In partnership with Warner Brothers
When it comes to the big screen, nothing quite seals a rivalry like a good old fashioned throw down.
We’ve seen it countless times between rivals in James Bond, The Fast and the Furious, Game of Thrones, and even Looney Tunes.
And thanks to Warner Brothers, we’re seeing it again.
Enter Fist Fight, a film that takes hot-headed feuds and puts it where, well, you’d probably expect to see a fight: In the parking lot. After school.
Unlike most silver screen muscle-packed feuds though, this epic showdown is between two grown men employed as high school teachers, who also happen to be Ice Cube and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’s Charlie Day.
But Fist Fight charts just one of the many great rivalries that have defined eras human history.
In the spirit of a good-hearted (or not so good-hearted) feud, here are some of the most famous, long-lasting and iconic rivalries the world has seen.
Batman v Superman
The Caped Crusader versus The Man of Steel. The Dark Knight versus The Man of Tomorrow. Bruce Wayne versus Clark Kent. However it’s framed, Batman and Superman have one of the greatest rivalries not only among DC comic superheros, but perhaps ever.
Even though we only saw The Dark Knight take on The Last Son of Krypton on the big screen for the first time in March 2016, there’s a long history of rivalry between Batman and Superman that goes back decades.
It’s a tale that has been told many times and constantly updated for new generations. The pair have clashed in some of the most epic showdowns the DC Universe has ever seen, and although they would one day become known as the World’s Finest, the rivalry of DC’s two greatest heroes can always be traced back to that first time they met – an iconic rivalry from the start.
So how do they stack up?
Aggression:
Batman is suppressing some serious issues I’m going to give aggression a 4/5
Cost:
Bruce Wayne pulls in some serious dough, but Superman wears clothes his mum made him because journalists don’t get paid squat 3/5
Duration:
IMDB says a mere 151 min 2/5
Fame:
Hmm, hard to gauge, Superman is the most famous dude in the world, but Batman is a shadowy myth used to terrorise the criminal underworld 3/5
Total: 13/20
Ali v Frazier
Boxing is a sport born and bred in rivalry, and Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier proved that spectacularly.
Many would argue that the greatest rivalry in the history of individual human combat was the three-fight trilogy involving Ali and Frazier.
It was their confrontations that brought boxing to a level never dreamed of, and perhaps will never reach again. The rivalry between the two boxers may have been vicious in the ring, but it defined the essence of a brutal sport.
Aggression:
It’s punching each other in the face, but with supreme control, the boxer who gets angry makes mistakes so 3/5
Cost:
If you take into account all the money that was bet and lost or won on this match across the world I’m going to say 4/5
Duration:
This was back when boxing used to stretch to a mammoth 15 rounds but they are only 3 minutes long 2/5
Fame:
You don’t get called the Fight of The Century without making a few headlines 5/5
Total: 14/20
Biggie v Tupac
They were born less than a year apart. Biggie worked on the east coast, Tupac worked on the west. Tupac had good looks and revolutionary heritage, Biggie had street cred and the everyman appeal.
They were on good terms until November 30 1994, when Tupac was shot five times in a Manhattan recording studio. Suspecting Biggie and his mentor P Diddy as the masterminds behind the shooting, one of the most iconic rivalries between hip hop artists – and eventually, the hip hop world – was born.
Aggression:
Lots of people got actually shot dead 5/5
Cost:
It’s gansta rap, although admittedly before it went crazy nuts on the money side 3/5
Duration:
The east coast west coast rivalry lasted most of the early nineties 4/5
Fame:
It’s Biggie and Tupac 5/5
Total: 17/20
Roadrunner v Wile E. Coyote
Rivalries come and go, but few stand the test of time quite like this one.
Wile E. Coyote often labelled himself a genius, and he deserves the credit. Who else would think of such elaborate schemes to catch dinner or draw up such detailed blueprints? But the fact he never succeeded doesn’t change his status as the most determined and creative coyote out there, and in turn, one half of one of the greatest cartoon rivalries of all time (the other half, of course, going to his foil the Roadrunner).
Aggression:
Hyper-violent, but nobody ever gets hurt. Tricky I’m going to go for 3/5
Cost:
I just checked on eBay and those old school anvils are like £200 each, but Wiley could have been using the same one over and over 2/5
Duration:
The first one was in 1949 and they faced off as recently as 2010 5/5
Fame:
I don’t know if you’d call it fame, but they are very well known 4/5
Total: 14/20
And introducing… Campbell v Strickland
Sure, Campbell versus Strickland looks much less evenly matched than say Batman v Superman or Roadrunner v Wiley Coyote, but if you ever wanted to see two high school teachers throw punches in the parking lot after school, then Fist Fight is your 15-year-old self’s dream come true.
Like Superman versus Batman, Biggie versus Tupac and Ali v Frazier, the feud between Campbell and Strickland is not just a simple fist fight – it’s an epic rivalry.
