History Main / CriminalAmnesiac

* In the Franco-Belgian comic ''ComicBook/{{Thorgal}}'', when the title hero is stripped of his memory by the gods, Kriss of Valnor convinces him that he is a pirate lord.

* Medusa, queen of [[ComicBook/TheInhumans the Inhuman]] sub-species, was given amnesia by her [[EvilChancellor evil brother-in-law]] Maximus, and was found hiding in a cave by the criminal mastermind called the Wizard, who made her Susan Storm's counterpart in his Frightful Four.

* Some {{Space Pirate}}s did this to ''ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes'''s Ultra Boy once. When it actually came down to fighting, he didn't like it. He tried fighting on the other side; that was much more natural to him.
* Reverted in a Creator/{{Disney}} Big Bad Wolf comic; BBW has a nasty fall when chasing the Three Little Pigs, gets EasyAmnesia, and Practical Pig convinces him he is a pig and got hurt when chased by a wolf. Cue Zeke Wolf becoming horribly scared of his own son...

* ''Film/{{Push}}'' features this in the climax, when a character is convinced that she has been assisting the others because she was 'pushed' into it.

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/AladdinTheSeries'' had Princess Jasmine getting amnesia, and HarmlessVillain Abis Mal convinces her that she's in fact his evil daughter, a desert bandit. She upgrades to a [[EvilCostumeSwitch eyebrow-raising black costume]] ([[WhipItGood complete with whip]]) and [[HypercompetentSidekick helps Abis take over the country]], but then betrays him and decides to promote herself to main villain after realizing he's an imbecile (until Aladdin is able to help her remember her true past).

* In the ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' episode "A Scare To Remember", the Team Rocket trio managed to finally capture Ash's Pikachu after seven seasons via this method... until Pikachu regained his memory and the ResetButton was pushed at the end of the episode.

* In ''Film/{{Unknown 2006}}'', the "Jean Jacket man" gets flashes that suggest that he was part of the kidnapping team, which leads him to collude with them. [[spoiler:He's actually an undercover cop. Who engineered the kidnapping in the first place.]]

* Narrowly averted in an episode of ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', when the crew's memories are erased so that they can be manipulated into ending a conflict by destroying one of the two feuding species. The villains of the episode make sure that the Enterprise's "mission" involves complete radio silence to keep them from talking to anyone who's either not on the ship or not a spy. Ultimately, the crew become suspicious when they realize the ship's advanced weaponry can reduce their foe's military equipment to scrap within a few seconds- a foe they've supposedly been fighting for several decades.

* PlayedWith on ''Series/DarkMatter'' with One and Six. The six main crew members are all amnesiacs [[YouAreNumberSix using numbers as names]] who learn from their wanted files [[FirstEpisodeTwist at the end of the pilot episode]] that their original selves were ruthless criminals (except Five, the MysteriousWaif, who has no profile). In truth, [[spoiler:One and Six are not really Jace Corso and Griffin Jones, respectively; One is a philanthropist CEO named Derrick Moss who impersonated [[EvilTwin Corso]] through [[SurgicalImpersonation plastic surgery]] to get close to the murderer of his wife (Marcus Boone/Three, or so [[FrameUp Moss believed]]) and Six is an undercover cop named Kal Varrick tasked with bringing them all in, whose criminal identity is fake]]. But now without their original memories to go on, [[AmnesiacLiar they believe they really are]] part of the ''Raza'' crew like the others. However, both of them remain among the more moral members of the cast and are a big part of why the crew as a whole, while still participating in illegal activity and mercenary work to make their living (One and Six included), now shies away from the more brutal sort of jobs they used to take on pre-mindwipe (like wiping out entire planetary populations so that the [[MegaCorp corporate overlords]] could take over their land).

* ''Animation/BoBoiBoy'': Adu Du utilises [=BoBoiBoy's=] weakness - the longer he uses his [[LiteralSplitPersonality Triple Split]], the more that [[EquivalentExchange his memory will worsen]] - by kidnapping the Lightning elemental to prevent the three from reuniting. After failing to get any info on his grandfather's recipe from him, Adu Du [[BeingTorturedMakesYouEvil "tortures" BoBoiBoy Lightning until he snaps]], causing the latter to unlock his more powerful form, [=BoBoiBoy=] Thunderstorm, out of rage. Due to his worsening memory, he easily believes Adu Du's claims that they are his actual friends, to the extent that Adu Du could get him to fight the good guys. He [[RegainedMemorySequence regains his memory]] when Adu Du's RobotBuddy Probe [[NiceJobFixingItVillain exclaims BoBoiBoy's catchphrase]] "Terbaik!" ("Awesome!") as a general comment to [=BoBoiBoy=] Thunderstorm, who turns against them as a result.

* ''Animation/BoBoiBoy'': Adu Du utilises [=BoBoiBoy's=] weakness - the longer he uses his [[LiteralSplitPersonality Triple Split]], the more that [[EquivalentExchange his memory will worsen]] - by kidnapping the Lightning elemental to prevent the three from reuniting. After failing to get any info on his grandfather's recipe from him, Adu Du [[BeingTorturedMakesYouEvil tortures [=BoBoiBoy=] Lightning until he snaps]], causing the latter to unlock his more powerful form, [=BoBoiBoy=] Thunderstorm, out of rage. Due to his worsening memory, he easily believes Adu Du's claims that they were his actual friends, to the point where Adu Du could get him to fight the good guys. He regains his memory when Adu Du's RobotBuddy Probe [[NiceJobFixingItVillain exclaims BoBoiBoy's catchphrase]] "Terbaik!" ("Awesome!") as a general comment to [=BoBoiBoy=] Thunderstorm, who turns against them as a result.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Film]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Lolirock}}'' Praxina and Mephisto used a spell to erase Iris' memories and convinced her that she worked with them and that Talia and Auriana were her enemies.

* Inverted in the ''Series/StargateSG1'' episode [[Recap/StargateSG1S3E11PastAndPresent "Past and Present"]], in which the amnesiac is discovered to be the evil MadScientist (known as [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast the Destroyer of Worlds]]) responsible for infecting an entire planet with an amnesia virus. She cured herself of the amnesia, then tried to kill herself when her old, murderous personality conflicted with her new, peaceful one. Eventually, she re-amnesiaed herself so she could live a peaceful life on the planet where these whacky adventures took place.

* Ultimately subverted in ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'' when a well-meaning alien, convinced that her Gargoyle companions are agents of an enemy species he has been fighting, erases Elisa's memory and tells her that the Gargoyles are her enemies. Elisa is of course uncertain whom to trust, but ultimately refuses to cooperate with the alien considering that the Gargoyles evidently have not done anything to deserve being treated like that ("that" being that he was going to execute them in a rather ''messy'' fashion). At that, the alien stands down and restores her memory since any beings who can inspire that kind of personal loyalty under such circumstances are likely not his enemies either, and the memory wipe would have removed any brainwashing the Gargoyles had done to Elisa if they really had been working for the Space-Spawn.

* [[Machinima/RedVsBlue Church]] in ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/16641969/chapters/39017388 The Things We Wish We Could Forget]]'' is reprogrammed by Malcolm Hargrove and has his memories and moral code erased so that he will serve aid in Hargrove's campaign to wipe out the population of Chorus. He gradually regains his memories over the course of the story, and it's deconstructed afterwards, since the Reds and Blues no longer trust him after his stint as a bad guy.

* ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist'' has a variant of this. Scar's brother's lover and [[spoiler:Trisha Elric]] were resurrected as Lust and Sloth, to a degree. They don't have the souls of the original and thus are more akin to evil clones. Lust wants to become human, while Sloth is trying to [[spoiler:replace the Elric brothers with Wrath]].

* In ''Series/PrettyGuardianSailorMoon'', [[spoiler: Mercury]] has a spell cast on her by Kunzite, causing her to become Dark [[spoiler: Mercury]] for a period of a few episodes, before ThePowerOfFriendship (with the help of the Mystical Silver Crystal) brings her back in the end.

* An accidental case in ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' episode, "Los Dos Mojos": Mojo Jojo knocks out Bubbles from behind. Before going completely out, Bubbles opens her eyes one last time to see her assailant gloating over her, causing her to believe she IS Mojo Jojo once she wakes up.

** Superman became one in a ''[[ComicBook/LegendsDC Legends]]''-related side story when he was abducted by Darkseid and manipulated by Amazing Grace. Fortunately, Orion and Lightray helped restore Superman's memory and true self.

* ''[[ComicBook/SpiderMan The Amazing Spider-Man]]'' has ComicBook/DoctorOctopus attempting this with Spidey during the original Creator/StanLee run (Octavius's attempt to use a stolen invention that was intended to 'nullify' nuclear warheads to shut down Spider-Man's web-shooters resulted in the device's energy mixing with Spider-Man's radioactive blood to erase his memory). Quite possibly the TropeCodifier. Spidey [[SpottingTheThread realises something's not right]] when Ock wants to find out his secret identity -- if they were partners, he'd already know.

* An issue of ''ComicBook/TheBatmanAdventures'' had ComicBook/{{Catwoman}} turn an amnesiac Batman into "Catman".
** In UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks, Catwoman herself was a Criminal Amnesiac, without even a villain talking her into it. She had been a flight attendant who suffered a head injury in a plane crash and lost her memories, with her subconscious memories of growing up in a pet shop causing her to become Catwoman. A later {{Retcon}} said she'd made this up to facilitate her HeelFaceTurn.
* Some {{Space Pirate}}s did this to ''Comicbook/LegionOfSuperHeroes'''s Ultra Boy once. When it actually came down to fighting, he didn't like it. He tried fighting on the other side; that was much more natural to him.
* Reverted in a Disney Big Bad Wolf comic; BBW has a nasty fall when chasing the Three Little Pigs, gets EasyAmnesia, and Practical Pig convinces him he is a pig and got hurt when chased by a wolf. Cue Zeke Wolf becoming horribly scared of his own son...
* A vengeful enemy managed to do this to ComicStrip/ModestyBlaise once, in order to make her kill her sidekick. It almost worked.
** In "A Present for the Princess", Willie loses his memory after he hits his head on a rock in a river. An old enemy convinces him that he is a hitman for his organization.
* Superman became one in a ''[[ComicBook/LegendsDC Legends]]''-related side story when he was abducted by Darkseid and manipulated by Glorious Godfrey's sister Amazing Grace. Fortunately, Orion and Lightray helped restore Superman's memory and true self.

* One early ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' comic had Lois Lane suffer shock-induced amnesia after thinking Clark died, and subsequently believing herself to be a dangerous criminal.

* In ''[[FanFic/MarioAndSonicHeroesUnite Mario and Sonic: Heroes Unite!]]'', [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Luigi]] suffers amnesia following the transfer to {{Franchise/Sonic|TheHedgehog}}'s world. Metal Sonic takes the opportunity to claim that Luigi is on his side and that the heroes are actually his enemies.

* ''WesternAnimation/ChipNDaleRescueRangers'' had it happen to Dale, who joined the cat mafia and became a surprisingly effective enforcer.

* Happens in the ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "Make a Wish", based on the comic above with Doc Ock erasing Spider-Man's memory and pretending that they're partners and that Spidey lost his memory in an accident. This is helped thanks to some video of J. Jonah Jameson bad-mouthing him as usual. In this version Spidey is reminded of who he really is by a young girl who's his biggest fan. Here the device is an actual "neural neutralizer" and Ock uses it on Spider-Man on purpose, rather than it being an interaction between a nuclear nullifier and his radioactive blood.

* One episode of ''{{WesternAnimation/Superfriends}}'' has Franchise/{{Superman}} getting knocked out by a comet and landing on the Myth/ArthurianLegend [[RecycledINSPACE IN SPACE]] [[PlanetOfHats planet]]. When some local revolutionaries try to beat him up and fail miserably, they ask him to become their leader to TakeOverTheWorld. Superman quickly decides that this priority is way more interesting than figuring out who he is, and [[{{Superdickery}} topples the government]] to pave way for the revolution's primary objective- raising taxes. Naturally, it falls to the other {{WesternAnimation/Superfriends}} to stop him.

* In the last couple episodes of ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'', Superman has his memory wiped after being abducted by Darkseid, and he is led to believe he is Darkseid's adopted son.
* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'' has Franchise/{{Batman}} getting amnesia while in his "Matches Malone" gangster persona and believing he is an actual crime boss.

** [[spoiler:Six is told of his original mission offscreen during "Episode 8" and fulfills it at the end of the first season, but changes his mind at the beginning of Season 2 [[DefectorFromDecadence after seeing how corrupt the Galactic Authority can be]] and helps the others escape prison]], [[BecomingTheMask becoming a wanted outlaw for real]]. [[spoiler:This originally would have been true of One, too, if he hadn't been killed off by ExecutiveMeddling]].

** [[spoiler:Six is told of his original mission offscreen during "Episode 8" and fulfills it at the end of the first season, but changes his mind at the beginning of Season 2 after seeing how corrupt the Galactic Authority can be and helps the others escape prison]], [[BecomingTheMask becoming a wanted outlaw for real]]. [[spoiler:This originally would have been true of One, too, if he hadn't been killed off by ExecutiveMeddling]].

** [[spoiler:Six is told of his original mission offscreen during "Episode 8" and fulfills it at the end of the first season, but changes his mind at the beginning of Season 2 after seeing how corrupt the Galactic Authority can be and helps the others escape prison]], becoming a wanted outlaw for real. [[spoiler:This originally would have been true of One, too, if he hadn't been killed off by ExecutiveMeddling]].

* PlayedWith on ''Series/DarkMatter'' with One and Six. The six main crew members are all amnesiacs [[YouAreNumberSix using numbers as names]] who learn from their wanted files [[FirstEpisodeTwist at the end of the pilot episode]] that their original selves were ruthless criminals (except Five, the MysteriousWaif, who has no profile). In truth, [[spoiler:One and Six are not really Jace Corso and Griffin Jones, respectively; One is a philanthropist CEO named Derrick Moss who impersonated [[EvilTwin Corso]] through [[SurgicalImpersonation plastic surgery]] to get close to the murderer of his wife (Marcus Boone/Three, or so [[FrameUp Moss believed]]) and Six is an undercover cop named Kal Varrick tasked with bringing them all in, whose criminal identity is fake]]. But now without their original memories to go on, they believe they really are part of the ''Raza'' crew like the others. However, both of them remain among the more moral members of the cast and are a big part of why the crew as a whole, while still participating in illegal activity and mercenary work to make their living (One and Six included), now shies away from the more brutal sort of jobs they used to take on pre-mindwipe (like wiping out entire planetary populations so that the [[MegaCorp corporate overlords]] could take over their land).

* One early ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'' comic had Lois Lane suffer shock-induced amnesia after thinking Clark died, and subsequently believing herself to be a dangerous criminal.

* One episode of ''{{WesternAnimation/Superfriends}}'' has {{Superman}} getting knocked out by a comet and landing on the Myth/ArthurianLegend [[RecycledINSPACE IN SPACE]] [[PlanetOfHats planet]]. When some local revolutionaries try to beat him up and fail miserably, they ask him to become their leader to TakeOverTheWorld. Superman quickly decides that this priority is way more interesting than figuring out who he is, and [[{{Superdickery}} topples the government]] to pave way for the revolution's primary objective- raising taxes. Naturally, it falls to the other {{WesternAnimation/Superfriends}} to stop him.

* PlayedWith on ''Series/DarkMatter'' with One and Six. The six main crew members are all amnesiacs [[YouAreNumberSix using numbers as names]] who learn from their wanted files [[FirstEpisodeTwist at the end of the pilot episode]] that their original selves were ruthless criminals (except Five, the MysteriousWaif, who has no profile). In truth, [[spoiler:One and Six are not really Jace Corso and Griffin Jones, respectively; One is a philanthropist CEO named Derrick Moss who impersonated [[EvilTwin Corso]] through [[SurgicalImpersonation plastic surgery]] to get close to the murderer of his wife (Marcus Boone/Three, or so [[FrameUp Moss believed]]) and Six is an undercover cop named Kal Varrick tasked with bringing them all in whose criminal identity is fake]]. But now without their original memories to go on, they believe they really are part of the ''Raza'' crew like the others. However, both of them remain among the more moral members of the cast and are a big part of why the crew as a whole, while still participating in illegal activity and mercenary work to make their living (One and Six included), now shies away from the more brutal sort of jobs they used to take on pre-mindwipe (like wiping out entire planetary populations so that the [[MegaCorp corporate overlords]] could take over their land).

* PlayedWith on ''Series/DarkMatter'' with One and Six. The six main crew members are all amnesiacs [[YouAreNumberSix using numbers as names]] who learn from their wanted files [[FirstEpisodeTwist at the end of the pilot episode]] that their original selves were ruthless criminals (except Five, the MysteriousWaif, who has no profile). In truth, [[spoiler:One and Six are not really Jace Corso and Griffin Jones, respectively; One is a philanthropist CEO named Derrick Moss who impersonated [[EvilTwin Corso]] through [[SurgicalImpersonation plastic surgery]] to get close to the murderer of his wife (Marcus Boone/Three, or so [[FrameUp Moss believed]]) and Six is an undercover cop named Kal Varrick tasked with bringing them all in whose criminal identity is fake]]. But now without their original memories to go on, they believe they really are part of the ''Raza'' crew like the others. However, both of them remain among the more moral members of the cast and are a big part of why the crew as a whole, while still participating in illegal activity and mercenary work to make their living (One and Six included), shies away from the more brutal sort of jobs they used to take on pre-mindwipe (like wiping out entire planetary populations so that the [[MegaCorp corporate overlords]] could take over their land).

* PlayedWith on ''Series/DarkMatter'' with One and Six. The six main crew members are all amnesiacs [[YouAreNumberSix using numbers as names]] who learn from their wanted files [[FirstEpisodeTwist at the end of the pilot episode]] that their original selves were ruthless criminals (except Five, the MysteriousWaif, who has no profile). In truth, [[spoiler:One and Six are not really Jace Corso and Griffin Jones, respectively; One is a philanthropist CEO named Derrick Moss who impersonated [[EvilTwin Corso]] through [[SurgicalImpersonation plastic surgery]] to get close to the murderer of his wife (Marcus Boone/Three, or so [[FrameUp Moss believed]]) and Six is an undercover cop named Kal Varrick tasked with bringing them all in whose criminal identity is fake]]. But now without their original memories to go on, they believe they really are part of the ''Raza'' crew like the others. However, both of them remain among the more moral members of the cast and are a big part of why the crew as a whole, while still participating in illegal activity and mercenary work to make their living, shies away from the more brutal sort of jobs they used to take on pre-mindwipe (like wiping out entire planetary populations so that the [[MegaCorp corporate overlords]] could take over their land).

* Happens in ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "Make a Wish", based on the comic above with Doc Ock erasing Spider-Man's memory and pretending that they're partners and that Spidey lost his memory in an accident. This is helped thanks to some video of J. Jonah Jameson bad-mouthing him as usual. In this version Spidey is reminded of who he really is by a young girl who's his biggest fan. Here the device is an actual "neural neutralizer" and Ock uses it on Spider-Man on purpose, rather than it being an interaction between a nuclear nullifier and his radioactive blood.

* Happens in ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "Make a Wish", based on the comic above with Doc Ock. This is helped thanks to some video of Jameson bad-mouthing him as usual. In this version Spidey is reminded of who he really is by a young girl who's his biggest fan.