History Main / ImpersonatingTheEvilTwin

* Pretty much all of the movie ''Film/FaceOff'' is a twist on this, with both hero and villain assuming each other's identities for different reasons (Archer to stop the bad guy's evil plot and Troy to mess with Archer's life royally). This is made easier through a process that allows them to switch faces, [[HandWave with body differences being taken care of as well]]. Archer has spent so much time pursuing Troy, that he knows everything about him and as such can properly imitate him. Troy on the other hand acts nothing like Archer, but as Archer was not liked by his coworkers or family they all like him more.

* Tom Lincoln in ''TheIsland'' isn't necessarily evil. He's just a rich playboy whose philandering ways have resulted in him having a few months left to live. But when his "insurance policy", i.e. his clone Lincoln Six Echo shows up at his home, he appears to be glad to find out about it. He then immediatley calls the cloning company and tells them about the clone. Tom Lincoln tells Lincoln Six Echo he will take him to the media to reveal this fraud but it's really a trap. At the end of the trap Lincoln Six Echo (conveniently wearing Tom's clothes) manages to slip his bracelet on Tom's arm, resulting in the latter's death. He further continues to imitate Tom by adopting his Scottish accent after hearing is for about an hour. Laurent, a trained mercenary, fails to detect any deception, even though the clone slipped the bracelet on Tom's arm in while Laurent was looking at them. Only later, while performing an autopsy on Tom's body, the doctor realizes that the bracelet is on the wrong arm. Meanwhile, the clone has infiltrated the cloning company as Tom (supposedly there to make a new clone), still using a Scottish accent and behaving like a rich playboy. Oh, and he says "shite" at one point, even though Tom never said the word in his presence.

* The original ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' Skrulls story has the FF pretend to be the Skrull spies. They get away with it, too, since apparently the Skrulls don't ask them to speak Skrullian, let alone to change back into Skrull form. They also convince the Skrulls that Earth has amazing defences by showing them a ''science-fiction comic book''. Reed explained thta something about how they see compared to humans resulted in them believing that what they saw on the comics were actual Earth defensive monsters.

** Subverted in ''The Chase''. The Daleks have made a robot double of the Doctor, which he pulled the plug on. The travellers discuss having the Doctor pretending to be the robot, and conclude that it's an absurd idea because the Daleks should know that their own robot isn't working. The Doctor sneaks off in the middle of the conversation to do it anyway... and is caught in around five seconds.
** In ''The Enemy of the World'', the Doctor visits Earth during the year 2030, and is discovered to bear a shocking resemblance to a South American dictator named Salamander. The "good guys" ask him to impersonate Salamander and infiltrate his organization. At the end of the story, with his evil plans in ruins, Salamander makes an unsuccessful attempt to escape in the TARDIS by impersonating the Doctor.
** Done also in ''The Android Invasion" when the Doctor pretends to be his android double and successfully fools the other androids. He also succeeds in reprogramming his double to assist him, a fact which is only revealed after the double has done a HeroicSacrifice in front of his horrified companion.

* In one storyline of ''Comicbook/TeenTitans'', the villain (mentally disturbed former Titan Jericho) can [[GrandTheftMe jump into people's bodies]], and was last seen occupying Cyborg, so to draw out another hero (the Vigilante) who is also looking for him, Cyborg pretends to still be possessed and fights his teammates... only to get the robot half of his head shot out for his trouble when the Vigilante shows up. Sometimes this works ''too'' well...

->''"I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together"''
-->-- '''Music/TheBeatles''', "I Am the Walrus" (opening line)

* Played with in ''Fanfic/WithStringsAttached'' (naturally!). During the New Zork chapter, the real Ringo is automatically mistaken for “Beagle Ringo” when he accidentally teleports into the Plaza Hotel, even though he has a beard (everyone assumes he had it magically grown on during a drunken bender). Given that his presence makes some trouble for “Beagle Ringo,” this sort of makes him the EvilTwin through no fault of his own. (It also makes his beard a BeardOfEvil.)

* The original ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' Skrulls story has the FF pretend to be the Skrull spies. They get away with it, too, since apparently the Skrulls don't ask them to speak Skrullian, let alone to change back into Skrull form. They also convince the Skrulls that Earth has amazing defences by showing them a ''science-fiction comic book''. 1960s Skrulls clearly weren't very bright.
** Reed stated in explaining how that worked in the original comic as being based on his study of Skrullian eyes from the imposters, it wasn't that the Skrulls were stupid and gullible but something about how they see compared to humans resulted in them believing that what they saw on the comics were actual Earth defensive monsters (and to be fair Marvel's made many of those monsters actual real monsters in the canonical MU).

* Played with in the ''JusticeLeagueUnlimited'' episode "The Great Brain Robbery". Flash's mind is stuck in Lex Luthor's body, and Flash's impersonation of Luthor largely consists of him ham-handedly [[MostDefinitelyNotAVillain talking about how "evil" all his actions are]]. He is only outed after Luthor (in Flash's body) exposes him. A few people ''do'' catch on to the ruse, but don't reveal it for their own reasons:
** Tala prefers the gentler Flash as her lover. (So much for Hawkgirl's "fastest man on Earth" insult.)

** It's averted in the same episode by the fact that Dr. Fate, whose magic was involved in the mind switch, immediately points out that Luthor's mind has ended up in Flash's body. Luthor, for his part, doesn't even ''try'' to act like the Flash. And when he takes of his mask, he has [[CrowningMomentOfFunny "no idea who he is."]]

[[folder:Comics -- Books]]

[[folder: Fan Works]]

* In book 19 of ''LoneWolf'', the hero kills his EvilTwin, Wolf's Bane, and impersonates him. He successfully infiltrates the enemy base, and Wolf's Bane's superiors are fooled because Lone Wolf's aura was altered to match his. He is outed when he is forced to help Alyss, who has snuck in as well and gets spotted.

--->'''Guard:''' But... Duke Slorpo ''hates'' pickles...\\

* This is toyed with in a storyline for ''BobAndGeorge'' -- when the president is [[ShoutOut kidnapped]] [[BadDudes by ninjas]], Mike finds the ninjas obeying him without reason or rhyme, letting the president go without a fight. Later on, it's discovered that Mike's ''non''-alternate universe variant (as Mike came from an alternate universe with Mynd) is their real boss. [[YouHaveFailedMe Well, was.]]

* Kim Kinnison does something very similar to this in ''[[{{Lensman}} Second Stage Lensmen]]''. While not actually standing in for an evil version of ''himself'', the position he rises to within the enemy organisation corresponds almost exactly to the one he occupies in the Galactic Patrol's hierarchy (one below the actual leadership but with major input into strategic decision making), and the mental discipline needed to stay in character matches this trope very well. Unfortunately the one being who has any suspicion of him and can call him on it does, and at the most critical point in the plan. The fact that Kinnison pretty much knows this is coming doesn't make what follows any easier for him.

* ''ThePowerpuffGirls'' episode "Bubble Boy" has Bubbles impersonating her SpearCounterpart Boomer. However, she actually does have trouble with Boomers mannerisms (which apparently includes eating cockroaches) and Brick is almost immediately suspicious of her. [[PaperThinDisguise And of course, there's still the question of how she manages to look exactly like Boomer just by putting down her hair...]]

* Weird example in ''MetalGearSolid 2'', as it was coincidental. Solid Snake dresses as a fictional Navy SEAL in order to get into an offshore cleaning facility without arousing suspicion. He encounters Raiden, who instantly recognises him as being a dead ringer for Liquid Snake, another survivor of the [[CloningBlues cloning project]] which Solid Snake was born from -- because of this, he's unnaturally suspicious. It doesn't help that the disguise is paper-thin -- the director stated he wanted to make the disguise as transparent as possible to see how many players he could manage to fool nonetheless. (Add to this a third clone claiming to be Solid Snake while not even bothering to dress up, and you've got yourself a headache.) The game also credits the voice actor whenever a new character is introduced, so it doesn't take a rocket surgeon to put two and two together.

* The original ''FantasticFour'' Skrulls story has the FF pretend to be the Skrull spies. They get away with it, too, since apparently the Skrulls don't ask them to speak Skrullian, let alone to change back into Skrull form. They also convince the Skrulls that Earth has amazing defences by showing them a ''science-fiction comic book''. 1960s Skrulls clearly weren't very bright.

* Done in an episode of ''StargateSG1'', when the team's counterparts from other realities started getting stuck in their world. One team was slightly eviler than the rest. Predictably, this situation resulted in a brain exploding amount of self-impersonations.

** Again in [[spoiler [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E6TheAlmostPeople The Almost People]]]] with the Doctor switching places with his Ganger counterpart. [[spoiler: Subverted in that the Gangers are not evil, and his impersonation fools everybody.]]

* In the Reigai arc in ''{{Bleach}}'', [[spoiler:Mayuri]] disguises [[spoiler:himself]] as [[spoiler:his]] reigai impostor. Using fake contact lenses.

* Pretty much all of the movie ''FaceOff'' is a twist on this, with both hero and villain assuming each other's identities for different reasons (Archer to stop the bad guy's evil plot and Troy to mess with Archer's life royally). This is made easier through a process that allows them to switch faces, [[HandWave with body differences being taken care of as well]]. Archer has spent so much time pursuing Troy, that he knows everything about him and as such can properly imitate him. Troy on the other hand acts nothing like Archer, but as Archer was not liked by his coworkers or family they all like him more.

* ''DarkwingDuck''

* In the Reigai arc in ''{{Bleach}}'', [[spoiler:Mayuri]] disguises [[spoiler:himself]] as [[spoiler:his]] reigai impostor. Using fake contact lenses.

* At the beginning of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'', Basch was imprisoned for regicide on Dalmasca's sovereign, Ashe's father, though [[spoiler:it comes to light later when Basch is rescued that it wasn't he who committed the crime, but his identical twin brother who works under the Archadian Empire: Judge Gabranth. This was reversed at the end of the game when Gabranth, on his dying breath, asked Basch to protect Larsa, who was to be the next Archadian Emperor. Basch takes on the role of Judge Gabranth for this purpose, his brother's death kept a secret.]]

* Inverted in ''Webcomic/OrderOfTheStick'': Elan manages to (finally) use his twin situation to his advantage when he tricks a prisoner of [[spoiler:his father]] into attacking Nale by making said prisoner believe Nale is him.

* Also from ''JusticeLeague'', the League members are sent to a AlternateUniverse where their counterparts, known as the Justice Lords, [[ThePsychoRangers eventually went rogue]] and took the WellIntentionedExtremist route. There's a point when the League members (excluding Batman) try to enter the alternate universe Arkham by pretending to be their counterparts, which they fail to pull off due to not following the secret password procedure correctly.
** The trope is then subverted when the league are surrounded by the police; Lord Batman shows up and calls them off, escorting the League to safety. Superman at first thinks it's really their own Batman obeying this trope, [[ActuallyIAmHim but it turns out that it really is Lord Batman]].
* Scarlett from ''GIJoe'' is a MasterOfDisguise, but was typically horrible at actually impersonating somebody. In one episode, she attempts to impersonate an evil scientist's wife/partner. The trope is subverted in that she is immediately spotted because she did not greet "her" husband by insulting him. Typically Scarlett will get caught one way or another. Her evil counterpart -- TheBaroness -- and [[MasterOfIllusion shapeshifter/illusionist]] Zartan are much more competent.
* ''DarkwingDuck''
** Darkwing Duck tries to pull this off once. It actually works perfectly, but [[LegionOfDoom The Fearsome Five]] had just decided to betray Negaduck....
** There's also an odd case where he actually ''turns himself'' into Negaduck in order to find the real Negaduck's hideout.

->''"[[TropeNamer I am he as you are he]] as you are me and we are all together"''