An archenemy, archfoe, archvillain or archnemesis (sometimes spelled arch-enemy, arch-foe, arch-villain or arch-nemesis) is the principal enemy of a character in a work of fiction, often described as the hero's worst enemy (compare nemesis). The reason why the particular villain stands out more than the rest of the protagonist's rogues gallery varies; they may be the hero's strongest enemy, have strong connections with ther hero's past, pose the greatest threat (e.g., global domination as opposed to burglary), or may be the most recurring enemy.[1]

Examples

Comic Book archenemies

• Abomination, archrival of the Hulk [2]
• Apocalypse, archenemy of Cable.
• Deacon Frost, archenemy of Blade.[3]
• Deathstroke the Terminator (also known as Slade), archenemy of the Teen Titans.[4]
• Doctor Doom, archenemy of the Fantastic Four (and especially Mister Fantastic).[5][6]
• Doctor Sivana, archenemy of DC Comics's Captain Marvel [7]
• Galactus, archenemy of primarily the Silver Surfer and secondarily the Fantastic Four.
• Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, and Venom are the archenemies of Spider-Man.[8]
• Joker, archenemy of Batman [9][10]
• Judge Death, archenemy of Judge Dredd [11]
• Kingpin and Bullseye, archenemies of Daredevil.
• Lex Luthor, archenemy of Superman [12]
• Magneto, archenemy of the X-Men in general and the team's founder, Professor X, in particular [13]
• Mandarin and Iron Monger, archenemies of Iron Man [14]
• Ming the Merciless, archenemy of Flash Gordon
• Red Skull, archenemy of Captain America [15]
• Sabretooth, archenemy of the X-Men's Wolverine [16]
• Sinestro, the mentor and arch-nemesis of Green Lantern Hal Jordan, and the entire Green Lantern Corps in general (see Sinestro Corps) [17]
• The Shredder, archenemy of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles[18]

Literary archenemies

• Greb Strakhov, is the archenemy of Mack Bolan, hero of the Executioner novels.
• Jack is the archenemy of Ralph in Lord of the Flies.
• Professor James Moriarty is the archenemy of Detective Sherlock Holmes.
• Fu Manchu is the archenemy of Commission Denys Nayland Smith.
• Carl Peterson is the archenemy of Bulldog Drummond.
• Inspector Javert is the archenemy of Jean Valjean in the classic French novel, Les Misérables.
• Lord Voldemort is the arch-enemy of Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore.
• Sauron is the archenemy in The Lord of the Rings. In the Simarillion, the text which explains most of the mythology behind The Lord of the Rings, the archenemy is Morgoth, who is supposedly even more powerful and evil than Sauron.
• Lord Foul [19], is the immediate archenemy of Thomas Covenant and the longterm archenemy of his brother, The Creator ([20], in The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant.
• The Crimson King (and his various incarnations) is the archenemy of Stephen King's multiverse (see The Dark Tower).
• Derek Leech is the archenemy of Sally Rhodes (and to an extent Richard Jeperson) in Kim Newman's works.
• The Auditors of Reality are the archenemy of Death and Susan in Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels.
• Count Olaf is the archenemy of the orphans in A Series of Unfortunate Events
• Jadis the White Witch is the archenemy of Aslan in The Chronicles of Narnia book series.

Film and television archenemies

• Agent Smith is the archenemy of Neo (The Matrix)
• Rene Belloq is the archenemy of Indiana Jones in the film Raiders of the Lost Ark, and prequel materials from the franchise. [21]
• Vince McMahon is the archenemies of Stone Cold Steve Austin.
• Dr. Evil is the archenemy of Austin Powers.
• Darth Vader is the archenemy of both Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi in the original Star Wars trilogy.
• Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the arch-enemy of James Bond.[22]
• King Ghidorah and Mechagodzilla are the archenemies of Godzilla.
• In Doctor Who, the Master is the arch-enemy of the Doctor.
• Newman is the archenemy of Jerry Seinfeld in the TV show Seinfeld, constantly turning matters from bad to worse for him.
• Paul Millander, a serial killer with an expert knowledge of forensic pathology, is the archenemy of forensic investigator Gil Grissom
• Over the course of the science fiction series Stargate SG-1, the SG-1 team as a whole develop several archenemies in the form of recurring or seasonal villains. However these villains are usually also a personal archenemy of one particular member of the team. Examples include Apophis, the archenemy of Teal'c; Ba'al, the archenemy of General Jack O'Neill; Anubis, the archenemy of Daniel Jackson; the Replicator clone of Samantha Carter, the archenemy of the real Lt. Colonel Sam Carter; and Adria the Orici, the archenemy of Vala Mal Doran.
• Sylar is the archenemy of Peter Petrelli, and a secondary enemy to several other characters in the television series Heroes.
• Ben Linus, John Locke, and Jack Shephard are each each others archnemesis' in Lost, since they have each tried to kill each other to achieve their goals.

Cartoon and Video Game archenemies

• Bowser is the archenemy of Mario and all of his friends in the Nintendo video-game series. [23] [24]
• Big Boss and Liquid Snake are both archenemies of Solid Snake in the Metal Gear and Metal Gear Solid series
• The Brotherhood of Nod and their leader Kane are the archenemies of the Global Defense Initiative in the Command and Conquer video game series.
• Buzz Buzzard, Ms. Meany and Wally Walrus are the archenemies of Woody Woodpecker[25]
• No. 17 and No. 18 are the archenemies of Future Trunks and Cell is the archenemy of Son Gohan in the Dragonball Z series.
• Cobra Commander, and by extension the Cobra Organization, is the archenemy of G.I. Joe. [26]
• The Covenant are the archenemies of the Master Chief in the Halo series.
• Doctor Eggman (a.k.a. Doctor Robotnik) is the archenemy of Sonic the Hedgehog and all of his friends in Sega's Sonic The Hedgehog video game franchise.
• Doctor Neo Cortex is the archenemy of Crash Bandicoot in the Crash Bandicoot video game series.
• Elmer Fudd and Yosemite Sam are the archenemies of Bugs Bunny.
• Ganondorf is the archenemy of Link in the Legend of Zelda video game series and, with Vaati, is also the only Zelda character to have survived to the next game, (Link and most other Zelda characters are either descendants or ancestors from previous games).
• King Dedede is the archenemy of Kirby in the same name of the video game series.
• Kira Yamato was the archenemy of Shinn Asuka in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny.
• Megatron (and his descendants) is the archenemy of Optimus Prime (and his descendants) in the Transformers Universe.
• Mumm-Ra the Ever-Living is the archenemy of The Thundercats.
• Orochimaru is the archenemy of Naruto Uzumaki in Naruto.
• Ridley and all Space Pirates are the arch enemies of Samus Aran in the Metroid video game series.
• Sideshow Bob is the archenemy of Bart Simpson and Lisa Simpson in The Simpsons
• Skeletor is the archenemy of He-Man.
• Sonsai X and his subordinates (most notably Berge Katse of Galactor) are the archenemies of Science Ninja Team Gatchaman.
• Sylvester the Cat is the archenemy of Tweety Bird and Speedy Gonzales in the Looney Tunes franchise.
• Tom is the archenemy of Jerry in Tom and Jerry.
• Wile E. Coyote is the archenemy of Road Runner in the Looney Tunes franchise.

See also

• Supervillian
• Rogues gallery

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Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia; from the article "Archenemy". Image Credit.

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