You are my ultimate Nemesis; too bad we'll never meet.

August 18, 2018 12:46 PM

Looking for films (or heck TV too if the characters put in at least one full season) where the two main opposing characters never meet.

Inspired by the realization that Zorg and Korben Dallas in the Fifth Element aren't even aware of each other's existence.

posted by Mitheral to Media & Arts (20 answers total)

Certainly The Wire.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 12:57 PM on August 18, 2018

Actually, not certainly The Wire (at least for some antagonists), but it may scratch the itch.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 1:04 PM on August 18, 2018 [1 favorite]

Sauron never meets Frodo
posted by skewed at 1:14 PM on August 18, 2018 [3 favorites]

Star Trek ][: The Wrath of Khan
posted by johngoren at 1:47 PM on August 18, 2018 [3 favorites]

This is a big part of Eye In The Sky, a thriller about drone warfare.
posted by rollick at 2:15 PM on August 18, 2018

Kevin Flynn and Dillinger never meet in Tron.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 2:32 PM on August 18, 2018

Sheridan probably never meets the Shadow leadership in Babylon 5.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 2:38 PM on August 18, 2018

This may be cheating, but The Lives of Others has a version of this premise (except 'antagonist' is not really the right word, by the end of the film). I agree that Sauron in The Lord of the Rings is a good example; none of the good guys really gets to meet him, if I remember rightly, they only encounter his servants.
posted by Aravis76 at 3:02 PM on August 18, 2018 [2 favorites]

The Conversation.
posted by tzikeh at 3:27 PM on August 18, 2018 [3 favorites]

The Truman Show
posted by Glomar response at 3:32 PM on August 18, 2018 [1 favorite]

Two more: No Country for Old Men and Mad Max: Fury Road.
posted by tzikeh at 3:32 PM on August 18, 2018

It would help if you clarify what you consider "meeting." Did they meet if they saw one another in the same room, but never speak? Did they meet if they never see one another, but they talk over the phone? Or do we mean flat-out unaware of one another's existence, in which case Fifth Element doesn't qualify, because Zorg certainly knows who Korben is.
posted by tzikeh at 3:37 PM on August 18, 2018

Inspector Gadget never meets Dr. Claw.
posted by Miss T.Horn at 4:50 PM on August 18, 2018

I agree with tzikeh. Define "meet".

To me, in No Country for Old Men (SPOILERS), the two do meet because they have a gun battle and they speak on the phone. Both men are close enough to each injure the other, they just don't exchange words in those two scenes.
posted by dobbs at 4:52 PM on August 18, 2018 [1 favorite]

I don't recall if this is correct, but I believe The Parallax View may fit the criteria.

If Nixon or the Watergate burglars are the antagonist of All the President's Men, that would qualify -- though I'm not sure they are.
posted by dobbs at 4:57 PM on August 18, 2018

Arguably Fincher's Zodiac, although it definitely has An Opinion based on that final scene.
posted by flibbertigibbet at 7:48 PM on August 18, 2018

Legend of the Galactic Heroes fits this for much of its run. The two main protagonists are officers on opposite sides of a war, so while they hear of each other, they, as I recall, only ever meet once, despite facing one another in battle many times.
posted by Canageek at 8:36 PM on August 18, 2018

Game of Thrones sets Danaerys up as one of the principle claimants to the throne, but it takes until the seventh season before she ever lays eyes on any of the others (and even then she converses with them for a single scene) Some of them know of her existence, but she is largely dismissed as a child half a world away.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 7:21 AM on August 19, 2018 [1 favorite]

Maybe The Lives of Others?
posted by beccaj at 7:29 AM on August 19, 2018

Both in real life and on the TV show Reign: Queen Elizabeth and Mary, Queen of Scots.
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:08 AM on August 19, 2018