History Main / LivingWithTheVillain

* SpiderMan (Peter Parker) and the Green Goblin have this kind of relationship in the early Comicbook/SpiderMan comics, as the Goblin is actually ComicBook/NormanOsborn, the father of Peter's best friend, Harry. The trope then gets subverted after Norman dies, and Harry takes up the Goblin mantle; Peter and Harry soon discovered each other's identities, but Peter couldn't do anything about it without losing his chance to cure Harry's madness. For his part, Harry kept Peter's identity secret just to have a bit of leverage to mind-screw him with.

* In ''Webcomic/BobAndGeorge'', the titular characters lived together back in their own universe (as in, not the ''VideoGame/MegaMan'' universe) as they were brothers. George was a {{superhero}}, Bob a {{supervillain}}. Apparently, they both got powers from their mom.

The hero has a SecretIdentity, and so does the villain. On the days that they're not battling, they live or work uncomfortably close to one another - or at least it ''would'' be uncomfortable if they only knew who that guy across the room really was. But each one simply ''doesn't recognize'' the other one when the costumes are off (as if the voice wouldn't give it away in seconds). Often, they're even [[GoKartingWithBowser best friends]] or even [[DatingCatwoman dating]] in their uncostumed lives while fighting tooth and nail when in a cowl. Sometimes one of them is aware of it, but chooses not to do anything whether due to manipulation, confidence, or not wanting to touch off a simmering powder keg.

Compare EnforcedColdWar, where the two sides know that each is the enemy, but are forced to co-exist anyway; GoKartingWithBowser and FriendlyEnemy, where the two sides know that each is the enemy and are friends in spite of it; and KeepingTheEnemyClose, where one side holds the other within close proximity so they can't catch them off-guard, not to mention when one within their own ranks is a potential traitor. VillainOverForDinner has both parties be aware of each other's identities but remain civil for the sake of their loved ones. CainAndAbel and DatingCatwoman can be subsets of this.

* A tragic case appears in ''Manga/OutlawStar''. When child assassin Hanmyo attacks Jim Hawkings' ship, both ships are damaged and land at a nearby planet for repairs. Both Jim and Hanmyo meet, and having never seen each other, don't realize that the other is an enemy. They have a fun time together, and decide to meet again later for a date. The repairs complete, both launch... and Hanmyo is killed, in a hurry to finish her assignment and see Jim again. Jim gets back in time for his date, but Hanmyo never shows up. He never learns of her death, or his part in it.

** ''Prizzi's Honor'' is also about two professional hit-persons who are married to each other. Eventually they discover that [[spoiler:each has been hired to kill the other. They follow through, but only one succeeds.]]

** The principal of the school turns out to be infested by the Yeerks. In order to keep up the masquerade, the heroes are forced to keep up the image of good student while at school.

* In the third season of ''Series/TheFlash2014'', Iris and Barry move in together. Neither of them know at first that [[spoiler:[[BigBad Savitar]] is a possible future version of Barry who's drawing upon his past self's memories.]]

* In ''Webcomic/BobAndGeorge'', the titular characters lived together back in their own universe (as in, not the ''VideoGame/MegaMan'' universe) as they were brothers. George was a {{superhero}}, Bob a {{supervillain}}. Apparently they both got powers from their mom.

* ''WesternAnimation/IronManArmoredAdventures'': Throughout most of the first season, Tony (Iron Man) and Gene (The Mandarin) attend school together and work together to find the Makluan rings they're both interested in, both in ignorance of the other's secret identity. This is at least justified by the fact both of them uses suits that change their voices and completely hide their faces when going under their alias (Gene even becomes taller as the Mandarin), so no wonder they couldn't recognize each other.

** Penelope was more näive than stupid when it came to distiguishing the Claw from Sneekly. Sure, Sneekly's voice and nose should be a giveaway, but the rest of him and his demeanor kept Penelope from realizing his identity.

* ''Manga/AkumaNoRiddle'' is about an all girl class at a boarding school. All but one are assassins. Their target? The non-assassin. [[spoiler: She's more aware than she lets on.]]

** In the first A's [[AudioAdaptation sound stage]], Nanoha and Fate almost meet [[AntiVillain Hayate and the Wolkenritter]] at a bath (Arisa meets Vita at one point but doesn't know who she is), and Suzuka considers introducing the two groups, but decides to wait until later. Shamal gets quite a shock in Episode 8 after learning that Nanoha and Fate are friends with Suzuka, who's friends with Hayate, and is thus forced to take precautions to make sure that they don't find out about Hayate being master of the book of Darkness.

* To quote ''Franchise/MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'', [[TemptingFate "Wouldn't it be funny if the master of the Book of Darkness was someone my age?"]] Yeah, and it'd be even funnier if you had a mutual friend and visited each other. Nanoha gets a message from Suzuka introducing her to Hayate ''immediately'' after saying that.

->''"Blue Roses are red, violets are blue, your arch enemy goes to school with you."''

* This is, of course, the basis of the movie ''Film/MrAndMrsSmith'', wherein both characters put up a front of normal life for each other while they go about their real jobs as spies/assassins working for rival firms--until they're both given assignments that lead to their paths crossing.

* This happened in ''ViewtifulJoe 2''. Turns out that [[spoiler:Jet Black, your dad, was the Black Emperor the whole time]] and used you in order to get the power [[spoiler:he]] needed to rule the world.

* ''{{Tsukihime}}'' loves this trope; all of the Far Side route villains either live with Shiki or invade his home often enough that they may as well.

Compare EnforcedColdWar, where the two sides know that each is the enemy, but are forced to co-exist anyway; GoKartingWithBowser and FriendlyEnemy, where the two sides know that each is the enemy and are friends in spite of it; and KeepingTheEnemyClose, where one side holds the other within close proximity so they can't catch them off-guard, not to mention when one within their own ranks is a potential traitor. CainAndAbel and DatingCatwoman can be subsets of this.

Compare EnforcedColdWar, where the two sides know that each is the enemy, but are forced to co-exist anyway; GoKartingWithBowser, where the two sides know that each is the enemy and are friends in spite of it; and KeepingTheEnemyClose, where one side holds the other within close proximity so they can't catch them off-guard, not to mention when one within their own ranks is a potential traitor. CainAndAbel and DatingCatwoman can be subsets of this.

* In the ''Anime/PrettySammy'' series, a ''Anime/TenchiMuyo'' spinoff, Pretty Sammy and her enemy Pixy Misa are actually Sasami and her best friend Misao. This is more excusable than most examples, because Pixy Misa has an entirely different personality than the shy Misao, and Misao herself is unaware of her other self until nearly the end of the series.
* The villains Ali and En from the "Makaiju" arc of ''Anime/SailorMoon'' were disguised as schoolmates of most of the Senshi. The same applied with Chibi-usa's friend Hotaru (possessed by Mistress 9, TheDragon to that series BigBad) in the third season, and the Witches Five, who worked at Michiru and Haruka's ElaborateUniversityHigh. In Ami's introduction episode, Luna ''suspects'' this of her, but learns she's actually another Sailor Senshi instead.
* Played with in ''Anime/DigimonAdventure02'': the heroes don't figure out that Ken is the Digimon Emperor right away, but Ken knows exactly who they are. And instead of going to school together, it's more that they know him from being a child star, and at one point, Ken and Davis' soccer teams square off in a match. Davis' team is doing decently well until Ken shows up and owns them.
* One of the central tropes in ''LightNovel/{{Dokkoida}}'' is that the heroes' and villains' {{Secret Identit|y}}ies all live in the same apartment and don't recognize one another.
* Same thing essentially in ''Manga/ExcelSaga''. The apartments surrounding ACROSS agents Excel and Hyatt house members of the city government task force investigating ACROSS activities. Neither side knows they are living next door to their enemies until they move out.

* To quote ''Franchise/MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'', [[TemptingFate "Wouldn't it be funny if the master of the Book of Darkness was someone my age?"]] Yeah, and it'd be even funnier if you had a mutual friend and visited each other. Nanoha gets a message from Suzuka introducing her to Hayate ''immediately'' after saying that.
** In the first A's [[AudioAdaptation sound stage]], Nanoha and Fate almost meet [[AntiVillain Hayate and the Wolkenritter]] at a bath (Arisa meets Vita at one point but doesn't know who she is), and Suzuka considers introducing the two groups, but decides to wait until later. Shamal gets quite a shock in Episode 8 after learning that Nanoha and Fate are friends with Suzuka, who's friends with Hayate, and is thus forced to take precautions to make sure that they don't find out about Hayate being master of the book of Darkness.
* In ''Anime/JubeiChan 2'' Freesia wormed her way into being adopted into Jiyu's family and was literally living in their house.
** In the first series, ''The Secret of the Lovely Eyepatch'', many of Jiyu's opponents are her teachers. They don't last long in their positions.

* In ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'', child teacher Negi Springfield finds himself at various times fighting against several of his students. This causes him great consternation, because he feels that it is his duty as a teacher to help rather than harm his students.
* ''Manga/DNAngel'' has protaganist Daisuke Niwa, who has a SuperpoweredAlterEgo as PhantomThief Dark. He finds himself in conflict with classmate Satoshi, a teenage prodigy police commander who is tasked with the job of capturing PhantomThief Dark, and whose family has been enemies of the Niwa family for generations. Despite this rivaly, Daisuke considers Satoshi his friend, however he also has to deal with Krad, who is Satoshi's SuperpoweredEvilSide.

* In ''Manga/NabariNoOu'', protaganist Miharu Rokujou finds himself attacked by a subsititue teacher, who turns out to be a member of a ninja clan that wants to abduct him.
* In the anime ''Anime/NurseWitchKomugi'', the secret identity of the main villain is the heroine's possessed best friend. This is revealed [[SpoilerOpening in the opening sequence]].
* In the manga and anime ''Manga/DeathNote'', Light Yagami does this twice. The first is part of the basic set-up of the show: his father is one of the police inspectors investigating the killings Light is perpetuating. The second [[spoiler:comes later, when Light and L, the master detective, go to the same university. L reveals who he is to Light, and L suspects Light of being "Kira," but their mutual uncertainty skews the trope in interesting ways.]]
** Ending up being handcuffed together with L has [[HoYay wonders for]] [[FoeYay their characters.]]
* ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00'' has Billy Katagiri from The Union crushing on a lady named Sumeragi Lee Noriega...who works for Celestial Being. Also, [[spoiler:Gundam Meister Setsuna F. Seiei's neighbor is an OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent named Saji Crossroads, who gets caught in the war in [[BreakTheCutie a VERY dramatic fashion]].]]
* In the anime ''Anime/{{Pretear}}'' the main character's new stepmother's maid turns out to be the [[BigBad Princess of Destruction]].
* As of recent events in ''{{LightNovel/Durarara}}'', the leaders of the Dollars, the Yellow Scarves and the Saika army are teetering on the edge of war. Just who are the three leaders? [[spoiler: [[{{ThreeAmigos}} Mikado, Masaomi and Anri]].]]

* In ''Anime/TanteiOperaMilkyHolmes'', the four heroines are attending school, where the four villains are one of their teachers, the StudentCouncilPresident, a classmate and a janitor. Despite the villains not acting any differently than normal (except for maybe Arsene), they haven't caught on.

* In ''Anime/StarDriver'', some of the Glittering Crux members go to the heroes' school. The school nurse is found out, though Takuto doesn't seem to have picked out any of ''his classmates'' that he fought against. [[ClarkKenting The masks]] do this somehow. When [[spoiler: Sugata]] wears one, it's not recognized until it is too late.
** Of course, considering this is a giant robot show, and Takuto's Tauburn doesn't have optical zoom or a radio, he's not really close enough to see anything. Especially when they're inside a robot, trying to kick his ass.
* In ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'', it's quite some time before the heroes realize that one of the Homunculi they're desperately trying to defeat is actually [[spoiler:Fuhrer King Bradley, the leader of the nation and head of the military]]. On top of that, another one is [[spoiler:Bradley's young, seemingly-innocent son]].

* A similar case happens in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam0080WarInThePocket''. Zaku Pilot Bernard "Bernie" Wiseman is on an infiltration mission to destroy the prototype Gundam Alex hidden in the local colony and befriends one of the local kids, Al, and his older cousin Christina "Chris" Mackenzie. [[spoiler: What Bernie doesn't know is that Chris is the test pilot for the Alex and, tragically, ends up having to face her and the prototype when his mission is botched and the entire colony was going to be nuked in response. To make it worse, After Bernie is killed, Al finds out about Chris's status as the Alex's pilot but chooses not to tell Chris, which makes it worse as both end up telling him to say goodbye to the other (Bernie doing so on a tape he made in case he was killed)]].
* ''Anime/KaitouTenshiTwinAngel'' has the eponymous three magical girls in the same class. Their MysteriousProtector is also in the same class. He knows who they are, but they don't know who he is. Their {{Evil Counterpart}}s and [[PunchClockVillain Black Carrier]] are their classmates and teacher, and neither side is aware of who the other is. Even though their costumes should give it away.

* ''Manga/AkumaNoRiddle'' is about an all girl class at a boarding school. All but one are assassins. Their target? The non-assassin. [[spoiler: She's more aware than she lets on. ]]
* In ''Manga/WitchCraftWorks'', the group of Tower Witches under Medusa (including Medusa) eventually start living at the house of the Takamiyas. One amusing omake has Ayaka in charge of feeding them. She throws them a bar of chocolate to be shared among all six of them while she feeds Honoka blowfish nabe.

* ''Series/KamenRiderDecade'' literally has this, as [[spoiler:Eijiro Hikari, grandfather of the female lead Natsumi and owner of the photo studio that is the [[HubLevel hub]] of the heroes, is revealed to be [[Series/KamenRider Dr. Shinigami]]. Not that he's aware of it himself at first, since he seems like he was under mind control when he transformed. Later, he does come to regret his actions as an executive of [[LegionOfDoom Dai-Shocker]], and in the finale, is not too keen on going back into the Shinigami persona.]]

* In ''Series/{{Dollhouse}}'' Tahmoh Penikett's character, who's set on destroying the Dollhouse, starts a relationship with the nice girl across the hall after she brings him dinner. Later, it's revealed that she's been a Doll the whole time, complete with a trigger phrase that turns her into an ass-kicking ninja.
* Season One of ''Series/{{Broadchurch}}'' follows two detectives who are investigating the murder of a boy in a small town. The killer turns out to be [[spoiler: the husband of one of the detectives]].

* In the ''Wolf and Sheepdog'' cartoons, Ralph Wolf and Sam Sheepdog treat each other as coworkers, literally punching a clock and exchanging "Mornin' Sam," "Mornin' Ralph" before the mayhem ensues. In a later cartoon they even share a house together.
* ''WesternAnimation/StaticShock'' had this happen a few times as well - several of Static's enemies were classmates of his who had the residual effects from "the Big Bang" kick in at inopportune moments.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' series, the title character has a crush on Valerie Gray, a demoralized girl from the popular crowd who has recently taken up ghost hunting. Danny, being a half ghost superhero, ignores his friends' warnings and tries to pursue a relationship with Valerie. She ''would'' like to be with Danny - if only that pesky ghost boy weren't around!

* And the Hooded Claw, [[ThePerilsOfPenelopePitstop Penelope Pitstop]]'s nemesis, was her guardian Sylvester Sneekley in real life. Yet another indication of the Southern belle's stupidity- he made no attempt to disguise his extremely distinctive voice and that nose of his was always visible.
** Penelope was more näive than stupid when it came to distiguishing the Claw from Sneekly. Sure, Sneekly's voice and nose should be a giveaway, but the rest of him and his demeanor kept Penelope from realizing his identity.

* ''IronManArmoredAdventures'': Throughout most of the first season, Tony (Iron Man) and Gene (The Mandarin) attend school together and work together to find the Makluan rings they're both interested in, both in ignorance of the other's secret identity. This is at least justified by the fact both of them uses suits that change their voices and completely hide their faces when going under their alias (Gene even becomes taller as the Mandarin), so no wonder they couldn't recognize each other.

* In ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'', after Finn tricked Ice King and Flame Princess into fighting and the latter melted the Ice Kingdom, Ice King stayed with Finn and Jake until the kingdom was restored.

->''"[[RosesAreRedVioletsAreBlue Roses are red, violets are blue,]] your arch enemy goes to school with you."''

* ''ManMan'' [[http://www.man-man.org/ rents out the basement]] of his Man-Mansion to his nemesis Dr. Vivisectus, making it convenient for battles between them.

[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/noctis_regis_and_drautos.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Meet the prince, his father, and his father's future assassin.]]

* One of the central tropes in ''[[LightNovel/{{Dokkoida}} Dokkoida?!]]'' is that the heroes' and villains' [[SecretIdentity Secret Identities]] all live in the same apartment and don't recognize one another.

[[caption-width-right:350:Meet the royal prince, his father, and his father's future assassin.]]

** Lelouch Lamperouge leads a rebellion in Japan against the occupying Brittanians, while his childhood friend Suzaku fights for them in a powerful mecha. Both are unaware of the other's secret life -- Lelouch even wants to betroth Suzaku to his little sister at one point.

* In ''Series/{{Dollhouse}}'' Tamoh Pinkett's character, who's set on destroying the Dollhouse, starts a relationship with the nice girl across the hall after she brings him dinner. Later, it's revealed that she's been a Doll the whole time, complete with a trigger phrase that turns her into an ass-kicking ninja.

** In ''NightmareOfNunnally'', Nunnally's best friend, Alice, is one of the Irregulars as a Number who has received Geass abilities from CC's cells, and her mission is to capture or kill Nunnally as pilot of the Mark Nemo (but Alice doesn't know it's Nunnally). [[spoiler:Nunnally is upset to learn that Alice is a Britannian soldier after being captured, but Alice then manages to rescue her, and the two reconcile.]]

-->-- '''Spud''', ''AmericanDragonJakeLong'', "Ski Trip"

* In ''AmericanDragonJakeLong'', not only does Jake go to school with Rose (who is a Huntsgirl who hunts dragons like Jake), he has a crush on her. That is, of course, until they figure out they're sworn enemies at the end of the first season.