CLASH OF THE TITANS: Five Cinematic Clashes To Rival The Gods

"Clash of the Titans" serves an important societal purpose in showing just how deadly having an arch-nemesis can be। But even as the vengeful rivalry between the likes of Zeus and Hades enjoys a moment in the spotlight, their heated relationship is far from being the only formidable head-to-head conflict throughout film history.

After the jump, we've listed five of our favorite cinematic clashes of the titans — outside of the one seen in the just released "Clash of the Titans," of course!

Aliens vs Predators: The "Aliens vs Predators" movies are far from fantastic, but as separate entities, these horrific creatures of science fiction are two of the greatest beasts of all time. That's probably why the potentially epic confrontation between them has been considerably less than epic on the big screen — there's simply no way to create a bad and bloody battle between these warring species that could ever live up to the showdowns we've played out in our mind's eye.

Freddy vs Jason: Another battle that doesn't live up to the hype, Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhies represent two opposite ends of the horror icon spectrum. In one corner you have Freddy, a wise-cracking psychopath who would gladly spend a drawn-out moment torturing you to death. On the other hand is Jason, a lumbering mute looking to bury his machete into some meat without any real flourish. Given their disparate philosophies on murder, it's hardly surprising that these two icons are constantly at odds with one another.

The Galactic Empire vs The Rebel Alliance: One of the most readily apparent cinematic clashes of the titans is the conflict between the Empire and the Rebellion in the "Star Wars" saga. It's a classic David and Goliath tale — there's no reason that a monstrous conglomerate of evil like the Empire should ever have to worry about the insignificant fleas of the Rebellion, but thanks to ingenuity and a whole lot of hope, the Rebels are able to pull through in the end.

The Jets vs The Sharks: The mean streets of New York City belong to two rival gangs — the Jets and the Sharks, two warring factions at the center of "West Side Story." There's no real reason for these street tough teens to hate each other so much. I'm sure if they called a ceasefire and enjoyed a few beers and hamburgers, they'd get along just fine. Sadly, such a truce never happened, leading to a complete decimation of the Jets and Sharks' respective hierarchies.

John McClane vs Terrorists: The "Die Hard" hero has made more than a few enemies during his career, most likely pre-dating the Nakatomi Towers incident. But the only reason that McClane's endless war on terrorism even makes it on this list is because the resulting battles are always glorious — in terms of there being a legitimate threat posed to McClane, there is none. One John McClane is equivalent to 1,000 highly trained terrorists. I'll take those odds any day of the week!