But wait! There is more! As Mar-Vell reaches Death's door...He sees Thanos of Titan, who was dead at that time. He walks up to him and says that an end like this was unworthy of his greatest enemy and then proceeds to battle him, calling forth upon the souls of defeated enemies of the Captain until he reaches Death, and hence, relief and rest from life's burdens. Some say this is Starlin's best work.

In Mega Man: Defender of the Human Race, Terra sees Bass as this since they share the same power source, but Mega Man is beneath his notice. However, he also clearly has a lot of resentment for the "Honorable Ned Stark" for how he thinks he wouldn't even give him a chance to explain why he killed Aerys, and judging him as being a dishonorable wretch for this genuinely well-intentioned and heroic action, despite Ned not being as squeaky clean as others believed. After his match with Vault in Chapter 3, remastered version, Kyril remarks that he is prey worthy of hunting, respecting Vault's skill as a Master Swordsman. It is a rather half-hearted remark, however, as he notes that compared with his two seniors, Lady Maria and the First Hunter, Vault is basically nothing.

Other examples:

Amon: I'm impressed. No one has ever gotten the better of me like that. It is almost a shame to purify someone so talented. Almost.

In the fourth game, Apollo Justice gets his own Worthy Opponent, Klavier Gavin. While Klavier insults Apollo and refers to him as "Herr Forehead" quite a bit, Klavier never intentionally hides anything from Apollo, never tries to screw him over, and willingly helps Apollo as much as his duties as a prosecutor allow him to. Warhammer: Age of Sigmar: It turns out that many of the servants of Khorne are absolutely delighted that Sigmar created the Stormcast Eternals — basically the Einherjar of Norse Mythology. After thousands of years of slaughtering defenceless weaklings, they've finally got a real fight on their hands.The Battle of Borodino during the French Invasion of Russia. Both sides suffered vast casualties but neither achieved a decisive victory. Napoleon's own description of the horror of this "clash of Titans" is particularly apt: "Of the fifty battles I have fought, the most terrible was that before Moscow. The French showed themselves to be worthy victors, and the Russians can rightly call themselves invincible". SCP-1638 was created by an Antagonist in Mourning to honour a Foundation agent that he considered a worthy opponent after the agent had died. Hilariously subverted in the Firefly fanfic Forward, where the Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy Si Quan confronts River, sizes her up, and considers her a worthy opponent who can test his abilities. River disagrees and shoots him in the head.

Rango receives this from Rattlesnake Jake at the end of the film. "I tip my hat to you. One legend to another." James McCudden: Rhys-Davids came in for a shower of congratulations, and no one deserved them better, but as the boy himself said to me, "Oh, if I could only have brought him down alive," and his remark was in agreement with my own thoughts. Superman and Spider-Man: The duel between Superman and Hulk ends with the latter deciding to trust the former and calm down, reasoning that someone who can withstand one of his enraged beatdowns is not a puny human and deserves respect.Cheating Death: Those That Lived: In Laurel's Games, Sinbad, the District Four convict-boy, considers Laurel's plan to poison the Careers' food (he escaped their fate by stopping to add pepper to his soup) "not bad", and is said to have "something close to respect in his eyes" as Laurel kills him. Squirrel Girl of all people. Doom considers her his sixth most dreaded nemesis, and he has pretty much accepted that any fight between them will end in his humiliation. He generally tries to avoid her as much as he can and has made sure the propaganda apparatus in Latveria has painted her as a vile monster. In the movie Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, he's changed to a Big Bad with a serious grudge against Kirk, as the new world ended up becoming an inhospitable wasteland after six months due to a Negative Space Wedgie and his wife subsequently dying from brain slugs.