History Main / LovesMyAlterEgo

* This has happened to Ben of ''Ben 10'' on occasion. In the [[WesternAnimation/Ben10 original series]], he meets the tetramand female Tiny while as Fourarms, and she immediately starts hitting on him. Luckily, the Omnitrix times out, turning him back to human. "Saved by the beep!" Later in the episode, Tiny asks if he'll go back to Fourarms, to which he replies, "Never!" There's also Kai, who [[YouSexyBeast crushed on him when he unlocked Blitzwolfer]] but lost interest in him when he turned back to normal (despite this, the two ended up StrangledByTheRedString in ''Omniverse'').

* This has happened to Ben of ''Ben 10'' on occasion. In the [[WesternAnimation/Ben10 original series]], he meets the tetramand female Tiny while as Fourarms, and she immediately starts hitting on him. Luckily, the Omnitrix times out, turning him back to human. "Saved by the beep!" Later in the episode, Tiny asks if he'll go back to Fourarms, to which he replies, "Never!"

* ''Series/MoonKnight'' gives an unorthodox example with Layla and Marc Spector, as they're already married and she's well aware of his superhero identity. But after he [[ItsNotYouItsMyEnemies leaves her to protect her]] ([[ActionGirl not that she needed it]]), he settles in London and takes the identity Steven Andrews, which becomes a SplitPersonality for him. When Layla tracks down her estranged husband and meets Steven for the first time, she starts liking him for their shared interests, even as she comes to despise Marc for keeping secrets from her (such as having a mental illness).

* In [[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/eastsunwestmoon/stories/enchsnake.html "The Enchanted Snake"]], the king promises the heroine she [[EngagementChallenge can marry the prince if only she saves him]]. Recovered, the prince nevertheless refuses because he has promised himself elsewhere; the heroine, delighted, reveals that she is that woman.

* Inverted in the ''Manga/LoveHina''[=/=]''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'' crossover "[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3570558/1/ Four Seasons]]", with Keitaro asking the net idol Chiu for advice on dealing with his unrequited feelings for a girl...and when she "just out of curiosity" (since unbeknownst to him, they actually know each other) asks the girl's name, he reveals that it is Chisame, her true identity.

** Other stories that deal with Ladybug and Adrien's mutual attraction (Ladrien), the discovery of which can be handled in a number of ways. If Marinette finds out about Adrien's crush on Ladybug, it can sometimes push her to approach him as Ladybug, often by visiting him in his bedroom, or else lead her to feel even less secure about measuring up to herself (see ''[[http://www.archiveofourown.org/works/10210028/ The Parts of You]]'' for an example). Alternately, if Adrien finds out about Ladybug's crush on him, he may view it as an opportunity, or, as in ''[[http://archiveofourown.org/works/9511511 fresh eyes]]'', come to believe that his Lady is a lot shallower than he believed, since "a boy she’s really only ever seen on billboards and screens has more effectively stolen her heart than her partner."

** Zonette in ''Series/GekisouSentaiCarranger'' loves the hero Red Racer, but not his civilian identity Kyousuke. He loves her back, but wants to do so as himself, leading to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNMSZS5qqCw this]].

* ''VideoGame/DeadlyPremonition'' has Emily falling for York [[spoiler:which he is Zach's SplitPersonality, rather than Zack, the real person, himself]].

* Jack in ''The Green Avenger'': http://www.green-avenger.com/d/20051205.html

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Freakazoid}}!'', Dexter Douglas can't catch a break from the ladies, but they're all over Freakazoid. Freakazoid [[SplitPersonality has a mind separate from Dexter]], which occasionally caused him to actively mock Dexter for this. In the first episode, Dexter even turns into Freakazoid to make out with a girl who couldn't stand him--he even acknowledges how shallow it is, but he doesn't care. Freakazoid's girlfriend Steff won't even talk to Dex and when she found out the truth, she was at first incredulous, then thought it was funny more than anything else, and never brought it up thereafter.

* In ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManTheAnimatedSeries'' Felicia was in love with Peter, but Black Cat was in love with Spidey. Eventually, Felicia decided not to pursue a relationship with Peter Parker so that her Black Cat persona would be free to be with Spider-Man. In the end, she left with a vampire, and he went with Mary Jane anyway, but it was all very dramatic at the time.

** After the CosmicRetcon of ''ComicBook/OneMoreDay'' attempts were made to claim that ''Mary Jane Watson'', of all people, only ever loved Peter because [[SecretSecretKeeper she knew he was Spider-Man all along]]. To say that this would be [[OutOfCharacter contradictory]] to her previous characterisation or ignorant of the original context, would be an [[DerailingLoveInterests understatement]]. When [[ComicBook/NickSpencersSpiderMan Nick Spencer]] took over the franchise from Dan Slott, one of the first things he did was affirm that MJ always loved Peter Parker for who he is, recognizing that Peter and Spider-Man weren't separate individuals but essentially the same person, and that while his double life had driven her away in the past, the fact that Peter was at heart a hero is one of the things that kept her coming back to him.

* This has happened to Ben of ''Ben 10'' on occasion. In the [[WesternAnimation/{{Ben 10}} original series]], he meets the tetramand female Tiny while as Fourarms, and she immediately starts hitting on him. Luckily, the Omnitrix times out, turning him back to human. "Saved by the beep!" Later in the episode, Tiny asks if he'll go back to Fourarms, to which he replies, "Never!"

* Inverted in ''WesternAnimation/{{Phantom 2040}}'': police officer Sagan Cruz has {{UST}} with Kit Walker, but sees the Phantom as a glory-hogging jerk. Particularly when he used his "Good Mark" to ''deface a necklace Kit gave her''. (It struck him as appropriate since it ''already'' symbolised their friendship, but it hadn't occurred to him that it looked like the actions of two separate people.)

** ActionGirl Kallen has a BodyguardCrush on Lelouch's masked identity, [[DarkMessiah Zero]], but has a very low opinion of Lelouch, mostly because he cultivates a reputation for being an [[RichIdiotWithNoDayJob apathetic jerk]]. When Kallen dramatically learns Zero's true identity, she gets a HeroicBSOD because she wonders [[WasItAllALie if the whole Black Knight rebellion was a big farce]]. In season 2, after still going through a "you're Lelouch when I hate you and Zero when I love you." kind of relationship for some time, she comes to love both of them.

** C.C. loves Lelouch vi Britannia but sees Zero for the fraud he is. The difference is that C.C knew about them from the very start.

** [[DependingOnTheWriter Sometimes]] ComicBook/LexLuthor does the [[InvertedTrope inverse]], respecting Clark Kent a little more than Superman. In some stories they were even friends as kids.

** In ''ComicBook/UltimateSpiderMan'' which redraws and realigns the characters, aging up Felicia Hardy so that her attraction for Spider-Man over Peter makes a little more sense since given that Felicia is an adult woman here while Peter is a ''teenager'' she vomited when she learned. The more traditional Black Cat dynamic is given to [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute Ultimate Kitty Pryde or Shadowcat]], who is also a superhero with powers who crushes on Spider-Man but doesn't fit well into his civilian identity. Mary Jane Watson is friends with Peter since childhood and crushed on Peter before and after he got bitten by a spider, and Peter reveals his identity to her early, making her his confidant and soulmate.
** In just about every continuity, JerkJock Eugene "Flash" Thompson is a huge fan of Spider-Man and thinks he's the coolest guy on the planet, albeit as Peter notes, not usually for the right reasons. While usually being a bully to Peter. Generally, he grows out of it and he ends up friends with Peter in his older years (though whether he finds out Peter is Spider-Man tends to depend on the writer). In some continuities, Aunt May loves her nephew Peter dearly, but can't stand Spider-Man (reasons vary from her thinking he's a dangerous vigilante to her having arachnophobia).

* In ''Fanfic/ProfessorArc'', Jaune remarks that every girl interested in him actually wants the confident badass Professor Arc not the awkward and untrained Jaune Arc.

* ''Webcomic/ScarletLady'': Adrien/Cat Noir has an unambiguous crush on Marinette, but [[spoiler:initially treats Marigold with cold professionalism because he's had to deal with [[TheLoad Scarlet Lady]] (and briefly, [[AttentionWhore Volpina]]) and is unused to a crimefighting partner who actually cares about his well-being]]. Marinette, meanwhile, has crushes on both Adrien and Cat, though her crush on the latter is more well-pronounced.

** For the most part, Miley can mostly avoid this issue as Hannah and Miley don't run in the same social circles, but at least once she dated a boy who explicitly didn't like Hannah Montana's music. However, she was able to use this to her advantage in "My Best Friend's Boyfriend" after she learns that Lilly's boyfriend Lucas is cheating on her; she and Oliver set up a scenario where Lucas will be out for dinner at the same restaurant as Hannah and Lola, allowing Miley to flirt with Lucas as Hannah (since he obviously wouldn't do anything with Lilly's best friend) so that he will admit his cheating in front of 'Lola'.
* In ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'', Bulk and Skull have a deep respect and admiration for the Power Rangers, but had nothing but contempt for the Rangers' civilian identities. This gradually changed in later seasons.

** In ''Series/PowerRangersDinoCharge'', Chase gets hit with this, much to his frustration.

* In ''Webcomic/WitchesAmongHumans'', among Luz's secret keepers, Amity is not one of them, Luz's secret identity (or in her case, her real identity) coming close to being blown to her girlfriend more than once.

* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' plays with this in one episode. Isabella gets annoyed that her usual crush, Phineas, keeps disappearing when she needs him. Meanwhile she swoons over the Beak, the new local superhero, whom she follows around ComicBook/LoisLane-style. Of course, the Beak is actually Phineas (and his brother, Ferb) in a robotic suit. GenreSavvy Candace calls her out for her GenreBlindness.

'''Superman:''' ''It's a pity we can't mix and match.''

*** As a non-romantic version, Terry [=McGinnis=]'s younger brother Matt idolizes the new Batman as badass and the epitome of cool but sees his own older brother as a boring workaholic who's never around.

* ''Series/MoonKnight'' gives an unorthodox example with Layla and Marc Spector, as they're already married and she's well aware of his superhero identity. But after he [[ItsNotYouItsMyEnemies leaves her to protect her]] ([[ActionGirl not that she needed it]]), he settles in London and develops a second personality, Steven Andrews. When Layla tracks down her estranged husband and meets Steven for the first time, she starts liking him for their shared interests, even as she comes to despise Marc for keeping secrets from her.

* ''Series/MoonKnight'' gives an unorthodox example with Layla and Marc Spector, as they're already married and she's well aware of his superhero identity. But after he [[ItsNotYouItsMyEnemies leaves her to protect her]] ([[ActionGirl not that she needed it), he settles in London and develops a second personality, Steven Andrews. When Layla tracks down her estranged husband and meets Steven for the first time, she starts liking him for their shared interests, even as she comes to despise Marc for keeping secrets from her.

* ''Film/TheBatman2022'': Selina hasn't met Bruce Wayne, but she dismisses him as one of the "privileged white people" that let Gotham fall into ruin, and is clearly not very fond of him. However, she ends up falling in love with Batman as they work together.

*** As a non-romatic version, Terry [=McGinnis=]'s younger brother Matt idolizes the new Batman as badass and the epitome of cool but sees his own older brother as a boring workaholic who's never around.

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'':
** In a non-romantic version, Terry's younger brother Matt idolizes the new Batman as badass and the epitome of cool but sees his own older brother as a boring workaholic who's never around.
** Inverted with Terry's relationship with Melanie. Melanie loves Terry, but is lukewarm to antagonistic towards Batman.

[[quoteright:325:[[Franchise/{{Superman}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Lois_Loves_Alter_Ego_Resized_146.JPG]]]]

** In imaginary story ''ComicBook/JimmyOlsen Superman's Pal #57'' Linda and Jimmy marry. However Linda is amnesiac and depowered when the wedding happens, and doesn't remember anything about her SecretIdentity. When Linda regains her memories and her powers she decides she needs to tell Jimmy she is Supergirl but in a tactful way. Her "great" plan was revealing Supergirl's existence to him. Then, as Supergirl, she will make him fall in love with her. Then when he is in love with both Linda and Supergirl, she'll reveal she is one and the same. Surprisingly, her nutty idea worked.

* In ''Anime/CodeGeass'' almost all of his love interests have this.

* ''Franchise/PrettyCure'':

* ''Manga/RosarioToVampire'' is something of a subversion of this trope. Tsukune falls in LoveAtFirstSight with [[NaiveEverygirl Outer Moka]], but he's at least quite fond of [[{{Tsundere}} Inner Moka]], and has recently said that "he'd like the two of them to become one". Take that as you will.

* Inverted in ''ComicBook/JemAndTheHolograms''. In sharp contrast to the cartoon, Rio loves Jerrica but thinks Jem is a bratty diva who shouldn't be in the band.

* Franchise/{{Superman}}:

** Pre-Crisis ComicBook/LanaLang was in love with ComicBook/{{Superboy}} -later Superman- and regarded Clark as her childhood friend. Post-Crisis Lana inverted this.

** In ''ComicBook/AllStarSuperman'', Lois never moved past this (which is fitting here because this incarnation thought of himself as Superman and Clark was an act.) To the point where she didn't even believe him when he changed into Superman right in front of her and repeatedly insisted that Clark and Superman were one and the same.

** The ComicBook/New52 reboot gave Lois a new boyfriend for a while, until she (and the rest of the world) finds out Superman's secret in ''ComicBook/SupermanTruth''. Since then, the situation came back to post crisis state, bringing back the married Lois and Clark in ''ComicBook/DCRebirth''.

*** We get a very particular (and amusing) ''ComicBook/AllStarSuperman'', when Clark Kent was interviewing Lex Luthor in death row, Luthor surprisingly took the time from badmouthing Superman to praise Clark, complimenting him on alot of his qualities and how Lois would choose him if it not were Superman. Heck, he even finds his clumsy awkwardness somewhat endearing, namely because it makes Clark so human compared to the alien Superman.

* ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}:
** In ''Action Comics #361'', a boy wanted to date Linda Danvers/Kara Zor-El because he suspected that she was Supergirl. When Linda/Kara managed to make him believe she was a normal, powerless girl, he stopped being interested.

** [[ComicBook/BlackCat Felicia Hardy]] is more conventional, in the SilverAge Lois Lane sense of preferring Spider-Man over his bland alter-ego but putting a new wrinkle in that it's based not on ignorance but knowing Peter's double life and still liking Spider-Man over "plain ol' Peter". Black Cat proves compatible as Spider-Man's sidekick and partner but not in his civilian life, which needless to say confuses Peter to no end.

* In UsefulNotes/{{the Silver Age|of Comic Books}} ''ComicBook/GreenLantern'', one of the obstacles to Hal Jordan's relationship to Carol Ferris was that she couldn't decide whether she was interested in him or in his alter ego. Eventually she found out that they were the same person, and they moved on to problems like ''her'' [[SuperpoweredEvilSide alter ego]].
** One of the biggest obstacles was HER role as his boss in civilian life and her need to separate business from personal.

* During UsefulNotes/{{the Silver Age|of Comic Books}}, ComicBook/LanaLang was usually smitten with ComicBook/{{Superboy}}, but only thought of Clark as a friend. This stretched into their adulthoods, though she eventually (during UsefulNotes/{{the Bronze Age|OfComicBooks}}) lost interest in Superman, and even started dating Clark by the late Bronze Age.

** Similar to the [[Franchise/SpiderMan Flash Thompson]] example in comics, AlphaBitch Chloe Bourgeois loves nothing more than bullying and belittling Marinette, but she's also a closet Ladybug fangirl.

* In ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' this works both ways: in their civilian forms, Marinette has a huge crush on Adrien, but becomes a flustered wreck whenever she tries to talk to him, leaving Adrien ObliviousToLove, though still friendly with her. However, when they meet in their superhero personae of Ladybug and Chat Noir, Adrien is the one flirting while Marinette is indifferent and underestimating ''his'' interest in her.

* ''Franchise/{{Jewelpet}}'':

* ''Franchise/{{Jewelpet}}''

* Ako Izumi from ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'' falls in love with Negi's aged up alter ego "Nagi".

* In ''[[Anime/{{Pokemon}} Pokemon Sun and Moon]]'', Professor Burnet is [[HappilyMarried certainly in love]] with Professor Kukui, but also has a serious celebrity crush on the Masked wrestler/trainer Royal Mask. She doesn't find out the truth until ''after'' they got married, but suddenly discovering she's ''married her crush'' completely blows her mind.

** Pre-Crisis Comicbook/LanaLang was in love with Comicbook/{{Superboy}} -later Superman- and regarded Clark as her childhood friend. Post-Crisis Lana inverted this.

** The ComicBook/{{New 52}} reboot gave Lois a new boyfriend for a while, until she (and the rest of the world) finds out Superman's secret in ''ComicBook/SupermanTruth''. Since then, the situation came back to post crisis state, bringing back the married Lois and Clark in ''Comicbook/DCRebirth''.

* Comicbook/{{Supergirl}}:

** During her time working as a photographer in San Francisco, Linda Danvers had a crush on her boss Geoffrey "Geoff" Anderson. Geoff was not interested in Linda but he liked Supergirl. He even kissed her at the end of ''Comicbook/DemonSpawn''. However, Linda quit her job and moved away shortly after, and they never saw each other again.
** In imaginary story ''Comicbook/JimmyOlsen Superman's Pal #57'' Linda and Jimmy marry. However Linda is amnesiac and depowered when the wedding happens, and doesn't remember anything about her SecretIdentity. When Linda regains her memories and her powers she decides she needs to tell Jimmy she is Supergirl but in a tactful way. Her "great" plan was revealing Supergirl's existence to him. Then, as Supergirl, she will make him fall in love with her. Then when he is in love with both Linda and Supergirl, she'll reveal she is one and the same. Surprisingly, her nutty idea worked.

* In UsefulNotes/{{the Silver Age|of Comic Books}} ''Comicbook/GreenLantern'', one of the obstacles to Hal Jordan's relationship to Carol Ferris was that she couldn't decide whether she was interested in him or in his alter ego. Eventually she found out that they were the same person, and they moved on to problems like ''her'' [[SuperpoweredEvilSide alter ego]].

* ''Comicbook/WonderWoman'''s ComicBook/SteveTrevor is a classic example; for decades he ignored bespectacled coworker [[ClarkKenting Diana Prince]] in favor of her Amazonian alter ego. He learned her identity on both Earth-Two and Earth-One before marrying her, and in the original Golden Age comics [[SecretSecretKeeper it's hinted he's playing dumb since he does things frequently that help her keep her Diana Prince ID secret]]. After the book's [[ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths Crisis]] [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1987 reboot]], this dynamic was disposed of; Diana no longer had a secret identity and her relationship with Steve was non-romantic.

* This is repeatedly inverted with the comic book character Comicbook/{{Daredevil}}. Almost all of his female love interests have been looking to date Matt Murdock, not his alter ego. This applies even when the interested party is also a superhero.

* Inverted in the ''Manga/LoveHina''[=/=]''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'' crossover "[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3570558/1/ Four Seasons]]", with Keitaro asking the net idol Chiu for advice on dealing with his unrequited feelings for a girl...and when she "just out of curiosity" (since unbeknownst to him, they actually know each other) asks the girl's name, he reveals that it is Chisame, her true identity.

* Inverted in ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist'' SuperFic ''FanFic/ImGivingYouANightCall'', despite their terrible break-up Roy is still head over heels over Edward but he can’t stand the vigilante Fullmetal. He is actually rather ashamed of his attraction to Fullmetal, considering he's trying to get Edward back.

* ''FanFic/SecondChances'': [[spoiler:L fears Light Yagami, as his defeat at Light's hands broke him -- he dearly wishes that Light will never enter the regular afterlife. At the same time, during the course of the fic he falls in love with his Shinigami, Rae. It's not until towards the end of the story that it is revealed that Rae is actually Light Yagami in hell, and even then L is still unaware to the truth]].
* ''Fanfic/ExtremelyNaughty'': [[WesternAnimation/{{MiraculousLadybug}} Marinette]] has a crush on an unsuspecting Adrien and ends up telling the flirtatious Chat Noir (completely unaware that he and Adrien are one in the same). She eventually ends up in a relationship with Chat Noir (even having sex a few times) before she puts two and two together and finds out his secret identity.

* In ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' fanfic ''Fanfic/{{ResurrectedMemories}}'': Paulina is head over heels for Danny and wants to date him but Danny refuses due to knowing that she is only interested in his ghost half and wants nothing to do with her now.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''Series/HannahMontana'' has Oliver in love with Miley's alter ego, the rockstar Hannah Montana. Of course, he finds out. His reaction: he fainted. Later, Jake undergoes this, only this time, he didn't faint.
** Jake: "Jake Ryan doesn't faint, but [[SecretIdentity Leslie]], on the other hand, is a little woozy."