer and more rational than the hot-headed and impulsive approach of [[TheLancer Lightning Lad]]

* WesternAnimation/MyLifeAsATeenageRobot: 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.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans''

** Raven and Starfire's differences are highlighted in the episode Recap/TeenTitansS1E7Switched, 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.

** Huey and Riley Freeman take SiblingYinYang [[UpToEleven to new heights]]. Huey is a quiet and responsible big brother, while Riley is a loud and obnoxious little brother.

** Brother Blood and Slade. Brother Blood was explicitly written as one to Slade. In appearance, Slade cloaked himself in black whereas Blood first appears draped in white. In behavior Slade is stoic and secretive where Blood is demonstrative and a LargeHam. Slade turns people to his side through force and blackmail, whereas Blood uses suggestive mind control. Even their tactics are complete opposites: Slade's goal is to transform Robin into a smaller version of Slade, whereas Blood's goal is to turn ''himself'' into Cyborg. The writers have said that writing Blood was a challenge because they wanted him to be so thoroughly different from their previous BigBad but still be a menacing threat.

** Alisa Silver/Alisa Silvermane can also be viewed as one to Vanessa Fisk. Both are [[MoralityPet 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 SkunkStripe is probably not a coincidence.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arcane}}'': Vi and Caitlyn to an [[UpToEleven almost absurd extent]]. Vi is introduced stealing from someone who we find out is Jayce while Caitlyn is introduced being tutored and friends with him. Vi is a tomboy to Caitlyn's [[TomboyAndGirlyGirl Girly Girl]]. She's a brawler while Caitlyn is an excellent shot. Vi's parents died when she was still a kid, Caitlyn's still interfere with her life even as an adult. The major parental figure we see Vi interact with is Vander as an adoptive father figure while Caitlyn mostly interacts with her (assumedly biological) mother. Vi grew up a street rat in the slums of Zaun while Caitlyn was the scion of one of the richest noble families in Piltover. Vi has a younger sister and is looked up to as a leader figure by the street kids while Caitlyn is a single child whose almost always the younger character in a scene. Vi was dragged off into jail for no listed crime while Caitlyn choose to be an Enforcer. Vi's goals in working together are intensely personal while Caitlyn is driven by a more professional interest in catching a criminal.

** 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 actual superheroes. 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 TheDreaded. This even extends to their costumes, with Mookie's looking professionally made and Absorbo Lad's being very amateurish.

*** When it comes to romance, Trina is this to Laney. Trina completely worships the ground that her crush [[ChickMagnet Nick Mallory]] walks on and will agree with anything he says no matter how contradictory or illogical, but Laney is unafraid of criticizing or calling out Corey whenever his {{Zany Scheme}}s have gone too far despite her enormous crush on him. Additionally, Trina is completely obsessed with making Nick her boyfriend to the point where she is willing to hurt or sacrifice others just to date him, while 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.
** In the episode "Girl Fest", Laney is enraged to learn that her hero, the feminist rockstar Candy Jams, is [[BrokenPedestal 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 plaigiarizing them word-for-word[[note]]In fact, the episode "Space Jammin'" has aliens try Grojband's diary trick only to bomb their concert when their song turns out to be literally just one of Trina's diary entries sung out loud; as Laney says in that episode, "Core, it's your genius that turns the diary into lyrics. All those stupid orbs have is a book full of secret angst."[[/note]].

** Brett Hand with Reagan Ridley. Being team co-leaders highlights their differences with Brett being handsome and charismatic NiceGuy who's also BookDumb, while Reagan is a brilliant genius who's plain looking and has NoSocialSkills.
** Glenn Dolphman to Brett Hand, which "Clone Gunman" highlights. Brett is a NiceGuy whose also [[MrFanservice very attractive]], while Glenn is a {{Jerkass}} along with being [[{{Gonk}} very ugly]].

* ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce''
** Shake's personality highlights Meatwad's by contrast. Both of them are [[TheDitz incredibly stupid]] (and sometimes even TooDumbToLive), [[{{Manchild}} immature]] and [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} 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 {{Jerkass}}es like the Mooninites, they're also a lot less charismatic and aren't as good at manipulating people.

* ''Foil/YoungJustice''

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Ultimate Spider-Man}}''

** 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 BileFascination for how HumansAreMorons), while Membrane is an unflinching AgentScully who refuses to even entertain his son's claims that aliens exist. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Finally]], [[NotSoDifferent both Membrane and the Tallest are shown at various points screwing around with puppet versions of themselves]].

*** Where Anne initially had no easy way of escaping her ZeroPercentApprovalRating among the populace of Wartwood, Sasha easily charmed the toad soldiers into loving her.

** 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 PuppetPermutation, while AP 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 AP's secret identity (assuming he even had one) before he was transformed.