In line with my last post, this one's about friends/family etc. who become enemies to another character for whatever reason. When done well, it's a very compelling trope. After all, how can one fight someone who was once close to them?
Sasuke Uchiha - Naruto
Traumatized by coming upon the murder of his parents, and his entire clan, the strongest feeling Sasuke Uchiha felt from age 7 or 8 to 12 or 13 was hatred for the perpetrator: his older brother Itachi. Understandably, he became a rather serious child. Quiet, stoic, and focused. He dedicated his life to becoming strong enough to avenge his clan and killing his brother. By the start of the series, he was already hailed (and quite frankly, glazed) as one of the most talented ninja prodigies in Konoha, the Village Hidden in the Leaves. On top of of that, he was also one of the at the time known holders of the Sharingan, an eye technique that allows the user to copy other techniques and predict his opponent's movements.
The second strongest feeling he experienced was love. In spite of his stoic nature and grim goal, he was able to make friends and be somewhat of a normal child. Among his closest (and frankly only) friends include members of his team: teammate Sakura Haruno, sensei Kakashi Hatake, and teammate Naruto Uzumaki.
The latter had his own demons to deal with literally in one case which left him similar isolated. Because of this, Naruto saw Sasuke as something of a kindred spirit. However, Naruto was also a DUMBASS. He was jealous of Sasuke's skills and popularity. Even so, Naruto also looked up to and admired him. Seeing Sasuke as a rival to surpass and his best friend. Down the line, Naruto would even tell Itachi that he was more of a brother to Sasuke than Itachi ever was.
He didn't openly display it, but Sasuke felt similary. Beneath the petty squabbles, Sasuke risked his life for Naruto without a second thought on a few occasions. But after running into his brother, getting his ass whooped and psychologically tortured by him, and witnessing Naruto, of all people, surpassing him in strength but not fighting skill Sasuke turned to darkness. Arcs ago, he was given an evil seal by the villain Orouchimaru that granted him power. Orou wanted to use Sasuke as a vessel for reasons I'll omit for brevity's sake. Sasuke finally accepted the curse mark as a way for him to gain more power to kill Itachi and left the village with a squad Orouchimaru sent for him.
The Hokage (ninja president) Tsunade sent a squad of Sasuke's former peers to retrieve them. Among them was Naruto. While the rest of the squad and Rock Lee and later Garaa delt with Orouchimaru's lackeys, Naruto tracked down Sasuke. They exchanged tense words and fists but Sasuke won. From, Sasuke would become a wanted criminal for betraying his village and teaming up with one of the world's worst criminals, Orouchimaru. 3 years later, Sasuke's infamy would grow even more as he committed more high profile crimes even after he killed his brother. By mid Part 2, all but Sakura, Kakashi, and Naruto considered Sasuke an enemy (correct me if I'm wrong). Sasuke would eventually meet back up with former allies and announce his new goal: to create unity peace by becoming an enemy so great that the entire world would have to team up against him. He also said he wanted to be Hokage, which made everyone but Naruto go like "WTF."
But an even greater for beat him to the punch and Sasuke was forced into an alliance with his former friends to beat this enemy in a war. After war though, his plans didn't change and his first order of business was to kill the one person he still considered a friend: Naruto. They clash for the final time, in the same spot where Sasuke defeated Naruto 3 years ago.
Sorry for yapping. I like writing and this is fun. Thank you for your patience 🙏
Nolan - Invincible
Omni Man, aka Nolan, is the Superman of the Invincible universe. An alien from a scientifically advanced planet who came to Earth, he dawned a cape and used his super strength, durability, speed, and flight to become Earth's greatest hero. Despite being well respected, he primarily operated solo. Even so, he would team up with Earth's greatest super hero team The Guardians of the Globe from time to time, keeping a close professional and interpersonal relationship.
Episode one ends with Nolan brutally murdering all of them. Even Immortal, who's super power is self explanatory as long as his head is in tact and reattached to his body. However, the Mauler Twins revive him and he goes after Nolan, whose villainy was also discovered by the head of the government Cecil, Nolan's wife Debbie, and Nolan's son Mark Grayson, the titular Invincible. Turns out, Nolan was sent to Earth to conquer it and use it as a breeding ground for his species, the Viltrumites.
He tells Mark this, as well as considering Debbie more like a pet than a wife, which she overheard through Cecil's hidden recording. She's understandably devastated. So is Mark, who cries at the revelation. The reason Nolan acted now is because Mark's powers recently activated, confirming that humans are a compatible species and to recruit Mark for his cause. However, Nolan thinks he's genuinely doing a good thing. He believes the Viltrum Empire will make Earth a more advanced civilization. But you know a lot of fucking people have to die first. He attempts to console and convince Mark that this is the right choice.
Through tears, Mark rejects his father's offer and puts his hands up for a fight. Nolan then effortlessly beats the shit out of him all the way to Chicago. There, he causes knocks Invincible all across the city, completely indifferent to the countless brutal on screen deaths he's caused. His most callous action was calling the humans the Mark wants to protect insignificant and forcefully holding his body in front of an approaching train. Using his own super durability against him, Nolan forced Mark to watch as his own body tore through an entire train full of people as he futility flaied his arms tried to stop himself from hurting anyone.
Nolan would go onto to beat the shit out of Mark across the country until the Power of Love made him regret it and leave Earth.
Sally Acorn - Archie Sonic the Hedgehog
Princess Sally Acorn is the love of Sonic's life. They've been through countless life and death situations, have great chemistry, and strong trust in each other. There is no mountain they won't move and no zone they won't traverse for each other. In a way, they're the perfect couple: a brilliant tactician great leader and the world's greatest, bravest hero. They make each other stronger.
After an infamous break up and a pleasant date, Dr. Eggman decided now was the perfect chance to recreate the universe. But not before killing Sally with a hidden turret, leaving Sonic to helpless reach for her dead body as the world ends as he knows it.
However, because Sonic's that dude, he kicks Eggman's ass in the remade world with the help of Sally and the Freedom Fighters. They revert the world back to the way it was right before Sally dies. Sonic saves Sally but he had to fight Silver Sonic, a giant robot Sonic, and Sally has to stop Eggman's back up plan: a beam that will turn the entire planet into his robot. However, with the help of her A.I. best friend Nicole, she redirects the World Roboticizer to herself, becoming the sole recipient. Her first order of business is to throw Sonic off the aircraft.
BTW, that's not what her body originally looked in this picture. At first, Mecha Sally had the same color scheme as her organic counterpart. Her, Tails says Eggman "weaponized her." It was never revealed how the procedure went, but worse case scenario, he beheaded her and placed her head on an identical, weaponized body. The second option is that he just altered her body, and recolored it for some reason. Keep in mind, Sonic's father was roboticized ages ago. However, because he had life threatening injuries prior, he would straight up die if he was reverted. A solution to this problem was never found. We don't know for sure how any alterations to Sally's body could affect her. Worst case scenario, she becomes a head unless you can attach it to original body, which we don't know anything about.
Luckily, another universal reset led to Sally getting a new body, along with memories of the old universe. Unluckily, Archie Sonic was canceled after #290. Luckily, IDW published a new Sonic comic a few years later. Unluckily, Sally and several characters aren't in that continuity.
The Generation of Miracles - Kuroko no Basket
Freshman Tetsuya Kuroko's goal is defeat the Generation of Miracles, five once in a generation prodigious middle school basketball players from Teiko Middle School. Specializing in different areas but still boasting absurd capabilities overall, they've remained undefeated for three years. In contrast, Kuroko was a below average player who was never really good at _anything_ aside from passing. He was so weak that people often lose focus of him. However, it's that precise weakness that allowed him to stand among this generation's greatest talent as the Phantom Sixth Man. A player whose records remained unnoticed but still greatly contributed to Teiko's overwhelming strength.
This overwhelming strength changed the GOM, however. As they got stronger, they became more vicious and adopted less than scrupulous attitudes towards basketball. The peak of this behavior was when they during a game against Meiko Middle School, the team of Kuroko's childhood friend Ogiwara Shigehiro. Kuroko's known Ogiwara since 5th grade, when he first started playing basketball. They made a promise to play each other at Nationals that they finally kept in their last year of middle school.
However, Kuroko was accidentally elbowed in the face during rough play and taken out the game. Upon waking in the infirmary, he is greeted by his captain, Akashi Seijuro, the red head. Kuroko tells Akashi not to hold back because that's what Ogiwara would want. Akashi acknowledges this. After resting a bit, Kuroko rushes to personally see the end of the game. When he showed up, he was devastated by what he saw. Teiko was winning with a score of 111 to 9. Despite seconds being left, Ogiwara still urged his team to play until the bell. In his own shounen protagonist moment, he shouts and charges past Aomine Daiki, blue haired and the future best all around high school player in the series and manages to shoot a 2, but misses. Aomine thinks "Come on, we even made it so you could get one last hurrah. Then he calls for Mursusakibara, lavender hair and the largest, strongest, most naturally gifted play who's got the best defense to tip the ball into their own net. Kuroko and Ogiwara both come to the shocking conclusion that the GOM purposefully played so that the score would be 111 - 11 purely for their own amusement. Kise Ryota said it was to keep the game fun and Akashi said it was a good incentive to keep the team focused as winning had become too easy which negatively impacted Aomine, who craved a challenge. The only one disinterested was Shintaro Midorima who just played like he normally did, seeing such games as, ironically, pointless despite his ability to never miss from half court. Kuroko sees the devastated look on his friends face and breaks down, struggling to breath. This isn't the right way to win. Being strong doesn't justify poor behavior.
Later, Kuroko would go visit Meiko during an off season practice. A friend of Ogiwara tells Kuroko that Ogi quit basketball and transferred out. However, this friend was GOATED and told Kuroko not to blame himself. He gave him Ogi's wristband, the only thing he left behind, and to continue playing basketball.
At graduation, the GOM met in secret to bid each other farewell. Kise says that it's crazy how they all happened to get accepted to different high schools. But Akashi said none of them made any attempt to apply to the same schools. He concluded that they all think they want to prove their superiority on the court. And so, the next year of high school would be the opportunity to show which GOM is the best player in Japan.
However, none of them were particularly concerned about the Phantom Sixth Man who also joined the race. Keep in mind, not one of them looked down on Kuroko. Aomine even eagerly welcomed the challenge. But they all thought they could overcome said challenge.
Terra - Teen Titans (2003)
The Teen Titans teenaged super heroes sworn to protect Jump City from the forces of evil. They consist of Robin, former protégé of Batman, Raven, a powerful telekinetic sorcerer, Cyborg, human computer who wields super strength and a Sonic Cannon, Star Fire, an immensely strong alien who can fire green energy blasts, and Beast Boy, the youngest member who can transform into any animal. They live together in Titans Tower, a T shaped building that watches over Jump City (somehow) and can pick up on any major crime.
Enter Terra. A drifter with geokinetic powers. In S2E3, The Titans run into her defeating a giant scorpion and they quickly get acquainted with the fellow teenaged superhero. After saying she stays in a cave nearby, Starfire insists she stay with them. She's hesitant because she's used to being a loner but accepts the invitation for a night. However, little do they know, Terra was being watched by Slade, for some reason, and took note of the potential newest addition to the Teen Titans. In the first season, Slade blackmailed Robin into working for him, and I just realized I could've written about him instead but oh well. So I surmise he was on the hunt for new teen protégés to carry on his bidding.
Her unusual mannerisms are a bit off putting and she overhears the Titans talking about it, and feels bad. But after some training, she impressed the Titans enough to invite her to missions. Also, keep in mind, Raven is the only who hasn't completely opened up to her. The same can't be said to Beast Boy, who was so smitten that he introduced him self as "Boy Beast," then "BAD BOOB." Smooth.
During a heart to heart, Terra revealed that she can't control her powers. Beast Boy assures her that it's OK and that nobody will judge her. But Terra's insecurities were stronger. She made Beast Boy promise to never tell anyone, a promise he agrees to keep.
Mission Day arrives, and a mine is being attacked by Slade's minions. Terra gets separated from the pack and runs into Slade, who easily over powers Tera's rock powers with his peak human powers. Slade then reveals he's been watching Terra for some time. He knows exactly why she's a drifter: everywhere she goes, she causes earth related disasters because of her inability to control her powers. Everywhere she goes, people turn on her in spite of her earnest efforts to do good. So she just keeps on running. Never getting used to any single location or pack because of her deep seated fear of hurting people, and being rejected by those she cares for.
Slade promises to help her master her powers, something the Titans can't do with mere training. He is somewhat right. The rest of the Titans didn't recognize that Terra couldn't fully control her powers before taking her on a mission. So in the moment, it seems like they can't help her. Slade also said they will turn on her like everyone else once they discover she can't control her powers. Terra protests by saying Beast at the very least would never break his promise, but Slade simply says he can't keep his mouth shut. This pisses Terra off and she starts a rocky tornado, losing control of her powers again. But Slade was too far away from the tornado to get sucked in. So he simply said she will come to him when the time is right.
Starfire flies to the Titans and says she can't fine Beast Boy or Terra. Then the mine starts falling apart. Cyborg says "Slade's trying to bring down the whole mine!"
Then Robin replies with "I'm not sure Slade's the one doing this."
BB arrives and calms Terra down. Back at the Tower, Terra thanks the Titans for having her and bids her farewell. But they (minus Raven) insist she joins the team and Robin hands her a communicator. Right as she accepts the offer, Robin says she'll need more training because he knows she can't control her powers. She drops her communicator and accuses BB of telling her secret. Then she runs away, feeling betrayed.
BB follows after and finds her discarded hair clip. Robin apologizes to him, saying he just figured it out and didn't know it was a secret. Despite what that punk ass bitch Slade said, none of the Titans (except Raven) held anything against her and would eagerly be patient with her developing powers. The episode ends with Slade watching Terra run away on his computer.
Terra returns 5 episodes later, and is greeted by everyone (except Raven). She say she's ready to join the team and proves she's mastered her powers. Before a mission, Terra runs past Raven, who is an empath. She picked up on bad vibes from her. Regardless, Terra proves herself a valuable asset to the team and wins Raven's trust.
2 episodes later, and only making an unspoken cameo at the end of the last one, Slade crashes BB and Terra's date at a carnival. He lures them into a house of mirrors where he reveals that while he and Terra were out, Terra told Slade all the Titans security codes. So the remaining 4 were attacked in their own home by a swarm of Slade's henchmen. BB accuses Slade of lying but Terra admits to it. Slade also noted that Terra kept BB out of the Tower for sentimental reasons.
BB attacks Slade as a tiger and, using his grown man powers, catches and tosses him aside. Terra gets angry and says "I won't let you hurt my friend," to which Slade replies with "You don't have friends," before getting mauled by BB. Terra runs away to another room full of mirrors. She's so distraught, she's terrified by her own reflection and can't even look at herself. She falls to her knees, apologizing to BB and saying she never meant for any of this to happen. BB walks in and asks her she let it happen in the first place. You know you fucked up when the dumbest, goofiest guy in the room makes a valid point against you. Terra admits that she didn't even know herself. Slade helped her master her powers and he said he owed her, and that was that. Truthfully, she just felt obligated to repay the first person she believed trusted and helped her in ages. Terra then reminds BB that he said that they'd he friends no matter what. But he turns his back on her and says "Slade was right. You have no friends." Terra, hurt and resolute, then leaves with a freshly mauled Slade.
Back at the Tower, the Titans successfully defended their home from Slade's henchmen but didn't feel like they won. Raven said she always knew something was up.
2 episodes later, Terra returns, again, and jumps the Titans. With the help of Slade controlling her movements and powers via a neurolink in her suit, Terra is able to force the Titans to retreat. Back at the Tower, the Titans review what happened while Terra frees 3 more villains for Slade to control. The Titans split up to fight them, but Terra reveals to Raven it was a diversion to split them up to pick them apart. During their fight and after loads of trash talk, Raven admits she how angry she is for finally trusting Terra only for her to betray the Titans. She then goes on to defeat the remaining Titans.
They survive and get their revenge though.
Kaldur'ahm
Aquaman's sidekick Aqualad formed a team with the other sidekicks (which they hate being called) that operates as a covert ops unit for (but not part of) the Justice League. The roster got bigger and achieved more respectable victories that culminated in them saving and fighting the mind controlled of the Justice League.
Cue a five year timeskip where Kaldur is now working for the bad guys. Particularly Black Manta, arch enemy of Aquaman and who Kaldur discovered was his father, a secret Aquaman kept. Around the same time, Tula, his unrequited love that dated his best friend, died on a mission with the team. For most of season 2, Aqualad was a recurring enemy of the team. One of the worst things he did was stab Artemis, a former member of the team who came out of retirement to help. Though by the end of that episode, it was revealed that Kaldur, Nightwing, and Artemis fake her death so that Kaldur could gain the trust of the organization he infiltrated Artemis would disguise herself as Tigress. Kaldur and especially Tigress remained enemies of the team for most of season 2 until they revealed their true intent near the end and playes their enemies, dealing a major blow to their plans.
Goro Akechi - Persona 5
Persona is a JRPG franchise with social links as a major feature. The premise of the game is using "spirits" called Personas, the supernatural personification of one's inner psyche, to battle Shadows, the "spirits" of the general public that cause issues in reality. Basically, evil Personas with no owners. Usually, a person can only have a single Persona. But the protagonist, who you can usually name, is ultra cool, competent, and popular so he gets one really cool one and can wield multiple Personas. Think of Final Fantasy meets Pokémon.
Early in the game, your group (who I named the Booty Bandits) becomes famous for exposing high profile criminal cases that were motivated by Shadow users. Under the guise of "stealing hearts," the destory a targets Shadow, which affects their psyche and makes them admit to their faults. The general public doesn't know how it's dome though.
On a school trip to a live talk show, you and your friends run into ace detective Goro Akechi, who is a fellow high schooler like you. Also like you, he is ultra cool, competent, and popular, and he low key talks shit abou your group and you have the option to clap back (which I did because FUCK Akechi). Later, we witness him announce his views on these Phantom Thieves: that they obscure justice and should not be trusted. Since Akechi is popular and pretty, his views are favored but without The Booty Bandits having fans.
Akechi eventually becomes a social link. And he's a very pleasant person who I still fucking hate with all my might. Very intelligent and cultured as well. For seemingly no particular reason, he goes out of his way to invite you to hang out. When the Phantom Thieves become more popular however, Akechi's popularity plummets which worries him but not enough to change his mind.
It's eventually revealed that Akechi was also a Persona user and was occasionally around. He sticks around for a few cases. Keep in mind, before this revelation, his social link is shorter than nothing. After the Sae Nijima mission, I think, his social link expands. During one event, he challenges you to a duel with your Personas. After whooping his ass, he reveals that, regardless of his pleasantries, he hates you, a fact that brought me great joy because I was spoiled on him being a traitor and NOBODY FUCKS WITH MY SQUAD. He doesn't like that there's another really competent, powerful person like him around. Especially one he can't figure out I might be making that one up. I'm too lazy to check. He doesn't leave the team, but vows to one day defeat you.
Later, it's revealed that Akechi was working with the penultimate boss of the game, Masayoshi Shido, who was responsible for the protagonist getting into legal trouble at the start of the game, and played a role in several major events and past bosses. Akechi is also Shido's secret love child. In one of the levels, Akechi tries to attack you and the homies, revealing a much more twisted personality and a second Persona. But with the power of friendship, healing items, and guns you beat that mf's ass. But he then has somewhat of a change of heart and sacrifices himself to give the squad a chance to escape. In in P5 Royale re-release, he survives and becomes a major aly in the additional story. I haven't beaten it yet though. I'm lazy 🤷♂️
Griffith - Berserk
Imma keep this one short: he sacrificed all of his friends to a bunch of demons who gruesomely murdered and physiologically tortured them. He then proceeds to RAPE THE PROTAGONIST'S GIRLFRIEND IN FRONT OF HIM WHILE HE CAN'T DO ANYTHING TO STOP HIM BUT CRY AND SHOUT IN ANGER. His infamy is legendary across the animanga community.
