From Kanye and Taylor to your favorite sports rivalries, here are some of the most iconic enemies of all time.
When watching a movie, reading a book or following a sports team, there’s always some sort of rivalry that happens. This is a list of the best rivalries, including the ones I grew up with and some that are still feuding today.
Cartoon Rivalries
First up we have the classic cartoon rivals that, if we are being honest, couldn’t live without each other.
In “Phineas and Ferb,” the greatest rivalry isn’t between the kids and the grown adult Dr. Doofenshmirtz, but rather between the Doofenshmirtz and Perry the Platypus. There’s a whole song about how they’re nemeses and need each other to do and stop crime.
This is one of the most classic rivalry examples because Dr. Doofenshmirtz is really picking a fight with a platypus who just keeps foiling all of his poorly thought-out plans.
In the cartoon classics, we also have rivals who are put against each other but who deep down, I think want to be friends, like “Tom and Jerry.” This whole show has no words, but throughout they’re playing a literal cat and mouse game, chasing each other and causing major bodily harm.
It’s a cartoon so they don’t get hurt, but with the amount of times Tom has been blown up you would think he has some scrapes. Tom tries to catch Jerry to appease his owners, while Jerry runs rampant chasing the cheese. Throughout the duration of the show, it shows they are frienemies, chasing each other but in times of dire danger, they will stand by one another.
While on the topic of cartoons that don’t have dialogue, we have the final favorite cartoon rival, “Wile E. Coyote and Roadrunner.” This is the textbook definition of rivals! Wile. E Coyote is constantly trying to kill the roadrunner, using anvils, traps, boulders, birdseed and other over-the-top ideas to gain victory over the bird. The Coyote rarely ever succeeds and the road runner gets away saying “Meep meep.”
Books and Movies
The first book rivalry worth mentioning starts off with Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty. This book was first published by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in 1887 and then went into film adaptations that are still being made. Moriarty is Sherlock’s greatest rival, the person who just slipped from his grasp.
I would’ve missed one of the greatest rivals in literature if I didn’t mention Sherlock and Moriarty. What makes them great rivals is how they represent different sides of the same coin, both with extreme intelligence, observation, and wit. Sherlock uses those characteristics to solve crime and save people, while Moriarty uses his skills to exploit people and commit crimes. Moriarty, as bad as he is, pushes Sherlock to be a stronger version of himself.
As fall rolls around, it’s becoming “Gilmore Girl” fall, where there are two big rivalries in this show. The ones that come to mind are two boys fighting over a girl. Starting off strong with Luke Danes and Christopher Hayden, these two are constantly going head to head for Lorelai.
Luke and Christopher are both fathers of Rory, one as the birth father and one as the father figure. Trying to win the heart of Lorelai and wanting to be there for Rory, they’re big rivals to each other.
The next two boys in “Gilmore Girls” are Jess Mariano and Dean Forester fighting each other for the affections of Rory Gilmore. The boys are two very different personalities, Jess being the bad boy type, but having a soft spot for Rory and Dean who is the typical good boy type who wants Rory to fit into the traditional gender roles. These boys have numerous arguments about who is better for Rory.
Celebrities
While all of the past few rivalries on this list have been fictional, some big rivalries exist off of the movie screen and are between celebrities and artists. So the next category on this list are celebrities and music artists.
Starting off with a hard swing with some of the biggest rappers in the public eye today, Kendrick Lamar and Drake. Things were going great between the two, even collaborating on a few albums, but took a nasty turn going into diss tracks. When there are two great rappers, friendly fire is expected but this was much more than that.
Back in 2011, they were working together and partying together. Things were peachy for a while, but 2013 rolled around and Lamar was taking aim at Drake on Big Sean’s song “Control.”
Drake responded by brushing it off and not firing back, but he did stand his ground to defend himself. As time went on, nothing too brutal happened but there was some shade coming from both sides. It’s currently 2024 and there’s is still a feud on going with them.
Continuing on with big-name music artists, there’s of course Kanye West and Taylor Swift. I will not lie, I’m not a diehard Swiftie but Kanye started it. Back in 2009 during the MTV Video Music Awards, Kanye interrupted Taylor Swift during her acceptance speech for “You Belong With Me.” He felt that Beyonce should have won, plus the possibility of there being alcohol involved and him being intoxicated.
If I remember correctly, Kanye did apologize but later took it back. His song “Famous” has a lyric saying he made her famous but in far more inappropriate language. Taylor addressed this lyric when she won the 2016 Grammys, saying not to let anyone undermine you.
Kim Kardashian came to the defense of her then-husband, stating that Taylor was aware of the lyric. A spokesperson for Taylor came out and said that Kim was pressured to defend Kanye but she is outright wrong. I think she just wanted to defend her image by protecting her husband, but she got herself involved when she could have remained out of the drama.
While the drama has died down, this was a career sabotage of sorts for everyone involved. People want to create drama to remain in the public eye and most of the time it puts dirt on everyone else’s name.
Sports
One of the biggest sports rivalries in Oregon is the Ducks and the Beavers. Every college has their opposing teams, but Oregon likes to take it to the next level. They first came head to head in 1894, which means this is one of the longest standing rivals in the nation. They have come head to head 128 times.
This type of rivalry is called a ‘civil war’ and not only do the teams really battle it off, but the mascots make it personal. While the duck and the beaver do have some camaraderie off the field, when it’s game time they take it to the point of becoming fist fighting mascots.
Switching to baseball, a rivalry that is currently building is between Padres and Dodgers. There’s been rivalry outside the sports, where each city claims they‘re the better. When there was a loss, the Padres held Los Angeles accountable.
A few players have switched sides and have gone from Dodgers to Padres and vice versa— and their careers have flourished by doing so. Fast forward today, the Padres season has been great and they had a chance to go up head to head with the Dodgers. Fans taunted other fans and taunted players. The rivalry between fans caused outbreak fights and security to be heightened.
This is my list of the greatest rivalries from cartoons, to books and movies, to celebrities, and sports. As you have read this I hope more of your favorite rivalries come to mind. Rivalries in a way are bad, because of the drama but in a sense, they can be beneficial to push each other to be a stronger and better version of themselves.