Marco Materazzi might have retired from playing football, but his career as professional antagonist is still going strong.
Murphy then took a step back from his focus on the NRA as the bill's primary antagonist and articulated the question so many of us have: 90% of Americans support the kind of background checks laid out in the Manchin-Toomey legislation.
It was created in the Hammond Creation laboratory, and will almost definitely be the new movie's terrifying antagonist.
But what exactly does a negotiator need to know about his antagonist?
Mr Klein imagines libertarianism as an antagonist to the natural progress of decent nations effective only if fatcats "pump a lot of money" into it, and he imagines they have.
She ticks off a list of wicked acts she blames on her antagonist in an ancient rivalry, the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina.
The parliament, he says, should be a "natural partner", not a constant antagonist.
Russia does not see China as an antagonist.
His dire lack of some elementary political skills was again exposed during prime minister's questions in the House of Commons on November 12th: David Cameron, the Tory leader, pressed him on the government's response to the shocking killing of a child; Mr Brown unwisely accused his antagonist of exploiting the child's death.
With an almost mathematical rigour, Mr Whedon runs through the combinations on offer to give almost every member of the team some sort of one-to-one interaction with each other, as well as with the antagonist, Loki (played with glee, menace and Chaucerian obscenity by Tom Hiddlestone).
Labour MPs, packed into the government benches for the weekly ritual of prime minister's questions (PMQs), look on with grim, set faces as Mr Cameron mocks and denounces his antagonist.
