History Main / FearfulSymmetry

* In ''Film/{{Replicant}}'', Creator/JeanClaudeVanDamme plays a serial killer and his [[CloningBlues clone]] grown by the government to catch him. In the climactic fight, both Garrotte and the Replicant try to hit each other but end up punching each other's fists and kicking each other's legs. The weird thing is, they actually ''mirror'' each other's moves literally (i.e. one punches with his right, while the other with his left).

* In ''Videogame/DynastyWarriorsGundam'' 2, [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamZZ Elpeo Puru]] and [[CloningBlues Puru II]]'s story modes, being already intertwined, culminate in a cutscene wherein the two battle in their identical Quebeley Mobile suits, each mirroring the other's moves perfectly. They comment on how good and natural it feels.

* Used as a one-off gag in ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' episode "[[CloningBlues Double Dipper]]", but afterwards there's another scene where multiple clones fight each other normally.

** In the beginning of ''ComicBook/RedDaughterOfKrypton'', Supergirl and Silver Banshee fight like this.
** In ''ComicBook/{{Bizarrogirl}}'', the main character and her Bizarro counterpart have a duel where her opposite powers and mirror moves cancel each other.
** ''ComicBook/DeathAndTheFamily'': After the spirits of the [=McDougal=] Clan possess and transform Kara, Silver Banshee and the Banshee-fied Supergirl have a literal screaming match where they shoot sonic screams at each other.[[/folder]]

* [[Wrestling/TheYoungBucks Matt Jackson]] and Chris Sabin both tagged out during the first night main event of ''[[Wrestling/RingOfHonor Supercard Of Honor X]]'' due to this trope preventing either of them from gaining an advantage over the other. It was less the case with Alex Shelley and Nick due to the latter's [[IShallTauntYou posturing]].[[/folder]]

[[folder:Other]]
* Happens in competitive card games like ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' and ''Versus'' a lot, especially at the start of sanctioned tournaments where many players may be using identical decks that did well in previous tournaments due to the existence of websites dedicated to the best builds. Many tournament players have several silver bullets against their own deck in their optional side-deck to use in mirror matches.
** There are also a few pairs of cards that seem perfectly matched to one another -- for instance, Time Spiral reprinted the 13/13 Krosan Cloudscraper, and the next set (Planar Chaos) has Shivan Meteor, which deals exactly 13 damage.
** Also appears in the art of several cards, usually ones that represent shapeshifters. Morphling, Clone, Vesuvan Doppelganger, Spitting Image, and the like.
** Mirrored Pairs are a set of cards that are of opposing colors and usually do opposing things. Sometimes, this runs in such a way that both cards cancel each other out, like Red Elemental Blast and Blue Elemental Blast (both counter or destroy a card of an opposing color, and since red and blue are opposing colors, they can very well cancel each other out when used).
* When playing black in a game of chess, one possibility is to simply mirror white's moves. This is sometimes called a Russian game. However, this is extremely easy for white to foil, as all that needs to be done is give a queen or rook a clear path to the opponent's side of the board. If black mirrors, all white has to do is kill the other queen/rook; that piece then can't mirror it, since it's no longer on the board. The Russian Game (1. e4 e5 2. [=Nf3 Nf6=]) is both an example and a subversion. Black mirrors when you wouldn't expect him to (2... [=Nc6=] is usual) but he gets into trouble if he continues mirroring (3. [=Nxe5 Nxe4=]?) There are, however, other openings where mirroring can continue for the first ten moves or beyond.
* There's a (possibly apocryphal) story about a twin pair, one left-handed and one right-handed, who got into a [[LetsFightLikeGentlemen gentlemen's duel]]. They took the required 10 paces, turned, fired... and [[ShootTheBullet their bullets met and melded at the halfway point]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Film]]

** The title of a episode where ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} fights an older, more powerful, and more ruthless clone who knows all her moves.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' Starfire, Cyborg, and Beast Boy are pitted against their own inner evils resulting in this trope. The fights end up at best evenly matched and at worst losing to their evil counterparts until they switch adversaries. Evil Cyborg defeated by the physically stronger Starfire, Evil Beast Boy defeated when animal fangs and claws can't penetrate Cyborg's metal body, and Evil Starfire's questionable accuracy being unable to hit Beast Boy's agile animal forms.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'' episode "The Copycats", Nicole and a knock off version of her fought each other and [[PunchParry their punches and kicks mirror each other]]. Meanwhile, Gumball and Chichi end up having a WimpFight, Darwin and Ribbit are both {{apologetic attacker}}s, and Richard and Dad end up [[ItMakesSenseInContext sucking each other's fingers]] after they both collapse from exhaustion charging at each other.

* ''WesternAnimation/SymbionicTitan'' has a variation of this: [[BackToBackBadasses back-to-back]] symmetry. The two aren't clones, but Lance and Cain's martial arts moves are exactly the same, but mirrored, prompting both to ask the other where they learned to fight. Being that Lance learned to fight on another planet, and the Galalunian technology they find in the G3 base, this laid the groundwork for some sort of connection between Earth and Galaluna, though [[CutShort nothing came of it]].

* In the original ''Videogame/TombRaider'' game, at one point Lara comes across a zombie Lara that mimics her movements exactly, so much so that the zombie keeps the player from moving onto the next challenge. [[spoiler:The trick is to get the zombie Lara to follow the player's moves enough to fall into a pit that is only on "her" side of the arena.]]

* On ''Anime/YuGiOh5Ds'', Jack Atlas goes up against an imposter who has a copy of not only his duel runner but also his deck, including three copies of his one-of-a-kind Red Dragon Archfiend. Even more disturbing, he takes Jack's arrogance UpToEleven, leaving Jack shaken and [[JerkassRealization realizing how much of a jerk he's been lately]].

* Shirosaki does this to Ichigo in ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' during their BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind. Slight subversion in that the hollow is actually capable of using much better techniques with greater finesse, he just wanted to show that he could do everything that Ichigo could just as well.

** Flexo is a bending robot exactly like Bender. Whenever they get into a fight, they throw punches and just end up hitting each other's fists.

* A variant occurs at the end of Terra's story in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep''. [[spoiler:After Master Xehanort possesses Terra, and the Lingering Sentiment forms, the two fight. Terranort has the same appearance as Terra ( golden eyes, darker skin, and white hair notwithstanding), but most of Terranort's moves are ones Terra can acquire.]]

* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'', the battle between you and Dark Link starts out this way, and remains this way as long as you use Z-Targeting. Unless you perform a stab at him. If you do that, instead of simply stabbing back, he'll [[BladeRun balance on your sword and smack you in the face.]]
** Or instead of dropping Z-Targeting, you could use the Megaton Hammer, which is a lot more satisfying. Making Link face the camera, then attacking with a Giant's Knife or Biggoron's Sword when he pops up behind Link and simply casting Din's Fire are also very effective.
** ''VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink'' also has its Dark Link pull off the same moves as you do. It's not pretty. You can cheat and head to the corner and down stab.

* Although they don't look alike, part of the final battle between [[spoiler:Solid Snake and Liquid Ocelot]] in ''VideoGame/{{Metal Gear Solid 4|GunsOfThePatriots}}'' goes like this.
** One moment stands out in particular. After spending several minutes beating each other to a pulp, Snake and his "brother", Liquid Ocelot, each find themselves facing each other and holding a syringe full of fast-healing nanotech. Instead of jumping back to inject themselves or trying to knock away the other's syringe, they ''inject each other'', knowing that the other will do the exact same thing. Fearful symmetry, indeed...
*** That was a homage to the fight scene in ''[[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid The Twin Snakes]]'' between Liquid and Snake, who were twins... snakes.

** The player can actually invoke this and score two bonus scenes during the [[spoiler: first DuelBoss encounter between them,]] provided Luke and Asch use Rending Thrust or Raging Blast at the same time.

* [[FanNickname Shirosaki]] does this to Ichigo in ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' during their BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind. Slight subversion in that the hollow is actually capable of using much better techniques with greater finesse, he just wanted to show that he could do everything that Ichigo could just as well.

* ''Countdown: Arena'' is four issues of this trope, as Monarch forces different versions of heroes to fight each other. However, it's not very faithful -- while the Wonder Women may be hard to tell apart, the Supermen's powers are very different (one is an "evolved" Kryptonian who can grab the other two's heat vision beams and throw them around by them, while the other is the super-patriotic Superman from ComicBook/AllStarBatmanAndRobinTheBoyWonder and the third is Red Son Superman, raised communist) and the others all offer some degree of variation -- for example, the Ray fights a Nazi Ray and [[ComicBook/TheAuthority Apollo]], one of the Batmen is a vampire (from Batman: Red Rain) and another is a Green Lantern (from Batman: Darkest Knight), one of the Starmen is a monkey and one is a chick, and... well, the list goes on.
* In the miniseries ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis'', both Franchise/{{Superman}} and Lex Luthor face off against alternate versions of themselves, and the two Supermen (Supermans?) later take on a ''third'' version of themselves.

[[/folder]]

* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'', in Episode 9, features the angel Israfel, which splits into two and can only be defeated by two pilots using an identical sequence of simultaneous attacks. By way of dance. In fact, this trope ''encapsulates'' the episode: Shinji and Asuka's arguments with each other, their attempts to synchronize their everyday lives, and their final dance number '''all''' typify it.
** Not to mention the fight between EVA-01 and EVA-02 in Episode 24.

* Near the end of the ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'' manga, Aoshi fought against another user of two swords who used his own moves against him. It worked for a while until Aoshi dropped his swords and just started beating him with only his fists.

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' does this near the end of the Rescue Gaara arc in Shippuuden. Clones of Gai, Lee, Neji and Tenten attack after they remove the seals that [[spoiler:hide Sasori, Deidara and the dead Gaara inside the Akatsuki lair.]]
** Shikamaru's basic technique forces his opponent to perfectly mirror whatever he does. He subverts this trope in his first one-on-one fight by easily beating a perfectly symmetrical opponent. [[spoiler:He and Kin both throw shuriken at each other. While dodging the shuriken, Shikamaru forces Kin to slam her head against a wall behind her.]]
* Ptilol and Cyprine in ''Anime/SailorMoon S'' were also one person split into two. They are finally destroyed when an attack from one mistakenly hits the other.
* During the TournamentArc of ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'', Kirishima ends up fighting against Tetsutetsu, whose Quirk and fighting style are almost identical: Kirishima can harden his body into rock, Tetsutetsu can harden his body into steel, and both are physical close-combat specialists. The pair match each other exactly blow-for-blow until they finally [[DoubleKnockout knock each other out]], and the fight has to be settled by a tie-breaker. [[spoiler:Kirishima wins.]]
* In an episode of ''Rockman.EXE'' (''Anime/MegaManNTWarrior''), an evil alternate universe version of one character shows up. The inevitable fight eventually ensues. This trope is taken to the point that when the two use their ''Dice Bombs'', they both roll the same.
** In a different doppelganger fight they start out equally matched, but then the doppelganger starts predicting the others moves and starts countering with opposite attacks instead.
* In ''Anime/SonicTheHedgehogTheMovie'' Sonic faces Metal Sonic; a robot programmed to think and fight exactly like him. Naturally, they spend half the fight simply canceling each other out.
-->'''Sonic:''' You might know everything I'm going to do, but that's not going to help you since I know everything YOU'RE going to do! STRANGE, ISN'T IT?!

* In ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikers'', Subaru and her sister Ginga have a mock battle. They have the exact same fighting style and even have two halves of the same device (Revolver Knuckle), so it comes off as a mirror match--after initially looking as though a difference in skill level would dictate otherwise.
* ''Manga/{{Saiyuki}}'' both plays this straight and subverts this in both the anime and the manga when an enemy creates clones of the main cast programmed with their entire moveset, with every move he's observed up until the day prior to when he chose to unleash them on the team. The main characters quickly realize they'll just copy and counter all their known moves and switch to trying different things, making quick work of the clones and rendering them a minor nuisance, chiding the enemy that created them by saying "the us you knew yesterday isn't the us that exists today". Hilariously, in the manga, although Goku, Gojyo, and Hakkai figure this out quickly, Sanzo doesn't catch on until they find him and tell him...after enjoying watching him fight against himself for a while.

* The finale of ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'' pits the eponymous mecha against the Grand Zamboa, a twisted doppelganger created to cause despair by [[BeatThemAtTheirOwnGame beating the heroes using their own shape]]. TheMovie goes step further with Super Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann and Super Grand Zamboa using the same [[FinishingMove Giga Drill Breaker]] at each other.

* [[FanNickname Shirosaki]] does this to Ichigo in ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' during their BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind. Slight subversion in that the hollow is actually capable of using much better techniques with greater finesse, he just wanted to show that he could do everything that Ichigo could just as well.
* An example without the appearance part in ''Manga/BlackButler'' is the duel between Sebastian and Agni in chapter 17.
* A novice tries this against Akira in ''Manga/HikaruNoGo''. Unfortunately, as noted below, in Go you ''can't'' win by mirroring your opponent, and Akira forces him to resign.

* ''Anime/GaReiZero'' at one point involves a monster whose entire fighting style is based on this. It copies the appearance and weapons of its opponents, mimics their every move, and can even [[AttackReflector reflect projectile attacks]].
* An interesting variation is with the Kyosuke vs Axel fights in [[VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsOriginalGeneration Super Robot Wars Original Generation: The Inspector]]. Initially Axel fights [[AlternateUniverse Shadow-Mirror]] Kyosuke and they grapple with each other and try to overpower one another, and when Kyosuke starts to win Axel surprises him with an energy blast that damages him and forces him to active his hidden Einst power, making him a much bigger target. When Axel fights regular Kyosuke the battle is initially a perfect copy of this, right down to similar animation frames and identical dialogue. However when Axel tries the surprise energy blast, Kyosuke reacts faster than he expects to interrupt it and then open fire on the wide open Axel, as regular Kyosuke turns out to be more skilled fighter than his alternate self since he has no Einst power to rely on.
* The first time the Minerva and Archangel battleships engage each other seriously in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSeedDestiny'' (the first encounter was Archangel refusing to fire on them and instead trying to shake them off) it's kicked off them each firing a single volley from their beam guns and firing a missile salvo, and the cannon shots being absorbed by each ships armor and the missiles being destroyed before impact by each ships point defense guns. Showing that both ships have almost identical functioning (though differing in design) weapons (and that their stock footage for firing them is very similar). After this though the battle quickly becomes more chaotic.
* Subverted in ''Anime/HikaruNoGo''. One player gets the brilliant idea of challenging [[TheAce Akira]] by taking the first stone (putting it in the center of the board, which has no mirror spot) and then mirroring Akira's actions on the Go board. Akira figures out what he's doing almost immediately and promptly sets a trap to capture his pieces in the center.
* Appears in one of the most iconic scenes of ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventure'', when DIO and Jotaro are exchanging [[RapidFireFisticuffs punches]].
* In the battles in ''Manga/GetterRobo Devolution'', the [[MonsterOfTheWeek Unevolved]] would take a form based on the classic Getter Robos, prompting the Getter Team to use the corresponding Getter in response. [[spoiler:The manga's climax has the Getter Robo, which was ultimately revealed to be a man-made Getter Emperor, fight against the Will of the Getter Rays itself, which were in the iconic form of the original Emperor.]]

* ''Countdown: Arena'' is four issues of this trope, as Monarch forces different versions of heroes to fight each other. However, it's not very faithful- while the Wonder Women may be hard to tell apart, the Supermen's powers are very different (one is an "evolved" Kryptonian who can grab the other two's heat vision beams and throw them around by them, while the other is the super-patriotic Superman from ComicBook/AllStarBatmanAndRobinTheBoyWonder and the third is Red Son Superman, raised communist) and the others all offer some degree of variation- for example, the Ray fights a Nazi Ray and [[ComicBook/TheAuthority Apollo]], one of the Batmen is a vampire (from Batman: Red Rain) and another is a Green Lantern (from Batman: Darkest Knight), one of the Starmen is a monkey and one is a chick, and... well, the list goes on.
* In issue #24 of ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'', everybody ends up in a fight with their evil twin, but nobody's making headway because they can predict each other's moves. The good guys end up winning easily when the good Sally hits upon the idea of everybody changing partners (which, apparently, the evil Sally ''doesn't'' expect). It's not explained why, exactly, the good guys suddenly end up being the better fighters... surely this could have caused them to lose as easily as it could have caused them to win?

* The lightsaber duel between Obi-Wan and Anakin at the climax of ''Franchise/StarWars: Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' has a few moments where the student's and master's moves match each other perfectly, including an instance of them cancelling out each other's Force Push. Interestingly, this has some basis in the ExpandedUniverse: Form V of lightsaber combat (Anakin's style) is based on the same principles as Form III (Obi-Wan's), only tailored to be more aggressive. And Obi-Wan mixes some Form V into his fighting style anyway.

* The fight between Wesley and Cross in ''Film/{{Wanted}}'' has shades of this, such as when they continuously deflect each other's bullets with their shots.
* In ''Film/{{Replicant}}'', Creator/JeanClaudeVanDamme plays a serial killer and his [[CloningBlues clone]] grown by the government to catch him. In the climactic fight, both Garrotte and the Replicant try to hit each other but end up punching each other's fists and kicking each other's legs. The weird thing is, they actually ''mirror'' each other's moves literally (i.e. one punches with his right, while the other with his left).

* In ''Film/KickAss'', the protagonist and his enemy wind up knocking each other out at the same time using identical weapons.
* Done in ''Film/RushHour2'', when Lee gets into a fight with Kenny, and they end up doing the same move several times in succession. When Lee asks who his teacher was, they find out that their masters were brothers and stop fighting.

* ''Film/BlackWidow2021'' has two cases, first when Natasha meets Taskmaster, who for running on PowerCopying [[https://scontent.fplu19-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/p526x296/82140225_1628203434019752_7748612101429526528_n.jpg?_nc_cat=104&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=8bfeb9&_nc_ohc=zshOl07SsUYAX80NAzG&_nc_ht=scontent.fplu19-1.fna&oh=a966578ef0b532f4becde92749e78e7d&oe=6142E61C repeats whatever she does]], and her fight with "sister" Yelena, as both have the same training\skills and thus use the same moves until Yelena grabs a knife.

* "Insanity Prerequisite" in the Literature/WhateleyUniverse: protagonist Carmilla fights demon The Kellith. Since they're just two different aspects of the same person/thing, it gets complicated.
* In the novel, The Third Twin - the narrator notes that a brawl between the identical twins could go on for some time as they are almost perfectly matched. Ultimately subverted because it turns out [[spoiler: they're not twins, they're clones... and [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin there's more than one.]]]]
* In Terry Brooks' ''Literature/ElfstonesOfShannara'', the Witch Sisters Morag and Mallenroh, last of their coven, are identical twins--and as such absolutely immune to each others' powers. This would seem to be a perfect excuse for the two to duke it out relatively harmlessly (which they are [[CainAndAbel only too prone to do]], since [[SiblingRivalry each blames the other]] for the death of the man they both loved and whom Wisp claims was literally ripped apart). Except for the fact that when their powers ''combine'', the effects become terribly real. Both only get one shocked moment of realization to wail their agony and hatred of each other before the fire consumed them in their somewhat tragic, KarmicDeath.

* [[Franchise/StarWars Tahiri]]'s internal conflict with her implanted Riina personality ends up like this once it comes to blows (in ''[[Literature/NewJediOrder Reunion]]'') - the two forms are literally identical, except for their handedness. Given the particular rules of this fight, it'd be equal even if one of them somehow outfought the other, as Riina demonstrates by charring herself with her [[LaserBlade lightsaber]], inflicting an identical wound on Tahiri. [[spoiler:The two personalities end up merging.]]

* ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'' parodies this between the twins George and Oscar Bluth. Each man tries the exact same sequence of movements, just to be blocked in the same way every time.

* In a Sindbad series, the heroes once fight some masked opponents which mirror all their moves - and as turns out, look like them. [[spoiler: this is a scam by an evil wizard]]
* In the ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' episode "The Adversary", Odo and another shape-shifter fight. At one point they are fighting with exactly the same moves.
* ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' has the episode where thanks to a temporal anomaly, ''Enterprise'' encounters a time-shifted ''Enterprise'', leading to a brief firefight between the two. Archer resolves the battle by [[CombatPragmatist having T'Pol beam components from the alternate ship to disable her]].
* In ''Series/KamenRiderDecade'', the flashback to the Rider War ends with [[Series/KamenRiderKuuga Kuuga Ultimate Form]] and Decade throwing identical punches at each other, creating a SphereOfDestruction. The image was iconic enough that the ''Climax Heroes'' series of video games uses it as the animation when one character attempts to counter another's FinishingMove.

* This occurs in the pre-battle and post-battle cutscenes with the ClimaxBoss of ''VideoGame/TalesOfXillia2''. [[spoiler:It's somewhat justified by the boss being Victor, who is main character Ludger from another dimension, and both of them use the same weapons and fighting style. A bit more occurs after the fight's over before Ludger runs Victor through, killing him.]]
* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'', the battle between you and Dark Link starts out this way, and remains this way as long as you use Z-Targeting. Unless you perform a stab at him. If you do that, instead of simply stabbing back, he'll [[BladeRun balance on your sword and smack you in the face.]]
** Or instead of dropping Z-Targeting, you could use the Megaton Hammer, which is a lot more satisfying. Making Link face the camera, then attacking with a Giant's Knife or Biggoron's Sword when he pops up behind Link and simply casting Din's Fire are also very effective.
** ''VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink'' also has its Dark Link pull off the same moves as you do. It's not pretty. You can cheat and head to the corner and down stab.

* The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQeRRZv8YcM battles]] between Dante and his older twin brother Vergil in ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry3DantesAwakening''; both utilize their agility, stamina, big-ass swords, and Devil Trigger abilities.
** From the same game, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ks6NRFw3yh8 Dante's doppelganger battle is a more straight-on example.]]
** In the original, this is played even straighter with Dante and Nelo Angelo ([[spoiler:who is Vergil, albeit BrainwashedAndCrazy]]). Nelo Angelo plays the role of MirrorBoss, using the exact same sword swings and martial arts combinations as Dante (except for the fact that [[{{BFS}} he has a much longer reach]]). In fact, part of the key to defeating Nelo is parrying his attacks with precise swings from your blade and then countering while he's caught off-guard and trying to ready another go.
** In ''4'', the battles against [[spoiler:Dante himself]] involve Nero having to fire at him (the boss deflecting your bullets with his own shots) while approaching and then quickly attacking while he's open (preferably via Devil Bringer). This even causes a shift to a quick time event where the two square off with their swords before Nero tries to overpower his foe.
* Jaster Rogue's darker [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFkDGTLEypA doppelganger]] in ''VideoGame/RogueGalaxy''.
* In the first ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI Kingdom Hearts]]'' game, this trope is your best defensive option before you get Guard (and depending on your choices in the tutorial, that'll take a while). Landing an attack so that the overhead swing of Sora's Keyblade connects with your opponent's attack is the only way to block an attack (and thus earn Tech Points) without that ability; sword-wielding bosses like [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX Tidus]], [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII Leon]], and [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Cloud]] often employ overhead swings of their own to better fit the trope.
* A variant occurs at the end of Terra's story in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep''. [[spoiler:After Master Xehanort possesses Terra, and the Lingering Sentiment forms, the two fight. Terranort has the same appearance as Terra ( golden eyes, darker skin, and white hair notwithstanding), but most of Terranort's moves are ones Terra can acquire.]]
* ''Death Gate'' has one of these as a puzzle. You face a mirror image of yourself, and since he copies everything you do, you can't move forward since the double is in the way. You get rid of him by [[spoiler:casting a suicide spell backwards, which does nothing to you, but the re-reversed spell cast by the double kills him]].
* In ''VideoGame/MegaMan1'', the title character has to fight a robot clone of himself. While his movement is his own, the robot will fire a shot every time Mega Man does.
* In ''Videogame/DynastyWarriorsGundam'' 2, [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamZZ Elpeo Puru]] and [[CloningBlues Puru II]]'s story modes, being already intertwined, culminate in a cutscene wherein the two battle in their identical Quebeley Mobile suits, each mirroring the other's moves perfectly. They comment on how good and natural it feels.
* In Chapter 4 of ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'' "Marth" matches Chrom blow for blow. When pressed, "Marth" claims that he learned his skills from his father. [[spoiler: Turns out "Marth" is actually Chrom's daughter from the future.]]
** Side Story 22 is this trope [[ExaggeratedTrope at a squad scale]]. The enemy consist of nothing but identical copies (including skills and stats) of the squad you field in the battle armed with some of the best weapons in the game, plus a copy of an NPC fighting alongside you.
* ZigZaggedTrope in a ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' DLC called "Lair of the Shadow Broker". One of the boss is an Asari using a shotgun, a very fast biotic charge and a biotic shockwave. If [[PlayerCharacter CommanderShepard]] is a Vanguard, s/he fights with a shotgun, biotic charge, and shockwave, just like the Asari. If Shepard is from any class other than Vanguard though, they fight nothing alike.
* In Videogame/SengokuBasara, if you and a humanoid boss character attack each other at the same time, you enter a clash mode in which the two characters parry each other's attack until you button mash enough to win.

* Ryo and Gui Zhang's fight just before the climactic battle in ''VideoGame/{{Shenmue}}'' culminates with them matching each other blow-for-blow, and ends when both suffer a DoubleKnockout.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'':
** In "The Farnsworth Parabox", the two Leelas [[MirrorMatch try to fight each other]], to no effect. After they lunge at each other and end up simply colliding in midair, one of the Professor Farnsworths tells them "Now, now, perfectly symmetrical violence never solved anything."
--->'''Leela''': We're exactly the same! I know all her moves; therefore I have the upper hand!
** Flexo is a bending robot exactly like Bender. Whenever they get into a fight, they throw punches and just end up hitting each other's fists.
* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'':
** The final battle between Zuko and Azula definitely has these moments, often with red and blue flames mirroring perfectly.
** Happened earlier during their fight on an airship at the Western Air Temple. They both swing to punch each other (shown in slow motion) and the blast of their flames bursting on contact knock them off the airship.

* In ''[[WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}} Aladdin The Animated Series]]'' when [[TheTrickster a trickster]] called Chaos pairs Aladdin against an EvilTwin the results are to be expected.
-->'''Chaos:''' [[SarcasmMode Well, this is certainly exciting;]] it's like he's fighting a mirror.
* This happens in the WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb episode, "Doofapus" when Doofensmirtz [[{{Animorphism}} turns himself into a platypus]] to even the playing field with Perry. Turns out that he evened the field too much.
* ''WesternAnimation/SymbionicTitan'' has a variation of this: [[BackToBackBadasses back-to-back]] symmetry. The two aren't clones, but Lance and Cain's martial arts moves are exactly the same, but mirrored, prompting both to ask the other where they learned to fight. Being that Lance learned to fight on another planet, and the Galalunian technology they find in the G3 base, this laid the groundwork for some sort of connection between Earth and Galaluna, though [[CutShort nothing came of it]].
* Used as a one-off gag in ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' episode "[[CloningBlues Double Dipper]]", but afterwards there's another scene where multiple clones fight each other normally.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' episode "Ocean Gem", this happens between Garnet and a magically-produced "water clone" of herself.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'' episode "The Copycats", Nicole and a knock off version of her fought each other and [[PunchParry their punches and kicks mirror each other]]. Meanwhile, Gumball and Chichi end up having a WimpFight, Darwin and Ribbit are both {{apologetic attacker}}s, and Richard and Dad end up [[ItMakesSenseInContext sucking each other's fingers]] after they both collapse from exhaustion charging at each other.

** There are also a few pairs of cards that seem perfectly matched to one another - for instance, Time Spiral reprinted the 13/13 Krosan Cloudscraper, and the next set (Planar Chaos) has Shivan Meteor, which deals exactly 13 damage.

* In the battles in ''Manga/GetterRobo Devolution'', the [[MonsterOfTheWeek Unevolved would take a form based on the classic Getter Robos, prompting the Getter Team to use the corresponding Getter in response. [[spoiler:The manga's climax has the Getter Robo, which was ultimately revealed to be a man-made Getter Emperor, fight against the Will of the Getter Rays itself, which were in the iconic form of the original Emperor.]]

** In a different dopplerganger fight they start out equally matched, but then the doppleganger starts predicting the others moves and starts countering with opposite attacks instead.

* ''Anime/PokemonTheFirstMovie'''s final battle. Unlike most battles in the ''Pokemon'' universe, which are treated as [=A-OK=], this fight between the clones and the originals is treated as wrong, because the clones and the originals are clearly fighting to kill one another.

** From the same game, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ks6NRFw3yh8 Dante's doppleganger battle is a more straight-on example.]]

* Jaster Rogue's darker [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFkDGTLEypA doppleganger]] in ''VideoGame/RogueGalaxy''.

* [[GuileHero Quantum Cop]] and Quantum Crook from ''Webcomic/CaseyAndAndy'' are so similar, [[http://www.galactanet.com/comic/view.php?strip=204 their bullets meet in mid-air]]. Howver, that is the ''only'' part of ''any'' fight where their actions are symmetrical.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' Starfire, Cyborg, and Beast Boy are pitted against their own inner evils resulting in this trope. The fights end up at best evenly matched and at worst losing to their evil counterparts until they switch adversaries. Evil Cyborg defeated by the physicaly stronger Starfire, Evil Beast Boy defeated when animal fangs and claws can't penetrate Cyborg's metal body, and Evil Starfire's questionable accuracy being unable to hit Beast Boy's agile animal forms.

-->'''Sonic:''' You may know everything I'm going to do, but that's not going to help you since I know everything YOU'RE going to do! STRANGE, ISN'T IT?!

** In "The Farnsworth Parabox", the two Leelas do this, to no effect. After they lunge at each other and end up simply colliding in midair, one of the Professor Farnsworths tells them "Now, now, perfectly symmetrical violence never solved anything."
--->'''Leela''': "We're exactly the same! I know all her moves; therefore I have the upper hand!"

* In issue #24 of [[ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehog Archie Sonic]], everybody ends up in a fight with their evil twin, but nobody's making headway because they can predict each other's moves. The good guys end up winning easily when the good Sally hits upon the idea of everybody changing partners (which, apparently, the evil Sally ''doesn't'' expect). It's not explained why, exactly, the good guys suddenly end up being the better fighters... surely this could have caused them to lose as easily as it could have caused them to win?

* ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'' parodies this between the twins George and Oscar Bluth. each man tries the exact same sequence of movements, just to be blocked in the same way every time.

-->'''Chaos:''' [[SarcasmMode Well this is certainly exciting;]] it's like he's fighting a mirror.

* In ''[[Disney/{{Aladdin}} Aladdin The Animated Series]]'' when [[TheTrickster a trickster]] called Chaos pairs Aladdin against an EvilTwin the results are to be expected.

* In one of the ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'' movies, Kuwabara faces an enemy who can immediately match any [[KiAttacks Ki Attack]] he performs, resulting in this trope. Kuwabara defeats the foe by unleashing an enormous burst of energy in order to drain both of them, and then just whaling on the guy, who is physically weaker than him.

** Alpha 3 also has FearfulSymmetry intros for [[DrunkOnTheDarkSide Evil Ryu]] versus Akuma (both trigger the [[FinishingMove Raging Demon]] special move, and the screen whites out as they exchange blows before being forced apart) and Akuma versus [[OldMaster Gen]] (Akuma triggers the Raging Demon, Gen blocks each hit, Gen rushes past and triggers his own multi-hit move, Akuma blocks each hit).

* In ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' Starfire, Cyborg, and Beastboy are pitted against their own inner evils resulting in this trope. The fights end up at best evenly matched and at worst losing to their evil counterparts until they switch adversaries. Evil Cyborg defeated by the physicaly stronger Starfire, Evil Beastboy defeated when animal fangs and claws can't penetrate Cyborg's metal body, and Evil Starfire's questionable accuracy unable to hit Beastboy's agile animal forms.