A Worthy Opponent (Wicked Villains Book 3)

Product Information

Hauptmann Hans Dietrich of The Rat Patrol. Though he was rarely able to stop the Allied commando unit, he was smart and always honorable. Doctor Strange teamed up with Doom in his final (and successful) attempt to rescue his mother's soul from Hell. Though it was a reluctant partnership at best (Strange had just beaten Doom for the position of Sorcerer Supreme and tradition mandates that the winner owes the runner-up a favor), they walked away with a grudging respect for each other. He views his cup bearer at Harrenhal as more competent than all his advisers and she's one of the few people to get away with snarking at him, because Tywin enjoys that she's sharp and gutsy enough to match him. Of course ironies of ironies, what he doesn't know is that she's actually Arya Stark, the daughter of his archenemy. Whether he would have been more impressed with her if he'd known she was the runaway Stark daughter and managed to survive right under his nose, or just angered at her brazenness was never explored. Several Wolves and Bears roam the map. Consider using the starting army to clear most of them for further expansion.

The Doctor actually viewed Sec, a Dalek, as this. He considered Sec the "cleverest Dalek ever", the only one capable of redeeming the Daleks. Naturally... In the Family Guy episode "Emission Impossible", Stewie and Bertram refer to each other as worthy adversaries. After putting on a match that Dave Meltzer called the greatest in pro wrestling history at New Japan Pro-Wrestling's Wrestle Kingdom 11 in 2017, Kazuchika Okada and Kenny Omega exemplified this trope. Omega called the victorious Okada the best wrestler in Japan and possibly the world, while Okada called Omega the greatest foreign wrestler in NJPW history.In The Tim Tebow CFL Chronicles, Tebow outright calls the Atlantic Schooners "worthy opponents" since they came closer than any other team to stopping the Argonauts' drive. Rex initially sees Makoto as just a Warm-Up Boss for his later challenges against Espa and Joey. Not only does he change his tune and see Makoto as someone that can keep up with him, He doesn't get to go after his desired challenges against Espa and Joey because Makoto beats him.

The Rise of Darth Vulcan: Shining Armor begrudgingly admits that the titular villain earned the respect and loyalty of the Diamond Dogs.

The Fate/Zero and Lupin III fanfic Just an Unorthodox Thief, this trope is both apparent frequently and weaponized by Assassin/Lupin. The most apparent use of it is between Assassin/Lupin and Zenigata as usual and weaponized against honor-bound Servants like Lancer.

Sandor lets Brienne know that he sees her as this when they meet again at the end of Season 7, noting that she came closer to killing him than anyone else. Hector and Achilles of Homer's The Iliad. Hector was an honorable man and considered a worthy foe by many of the Achaean heroes fighting at Troy. Achilles had no such feelings for the man; he spent the early parts of the war pissed at his own leaders and the later parts in nothing less than a homicidal rage toward everyone after Hector killed Patroclus, and spent a lot of time and effort trying to desecrate Hector's corpse. Although he did relent after he'd taken his revenge and cooled down a bit. Achilles actually seemed to think more of Hector's father, Priam, as a worthy opponent (in the overall war) when the latter came to beg for his son's body for proper burial. Achilles agreed to allow Hector the honor he deserved, but Priam's love for his son and his bravery in coming alone to the Greek ships also got to him. Ultron in The War is Far From Over Now took its name out of respect for JARVIS and by extension Tony Stark for creating such a formidable guardian with such relatively primitive technology. Over the course of the arc, Ultron's respect for Tony and JARVIS continues to grow until he decides to kidnap Tony to serve as one of Thanos's generals, citing that allowing him to die would be far too wasteful. Star Trek: The Next Generation: Also Romulan, Commander Sela was Data's Worthy Foe — a concept the series constantly beat us over the head and chest with whenever Sela showed up.It is stated repeatedly throughout Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney that one of the primary reasons Phoenix became a defense attorney is that he could meet his childhood friend Miles Edgeworth in court, as Edgeworth is a prosecutor. Despite their positions as adversaries in court, their mutual desire for justice leads them to jointly take down quite a few criminals. Edgeworth and Phoenix have each lost at least one case to the other throughout the course of the series, but their win-loss record stops becoming as much of a factor over time as they focus more on finding the truth and dispensing proper justice. LuFisto thought this way of Ayako Hamada, granting her a shot at her nCw Femme Fatales Title Belt because a match with her was "A dream come true." At the tail end of TNA's 2014 (and Spike TV deal) Eric Young stated that if he had to name a professional wrestler in the world at the time better than Bobby Roode, he wouldn't be able to do it. He then rhetorically asked "Is Eric Young as good Bobby Roode" and basically said "yes". They were competing to challenge World Heavyweight Champion Bobby Lashley, whom Roode thought of as this ( but not MVP or Kenny King). Amon: I'm impressed. No one has ever gotten the better of me like that. It is almost a shame to purify someone so talented. Almost. Cena has on record stated that Chris Masters is the physically strongest opponent he has ever faced. Masters is the only competitor who has legitimately rendered Cena unconscious, and he has done so three times.

Interviewing Scientist: "Why does his death bother you? You've killed many humans before, why is he so-" The Sontarans, as the Whoniverse's resident Blood Knights, have a lot of respect for not just the Doctor (one Sontaran commander actually seems glad when the Doctor escapes a Death Trap because he doesn't view it as a worthy end for their old enemy), but also anyone who shows guts on the battlefield. Their idea of a compliment is praising how good a fight they expect you'll be when you eventually meet on the field of battle. In the episode " The Squire of Gothos", it is clear that Trelane regards Kirk in this manner. Indeed, Trelane treats the entire encounter with Kirk and the Enterprise crew as an elaborate game.Doom has a respect for Spider-Man that is somewhat low key, but very much there. He's one of the few heroes that Doom almost never directly insults. His usual complaints tend to be about Spidey's sense of humor. One of the What If stories details Doom's point of view on several heroes, including Spider-Man. He has nothing negative for the webhead, and instead compliments him on his speed, calling it 'astonishing.' When he was thrown into 2099, and learned of a Spider-Man from the same time period, he muses to himself that he must make a point to meet this new web-slinger, citing a respect for 'tradition', as he comments that his encounter with the original Spidey was very early in Peter's career, and he feels it necessary to repeat it with the new Spider-Man— whom it seems Doom almost suspects of being the original at first, though he later realizes this is unlikely. When he meets Spider-Man in later storylines in 2099, there is clear respect between the two. FBI Special Agent Frank Lundy was this to the titular character in Season 2. Dexter even uses the term himself after Lundy's death in Season 4. While his hatred and contempt for Tyrion son is very evident, he still (ever so grudgingly) is aware of his son's intelligence, perception, and cunning, which is why he was willing to name him Hand in his stead and give him power during crucial times. Later, he names Tyrion the new Master of Coin, which seems like a snipe at the time (and Cersei and Pycelle certainly interpret it as such), but when Tywin's financial problems are later revealed, it's clear that the appointment was really based on his trust in Tyrion's managerial competence. There's also an incredibly minor subtext of this in Fantastic Four, between Reed Richards and his ARCHNEMESIS!!! Doctor Doom. The two of them regularly top canon and fanon lists of the smartest men in the Marvel Universe, and Reed steps in and out of feeling guilty for what happened to Doom in college note Even though Reed is a complete innocent and tried to warn Doom about a serious flaw in the experiment that scarred him and got him expelled.. Part of it comes from the fact that they don't have to talk down to each other — smartest men in the world and all that. Robin and the second Red X in Teen Titans (2003). One could argue that Slade considers Robin a Worthy Opponent, but Robin simply sees Slade as a diabolical villain. X also has a crush on Starfire; in one episode, he pins her, then calls her "cutie" and remarks that the "only crime" between them is that they haven't gone on a date. (However, her response is to blast him with her Eye Beams.)