This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
From You Know That Thing Where:
Arilou: Removed some Natter.
YYZ: Here's one we might already have, and if we don't, then we should; it's related to Dating Catwoman. Has anyone ever seen any examples where the hero and villain know each other in real life, but are unaware of the Secret Identity factor? You know, as if the voices wouldn't give it away in a matter of seconds: "Aren't you Bob from work?" "Hey, you're Chuck!"
Harpie Siren: Oh, I'm sure this happens, I cannot for the life of me think of a time. My brain wants to say Danny and Valerie from Danny Phantom, and Spider-Man and Venom, but in those cases at least one person knows who the other is.
LTR - Superman for one, Lois shares a desk in the same office as Clark Kent, and never notices that he and Superman sound alike (at least that's how it's depicted in his TV appearances.)
Harpie Siren: I thought it was just about the Hero and Villan? Last time I checked Lois, or any of the Daily Planet staff, wern't villans.
BT The P: There's a comic miniseries running now, or recently, I forget the name, where there's a pair of roommates who hate each other; one's a blond jock ladies man, and the other's a nerdy computer geek. As it turns out, the jock's a generic Superman type, and his roommate is his supervillain rival, who mostly attacks via robotic minions. Neither has any clue, at least at the beginning.
Looney Toons: Removed the navbar for Characters as Device because this is not a specific character type, but a plot or device.
Paul A: I think the Batman Beyond example — where the school-aged hero discovers that the villain/monster of the week is somebody from his school, but the whole thing is contained within a single episode — is a related, but separate, trope that we don't have a page for yet.
I think the Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad started out not knowing Malcolm was working with Kilokahn, and Malcolm didn't know they were students; but it's been too long for me to be sure, so I'm just going to put this here for now. —Document N
