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Snark-to-Snark Combat - TV Tropes

...I've come to explain to you why we're going to have to put our deal on hold. We can't afford to be seen to do business with, well, whatever it is you're accused of being. A businessman of your stature will understand.

I think, Mr. Fox, that a simple phone call would have sufficed.

Well, I do love Chinese food. And Mr. Wayne didn't want you to think we'd been deliberately wasting your time.

Just accidentally wasting it.

Very good Mr. Lau. "Accidentally".

Much like having different hammy actors in the same work, sometimes putting two snarky characters into the same works and having them interact in some form of discussion (especially an argument) can seem like a competition in sarcasm. This often makes it a little easier to tell which character is more of a snarker; it can also be a sign of Belligerent Sexual Tension, as it's a form of combat in which the antagonists suffer no actual physical damage, and many of the attacks can double as denials of the attacker's true feelings for the target (or be interpreted as such).

See also Volleying Insults and World of Snark. Well, Excuse Me, Princess! is a specific version of this between a snarky hero and a snarky princess. Also may figure in Passive-Aggressive Kombat and Politeness Judo. Bantering Baddie Buddies often engage in conversations like this.

Alternatively could be called "having a sass off".

Not to be confused with cruise missile warfare.

    open/close all folders 

    Anime & Manga 

• Crest of the Stars: The Abh have elevated this type of interaction to an art form. Almost any conversation between high-ranking Abh is going to turn into a snark contest. In the novels, it's mentioned that there is technically a law in the Empire that forbids insulting the nobility or Imperial family, but it's never been enforced because if they ever did, they'd have to arrest pretty much the entirety of their nobility and Imperials.

  Trife: What am I supposed to do with so little intel!? The members of the Intelligence division aren't fit to feed cats!
  Junior Officer: I object to that statement, sir.
  Trife: Ah yes, you recently transferred from the Intelligence division, didn't you? Very well, I retract my statement: the members of the Intelligence division are perfectly suited to feeding cats.
  Trife's Aide: I'm sure the Intelligence division is flattered by your assessment, sir.

• Little Witch Academia features two haughty British aristocrats in the form of the Muggle Andrew Hanbridge and Witch Diana Cavendish who are masters of snark when dealing with The Protagonist Akko. Thus, their own interactions naturally tend to consist of this, the nature of it ranging from hostile to an ever so slightly smiling verbal Slap-Slap-Kiss.
• Missa and Sakuya's compensated dates in the Sensual Phrase anime have more than a shade of this. The moment they look into each other's eyes, you just know the sarcastic and playful comments will start as soon as they start talking.
• In YuYu Hakusho, the same way Yusuke and Kuwabara are always trying to fight each other physically, Hiei and Kurama are always trying to verbally one-up each other. They're usually too dignified to make it obvious that's what they're doing, but almost every dialogue between them will at least end on a quick back-and-forth.

    Audio Plays 

• Big Finish Doctor Who: Arc Villain Fenric and fellow Elder God Weyland spend more time trading insults than playing their Cosmic Chess Game. It's ridiculous enough to be picked up on by the Doctor's companions, especially Sally, who compares it to Battle Rapping. Fenric: Volund, the maker, the builder, the shaper of destructions and artifices.
  Weyland: Fenric, trickster, player of games, dragged back to the endless beyond.
  Fenric

  :

  Volund, to be drained, to be exhausted, to be left to rot, his bones picked clean by dimensional scavengers, his black ichor smeared across the stars.
  Weyland: Fenric, to be endlessly humiliated, to be trampled into the quantum foam. His cursed sacrifice awaits him—his tainted vessel, his undoing.

    Comic Books 

• A + X #7 is mostly Iron Man and Beast engaging in this; for instance, Tony asking Hank if his new look means he's been drinking his experiments again, and Hank responding by pointing out he is not making a comeback on the subject of drinking.
• Avengers Academy #22's issue-length snarkfest between Magneto and Quicksilver is epic.
• Batman: Tends to happen a lot with Nightwing, particularly when going up against Batman himself or Alfred. Many of Batman and Alfred's more casual conversations with each other also tend towards this — Alfred usually wins.
• In Polish comic book Lil i Put, Lil and his sister Kieszonka can go like this for hours.
• Donald Duck in Paperinik New Adventures with many characters, from his Uncle Scrooge to villains like the Raider.
• Runaways: After Gert found out about the time Nico kissed Chase, they decided to settle their differences with a snark-off, because at the time, the Runaways were dealing with a band of idiots who'd decided to declare themselves the newest incarnation of the Pride, and Gert and Nico had to get over their problems quickly.
• Spider-Man:
  • Spider-Man and the Human Torch have been doing this sort of thing whenever they team up or are even in the same story together for decades. It's kind of their thing.
  • Spider-Man and Deadpool, both notorious snarkers, actually engage in a yo mama fight once. Their banter culminating in Daredevil deciding to have all of them split up solely so that he won't have to deal with their quips.
  • Spider-Man and Black Cat tend to indulge in a more flirtatious version of this.
• In the Supergirl story arc "The Girl of No Tomorrow", Catherine Grant and Selena engage in a snark war as soon as the latter teleports into Cat's apartment: Selena:

  You think you're

  powerful

  . I've known power since you were a vodka-fueled question on the tip of your parents' tongues. My name is

  Selena

  .

  
  Catherine:

  I don't know

  who

  you are, but

  no one

  denigrates vodka like that in

  my

  home.

  
  Selena:

  Your media empire supports

  Supergirl

  . Starting today, we put her and everyone she knows to the boot. Including you.

  
  Catherine: [pointing to Selena's footwear]

  Really?

  Those

  boots?

• Transformers:
  • The Transformers: More than Meets the Eye: Constant between Ratchet and Drift. Later Rodimus and Megatron start engaging in this; unfortunately for Rodimus, Megatron is a lot more quick-witted.
  • Starscream and Bumblebee's apparent ghost get up to some point-scoring in The Transformers: Robots in Disguise; of course, Bumblebee can't really interact with anyone else.

    Starscream: Look, I can be disingenuous—
    Bumblebee: Your vocabulary is improving.
    Starscream: I bought a dictionary calendar.

• Sabretooth and Monet in Uncanny X-Men seem to have a Belligerent Sexual Tension. This is their first conversation in the series.

  Monet: Toilet humor. Somehow appropriate coming from someone with your pedigree, Creed. I wonder, as the poor fools are getting trounced, do they still appreciate your everyman wit or are they more enamored by my sheer awesomeness?
  Creed: Ain't nobody as impressed by you as you are, Monet.
  Monet: Maybe not. But can you blame me?
  Creed: Guess not, frail...
  Monet: And don't call me "frail."

• Young Justice: While poor Tim often finds his snark meeting oblivious teammates he Conner and Cassie have had some entertaining volleys of snarking while on the job.

    Comic Strips 

• In Dilbert, from the early years when it started out as generic humor, Dilbert and Dogbert engage in a pun war: Dilbert:

  I'm feeling a little hoarse.

  
  Dogbert:

  Horse?

  Maybe you got a colt.
  Dilbert:

  I need some cough stirrup.

  
  Dogbert:

  Maybe you're gelding a fever.

  
  Dilbert:

  It's mare-ly a sore throat.

  
  Dogbert:

  Hope you filly better.

  
  Dilbert: [unable to make a witty comeback]

  Uh... You're ugly!

  
  Dogbert:

  I win.

    Fan Works 

• In Between My Brother and Me: Mors Omnibus, the tag-team duel with Yvonne (a blunt Deadpan Snarker puppeteer) and Yusho (who is starting to feel the effects of everything that's happened at this point) against Yuya (brainwashed by Zarc) and Zarc (Tall, Dark, and Snarky) is essentially the four making snarky remarks at each other while they perform in a Circus of Fear Action Duel.
• In the Blooming Moon Chronicles, Luna, Scrivener Blooms, and Twilight Sparkle are quipping at each other about half the time that there isn't actual combat happening.
• The Bolt Chronicles: Mittens and Rhino trade wisecracking zingers in "The Funkmeister". They're friends, so it's all in good fun.

  Mittens: All well and good for you, at least, except that you've got an audience of one over here that can't unsee your transgressions against terpsichorean excellence.
  Rhino: [waving his paw dismissively] Yeah, yeah — put the snark thesaurus away and make with the music already.

• As Child of the Storm is a World of Snark, this happens all the time, with far more characters than it's possible to list.
  • Harry and Carol manage to combine this, Casual Danger Dialogue, and Flirting Under Fire all at the same time, often to the bemusement of everyone around them. Just one example takes place after Harry makes a Dynamic Entry (wearing the tattered remnants of a power-limiting suit that he cut open with a machete, resulting in a variant on Nate Grey's usual look) in Ghosts of the Past chapter 8:

    Carol: And what time do you call this?
    Harry: No idea, someone pinched my watch.
    Kurt: Mein Gott.
    Harry: I'm no one's god. I'm...
    Carol: Just your average ordinary everyday super psychic Prince of Asgard.
    Harry: Yeah, right. Making new friends?
    Carol: A few. And what the hell are you wearing?
    Harry: This? Oh, a little something I picked up. I think it'll catch on.
    Carol: Catch on fire, maybe, that thing's a crime against nature.
    Harry: I think it makes me look dashing.
    Carol: It makes you look like an escapee from a '90s music video.

  • At the end of the Final Battle in Book 1, Tony Stark and Harry Dresden get into a snarking match that has watching Asgardians taking bets on the winner.
• In Code: Total Drama Reality, Noah and Sora's first meeting results in each burning the other.
• In the Encanto fanfic Couch Surfers, Bruno and Stefanie briefly have a snip-fit with each other while Bruno is feeling bloated from indigestion and Stefanie is feeling crabby from her period.
• Evangelion 303: Shinji and Asuka are pretty snarky at the beginning of the history. During those chapters, they are still in their Belligerent Sexual Tension phase, so their conversations and arguments often turn into this. For example, in chapter 3:

  Shinji: The debauchery in there is staggering...
  Asuka: You're one to talk! How many beers did I see you knock back?
  Shinji: You too! You're not 21 either, right?
  Asuka: Hmph! I'm too busy to keep track of stupid, prudish American laws!
  Shinji: I think we made a bigger mess than we cleaned up...
  Asuka: It was a moving party! It's not supposed to be clean.
  [...]
  Asuka: Ya know... You'd be a pretty good pilot if you knew how to control yourself...
  Shinji: Weirdest way of conceding I've ever heard...

• In Fate/bleached white, Lancer of all people is prone to this with those he doesn't like; he does not so much as communicate with Caster, but the two throw insults or snappy remarks at each other, and he just as readily does this with Kirei.
• The Flight of the Alicorn: Even after being forced to join forces when stranded in the depths of the jungle, Blueblood and Rarity's interactions consist mainly of a steady stream of sarcastic comments and thinly veiled insults. By the end of the story, this settles into a steady patter of friendly banter instead.
• Hellsister Trilogy: Interactions between Superman and his cousin's boyfriend Dev-Em usually come down to this:

  Dev-Em: Oh, Sheol. What a headache. El, tell me. Was that another one of your unending parade of people who want you dead?
  Superman: As a matter of fact, it was, Dev. I can lend you a few, if you'd like to take them home with you.

• HERZ: Shinji and Asuka in chapter 12:

  Maya: It's so lovely! [...] Oh Asuka, you're pregnant again.
  Asuka: [...] BAKA-SHINJI! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!
  Shinji: My fault!? Why is it always my fault!?
  Asuka: Of course it's your fault! You're a male!
  Shinji: Oh yes! I suppose it's got nothing to with you throwing yourself at me almost every night for the last few weeks! And you kept insisting on being on top as well!

• Insomnia (Undertale): Gaster and Chara's flashback meeting goes south in a matter or seconds.

  Chara: Wow. Kind of a prick, aren't you.
  Gaster: Bit of a brat, aren't you.
  Chara: You wanna go, Dingaling?!
  Gaster: Oh please. You're as threatening as a feral kitten.
  Chara: I WILL FIGHT YOU.
  Gaster: You will do no such thing in your condition.
  Chara: What? You scared old man?
  Gaster: Tiny, gremlin child. I will burrito you in a blanket. I have zero qualms.
  Chara: You know what-?

• Chapter 28 of New Vegas Showtime has a phone call between Raul Tejada, Goro Akechi and Futaba Sakura, and every other line from their mouths is some sort of quip at another's expense. Akechi:

  You sound lively for a

  two-centuries-years-old guy

  .

  
  Raul:

  Ghouls can live pretty long, if they don't go insane or get shot by racists or if nobody stabs them in the back and kills their moms.

  [...]

  
  Futaba:

  I'll talk to those three [Akira, Makoto and Haru] about the immoral murderous bastards running around... and also the Legion.

• In Nightblade, this is 90% of the communication between Rythin and Lisbeth. It goes on until Asuna scolds one or both to be nice.
• Whenever Tora or Sarakshi from Seduction talk.

  Tora: Who do you think Hoseki's representatives would believe? One of the maids from a café that has done a grand event for the first time, or the well-mannered and chivalrous Igarashi heir?
  Sarakshi: Well-mannered. Chivalrous. Excuse me while I gag, Igarashi.
  Tora: I'm sure something as unattractive as that would be right up your street.

• The fanfic Snark Convention centers on the lead homicide detectives from the three core CSI-verse series meeting each other while attending a convention and proceeding to complain about their respective Crime Lab bosses. Among the comments, Cap. Brass tells the others how weird Grissom is for collecting bugs and Det. Tripp goes on and on about Horatio's "Sunglasses of Justice."
• The Spectacular Spider-Man: Lost in Gotham: The Joker attempts this trope with Spider-Man... and fails miserably. Not only does Spider-Man prove to be funnier than him, but he keeps telling jokes while also humiliating Joker in a fight. Joker:

  So, my arachnid friend, what do you think of the Clown Prince of Crime? Am I much more impressive in person?

  
  Spider-Man:

  Forgive me if I'm not threatened by Ronald

  McDonald

  's ugly cousin.

  
  Guard: [snorts]
• In the first chapters of Thousand Shinji, Shinji and Asuka engage in this due to their clashing personalities.

  Shinji: Hey, why the sour face? Forget to drink your prune juice this morning?
  Asuka: No, just wondering how this country ever became important when it's filled with morons like you.
  Shinji: Oh, you wound me. And I think you got a little collateral damage on you there.
  Asuka: I'm a quarter Japanese, and I was raised in Germany. I think I took minimal splash.
  Shinji: Ah, so the Übermensch German sides overwhelm the barbarian Japanese side?
  Asuka: Can you cut it out with the Nazi jokes?
  Shinji: But they're so easy! Come on, throw an Imperial Japan joke. Hell, I haven't even tried to throw out any weird German fetish jokes cause I know you'll have way too much tentacle demon material to work with.
  Asuka: Oh? You know about German porn do you? Pervert.
  Shinji: I walked into that one.
  Asuka: You set yourself up for that one.
  Shinji: I see no contradiction between our statements.

    Films — Animation 

• Anastasia: Anya and Dimitri engage in this for the first half of the movie.
• Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World: There's the first conversation between Pocahontas and John Rolfe after the latter stops a fight from breaking out between the colonists and a troupe of scouts from the Pamunkey community. John Rolfe:

  It's alright, I've taken care of it.

  
  Pocahontas:

  The settlers need to know they can trust

  us

  to do the right thing.

  You

  should not have interfered!

  
  John Rolfe:

  I beg your pardon!

  
  Pocahontas: Alright. You have it.
  John Rolfe:

  I was trying to help.

  
  Pocahontas:

  I did not

  ask

  for your help.

  
  John Rolfe:

  Well, you didn't say "thank you," either. Whatever happened to manners and etiquette?

  
  Pocahontas:

  Well, since you are new here, I don't expect you to have them yet.

• This exchange in Quest for Camelot during Devon and Cornwall's Sidekick Song. Devon:

  Trapped! Trapped!

  
  Cornwall:

  Stuck here with you for five hundred years.

  
  Devon: Oh, dear, it's learned to count.
  Cornwall:

  If you'd got me a good lawyer, I'd have split four hundred years ago.

  
  Devon:

  Now listen here, pal, I didn't come here to be insulted.

  
  Cornwall:

  Oh. Where d'ya usually go?

    Films — Live-Action 

• Casablanca: Rick Blaine and just about everyone, but especially Captain Renault and Major Strasser.
• The Dark Knight Trilogy:
  • Lucius and Lau from The Dark Knight provide the page-quote dialogue-sample.
  • In The Dark Knight Rises, when Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle are dancing, they immediately rip each other new ones, but it's not surprising: Bruce Wayne:

    That's a brazen costume for a cat burglar.

    
    Selina Kyle:

    Yeah? Who are you pretending to be?

    
    Bruce Wayne:

    Bruce Wayne, eccentric billionaire. Who's your date?

    [motions to the man Selina was dancing with]
    Selina Kyle:

    His wife's in Ibiza. She left her diamonds behind, though. Worried they might get stolen.

    
    Bruce Wayne:

    Mm. It's pronounced Ibeetha.

    ^note It's actually "Eebeetha"

    You wouldn't want any of these folks realizing you're a crook, not a social climber.

    
    Selina Kyle:

    You think I care what anyone in this room thinks of me?

    
    Bruce Wayne:

    I doubt you care what anyone in

    any

    room thinks of you.

    
    Selina Kyle:

    Don't condescend, Mr. Wayne. You don't know a thing about me.

    
    Bruce Wayne:

    Well, Selina Kyle, I know you came here from your walk-up in Old Town, a modest place for a master jewel thief. Which means that either you're saving for retirement, or you're in deep with the wrong people.

    
    Selina Kyle:

    You don't get to judge me just because you were born in the master bedroom of Wayne Manor.

    
    Bruce Wayne:

    Actually, I was born in the Regency Room.

    
    Selina Kyle:

    I started out doing what I had to. Once you've done what you've

    had

    to, they'll never let you do what you

    want

    to.

    
    Bruce Wayne:

    Start fresh.

    
    Selina Kyle:

    Ugh. There's no fresh start in today's world. Any twelve-year-old with a cell phone could find out what you did. Everything we do is collated and quantified.

    Everything

    sticks.

    
    Bruce Wayne:

    Is that how you justify stealing?

    
    Selina Kyle:

    I take what I need to from those who have more than enough. I don't stand on the shoulders of people with less.

    
    Bruce Wayne: Robin Hood?
    Selina Kyle:

    I think I do more to help someone than most of the people in this room. Thank you.

    
    Bruce Wayne:

    I think maybe you're assuming a little too much.

• The Draughtsman's Contract: The characters constantly use their sharp wits to lob thinly-veiled insults at each other, except for Mr. Talmann, who is neither capable of nor interested in such subtlety when antagonizing others.
• James Bond:
  • Bond often indulges in this with Q, as in GoldenEye:

    Q: A pen. This is a class-4 grenade. Three clicks arms the 4-second fuse. Another three disarms it.
    Bond: [clicks the pen 3 times] How long did you say the fuse was?
    Q: [takes the pen back and disarms it] Oh, grow up, 007.
    Bond: Well, they always said the pen was mightier than the sword.
    Q: Thanks to me, they were right.

  • Bond vs. R, Q's assistant.
    • In The World Is Not Enough... Bond:

      If you're Q, does this make him R?

      
      R:

      Ah yes, the

      legendary 007 wit

      ... or at least half of it.

    • ... and Die Another Day. Bond:

      Give me the old firing range any day, Quartermaster.

      
      R:

      Yes, well they call it the Future, so get used to it.

      [takes Bond into a museum of call backs]
      Bond:

      This where they keep the old relics, is it?

  • Also with Daniel Craig's Bond and Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale.
  • Judi Dench's M got her barbs in as well, as a sign of her needing to be an Iron Lady in order to lead and maintain control of a male-dominated organization like MI6. From her first introduction in GoldenEye: Tanner:

    Seems your hunch was right, 007. It's too bad the Evil Queen of Numbers wouldn't let you play it.

    
    M:

    (

    clears her throat

    )

    
    Tanner:

    (

    winces and slowly turns around to face her

    )

    
    M:

    You were saying?

    
    Tanner:

    No, no, I was just...just um...

    
    M:

    Good. Because if I want sarcasm, Mr. Tanner, I'll talk to my children, thank you very much.

• In the Black Comedy Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Harry and Perry go at it at every turn, with Harry losing most of the battles due to his idiot status as opposed to Perry's cleverness.
• The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a World of Snark, so the quips fly whenever there's a hero team-up — such as the Avengers movies ("And what is your job, besides making balloon animals?" "Protecting your reality, douchebag."), Captain America: Civil War ("Jesus, Tony, how old is this guy?" "I don't know, I didn't carbon date him. He's on the young side."), Thor: Ragnarok ("You're a doctor, you have PhDs. You should figure it out." "None of them for flying alien spaceships!") and Captain Marvel ("Got to admit, that's not the craziest thing I've heard today." "Well, the day just started.").
• True Lies: Juno's third encounter with Harry, after he and Helen have been captured by the terrorists that Juno is working for. While she wasn't aware that he was a secret agent during their first two encounters, now that she does she dispenses with the pleasantries and is hostile and spiteful for the remainder of the film.

  Juno: Harry. [Now you're at my mercy, asshole.]
  Harry: I wish I could say it's nice to see you again, Juno. [Do your worst, bitch.]
  Juno: [wiping off Helen's lipstick from Harry's mouth] You know, this shade is totally wrong for you. So who's your little friend here? [Looks like we caught you with your pants down. Can we use this woman as a hostage or should we just shoot her right now?]

• Between Lurcio and the jailer when Lurcio has been imprisoned in Up Pompeii!: Jailer:

  Here's yer bread. An' here's yer water. There, I'm spoiling you, aren't I?

  
  Lurcio:

  Yes, you

  are

  . Aren't I fortunate?

  Breakfast in Bed

  !

  
  Jailer:

  Well, make yerself at home.

    Literature 

• Animorphs: Marco is the undisputed king of snark, but all the other Animorphs except Cassie and maybe Ax can snark right back at him in the middle of a battle.
• Bulldog Drummond: Both Drummond, the hero, and Peterson, the villain, are Gentleman Snarkers, so their conversation sometimes are this. At one point, after Drummond escapes a Killer Gorilla, Peterson informs him that he's the first person to go wandering around the grounds unattended at night and not be found dead the following morning. Drummond politely apologises for spoiling the gorilla's record, and Peterson equally politely replies that he's not to worry, as there's plenty of time left till morning and his death might still be arranged.
• In the Deptford Mice trilogy, pretty much any conversation the Starwife and Audrey have is filled with this.
• What happens when The Dresden Files puts Harry Dresden and Gentleman Johnny Marcone in the same room. Harry also gets into notable matches with Donar Vadderung, Molly, Ebenezar, Murphy, Lash, Bob, Goodman Grey...you get the idea.
• In the Dungeons & Dragons novel The Savage Caves, what's not surprising is that the resident Lovable Rogue, Lidda, is incredibly snarky to the resident Good Shepherd, Jozan. What is surprising — and entertaining — is that his method of preaching at her to behave often consists of Gentleman Snarking right back at her. They spend almost all of their scenes together verbally going at it as a result.
• Many of the conversations in Father Brown:

  "He'll black his face, if that's what you mean," cried Blount, laughing. "I don't doubt he'd black everyone else's eyes. I don't care; I'm not refined. I like the jolly old pantomime where a man sits on his top hat."
  "Not on mine, please," said Sir Leopold Fischer, with dignity.
  "Well, well," observed Crook, airily, "don't let's quarrel. There are lower jokes than sitting on a top hat."
  Dislike of the red-tied youth, born of his predatory opinions and evident intimacy with the pretty godchild, led Fischer to say, in his most sarcastic, magisterial manner: "No doubt you have found something much lower than sitting on a top hat. What is it, pray?"
  "Letting a top hat sit on you, for instance," said the Socialist.

• Almost every character in The Gods Are Bastards engages in this. It sometimes seems that Snark must be one of the classes taught at the University between friends, allies, unacquainted neutrals, mortal enemies, people who are simultaneously trying to out-gambit each other, and between a boy and his talking sword.
• A large amount of the conversations in Harry Potter: Harry and Ron, Harry and Hermione, McGonagall and pretty much everyone, Snape and pretty much everyone...
• Michelle Henke and Michael Oversteegen of Honor Harrington are noted for their snark even in a universe where snark abounds. Then David Weber packed Henke off to the Talbott Quadrant as the admiral in command of Tenth Fleet, with Oversteegen commanding a battlecruiser squadron in said fleet. Any time those two are in the same room, the snark is sure to fly thick and fast.
• The Mark of the Dragonfly: Piper and Gee tend to engage in this whenever they're in the same room.

  Piper: [referring to Gee] Maybe the capital should put men in charge of the 401, not boys.
  [later]
  Gee: [referring to Piper and Anna] Maybe the Dragonfly territories should send women to represent them, not girls.

• Odd Thomas: In Brother Odd, pretty much all of Odd Thomas's conversations with the enigmatic Rodion Romanovich consist of this.
• Many of the interactions between Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice. Also notable is the one towards the end between Elizabeth and Lady Catherine, which isn't so much "combat" as a Snark-to-Snark Curb-Stomp Battle in favour of Elizabeth.
• Ranger's Apprentice Halt usually wins, so when a younger character (usually Will or Horace) wins, they feel a sense of pride, for some reason. Will and Horace also get into it, at least twice a book (and the rate only increases as they grow closer).
• Daylen and Ahrek in Shadow of the Conqueror, though neither of them gets much enjoyment out of the other's humor, as their preferences are so \\derent. Meanwhile, Lyrah and Cueseg are in much the same situation. After Daylen is cleared of the crimes he was accused of during his lynching, Lyrah lets her guard down a little and they start teasing each other as well.
• A Song of Ice and Fire has plenty of snarkers, all quite willing to exchange fire when two (or more) find themselves in the same room. Tyrion Lannister, however, takes the cake: he'll manage to raise return snark from even the most unlikely of sources simply by opening his mouth. Granted, he'll probably still beat them back down, but hey. (Unless they're Sansa — pity holds him back, there; or, his father — that's due to downright intimidation. Well, until he calls him out with a crossbow, at least.)

  Cersei: You know you're not half as smart as you think you are.
  Tyrion: That still makes me smarter than you.

• Words of Radiance (second book of The Stormlight Archive): The second time Kaladin meets Shallan, they end up screaming insults at each other in a crowded hallway, spurred on by the fact that she stole his boots the first time they met. He actually manages to hold his own against her — something only a handful of other characters are able to do in the series. Later, when they get trapped in the chasms, they keep snarking, but it's significantly friendlier:

  Shallan: It's far too early for arguments. Try it. Give me an insult.
  Kaladin: I don't—
  Shallan: Insult! Now!
  Kaladin: I'd rather walk these chasms with a compulsive murderer than you. At least then, when the conversation got tedious, I'd have an easy way out.
  Shallan: And your feet stink. See? Too early. I can't possibly be witty at this hour.

• In the Village Tales series, the default conversational setting whenever the Duke of Taunton engages anyone who can keep up: which has so far included his Grande Dame and otherwise humorless sister-in-law, his butler the estimable Viney, his best and oldest friend the Nawab of Hubli, and even his Rector, the doggedly decent Canon Paddick.

    Live-Action TV 

• Apparently part of the training to become one of the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is to be highly proficient in all forms of combat, including snark-to-snark. Phil Coulson clearly revels in these moments.
• Angel:
  • The eponymous vampire's team communicate with each other almost exclusively in snark, especially Wesley and Cordelia. Nicely summarized by Wesley early in the second season:

    Wesley: Well, our discussions tend to go about three minutes, then it's strictly name-calling and hair-pulling.

  • Kate Lockley starts one of these up to show just how unwilling she is to work with Wolfram & Hart.

    Lindsey: You know, Detective, we both have something in common.
    Kate: Our bodies are both 80% water?

• Babylon 5: Londo and G'Kar. Especially during the fifth season.

  Londo: I'm sorry. We don't usually treat our guests this way.
  G'kar: Yes you do.
  Londo: Shut up!
  G'kar: I was only trying to help.

• On The Big Bang Theory, any time Mary Cooper and Beverly Hofstadter get together, the levels of Snark-to-Snark Combat are glorious. The rest of the gang also throw in plenty, usually involving at least two of Sheldon, Leonard, and Penny.
• Blackadder and anyone who's as smart as he is. Blackadder usually butts heads with this person, (Melchett, Lord Flashheart, Captain Darling) and wins in the end. Usually hilariously.
• Blake's 7: Avon interacts with almost everyone in the form of a withering barrage of snark, so it's hardly surprising that occasionally people would fire back.

  Avon: Staying with you requires a degree of stupidity of which I no longer feel capable.
  Blake: Now you're just being modest.

• Breaking Bad: Most of Hank and Steve Gomez's dialogue to one another is a back and forth exchange of biting insults. It's all in good jest though, and they are otherwise as thick as thieves.
• Bridgerton:
  • The entire Bridgerton family engages in this. They never miss an opportunity to poke fun at one another.
  • The first thing that marks Kate as a potential match for Anthony is their shared wit, resulting in conversations that are comprised nigh-entirely of snark and barbs. Exemplified in the pall-mall game, where Kate is right at home with the elder Bridgertons' teasing while Edwina (the well-mannered sister Anthony is supposed to be trying to woo) can't keep up. Edwina at one point has to ask Kate to play nice when she gets caught up in being competitive with Anthony.
• Brooklyn Nine-Nine has this whenever Madeline Wunch and Holt wind up in the same room.
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer uses this a lot. Not very surprising, considering the type of work it is. Even Giles and Wes get in on it sometimes. Lampshaded in Season 4 by a random vamp:

  Vamp: Are we gonna fight, or is there just gonna be a monster sarcasm rally?

• Castle is pretty much driven by this and Unresolved Sexual Tension.
• Jeff and Britta from Community are masters of this.
• On Cracked, Detective Aiden Black and Dr. Daniella Ridley engage in this a lot, especially in their first episode together, "How The Light Gets In".
• Jim Brass and Gil Grissom sometimes used to get into this in CSI.
• Joey and Pacey in Dawson's Creek engage in this pretty much whenever they're on screen together, at least in the first few seasons.

  Pacey: I got a maybe-kind-of-sort-of-date this evening.
  Joey: Mm. Who's the lucky farm animal tonight?
  Pacey: Uh, what makes a woman horny?
  Joey: Your polar opposite?

• The Sugarbaker sisters have this sort of relationship on Designing Women. They've been doing it for so long they won't even notice it until a visit from their nieces prompts Mary Jo and Charlene to point it out.
• Doctor Who:
  • The First Doctor, Second Doctor and Third Doctor. Really, most of the multi-Doctor crossovers (the first five, Two and Six, and War, Ten and Eleven) seem to have a bit of this. The Doctor always has a sharp wit and always has a variety of foibles unique to each regeneration, so whenever two or more are gathered together, they're bound to snipe at each other a bit.
  • "School Reunion" has the Doctor, Rose, Sarah Jane, Mickey, and K9, as well as chief antagonist Mr. Finch, all engaging in some manner of snark with at least one of the other named characters.
  • The Eleventh Doctor and his companions.
  • Despite being "totally against bantering", the Twelfth Doctor indulges in a lot of this.
  • The Thirteenth Doctor, Yazmin Khan, and Dan Lewis are a snarky trio.
  • The villains are known to get in on the snark-to-snark from time to time — sometimes with each other ("Doomsday" has the Cybermen and Daleks, of all creatures, engage in a spectacular snark-off before resorting to weapons).
• Downton Abbey: Violet and Isobel throw barbs at each other from the start, and in spite of growing from rather cold antagonists to Fire-Forged Friends over the course of the series, the snark does not let up (though it does become significantly less catty).
• Within the first few minutes of Eureka, the series establishes this as the relationship Carter has with his daughter.
• Being a Joss Whedon show, Firefly has a lot of this going on. Virtually all of Mal and Zoe's dialogue, for example.

  Zoe: You paid money for this, sir? On purpose?
  Mal: Ship like this, be with you till the day you die.
  Zoe: Because it's a death trap.

• Frasier and Niles Crane on Frasier were the absolute masters of this trope, often doing it very much intentionally and lampshading it in-universe. It stems mainly from their Sibling Rivalry.
• Game of Thrones takes right after its parent A Song of Ice and Fire. If anything, it even manages to increase the generalized snark levels.
  • When Ned first encounters Jaime in the throne room, most of their conversation is snark and backhanded compliments.

    Ned: Very handsome armor. Not a scratch on it.
    Jaime: I know. People have been swinging at me for years, but they always seem to miss.
    Ned: You've chosen your enemies wisely, then.
    Jaime: I have a knack for it.

  • Tyrion still triumphs. A dwarf, he uses his wit and intellect to overcome the prejudice he faces.
  • Almost any scene with the series' resident Magnificent Bastards Varys and Littlefinger together fits as this.

    Baelish: When they castrated you, did they take the pillar with the stones? I've always wondered.
    Varys: Have you? Do you spend a lot of time wondering what's between my legs?
    Baelish: I picture a gash. Like a woman's. Is that about right?
    Varys: I am flattered, of course, to be pictured at all.
    Baelish: Must be strange for you, even after all these years. A man from another land, despised by most, feared by all—
    Varys: Am I? That is good to know. Do you lie awake at night fearing my gash?

  • Scenes featuring Varys and Tyrion generally show a lighter version — a Friendly Rivalry version of Snark-to-Snark Combat.
  • A lot of barbs are exchanged between Renly and Littlefinger since neither man possesses any talent for fighting and this is the only form of combat that they excel at.
  • Tyrion also often shares verbal spraying matches with Bronn and Daenerys, who are both willing to knock Tyrion down a peg and he's just as often willing to do the same.
• Gilmore Girls. The scripts of that show do not call for pauses.
• Occasionally happens on Glee, usually between Sue and Will. The best example is in the appropriately-named episode "Throwdown".
• Chuck and Blair on Gossip Girl, nearly all the time — one of the other characters refers to it as foreplay.
• Guardian: The Lonely and Great God: Kim Shin and Wang Yeo spend a lot of time mocking and annoying each other before they become friends. They still like to mock each other even then.
• The respective 'verses of Hawaii Five-0 and NCIS: Los Angeles are full of snarkers. So naturally, in the two-episode crossover, there is a lot of snarking going on, especially between Deeks and Danny.
• On Home Improvement, Happily Married Tim and Jill sometimes engage in a playful version of this:

  Tim: ...when Brad's guests get here tonight, they'll be down there with their hair bleached white, eyes bulging out with that look of horror — [Tim makes a horror face]
  Jill: That's the way you looked on our wedding day.
  [beat]
  Tim: I shouldn't have lifted the veil.
  [beat]
  Jill: Who told you to wear it?

• House has the title character and his vitriolic best bud/heterosexual life partner Wilson. Where House is over-the-top snarky, Wilson is more subtle.

  House: If she [Cuddy] invited you to a ceremonial lynching, would you go?
  Wilson: It would depend on what she was serving.

• Patricia and Eddie do this a lot on House of Anubis as part of their Belligerent Sexual Tension. The best example, though, has to be when they first met: Eddie:

  You woke me!

  
  Patricia:

  Student lounges are for lounging, not sleeping. Hence the name?

  
  Eddie:

  Okay, look. I was on a plane for six hours and then I was on a train for four more. And now I'm in Boresville, UK and don't need a lecture, 'kay, Hermione?

  
  Patricia:

  Great, that's just what we need, another stupid American whose only reference to the UK is

  Harry Potter

  . Who are you anyway?

  
  Eddie:

  Who are you?

  
  Patricia:

  I asked first.

  
  Eddie: [laughing]

  Really?

  
  Patricia:

  Next time you feel like tripping someone up, remember it's considered polite to apologize in this country.

  
  Eddie:

  Do you ever stop talking? I should call you

  Blabs

  . Or Yacker. Yeah, Yacker.

  
  Patricia:

  And how bout I call you, a cab back to the airport?

  
  Eddie: [claps]

  Devastating.

• All the characters on How I Met Your Mother occasionally indulge in this, especially Ted and Robin.
• The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: Galadriel and Halbrand snark at each other bordering on Belligerent Sexual Tension whenever they interact.

  Halbrand: You needn't keep your distance.
  Galadriel: I am simply wondering what manner of man would so readily abandon his companions to death.
  Halbrand: The sort that knows how to survive. Why be part of the larger target?
  Galadriel: You are a target still. I doubt we shall find safety until we make landfall.
  Halbrand: I suspect finding safety won't be that easy. Leastways not for you. "Separated" from your ship. Really? You're a deserter, aren't you?
  Galadriel: Do I have the look of a deserter?
  Halbrand: You don't have the look of someone to whom things happen by accident. Which means you were running. Whether toward or from something, I haven't yet decided.
  Galadriel: Duty demanded I return to Middle-earth. and that is all you need to know.
  Halbrand: Important Elf business, no doubt.

• Merlin: Merlin and Arthur are constantly snarking at each other and sometimes indulge in this.

  [Merlin scares a deer Arthur was about to shoot]
  Arthur: You really are a total buffoon, aren't you, Merlin ?
  Merlin: I was just asking.
  Arthur: Who, me, or the deer? We're supposed to be hunting, it requires speed, stealth, and an agile mind!
  Merlin: [under his breath] Sure are able to get by with two out of three, then.

• Mr. Lucky: Andamo and Lt. Rovacs tend to engage in this whenever they're around each other.
• Tim and Martin from My Favorite Martian always have (usually) affectionate banter going on.
• Mystery Science Theater 3000. The bots try to out-snark one another on some topic when one of them makes a seminal joke.
• The altercations between Regina and Zelena in Once Upon a Time are full of this.

  [Regina finds a basket of green apples on her porch]
  Zelena: A gift. From sister to sister.
  Regina: What are you doing here?
  Zelena: I saw your tree and I thought you could use something better. Red apples are so sickly sweet, don't you think? People tend to like something... a little sharper.
  Regina: And green apples are just... bitter.

• In Our Miss Brooks, whenever Miss Brooks and Miss Enright meet.
• Everyone on Team Machine in Person of Interest. Mr. Finch in particular has a thing for understated irony.
• Power Rangers has several examples of this.
  • Starting with the original series any time Rita and the Rangers engage in a fight, there's a chance that this'll be invoked. Same with Zedd and Ivan Ooze.
  • Power Rangers in Space provides several examples of this, particularly whenever there's a meeting of the United Alliance of Evil and when the Psycho Rangers are around.
  • Power Rangers Ninja Storm: Cam is the team's Deadpan Snarker, so there's a lot of this going on. Billy Cranston from Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers through Power Rangers Zeo falls into this as well as he gains confidence as a Power Ranger, though some of it's against Bulk and Skull.
• In Retro Game Master, if Arino can't make progress for a long time, the staff behind the camera may comment on this. The Chief always gives a lengthy passive-aggressive monologue about it in return, which also gets commented on by the narrator. If an assistant is present at the desk, they and Arino often ping-pong about each other's skill or personal life.
• Dr. Cox and Jordan on Scrubs do this all the time, as part of their Slap-Slap-Kiss, often to very vicious and/or humiliating levels.
• Most of the main cast of Sherlock gets in on this. Sherlock vs. John, Sherlock vs. Lestrade, John vs. Mycroft, Sherlock vs. Mycroft, etc.
• Smallville: Occurs often when Tess Mercer is involved, particularly with Oliver and Lois.
• Stargate SG-1:
  • Many of the characters get into this at one point or another, especially between Daniel Jackson and Jack O'Neill in the later seasons:

    Jackson: They'll never see it coming.
    O'Neill: Which is one of the advantages of a totally insane idea.
    Jackson: Yeah, where'd I learn that from?

  • In the episode "Tin Man", Jack O'Neill gets into a Snark-to-Snark combat with himself.
• Star Trek:
  • Star Trek: The Original Series: Both Spock and McCoy are champion snarkers, so many of their interactions are this. The classic episode "The Trouble with Tribbles" provides an excellent example:

    McCoy: What's the matter, Spock?
    Spock: There's something disquieting about these creatures.
    McCoy: Don't tell me you've got a feeling.
    Spock: Don't be insulting, Doctor. They remind me of the lilies of the field. They toil not, neither do they spin. But they seem to eat a great deal. I see no practical use for them.
    McCoy: Does everything have to have a practical use for you? They're nice, soft, and furry, and they make a pleasant sound.
    Spock: So would an ermine violin, but I see no advantage in having one.
    McCoy: It's a human characteristic to love little animals, especially if they're attractive in some way.
    Spock: Doctor, I am well aware of human characteristics. I am frequently inundated by them, but I've trained myself to put up with practically anything.
    McCoy: Spock, I don't know too much about these little tribbles yet, but there's one thing that I have discovered.
    Spock: What is that, Doctor?
    McCoy: I like them. Better than I like you.
    Spock: Doctor?
    McCoy: Yes?
    Spock: They do have one redeeming characteristic.
    McCoy: What's that?
    Spock: They do not talk too much. If you'll excuse me, sir.

  • Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: In "The Way Of The Warrior", Dukat and Garak engage in this while engaged in actual combat with the Klingons.
  • Star Trek: Voyager: In "Message in a Bottle", the Doctor and the USS Prometheus's EMH spend much of the episode snarking on one another.

    The Doctor: We've got to find a way to turn this ship around.
    EMH 2: How? Waltz on to the bridge and take over the helm?
    The Doctor: Refresh my memory. Which of us has the terrible bedside manner?
    EMH 2: You're not my patient.
    The Doctor: My first bit of good news.

• Jerri Blank and her half-brother Derrek have this relationship on Strangers with Candy. although neither character is very bright so the snark is low-quality. In one episode Jerri develops an eating disorder while cutting weight to try out for the debate team. As she loses more weight her retorts to a snarky fellow debater get snarkier.
• Supernatural:
  • This happens frequently between Sam and Dean, but they can end up doing this with almost any character who's either a hunter, an antagonist, or just smart enough to understand what's going on.
  • The masters of snark on the show, however, are Bobby Singer and Crowley. While they quip constantly at the expense of others, putting them in the same room for more than a few seconds will inevitably cause the two of them to start verbally fencing with intent to kill.
• Happens every now and then on Tatort because each team has at least one Deadpan Snarker, often more. Honorary mention goes to the Münster team, Boerne and Thiel, and the Munich Team, Batic, and Leitmayr who've been snarking at each other for a good thirty years.
• The Salvatore brothers on The Vampire Diaries seem to have this a lot. Damon is more snarky and smug but Stefan is far more deadpan. Most of their scenes seem to be contests of who can outdo the other.
• If you live in Neptune, CA, are a character on Veronica Mars, and are not a complete imbecile, chances are that you regularly engage in conversations largely consisting of this. The titular character makes a habit of sharing this with her father and Weevil, but get her and Logan into a room together...
• The West Wing may be about people trying to run a country according to their ideals, but that doesn't mean the characters aren't willing to engage in exchanging snark, as with this exchange between Leo and Mrs. Landingham in the season 2 episode "The Drop In":

  Leo: What are you looking at?
  Mrs. Landingham: You're testing that preposterous contraption again.
  Leo: It's not preposterous, it's not a contraption, and mind your own business.
  Mrs. Landingham: In my day, we knew how to take care of ourselves.
  Leo: Well, in your day, you could pretty much turn back the Indians with a Daniel Boone musket, couldn't you?
  Mrs. Landingham: Ah, sarcasm. The grumpy man's wit.
  Leo: Sharpen a pencil, would ya?

• You Me Her:
  • Izzy and Alex spend most of their interactions trading sarcastic friendly barbs.
  • Nina and Shaun also do this with most of their dialogue.

    Podcasts 

    Pro Wrestling 

• At the contract signing for their AEW title match at All Out 2020, challenger MJF and champion Jon Moxley had this little exchange: MJF:

  I'd appreciate if you practiced

  social distancing

  . Kind of like your hairline, Jon.

  
  Moxley:

  Don't worry dude, you'll get there one day. You just gotta hit puberty first.

• The November 24, 2021 edition of Dynamite saw MJF and CM Punk do a full 18 minutes of this.
• On the September 17, 2021 episode of Rampage, the last before Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D. defended her AEW women's title against Ruby Soho, the two had this exchange: Baker:

  Let's talk about why you're here.... It's for

  you

  . 'Cause you're still trying to figure out who the hell you are. How many times you change your name... in the last year? You get an extra tattoo, change your hair to every color of the rainbow because you're desperately trying to fit in

  anywhere

  . Whereas here...

  everyone

  knows who I am. The AEW Women's World Champion, Dr. Britt Baker...

  
  Crowd:

  D! M! D!

  
  Soho:

  Of course, they know who you are, Britt. You remind them

  every week

  . You're constantly having to shove it down their throats.... Let's talk about the "D.M.D.", huh? On the surface, you look like every other broad I've stepped across the ring from. Entitled... self-centered... and banging

  some dude in the back

  .

  [crowd erupts]^note Baker and Cole have been in a relationship since their indy days.
  Baker:

  ... And I'm just trying to figure out why you are lying to everybody, including yourself. Because you have the audacity to call yourself "The Runaway". But you didn't run away from

  anything

  , Ruby. You got fired.

  
  Soho:

  You're not wrong... I did. But it turns out it was the best damn thing to ever happen to me!... And I want you to really look at me, Britt, LOOK AT ME. I want you to see the woman that you're messing with. But honestly I'm surprised you can see much of anything with your head so far up [AEW CEO] Tony Khan's ass.

    Roleplays 

• Many characters in New Vindicators are snarky. A scene between Adonis and Deimos shows this trope, along with Casual Danger Dialogue, as Adonis is keeping his cool despite Deimos having just kicked the crap out of Adonis' followers.

  Adonis: They played their part. They slowed you down enough for me to deliver the killing stroke.
  Deimos: Keep dreaming, pretty boy.
  Adonis: Awe, you think I'm pretty.
  Deimos: You're not my type.
  Adonis: Yeah, so I hear. It's because I'm not a figment of your imagination, isn't it?
  Deimos: You're going to pay for that one you son of a bitch! Fade was my father's illusions! I'm not crazy!
  Adonis: Try saying that when you're not threatening to kill a toddler...

This culminates with Deimos grappling Adonis and Donny giving an excellent Pre-Asskicking One-Liner, telling Deimos he dropped something, when Deimos asks what, Donny stabs him in the neck with the tip of his own broken sword.

    Theatre 

• The Importance of Being Earnest:
  • Cecily Cardew and Gwendolyn Fairfax.
  • On that note, Jack and Algernon as well.
  • And Lane and Algernon... Actually, pretty much every conversation in this play is Snark-to-Snark Combat.
• One Touch of Venus has this when Savory is introducing Venus to Molly:

  Savory: Look at her, Molly! She's like a hawthorn in flower!
  Molly: [deadpan] How do you do, Miss Hawthorn?
  Savory: This ill-favored shrew is Molly Grant, my secretary.
  Venus: She seems a faithful little thing.
  Molly: Oh, I'd put my arm in the fire up to there for Mr. Savory.
  Venus: That's rather specialized work, isn't it?
  Molly: [a duelist who has met her match] She'll do, Savory.

• In Waitress, Cal and Becky go back and forth with almost every conversation they have.

    Video Games 

• The Bard's Tale repeatedly pits The Bard against... the narrator.
• In Bayonetta 2, Bayonetta, Deadpan Snarker par excellence, finally finds someone who can keep up with her quips in the form of Mouthy Kid Loki.
• BlazBlue:
  • Rachel Alucard and Ragna the Bloodedge are both surprisingly sane and incredibly snarky. Put the two of them together (it won't take much), get some popcorn, and enjoy the show. Behind all the snark, however, is a very strong, almost romantic, bond.
  • A one-off example happens in Continuum Shift between Jin and Makoto. Makoto:

    Wow, look at them go! It's so peaceful here.

    
    Jin:

    "Noisy" would be much more accurate.

    
    Makoto:

    Do you always have to be so cynical?

    
    Jin:

    Hmph.

    Just stating the simple truth.
• In BoxxyQuest: The Gathering Storm, Til and Anonymous are a pair of snark masters who get off on the wrong foot, and pretty much never let up on each other from then on. This, of course, gradually levels up into Belligerent Sexual Tension over the course of the game.
• Deus Ex: Human Revolution:
  • Adam Jensen and Frank Pritchard pretty much use this as their normal manner of speech to each other.

    Jensen: Pritchard, I'm in.
    Frank: Nicely done, Jensen. Dare I ask how?
    Jensen: A vent on the roof. It'll be in my report the next time we're discussing security loopholes.
    Frank: Oh, goody; I'll be sure to take notes.

  • To the point where it's genuinely shocking when, in one of their conversations during Jensen's infiltration of Picus headquarters, Pritchard asks Jensen to "spare [him] the sarcasm".
• It's fair to say over half of the party banter in Dragon Age is comprised of this, a natural result of being a BioWare game. Nonetheless, some companions get along... not as well as the others, which tends to result in some much more snarky conversations, such as Alistair and Morrigan in the first game, Aveline and Isabela in the second, and Sera and Vivienne in the third. Show that you are willing to play with Alistair when he gets this way is one quick method to raising his approval.
• EXTRAPOWER: Attack of Darkforce: Ri-ko and Platinum are both prone to snarking in general, usually as one-off commentary on the current situation. But every once in a while, they'll catch each other in each other's sights and start snarking at each other's throats until someone gets between them!
• Fallout 4:
  • The Sole Survivor can be a pretty funny Deadpan Snarker on his/her own if the player wants. But when you add in Nick Valentine, things just get better: Sole Survivor:

    What? The great Clockwork

    Dick

    is stumped?

    
    Nick Valentine:

    It's

    Synth Detective

    , jackass! If you're gonna be that way, you might as well get the make and model right.

  • Alternatively:

    Sole Survivor: An evil king in a sub shop? Does a meatball monster show up at some point?
    Nick Valentine: From what I've heard, the pastrami golem is the one you really have to watch out for...

• In Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes, Counts Bergliez and Hevring engage in this, especially at the end of Chapter 3 in the Scarlet Blaze route. It end with Count Hevring calling Count Bergliez a "swollen-headed juggernaut," only for Count Bergliez to take the "juggernaut" as a compliment.
• The pre-fight talks in The King of Fighters XIII has virtually all characters sassing each other before the fisticuffs start. Of special notice is how Ash Crimson manages to raise everyone's hackles and piss them off... until Terry Bogard calmly sasses him back.
• Mass Effect: It's a BioWare game, so what do you expect? Some gems include:
  • Mass Effect 2 cheerfully descends into this in "Lair of the Shadow Broker", when Shepard and Liara snark to each other about game mechanics. Shepard: Not even a guard rail

    . I bet the Broker's agents love patrolling the hull.

    
    Liara:

    At least the view is nice.

    Liara: Why are they attacking in waves? They'd be more effective if they all attacked at once.

    
    Shepard:

    Please don't give the mercs ideas.

    Shepard: Don't you miss the days when you could just slap omni-gel on everything?

    
    Liara:

    That bug fix made a lot of people very unhappy.

  • This gem featuring Joker and Garrus lampshading what relations between humans and turians look like in Mass Effect 3. Garrus:

    All right, my turn. What's the first order an Alliance commander gives at the start of combat?

    
    Joker:

    Uh... I give up.

    
    Garrus:

    Correct!

    
    Joker:

    All right, big guy. What do you call it when a turian gets killed by a horrible spiky monster?

    
    Garrus: Friendly fire

    .

    Come on, that one goes back to Shanxi

    .

  • In the Mass Effect 3 Citadel DLC, Shepard engages in this with Tali if the two are in a relationship (after Shepard narrowly escapes an ambush at a restaurant).

    Tali: Back during my pilgrimage, I used to walk around near that sushi place and watch the fish through the window. I knew they'd never let me inside, but I'd think to myself, someday, when I've proven my worth to the galaxy, I'll go there for dinner. And then, you broke their floor.
    Shepard: I'm fine, by the way.
    Tali: Glad to hear it. Try not to destroy any more of my childhood memories.

  • Mass Effect: Andromeda: Pretty much everyone in Ryder's party at some point. They're like that. But Nakmor Drack and Cora Harper are probably the snarkiest towards one another (unless Drack has an "Old Man Moment"), in a Vitriolic Best Buds way.

    Cora: [on the subject of getting pokey money back] And after I'm done with Gil, I'm coming for you, old man.
    Drack: I'd say "give it your best shot", but I've already seen your best shot.

  • Or on the subject of Cora's asari martial arts moves:

    Cora: A krogan would look like a whale trying to dance ballet.
    Drack: Better than looking like a salarian tied to a ceiling fan.

• MechWarrior 4: Vengeance has a Deadpan Snarker named Casey Nolan as one of your lancemates. The Player Character in the Black Knight expansion is a mercenary hired to bring down the regime that the original player character established in Vengeance, and is quite the Deadpan Snarker himself. Nolan, being crucial to victory in the Vengeance campaign, is retained by the Dresari regime as a training officer for new Mechwarriors, which makes him one of the main targets in the Black Knight campaign. The entire level in which Nolan is featured is riddled with these two going back and forth on the comm.

  Nolan: Punch out now and I'll give you a job... scrubbing toilets.
  Black Knight: Thanks! I'll pass.

• In the 2013 revival of Shadow Warrior, early on, Lo Wang meets the demon Hoji, who he forms a pact with. He stays with him for the rest of the game, and most of their dialogue involves bouncing snark off of one another.

  Hoji: I like their style! Hot and bossy. I should order you around like that.
  Wang: You're going to need to work on the hot part.
  Hoji: Bitch.

• While many characters in Tales of the Abyss try to keep up with Jade Curtiss's sarcasm, only Emperor Peony can truly defeat him. Put them in a room and they're either snarking at each other non-stop or scheming to snark at others.
• Tomb Raider: The majority of dialogue from the Core Design era consists of Lara and whatever unfortunate NPC she's about to kill bouncing snarky one-liners off each other for a few minutes before she gets back to shooting things. In Angel of Darkness Lara's Dialogue Tree generally consists of a mean, snarky comment and a meaner snarky comment, with the recipient giving as good as they get.
• In Tyranny, this is extremely common. Not only do your Ragtag Band of Misfits commonly butt heads, but amongst the Archons Graven Ashe and The Voices of Nerat start out repeatedly sniping at each other with venomous contempt and only get worse from there. Nerat even seems to relish in it, as they will lampshade if you try to snark them into cooperating.
• In The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Geralt and The Spymaster Count Sigismund Dijkstra frequently engage in this, to the point Triss has to tell them to knock it off.

    Visual Novels 

• In Double Homework, when the protagonist and Lauren run into Ms. Walsh in a nightclub, Lauren and Ms. Walsh engage in this. The protagonist is impressed with both of them.

    Web Animation 

    Webcomics 

• The Dementia of Magic: When Cy and the beach elf courier see each other, they immediately start voicing their old grudges until interrupted via a massive battleaxe between them.
• In El Goonish Shive George mentions he wishes Susan worked at Salty Crackers Comics with him and Justin so he and she could engage in this.

  George: It's a shame you didn't ask him to hire Susan. She can counter my guff.
  Justin: So can Nanase.
  George: Nanase ignores my guff. Guff requires rebuff.

• Literal Snark-to-Snark Combat breaks out toward the end of Errant Story when Deadpan Snarker Sarine engages in a duel to the death with Snark Knight (or possibly the other way around) Sarna, who also had been Sarine's best friend for centuries. Snarkage mixes with blood and gore right up to the moment someone dies.
• Girl Genius:
  • This exchange between Gil, Tarvek, and Martellus consists almost entirely of snide verbal fencing.

    Tarvek: I'm sure that Agatha shall like it as well.
    Gil: I shall be sure to point it out while we are dancing.
    Tarvek: Oh, very well, I suppose I can spare her for one dance.
    Gil: Nonsense. She'll be dancing with important people.
    Martellus: Yes, I'm rather looking forward to it.
    Gil: Right, we need to be sure to keep this guy away from Agatha.
    Tarvek: Ooh, yes... Well, with any luck, he'll trip over his ill-fitting spats and die.
    Gil: Amusing, but we really shouldn't let him die here.
    Tarvek: I don't see why not. This is a fine evening for jolly entertainments.
    Martellus: Because it would be bad manners, of course.

  • Gil and Tarvek previously had one that only lasted a couple of volleys before they decided they'd rather scream and physically attack each other.
• Homestuck:
  • Almost every conversation with Rose and Dave ever. In fact, most conversations between most of the cast lean this way, given how many of them trade in the snarky goodness.
  • Conversations between Rose and Kanaya are also notable, with the snark being easily interpreted as something of a downplayed Belligerent Sexual Tension at times, especially in the beginning of their relationship.
  • The first installment of the sequel, Homestuck: Beyond Canon, consisted of two snark-offs between Rosebot and Dirk, plus one between Dirk and Terezi.
• Questionable Content likes having people try to out-sass Faye. It never works.
• Sandra on the Rocks is usually a little short of snarkers. But then Zoé had to request a favor from Fabien...
• Something*Positive. It won't stop. Even little kids get in on the verbal sparring.
• In The Wotch, Jason goes up against Anne's Personified Sarcasm. He wins.

    Web Videos 

• The Cinema Snob encounters this during his review of Grumpy Cat's Worst Christmas Ever. He snarks the movie, only for Grumpy to break the fourth wall and snark the film as well. Hilarity Ensues when he gets annoyed with her.
• Resident Evil Abridged:
  • Nearly every one of Chris and Rebecca's scenes together either quickly becomes a snark match, or it will include at least one zinger from each of them.
  • The same can be said whenever Chris has to deal with Wesker, such as their brief dialogue at the beginning during the team's perimeter check:

    Western Animation 

• Beast Wars: Most people's interactions with Rattrap have some degree of this, but the most notable would be Dinobot's. Entire conversations were constructed from volleys of snark at each other's expense. Even on Dinobot's deathbed, he's taking potshots at Rattrap.
• Castlevania has the main Power Trio of Trevor Belmont, Alucard and Sypha constantly exchange barbs when not exchanging death blows to Dracula's army.
• Brian and Stewie Griffin, from Family Guy, are two of the snarkiest characters on the show. As such, conversations between them involve them being especially snarky. Here is an example.

  Brian: Oh, there's my laptop. Do you mind? I want to check my email.
  Stewie: Go away, I'm editing this music video I am making for Susie.
  Brian: Oh really? A music video? Working on a little video there? A little music video? [voice starts to increase in pitch as he goes on] A little compilation of visual images to go with a song? A little 4-minute movie that tells the story of a...
  Stewie: Yeah, that only works when I do it.

• Pretty much every Battle Couple in Justice League is like this. Green Lantern/Hawkgirl, Green Arrow/Black Canary, Huntress/Question... Although it's not just couples. Hawkgirl/Flash, Superman/Batman, Hawkgirl/Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern/Flash team-ups all tend to turn into snarkfests.
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: About all of the interactions between Trixie and Discord in "To Where and Back Again – Part 2" consist in snarking at each other. To the point that Starlight asks them to cut it out after a while.

  Discord: That's all very nice, but really a waste of time. We have me. And what else could we possibly need?
  Trixie: A draconequus with magic and half a brain might help.
  Discord: Why are you here again? I mean, it's not like you're going to stop the changelings by pulling a rabbit out of a hat.

• The Spectacular Spider-Man: The Green Goblin is the one of the few villains who are able to match Spidey quip-for-quip in combat.

  Green Goblin: Oh, what's wrong, Spider-Man? Off your game?
  Spider-Man: Nah, game's good, Gobs. Just getting acquainted with the rules.
  Green Goblin: Rule 1- Spidey must splat!
  Spider-Man: Rule 2- ignore rule 1! Rule 3- Make Gobby look goofy.

• Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Obi-Wan and Anakin do this left, right, and centre, but Obi-Wan is such a Snark Knight that he also tends to do this with just about everyone he fights alongside (except maybe Cody).
• In Tangled: The Series, Eugene Fitzherbert (a.k.a. Flynn Rider) and Rapunzel's handmaiden Cassandra don't like each other, but are forced to work together since they both care about the princess. Since they are both prominent snarkers, it results in them indulging in snide, verbal jousts every time they're in the same place. In any other series, this trope would be used to showcase the Vitriolic Best Buds vibes between them and show the wit of the writers. Here, it is deconstructed, showing the real consequences of verbal abuse: Cassandra is Rapunzel's First Friend and Eugene is Rapunzel's Love Interest. Both of them snark so much they constantly Kick the Dog one to another: Jerkass Cassandra barely tolerates Eugene — she becomes a constant Shipping Torpedo with him and Rapunzel in all the seasons, at Season 1 Cassandra's snarkiness makes her a Unwitting Instigator of Doom that inspires Eugene to walk into a Suicide Mission. At season 2, she barely tolerates Eugene and pulls a The One Thing I Don't Hate About You. As for Eugene, whenever he is verbally attacked, he pulls his A Darker Me persona of Flynn Ryder, who Kicks The Dog a lot with Cassandra. Eugene displays Hypocritical Heartwarming to Cassandra, but Cassandra is The Paranoiac and she never acknowledges it. The worst part is that when Eugene is not putting his A Darker Me persona, he becomes a Hidden Heart of Gold. This means that Eugene gives emotional support to everyone except Cassandra, the person who needs it the most. Cassandra makes a Face–Heel Turn at season 3, betraying Rapunzel and Eugene. That season shows Cassandra geographically far from Rapunzel and Eugene. Without Cassandra's constant snark-to-snark combat, Eugene feels confident enough to Be Yourself and experiments true Character Development and becomes The Heart. When Cassandra comes back, she tries her best to use snark-to-snark combat to hurt Rapunzel and prepares a Disproportionate Retribution trap for Eugene, but Eugene is now enough of The Heart to forbid Cassandra when she makes her Face–Heel Turn.
• From Ultimate Spider-Man, Spider-Man and Hawkeye's episode together is nothing but this trope.

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