# Diametrically opposed twins in real life, and fiction. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 5, 2005, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diametrically-opposed-twins-in-real-life-and-fiction/302543 "2005-05-05T15:56:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2005, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diametrically-opposed-twins-in-real-life-and-fiction/302543/1 "2005-05-05T15:56:38Z")
Well, I was looking through [The Unofficial Guide to the DC Universe](http://www.dcuguide.com/index.php), when I found the following entry. > [@](#): > > STRANGE TWINS Overview: Separated at birth, the twins Douglas and Rodney Strange became opposite numbers as adults. Douglas, a Scotland Yard detective, and Rodney, a criminal gang leader, met and clashed as adults in 1940. > > First Appearance: Hit Comics #1 (July 1940) [Quality] Now, it occurs to me I recall read a reprint of a western story in the comic books about something similar. I also recall here that there was a real life case of a gangster’s brother being a sheriff. (Al Capone? [Yes.](http://www.crimelibrary.com/gangsters_outlaws/mob_bosses/capone/hart_10.html?sect=15) This leads to two questions. [ol] [li]Was the story of the Strange brothers directly inspired by the Capones?[/li][li]What other diametrically opposed siblings exist in any, and all forms of fiction. Actually, RL, too. Good twins, like [Mas y Menos](http://www.titanstower.com/source/animated/charmasymenos.html) are common. I would like exact opposites, please.[/li][/ol] ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2005, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diametrically-opposed-twins-in-real-life-and-fiction/302543/2 "2005-05-05T16:17:33Z")
Well, in real life, there were Dear Abby and Ann Landers, who were identical twins and had competing newspaper advice columns for many years. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2005, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diametrically-opposed-twins-in-real-life-and-fiction/302543/3 "2005-05-05T17:01:54Z")
Twins at war with each other is a big theme in mythology. You’ve got **Acrisius** and **Proetus** , sons of Abas, king of Argos, who supposedly fought each other while still in the womb. Proetus eventually lost, and went off to found the city of Tiryns. Acrisius, daughter danae gave birth to Perseus, he of the Gorgon. (Zeus was his father, but according to others, Proetus really was.) In the Bible, you have **Jacob** and **Esau** , who also fought while still in the womb. Going back farther, you’bve got **Cain** and **Abel** Back to the Greeks, there are two sets of _dioskouri_\*, twin sons of the gods. **Castor** and **Polydeuces/ollux** are opposed in that one is mortal, the other immortal. According to one story, they eventually both became semi-immortal. World mythology is filled with cases of twin sons of the sun god or sky god, but they’re not always “opposed” by being evil/good, or by fighting with one another, although they sometimes have different colors. In Rome, there’s **Romulus** and **Remus** , founders of Rome, who eventually fought. ---
**Author:** ![rackensack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@rackensack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rackensack)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diametrically-opposed-twins-in-real-life-and-fiction/302543/4 "2005-05-06T18:52:05Z")
David Lodge’s academic novel _Small World_ has a pair of foundling identical twins named Angelica and Lily Pabst,who, despite their identical physical appearance, are at opposite extremes of almost every facet of personality. Angelica is quiet, reserved, academic, and apparently chaste if not necessarily virginal, while Lily is wild, mischievous, promiscuous, etc. The entire story is driven by the protagonist’s pursuit of (he thinks) Angelica, who keeps crossing his path. Only sometimes, it’s not Angelica, it’s Lily (he doesn’t know they’re twins). ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diametrically-opposed-twins-in-real-life-and-fiction/302543/5 "2005-05-06T19:12:58Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Going back farther, you’bve got **Cain** and **Abel**. They weren’t twins, though. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diametrically-opposed-twins-in-real-life-and-fiction/302543/6 "2005-05-06T19:16:27Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Twins at war with each other is a big theme in mythology. Not to mention in my own house. They went away to different colleges, however. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diametrically-opposed-twins-in-real-life-and-fiction/302543/7 "2005-05-06T19:20:14Z")
> [@JThunder](#): > > They weren’t twins, though. Well, not identical, but they where born within minutes of each other. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diametrically-opposed-twins-in-real-life-and-fiction/302543/8 "2005-05-06T19:25:54Z")
Not really. Genesis 4 merely says that Eve gave birth to Cain, and then later (i.e. at some indetermine later time) she gave birth to Abel. The time span is not specified. It could have been minutes, or it could have been years. Here’s how the King James Version renders Genesis 4:1-2: > [@](#): > > And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD. And she again bare his brother Abel. And here’s what the New International Version says: > [@](#): > > Adam lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, “With the help of the LORD I have brought forth [c] a man.” Later she gave birth to his brother Abel. I’ll concede that it sounds like they could have been twins, but this isn’t actually stated anywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diametrically-opposed-twins-in-real-life-and-fiction/302543/9 "2005-05-06T19:28:52Z")
:smack: Damn, your right. I was raised jewish, and there is a oral tradition that Cain grasped Abel’s ancle, so that he, Cain, would be born first. However, that is not canon. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diametrically-opposed-twins-in-real-life-and-fiction/302543/10 "2005-05-06T19:33:29Z")
> [@](#): > > Damn, your right. I was raised jewish, and there is a oral tradition that Cain grasped Abel’s ancle, so that he, Cain, would be born first. However, that is not canon. Are you sure? This is definitely stated in the Bible of Jacob and Esau. You’re right about Cain and Able, though – my apologies.