One weird thing i have seen in Danny Phantom fics is that there is this idea that Vlad randomly goes to start fights with Danny weekly for no reason other than being asshole
While i'm totally okay with headcanons and such... this isn't the case in the show?
In the series Vlad usually avoids fighting Danny personally (as him transforming into Plasmius) and he does it when it is kinda his last resort.
In Bitter Reunions he beats the crap out of Danny first, leaving him unconscious on the floor. That's because he thought Phantom was a normal ghost, he didn't know he was Danny.
After he learns that Danny is Phantom he actually asks Danny to stop fighting him and suggests him to join him.
In later episodes he sends his underlings to distract Danny but that is always part of his plans.
In ¨The Million Dollar Ghost¨ he sends a group of ghost hunters to catch Phantom while he spends time in the Fentons Lab trying to steal the ghost portal since he lost his own one.
In "Maternal Instincts" I'm not sure how serious he was about the ghost animals ¨getting rid¨ of Danny. I believe he was trying to force Maddie and Danny to come back to his chalet and stay there.
After Danny tricks him and puts the specter deflector on him, that's when Vlad transforms into Plasmius and starts throwing hands with Danny.
In "Reign Storm" Danny tries attacking Vlad at one point of the episode and Vlad tells Danny to ¨calm down¨ since he has other more important things to worry about. He was trying to escape from the Ghost King army in that moment.
Same with "Secret Weapons" and "Kindred Spirits", he fights Danny as last resort (Secret Weapons) or because he needs Danny for something (Kindred Spirits).
This could be applied to episodes from Season 3 as well. Even in ¨Eye for an Eye¨ it came as a response of Danny sending the GIW to destroy his mansion. Which makes sense since he is more of the person who can't let go of a grudge not matter what.
Let's go back to an earlier episode from Season 1 ¨The Million Dollar Ghost¨ to explain this point further.
Remember how easily Vlad was able to fight against Behemoth?
And he was barely trying for what it is implied in the episode.
Meaning that Vlad could have easily destroyed Danny any time he wanted to and he was probably holding back to some extent every time he fought Danny.
Hell, remember in ¨Kindred Spirits¨ how it took him around a minute to recover and transform again after getting a ghost wail from Danny? Let me repeat, a ghost wail.
In short, in the series Vlad rarely fights Danny for the sake of picking up a fight with him, he usually has a reason behind doing so, either because he is trying to distract Danny or he needs him as part of his plan. Often he take matters into his own hands as last resort when his plans are failing him.
And if he wanted to get rid of Danny he could have easily done so a long time ago considering how powerful he is but he doesn't because part of him wants Danny to see him as a mentor/father figure.
