If you see two superheroes meet for the first time, you know they’re going to fight, but why? What purpose does this trope serve, and what does it look like outside the superhero genre? Is it still fighting if the characters clash with only words? This week, the hosts mull over the topic of bringing heroes into conflict with each other. They discuss the pros and cons, how to most effectively create conflict between protagonists, and why superhero stories are so obsessed with doing so.
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I’m a little surprised Voyager wasn’t mentioned. They had quite a bit of hero on hero action. One of my favorite conflicts was when Seven disobeys Janeway and transports a Species 8472 refugee to an attacking Hirogen vessel to save Voyager. In general though, the hero against hero stuff can sometimes become too preachy for my taste. It feels like it’s a way for the author to establish a “right” way of doing things in their universe, and by extension in life.
‘Heroes fighting when they first meet’ is so cliche in comics that when Spiderman met Spiderman 2099 he said “Traditionally this is where we fight over some misunderstanding but how about we just don’t and say we did.”