Now that's what I call Black-and-White Morality. Or not.
When you are creating a work in which two clearly distinct entities are in conflict or compete against each other, a common way to name your work is to identify the two entities and insert a word or symbol indicating the conflict.
These most frequently take the form of X Versus Y (or X vs Y). Titles of this form were particularly common for older B Movies, and is now something of a Dead Horse Trope within that field, though often used straight in homages. They continue to be frequently used in names of episodes of Western Animations and Live-Action TV shows.
Another variant, replacing "Versus" with a simple X, as in Alice X Bob, is particularly common in Video Games developed in Japan. Where it is a crossover, it may take the form of X Meets Y, although these are relatively rare. Not to be confused with the Just For Fun page X Meets Y, which describes works as combinations of two or more other works.
May involve an Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny or Cool vs. Awesome. Where both entities are antagonists, this may be an Antagonist Title. Similar to The Noun and the Noun and Name and Name. Often mirrors Character Name and the Noun Phrase.
Tropes with this naming style:
- All Work vs. All Play
- Arrogant God vs. Raging Monster
- Career Versus Man
- Cavemen Versus Astronauts Debate
- Cool vs. Awesome
- David Versus Goliath
- Dragons Versus Knights
- Elves vs. Dwarves
- Emotions Versus Stoicism
- Enthusiasm vs. Stoicism
- Evil vs. Evil
- Evil Versus Oblivion
- Family Versus Career
- Flesh vs. Steel
- Gentle Touch vs. Firm Hand
- Girls vs. Boys Plot
- Good vs. Good
- Good Witch Versus Bad Witch
- Guns vs. Swords
- Harmony Versus Discipline
- Heaven Versus Hell
- Individualism vs. Collectivism
- Kids vs. Adults
- Lancer vs. Dragon
- Magic Versus Science
- Man Versus Machine
- Meat Versus Veggies
- Nature vs. Nurture
- Older Hero vs. Younger Villain
- Order Versus Chaos
- PC vs. Console
- Player Versus Environment
- Player Versus Player
- Primate vs. Reptile
- Right Hand vs. Left Hand
- Romanticism Versus Enlightenment
- Scientist vs. Soldier
- Scry vs. Scry
- Slobs vs. Snobs
- Spinosaurus vs. T. rex
- Soldier vs. Warrior
- Subbing vs. Dubbing
- The Magic Versus Technology War
- Tiger Versus Dragon
- Watsonian versus Doylist
- Technician vs. Performer
Examples:
open/close all folders
Anime & Manga
- Dragon Ball Z episode "The Nameks Versus Frieza".
- Grendizer Vs Great Mazinger.
- Pokémon episodes "Haunter Versus Kadabra" and "Princess Versus Princess".
- Pokémon Adventures also uses this as Idiosyncratic Episode Naming, with a few exceptions like saga finales.
- The Japanese title of the 10th Pokémon movie, Pokémon: The Rise of Darkrai, exhibits this trope - Pocket Monsters Diamond & Pearl the Movie: Dialga vs. Palkia vs. Darkrai.
- The 15th Pokémon movie incorporates this naming structure as well - Pokémon: Kyurem vs. The Sword of Justice in English, and Pocket Monsters Best Wishes! The Movie: Kyurem vs. The Sacred Swordsman: Keldeo in Japanese.
- Shin Getter Robo Vs Neo Getter Robo.
- Several chapters in One Piece.
- Mazinkaiser Vs The Great General of Darkness
- Devilman Vs Cyborg009
- Voltron episode: "Voltron Versus Voltron"
- Several episodes of Tamagotchi have one.
- Episode 41a, "Go! Typhoontchi VS Secret Base"
- Episode 46a, "Datchi! Kuchipatchi VS Mecha Kuchipatchi"
- Episode 69a, "Lazy Reasoning? Detective Anpan VS Melody Investigator"
- Episode 73b, "Go Go! Gluttony! Kuchipatchi VS Kuishinbotchi"
- Episode 79b, "Dream Co-star? Gotchiman vs. Detective Anpan"
- Episode 118, "Big Fight!? Moriritchi vs. Anemoriritchi"
- Yume Kira Dream episode 9, "Queen of Tears vs. Yume Kira Comedians"
- GO-GO Tamagotchi! episode 4a, "Guruguru Battle! Memetchi vs. Makiko... Again!!"
- Jewelpet:
- Episode 22 of Jewelpet (2009) is titled "Bachi Bachi☆ Rinko VS Akira".
- Episode 19a of Jewelpet: Magical Change is titled "The Revenge! Ruby VS Luea".
- The 2020 Doraemon episode "Battle! Gian vs. Army of Monsters".
Asian Animation
- Motu Patlu: Season 2 episode 50b, "Motu Vs. John".
- Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf:
- Joys of Seasons episode 17, "Gentleman vs. Loafer".
- Happy, Happy, Bang! Bang! episode 25, "Fruits vs. Wolffy".
Comic Books
- Alien vs. Predator
- Aliens Versus Predator Versus The Terminator
- Avengers vs. X-Men
- Asterix vs. Caesar.
- DC Vs. Marvel
- Bunny Vs Monkey
- Darkman vs. Army of Darkness
- Dracula vs. King Arthur.
- Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash.
- Friday the 13th: Jason vs. Jason X.
- Godzilla Vs Barkley.
- Jason vs. Leatherface.
- RoboCop Versus The Terminator
- Santa Versus Dracula
- Santa Vs Zombies
- Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and Scott Pilgrim vs. the Universe.
- Simon's Cat vs. the World
- Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man
- Wonder Woman and the Star Riders vs. Purrsia
Comic Strips
Fan Works
- My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic Fanfiction Progress has all its chapters titled "Luna vs. [subject of chapter]".
- Similarly, the Leap of Faith series; every story in it is titled "Leap of Faith: [Character identifier] vs. [Character identifier]".
- Dexter's Lab: Equestria: "Colt Genius vs Changelings"
- Zero vs Kira
- Cave Story Versus I M Meen
- The Non-Bronyverse story TD vs Equestria Girls (found here
)
Films — Animation
Films — Live-Action
- Many of the Abbott and Costello's later movies had titles of the form Abbott and Costello Meet (something else from Universal).
- Abraham Lincoln vs. Zombies.
- AVP: Alien vs. Predator.
- A variation occurs in the case of Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever. The movie is actually about Ecks and Sever teaming up.
- Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
- Billy the Kid vs. Dracula.
- Boa Versus Python.
- Bonnie and Clyde vs. Dracula
- The opening titles of Army of Darkness present the film as Bruce Campbell vs. Army of Darkness.
- Cowboys vs. Dinosaurs
- Dead Snow: Red vs. Dead
- Dahmer vs. Gacy and its sequel Dahmer vs. Gacy 2: In Space.
- Dracula Versus Frankenstein.
- Dinocroc Versus Supergator.
- Eagle vs Shark.
- Earth vs. the Flying Saucers.
- Earth vs. the Spider.
- Ford v Ferrari
- Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man.
- Freddy vs. Jason.
- Gladiators vs. Werewolves: Edge of Empire
- The American titles given to Godzilla movies followed this pattern:
- Humans Versus Zombies.
- Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter.
- Joe Versus the Volcano.
- Karl the Butcher vs. Axe
- Komodo Versus Cobra.
- Kramer vs. Kramer (also the original book, on which the film was based).
- Lake Placid Vs Anaconda
- Mega Python Versus Gatoroid.
- Mega Shark Versus Giant Octopus, and it's sequel Mega Shark Versus Crocosaurus.
- The People vs. Larry Flynt, based on a Real Life court case which was actually named Hustler Magazine v. Falwell.
- Puppet Master vs. Demonic Toys.
- The Robot vs. The Aztec Mummy
- Movies starring El Santo frequently had titles of this type:
- Santo & Blue Demon vs. Dracula & the Wolfman
- Santo vs. the Diabolical Hatchet
- Santo vs. el Estrangulador
- Santo vs. Frankenstein's Daughter
- Santo vs. the Infernal Men
- Santo vs. the Martian Invasion
- Santo vs. the Mummies of Guanajuato
- Santo vs. the Riders of Terror
- Santo vs. the She-Wolves
- Samson vs. the Vampire Women
- Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.
- Strippers vs. Zombies.
- The Navy vs. The Night Monsters.
- Tucker & Dale vs. Evil.
- Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl.
- Wife vs. Secretary, based on a novel of the same title.
- Ultraman Cosmos vs. Ultraman Justice: The Final Battle
- Ultra Galaxy Legend Gaiden: Ultraman Zero vs. Darklops Zero
- Versus. That's it, that's the whole title.
- Vampires vs. Leprechauns.
Literature
- Cats vs. Robots
- Housekeeping vs. the Dirt, a collection of essays by Nick Hornby.
- "Nietzsche contra Wagner," in which Friedrich Nietzsche explains his disillusionment with Richard Wagner.
- Katt vs. Dogg
- Zombies Versus Unicorns
Live-Action TV
- All in the Family episodes "Edith Versus the Bank" and "Edith Versus the Energy Crisis".
- Buffalo Bill episode "Buffalo Bill Versus the Kremlin".
- Chuck uses this as its Idiosyncratic Episode Naming.
- CSI episode "Grissom Versus the Volcano".
- Curb Your Enthusiasm episode "Larry vs. Michael J. Fox"
- Deadliest Warrior uses this as its Idiosyncratic Episode Naming.
- The first The Flash and Arrow crossover was titled "Flash vs. Arrow".
- Good Vs Evil (originally known as G vs E).
- Reality Show Hogan Knows Best episode "Hogan Versus City Hall".
- Leave It to Beaver episode "The State Versus Beaver".
- Mama's Family episode "Harper Versus Harper".
- Man v. Food.
- Man vs. Wild.
- Melissa & Joey episode "Joe Versus the Reunion".
- Parenthood episode "Man Versus Possum".
- Private Benjamin episode "Ross Versus the Robot".
- Smart Guy episode "T.J. versus the Machine".
- Common in Toei's Toku series:
- The Super Sentai "Vs. Series" featuring two teams together in a crossover. However, it's rare for the "vs." to actually mean that the teams end up fighting each other; more often they become allies immediately.
- Super Sentai's use of this is Parodied in Hikonin Sentai Akibaranger - after the team's show is taken over by Ultraman pastiche Hikonin Kyoujin Prism Ace, they convince the studio executives to produce an "Akibaranger vs Prism Ace" team-up movie so they can have one last hurrah. However, as soon as the movie starts they form their team bazooka and shoot Prism Ace in the face, mocking him for not knowing what "versus" means.
- Kamen Rider's Movie Wars series always start their titles with "Kamen Rider X Kamen Rider [X] & [Y]", though like with its Sentai counterpart Kamen Rider [X] and Kamen Rider [Y] tend to work together rather than fight each other.
- And then there's the multi-franchise Superhero Taisen series, which like with Movie Wars starts its titles with a form of "[X] X [Y]": the first and fifth were "Kamen Rider X Super Sentai", the second was "Kamen Rider X Super Sentai X Space Sheriff", and the third is "Heisei Rider vs. Showa Rider" (referring to the two subdivisions of the Kamen Rider franchise). In these cases, though, the various sides do fight each other.
- It finally appears in a series itself with Kaitou Sentai Lupinranger VS Keisatsu Sentai Patranger, which features two heroic teams competing with one another. Played with in that "VS" is used in contexts besides just meaning "versus"; the teams' shared tech is called the "VS System" (pronounced Vee-Ess, with VS Changers, VS Vehicles, etc.) and each team wears one of the letters as their logo (the Lupinrangers wear a V insignia while the Patrangers have the S). Noel Takao, inventor of the VS System and a member of both teams, refers to the Lupinrangers and Patrangers collectively as the "VS Sentai". It isn't made clear if VS stands for anything in-universe; the closest it gets is that later in the series the Lupinrangers receive a Victory Striker mecha while the Patrangers' counterpart is a Siren Striker.
- Survivor: Fans vs. Favorites (twice), Heroes vs. Villains, et cetera. A variant in Blood vs. Water (twice), where the title doesn't refer to the castaways.
- The Beverly Hillbillies episode "Granny Versus the Weather Bureau".
- The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis episode "Dobie Versus the Machine".
- Zorro (1957) episode "Zorro Versus Cupid".
- Wizards of Waverly Place: "Alex vs. Alex"
- Sarabhai vs Sarabhai
Music
- Lostprophets song "Shinobi vs. Dragon Ninja".
- The World/Inferno Friendship Society song "Me V. the Angry Mob,"
- General Patton Vs. The X-Ecutioners, a collaboration album between Mike Patton and hip-hop trio The X-Ecutioners.
- "Concerto for Two Pianos vs. Orchestra" by P.D.Q. Bach
- Kero Kero Bonito's song "Cat Vs Dog"
- Test Icicles' "Boa Vs. Python"
- The Aquabats! vs. the Floating Eye of Death! and Other Amazing Adventures, Vol. 1, the Aquabats' third studio album.
- "XTC vs. Adam Ant" by They Might Be Giants
- The Kinks stretch it out into a Long Title with their album Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One.
Pro Wrestling
- Dantai Taikosen LLPW vs. AJW
- UWFi vs. WAR: Super Summer Wars
- AWS Sonjay Dutt vs Super Dragon
- Carmen Electra's NWWL, Vol. 1: Bush vs Hussein
- IWC vs WMF Confrontation ~ Super Hardcore Night
- FWA Academy vs. WAW Academy - Academy Warfare
- WWE vs ECW: Head To Head
- PWU Versus JCW
- ChickFight VII: The UK vs The USA
- CWA Pro Skirts vs. Fins
- GOUGE vs ACW Legends
- EVOLVE 1: Richards vs. Ibushi
- DG:UK: Yokosuka vs. Shingo 2
- Chikara vs Osaka Pro
- NWA Houston Showdown... Tennessee vs. Texas
- Invacion de I.W.A Vs W.W.C
- PWE Elite vs. Phenomenal
- WSU vs Beyond
- XICW 158: Rhino vs. Williams III
- ROH vs NJPW: Global Wars
- WC Christopher Daniels Vs. Lance Storm
- Lucha Underground #1.22 - Mask Vs. Mask
- IMPACT Wrestling #578 - TNA vs. GFW
- Heavy Montreal Presents Freedom To Fight - IWS VS CZW
- Zelo Pro vs Journey Pro: Kingdom Come
Theme Parks
- Godzilla vs. Evangelion: The Real 4-D, though it's only briefly at the beginning; the real conflict is an Enemy Mine between Godzilla and the EVAs against King Ghidorah.
Video Games
- WCW vs nWo: World Tour
- 1 vs. 100
- Afrika Korps vs. Desert Rats
- Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth: The last case takes place during "The Kingdom of Allebahst versus The Republic of Babahl Goodwill Jubilee". Kay asks why the seemingly confrontational title if the event is supposed to be an attempt to foster a possible reunification of both two countries. She's never given a straight answer.
- Bad Dudes vs. Dragon Ninja
- Billy vs. SNAKEMAN
- Calorie-kun vs. Moguranian
- Capcom is fond of titles of this form as noted in Capcom vs..
- Ford vs. Chevy
- Ghouls vs. Humans
- Games in the Gundam Vs Series.
- Jordan vs. Bird: One on One
- Judge Dredd: Dredd vs. Death
- The Legend of el Lobodestroyo Vs. la Liga de los Villanos
- Mario vs. Donkey Kong
- Maximo vs. Army of Zin.
- Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe.
- Mr. Do! vs. Unicorns
- MSVs, a Gundam game for the WonderSwan.
- The MX vs. ATV series.
- North vs. South.
- Pac-Man Vs.
- Plants vs. Zombies.
- Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. They're actually allies through most of the game (and even when going against one another in court, they're still allies and Layton is playing Devil's Advocate).
- Raidou Kuzunoha vs. The Soulless Army and its sequel, Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon
- RoboCop vs. The Terminator.
- Samurai vs. Zombies Defense
- The Simpsons: Bart vs. the Space Mutants, Bart vs. the World, Bartman Meets Radioactive Man, Bart vs. the Juggernauts
- Smackdown vs. Raw
- Spectral Vs Generation
- The crossovers Street Fighter X Tekken and Tekken X Street Fighter, with the first name in each game's title indicating which respective series' game engine is being used for the game (for example, Street Fighter x Tekken runs off of the game engine of the Street Fighter series; specifically, Street Fighter IV).
- Virgo Vs The Zodiac
- Vs., a Fighting Game (converted from Fighters' Impact) for the PlayStation and published by THQ.
- Weetabix Versus the Titchies, an early example of cereal advergaming.
- Ys vs. Sora No Kiseki — a PSP game published by Falcom.
- Z.H.P.: Unlosing Ranger vs. Darkdeath Evilman.
- The Zombie vs. Ambulance
Web Animation
- Animator vs. Animation
- Lady Lumps VS Boy Bumps
- Red vs. Blue
- Four mini-movies from Quirky Misadventures Of Soldine The Cyborg YouTube series, all following the Monster of the Week format:
- Soldine vs. Vagineer
- Soldine vs. Handsome Rogue
- Soldine vs. Madic
- Soldine vs. Robosol
Webcomics
- PvP: Player vs Player
- Princess Pi comics almost always have titles in this format. Taken Up to Eleven in "Dan Vs. Chuck vs. The Tick vs. Princess Pi".
- El Goonish Shive has the storyline "Talon vs. Scythe".
- xkcd has an entry on this kind of titles aptly called the "Versus Bracket".
Web Videos
- Hogan Vs Flair
- Man vs. the World
- Feminist Frequency: Anita Sarkeesian's original Tropes vs. Women series, and its variants, depending on where the videos are viewed. She's not challenging tropers to a fight, btw:
- The original Tropes Vs. Women series.
- The Tropes Vs. Women in Video Games series, which on Youtube, all the original Tropes Vs. Women episodes have been re-titled to use Tropes Vs. Women in Video Games.
- The original Tropes Vs. Women
- Bobby Lashley vs Boogeyman
- Mitten Squad: The video, "Paper Mario: Part 20 | Plumber vs Martial Arts Master".
- Numberphile: The video, "Tau vs Pi Smackdown - Numberphile".
- Two different Let's Play shows are just simply titled this word, though with different spellings: Versus by JoshJepson and AttackingTucans, and VS by Achievement Hunter.
- Some Call Me Johnny titles most of his video game reviews under the title scheme "Johnny vs. [name of game]".
- The Kittisaurus branch of Cream Heroes often titles videos as "Cats Vs." whatever Claire has the cats responding to.
Western Animation
- The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes! episode "Hulk Versus the World".
- The Batman vs. Dracula.
- Dan Vs. is an interesting case where the Episode Finishes the Title, such as the first episode, New Mexico, intended to be read as Dan Vs. New Mexico.
- Eek! The Cat episode "Eek vs. the Flying Saucers" (a play on Earth vs. the Flying Saucers).
- Gravity Falls:
- "Dipper vs. Manliness".
- "Dipper and Mabel vs. the Future".
- OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes has the episode "K.O. vs. Fink" and the short "Enid vs. Rad".
- Samurai Jack episodes "Jack Versus Demongo, the Soul Collector", "Jack Versus Mad Jack", "Samurai Versus Ninja", "Samurai Versus Samurai", "Jack Versus Aku", and "Robo-Samurai Versus Mondo Bot".
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987) episode "Raphael Versus the Volcano".
- The Simpsons has a number of episodes like this, such as:
- "Bart vs. Australia"
- "Bart vs. Itchy and Scratchy"
- "Bart vs. Lisa vs. the Third Grade"
- "Bart vs. Thanksgiving"
- "The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson"
- "Grampa vs. Sexual Inadequacy"
- "Homer vs. Dignity"
- "Homer vs. Lisa and the Eighth Commandment"
- "Homer vs. Patty and Selma"
- "Homer vs. the 18th Amendment"
- "Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy"
- "Marge vs. the Monorail"
- "Marge vs. Singles, Seniors, Childless Couples and Teens, and Gays" (also known as "Marge vs. Everyone")
- The Tick uses this as its Idiosyncratic Episode Naming.
- The Super Globetrotters also uses this as its Idiosyncratic Episode Naming.
- Star vs. the Forces of Evil
- Kid vs. Kat
- The episode "Hong Kong Phooey vs. Hong Kong Phooey" (about an impostor of the hero accepting all the rewards he's turned down).
- The Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! episode "The People Vs. Fred Jones."
- The Big City Greens episode "Cricket Versus".
- The Hair Bear Bunch episode "King Klong Vs. The Masked Marvel."
Real Life
- It is standard in civil court cases in many western countries to be named in the form Plaintiff v. Defendant.
- Do keep in mind when both sides of the v. are the same (such as a family feud), it's not a Mirror Match. note
- Partially averted in Commonwealth countries, where the v. is read as and.
