History Main / ImpersonatingTheEvilTwin

* Done inadvertently in MarionZimmerBradley's ''The Door Through Space''; the hero and his antagonist both fit the same general description, and when the hero realizes that the bad guys have mistaken him for the other guy he proceeds to take advantage as best he can.

* In ''FushigiYuugi'', Suboshi pretends to be Amiboshi for awhile so he can avenge Yui's [[spoiler: alleged]] rape.

* This is toyed with in a storyline for ''Webcomic/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.]]

* The Decepticon toy-only character Sky Shadow in the ''TransformersCybertron'' has the same body mold as the Autobot Jetfire, which allows him to impersonate Jetfire as a spy. However, he actually ''is'' Jetfire, [[DoubleAgent impersonating an impersonator]] in order to spy on the Decepticons. Confused yet?

* Tom Lincoln in ''Film/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 immediately 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.

* This trope is retty much the entire plot of Series/{{Ringer}}, although Bridget doesn't know that Siobhan is still alive [[spoiler:until the last episode of the first season.]] Bridget gets away with it most of the time, although [[spoiler:if on the occasions she's had to go to the police they'd thought of ''just taking her fingerprints'' the game would have been up a lot sooner...]]

** Gorilla Grodd hates both Flash and Luthor and is fine with letting Flash sweat it out until the ruse falls apart on its own.

** Gorilla Grodd hates the real Luthor and is fine letting the ruse fall apart on its own.

* In ''WesternAnimation/AvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes'' episode "Ultron Unlimited", [[spoiler: Captain America]] pretends to be a robot so he can rescue the other heroes from Ultron. The other "robo-vengers" fall for this disguise, but Ultron sees through it.

* This trope is retty much the entire plot of {{Ringer}}, although Bridget doesn't know that Siobhan is still alive [[spoiler:until the last episode of the first season.]] Bridget gets away with it most of the time, although [[spoiler:if on the occasions she's had to go to the police they'd thought of ''just taking her fingerprints'' the game would have been up a lot sooner...]]

* ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2'', true to the franchise's reputation, has an example complicated enough that the Edit Lock expired twice during the time taken to comprehend it enough to express in words. In short, the Evil Twin of an Evil Twin impersonates a different Evil Twin. [[spoiler:Riku (who can make himself look like Ansem's Heartless) impersonates Xemnas (Ansem's Nobody). Note that in both cases "Ansem" is secretly Xehanort in Terra's Body.]]

** Again in ''[[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 ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' episode "Dopplegangland," Willow pretends to be evil vampire Willow. She gets caught due to being insufficiently evil, which one supposes you could call an error in the impersonation. However, it initially works well, and has an effect on helping the Scoobies' strategy, because the MirrorUniverse EvilTwin's mooks don't know her much either and also are scared of her.

* ''MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': During the big fight against the changelings in "A Canterlot Wedding, Part 2", Fluttershy convinces three changelings disguised as her that she's also a changeling, by acting hostile just like them. They leave her alone, but four Rainbow Dashes assault her... and one of them sucker punches the other three, revealing herself to be the real Dash. Conversely, Applejack finds her BackToBackBadasses moment with Twilight ruined when the latter reveals its real form.

* Subverted in ''RangersApprentice'' with [[spoiler:Halt]]. He has to impersonate his twin brother, but actually knows what his evil twin is like. It helps that his twin hardly ever appeared in public, so the impersonation was fairly easy to pull off. Those who had met his twin were surprised, and suspected something, but, not being aware that he had a twin in the first place, they weren't sure what to think.

* "[[Literature/MikeHammer One Lonely Night]]" by MickeySpillane. A radical politician campaigning against corruption and DirtyCommunists hires Mike Hammer to catch his insane twin brother who committed a murder in public in apparent attempt to destroy his reputation (fortunately the politician was giving a speech before hundreds of people at the time). [[spoiler:Inverted in that Mike discovers the brother is a fraternal twin who doesn't look anything like the politician, who hired a look-alike actor to give the speech and committed the murder himself.]]

Compare with HughMann. Sometimes exposed by a BluffTheImpostor maneuver.

* In ''Manga/FairyTail'', Erza Scarlet impersonates Erza Knightwalker. After the ruse is exposed, Knightwalker angrily cuts her hair so Scarlet can't do it again.

* 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 immediately 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.

* In the ''FinalFantasyVI'' fanfic ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/939330/1/Worshippers-of-insanity Worshippers of Insanity]]'' and related works by the author, [[spoiler:Gogo is actually Kefka's (good) twin brother. Long story]]. [[spoiler:He]] uses this to [[spoiler:his]] advantage twice in the former by pretending to be [[spoiler:Kefka]] in front of members of the [[spoiler:Cult of Kefka]] to trick them into spilling their plans and later leave [[spoiler:him]] alone with [[spoiler:the captured Returners]]. There's even a second duplication of sorts, as for the latter trick to work, [[spoiler:Cid]] had to impersonate [[spoiler:Gogo]].

* On ''KnightRider'', Michael Knight impersonates his evil twin, Garth, in "Goliath". Revealed when his BeardOfEvil is torn off.
* ''HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys'': Done when Hercules ends up in a MirrorUniverse. In this case, though, he ''is'' undone by a flaw in his impersonation -- specifically, by an offer of his "favorite" food, which his EvilTwin actually hated.

* ''{{Sliders}}''

* ''ThePrisoner'' episode "The Schizoid Man". After his double is killed, Number 6 decides to impersonate him in order to escape from The Village. He fails due to a BluffTheImpostor trick by Number 2.
* An episode of ''{{Friends}}'' has Phoebe pretending to be her sister Ursula to break up with Joey.

* In one ''HogansHeroes'' episode, the Germans planned to fake the escape of a British officer, sending his double, who'd assassinate Churchill after arriving in England. The Heroes, of course, captured the German impostor, rescued the Brit, and let the Germans ship him safely off to Britain. When greeted by a German soldier, he covered up his inability to speak German by claiming he was sticking to the British disguise. "Speak in English, you fool; I'm Group Captain Roberts, RAF."

* 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.

* Played with in the ''JusticeLeagueUnlimited'' episode "The Great Brain Robbery". Flash's mind is [[FreakyFridayFlip 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:

** To further confuse the point, the Flash ''really is'' Lex Luthor (on ''{{Smallville}}''). That is to say, Michael Rosenbaum, who plays Luthor in ''Smallville'', is also the voice of the Flash.

* In Creator/KeithLaumer's classic ''{{Imperium}}'', a man is recruited by an interdimensional empire that occupies alternate Earths. His mission is to replace the overlord of one of these realities, who is his alternate self. The ruse works perfectly until the first time he confronts one of the overlord's inner circle -- who, upon seeing him, immediately orders his arrest. [[spoiler: What no one except the inner circle knew was that the warlord had lost both his legs some time previously.]]

* Weird example in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2'', 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.