History Main / MistakenFromBehind

[[folder:Literature]]
* Inverted in the ''Literature/LordPeterWimsey'' mystery ''Have His Carcass''. Bunter thinks a man coming out of a room is not the same who went in, but when he turns, he recognizes the back and, deducing a disguise, follows.
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* One ''Manga/{{Nichijou}}'' has Mio approach what looks like a sulky Yuuko and try to cheer her up with a drink. The girl turns around and reveals the dour, [[NonStandardCharacterDesign abnormally realistic-looking]] face of Doublecheeseburgirl, Yuuko's OddballDoppelganger.

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* ''Anime/DarkerThanBlack'' has Kirihara "[[DoubleSubversion mistaking]]" from behind Kun (with whom she already was "accidentally acquainted") for [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast The Black Reaper]].

* In episode 52b of ''Anime/KamisamaMinaraiHimitsuNoCocotama'', Luckytama mistakes a bespectacled girl for Kokoro because she looks like her when viewed from the back.

* In ''Film/{{Species}}'', Preston believes he spotted Sil at a bar but when he approaches the blonde girl and she turns around, it is somebody else completely. Watch the scene [[https://youtu.be/y6Om0b0pttM here]].

* In ''Film/INowPronounceYouChuckAndLarry'', Adam Sandler's character sees a hot blonde dressed as a Playboy bunny but when he calls out she turns out to be Creator/DavidSpade.
* In ''Film/ConversationsWithOtherWomen'', the Man during most of his twenties keeps running up to women from behind him that resemble his LoveInterest.

* ''Film/DontLookNow'' ends with a horrific instance of this trope as the bereft parent thinks he can see his daughter and she turns out to be a female dwarf in a red coat carrying a hunting knife, with which she attacks him.
* This happens to Eddie when he is chasing Jessica Rabbit in ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'', and he ends up being chased himself.
* In ''Film/CrocodileDundee'', Mick runs after what he thinks is his friend Sue, but as the person turns it's really just a man with long blonde hair and rather feminine clothing.

* In the Swedish classic comedy ''Äppelkriget'', one of the Lindberg brothers tries to pick up a nice, tall, blonde woman at a night club. When she turns around she is revealed as a man, who is very much not amused.
* In ''Film/{{Enchanted}}'', Nathaniel deliberately points out a woman in a crowd who has similar hair to Giselle so that Prince Edward chases her while he goes after the real Giselle. The audience never sees the other woman's face, as Edward apparently caught up to her off-screen before moving on.

* In ''Film/MidwayToHeaven'', Ned Stevens becomes paranoid over his daughter Liz dating her boyfriend David. Ned thinks he's caught them drinking at a bar, but it turns out to be two people who just look like them from behind.
* ''Film/Shazam2019'': In a flashback to when Billy Batson was separated from his mother, he sees a woman wearing the same jacket she was wearing and confronts her, only to learn it's not her.

* In ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'', Barney spends some time trying to figure out who's been mysteriously cockblocking him, and chases a mysterious blond out of a bar. The first blond he grabs and asks if he ever slept with her and then seriously screwed her over. He realizes it wasn't her, leaves, asks for her number, then leaves again and grabs the right blond.
* Parodied on an episode of ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' when Cox grabs Turk's shoulder from behind, only instead of Turk (bald black man), it's a petite, bald black woman. Later, JD goes to get Carla, only it's a mustachioed hispanic man with long hair and a mustache.
* An episode of ''Series/{{Bones}}'' has a terrorist with a dioxin bomb about to blow up a peace conference. At one point Booth nabs who he thinks is the guy, but he turns around and it's someone else.

* In an episode of ''Series/GameOfThrones'', Arya is shown looking for her friend [[HitmanWithAHeart Jaqen]] among the Lannister soldiers at Harrenhal, so that she can request that he assassinate someone for her. Jaqen has [[MulticoloredHair red hair with some black and white streaks in front]], and Arya initially grabs the wrong person, a random Lannister with red hair that he wore at the same length as Jaqen.
* ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995'': In "The Beholder", Patrick Tarloff is still getting used to regaining his sight and continually sees a mysterious, beautiful redhead everywhere he goes. At one point, he sees a redhead walking by and confronts her, but she turns out to be some ordinary woman.
* ''Series/TheFortyFourHundred'': In "Pilot", after being released from quarantine, Lily sees a man whom she thinks is her husband Brian. When she runs over to him and he turns around, she sees that it is someone else.
* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS1E23AWorldOfDifference A World of Difference]]", Arthur Curtis mistakes a little girl for his daughter Tina from behind.

* ''Webcomic/CursedPrincessClub'': Princess Monika's magpie-like tendencies cause her to steal Gwen's handmade green dress after Gwen's first visit to the Cursed Princess Club. Later, when Prince Frederick catches a glimpse of Monika wearing the green dress, he assumes Monika is Gwen.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'': In the dream sequence from "Rip Van Flintstone", an elderly Fred walks to his house and decides to surprise Wilma. From behind, it looks like Wilma, but when Fred grabs her to face him, it turns out to be a different woman, who accuses him of being a masher and sics her pet dinosaur on him.
* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': In the episode [[Recap/SpongebobSquarepantsS2E6GrandmasKissesSquidville "Squidville"]], Spongebob and Patrick are trying to find Squidward in a [[InexplicablyIdenticalIndividuals crowd of look-alikes]]. Spongebob (and the audience) sees an octopus who looks like Squidward from behind, since he's wearing [[LimitedWardrobe the same brown shirt]]. But when [=SpongeBob=] [[TheGlomp embraces]] him we see his face and he has heavy eyebrows and a big black mustache.

Can overlap with ChairReveal. Related to IdenticalStranger. May also overlap with MistakenForObjectOfAffection. Compare FaceRevealingTurn, which includes the spin but not the mistaken identity portion, and aims specifically at horror.

* ''Series/TheBarrier'': In one episode, Hugo and Julia being asked to watch their employer's nephew Sergio during what is technically time off results in Sergio visiting the part of town that isn't the enclave for the elites. When Sergio gets taken away by [[spoiler:a member of the family from which he was abducted several years ago]], there happens to be another child who looks like Sergio from behind in the area, resulting in Julia briefly mistaking the other child for Sergio.

* ''Series/TheBarrier'': In one episode, Hugo and Julia being to watch their employer's nephew Sergio during what is technically time off results in Sergio visiting the part of town that isn't the enclave for the elites. When Sergio gets taken away by [[spoiler:a member of the family from which he was abducted several years ago]], there happens to be another child who looks like Sergio from behind in the area, resulting in Julia briefly mistaking the other child for Sergio.

* ''Anime/DarkerThanBlack'' has Kirihara "[[DoubleSubversion mistaking]]" from behind [[{{Adorkable}} Li Kun]] (with whom she already was "accidentally acquainted") for [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast The Black Reaper]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}'', Lightning [=McQueen=] gets separated from his truck Mac and looks for him. He thinks he sees him getting off the interstate, but after he catches up to him, it turns out to be someone else.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}'', Lightning [=McQueen=] gets separated from his truck Mac and looks for him. He thinks he sees him getting off the interstate, but after he catches up to him, it turns out to be someone else ("I ain't no Mack, I'm a Peterbilt, for dang sake!")

* In ''Disney/{{Bolt}}'', when the titular character is lost in New York, he sees what he thinks is his arch nemesis the Green Eyed Man from behind. He tries to knock him out with a karate chop, but not only is the man not the Green Eyed Man, but the chop has no effect on him, which confuses Bolt, who has spent his life believing he has super powers.

Due to the often [[ContrivedCoincidence contrived]] nature of this trope, it can become prone to TropeTelegraphing. If a particular character Alice is looking for is only viewed from behind, and there's noticeable suspense as Alice approaches him/her, it's almost guaranteed to result in this trope, especially if said character is a plot-important one such as the BigBad being (seemingly) encountered early on. The plot would end too quickly if Alice really did approach none other than Bob himself, and it [[RuleOfDrama it needs to have drama, damnit!]]

-->'''Stewie:''' [[LampshadeHanging Hey, what happened to my new friend, that kid who sort of looks like me from behind?]]

Can overlap with ChairReveal. May also overlap with MistakenForObjectOfAffection. Compare FaceRevealingTurn, which includes the spin but not the mistaken identity portion, and aims specifically at horror.

-->'''Stewie:''' Hey, what happened to my new friend, that kid who sort of looks like me from behind?

Due to the often [[ContrivedCoincidence contrived]] nature of this trope, it can become prone to TropeTelegraphing. If a particular character Alice is looking for is only viewed from behind, and there's noticeable suspense as Alice approaches him/her, it's almost guaranteed to result in this trope, especially if said character is a plot-important one such as the BigBad being (seemingly) encountered early on. The plot would end too quickly if Alice really did approach none other than Bob himself; [[RuleOfDrama it needs juicy drama, damnit!]]

Due to the often [[ContrivedCoincidence contrived]] nature of this trope, it can become prone to TropeTelegraphing. If a particular character Alice is looking for is only viewed from behind, and there's noticeable suspense as Alice approaches him/her, it's almost guaranteed to result in this trope, especially if said character is a plot-important one such as the BigBad being (seemingly) encountered early on. The plot would end too quickly if Alice really did approach none other than Bob himself. [[RuleOfDrama There needs to be juicy drama, damnit!]]

A subtrope of MistakenIdentity, this trope begins with Alice spotting Bob facing away from her. She approaches him. Either he turns around as she gets close, or she physically grabs him and spins him around...and surprise! It's ''not'' Bob. Not even close. The audience usually sees the impostor from the same angle as Alice, so they are just as surprised as Alice is when he spins around; in rare cases, the audience may instead see the impostor's face ''before'' Alice does, making it an instance of DramaticIrony.

This flexible trope can be PlayedForDrama or PlayedForLaughs. In dramatic cases, the impostor can send Alice into a panic when she suddenly realizes Bob is nowhere to be found, or provide a cruel HopeSpot if Alice is searching for Bob already. In comedy, the humor may come from how ''completely'' different the impostor looks from Bob from the front; there could also be CringeComedy elements, if Alice says or does something embarrassing to the impostor (for instance, TheGlomp) just before she realizes it's not Bob.

The impostor may be given Bob's IconicOutfit, if Bob has one, to make him a more convincing double.