History Main / DisguisedHostageGambit

Compare to FakeoutEscape, where the villain makes it look as if an escape has already happened, DecoyGetaway, where the villain escapes while the heroes are distracted by the disguised hostages, and OutfitDecoy, where clothes or the inanimate objects wearing them is used in a deception. Contrast TrojanPrisoner, where the heroes pretend to be villains with hostages so the real villains will let them go about their business and FalseInnocenceTrick or FakedKidnapping for when a villain is pretending to be a hostage.

Compare to FakeoutEscape, where the villain makes it look as if an escape has already happened, DecoyGetaway, where the villain escapes while the heroes are distracted by the disguised hostages, and OutfitDecoy, where clothes or the inanimate objects wearing them is used in a deception. Contrast TrojanPrisoner, where the heroes pretend to be villains with hostages so the real villains will let them go about their business and FalseInnocenceTrick for when a Villain is pretending to be a hostage.

* ''ComicBook/CodeName/Gravedigger'': In ''Men of War'' #18, Gravedigger--who has infiltrated a hospital by [[BandagedFace covering his face and hands in bandages]]--creates a diversion by dressing a Nazi nurse in his bandages and civilian coat and trousers, and shoving her out into the corridor. Unable to speak because of the bandages tightly wrapped around her mouth, she cannot speak and is gunned down by her fellow Nazis.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'': Sedusa once traded clothes with Miss Bellum and claimed to have captured "Sedusa" to trick the girls, who fortunately didn't believe Ms. Bellum would single-handedly defeat Sedusa.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Ben 10 Omniverse}}'': After escaping from his prison in Plumbers HQ, Zombozo disguises Jerry as himself and leaves him in his cell tied up. Ben and Max find out about this and Ben as Wildmutt tears off the disguise.
--->'''Max:''' No wonder I haven't been getting my mail lately.

* In ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', [[spoiler:The Joker does this with his hostages (with their mouths taped shut, masks to hide this, weapons tied to their hands), and guns being given to the fake hostages to prevent them from actually running, forcing Batman to disable the police officers (although they worked it out eventually)]].

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', [[Recap/AvatarTheLastAirbenderZukoAlone "Zuko Alone"]]: It is mentioned that the Fire Nation did this with Earth Kingdom prisoners-of-war.

* In ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'', Star Sapphire does this to a British reporter named Georgette Taylor. She uses her power ring to immobilize Taylor and encase her in a Star Sapphire costume, and then sends her flying off into the distance. Batman and GreenLantern waste time trying to capture the fake Star Sapphire while the real one carries out her nefarious scheme.

* In ''Fanfic/HarryPotterAndTheMethodsOfRationality'': [[spoiler:when Harry and Professor Quirrel are breaking into Azkaban to free Bellatrix Black, they stun and Obliviate an Auror who catches them. When the Auror (who none of his comrades really dared to hope was still alive) is found, the head Auror immediately starts ordering various checks to ensure that the infiltrators (she doesn't know who they are) didn't pull this move. (They didn't.)]]

* In the ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'' episode "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin The Gang Gets Taken Hostage]]", the [=McPoyle's=] make the gang put on their signature bathrobes and briefs (in Dee's case it's an over sized Garfield t-shirt) because "it's far too obvious who the hostages are in this situation".

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'': Sedusa once traded clothes with Miss Bellum and claimed to have captured "Sedusa" to trick the girls, who fortunately wouldn't believe Ms. Bellum would singlehandedly defeat Sedusa.

* In ''Series/{{Fargo}}'', Malvo tricks the cops into wasting their time and killing [[spoiler:[[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness Don Chumph]]]] this way: he uses [[DuctTapeForEverything duct tape]] to gag, tie him to an exercise wheel, and stick an unloaded shotgun in his hand which was pointed at the front door. He draws the cops' attention by firing a rifle at some cars outside, leaves, and then a tripwire makes the rifle fire more once the SWAT team arrives. When the team entered the front door, the light was in their eyes, so all they saw was a silhouette of a man holding a shotgun. Since the exercise wheel kept him propped up even after being shot, the ''entire squad'' continued firing continuously for several seconds until they could see he was dead.

* In ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', [[spoiler:The Joker does this with his hostages (with their mouths taped shut, masks to hide this and weapons tied to their hands), forcing Batman to disable the police officers (although they worked it out eventually)]].

Compare to FakeoutEscape, where the villain makes it look as if an escape has already happened, DecoyGetaway, where the villain escapes while the heroes are distracted by the disguised hostage, and OutfitDecoy, where clothes or the inanimate objects wearing them is used in a deception. Contrast TrojanPrisoner, where the heroes pretend to be villains with hostages so the real villains will let them go about their business and FalseInnocenceTrick for when a Villain is pretending to be a hostage.

* More than once ComicBook/JonahHex has captured a enemy, dressed the bad guy in his trademark jacket and hat, gagged him and bound him to the saddle before sending the horse galloping into the outlaw camp to draw fire.

* Series/''{{Gotham}}'': Professor Pyg does this with [[spoiler: Officer Patel. He stuffs her into a pig mask and puts her next to a crash-test dummy as her "victim", tricking Bullock into shooting her. Patel is fine after being given medical attention, but he still triggers a hidden machine gun to fire at them.]]

* Series/{{''Gotham''}}: Professor Pyg does this with [[spoiler: Officer Patel. He stuffs her into a pig mask and puts her next to a crash-test dummy as her "victim", tricking Bullock into shooting her. Patel is fine after being given medical attention, but he still triggers a hidden machine gun to fire at them.]]

* Series/{{Gotham}}: Professor Pyg does this with [[spoiler: Officer Patel. He stuffs her into a pig mask and puts her next to a crash-test dummy as her "victim", tricking Bullock into shooting her. Patel is fine after being given medical attention, but he still triggers a hidden machine gun to fire at them.]]

* Series/{{Gotham}}: Professor Pyg does this with [[Officer Patel. He stuffs her into a pig mask and puts her next to a crash-test dummy as her "victim", tricking Bullock into shooting her. Patel is fine after being given medical attention, but he still triggers a hidden machine gun to fire at them.]]

# The Cavalry end [[DownerEnding up accidentally shooting the hostages]].

* In ''Fanfic/HarryPotterAndTheMethodsOfRationality'': [[spoiler:when Harry and Professor Quirrel are breaking into Azkaban to free Bellatrix Black, they stun and Obliviate an Auror who catches them. When the Auror (who none of his comrades really dared to hope was still alive) is found, the GenreSavvy head Auror immediately starts ordering various checks to ensure that the infiltrators (she doesn't know who they are) didn't pull this move. (They didn't.)]]

* ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOps2'': [[spoiler:In the 80's timeline, Raul Menendez captures Alex Mason, then fools Woods and Hudson into shooting Mason, believing him to be Menendez.[[note]]Whether or not Mason is killed, however, depends on where the player shoots him.[[/note]]]]

* In the thriller ''Film/{{Resurrection}}'', the killer is chased through the rain by two detectives who split up before he captures one of them and dresses him in his own disguise with a gun taped to his hands so the other cops will shoot him. The killer gets away, though the captured detective survives despite needing to have his shattered leg amputated.