History Main / FakeoutEscape

[[caption-width-right:350:TheGuardsMustBeCrazy]]

* ''Film/Interceptor2022''. When the mercs break into the missile control room they find no sign of the heroine J.J., but the roof hatch is open. One of them climbs up to finish her off only to find no-one's up there. Realising J.J. must be hiding in the room with them, the mercs warily approach some potential hiding places only to find them empty. J.J. turns out to be hiding in a HazmatSuit hung up in a locker, from where she's able to ambush them from behind (ironically one merc was actually checking the suits, only to be called away).

* ''Series/AlexRider'': Knowing she's the next student to disappear, Kyra heads out onto the mountain, leaving some nice clear prints for people to follow as she doubles back to the school.

* ''Film/Interceptor2022''. When the mercs break into the missile control room they find no sign of the heroine J.J., but the roof hatch is open. One of them climbs up to finish her off only to find no-one's up there. Realising J.J. must be hiding in the room with them, the mercs warily approach some potential hiding places only to find them empty. J.J. turns out to be hiding in one of the HazmatSuits hung up in a locker, from where she's able to ambush them from behind (ironically one merc was actually checking those out, only to be called away by his boss who thought she was hiding in a nearby cupboard).

[[quoteright:350:[[ComicBook/FantasticFour https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fakeout_escape.jpg]]]]

* There's a sequence in ''ComicBook/FantasticFour #2'' where Sue turns invisible when government officials come to check on her, then runs out the doorway during their confusion. This act is repeated in the ''ComicBook/{{Ultimate|FantasticFour}}'' version as well as the movie ''Film/FantasticFourRiseOfTheSilverSurfer''.

* In a way, this is an advanced evasion strategy for the Spy class in ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2''. Since your cloak takes a half-second to fully activate, and is briefly disrupted when you get shot or touch an enemy, great spies will make it LOOK like you escaped and ran away, in order to get to safety. THEN you ''actually'' run away, or attack again. Depending on the situation, pulling this off is the sign of a heavily-experienced spy that you should not take lightly.

* In ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'', Shingen fakes Celty out by sending the elevator to the bottom floor while he hides. He then tries to make a dramatic exit using the ''same'' elevator, and the scene cuts while he's still waiting for it to come back up.

* Attempted unsuccessfully in an episode of ''Series/{{Sliders}}'', where the titular group slides into a world still stuck in the Old West mode. Quinn and Rembrandt are framed for murder and jailed by the local crime boss and a corrupt sheriff, to be hanged the next day. They realize they could use their knowledge of westerns to trick the guards and escape. Quinn does a CeilingCling, while Rembrandt calls for help. Unfortunately for them, the person who walks in is the above-mentioned crime boss, who is also a dimensional traveler (and a Kromagg). He simply walks up to the cell doors without opening them and immediately looks up at Quinn, mentioning that Kromaggs have their own westerns.

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* In ''Anime/DragonBallZ'', Vegeta is imprisoned inside a healing tank on Frieza's ship. When he breaks out of the healing tank, it alerts the guards. So he blasts a hole through the wall to make them think he has escaped the ship; while Frieza's henchmen are searching for him outside the ship, he takes the opportunity to go steal some dragon balls and then escape.

* One ''ComicStrip/SpyVsSpy'' strip does this: the imprisoned spy is [[JailBake sent a cake]] which contains a file and.. a picture of some sawed-through bars. He puts the picture over the real bars, then tosses the file out of the slot in the cell door and hides under his bunk. The guard-spy runs in, tries to "follow" the escapee out the window and knocks himself unconscious, leaving the prisoner free to stroll out.

* In ''Fanfic/WhatAStrangeLittleColt'', this is implied to be how [[spoiler: Gabriel escaped from Twilight and Looking Glass’s attempt to bring him to the princesses.]]
-->'''[[spoiler: Gabriel]]:''' Would you believe that when someone who thinks they locked you in a room sees a broken window, they think you climbed out of it?

* ''[[Film/ThreeNinjas Three Ninjas: Kick Back]]'' has the kids do this after being locked up by tricking the guard into thinking they escaped using a BedsheetLadder to escape out of a sealed window (given that the kids are ninjas in training anything was possible) before attacking him and stealing his keys.

* During Rooster Teeth's Great Microwave Heist, Chad James and Barbara Dunkelman return to the equipment cage after a snack run to find Sam (who wasn't even intended to be part of the Heist to begin with, Chad just wanted to salvage that part of the plan after intended target Hector talked his way out) is no longer in there. A GenreSavvy Chad believes this trope is in play whereas Barbara thinks someone else let Sam out.

** In "Mission to Destiny", a [[DeathInTheClouds murderer on a spacecraft]] [[CrimeAfterCrime kills a second man]], then fires off a life rocket to make it look like he killed the first victim and then fled. The plan doesn't work because there wasn't time to load the body into the rocket, so when it's discovered everyone knows the killer is still on board.

* As you might expect, the EvilOverlordList has something to say about this.

* ''Series/{{Andor}}''. In "Reckoning", Cassian and Luthen break into a garage to find a vehicle to escape the Pre-Mor security men hunting them. The latter see a landspeeder with tinted windows zoom past and open fire, causing it to crash. As they move in to look for survivors, Cassian and Luthien escape in the other direction on a speeder bike, while remote-detonating the BoobyTrap they've left in the landspeeder.

* ''Series/{{Andor}}''. In "Reckoning", Cassian and Luthien break into a garage to find a vehicle to escape the Pre-Mor security men hunting them. The latter see a landspeeder with tinted windows zoom past and open fire, causing it to crash. As they move in to look for survivors, Cassian and Luthien escape in the other direction on a speeder bike, while remote-detonating the BoobyTrap they've left in the landspeeder.

* ''Series/{{Andor}}''. In "Reckoning", Cassian and Luthien break into a garage to find a vehicle to escape the Pre-Mor security men hunting them. The latter see a landspeeder with tinted windows zoom past and open fire, causing it to crash. As they move in to look for survivors, Cassian and Luthien shoot past on a speeder bike, detonating the BoobyTrap they've left in the landspeeder.

* ''Series/{{Andor}}''. In "Reckoning", Cassian and Luthien break into a garage to find a speeder to escape the Pre-Mor security men hunting them. The latter see a speeder with tinted windows zoom past and open fire, causing it to crash. As they move in to look for survivors, Cassian and Luthien shoot past on a speeder bike, detonating the BoobyTrap they've left in the speeder.

* ''Series/{{Arrow}}''. In "Unfinished Business", the Count has apparently escaped from the mental hospital and is back on the street selling the drug Vertigo. But Oliver Queen realises that all the drugs he needs to make Vertigo are available in the hospital, and realises he never left. [[spoiler:As it turns out the Count is still insane and a member of hospital staff is posing as him, having figured out how to synthesize Vertigo.]]