Sometimes two people will just never get along, but other times they actually realize that the things that make them different actually work well together. That is, if they can stop fighting long enough to notice… So, let’s look at the enemies to besties trope, what makes it so entertaining, and how it inspires us to have an open mind when it comes to friendships!

Enemies to Besties Across Genres

The ‘enemies to besties’ arc is a trope across all kinds of genres. And it differs from the classic ‘frenemies’ trope because these characters don’t keep their resentment and rivalry going after they become friends. Frenemies continue to harbor a little ill will against their friend – and this is what leads them to continue to clash over and over. Enemies that become besties really do come to love and appreciate their former rival, and instead of always looking for the next fight, decide to take on the world together.

The enemies to besties trope is a staple in teen dramas. And as we know, the teenage years can be rough. Being in school means being surrounded by lots of peers – which provides a lot of opportunity for friendship, but also a lot of opportunity for social conflict. These rivalries often revolve around grades, dating, or popularity — all areas that can spark jealousy and competitiveness. As we analyzed in our video on her, Gilmore Girls’ Paris Geller was initially framed as a bit of a villain on the show as she became Rory’s academic rival. But over time, we saw that this beef didn’t just spring up out of nowhere – Paris felt threatened because she worked so hard to get good grades and succeed in every extracurricular, only to have Rory show up and seemingly be great at everything without even trying. As Rory and Paris got to know each other more and began to understand each other on a deeper level, they came to realize that their very different personalities and skills actually complemented each other really well, and they ended up becoming best friends!

On Pretty Little Liars, queen bee Alison DiLaurentis had more enemies than friends – enough that there were several suspects in her disappearance. At school, she bullied others, including Mona Vanderwaal, whom she dubbed “Loser Mona.” After years of Alison’s torment, Mona became the mysterious A and anonymously ran Alison out of Rosewood (and then spent years torturing Aria, Emily, Spencer, and Hanna.) But even after all of that, their relationship manages to grow from antagonistic to amicable by the later seasons. And then the two fully reunited in spinoff show The Perfectionists, where they finally put their tumultuous past behind them and became not just co-workers but allies.

“I know in the past we’ve been more frenemies than friends but… I want you to know that I…” “Are you trying to say that you care about me?” “Sort of.” The Perfectionists

Riverdale is full of friend drama that spans decades and even other realities. Veronica and Betty manage to overcome their initial rivalry to become true friends (for the most part…) But other characters have a more difficult time. Cheryl has a harder time letting go of her mean girl behavior and really getting to know people on a deeper level, and this keeps her from being able to form real friendships for a long time. But she does eventually begin making strides towards becoming a better person, and by the end of the series is able to count several of her former enemies as friends – and even gets her own ‘enemies to lovers’ arc with Toni.

Romantic comedies often see women being pitted against each other and fighting over a guy. But then, in the midst of their rivalry, there’s a moment when they realize that he’s actually not worth their time, kick him to the curb, and become friends themselves. When we first meet Vivian Kensington in Legally Blonde, she’s the total opposite of Elle Woods — cold, competitive, and snobby. They’re visually juxtaposed, too, showing that Warner broke up with a girly LA blonde to get engaged to a sophisticated East Coast brunette. Vivian looks down on Elle, seeing her as nothing but a ditzy sorority girl. However, she still feels threatened by her fiancé‘s ex. Elle earns Vivian’s respect while they work on Brooke’s case, realizing that she’s a smart, kind, and loyal person, while also seeing Warner’s true colors.

The superhero genre is all about adversaries and the fight of good vs evil. But, even villains can be reformed. Take Wanda Maximoff in the MCU. She and her twin brother debuted in Age of Ultron as firmly against the Avengers, specifically Tony Stark. But unlike Ultron, as much as they might want revenge, they didn’t want to see the world burn. So in the final showdown, they switch sides. Pietro dies a hero while Wanda becomes an Avenger. (Though growth isn’t always a straight line, and she does enter her supervillain era in Wandavision….)

Bucky and Sam never managed to get along but after the “death” of Captain America Steve Rogers, and instead essentially became enemies. Fans loved their dynamic so much they got their own show, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, where we found out that a lot of their issues stemmed from Sam receiving Cap’s shield and handing it over to the government. Eventually larger issues force them to put their animosity aside to save the world from John Walker’s wrath, and in turn they’re able to move past their rivalry.

The Boys began with A-Train killing Hughie’s girlfriend and showing no remorse, the catalyst for everything awful that would go on to happen to Hughie. We begin to see A-Train takes a turn for the better when he helps to expose the truth about Stromfront in season 2 (even if he does mostly just do it to get back into The Seven…) His redemption arc begins in earnest in the third season after his brother is paralyzed by Blue Hawk, allowing him to empathize with Hughie for the first time. But it’s season 4 when A-Train (reluctantly) helps out the Boys multiple times. In episode 7, A-Train joins Annie, Butcher, and MM in fighting the Deep and Noir, officially revealing that he isn’t loyal to the Seven anymore.

The trope is also often used in horror and fantasy stories, in which we see enemies forced to team up against a mutual foe. In the Chucky TV series, Lexy Cross is initially set up as a stereotypical mean girl – she’s incredibly cruel to Jake Wheeler, humiliating him by creating a GoFundMe page then dressing up as his recently deceased dad for Halloween. Even her “apology” was snarky and insincere. We begin to get glimpses into her home life and see how she’s mistreated by her controlling and image-obsessed mother, and so are given the opportunity to understand why Lexy acts out in the way she does. Over the course of the season, she’s able to go on her own redemption arc, and when she’s almost killed by Chucky, she and Jake, along with Devon, become the show’s trauma-bonded trio.

Wednesday Addams is famously anti-social. So it’s no surprise that when she’s sent to Nevermore Academy she quickly finds a nemesis in queen bee Bianca Barclay. Bianca feels threatened by the new girl, someone who gets the attention of her ex Xavier. But they’re able to have a moment of understanding at the dance that allows them to see one another in a new light and begin working together instead of battling each other.

Disney’s Descendents franchise is all about the offspring of iconic villains, so everyone has an enemy or two. Descendents 2 introduces us to Uma, the swashbuckling daughter of Ursula. It’s established that she has a long-standing rivalry with Mal and plans to take her down along with Auradon.

From the very first episode of Once Upon A Time, Regina Mills hated Emma Swan. Regina is evil in general – the Evil Queen, in fact – but she felt especially threatened by Henry’s birth mother arriving to town. But in the end, it’s their love for Henry that ends up connecting them, and inspiring the two to accept they’re both a part of his life. Over time, Emma and Regina gradually start to care about each other, too. Each of them end up having their own evil-turned-good and good-turned-evil moments, but because they always share their main goal of keeping Henry safe, they continue to band together.

When they can’t quite keep the friendship afloat…

While many characters do manage to overcome their differences and remain friends, others can never quite make it that far. Even if they do get to have that big moment of understanding and kinship, there’s always something that keeps the rivalry lowkey burning. This can be due to the fact that they didn’t really take the time to fully resolve their issues, and so the same problem keeps cropping up again and again. (But it’s also just an easy way for writers to reinject long-running shows or sequel films with some familiar drama.) We’re always left hoping that this time will finally be the time they make up for real and overcome their conflict, but then… something always seems to go wrong. But because their underlying friendship always seems to weather the storm, we’ll always keep hoping that next time will be when they finally make nice for good.

In the first two High School Musical movies, Sharpay Evans starts off hating Gabriella Montez pretty much just for existing. (To be fair, she doesn’t like anyone who isn’t her brother or Troy Bolton.) When she finds out Gabriella can sing and that Troy’s crushing on her, she becomes obsessed with “beating” her by any means possible. Sharpay does the most; scheming, sabotaging, you name it. But none of her plans work, and Troy and Gabriella still perform, wowing the audience with their talent and chemistry. By the end of the film, it seems like everyone has come to a new place of understanding, and that Sharpay has decided to start moving on from her mean girl ways. But… by the next movie, she’s back to her old self, doing whatever she can to make sure no one takes her spotlight. The sequel perfectly illustrates her problem – this one-sided rivalry with Gabriella is a game, something for her to win. But Gabriella isn’t playing. As cute as their nice moments may be, it would have taken a lot more work for these two (well, mostly Sharpay) to grow beyond their rivalry.

Gossip Girl’s Blair Waldorf and Serena van der Woodsen are the quintessential forever frenemies. For six seasons, we watched as they sabotaged each other, hooked up with each other’s exes, spilled secrets (often in very public settings), and even ruined college plans. Sometimes their spats even came to physically fighting each other. But eventually, they’d always make up because there was a deeper bond tying them together, and an understanding that no one else on Earth really understood them the way they understood each other. This closeness meant that they always had each other to lean on… but also to fight with.

“My whole life I have been bending over backwards to protect your feelings. And you know what? It’s not my fault you’re so insecure.” “And I’m sure it’s not your fault you’re so conceited.” Gossip Girl

In the superhero world, the complicated relationship between Charles Xavier (Professor X) and Erik Lehnsherr (Magneto) is peak frenemy energy. Whether it’s in the X-Men comics, movies, or TV shows, these two are always at odds – but their friendship somehow remains intact. Even though they can’t ever seem to agree on their views of humanity, Erik and Charles have a deep respect for each other. In 2000’s X-Men, Charles and his students go up against Magneto and his Brotherhood of Mutants. Even after Magneto is apprehended, Charles still goes to play chess.

Why We Love It (The Power of Friendship)

Character development is one of the most basic and intriguing aspects of film and television, so watching two opposite personalities clash and then eventually figure out a way to understand each other will always be entertaining. With frenemies, the question isn’t whether or not if someone will backtrack or betray but how and when they definitely will. But with an enemies to besties storyline, we get to enjoy following a developing friendship that (usually) doesn’t undo the personal growth of each character for the sake of ratings or drama. Seeing rivals become friends shows us that people who seem majorly different can still find common ground, inspiring us to open up to others who are unlike ourselves. Plus, everyone loves a redemption story! There’s hope that characters (and real life people) can change for the better; that villains can become heroes… or, at least, sympathetic anti-heroes.

Through these arcs, characters not only get to find new understanding with each other, but also with themselves. In Toy Story, Woody and Buzz’s conflicting personalities are a symptom of their own personal anxieties and the very different ways they handle everything. But they come to realize that while they might go about compensating for it in different ways, in reality they share the same basic fear: that they won’t be wanted or useful anymore. And it’s by coming to accept this and work together that they manage to save the day again and again.

On Jane The Virgin, Petra Solano initially hated Jane Villanueva, and was essentially the series’ villain. But we come to find out the reason for her rage, and she’s given the opportunity to turn her life around and grow as a person. While Petra’s very bad behavior in season 1 caused Jane a lot of problems, eventually they are able to work through their issues until the develop a friendship that feels more like a sisterhood.

Becoming besties with a former enemy isn’t always a good move – sometimes people are really just straight up bad and trying to bring you down, and you shouldn’t have to keep them in your life. But there is some part of us that wants to see the best in people, to imagine that we can overcome our differences and work together – and it’s that hope that keeps the Enemies to Besties trope alive. It helps to remind us that there is usually more going on under the surface, and that opening up isn’t always a bad thing – sometimes it can lead to some really awesome growth!