Archenemy

You won't kill me, out of some misplaced sense of self-righteousness... and I won't kill you, because you're just too much fun! I think you and I are destined to do this forever. „

~ The Joker analyses his relationship with Batman.

“ I understand blood for blood. Hector? I kept him alive. Kept him broken. I will save him to the last. Before he dies, he will know I buried every one of you. „

~ Gustavo Fring stating his plans against Hector Salamanca to Lalo, before killing the latter.

An Archenemy is the main enemy of the protagonist. The reason why the particular villain stands out more than the rest varies; they may be the hero's strongest enemy, be the complete antithesis to the hero, have strong connections with their hero's past, pose the greatest threat, or may be the most recurring villain like the Big Bad or the Right-Hand enforcer or even the Rival. This is not to be confused with the Big Bad, who is the villain responsible for the conflict in the story, or The Heavy, who is the most proactive villain in the story. The Archenemy is simply the villain that the protagonist has the most personal opposition towards. For stories with multiple main heroes and villains, there may be multiple archenemies if each hero shares an antithesis on the villains side. In rare cases such as Evil Vs. Evil scenarios, two villains may be archenemies of each other, an example being the mutual hatred between Gustavo Fring and Hector Salamanca. Examples include Lex Luthor from the Superman comics, Norman Osborn/Green Goblin from the Spider-Man comics, The Joker from the Batman comics, Circe and Cheetah from the Wonder Woman comics, Red Skull from the Captain America comics, Doctor Doom from The Fantastic Four comics, Mandarin from the Iron Man comics, Lord Voldemort from Harry Potter, Violator from the Spawn comics, Emperor Palpatine/Darth Sidious and Darth Vader from The Original Star Wars Trilogy.