History Main / PrincelingRivalry

** ''Film/BlackPanther:'' T'Challa / Black Panther, the son of the deceased king and N'Jadaka / [[spoiler:Killmonger, the son of the former king's younger brother]] contest for the throne of Wakanda. [[spoiler:T'Challa has no idea Killmonger even exists after his father has killed Killmonger's father and has covered it up. Killmonger challenges T'Challa to a ritualistic duel, nearly kills him and seizes the throne. In the end, T'Challa returns, mortally wounds his rival and reclaims his place as the rightful king.]]

* Somewhat downplayed with Sigmund and Marek from ''Literature/{{Uprooted}}''. Yes, Marek plots against his older brother, but Sigmund at least suspects this. [[spoiler: News of Sigmund's death in battle also [[EvenEvilHasStandards leave Marek in shock for about half an hour]].]] Also, while Sigmunt is a perfect TheGoodKing material, [[WarriorPrince Marek's]] strenghts are more suited to [[MemeticBadass being sung]] [[FamedInStory about by bards]].

* Somewhat downplayed with Sigmund and Marek from ''Literature/{{Uprooted}}''. Yes, Marek plots against his older brother, but Sigmund at least suspects this. [[spoiler: News of Sigmund's death in battle also [[EvenEvilHasStandards leave Marek in shock for about half an hour]].]]

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender:'' Zuko, the older brother and an AntiHero, has to fight Azula, his younger sister and a villain through and through, for the throne of the Fire Nation.

-> '''Zazu''': As the king's brother, you should've been first in line!\\
'''Scar''': I ''was'' first in line. Until the little hairball was born.\\
'''Mufasa''': That "hairball" is my son, and your future king.

* In ''Literature/ThePrisonerOfZenda'' the whole plot revolves around Duke Michael's attempt to usurp the throne from his elder half-brother prince Rudolf. However, there are enough hints through the novel to indicate that "Black" Michael might have been as evil as it seems at first sight, given that he has the support of the poor people of the capital and the countryside around Zenda.

SisterTrope to SiblingRivalry, ClashingCousins, CainAndAbel and MurderInTheFamily. Annoyed at being SpareToTheThrone, the younger brother usually becomes an EvilPrince, who then becomes an EvilUncle to any of the first born's children. One of the few plot tropes where the younger sibling is the evil one in the family.

SubTrope to SiblingRivalry and MurderInTheFamily. SisterTrope to CainAndAbel. Annoyed at being SpareToTheThrone, the younger brother usually becomes an EvilPrince, who then becomes an EvilUncle to any of the first born's children. One of the few plot tropes where the younger sibling is the evil one in the family.

SisterTrope to SiblingRivalry, ClashingCousins, CainAndAbel and MurderInTheFamily. Annoyed at being SpareToTheThrone, the younger brother usually becomes an EvilPrince, who then becomes an EvilUncle to any of the first born's children. One of the few plot tropes where the younger sibling is the evil one in the family.

SubTrope to SiblingRivalry and MurderInTheFamily. SisterTrope to CainAndAbel. Annoyed at being SpareToTheThrone, the younger brother usually becomes an EvilPrince, who then becomes an EvilUncle to any of the first born's children. One of the few plot tropes where the younger sibling is the evil one in the family.

** ''Film/ThorRagnarok:'' Then their [[spoiler: older sister]] Hela comes along to [[BigBrotherBully beat up]] and displace ''both'' of them from the Asgardian throne, and they have to [[EnemyMine work together]] to stop her.

** ''ThorTheDarkWorld:'' Thor resumes his place as heir -- only to decide he'd "rather be a good man than a great king". Loki himself, meanwhile, has gotten on the throne by impersonating Odin.

** ''Film/{{Thor}}:'' Thor is the strong first-born, and Loki is the cunning second born. Loki tricks Thor into revealing how poor a choice a King he'd make, resulting in Thor's banishment. This backfires when Thor's exile teaches him humility, while Loki discovers a huge personal bombshell and decides to deal with it by blowing up an entire planet. When they come to blows, Loki admits the throne itself was a means to an end -- what he ''really'' wanted was to be seen as Thor's equal.
** ''ThorTheDarkWorld:'' After defeating Loki, Thor resumes his place as heir -- only to decide he'd "rather be a good man than a great king". Loki himself, meanwhile, has gotten on the throne by impersonating Odin.
** ''Film/ThorRagnarok:'' Then their [[spoiler: older sister]] Hela comes along to [[BigBrotherBully beat up]] and displace ''both'' of them from the Asgardian throne.

* ''Film/{{Aquaman|2018}}:'' Arthur and Orm are half-brothers who fight for the throne of Atlantis.

** Thor is the strong first-born, and Loki is the cunning second born in ''Film/{{Thor}}''. Loki tricks Thor into revealing how poor a choice a King he'd make, resulting in Thor's banishment. This backfires when Thor's exile teaches him humility, while Loki discovers a huge personal bombshell and decides to deal with it by blowing up an entire planet. When they come to blows, Loki admits the throne itself was a means to an end -- what he ''really'' wanted was to be seen as Thor's equal.
** After defeating Loki, Thor resumes his place as heir -- only to decide he'd "rather be a good man than a great king" in his next movie. Loki himself, meanwhile, has gotten on the throne by impersonating Odin.
** Then in ''[[Film/ThorRagnarok Ragnarok]]'', their [[spoiler: older sister]] Hela comes along to [[BigBrotherBully beat up]] and displace ''both'' of them from the Asgardian throne.

* One of the tales adapted in ''Anime/GrimmsFairyTaleClassics'' is "The Water of Life", where Prince Franz (Strong Firstborn) and Prince Joseph (Smart Secondborn) invert the trope - the typically heroic Strong Firstborn is the villain whereas the more-often-than-not evil Smart Secondborn is the TheHero. This gets so bad, [[spoiler: Franz makes their father the King believe that Joseph is trying to ''kill him''.]]

* ''Disney/{{Hercules}}'': The Disney adaptation makes passing mention that Zeus and Hades are brothers. Zeus rules Olympus while Hades rules the underworld. The central conflict of the story involves Hades' scheme to supplant his brother Zeus, and become supreme ruler of Olympus, Tartarus and all the Earth in between. Zeus is of course the strongest god and older brother[[note]] According to Greek myth, Zeus was actually the youngest of six siblings and Hades was the oldest of the three brothers Hades, Poseidon and Zeus. He also had no particular resentment of Zeus and never tried to oust him.[[/note]], while Hades is a schemer.

** Thor is the strong first-born, and Loki is the cunning second born in ''Film/{{Thor}}''. Loki tricks Thor into revealing how poor a choice a King he'd make, resulting in Thor's banishment. This backfires when Thor's exile teaches him humility, while Loki discovers a huge personal bombshell and decides to deal with it by blowing up an entire planet. When they come to blows, Loki admits the throne itself was a means to an end - what he ''really'' wanted was to be seen as Thor's equal.
** After defeating Loki, Thor resumes his place as heir - only to decide he'd "rather be a good man than a great king" in his next movie. Loki himself, meanwhile, has gotten on the throne by impersonating Odin.

** Though they are not royalty the Freys, one of the most powerful noble Houses, certainly show this. [[EvilOldFolks Walder Frey]] has over a hundred descendants, many of whom are scheming to move up the line of succession. Two of the worst are Edwyn and "Black" Walder Frey, the two eldest sons of the eldest son of Walder Frey's eldest son. They each want to be Lord of the Crossing and thus hate each other, Black Walder is also suspected of sleeping with both his brothers' wives, casting his niece's parentage in doubt. There's also two of Walder's grandsons, "Big" Walder (whose older by 52 days) and "Little" Walder (who is ironically bigger). Little Walder doesn't think either of them will inherit the Crossing due to their low place, but despite being even lower in the line of succession Big Walder intends to become its lord. [[spoiler:Later Little Walder is found murdered, though Big Walder may have been done this partially in reaction to his cousin becoming more like the monstrous Ramsay Bolton. Especially prominent as when it happens they are both 9.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' has Aquaman and Orm. Orm chains Aquaman and his newborn son to the side of a cliff that's falling into magma. Aquaman gets one arm free and uses it to chop of his other hand so he can get them both out in time, and then goes to attack Orm directly. As this is the "underwater Conan" take on Aquaman, he's less than forgiving of the man who tried to kill his son - and ends up leaving Orm to fall to his death.

** [[Characters/MCUThor Thor]] is the strong first-born, and [[Characters/MCULoki Loki]] is the cunning second born in ''Film/{{Thor}}''. Loki tricks Thor into revealing how poor a choice a King he'd make, resulting in Thor's banishment. This backfires when Thor's exile teaches him humility, while Loki discovers a huge personal bombshell and decides to deal with it by blowing up an entire planet. When they come to blows, Loki admits the throne itself was a means to an end - what he ''really'' wanted was to be seen as Thor's equal.

** Thor is the strong first-born, and Loki is the cunning second born in ''Film/{{Thor}}''. Loki tricks Thor into revealing how poor a choice a King he'd make, resulting in Thor's banishment. This backfires when Thor's exile teaches him humility, while Loki discovers a huge personal bombshell and decides to deal with it by blowing up an entire planet. When they come to blows, Loki admits the throne itself was a means to an end - what he ''really'' wanted was to be seen as Thor's equal.

* In ''Acca: 13 Territory Inspection Dept'', Prince Schwan tries to start this with [[spoiler: main character Jean Otus, who he learns is his cousin, a HiddenBackupPrince]].

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

* ''Series/{{Blackadder}}'': In [[Recap/BlackadderS1E2BornToBeKing "Born to be King"]] Blackadder buys into a rumor that his mother had an affair and his older brother Harry is actually a bastard, and thus Blackadder is the rightful heir to the throne. But when the details surface it looks like the affair might have produced Blackadder himself, so he immediately has the messenger killed.
* One ''Series/MidsomerMurders'' episode has the younger brother of an aristocrat try to murder him via SwordFight, less for the title and inheritance than his mistress (the brother's wife). AllForNothing anyway, since the wife cheerfully informed her now ex-lover that she was part of the aristocracy now, and not about to waste her time with him. Note that the husband had already committed several murders by this point, one of them an IgnoredEnamoredUnderling reporting the wife infidelity on the wedding day, in the name of preserving the family reputation.
* ''Series/MagnificentCentury'', a soap opera based in the life of Suleyman TheMagnificent, uses this quite a bit among Suleyman's sons (which is TruthInTelevision, as seen below). The two eldest Princes, Mustafa (Strong Firstborn, mothered by Suleyman's first wife Mahidevran) and Mehmet (Smart Secondborn, mothered by Suleyman's second and most beloved wife, Roxelana/Hurrem), are particularly bad at this.

[[/folder]]

* One of the tales adapted in ''Anime/GrimmsFairyTaleClassics'' is "The Water of Life", where Prince Franz (Strong Firstborn) and Prince Joseph (Smart Secondborn) invert the trope - the typically heroic Strong Firstborn is the villain whereas the more-often-than-not Smart Secondborn is the TheHero. This gets so bad, [[spoiler: Franz makes their father the King believe that Joseph is trying to ''kill him''.]]

* ''Film/TheIronMask'' has Philippe, the EvilTwin brother of King UsefulNotes/LouisXIV, hidden away in a countryside chateau. A jealous, bitter Philippe eventually overthrows Louis, takes his place, and has Louis chucked into a dungeon where he has to wear an iron mask. This is a change from the Dumas novel--see Literature below--where King Louis is the mean one and Philippe is the one wearing an iron mask in a dungeon.

* ''Series/MagnificentCentury'', a soap opera based in the life of Suleyman TheMagnificent, uses this quite a bit among Suleyman's sons (which is TruthInTelevision, as seen below). The two eldest Princes, Mustafa (mothered by Suleyman's first wife Mahidevran) and Mehmet (mothered by Suleyman's second and most beloved wife, Roxelana/Hurrem), are particularly bad at this.

The siblings might make a BrainsEvilBrawnGood duo. Usually the firstborn son is the larger, stronger, heroic archetype. At worst he's a JerkJock. At best he's just a [[WarriorPrince symbol of strength]] and is [[TheGoodKing genuinely goodhearted.]] If that's the case, then the younger prince is more wiry, smarter, and calculating. He can't beat his older brother in a straight duel, so he plots to have him shamed and banished, or outright killed. [[GoodIsDumb The older brother will typically never see the betrayal coming until it's too late.]]

All these are stereotypes codified to a certain extent by the works of ''{{Creator/WilliamShakespeare}}''.