9 Movie Heroes & Villains That Didn't Know Each Other Existed

While the Coen Brothers' Best Picture winner No Country for Old Men has numerous heroes and villains, the overarching hero is evidently ageing Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones), while the primary antagonist is assassin Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem).

And though each is aware that the other "side" exists, Bell and Chigurh are never actually acutely aware of one another specifically, and they certainly never meet.

Though Bell and Chigurh may or may not have been within mere feet of each other when Bell returns to the motel room where Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) was killed, they never make eye contact, see one another's faces, or learn each other's names.

By film's end, Bell retires with the knowledge that he's ill-equipped to deal with such rampant violence, while Chigurh disappears into the night, with the implication that he got away with the money.

Many unfamiliar with Cormac McCarthy's source novel surely expected a typical Western showdown between the aged Sheriff and the ruthless assassin, but they never know about each other, let alone come face-to-face.