Top 10 Times Movie Characters Fought THEMSELVES
#10: Joe
Top 20 Times Female Movie Characters Went Beast Mode
“Looper” (2012) In the future, criminals send their victims to the past, to be killed by assassins called “loopers,” who “close the loop.” When the future version of the protagonist, Joe, is sent back, future Joe escapes his execution, seeking to kill the man responsible for his wife’s death in the future, the Rainmaker. Armed only with the knowledge of the Rainmaker’s date and place of birth, old Joe tries to kill all the children born at that hospital on that day. Meanwhile, young Joe forms a relationship with the boy who becomes the Rainmaker and his mother. This leads to a dramatic confrontation, wherein young Joe takes his own life to erase the elder version and to save those he’s come to care for.
#9: Gabe Law/Gabriel Yulaw
“The One” (2001) Gabe Law is a police officer who finds his senses and reaction times becoming stronger. As he soon discovers, this is due to the actions of his counterpart from another dimension, Gabriel Yulaw. Yulaw has been killing his alternate counterparts in other realities, in order to become the only version and therefore a super-being. The duo has several fights during the film, and watching actor Jet Li finally find a worthy match is great to see, even if it’s himself. Although some of the effects haven’t aged all that well, the final bout between Law and Yulaw features some wonderfully over-the-top martial arts that help make it an entertaining B-movie.
#8: Bill & Ted
Top 10 Best Bill and Ted Movie Moments
“Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey” (1991) While William S. Preston and Theodore Logan are no strangers to running into themselves, thanks to their excellent adventures through time, some of these dudes’ doppelgangers are robotic in nature. To prevent the most triumphant duo from creating a future utopia with their music, a terrorist in the future sends Bill & Ted’s robot doubles to murder them and sabotage their music career and love lives ... which they basically succeed at. However, thanks to some afterlife shenanigans, Bill and Ted are able to return to life and defeat their duplicates, using robots of their own. Hopefully they can “catch each other later” if we ever get a fourth movie. That’d be excellent! [insert Bill & Ted air guitar sound effect]
#7: Deadpool/Ryan Reynolds
Deadpool to Cast James Bond for Cable?! – The CineFiles Ep. 4
“Deadpool 2” (2018) Wade Wilson, a.k.a. Deadpool, goes through the wringer in his second movie – losing his fiancée and putting himself through hell to protect a mutant kid from Cable. Thankfully, all’s well that ends well, thanks to time travel, and Deadpool has a little bit of fun using his signature 4th wall breaking humor…Deadpool not only kills the poorly received version of himself from “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” but he also kills Ryan Reynolds after his actor accepts a part in “Green Lantern.” We’re just surprised he didn’t give Van Wilder a wedgie or something.
#6: Ash Williams
Top 10 Times Smug Movie Characters Got What They Deserved
“Army of Darkness” (1993) Throughout his encounters with the Evil Dead, Ash Williams experiences a lot of strange and terrifying events. A trip back in time to the Middle Ages proves especially traumatic though, since he’s forced to do battle with evil doubles of himself. While the first few he encounters are pint-sized, eventually one proves his equal - dubbing itself “Bad Ash” and fighting against the original in a very funny fight scene. Although “good” Ash manages to kill the bad one, the villain is resurrected and leads the titular army of darkness against the living. This leads to a final and absolutely groovy battle between the original and undead Ash.
#5: T-800
Top 10 Times Movie Misogynists Got What They Deserved
“Terminator Genisys” (2015) Given how much this time travel franchise has rebooted and returned to past events, it was only a matter of “time” (ha! Get it?) before characters started fighting themselves. Thanks to some rather confusing changes to the timeline, an aged T-800 Terminator is sent back to raise Sarah Connor after her parents are killed by a different Terminator. So, when the original T-800 is sent back to kill Sarah, “Pops” arrives to engage it. The two Terminators may share the same face and metal endoskeleton, but the younger one appears to get the better of its older counterpart…at least until Sarah herself is able to take it out from afar. Still…it comes back. He’ll always be back.
#4: The Wilsons
Top 10 Times Movie Characters Saw the Future
“Us” (2019) This entry is four in one! “Us” is a horror film that follows the Wilson family. While on vacation, the four of them encounter a quartet of masked people, who turn out to be perfect doppelgangers of themselves. Calling themselves the Tethered, they reveal that they’re connected to their human counterparts and seek to sever their connection by killing them. Each of the Wilson family members has a showdown with and ultimately triumphs over their double by killing them. Still, this is complicated by revelations in the movie’s final moments...
#3: Luke Skywalker
Top 10 Luke Skywalker Moments
“Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back” (1980) Luke Skywalker faces the Dark Side of the Force in external threats, like Darth Vader, but also faces it within himself. While training with Yoda on Dagobah, Luke enters a cave strong in the Dark Side, and encounters an apparition of Vader. However, when he defeats the Vader double, its mask explodes and reveals Luke’s own face within. Besides being one of the strangest things to happen in all of “Star Wars,” it also acts as some nice foreshadowing for the famed Vader reveal later in the film. Also, sidebar, has anyone else noticed how many cave scenes there are in this movie?
#2: Wolverine
Top 10 EPIC Wolverine Movie Moments
“Logan” (2017) The main plot of this unconventional superhero film sees Logan, a.k.a. Wolverine, connect with his daughter, Laura, as he helps her escape sinister forces. Unfortunately, those same forces also employ an enhanced adult clone of Logan. This clone, codenamed X-24, surprises Logan’s party and manages to kill Charles Xavier in their first encounter. Their next battle doesn’t go much better, with X-24 proving more than a match for Logan and managing to fatally wound him, before being killed by Laura. Logan’s unmatched ferocity and tenacity is always awesome and scary at the same time, so seeing it in stereo is badass/horrifying. Before we get to our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions: Jack Harper, “Oblivion” (2013) Two Tom Cruise Clones! Who Do You Think Would Win a Footrace? Henry Brogan, “Gemini Man” (2019) Will Smith Faces His Younger Clone Lincoln Six-Echo, “The Island” (2005) It’s Not Often We Root for the Clone Jean-Luc Picard, “Star Trek: Nemesis” (2002) Only a Clone of Picard Could Take Over the Romulan Empire John Doe, “Predestination” (2014) Is Everyone in This Movie the Same Person?
#1: Captain America
Top 10 Greatest Captain America MCU Moments
“Avengers: Endgame” (2019) The Avengers’ jaunts through time lead to several characters running into themselves or relatives. While we considered choosing Nebula, ultimately, we had to “salute” Captain America. While trying to escape 2012 with Loki’s scepter, Steve Rogers encounters his past self, who mistakes him for Loki. The pair of Steves go toe to toe, matching one another very well, and crashing down several stories. Past Cap even looks to have the upper hand, but future Cap drops some spoilers on his younger self to catch him off guard and knock him out; probably erasing his memory too. And that parting quip about his own posterior? Gold.
