History FriendlyEnemy / WesternAnimation

* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'':

* Rick generally has this opinion about all his enemies, typically preferring to not even bother with fighting them so long as they leave him alone, particularly during parties. When he throws a party at the end of Season 1 you see a few members of the Council of Ricks in attendance, Gearhead appears at his concert after he destroys The Vindicators, and when a gang attacking him turns out to be just a meth gang (and not assassins like he believed) he immediately begins talking to them like old friends. He explains to Morty that so many people try to kill him so often that he is so desensitized to it that he has no problem kicking back with them once the fight is over.

** Bart and Mrs. Krabappel have this in a few episodes. In one notable example, Bart studies like mad to try to actually pass a history test, but he still fails by one point; he [[TearJerker breaks down completely]] and pours his heart out to Edna, who does her best to comfort him. When Bart mentions that he now understands how George Washington felt after a particular defeat, Edna is so impressed at his demonstration of applied knowledge that she gives him extra credit and bumps his grade up to a D-, allowing him to pass. In another instance, Bart tries to help Mrs. Krabappel win "Teacher of the Year" by presenting himself to the committee and pointing out that anyone who could survive being his teacher was clearly worthy of the honor. The committee, [[TheDreaded stunned that the infamous Bart was real]], ''immediately'' hands Edna the prize. The late Marcia Wallace (Mrs. K's voice actress) once went on record saying she felt Edna was incredibly fond of Bart, and that their mutual antagonism was a "game" that both were playing to amuse themselves (and one another).

[[FriendlyEnemy Friendly Enemies]] in western animation.

* WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry have this dynamic DependingOnTheWriter. In "The Lonesome Mouse", Jerry gets Tom kicked out of the house, but finds that he misses being chased and schemes with the cat to get him back in. In "Springtime for Thomas", Jerry gets jealous when Tom spends all of his time with a girl cat, and introduces [[TheRival Butch]] to break the two up.

** Dr. Venture and Mrs. The Monarch. Girlfriend believes that Rusty is like The Monarch and is usually not hostile towards the Ventures compared to her husband. By Season 4, they're quite amicable towards each other when they have time to talk.
** Henchman 21, especially (and surprisingly enough) after he becomes [[TookALevelInBadAss Two-Ton 21]] is this to Hank and Dean. Not only do they share several mutual interests, but 21 even seems to consider them friends and is willing to help them out and do favors for them off the clock. It still doesn't stop him from trying to kill them when ordered to, though, but it's quite clear it's [[NothingPersonal just par for the course for villains in this show]].

*** While he isn't convinced, Batman compliments the Penguin's attempt to reform in "[[[[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesE47BirdsOfAFeather Birds of a Feather]]" once the latter shows off a bit of jewelry he'd bought for Veronica Vreeland.

** The Joker himself even lampshades this in "The Man Who Killed Batman" during a jewelry store robbery--he fully ''expects'' the Caped Crusader to show up and defeat him, describing their fights as "having some laughs." It's so severe that when the Joker mistakenly believes that Batman is dead, he tells his accomplice Harley Quinn to return the stolen jewels, becoming furious when Quinn thinks he's joking: "Without Batman, crime has no punchline."

*** While he wasn't convinced, Batman compliments [[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesE47BirdsOfAFeather the Penguin's attempt to reform]] once the latter shows off a bit of jewelry he'd bought for Veronica Vreeland.
*** When it seemed as though Poison Ivy had stopped her criminal career, he mentioned that he genuinely ''wanted'' to believe that she was finally cleaning up her act (unfortunately, she wasn't).
*** Similarly, when Harley Quinn passed a competency hearing and was legally released from Arkham, he offered her a congratulatory handshake and did his best to help her stay out of trouble. When she ended up back in the asylum (largely through a series of misunderstandings, and with the hope that she'd recover in time), Harley thanked Batman with a quick smooch...[[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments and liked it so much that she planted a much bigger kiss on him immediately after.]]
*** Batman helped the Ventriloquist break his reliance on Scarface, the hand puppet that manifested his [[SplitPersonality dissociative identity disorder]], and even helped Arnold Wesker (the Ventriloquist's real name) reenter society by giving him a job at Wayne Enterprises.

* In ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'', Conner and Icicle Jr develop into this after bonding when Conner went undercover with M'Gann in Belle Reve in Season 1 as the Terror Twins - both had to deal with being overshadowed by/trying to live up to majorly influential fathers (Superman and Icicle Senior, respectively), and actually got on very well. When they run into each other again in Season 3, Junior's still holding a little bit of a grudge for being tricked, but has largely mellowed out, and the two of them seem pleased to see each other. In fact, Junior is downright ''delighted'' when Conner says that [[spoiler: he and M'Gann are engaged]], enthusiastically congratulating him. Oh, and [[CasualDangerDialogue they're carrying on this discussion in the middle of a fight]].

** WesternAnimation/SylvesterTheCatAndTweetyBird could also be this. In the "Holly-Daze" Christmas CD recorded by Creator/MelBlanc, Bugs is surprised to catch them going [[GoKartingWithBowser Christmas shopping together]], although they're plotting to buy each other presents that will sabotage their respective plans.

** WesternAnimation/SylvesterTheCatAndTweetyBird could also be this. In the "Holly-Daze" Christmas CD recorded by Creator/MelBlanc, Bugs is surprised to catch them going [[DoTheyKnowItsChristmasTime Christmas shopping together]], although they're plotting to buy each other presents that will sabotage their respective plans.

** Even Bart and his would-be killer Sideshow Bob have this going on, though it's typically one-sided in whichever direction. For instance, Bob is insulted in "Day of the Jackanapes" when Bart gives him a friendly greeting as it's clear evidence of his VillainDecay. On the other hand, his efforts to make nice with Bart always fall through because Bart [[ReformedButRejected doesn't buy it]].
Bob finds he can't bear to go through with killing Bart when he has an easy chance to, and sings a song about how much Bart has grown on him.

** Bart and Principal Skinner have a relationship akin to Bart and Edna's, although it's less featured.

* On ''WesternAnimation/FantasticFour'', the titular superheroes developed this relationship with none other than Galactus, the Devourer of Worlds. In one instance, Galactus came to Earth to seek their help--he was starving because he'd lost his Herald, whose duty it was to find planets for him to drain the life from; this was after the Four had prevented him from destroying the Earth in the first place. Mister Fantastic quickly finds another uninhabited planet for Galactus to absorb (the entity has to eat planets that can ''support'' life, so they don't necessarily have to actually have life on them), and the whole team helps him get there. At the end of the episode, Galactus remarks that Earth is the only planet where he actually has something like friends. In another case, the Four deliberately sought out Galactus to help them defeat Ego the Living Planet, and he agrees.

* On ''Oh No! It's an Alien Invasion'' the Brainlings' leader Emperor Brainlius III gets along fairly well with the heroes, mainly because he's too stupid to remember they're supposed to be enemies.

* Lawson and the heroes in ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}''. TJ lampshades it at one point when he's insulted that [[SomebodyDoesntLoveRaymond someone actually doesn't like him]], using Lawson as an example of "even my worst enemy likes me!"