History Main / AllegedLookalikes

* ''Theatre/SwanLake'': The daughter of the Bad Guy goes to a dance disguised as the white swan. We know it's her because she's dressed in black.

* A big plot point in ''Film/TheBlackDahlia'' is that Madeleine Linscott and the murdered Elizabeth Shortt looked alike. Kay is even able to spot the resemblance from several feet away on the lawn. Actresses Creator/HilarySwank and Mia Kirschner look nothing alike.

* In the ''Franchise/HarryPotter'' [[Film/HarryPotter films]], Harry is still said to have inherited his mother Lily's bright green eyes; they even changed [[spoiler:Snape's LastWords]] to "You have your mother's eyes..." The problem, of course, is that Creator/DanielRadcliffe's eyes are bright blue, while Lily had brown ones. So not only did [[AdaptationDyeJob neither match the book]], they didn't even match ''[[AdaptationInducedPlotHole each other''.

* A big plot point in ''Film/TheBlackDahlia'' is that Madeleine Linscott and the murdered Elizabeth Shortt looked alike. Kay is even able to spot the resemblance from several feet away on the lawn. Actresses Hilary Swank and Mia Kirschner look nothing alike.
* In ''Film/{{Gattaca}}'', the fact that Vincent is able to disguise himself as Jerome using his DNA samples is believable, but, looks wise, they aren't that similar. Jude Law and Ethan Hawke just don't look alike, at least not enough to confuse one for the other. However, this is completely intentional, since the theme of the movie is how dehumanizing it is for people to be reduced to just a genetic signature. In universe, this is portrayed as people (especially cops) being so confident in their genetic analysis material that "Who looks at the face, nowadays?" The only people to notice are the LoveInterest, who's surprised when she meets the real Jerome, and a random doctor who realizes the urine samples "Jerome" is providing are actually coming from a hidden pouch but keeps it to himself.

* In the ''Franchise/HarryPotter'' [[Film/HarryPotter films]], Harry is still said to have inherited his mother Lily's bright green eyes; they even changed [[spoiler:Snape's LastWords]] to "You have your mother's eyes..." The problem, of course, is that Daniel Radcliffe's eyes are bright blue, while Lily had brown ones. So not only did neither match the book, they didn't even match ''each other.''

* ''Film/{{Twins|1988}}'' details an experiment with genetically engineered brothers, one of which was given the more desirable genes, and the other the leftovers. By the end [[spoiler:they are dressing alike and duplicating each other’s movements exactly. Everybody who sees them comments on how you just can’t tell them apart.]] They are played by Danny [=DeVito=] and Arnold Schwarzenegger who couldn’t possibly look more different. This is of course entirely intentional. The film even used the tagline: "Only their mother can tell them apart".

** In the episode "Theater Thug", after Josh portrays the titular crook in an ''Series/AmericasMostWanted''-esque program, he gets mistaken as the thug by the police and several bystanders, despite clearly not looking anything like him. Even when the [[FailedASpotCheck actual thug was present]], he gets falsely arrested again anyway.

* ''Theatre/TheComedyOfErrors'': Two pairs of long-lost identical twins end up in the same town. In some productions, the twins are played by different actors, and even, if the production wants to [[PlayedForLaughs play this trope for laughs,]] different races and/or genders.

* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'': Members of Organization XIII either claim Sora looks like Roxas or just call Sora "Roxas". This is... confusing, since to some degree they seem to actually believe he is Roxas, but they're also messing with his head, and it's hard to tell which is happening. Sora and Roxas ''do'' have the same face, but they also have completely different hair, mannerisms, and voices, so it's kind of hard to actually confuse the two. Every other human/Nobody pair ''is'' basically identical, (for example, [[spoiler:the only difference between Axel and an adult Lea is the facial markings on the former and Axel/Lea is basically treated as one singular person anyway, to the point that the names are interchangeable.]]), making it seem even weirder. With later revelations about the nature of Roxas and nobodies, the Organization had reason to believe that [[spoiler:Roxas ''could'' become the dominant persona. However, as Roxas had personal reasons to hate the Organization, getting him to take charge would have been bad for them.]]

** The trope is finally {{Subverted}} in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'' where, while Snake and his identical father Big Boss do have some very subtle differences to their character models, the differences are subtle enough that it actually is easy to confuse the two (and in fact many gaming publications ''do'' confuse the two.) They also share the same voice actor in all language dubs of the game, making them even more identical. In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'', [[spoiler:the trope is subverted again because Venom Snake is truly identical to Big Boss as well, enough for it to be a surprising plot point to most players that they are actually different people]].

* ''VideoGame/ShantaeAndThePiratesCurse'': Played for laughs. Shantae, Risky Boots, Sky, and Rottytops are all mistaken for the missing princess of the Tan Line Temple and held against their will. Mind you, these are four [[MsFanservice very attractive women]], though with their different (and often fantastic) [[AmazingTechnicolorPopulation skin]] and hair colors, they're not even particularly easy to mistake for ''each other''. The actual princess? Short and dumpy, not even slightly similar in appearance to ''any'' of the four. Risky threatens the High Priest with violence after realizing who she's being confused with. The townspeople only seem to notice after the princess returns (she was just shopping), and the High Priest remains confused even then.

** In ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'', Sonic and Shadow are both consistently mistaken for the other. It's somewhat of a DownplayedTrope, because while Shadow ''does'' easily pass as an EvilCounterpart of Sonic, there are more than enough physical differences between the two to them apart (different color schemes, different quill shapes, Shadow has a raised bit of fur on his chest). This is a holdover from Shadow's initial design, which more heavily resembled Sonic than his final one did.

** In ''VideoGame/SonicGenerations'', the game is about Sonic meeting with himself from the Genesis/Mega Drive era. Originally Sonic was shorter, had shorter legs, black eyes and was pudgy, but in the ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'', he was redesigned being taller and having longer legs, green eyes and was more slim. Despite this all of Sonic's friends don't seem to notice much difference between the two, even both Sonics don't notice when they look at each other through a glass and think they're looking at a mirror.

* In ''VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine'', people constantly mistake Mario for Shadow Mario, and insist that Mario is the one responsible for polluting Isle Delfino; even when they are seen together, characters (including ''Princess Peach'', who's spent more time around Mario than anyone else besides Luigi) insist that they look identical. This despite the fact that Mario has his normal color scheme, while Shadow Mario is uniformly blue from head to toe and appears to be ''made of water''.

* In a commercial for the Advertising/SeattleMariners baseball team., Jose Lopez and Yuniesky Betancourt as the "doubleplay twins" dress identical, and get a song about how "you're seeing double," but look absolutely nothing alike.

* Similarly, in ''Anime/YuGiOhArcV'', Yuya, Yuto, Yugo and Yuri, being dimensional counterparts of each other, are all said to look extremely similar, and are frequently mistaken for each other - despite having wildly different hair, voices, heights, eye-colors, clothes and mannerisms. Their [[DistaffCounterpart Distaff Counterparts]] (Yuzu, Ruri, Rin and Serena) get a similar treatment. For comparison purposes, [[https://66.media.tumblr.com/bab9c47b7d3bc0ae9ed3d000494dc4be/tumblr_obky51gJLa1u84ds5o1_1280.png here is a picture of all the lookalikes]].

* In the ''Theatre/TwelfthNight'', Viola and Sebastian are supposed to be HalfIdenticalTwins, impossible to tell apart when Viola is dressed as a man. Needless to say this, it is very difficult to find a suitable male and female actor who are even the same height, let alone actors who look enough alike to be mistaken for each other. Even when the play is performed with an all male cast, as when it was originally performed, actual male twins are rarely cast. One television production from 1969 simply used DoubleVision movie magic to have the lead actress play both roles.

* In the ''Franchise/FateSeries'', it's noted that Artoria Pendragon and Jeanne d'Arc are extremely similar-looking, to the point that Gilles de Rais thought they had to be the same person (though he is a bit of an unreliable source on the issue), and Jeanne is often lumped in with "Saberface" characters that share Artoria's design, such as Mordred, Nero, and alternate versions of Artoria. Thing is, other than that they're both blonde women drawn by a guy notable for OnlySixFaces, the two don't actually bear that much resemblance to each other--they have different builds, different hair in color and style, different heights, different eye colors, and even their faces are noticeably different in structure.

* Played with in ''Podcast/WelcomeToNightVale''. Cecil and Kevin are mentioned to be completely identical, aside from the latter's BlackEyesOfEvil. This carries over to the live version, where it can be clearly seen that [[TheDanza Cecil Baldwin and Kevin Free]] look practically [[http://img4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130824114354/nightvale/images/3/3f/Tumblr_inline_mqrorcXE8c1qz4rgp.jpg nothing]] [[http://www.mindspill.bygbaby.com/uploaded_images/kevinf.jpg alike.]] WordOfGod says that only the descriptions in the podcast are canon, which are so far [[SuspectIsHatless irrelevant to anything besides clothing]].

* An interesting case happens in ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' because of the artist's style changes. [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders Part 3]] protagonist Jotaro Kujo is supposed to look identical to his grandfather Joseph Joestar in his 30s, to a point [[spoiler: Joseph's mistress Tomoko Higashikata]] mistakes him for him in [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable Part 4. Jotaro's appearances in every Part that he appears in are all during periods of ArtEvolution, meaning that Jotaro never looks like Joseph in the slightest to the readers (unless you count Araki's recent redesigns, which suffer from an extreme case of OnlySixFaces).

-->--''Film/TheGreatMuppetCaper''

* PlayedForLaughs/[[PlayedForDrama Drama]]) in ''Manga/KotaroLivesAlone.'' The first time Karino and Kotaro are out together, people assume that they're a father and son, with several even commenting on their supposed resemblance. Enough people do it that Karino starts to freak out, wondering if an ex-girlfriend got pregnant without telling him. Kotaro himself seems uncomfortable by any comparisons between Karino and his real father.

* An interesting case happens in ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' because of the artist's style changes. [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders Part 3]] protagonist Jotaro Kujo is supposed to look identical to his grandfather Joseph Joestar in his 30s, to a point [[spoiler: Joseph's mistress Tomoko Higashikata mistakes him for her lover]] in [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable Part 4.]] Jotaro's appearances in every Part that he appears in are all during periods of ArtEvolution, meaning that Jotaro never looks like Joseph in the slightest to the readers (unless you count Araki's recent redesigns, which suffer from an extreme case of OnlySixFaces).

* In ''Anime/BlueSeed'', Momiji and Kaede are supposed to be identical twins, which is a major part of the plot. However, Momiji has long red hair and Kaede has short blue hair and a beauty mark on her face. Because of this, both characters look more like sisters whom were born years apart instead of identical twins.
* ''Manga/CardCaptorSakura'':

* In ''Manga/InuYasha'', everyone initially compares Kagome to Kikyo, of whom she is the {{reincarnation}}. They may technically have the "same" face, but the series suffers from OnlySixFaces, so they don't look any more alike than any other two random characters you could pick out. The anime [[AdaptationInducedPlotHole makes this even worse]] than the manga, as there Kikyo and Kagome purposefully differ in many ways: their hairs' style, texture, and color; habitual facial expressions including nose and eye shape, skin tone, and figure -- to the point where they're two of the most distinct characters of the same sex and similar age group.

* In ''Manga/NeonGenesisEvangelion'', we have Rei, the blue-haired, red-eyed, inhumanly pale clone of Shinji’s late, brown-haired, dark-eyed mother, Yui. They do at least have similar faces, but the resemblance is apparently so great that Shinji’s father destroyed all photos of Yui in order to prevent him from noticing.

* InUniverse in the ''ComicBook/HarleyQuinn'' comics. The third issue has a man who says he can never hold down a job because he looks just like... ''ComicBook/TheJoker''. (Harley had guessed Al Gore with a bad haircut.) He doesn't and is clearly delusional, eventually leading to his own death out of sheer idiocy.

* While [[Franchise/WonderWoman Diana]] and her sister [[ComicBook/WonderGirl Donna]] generally look similar the art usually does quite a good job of keeping them unique, with Diana a tad taller and with curly hair and a stronger jawline and Donna having nearly straight hair and a more petite nose and mouth. This made a ([[ContinuitySnarl/DonnaTroy short-lived]]) retcon to Donna's backstory in ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'' claiming she was the literal mirror image of Diana brought to life seem rather nonsensical, as even when the two were standing right next to each other in civilian clothes they are, even during this story, very noticeably different in appearance. Of course, this isn't an ''un''-justified claim, as Donna is somewhat famously an accidental DecompositeCharacter of Diana (the writers of ''Teen Titans'' assumed that the Wonder Girl character appearing in backups and occasionally teaming up with Wonder Woman was a sidekick, when she was actually a past self).

Characters who supposedly resemble each other, either because they're identical twins, [[StrongFamilyResemblance relatives]], or just {{Identical Stranger}}, don't actually look alike. Or, at the very least, don't resemble each other ''more'' than they resemble other characters.

'''Mr. Tarkanian:''' It doesn't. Especially since you two guys don't look anything alike!\\
'''Kermit:''' That's because Fozzie's not wearing his hat. Fozzie, put your hat back on.\\

'''Mr. Tarkanian:''' Oh, yeah...I see it now.

* ''Film/JudgeDredd'' got a lot of mockery for featuring Creator/SylvesterStallone and Creator/ArmandAssante as "identical twins" Joseph and Rico Dredd, who are both the clone sons of Chief Justice Fargo (Creator/MaxVonSydow). All three men have vastly different facial structures and body types. The whole thing runs on HollywoodGenetics, with Rico's DNA being so identical to Joseph's that he can frame him for a murder by planting the gun that Rico used, so they aren't NonIdenticalTwins or something like that.

* ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'': A minor RunningGag in the series is how various characters end up mistaking another character for Sonic, and vice versa.