History Main / EverybodyKnewAlready

* In an episode of the ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' anime, there is an OldSuperhero named Gligarman who is really the owner of a toy store. He gets shocked when everyone in town starts calling him by his real name during a climactic battle.

* In ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda2,'' Ping is legitimately shocked that Po already realized he was adopted. [[InterspeciesAdoption They're a goose and a panda, respectively]].

* Near the start of ''VisualNovel/DontTakeItPersonallyBabeItJustAintYourStory'', [[TransparentCloset Akira]] realizes he's gay and works up the courage to come out. Turns out everyone, up to and including his [[HasTwoMommies mothers]], was perfectly aware of it, and they're just surprised at how long it took him.

* ''WesternAnimation/MoralOrel'' revealed in the second to last episode that Orel's father Clay is actually the mayor of Moralton... and everyone but Orel and the audience knew it already.

* ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'': the season two episode "Gigantitan" opens with Alya and Marinette announcing to Alix, Mylene, Rose, and Juleka that they have a major reveal: Marinette has a crush. Alix immediately replies that they already know she's enamoured with Adrien and that she didn't do much to hide it. Marinette is mortified, but Rose assures her that [[ObliviousToLove Adrien himself doesn't know]].

* ''LightNovel/KirbyLightNovel'' has Kirby accidentally hiding he's from a different world from the rest of Team Kirby, both from fear of their reactions and interruptions whenever he does work up the courage. After finally explaining in the end, it turns out the others had pieced it together from [[SpottingTheThread discrepancies in his story]], his complete ignorance of the unmissable monster attacks, and the fact that ''[[ImplausibleDeniability he was summoned by a bell that calls heroes from other worlds]]''.

* In ''Literature/LordOfTheRings'' Frodo is about to reveal to Merry and Pippin he must leave the Shire on the dangerous quest with the Ring; they tell him they already know and are going with him.

* In ''Fanfic/TheEggTeam'', despite the many missteps he makes in trying to maintain his traveling doctor facade, Eggman is still shocked to find out that Teddy figured out that he was lying about it during his meeting with the trio outside of his room.

* At the end of the ''Anime/PrettySammy'' TV series/''Magical Project S'', when Sasami is asked to resume her duties as Pretty Sammy in front of her class, she's shocked that this is happening before the students reveal that they knew all along and were humoring her the whole time.

* The ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'' tale ''[[http://www.scp-wiki.net/everyone-knows Everyone Knows,]]'' where everyone in the world (except for one person) has known about anomalies for years but kept them secret. The SCP Foundation alone employs almost 3.5 billion people.

* In ''[[VideoGame/{{Avernum}} Avernum 3]]'', the player characters are spies from Avernum (BeneathTheEarth) exploring the surface in secret. Anyone with a brain knows or suspects you're Avernite spies immediately, due to your pale skin and conspicuous behavior. No one really cares enough to report you, since the Empire has much more important things to worry about.
* ''VideoGame/Bioshock2'': Stanley Poole desperately tells Delta not to let Lamb know he was the one who drowned everyone in Dionysus Park to hide the fact he was spending her money on women, booze, and plasmids. When Delta confronts him, Lamb laughs over the loudspeaker and tells him she knew already, and Delta can do whatever he wants to Poole.

* Played with in ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas: Dead Money,'' when Vera Keyes confesses to Sinclair that she has been scamming him all along in an attempt to get at his money. Sinclair already knew, and had been playing along and biding his time until he could deliver an act of truly brutal revenge... but Vera [[WhatYouAreInTheDark ultimately having a change of heart and admitting the truth]] on her own [[LoveRedeems convinces him]] to forgive her.

-->'''Woozie:''' I have a confession to make. I... I'm blind.
-->'''CJ:''' [[SarcasmMode No shit.]]

* A variation occurs in ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' with Barla Von, the volus agent of the Shadow Broker on the Citadel. He makes a big deal of impressing Commander Shepard with some of the Shadow Broker's secret plans, since, of course, he is one of the few in regular contact with the super-secretive galactic information broker ... otherwise known as Liara T'Soni, who became the latest person to assume that identity with Shepard's help; who is running the operation out of Shepard's ship; who is currently sitting in a cafe less than 100 yards away from Barla Von's office; and -- [[RomanceSidequest if you so choose]] -- whom Shepard ''is sleeping with''. Shepard is too polite to tell him. [[{{Troll}} Or is amused by the squirt's delusions of grandeur.]]
** The best part? Barla Von doesn't know who the Shadow Broker really is, but at that point in the series, he's about the ''only'' one. Liara's identity is not only known to Shepard but it's also known to the Normandy crew, Cerberus, Admiral Hackett (and presumably Alliance command and their Council allies, if nothing else Aethyta and the asari governments know), the geth, the krogan, the quarians, the ''Reapers''...
* ''VideoGame/Persona5''

* Similarly, though much more tragically, in ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss,'' Luke thinks he's hidden his [[spoiler: impending disintegration - [[ItMakesSenseInContext yeah, literally,]]]] from everyone except Jade, who, of course, figured it out right away. Tear finds out not much later from Mieu, who had overheard Jade and Luke, and in the ending, Guy and Anise reveal that they, too, knew all along.
* In the Steven Universe game ''VideoGame/UnleashTheLight'', Hessonite's minimal disguise fools absolutely nobody and nobody is shocked when she "reveals" herself just before the final battle. Well, almost nobody. [[BigBad Pyrope]] is the only one fooled.

* ''Videogame/TeamFortress2'': One of the Spy's taunts upon dominating an enemy Spy: [[http://wiki.teamfortress.com/w/images/7/77/Spy_DominationSpy02.wav "We all knew you were a spy!"]]

--->"Secret bases concealed behind the unassuming facades of a factory and a farm built next door to each other fool absolutely no one in the area, who sometimes gather around to 'watch all them mercenaries fight over that Spy base'."
* Lee can actually invoke this in Episode 3 of ''VideoGame/TheWalkingDead'', where he can tell anyone in the group that he was a convicted murderer. If Lee tells Kenny but not Lily, then she is shocked to find out he knows this later in the Episode.

* ''WesternAnimation/MoralOrel'' revealed sometime in the second season that Orel's father Clay is actually the mayor of Moralton... and everyone but Orel and the audience knew it already.

* In ''VideoGame/Persona5'' at one point it seems the party have fallen into [[spoiler: their mole Goro Akechi]]'s trap only for it to be revealed they knew about the ruse and have a plan to turn the tables on them.

** In the episode ''[=LGBSteve=]'' a roller derby team Hailey want's to join agrees to let her in as long as she convinces her "sister" to also join, Hailey assumes they mistook [[DudeLooksLikeALady Steve]] for a ButchLesbian like themselves. Then when Steve gets close to another member of the group Hailey objects to him lying about his gender in order to date her and ends up pulling his pants down, exposing his genitals to the whole team. As it turns out they all knew Steve had a penis, but due to him being InTouchWithHisFeminineSide assumed he was a trans woman.

* In ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'', due to a complicated chain of events, Simmons is pretending to be a Blue. Church knows it's really Simmons the entire time but doesn't say anything, instead using it to needle him mercilessly.

** Setsuna tries to hide the fact that she has a BodyguardCrush on Konoka. No-one is fooled, so when Rakan reveals that she had her FirstKiss with Konoka, no-one even blinks their eyes. Not even [[ChasteHero Negi]].

* Nano Shinonome from the ''Manga/{{Nichijou}}'' manga is a robot who goes to school and believes she's convinced everyone she's [[HughMann not a robot]]. This despite the fact that one complaint that she has on returning to school one day is everyone keeps turning the big WindUpKey on her back.

* Both averted and played straight in ''ComicBook/BirdsOfPrey'', when Barbara Gordon revealed to her father, then-former Commissioner Jim Gordon that she has been operating as Oracle for several years after [[ComicBook/TheKillingJoke being shot in the spine and paralyzed by the Joker]]. Jim Gordon was surprised, but ultimately assured Barbara that he was proud of her. Barbara then pulled out her old Comicbook/{{Batgirl}} uniform and added, "I'm afraid there's something else I need to tell you, Daddy." Jim replied, "Oh. Well, ''that'' I knew about."

* Right from the first issue, it's almost become in a RunningGag in ''ComicBook/DemonKnights'' that '''everyone''' knows "Sir" Ystin is really a woman. [[spoiler:Until a later issue reveals that Ystin is, in fact, some sort of genderqueer/intersex/non-binary gender identity, but it's not elaborated on.]]

* ''ComicBook/IronMan'': Issue 152 sees Tony sneak into a secret Soviet installation to rescue his then girlfriend Bethany Cabe. When the Soviet guards become aware of the intrusion, Tony is quite shocked when Bethany tells him to stop wasting time and don his Iron Man armor. She reveals she's known he's been Iron Man for some time, but played along out of respect for his secret identity. Unfortunately they have no time for such niceties at that moment.

* ''Fanfic/JauneArcLordOfHunger'': For a couple of chapters, Jaune stays up at night to meditate next the the [[ArtifactOfAttraction Mask of Darth Nihilus]] and tries to keep this a secret by sneaking out of his dorm when his teammates are asleep. In the chapter "Leadership", Glynda reveals that she knows about Jaune's habit when she advises him to get more sleep while discussing an upcoming field trip. By the time of "Fear", it turns out that Pyrrha was the only person who didn't know about this and she is surprised to hear Nora and Ren talk so casually about it. They even lampshade how often Jaune sneaks out at night and are more surprised that Pyrrha didn't notice.

* ''Fanfic/RainbowDoubleDashsLunaverse:'' In "Crisis on Two Equestrias", everyone in the regular [=Fim=] universe knows Lyra and Bon-Bon have a crush on one another, but CannotSpitItOut. (Pinkie even has a whole party prepared for if-and-when they manage it.)

* ''Fanfic/WhiteSheepRWBY'': Blake tells her team (Yang, Ren, and Nora) that she has something she needs to say to them, then removes her ribbon, revealing she is a Faunus. They then wait patiently for whatever she was planning to say. Turns out that Nora saw Blake in the shower weeks ago ("[[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial Not because I was comparing our chest sizes or anything!"]]) and, not knowing it was a secret, told both her teammates and Team WJPR. Jaune somehow missed the memo, but doesn't particularly care when he finds out.

** In [[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E20TheProm "The Prom",]] during class awards towards the end of prom on her senior year, Buffy is awarded the "Class Protector" award. Jonathan makes a speech admitting that everyone knows that Buffy has been acting as their protector. She's the reason their year had [[BlackComedy the lowest mortality rate ever at Sunnydale High.]]
** In [[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS5E15IWasMadeToLoveYou "I Was Made To Love You",]] Warren makes a dramatic, unbelievable revelation: his girlfriend is actually a robot! Which would have had more impact if everyone else hadn't (easily) figured that out several scenes earlier. She talked like, acted like and had the disproportionate strength of a robot. It wasn't hard.

* ''Series/{{ER}}''[='s=] fourth season started with ex-lovers Dr. Doug Ross and Nurse Carol Hathaway (George Clooney and Juliana Margulies) reconciling and having a "secret romance" (due to past experiences, she was a bit shy to commit at first). During the season's ChristmasEpisode, Carol announced at the hospital's Christmas party that she and Doug were together again. After an awkward silence, a nurse's aid (who had apparently won the office pool) held out her hand and said, "Pay up!"

* On ''Series/TheOrville'', Claire and Isaac reveal to Claire's children Ty and Marcus that they're dating, to a complete non-reaction. On a ship as small as the ''Orville'', a secret like that doesn't stay a secret for very long. They note that about the only thing they were wondering was when they were going to actually tell them.

** In a ''Film/TheForceAwakens'' parody of ''Series/UndercoverBoss'', [[KingIncognito Kylo Ren goes undercover at Starkiller Base as "Matt, the radar technician."]] He spends so much time [[ButHeSoundsHandsome playing up how awesome Kylo is]]--and [[PsychicStrangle Force-chokes one guy who pisses him off]]--that when he announces who he really is, nobody is surprised.

* ''VideoGame/Bioshock2'': Stanley Poole desperately tells Delta not to let Lamb know he was the one who drowned everyone in Dionysus Park to hide the fact he was spending her money on women, booze and plasmids. When Delta confronts him, Lamb laughs over the loudspeaker and tells him she knew already, and Delta can do whatever he wants to Poole.

--> '''CJ:''' [[SarcasmMode No shit.]]

** The best part? Barla Von doesn't know who the Shadow Broker really is, but at that point in the series, he's about the ''only'' one. Liara's identity is not only known to Shepard, but it's also known to the Normandy crew, Cerberus, Admiral Hackett (and presumably Alliance command and their Council allies, if nothing else Aethyta and the asari governments know), the geth, the krogan, the quarians, the ''Reapers''...

* In the Steven Universe game ''VideoGame/UnleashTheLight'', Hessonite's minimal disguise fools absolutely nobody, and nobody is shocked when she "reveals" herself just before the final battle. Well, almost nobody. [[BigBad Pyrope]] is the only one fooled.

** Karkat lives in a caste system which determines everyone's place in society by their blood color. Karkat's is bright red, a mutant color which would get him killed if it were public knowledge; he's spent his whole life fearing discovery. All of the other players know his blood color by now, and nobody cares...they have much more pressing concerns and they're all pretty much friends by that point. Unfortunately, Karkat himself doesn't know this.

* In ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'', Steve discovers that Stan, his dad, is bald, and they promise to share with the world their secrets and live with them, which Stan doesn't. From halfway on, it's a race between Steve wanting to reveal Stan's secret and Stan wanting to avoid this--but in the end, after Stan willingly reveals that he's bald, the rest of the family (Francine, Hayley and Roger) reveal that they already knew Stan was bald, but simply chose not to say anything. In fact, Steve was apparently the only one who didn't know that Stan was bald.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'' had a slight variant on this. In "I Wanna Hold Your Hand", Binky spends most of the episode trying to keep a secret from the Tough Customers that he sometimes still holds his Mom's hand. When he does get caught out, it's not that they already knew, but the reaction is complete disappointment... that Binky's secret wasn't something more interesting. The Tough Customers don't think any less of him for holding his mom's hand, but chide him that next time he has some big secret, it had better be something really juicy.

* When we first meet Matthew's family in ''WesternAnimation/BigMouth'' he tells Jessie they don't know he's gay to spite him having figured it out early and being CampGay. His family are southern and very traditional so he finds it easier to just not talk about it with them. In season four his mother finds out and it [[IHaveNoSon destroys their relationship]] but they still pretend everything's normal around the rest of the family. In the end he decides he needs to tell his dad to spite of his mother insisting he'll never be able to handle it. When he dose tell him he calmly tells him he was aware both of his sexuality, which he knew about from the start because he was never really trying to hide it and of the difficulties he'd been having with his mother, to which he assures him she'll eventually come around.

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/DrawnTogether'' deals with the housemates doing a role-playing exercise to help Xandir tell his parents he is gay. They (pretending to be his parents) initially simply exclaim "Duh!" when he tells them, but he accuses them of not taking it seriously. Thus, the rest of the episode is an extended fantasy in which the characters all take on roles and act out an elaborate story of what might happen when he really tells them, involving running away, prostitution and eventual murder. At the end of the episode, he finally comes out to his ''real'' parents... who simply exclaim, "Duh!"

---> '''Ham:''' I have?\\

* ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'' creator-[[WordOfGod Craig Bartlett]] has mentioned that he wanted to do a scene where [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Helga]] hides from everyone else and recites her love poems to [[SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan Arnold]] in secret, only to have everyone suddenly yell that they already know she's in love with him. In the actual show, the only people who are confirmed know about Helga's crush on Arnold are Phoebe (Helga's best friend), Lila Sawyer (Helga's love rival), Dr. Bliss (Helga's psychologist), and [[WordOfGod Brainy]] (Helga's StalkerWithACrush).

* ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'': the season two episode "Gigantitan" opens with Alya and Marinette announcing to Alix, Mylene, Rose, and Juleka that they have a major reveal: Marinette has a crush. Alix immediately replies that they already know she's enamoured with Adrien, and that she didn't do much to hide it. Marinette is mortified, but Rose assures her that [[ObliviousToLove Adrien himself doesn't know.]]

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'' Rick and Beth enter a world he created for her as a child, where the cute, harmless creatures that once inhabited it had become grotesque, deadly monsters. Analyzing the corpse of one, Rick realized it's [=DNA=] was half his creation and [[HalfHumanHybrid half human]] and he and Beth concluded that Tommy, the missing boy they were looking for had survived all these years by [[BestialityIsDepraved raping the creatures]] and eating the ensuing children. [[GenreSavvy They further surmised]] that he'd have kept some of them alive for further breeding and those survivors would have formed a medieval-like society that worships him like a God. At this moment warriors from said society show up to capture them and Rick shuts them down with "We're way ahead of the reveal here". Unfortunately they're still taken to Tommy who gives them a very graphic and unnecessary demonstration.

--->'''Homer:''' Hey Marge, here's another bombshell: ''[[SarcasmMode I like beer!]]''

* Midway into the first season of ''WesternAnimation/VoltronLegendaryDefender'', Pidge reveals to the whole crew that [[spoiler:[[SweetPollyOliver she is actually a girl.]]]] Lance is the ''only'' one surprised by this. Shiro and Allura figured it earlier that same episode, Keith and Hunk had their suspicions, and Coran knew immediately and just never said anything.

TransparentCloset is a common subtrope, where a character's sexuality isn't as much of a secret as they think it is. See also OpenSecret where it's painfully obvious from the get-go that no one is fooled by the secret. The metafictional version, where a writer reveals a twist that the audience already figured out, is the CaptainObviousReveal. Opposite trope of ThoughtTheyKnewAlready. Super-trope to EveryoneCanSeeIt. CaptainObviousReveal is the out-of-universe version of this.