There are a lot of memorable rivalries in science fiction and fantasy. Luke Skywalker vs Darth Vader, The Fantastic Four vs Dr. Doom and Kirk vs Khan, to name a few. But sometimes the rivalries between sci fi and fantasy creators is just as intense and colorful as the ones between their characters. There are a variety of sci-fi and fantasy writers, artists and actors in noisy feuds with each other. Sometimes they’re underscored by mutual respect, sometimes they’re simply a product of pure loathing and some end with a bang while others drag on indefinitely. Let’s look at the various ways creators can butt heads!
Isaac Asimov vs Arthur C. Clarke
Many consider Isaac Asimov (author of Foundation and The End of Eternity among others) and Arthur C. Clarke (author of 2001: A Space Oddyssey among others) to be among the masters of science fiction. They both were certainly the masters of sick burns when it came to each other. Probably the best example of their exchange of insults was when Clarke found out that a man had died in a plane crash while reading one of his books. He quickly wrote Asimov and told him of the event, snarkily noting that it was a shame the man hadn’t been reading an Asimov novel because then “he might have died peacefully in his sleep.” Asimov’s reply was equally cutting, he called the man’s death a “merciful release” from reading Clarke.
However, despite the constant barbs they flung at each other, the two were good friends. All of their bickering was in good fun. In fact, they even had a mutual agreement to name each other when strangers asked them who the best SF author was. They called this the “Clark-Asimov Treaty” and Clarke acknowledged this agreement in a dedication in one of his books ““In accordance with the terms of the Clarke-Asimov treaty, the second-best science writer dedicates this book to the second-best science-fiction writer.”
John Scalzi vs Theodore Beale
Old school sci-fi authors like Clarke and Asimov may have gotten in fake flame wars, but modern sci-fi authors get in very real ones. It all started when Theodore Beale (also known as "Vox Day", author of The War in Heaven) said that women don’t write science fiction because their feeble minds “can’t hack the physics”. (What a doll, right? Nobody tell him the first sci-fi novel was by a teenage girl.) He went on to make racist and anti-Semitic remarks as well.
John Scalzi (author of The Android's Dream and Redshirts) responded to this in the only appropriate way, by telling him he had his head up his posterior. Beale responded by pretty much flipping out, accusing Scalzi of being a rapist among other things and basically obsessing over him. Scalzi decided to use the feud for the cause of good and said he would donate 5 dollars to charity every time Beale talked about him on his blog. Other folks joined the pledge and 50,000 was raised in less than a week.
Beale’s obsession has not waned though and you can count on Scalzi’s self-proclaimed rival to throw a tantrum whenever Scalzi meets success- like when he got a lucrative book deal or when he won the Hugo Awards in 2013, which Beale decided was a result of an evil Social Justice Warrior conspiracy.
David Prowse vs George Lucas
The most prominent feud between professionals involved with Star Wars has to be the one between George Lucas and the man who played Darth Vader, David Prowse. Prowse was actually Darth Vader only in body. Lucas dubbed his dialogue over with James Earl Jones and Prowse says he did so without telling him. Prowse also claims that Lucas promised he would be seen and heard at the end of Return of the Jedi, but Sebastian Shaw was used instead.
Their feud escalated so much that Lucas ended up banning Prowse from all Star Wars conventions. The alleged reason for this is that he leaked plot details of the films, such as Vader’s death and relation to Luke. However Prowse has said this is false and he wasn’t even told any of this information during filming in the first place. Prowse speculates that Lucas’s grudge against him is because Prowse appeared in the film The People vs George Lucas, which as you can imagine, was pretty critical of the director in question. Prowse states he had no idea his interview was going to be used that way, though.
Kenny Baker (R2D2) vs Anthony Daniels(C3P0)
Something about the Star Wars franchise seems to cause feuds to fester. The famously bickering robot friends are not friends at all in real life. Baker is definitely the most furious end of the feud, often making comments on how Daniels was unpleasant and constantly demeaned him.
Baker even said he wouldn’t go to a 2008 cast reunion if “his lordship, the one with the golden balls” was there. According to Baker, Daniels always snubbed or talked down to him for no reason. He says he once addressed him as “little man”. Considering Baker is under four feet tall, that’s insulting on multiple levels.
Daniels hasn’t said much about Baker in comparison, but he definitely feels some disdain and has gotten his digs in a few times. He once commented that R2-D2 “might as well be bucket” and basically said Baker didn’t even deserve to be in the credits of the movie.
Harlan Ellison vs...Everyone
SF author Harlan Ellison’s feuds with other writers are intense… and also innumerable. The famously crochety author counts many among his enemies, most significantly Gene Rodenberry, James Cameron and Arthur Platt.
His beef with Roddenberry is that the man rewrote his original script for the Star Trek episode “The Edge of Tomorrow”, jettisoning the drug dealing subplot Roddenberry had included. When Harlan tried to change his name to a penname in the credits to indicate his distaste for the rewrite, Rodenberry made him use his real one. Harlan nursed a grudge, calling Roddenberry a “scumbag”. Roddenberry, for his part, claimed that his rewriting of the script had “saved” the episode and called Ellison “undisciplined”. Ellison later sued Paramount over the episode, claiming he had been cheated out of revenue for it as well. A settlement was reached in 2009.
Another person Ellison ended up suing was none other than James Cameron, claiming the first few minutes of Terminator were identical to an episode of Outer Limits he wrote. The studio behind Terminator settled the thing out of court and acknowledged Ellison in the credits, but Cameron has made it clear he disagrees with that decision. He called the suit “nonsense”.
Harlan Ellison, giantfreakinrobot.com
Ellison has been known to get physical with his feuds. When Christoper Platt criticized Ellison putting on a fake “obituary” event for one of his publishers at a convention, Ellison responded by punching him in the face…from behind. The two reached a “treaty” afterwards, where Platt promised not to write about Ellison again if he promised to leave him alone. Ellison reportedly also promised, in writing, not to talk about the incident. He, of course, broke that promise many years later, reportedly boasting about punching the man in the face at conventions. Platt responded by threatening to make a online repostitory for all the critiques of Ellison.
Ellison doesn’t just limit himself to physical assault though. He also publically groped author Connie Willis at the Hugo Awards. Willis was allegedly not happy, stating that she wanted to sign a petition for Ellison to keep his hands to himself. He posted a total non-apology (the words “I’m sorry” cannot be found) on the internet, playing off his act as simply puckish, childish and “politically incorrect”. He sadly opined that he had not heard back from Willis despite calling her. Gee, I wonder why?
Damion Lindoff vs George RR Martin
Let’s have an example of a more light-hearted dispute to break up all this vitriol. When George R.R. Martin stated in a 2011 piece that he didn’t want Game of Thrones to pull a Lost, stating that he felt “cheated” by the shows ending and was afraid of screwing up in a similar way.
Damon Lindoff, the Lost creator, responded with a torrent of pretty amusing tweets. Among them were ““In related news, my therapist just hit the jackpot”, “George? You got yourself a feud, motherf–ker” ,”Winter IS coming, bitch” and “I’ve just been informed George is working on his feud response. I’ll have it in FIVE YEARS!”
He ended the tirade with “Two final thoughts, George. A. They weren’t dead the whole time. B. 1997 called. It wants its web design back “
It was pretty clear that Lidoff’s vitriol was mostly in jest. He admitted to the EW that while he considered it a feud, since George didn’t have Twitter, he likely had no idea he was in one. He also stated that he was a huge fan of Game of Thrones.
Jack Kirby vs Stan Lee
The story of the falling out between Jack Kirby and Stan Lee is a sad one. Kirby was a great artist and writer. He (at the very least) co-created many of the great Marvel properties like The Fantastic Four and Thor. Yet despite this, Stan Lee is much more well-known and as far as the general public is concerned, he’s the sole creator of these properties.
Kirby thought Lee took way too much credit for creations that he himself was far more responsible for. (It is undeniable that Lee made far more money than Kirby for these creations in the end). This, along with allegedly being jerked around financially by editor Martin Goodman, is why he left Marvel to work for DC. And in Mr. Miracle #6, Kirby took revenge on both Goodman and Lee. The supervillains of the stories were obvious caricatures of the publisher and writer and Lee was Goodman’s simpering lacky in this scenario.
Kirby's depiction of Goodman and Lee in Mr. Miracle #6, DC Comics
Kirby really let Lee have it in a later interview with the Comics Journal as well, calling him a “pest” and claiming sole credit for many creations. Lee’s response was to say “I would have to think he's either lost his mind or he's a very evil person”. Kirby had plenty of reasons to resent Marvel however, since they refused to give him his artwork back in the 80’s, robbing him of the right to profit off his own work. Lee claims he did not have this artwork, but rumors fly…
Kirby died in 1994 and it was up to his family to continue the legal battle with Marvel. Lee talks more fondly of Kirby posthumously, claiming that he “loved Jack”.
Grant Morrison vs Alan Moore
On a surface level, these two writers have a lot in common. They’re British self-proclaimed magic users who’ve made a big splash in DC Comics. But they also have an antagonism that runs back to the eighties. According to Grant Morrison, the whole thing started when Morrison was asked to do a follow-up to Moore’s Marvelman. Morrison wrote to Moore, asking for his blessing and got what he said was a threatening letter in response that told him he couldn’t. So he didn’t, but the antagonism between the two grew from there.
Morrison certainly has thrown his fair of barbs, he took shots at Moore’s Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow and Watchmen in his book Supergods. However, Morrison says his comments were humorous and not meant to be taken seriously. But Moore took them to heart, claiming that Morrison got famous by saying nasty things about him. In a 2011 Rolling Stone interview, Morrison also noted that Moore tends to overuse rape in his stories.
Supergods by Grant Morrison
Moore’s assessment on Morrison really takes the cake when it comes to vitriol though. He basically said that Moorison had made his living ripping off Moore’s work. He called Morrison a “career tapeworm”, a “medicinal leech”, “needy limpet”, “fame-hungry individual without the talent necessary” and “feverishly fixated non-entity”. When Moore doesn’t like someone, he really doesn’t hold back. Morrison gave a lengthy response and stated he found it sad Moore could never say anything positive about his fellow creators.
Moore’s feuds aren’t limited to Morrison, as he tends to be loud and brutal about his opinions of the current comics industry. For instance, he offended Jason Aaron when he blasted the creators behind “Before Watchmen”. Aaron called Moore a bitter old man in response.