History Main / EscalatingWar

** One short, "The New Neighbor", featured Donald fighting against WesternAnimation/{{Pete}} like he does Jones from the comics. It culminates in the two of them building an enormous fence that eventually collapses thanks to interference from Pete's dog, wrecking both their properties.

** One short, "The New Neighbor", featured him fighting against WesternAnimation/{{Pete}} like he does Jones from the comics. It culminates in the two of them building an enormous fence that collapses under its own weight, wrecking both their properties.

* In ''Anime/{{Patlabor}}'', The Seven Days of Fire, a civil war between the labor mechanics at Special Vehicles section 2.

* [[http://deanhunt.com/advert-wars/ This]] famous series of car ads.

* An episode of ''Anime/LostUniverse'' has a war of rivalry between two groups of students in a nursery academy that starts out as nasty (but mostly harmless) pranks. It culminates with them using ''explosives'' during their final exam to sabotage each other, turning what was supposed to be a simulation into a real emergency.

* The box war episode of ''Manga/RozenMaiden''.

* The ''LetsPlay/HermitcraftServer'''s Civil War. It started with Iskall pranking False, with Cleo later swooping by and framing Ren for it. False then pranked Ren in retaliation with the help of Grian, Ren hit back at Cleo for making him a target in the first place, Grian got caught in the trap meant for Cleo, then he and Tango pranked Ren and Doc and framed False and Mumbo for it... This went on for a while, until the server split up into the G-Team (led by Grian) and Team STAR (led by Doc) and it all escalated into an all out war, with fortresses to defend, elaborate redstone traps, [=ConCorp=] selling weapons to both sides, and Mumbo acting as a ([[OvertOperative pretty unsuccesful]]) [[TheMole mole]].

* Not really done ''to each other'', but in ''Literature/MoreInformationThanYouRequire'', the cities of Richmond, VA and Milwaukee, WI are consistently one-upping each other for the title of "Strange Rain Capital of the United States". [[WidgetSeries It's that kind of book.]]

* The LetsPlay/HermitcraftServer's Civil War. It started with Iskall pranking False, with Cleo later swooping by and framing Ren for it. False then pranked Ren in retaliation with the help of Grian, Ren hit back at Cleo for making him a target in the first place, Grian got caught in the trap meant for Cleo, then he and Tango pranked Ren and Doc and framed False and Mumbo for it... This went on for a while, until the server split up into the G-Team (led by Grian) and Team STAR (led by Doc) and it all escalated into an all out war, with fortresses to defend, elaborate redstone traps, [=ConCorp=] selling weapons to both sides, and Mumbo acting as a ([[OvertOperative pretty unsuccesful]]) [[TheMole mole]].

** In the ''Film/BackToTheFuture'' parody episode "Meet the Quagmires", we see that it may have started even earlier, when Peter bumped into the Chicken at the dance.

* Occasionally happens in Donald Duck comics, between Donald and his neighbor Jones, as pictured above.

* In ''Pet Foolery'', by the creator of ''Webcomic/PixieAndBrutus'', a strip titled "History" shows two armies of elves and orcs being told by their commanders that their leaders have come to an agreement, and signed a cease fire to end their two thousand year war, which nobody remembers how it even started since both sides burned down each others libraries. However, they bring forth two historians who managed to piece together a history from surviving documents. According to the historians, [[HowWeGotHere the current situation]] arose from the elves burning down an orc city, which was taken from the elves after the orcs forcibly occupied it, before that the orcs invaded some elven territory after the elves built a dam to redirect a river away from orc territory, which was done because the orcs cut off the elven kingdom from the gold trade, which was done because the elven queen refused to attend the orc king's birthday party, because the orc king tricked the elven queen to sit on an egg. The soldiers from both armies are dismayed to learn that [[SillyReasonForWar two millennia of war arose from a childish prank]].

** In the classic episode "Employee of the Month," [=SpongeBob=] and Squidward attempt to one-up each other in order to win the eponymous award. It starts when the former - paranoid over his 26-month winning streak being broken - breaks into the latter's house to break his alarm clock so he won't wake up. Squidward responds with a cabinet full of clocks as replacements. After exchanging trash talk, Squidward - who initially had no interest in actually winning the award at all - now declares he ''will'' do it just to spite [=SpongeBob=]. This launches an escalating series of traps to prevent one of them from getting to work first (Squidward putting [=SpongeBob=] to sleep with his clarinet, [=SpongeBob=] digging a hole in front of Squidward's front door, etc.), eventually culminating in [=SpongeBob=] pulling himself along while tied to an anchor and Squidward ''dragging a flaming pirate ship behind him!'' They then call, and immediately break, a truce, sprinting to the Krusty Krab. Once there, they attempt to win Mr. Krabs' favor by showing who can clean floors/tables/dishes more efficiently, tearing the place apart in the process. It finally culminates when they try to out-cook each other, producing so many Krabby Patties that the Krusty Krab explodes, with the Patties raining from the sky. The issue is ultimately unresolved, as Mr. Krabs is shown to be more concerned about customers picking up the "free" Krabby Patties without paying for them, while [=SpongeBob=] and Squidward each frantically ask to be named the winner as the episode fades out.

** In the classic episode "Employee of the Month," [=SpongeBob=] and Squidward attempt to one-up each other in order to win the eponymous award. It starts when [=SpongeBob=] - paranoid over Squidward winning the award and breaking his 26-month winning streak - breaks into the latter's house to break his alarm clock so he won't wake up. Squidward responds with a cabinet full of clocks as replacements. After exchanging trash talk, Squidward - who initially had no interest in actually winning the award at all - now declares he ''will'' do it just to spite [=SpongeBob=]. What follows is an escalating series of traps to prevent one of them from getting to work first (Squidward putting [=SpongeBob=] to sleep with his clarinet; [=SpongeBob=] digging a hole in front of Squidward's front door, etc.), eventually culminating in [=SpongeBob=] pulling himself along while tied to an anchor and Squidward ''dragging a flaming pirate ship behind him!'' They then call, and immediately break, a truce, sprinting to the Krusty Krab. Once there, they attempt to win Mr. Krabs' favor by showing who can clean floors/tables/dishes more efficiently, tearing the place apart in the process. It finally culminates when they try to out-cook each other, producing so many Krabby Patties that the Krusty Krab explodes, with the Patties raining from the sky. The issue is ultimately unresolved, as Mr. Krabs is shown to be more concerned about customers picking up the "free" Krabby Patties without paying for them, while [=SpongeBob=] and Squidward each frantically ask to be named the winner as the episode fades out.

** In the classic episode "Employee of the Month," [=SpongeBob=] and Squidward attempt to one-up each other in order to win the eponymous award. It starts when [=SpongeBob=] - paranoid over Squidward winning the award and breaking his 26-month winning streak - breaks into the latter's house to break his alarm clock so he won't wake up. Squidward responds with a cabinet full of clocks as replacements. After exchanging trash talk, Squidward - who initially had no interest in actually winning the award at all - now declares he ''will'' do it just to spite [=SpongeBob=]. What follows is an escalating series of traps to prevent one of them from getting to work first, starting with Squidward putting [=SpongeBob=] to sleep with his clarinet, while [=SpongeBob=] retaliates by digging a hole in front of Squidward's front door; eventually culminating in [=SpongeBob=] pulling himself along while tied to an anchor and Squidward ''dragging a flaming pirate ship behind him!'' They then call, and immediately break, a truce, sprinting to the Krusty Krab. Once there, they attempt to win Mr. Krabs' favor by showing who can clean floors/tables/dishes more efficiently, tearing the place apart in the process. It finally culminates when they try to out-cook each other, producing so many Krabby Patties that the Krusty Krab explodes, with the Patties raining from the sky. The issue is ultimately unresolved, as Mr. Krabs is shown to be more concerned about customers picking up the "free" Krabby Patties without paying for them, while [=SpongeBob=] and Squidward each frantically ask to be named the winner as the episode fades out.

** In the classic episode "Employee of the Month," [=SpongeBob=] and Squidward begin attempting to one-up each other in order to win the eponymous award. It starts when [=SpongeBob=] - paranoid over Squidward winning the award and breaking his 26-month winning streak - breaks into the latter's house to break his alarm clock so he won't wake up. Squidward responds with a cabinet full of clocks as replacements. After exchanging trash talk, Squidward - who initially had no interest in actually winning the award at all - now declares he ''will'' do it just to spite [=SpongeBob=]. What follows is an escalating series of traps to prevent one of them from getting to work first, starting with Squidward putting [=SpongeBob=] to sleep with his clarinet, while [=SpongeBob=] retaliates by digging a hole in front of Squidward's front door; eventually culminating in [=SpongeBob=] pulling himself along while tied to an anchor and Squidward ''dragging a flaming pirate ship behind him!'' They then call a truce, which they immediately break, sprinting to the Krusty Krab. Once there, they attempt to win Mr. Krabs' favor by showing who can clean floors/tables/dishes more efficiently, tearing the place apart in the process. It finally culminates when they try to out-cook each other, producing so many Krabby Patties that the Krusty Krab explodes, with the Patties raining from the sky. The issue is ultimately unresolved, as Mr. Krabs is shown to be more concerned about customers picking up the "free" Krabby Patties without paying for them, while [=SpongeBob=] and Squidward each frantically ask to be named the winner as the episode fades out.

* ''Fanfic/HalfPastAdventure'' features a *romantic* version between the characters [[Deuteragonist Robin]] and [[AscendedExtra Penhaligon]], culminating in a haunted stairwell.

* TD's feud with Blueblood in ''[[FanFic/TheNonBronyverse TD the Alicorn Princess]]'' quickly starts to get out of control after Blueblood sets up a machine that pies TD in the face.
* ''FanFic/TheTwilightChild'': The Seven Day Prank War of Righteousness, between Rainbow Dash and Midday, started when Dash presses one of Midday's [[BerserkButton Berserk Buttons]] (which is [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter comparing her to Twilight Sparkle]]). It eventually ends with much of Ponyville covered in paint, and the two of them being dragged away by an ''extremely'' angry Rarity, when the fashion designer has had enough.

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* The box war episode of ''Manga/RozenMaiden''.

* An episode of ''Anime/LostUniverse'' has a war of rivalry between two groups of students in a nursery academy that starts out as nasty (but mostly harmless) pranks. It culminates with them using ''explosives'' during their final exam to sabotage each other, turning what was supposed to be a simulation into a real emergency.

* Ditto with the Human Torch and Spider-Man. Johnny usually ends up the worse of the pair in these confrontations, thanks to Pete's SpiderSense.
* Occasionally happens in Donald Duck comics, between Donald and his neighbor Jones, as pictured above.

* In the ongoing Discworld/sci-fi/crossover saga ''FanFic/SlippingBetweenWorlds'', lord Vetinari is greatly concerned about the Visitors to Discworld. If any of them were to reveal the secrets of their high-technology weaponry to one of the world's powers, whether for ideological or mercenary reasons, he can see the existing balance of power so badly skewed that simmering hostilities and an uneasy peace between finely balanced enemies could erupt into first local war, then into all-out world war as the Superpowers (Klatch and Ankh-Morpork) are forced to step in to support their allies/client states. As Vetinari's foreign policy relies on keeping the balance of power by ensuring both sides remain equally balanced (through a sort of Mutually Assured Inconvenience), the prospect disturbs him. Hell, he doesn't even want ''Ankh-Morpork'' to have ''gonne'' technology...
* TD's feud with Blueblood in ''[[FanFic/TheNonBronyverse TD the Alicorn Princess]]'' quickly starts to get out of control after Blueblood sets up a machine that pies TD in the face.
* ''FanFic/TheTwilightChild'': The Seven Day Prank War of Righteousness, between Rainbow Dash and Midday, started when Dash presses one of Midday's [[BerserkButton Berserk Buttons]] (which is [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter comparing her to Twilight Sparkle]]). It eventually ends with much of Ponyville covered in paint, and the two of them being dragged away by an ''extremely'' angry Rarity, when the fashion designer has had enough.
* In the ''Literature/HarryPotter'' fanfic ''FanFic/OhGodNotAgain'', Sirius decides to prank Snape mercilessly once he actually gets hired as the history teacher. However, unlike in many of these fics, Snape gives just as good as he gets, and oftentimes moreso, at one point somehow turning Sirius into a ''male'' Veela. This goes on for a while.

* The entire plot of ''Film/PennAndTellerGetKilled'' revolves around Creator/PennAndTeller subjecting each other to a series of escalating practical jokes [[spoiler:which eventually causes Teller to shoot Penn and himself]].
* The plot of the movie ''Film/TinMen'' revolves around this after two aluminum siding salesman have a fender bender, and subsequently escalates to taking bats to each other's cars, [[spoiler:seducing the other guy's wife]], and [[spoiler:breaking into his house]].

* ''Film/{{Neighbours}}'', Norman [=McLaren=]'s Oscar-winning short film for the National Film Board of Canada, takes this to a disturbing (and not at all humorous) level, which combines with a bizarre type of StopMotion using live actors. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wh4DstK2w_Q Watch it here.]]
* This is the main plotline of the short film ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVFHNgNSH0s Nemesis]]''. The film's protagonist actually specifically requested someone to be [[TheRival his rival]].

* Not really done ''to each other'', but in ''Literature/MoreInformationThanYouRequire, the cities of Richmond, VA and Milwaukee, WI are consistently one-upping each other for the title of "Strange Rain Capital of the United States". [[WidgetSeries It's that kind of book.]]

* In ''Fleet of the Damned'', Sten and the other cadets get into an escalating water war.
* The first several chapters of ''Literature/TheTwits'' focus entirely on the Twits pulling cruel pranks on each other. Finally the narrator says this has gone on long enough and he wants to move on to other topics.
* The great Proxy Prank War of ''Literature/TheTatamiGalaxy'' started with two guys who were interested in the same woman and has since been passed on through generations of Kyoto University students. By this point, the pranks are highly elaborate and cunningly planned.
* ''Literature/TheButterBattleBook'' by Creator/DrSeuss. The Yooks and the Zooks argue how toast should be eaten, if it's better butter side up or down, so both sides develop weapons to harass each other until they both develop the "[[FantasticNuke Bitsy Big-Boy Bomberoo]]" and threaten the other by dropping it on the other's side. It ends with the narrator and his rival holding the bomb over the other's side, locked into a stalemate that threatens to kill both the Yooks and Zooks. Seeing how it was written as an analogy to the Cold War it makes sense that they both would come to this.

* ''Series/{{Beef}}'' starts with a fairly mundane altercation in a store parking lot and escalates into a full blown road rage incident. Over the ensuing series, the two parties involved partake in increasingly elaborate ways of antagonising each other, which eventually results in [[spoiler:Amy's divorce, Paul cutting off Danny, Isaac in prison likely for life, and Jordan and Michael dead.]]
* The Vegas episode of ''Series/{{Friends}}'', where Ross and Rachel try to humiliate one another.
** Or the episode in which Rachel tries to get revenge on Chandler for accidentally seeing her naked after having stepped out of the shower...and accidentally walks in on Joey. Joey tries to pay her back but gets Monica instead. The whole thing comes to a screeching halt on Monica's turn when she goes to surprise Joey and sees his father naked instead.
** "The One Where No-One's Ready" has a war that starts with Joey stealing Chandler's seat while the latter's in the bathroom and ends with Joey wearing ''every piece of clothing Chandler owns'' with no underwear.
--->'''Joey:''' You hide my clothes, I'm wearing everything you own!
* An episode of ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'' followed Malcolm and Reese caught in one. Displayed through flashbacks as well as the present events, the chain went like this: Malcolm steals a blueberry off Reese's plate, Reese gives Malcolm a wet willy, Malcolm fills Reese's hat with dirt, Reese puts something disgusting in Malcolm's toothpaste, Malcolm scares Reese with an air horn while he's in the shower, Reese puts a fire extinguisher down Malcolm's pants, Malcolm covers Reese's head in masking tape, Reese beats Malcolm up, Malcolm superglues Reese's arm to his forehead, Reese spreads posters of Malcolm potty training around school, Malcolm outs Reese as a hanger-on to a group of popular boys, Reese steals the money Malcolm was saving to buy a laptop, then finally, they crash into each other in go-karts and end up in full-body casts.
** While it was only one scene, the incident where a woman hit Lois' car when opening her own car door went from Lois slamming her own door into the woman's car and apologizing (to show the woman how to react when caught doing something like that) to the two women destroying both cars in an impromptu demolition derby may serve as a sort of miniature version.
* The episode of ''Series/JustShootMe'' where Jack, Finch and Eliot make bets about one another is a rare example of a three-way war.
* Several on ''Series/{{Mash}}'':
** On one episode, Charles's French horn playing drove Hawkeye and BJ to retaliate by refusing to shower and eventually using garbage cans and other loud noises to drown him out.
** Another episode features Margaret having a prank war with Hawkeye and BJ, with Charles secretly egging both sides on. It eventually escalates into Margaret [[spoiler: telling BJ's wife she (falsely) had an affair with him, which so enrages BJ that Charles has to come clean about his part in the pranks--which Margaret and BJ had already realized and staged the scene to get him to confess.]]
** Yet another instance featured Hawkeye playing a series of pranks on Charles, but as the opinion of the camp turned against him, he attempting to rig a prank to make it look like [[XanatosGambit Charles was the one pranking him]] but it unfortunately backfired. However, Hawkeye later realized [[spoiler: BJ was the one who sabotaged the last prank, and teamed up with Charles to get revenge on BJ.]]
* ''Series/{{Cheers}}'' had an ongoing prank war with Gary's Olde Towne Tavern that spanned six seasons.
** Gary even went so far as to [[spoiler:hire the whole city of Boston including everyone at Cheers to convince Sam that he had killed Gary]].
* Bayside High of ''Series/SavedByTheBell'' engaged in a prank war with Valley High.

* On ''Series/{{House}}'', it's usually House and Wilson usually engage in a war of verbal one-upsmanship every episode.
** In the S2 episode "Safe", however, they battle in an ongoing prank war like a couple of overgrown frat boys. House tricks Wilson into doing the dishes House had promised to do, locks him out of their apartment for hours, and puts Wilson's hand in warm water to make him pee himself. Wilson gets the last word by sawing halfway through House's cane, so that it dumps House on his ass in the middle of a crowded hallway - and even House [[ActuallyPrettyFunny can't help but laugh]] (in large part because he was mostly trying to get Wilson to snap out of his funk over a third divorce).
** In "Resignation", House and Wilson dose each other with medication: Wilson slips anti-depressants into House's coffee to cheer him up; House (to test if Wilson's also on meds) slips amphetamine into Wilson's coffee. Honestly, this one is worth watching if only for Robert Sean Leonard's hysterical delivery of "I'm not ''on'' anti-depressants, I'm on ''SPEEED''".
** And in S4's "Alone", Wilson holds House's guitar hostage until he agrees to hire some new fellows. House shows his displeasure by erasing Wilson's [=TiVo=] and moving one of Wilson's cancer patients without telling him. While Wilson is terrible at keeping his identity as the guitar-napper secret (he sends House ransom notes, but leaves the cut-up newspaper on his desk, where he knows House will look..and ''tries to read it'' while House is in the room), House does eventually interview for a new team. Of course, Wilson ''wanted'' House to know he took the guitar. The faking it was only for his own amusement.
*** Made even funnier by the fact that throughout the entire episode, both House and Wilson refer to the guitar as being "guitar-napped" but the cancer patient as being "stolen."
** In the episode ''Last Temptation'', House and Wilson have a bet as to who can keep a live chicken in their office the longest without hospital security catching on. Throughout the episode, we see each's increasingly bizarre attempts to expose the other.
* An episode of ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' saw Dr. Cox and Turk both trying to get rid of an annoying hypochondriac with fake arm pain. There is a montage of each of them writing down increasingly rare diagnoses on the patient's chart as he is turfed from surgery to medical and back again, until Dr. Cox finally writes down a disease that can only be fixed by surgery. Dr. Cox believes he's won the war... until he's told that Turk actually ''gave the patient unnecessary surgery.'' [[spoiler:Of course the surgery was faked as Turk's [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome final strike]] in the war.]]
* ''Series/BoyMeetsWorld'''s final season had a two-parter in which a prank-off escalated into an all-out knock-down drag-out fight. Feelings were hurt, sides were taken, there was even a ''bear'' involved. It took the pure-hearted wisdom of childlike [[TheDitz ditz]] Eric Matthews to put a stop to the madness.
* An episode of ''Series/NightCourt'' focused almost entirely on a prank war between Harry and a younger judge who was every bit the prankster he was. Some of the highlights included Dan Fielding being chased down the hall by a giant 8-ball, Harry's bench being unwittingly shattered by his gavel (after an ''entire night'' of cases had finished) and the rival prankster's robe being rigged with a giant inflatable balloon trapping him. The episode ended with Harry about to puncture said balloon.
* In an episode of ''Series/TheWestWing'', Charlie informed C.J. that she would have to sign out a copy of the President's daily schedule as it had been leaked with increasing regularity. In response to his slightly pompous way of informing her, C.J. mischievously incorrectly filed the report away in the wrong cabinet. The resulting prank war ended with Charlie loosening all the bolts on C.J.'s desk.
* ''Series/TheAdventuresOfPeteAndPete'' had an episode entitled "Apocalypse Pete", which starts over a race...between Petes' dad and a neighbor using an R/C car. The height of the war sees both sides using technology that [[FamilyFriendlyFirearms neither one of them could conceivably afford...or get a hold of.]]

* In [[Series/TheOfficeUK both]] [[Series/TheOfficeUS versions]] of ''The Office'', the annoying behavior of Gareth/Dwight leads to Tim/Jim playing pranks on them.
* In ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'', Dean and Sam have a prank war as the B plot of the episode "Hell House." At the end, they both pull (rather vicious) independent pranks on a pair of arrogant teens that had been bugging them for the episode, and calling their truce with each other. For the next 100 miles, at least.
* In an episode of ''Series/{{NCIS}}'', Ziva pulls the classic marker on the binoculars gag on Tony. He assures her that he won't be escalating anything. She spends the rest of the episode getting increasingly paranoid over what he might do, while he pays no attention to it. [[spoiler:In the final scene, after she has accepted that nothing is going to happen, her chair collapses when she tries to sit down.]]
* The modus operandi for any fight between Serena and Blair on ''Series/GossipGirl''.
** Could also apply for Blair and Chuck, and their half-a-season long fight over who should be the first to say "I love you". Continues even after they've decided to just let it be for now, since they then start to argue over who really knows the other best...
** And the fight between Jenny and Blair. And the fight between Blair and the teacher who gave her a B. Let's face it, this is ''Blair's'' modus operandi - you'd think people would just figure out that pissing her off is a bad idea unless you ''want'' to take it that far.
* Several ''Series/DeadliestCatch'' captains (most notably the Hilstrand brothers) pull successively elaborate pranks using the boats' fishing lines. If I recall correctly, it went: tying bags of flour to the line to bomb the crew; tying a ''porta-potty'' to the line; the grand finale was ''tying a '''truck''' onto the line''. Even the victim was [[MagnificentBastard impressed]] by that.
** The sequel was ''Northwestern'' Jake stealing one of the Hilstrand's beloved USA jackets, then being [[TooDumbToLive dumb enough]] to brag about it on camera so the ''Time Bandit'' crew ''hung and later [[KillItWithFire burned]] him in effigy'' (they claimed they burned it just to get rid of the effigy's ''Northwestern'' sweatshirt, which they felt was jinxing them).
** Most recently the captain and crew of one of the newer boats on the show graffitied the crane on the ''Time Bandit''. How did the Hilstrands retaliate? By buying over 1,000 eggs, calling in reinforcements from the ''Northwestern'' and another boat, and then egging the ever-loving hell out of the culprit's boat.
** The same season as the graffiti/egging incident, the Hilstrands released over 20 Chinese lanterns upwind of the ''Northwestern'', turning off their ship's lights and GPS so the ''Northwestern'' wouldn't see the ''Time Bandit''. When Captain Sig saw the lights, he freaked out, because he couldn't figure out what was going on. It wasn't until the Hilstrands called the ''Northwestern'' up and turned their lights back on that Sig realized he'd been pranked. During the following opilio crab season, Sig plotted his revenge on the brothers by stocking a bunch of fireworks on board the ship. At the end of the season, he intercepted the ''Time Bandit'', and the crew of the ''Northwestern'' unleashed a volley of rockets at the Hilstrands' ship. Of course, the Hilstrands (as always) had their own stock of fireworks aboard, and returned fire. The fireworks frenzy between the two ships continued, and much fun was had by all.
* The ''Series/MagnumPI'' episode "Paper War" pushes the usual format of "Magnum solves a crime" into a B-plot to focus almost entirely on an increasingly petty prank war between Magnum and Higgins.

* Jim and his brother-in-law Andy from ''Series/AccordingToJim'' do this... ''over a grill''. In two separate episodes, to boot.
* ''Series/{{Yeralash}}'' has an episode based on that. First, boys push each other. Then, one calls for his brother. Ends up with a nuclear war.
* ''Series/{{Community}}'' has Abed embarks on one of these after being messed with by Troy, acting as an alien. [[spoiler: Subverted in that Troy isn't fooled by Abed's pranks, but ''is'' increasingly concerned by Abed's ridiculously elaborate attempts.]]
* One HalloweenEpisode of ''Series/HomeImprovement'' had all the characters try to out-prank each other.

* ''Series/ThirtyRock'': The writers play a prank on new cast member Danny, he retaliates and Jack gets involved. A few tricks and the revalation of a college secret society later, Jack ends the war with a video of himself drinking wine in Frank's mother's bedroom.
-->'''Jack''': Now, I'm a gentleman. I'll say goodbye and leave right away. But if I have to do this again, you won't enjoy the next tape. YourMom might...
-->'''Frank''': Pranksmen. Stand down.
* ''Series/TopGear'': A frequent occurrence, especially on the presenters overseas trips, where any act of smugness is frequently retaliated against.
** In India, Clarkson and Hammond find that the air conditioning in May's car still works, so they decide out of "fairness" it needs to be broken. May retaliates by setting the heater in Clarkson's car onto full and pulling the knob out, and setting Hammond's seat all the way forward and breaking the adjuster. They get him back further by wiring the brakes of May's car to his horn, causing him to let out a blast every time he tries to slow down.
** During their search for the Nile, May breaks the skid plate on his low-slung car. He fashions a new one from one of Clarkson's car doors without Clarkson's permission. When Clarkson finds out, he takes a patch for him door from May's bonnet. May responds by stealing a piece from Hammond's bonnet. Hammond responds by stealing the toilet seat (ItMakesSenseInContext.) from Clarkson's car... By the time the trip is finished, each car almost has more bits from the other cars than their own original parts.
* An episode of ''Series/{{Zoey 101}}'' had the boys and the girls engage in one. This came to a head when the girls place a pair of panties on a statue of the founder...[[FromBadToWorse while his son came to visit no less]].
* One breaks out between Kentville and Pinewood in ''Series/TheKicks'' episode "The Best Defense is a Good Offense." It culminates in The Kicks getting caught trying to steal a prized Alex Morgan jersey.
* ''Series/TheMick'': Sabrina and Mick constantly go back and forth pranking each other to get the other under control. In the second episode, Sabrina admits that it's preferable to her grandmother's brutal and malicious domination.
-->'''Sabrina:''' At least Auntie Mick knew how to do a rivalry.
* ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'':
** The episode "How Green Was My Apple?" starts with a dispute over an apple tree that is growing on their shared property line. It becomes an ever-increasing fight over the shared property line, which ends with both houses being destroyed.
** The episode "The Joke's on Al" has Al and Jefferson get into an escalating prank war.
* This is the relationship between Drew and Mimi on ''Series/TheDrewCareyShow'', shown over the course of the series, escalating each season, with several episodes showing specific pranks. Unquestionably the high point is in "The High Road to China" where, after Drew gets Mimi to set off a RubeGoldbergDevice which dumps paint on her desk just to get her to stand in one specific spot so she gets a PieInTheFace, Mimi retaliates by drugging Drew and mailing him to the Great Wall of China without any money or form of identification.

* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'''s [[ColdSniper Sniper]] and [[MagnificentBastard Spy]] were engaged in this (their updates were released at the same time, so most of the new gear is designed for fighting each other.) Brief synopsis: The Spy is always backstabbing the Sniper, so the Sniper taped a car battery to a tribal shield and electrocuted the Spy. Then, it turns out the Spy had a [[ShoePhone watch]] that caused him to cloak and feign death when he took damage. Then the Sniper's new weapon turned out to be... [[RefugeInAudacity a jar of his own piss that shorts out cloaking devices.]]
* In ''Videogame/MassEffect2'' Joker and EDI, an artificial intelligence, end up in one of these. First Joker mutes her until his thumb breaks,[[note]]he has a brittle bone disease so this isn't as hard as it sounds,[[/note]] so she makes his chair spin, so he puts grease on her camera lenses, and so forth. Fortunately, they call a truce after Joker unshackles EDI to escape from the Collectors which gives her full access to the ''Normandy's'' systems, including the high-powered armaments.

* The ''Webcomic/{{Insecticomics}}'' routinely has one of these between the Insecticons and Vector Prime.

* ''Webcomic/BatmanWayneFamilyAdventures'': In the appropriately titled "Escalation", Damian takes offense to Tim borrowing his pen without permission and retaliates by ruining his favorite mug. By the time Bruce tells them to pull the plug, Damian is covered in glitter and Tim's hair is dyed "Joker Green".
* In ''Pet Foolery'', by the creator of ''Webcomic/PixieAndBrutus'', a strip titled "History" shows two armies of elves and orcs being told by their commanders that their leaders have come to an agreement, and signed a cease fire to end their two thousnad year war, which nobody rembers how it even started since both sides burned down each others libraries. However, they bring forth two historians who manged to piece together a history from surving documents. According to the historians, [[HowWeGotHere the current situation]] arose from the elves burning down an orc city, which was taken from the elves after the orcs forcibly occupied it, before that the orcs invaded some elven territory after the elves built a dam to redirect a river away from orc territory, which was done because the orcs cut off the elven kingdom from the gold trade, which was done because the elven queen refused to attend the orc king's birthday party, because the orc king tricked the elven queen to sit on an egg. The soldiers from both armies are dismayed to learn that [[SillyReasonForWar two millenia of war arose from a childish prank]].

* ''Series/CobraKai'' gets a positively brutal one in the second season, as the RivalDojos finally clash over a relatively minor misunderstanding. Consisting mostly of Samantha vs Tory and Robby vs Miguel, the school grounds turn into a madhouse. Oh, and someone goes down. HARD.
* The LetsPlay/HermitcraftServer's Civil War. It started with Iskall pranking False, with Cleo later swooping by and framing Ren for it. False then pranked Ren in retaliation with the help of Grian, Ren hit back at Cleo for making him a target in the first place, Grian got caught in the trap meant for Cleo, then he and Tango pranked Ren and Doc and framed False and Mumbo for it... This went on for a while, until the server split up into the G-Team (led by Grian) and Team STAR (led by Doc) and it all escalated into an all out war, with fortresses to defend, elaborate redstone traps, [=ConCorp=] selling weapons to both sides, and Mumbo acting as a ([[OvertOperative pretty unsuccesful]]) [[TheMole mole]].

* Some ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' cartoons have this dynamic: one character will do something minor (sometimes even inadvertently) to irritate the other at the beginning, and then it's battle on.

* This has been the basis of the relationship between Kyle and Cartman of ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' for over 15 years. As the seasons progress, what were verbal volley of insults has escalated to levels including Cartman infecting Kyle with his HIV virus to Kyle convincing Cartman to go to Somalia as certain death.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS5E16HomerLovesFlanders Homer Loves Flanders]]" mentioned a feud with Shelbyville but only shows the final prank.
-->'''Lisa''': What's so special about this game anyway? It's just another chapter in the pointless rivalry between Springfield and Shelbyville. They built a mini-mall, so we built a bigger mini-mall. They made the world's largest pizza, so we burnt down their city hall.\\
'''Homer''': Heh heh heh. Yeah, they swore they'd get us back by spiking our water supply. But they didn't have the guts.\\
'''Marge''' ''(drinks a glass of water and then sees the walls start to run)'': Ooooh. The walls are melting again. ''(giggles)''
** An episode of [[ShowWithinAShow Itchy & Scratchy]] features this trope with each character pulling out bigger and bigger handguns at each other. In the end the guns are the size of the Earth.
* The ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' episode "Eye For An Eye" does a rather sinister take on this trope with the rivarly between Danny and EvilCounterpart Vlad. It starts with Danny tricking the local equivalent of TheMenInBlack to raid Vlad's mansion, continues to Vlad [[MagnificentBastard electing himself mayor]], and ends with a brutal fight between the two that Danny barely manages to make a tie, with the revelation that Vlad's motives have shifted from borderline-sympathetic to outright-megalomaniacal.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'' The guild of calamitous intent doesn't take kindly to murder. Dr. Girlfriend said it best: "Then the guild steps up ''their'' game. [[Film/TheUntouchables1987 If you throw a rock, they throw a knife]]. You throw a knife, [[DisproportionateRetribution they come to your house when you're sleeping and murder your family.]]"

* WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck and [[EvilTwin Negaduck]] do this almost accidentally in the episode "Disguise the Limit," when Darkwing is momentarily transformed into a duplicate of Negaduck and the two of them keep pulling larger and larger weapons on each other.
* Shows up in many of the ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' classics. For instance, ''WesternAnimation/RabbitOfSeville'', where WesternAnimation/BugsBunny and Elmer Fudd continually pull out bigger guns to point at each other. Or Daffy as Duck Dodgers, claiming Planet X for its supply of the shaving cream atom, and getting into an escalating war over it with Marvin the Martian. Let's just say the results were not pretty, and widely considered something of a parody of the unwinnable nature of nuclear war, something of a worry at the time.
** The WesternAnimation/FoghornLeghorn cartoons often have him engaged in a prank war with the Barnyard Dawg. The cartoon "The High and the Flighty" has WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck as a novelty salesman PlayingBothSides, selling Foghorn and Dawg items to prank each other. It ends with both getting the same gag (The Pipe Full O' Fun kit #7), realizing they've been had, and using it to prank Daffy instead.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventuresHowISpentMyVacation'', Buster Bunny starts a water fight with Babs. By the end, Babs opens a dam, then Buster triggers a massive tsunami, and Acme Acres ends up underwater.
-->'''Babs:''' [[LampshadeHanging I may have gone too far.]]

* Bobby and Luanne get in an escalating prank war in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'', which eventually leads to Luanne convincing Bobby that he got her pregnant. Hank and his friends assist Luanne by arranging a fake ShotgunWedding . . . then turn the prank back on Luanne by telling her the wedding was real.
* Dan's feud with the Lemonade Stand Gang in ''WesternAnimation/DanVs'', "Dan vs. The Lemonade Stand Gang". It starts with the Lemonade Stand Gang stealing Dan's parking space, strong-arming him and Chris into buying overpriced lemonade, and throwing a lemon with a threat written on it through Dan's window. Dan responds by making Chris dress up as a monster and break into the ringleader's house -- it goes horribly wrong of course. The Gang goes on to outright ''mug'' Chris and Dan for their wallets. Dan and Chris wreck their bicycles with an axe. The Gang wrecks Chris' ''car''. At this point Elise is prepared to ship the Gang to a Korean weapons factory where they would never be heard from again. Chris puts a stop to this insanity and they defeat the gang by showing their parents proof of their crimes.
* ''WesternAnimation/TazMania'': "War and Pieces" consists entirely of an escalating war between Taz and Molly that begins when Molly's loud music causes Taz to drop his sandwich, and he retaliates by eating her [=CDs=].

* ''WesternAnimation/TheCatCameBack'': As the short continues, Old Mr. Johnson's attempts to get rid of the cat get increasingly over-the-top, and every time the cat comes back, it causes more and more damage to Mr. Johnson's house in retaliation.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder'' episode "The Bad Neighbors", [[EvilVersusEvil Lord Hater and Emperor Awesome]] try to get rid of each other because their temporary houses are right across from each other.
* In Creator/{{Pixar}} short ''WesternAnimation/OneManBand'', the musicians go to increasingly absurd lengths, playing louder, busting out puppets, and eventually scaring the girl enough that she drops her coin down a storm drain.

* The ''WesternAnimation/ChipNDaleRescueRangers'' episode "One-upsman-Chip" features a prank war between the two chipmunk protagonists. It starts off with Dale telling Chip his shoe is untied, even though [[BarefootCartoonAnimal none of the Rescue Rangers wear shoes]], then saying: "Got you last!" when Chip looks down at his feet. Chip responds by claiming that something is crawling up Dale's back. At this point, the pranking is interrupted by Fat Cat and his cronies (whom the Rangers trick into stealing a bowling ball disguised as the world's largest pearl) but resumes on the way back to Ranger Headquarters. After Dale pretends to have mystical powers, Chip enlists the help of the others to trick Dale into thinking his "powers" are real and that he has summoned an invisible spirit called Ramalama Dingdong, who is actually Chip talking to Dale over a radio hidden in the latter's turban. Turns into a DeadlyPrank when Dale falls into Fat Cat's clutches and ends with Dale claiming victory by briefly [[FakingTheDead making Chip think he has been killed]].
* ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'' had the Spacecataz [[TheTeaser cold openings]] from Season 3, where the Mooninites (Ignignokt and Err) and the Plutonians (Oglethorpe and Emory) embark on a prank war with each other. The Mooninites manage to one-up the Plutonians with nearly every prank [[spoiler:but they both ultimately lose since Oglethorpe [[TooDumbToLive activates the self-destruct mechanism on his ship which kills all four of them]]]].

* In ''Videogame/MassEffect2'' Joker and EDI, an artificial intelligence, end up in one of these. First Joker mutes her until his thumb breaks,[[note]]he has a brittle bone disease so this isn't as hard as it sounds,[[/note]] so she makes his chair spin, so he puts grease on her camera lenses, and so forth.

* The ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'''s Great Researcher Prank War of '09, caused by various personnel vying for possession of [[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-050 SCP-050,]] a statue which follows whomever demonstrates themselves to be "the cleverest".

* ''Film/{{Octopussy}}'': [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Orlov Orlov's]] plan to invade Western Europe is [[RenegadeRussian villified]] by the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politburo_of_the_Communist_Party_of_the_Soviet_Union Politburo]]. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Gogol Gogol]] and another official state that the Soviet military is for defending the Motherland.

* The first several chapters of ''Literature/TheTwits'' focus entirely on the Twits pulling cruel pranks on each other. Finally the narrator says this has gone on long enough and he wants to move on to a lighter topic.

* Bridge Kaldro Music in Christiansburg, Virginia, decided to [[https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2021/05/11/sign-war-canada-virginia/ start a sign war]] with their next door neighbor, Super Shoes. Soon, the streets of Christiansburg were covered in good-natured quippy signs. Then Christiansburg's friends across the border - Listowel, Ontario - decided to join the fun with their own war. Christiansburg jokingly called Listowel out, and the sign war has since spread across the world. There is [[https://www.facebook.com/groups/christiansburgsignwar/ a Facebook group]] dedicated to it.

* [[http://media.ebaumsworld.com/mediaFiles/picture/655389/80604420.jpg This]] rather amusing Church sign debate.
** It's a prank made with the [[http://www.churchsigngenerator.com Church Sign Generator]]. Doesn't make it any less funny, though.