One of the things I’ve always thought was interesting about “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” is that Kirk and Khan never actually meet. They do have some brief communications, but they’re never in the same room.
An even more extreme example is “The Fifth Element”, where not only do Korben Dallas and Zorg never meet, but they never even communicate with each other.
I’ve been trying to think of other examples, and not just for movies as well. I’m sure that somewhere in my collection of books there’s a novel with this quirk involving the protagonist and antagonist.
Can anyone else name some other movies or books with this type of set-up between the hero and the villain?
The old '70s, early ‘80s kids’ show “Battle of the Planets” was one; Zoltar always just got away, it seemed. Considering that it was a great step up in that the good guys in G Force were more 3 dimensional, and quite a bit of fun for me as a kid, I think it belongs.
First Star Wars film? Luke and Vader meet in combat over the Death Star in fighters; the most contact between them happens when Vader senses the strength of the force in Luke.
Inspector Gadget never met what’s-his-name in the cartoons. I never saw the live action movie. I guess that doesn’t technically count for the OP, but it’s close.
Actually, Inspector Gadget does meet Dr. Claw in one episode. However, Gadget doesn’t know what Dr. Claw looks like, so he doesn’t realize who he’s talking to. (No, we don’t get to see Dr. Claw, just the famous back of his chair. However, Gadget talks to him face-to-face, which made for an interesting reverse-dramatic-irony kind of situation.)
Most of the robbers in the newer Ocean’s 11 never mim a meet the owner. I don’t know if you’d call him a villain, though. Or if theives qualify as heros.
The Pledge is a great example, and a very complex film.
I remember a Batman story (in prose form, not comic form) about a dry cleaner who specialized in cleaning superhero/villain costumes. The story is called “Neutral Ground” and I read it in the anthology The Further Adventues of Batman, though I can’t remember the author. Good story… Batman and the Joker are both in it, though they don’t meet face-to-face in this particular story.
In the 1970’s made-for-TV movie Duel, one of Spielberg’s earliest works, the innocent car driver and the truck driver who antagonizes him on the road, never meet. In fact, we never even see what the truck driver looks like.
