History Main / MarryingTheMark

* In ''ComicBook/TheBatmanAdventures'' #16, the Joker starts reciprocating Harley Quinn's affections and even proposes to her just after she receives a letter informing her she's inherited a fortune. The twist is that [[spoiler: the letter is a fake, which Harley [[InvokedTrope sent herself]]; she's smart enough to realise it will cause the Joker to [[TilMurderDoUsPart marry and murder her]], but mad enough to believe that if she reveals the truth once they're married, he'll have no reason to murder her and they'll live happily ever after.]]

* In the elseworld story ''ComicBook/CatwomanGuardianOfGotham'', [[AdaptationalVillainy Batman himself is a depraved supervillain]] who discovers that Catwoman's SecretIdentity is Selina Kyle. He woos her in his public persona as Bruce Wayne and even marries her, just so he could gloat about how she never suspected a thing when he decides to finally drop the act and kill her.
* In a plot to destroy ''ComicBook/TheFantasticFour'', the Skrulls sent Lyja to impersonate Alicia Masters. She got close to [[ComicBook/HumanTorch Johnny Storm]] and ended up [[InLoveWithTheMark falling in love with him for real]] before marrying him. This event has since become a RunningGag in the Fantastic Four books ("remember that time Johnny married a Skrull?")
* ''ComicBook/AdamLegendOfTheBlueMarvel'': Tragically done as part of the backstory of Adam Brashear/Blue Marvel. Adam's wife Candace was born as Marlene Frazier, a government agent for the FBI tasked with keeping an eye on Adam in the years after he went underground due to the 1960s US Government being distrustful of a black superhero with so much power and wary of inflaming racial tensions. Candace eventually fell in love with Adam and eventually committed entirely to her new identity, claiming to her husband and children that she was an orphan. Adam didn't find out about her birth identity or her government ties until their children were in college decades later when Tony Stark uncovered her secret.

* {{Subverted}} in a ''Series/{{Castle}}'' episode dealing with a murdered ConMan. The team initially suspects the victim was going to marry a mark, but then the father of the bride informs them that he'd had a private investigator look into the groom, who, when confronted, offered to sign a prenup voiding any claim to the family fortune. [[spoiler:His partner in crime wasn't pleased about this and killed him as part of a scam against the fiancee.]]

* ''ComicBook/AdamLegendOfTheBlueMarvel'': Tragically done as part of the backstory of Adam Brashear/Blue Marvel. Adam's wife Candace was born as Marlene Frazier, a government agent for the FBI tasked with keeping an eye on Adam in the years after he went underground due to the 1960s US Government being distrustful of a black superhero with so much power and wary of inflaming racial tensions. Candace eventually fell in love with Adam, and eventually committed entirely to her new identity, claiming to her husband and children that she was an orphan. Adam didn't find out about her birth identity or her government ties until their children were in college decades later when Tony Stark uncovered her secret.

* In ''Film/ThePrincessBride'', Prince Humperdink's apparent [[AltarDiplomacy political marriage]] to Buttercup is actually a part of a GenghisGambit; once she's captured the hearts of the populace, he intends to have her killed and frame Gilder for the assassination so he has a PretextForWar.

** "A ia la aku"[[note]]"From This Day Forward"[[/note]] starts with 5-0 tracking down a runaway bride who spooked when an unidentified man showed up at her fancy wedding. Turns out he's her older brother, who used to partner with her in HoneyTrap scams. Media coverage of her upcoming marriage to a wealthy young man allowed her brother to track her down and demand a cut of her future husband's money. [[spoiler:Subverted because she didn't know about her husband's money when they met, and had no intent to swindle him.]]

** In the episode "Grow", Goren's nemesis and notorious con artist and murderer Nicole Wallace was actually the ''victim'' of this trope - her latest husband knew her real identity and history and was intending to kill his daughter for her trust fund, and frame her for the murder.

May overlap with TilMurderDoUsPart, HoneyTrap, or a particularly vicious GoldDigger. This is the standard operating procedure for the BlackWidow.

This is a marriage in which one partner enters a relationship with their significant other in order to run a con on them. Quite often the goal is to steal all of the mark's money, whether by divorce, murder, or good old fashioned embezzlement; information, [[FrameUp framing the mark]] for a crime, or looking for an opportunity to [[TilMurderDoUsPart kill the mark]] are also popular goals.

* In ''Film/ThePrincessBride'', Prince Humperdink apparent [[AltarDiplomacy political marriage]] to Buttercup is actually a part of a GenghisGambit; once she's captured the hearts of the populace, he intends to have her killed and frame Gilder for the assassination so he has a PretextForWar.

* In the short-lived series ''Lone Star'', the protagonist was a conman who specialized in these types of cons. At the start of the series, he was running two instances of this at the same time. He was married to the daughter of an oil tycoon with the intent to steal her father's money. He was also married to the daughter of a working-class man with the intention of running a larger scale investment scam on her family and neighbors.

* In ''Series/WhiteCollar'', Mozzie marries a woman pulling the "Sweetheart Con"; he [[MockMillionaire pretends to be a millionaire]], finds a ''real'' millionaire, woos her, marries her, and makes off with a lot of her money. Except it turns out the mark in this case is not only ''not'' a millionaire or even rich, she was pulling the ''exact same con on him''. Naturally, they're perfect for each other.

** This game reveals that the Hachijo's clan's modus operandi is to marry their daughters to powerful men to kill them when they get too powerful and/or ambitious. Kazumi Mishima, wife of Heihachi and mother of Kazuya, married him and even had a child for the explicit purpose of assassinating Heihachi and preventing him from threatening the world. Though [[InLoveWithTheMark internally conflicted]], she still made the attempt on Heihachi's life when the time came...which not only failed but helped [[SelfFulfillingProphecy turn Heihachi into the monster he would become]].

* ''Series/{{Life}}'': This was the intended plan by a con artist couple. The girl was going to marry a multimillionaire lottery winner, but in order to sell the con, she had a tattoo with her boyfriend's name removed. He thought that meant she didn't love him anymore and killed her.

* This is the con Gentleman and Sue are planning in ''Literature/{{Fingersmith}}'': Sue, posing as a maidservant, convinces the sheltered heiress Maud to marry Gentleman, who then commits to a BedlamHouse and splits her money with Sue. [[spoiler:Things don't go as planned... or rather, not as planned ''by Sue''.]]
* In the ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'' mystery, "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton", Holmes himself goes in disguise as a plumber and gets close - in fact, engaged - to Milverton's housemaid to help him gain access to the house, and the vault in which Milverton keeps the blackmail material. [[TheWatson Watson]] thinks Holmes went too far, but Holmes replies with IDidWhatIHadToDo.
-->"But the girl, Holmes?"
-->He shrugged his shoulders.
-->"You can't help it, my dear Watson. You must play your cards as best you can when such a stake is on the table. However, I rejoice to say that I have a hated rival who will certainly cut me out the instant that my back is turned."

* ''Series/TheAmericans'': Philip (under the alias Clark) is already seducing Martha and using the intel that she receives as Stan's secretary. At the end of Season 1, though, he proposes to her, in return for her planting a bug in Stan's office. They marry (with help of the [=KGB=]) and she plants it. [[spoiler:When the bug is discovered, Stan becomes suspicious of Martha and Philip reveals his true identity to Martha, then forces the [=USSR=] to help her escape to Russia, although he can never see her again.]]

* ''Series/{{Chuck}}'': In the last few episodes, Quinn [[spoiler:convinces an amnesiac Sarah that she's married Chuck as part of a CIA sting against him, and sends her "back" undercover with the eventual intention of killing him. She almost [[FailedASpotCheck gives herself away]] several times, nearly kills Ellie, and finally leaves after realising Quinn has lied to her. She seems to fall in love with Chuck again over the final episode, but the series ending leaves it ambiguous whether she recovers her memories or not]].

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': Played with in ''[[Recap/DoctorWho2006CSTheRunawayBride The Runaway Bride]]'': Lance gets close to Donna in order to [[spoiler:dose her with huon particles.]] However, marrying her was not part of the plan. She insisted and Lance went along with it to ensure that she didn't run off.

* Tragically done as part of the backstory of ''ComicBook/BlueMarvel''. Adam's wife Candace was born as Marlene Frazier, a government agent for the FBI tasked with keeping an eye on Adam in the years after he went underground due to the 1960s US Government being distrustful of a black superhero with so much power and wary of inflaming racial tensions. Candace eventually fell in love with Adam, and eventually committed entirely to her new identity, claiming to her husband and children that she was an orphan. Adam didn't find out about her birth identity or her government ties until their children were in college decades later when Tony Stark uncovered her secret.

* ''Mail Order Bride'': The title character is a Russian con artist who marries overseas men under a fake identity just to steal their money, then goes home and repeats the process with the next sucker.

* Tragically done as part of the backstory of ''ComicBook/BlueMarvel''. Adam's wife Candace was born as Marlene Frazier, a government agent for the FBI tasked with keeping an eye on Adam in the years after he went underground due the 1960s US Government being distrustful of a black superhero with so much power and wary of inflaming racial tensions. Candace eventually fell in love with Adam, and eventually committed entirely to her new identity, claiming to her husband and children that she was an orphan. Adam didn't find out about her birth identity or her government ties until their children were in college decades later when Tony Stark uncovered her secret.

* ''Film/{{Gordy}}'': Henry Royce is a wealthy industrialist, and his daughter Jessica is engaged to his public relations director, Gilbert Sipes. At first it appears that Sipes is sincere in his attempts to help boost Jessica's career as being "the face" of Royce Industries, but we later learn his real intentions is taking over the business after they're married, because he stood a chance at inheriting it all.

* Creator/AgathaChristie wrote several novels in which it is revealed at the end that the culprit, or one of the culprits, only married their spouse in order to murder them and inherit their money. (Naming the specific titles in question would be too much of a spoiler, since the knowledge that this trope is in them would give away the entire mystery.)
* This is the con Gentleman and Sue are planning in ''Literature/{{Fingersmith}}'': Sue, posing as a maidservant, convinces a the sheltered heiress Maud to marry Gentleman, who then commits to a BedlamHouse and splits her money with Sue. [[spoiler:Things don't go as planned... or rather, not as planned ''by Sue''.]]

* ''Series/{{Life}}'': This was the intended plan by a con artist couple. The girl was going to marry a multimillionaire lottery winner, but in order to sell the con she had a tattoo with her boyfriend's name removed. He thought that meant she didn't love him any more and killed her.

* In the ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'' episode "His Last Vow", which is somewhat inspired by the Holmes story "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton", Sherlock romances and gets engaged to a young woman named Janine, who happens to be the personal assistant to media mogul (and master blackmailer) Charles Augustus Magnussen. He uses this to gain access to his office early in the episode. Later on, she calls him out on this, calling him a "no-good, backstabbing, manipulative bastard. "

* The Draketooth family in ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' keep their clan up by getting into relationship with various people, then once they have a child, they disappear with the child.

* ''Film/TheParentTrap'': Nick is engaged to be married to Meredith and although it is unknown to him, and only suspected by Hallie and Annie (as well as Chessie), her intention is to marry into his successful vineyard business and exploit his wealth.