Worthy Opponents

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In the Teen Titans fanfic Jewel of Darkness, resident Psycho for Hire Guerra views Cyborg as this, as he was the only one of the Titans to provide him with a decent fight, and actually managed to defeat him. It gets to the point that, during a fight with Robin, Guerra compares his fighting style with Cyborg's, and while he loses all interest in the Titans after his contract with Midnight expires, he's still looking forward to a rematch with Cyborg. Enemy Ace Hans von Hammer is often portrayed as a Worthy Opponent. He is obviously inspired by the real-life Red Baron, mentioned below.

In The Antithesis, Yahweh, the leader of Heaven, and Lucifer, the leader of Hell, become friendly enemies when a Civil War between the angels and demons tragically force them to oppose one another. Previously, both had worked together as scientists in Heaven's main corporation for Technology and Science, 'The Plexus', and though now friendly enemies, they still strive for the same objective: peace between Heaven and Hell.

George S. Patton himself earned the admiration of Josef Stalin (pre-Cold War) stating that the Red Army wouldn't be able to match his aggressive advance in the French countryside. Also, King Porus to Alexander. While it's debatable whether Alexander even won, in the legend, after Alexander defeated Porus' army in the Battle of the Hydaspes, Alexander asked Porus how he wanted to be treated. Porus' answer, "like a King", impressed Alexander so much, that not only did Alexander allow Porus to remain a king, he even enlarged Porus' territory. 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. Taker also has recognized several wrestlers for their unmitigated courage in facing him, especially if they are far below his weight class: 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).

The Joker, to an even greater degree. He sees Batman, not only as a worthy opponent, but as "the only human being that can keep up with him." The feeling is ( usually) not mutual, by the way. While Batman refuses to kill the Joker because of his one rule, he just sees the Joker for the murderous psychopath he is and accords him no praise.S.W.A.T. (2017): In " Never Again" Hondo and Deacon first, then the rest of the team all consider the robbers this, being highly skilled military veterans. Squirrel Girl of all people. Doom considers her his sixth most dreaded nemesis, and he has pretty much accepted that any fight between them will end in his humiliation. He generally tries to avoid her as much as he can and has made sure the propaganda apparatus in Latveria has painted her as a vile monster. 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. In the fourth game, Apollo Justice gets his own Worthy Opponent, Klavier Gavin. While Klavier insults Apollo and refers to him as "Herr Forehead" quite a bit, Klavier never intentionally hides anything from Apollo, never tries to screw him over, and willingly helps Apollo as much as his duties as a prosecutor allow him to. Nikita Koloff started out as a standard Foreign Wrestling Heel, then became a Worthy Opponent to Magnum T.A.; when Magnum's career was ended by a car accident in 1986, Nikita became an Antagonist in Mourning, which eventually led to a Heel–Face Turn.

Peter Pan has Captain Hook, who views Peter as this. Peter doesn't really care, but when Hook thinks he's killed Pan, he says "So passeth a Worthy Opponent." In Win Ben Stein's Money, if a contestant successfully won against Ben, he would tell them, "I'm impressed. I'm humbled. I hate you! Get out of here! You've done enough damage!" The Doctor is seen as a Worthy Opponent by just about anybody with the slightest martial tilt to their culture. Notably, Dalek machinery that normally needs to scan in pure Dalek DNA to work will also accept the Doctor's testimony of an individual's Dalekness instead. In Imperfect Metamorphosis, Yuuka regards Yukari as this, partly because she's one of the only beings in existence with enough power and cunning to challenge her and takes great pleasure in setting up this big show before their actual battle. The feeling is not mutual however, and Yukari does everything she can to ensure their showdown is as unequal and in Yukari's favour as possible. Unfortunately, this annoys Yuuka, feeling Yukari broke the rules, and Bad Things happen.In Nomine: Michael sees Baal, the Demon Prince of the War, as this, and the feeling is reciprocated. In a strange way, each actually respects his mortal enemy more then many of his own side — at least he's taking this seriously. At the Battle of Hastings, the Anglo-Saxons and the Normans shouted to each other when they were resting at night. If I had to take hell, I would use the Australians to take it and the New Zealanders to hold it." — Erwin Rommel 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 rivalry between these two schools and the Air Force Academy is a lesser, but still strong, example, as is the Division III Secretaries Cup between the Coast Guard and Merchant Marine Academies. Recess: In "The Candidates," Vince and Gretchen run against each other for class president. Through it all they maintain a healthy respect for each other – in contrast the Feud Episode that plays out between their campaign managers T.J. and Spinelli – and in the end, Gretchen calls Vince a "worthy opponent and a good friend" after she wins the election because Vince votes for her. Elseworlds story Superman 1939 #215: "Lois Lane...Dead...Yet Alive" involved a minor villain named Dimension Master killing Lois Lane, and Superman having to deal with it. Dimension Master then has his shapeshifter wife briefly disguise herself as Lois just to further torment him. At this, Dimension Master is suddenly defeated by Luthor and Brainiac. Supes asks in astonishment why they are helping him, and they tell him that even though they are his enemies, they respect him, and they couldn't stand watching D.M.'s pointless cruelty. In the NFL, the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens. The two teams are rivals in the AFC North, and they really cannot stand each other — their rivalry is said to be one of the most bitter in the NFL. However, both teams are also willing to admit that the other is generally a very tough team to beat and that Ravens/Steelers games are always hard fought. Some even say that the rivalry helps to keep both teams at the top of their game, and that's why both teams have been among the NFL's most consistently successful franchises since the mid 2000s. And oddly, the longer the rivalry endures, the less bitter it gets — although the teams still can't stand each other, they both take great pride in how the Ravens/Steelers rivalry is considered hands down the best rivalry in the NFL, and the Cincinnati Bengals have, for various reasons, become the more hated enemy of both teams. Speaking of tennis, Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras played against each other 34 times before they retired, with Sampras winning 20. Especially during Agassi's late career revival, journalists freely admitted Agassi gave it his all every time they faced off. If he lost, it was nothing he did wrong, it was a matter of the better player winning. Even after retiring, Agassi and Sampras remain close friends.

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Over the course of MsChif's career, Daizee Haze and Amazing Kong went from "worst enemies" to "favorite enemies". In SHIMMER, MsChif held up Serena Deeb as a worthy opponent, in direct contrast to Sara Del Rey.