Just about any movie that you see will have main characters that meet up and interact with each other. On one hand, you could have two protagonists who come together to help push the narrative of the film forward. On the other hand, you could also have a protagonist come face to face with the antagonist of the film, whether it’s to introduce the character, build tension, or even set up a climactic event. Regardless, most films see these kinds of characters directly interacting with each other in person one way or another. However, that’s not to say that every film you see will have some of the main characters facing off or meeting in person.
In many cases, some movies won’t even have some of the main characters meet each other at all, either because they simply don’t meet each other or because they interact in some other way besides being in the same room together. Let’s take a look at ten of these movies where some of the main characters never get to meet.
10Enemy at the Gates — Vasili and Konig
Enemy at the Gatestakes the brutal Battle of Stalingrad and focuses on a sniper duel between Russian marksman Vasili and his German opponent Konig who was sent in to take him out.Enemy at the Gatesalso uses Vasili as the protagonist of the film, and the narrative follows the sniper becoming the face of the Russian war effort with its propaganda campaign.
The film isbased upon true eventsas we see Vasili navigate treacherous territory while he tries to avoid being killed by Konig. Much of the film is spent with the two snipers eyeing each other from a distance through the scopes of their weapons, they never come face to face with one another. The closest the two get to actually meeting is when Konig meets his demise. Konig is lured into a trap, believing Vasili is dead. When Konig emerges from his hiding place, he is met with Vasili’s rifle pointed at him only a few feet away. He accepts defeat and is instantly killed. So while the Vasili and Konig certainly came close to meeting each other, they never got that chance as they were enemies on the opposite side of a ruthless war.
9Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan — Kirk and Khan
InThe Wrath of Khan, Kirk and Khan do end up interacting with each other, but they never get to come face to face. The two of them interface with each other from their own locations, communicating through essentially a video call.Kirk and the entire crew of the Enterpriseend up facing off against Khan in order to save a pair of crew members that were captures as well as prevent Khan from gaining control of and using the powerful Genesis device. Despite all the action, suspense, and high stakes throughout the film, a video call between the hero and villain is as close as the two got from meeting face to face.
Technically, Kirk and Khan had met before in a television episode ofStar Trek: The Original Series,but they are never actually in the same room together during the entire run of the film.
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8The Fifth Element — Dallas and Zorg
In the distant future,The Fifth Elementsees taxi driver Korben Dallas thrust into world-saving mission when a young woman named Leeloo falls into his cab. In order to save the world, Dallas must recover four stones that represent the main elements of water, fire, air, and earth and combine them with Leeloo, who is the living embodiment of the Fifth Element. At the same time, the Great Evil is after the stones as well, looking to harness them to destroy the Earth. Leading the charge of the Great Evil is Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg, the main antagonist of the film.
Despite the fact that Dallas and Zorg are searching for the same stones and Zorg is trying to destroy Leeloo, the two forces never actually come face to face with one another. In fact, they don’t even communicate with each other in any way at all, and the closest they get to meeting each other is when Dallas enters an elevator and Zorg exits another one just seconds later.
7Braveheart — William Wallace and King Edward
Historical epicBraveheartis loosely based upon the tale of Scottish revolutionary William Wallace as he and his fellow Scots fight back against the English invasion of their homeland. William Wallace stood as a symbol for a free Scotland before being eventually captured by the English. He is then found guilty of high treason and executed, and even in the face of death Wallace refuses to yield to the English, encouraging future Scots to continue to fight back against the oppression that they were faced with.
On the other side of the battle between the Scots and the English, however, was King Edward, also known as Longshanks. Edward was the one who had invaded and conquered Scotland in the first place, so a face off on the battlefield between Wallace and Edward seemed inevitable. However, the two leaders would never get to meet each other, as Edward had sent others to Scotland to deal with Wallace instead.
6Traffic — Rodriguez and Gordon
Some of the main storylines inTrafficfollow Mexican police officer Javier Rodriguez and DEA agent Montel Gordon. Both of them have the same goal, which is to take down powerful drug cartels and drug leaders. Despite the two being main protagonists, both working toward a similar goal, and both of them have questionable methods for how they are trying to do their jobs.
Even with all these similarities and having an intertwining story, the two never run into one another. Rodriguez spends the entire run of the film down in Mexico, while Gordon’s portion of the story takes place in San Diego. While many of the movies on this list may seem like some of the characters should have met each other at some point,Traffic’sstory approach makes it much more believable why these two characters would never meet.
Max inMad Max: Fury Roadpretty much spends the whole run of the film trying to outrun Immortan Joe and his fleet of henchmen as they drive through the Wasteland on the massive War Rig. During the film, Max works alongside Imperator Furiosa and the five wives that she’s helped escape from Immortan Joe, in one of the most critically acclaimed action films of all time. Despite the film feeling like Immortan Joe and his men are at Max’s heels the entire time, Max and Joe never actually end up meeting each other. Joe does come face to face with Furiosa, however, shortly before Furiosa uses a harpoon to rip the antagonist’s mask off, killing him.
4No Country for Old Men — Ed Tom Bell and Anton Chigurh
Sheriff Ed Tom Bell was always just one step behind the ruthless psychopath Anton Chigurh inNo Country for Old Men,as the aging lawman would always arrive at the scene of the crime just a little too late for him to make any impact. Throughout the film, Chigurh is chasing down another man, Llewelyn Moss, who stole a case of cash from a drug deal gone bad. At the same time, Bell is also looking for Moss, hoping to protect him. Chigurh proved to be too much to handle for both Moss and Bell, however, as Chigurh winds up killing Moss and gets away with it before Bell can do anything to catch him.
Because Chigurh was always one step ahead, he and Bell never end up meeting each other. The fact that Bell never even got close enough to catch a glimpse of the killer shows that he is just getting too old to keep up anymore.
3The Truman Show — Truman and Christof
ThroughoutThe Truman Show,Truman Burbank’s entire life is one big broadcast, with nothing but actors and a giant TV set around him, completely unaware of what his life has been. This entire production, and essentially Truman’s whole life, has been controlled by the executive producer of the show, Christof. Of course, Truman eventually starts catching on to the charade that’s happening around him, which eventually escalates to Truman attempting to escape the fake Seahaven Island that he’s lived his entire life on.
Truman is obviously the main focus of the film, but Christof is also front and center as he tries everything to keep Truman from discovering his reality from behind the scenes. Christof does directly speak to Truman at the end of the film, but the two of them never actually meet each other.
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2Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope — Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader
Of course, we all know that Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader do end up coming face to face with each other in the iconic duel and reveal that Vader is actually Luke’s father inThe Empire Strikes Back, but when the originalStar Warscame out, the closest the two got to actually meeting was when Luke witnessed the duel between Vader and Obi-Wan Kenobi on the Death Star. And at that point, Luke believed that Vader was someone else that had actually killed his father, so a face off between the first two in the original film didn’t even really seem necessary, especially since Luke hardly knew anything about being a Jedi at the time.
With everything we know now about the world ofStar Wars,it feels like we should have seen the two at least properly meet each other in the first film, but their actual first meeting on Cloud City was made much better because of it.
1Once Upon a Time in Hollywood — Cliff Booth and Sharon Tate
Finally, we have two of the protagonists ofOnce Upon a Time in Hollywoodthat never got to meet each other,Cliff Booth and Sharon Tate. The storyline between that of Sharon Tate and the other of Rick Dalton and Cliff Booth seem like they don’t really have much to do with one another, except that Rick and Sharon are neighbors. The stories don’t even seem to cross paths with one another much at all, that is, until the end of the film.
After Rick and Cliff dismantled the Manson murderers, Cliff is taken away to the hospital after sustaining some injuries. Rick is left at his house, but is invited over to Sharon’s after they heard all the commotion. So, had Cliff not taken so much damage after brutally killing the intruders, he probably would have gotten to meet the lovely Sharon Tate. But instead, he missed meeting her by just a minute.
