History Main / RevealingInjury

* In ''{{Aliens}}'', Bishop is revealed to be an android when he accidentally pierces his skin and "bleeds" a white fluid.

* In ''Webcomic/TheSenkari'' Freija injury is not plausibly make up as she claims. Of course the fact she gets drunk doesn't help back up her claim in any way...

Not [[ClothingDamage that kind]] of revealing injury. Rather this is when somebody makes a revelation due to the fact that the person he is talking to has an injury. The most common case of this is secret identities and/or robbers getting injured while masked, and then the person they fought noticing a similar injury on the unmasked person.

* Averted in the ''Film/GreenHornet'' movie. The titular hero refuses medical attention to the bullet wound in the shoulder he recieved while masked, knowing that it would arouse suspicion if somebody arrived with the same exact injury just after the battle. They decide to fake a drive-by shooting so that he can keep his arm without compromising his identity.
* In {{Dark Shadows}} Barnabas catches fire when he is accidentally exposed to sunlight, thus making it obvious to everyone present (including the prospective love interest) that he is a vampire. Try explaining that one to your crush.

* In ''HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone'', Harry knows that Snape entered the room with Fluffy because he has a large bite wound on his leg.

* ''DigimonAdventure02'' has Davis play against Ken in a football match where the latter receives a cut to his leg. Later when the Digimon Emperor is seen in the Digital World Davis recognises the cut. Then Ken reveals that he is the Digimon Emperor.
* ''DragonballZ'' - Videl points out that the facial scratches Gohan was trying to explain away were pretty much identical to the ones she saw Saiyaman receive when trying to wrangle an escaped dinosaur. She uses this info to blackmail Gohan into teaching her how to fly (She does ask if that's something that can be taught, to her credit).

[[AC:Comic Books]]

* Somewhat similar in ''Batman: The Lost Years'', a tie-in comic to ''BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', shows Bruce Wayne playing tennis with Barbara Gordon. He comments on how she favors her left side for her defense, which he realizes is the same advice he gave Batgirl the previous night, and thus figures out her SecretIdentity.

[[AC:Film]]

* Subverted in the first ''{{Film/Beethoven}}'' movie, in which the evil vet fakes an injury after claiming the titular dog attacked him. Later George grabs him by the arm and a moment later realises that there's no injury at all.

[[AC:Literature]]

** Echoed in StephenKing's ''CycleOfTheWerewolf''. A boy attacked by the werewolf shoots it in the eye with a bottle rocket. Later, he's able to identify the cursed man by the same (unexplained) injury.

** He also admits to stealing some manuscripts via carrier pigeons while in this state.

[[AC:Video Games]]

* ''{{Homestuck}}'': Karkat has been hiding the color of his blood for his entire life, so the readers don't learn it until Jack stabs him. In-universe, it's a subversion, though- while Karkat starts freaking out, no one else there actually cares.

[[AC:Western Animation]]

<<|InjuryTropes|>>

* In an episode of the old television show ''Series/ItTakesAThief'', Alexander Mundy gets a slash on the arm from the villain's [[TheDragon dragon]], and later the villain realizes who his opponent is when he studies photographs and spots that the fake skin on Mundy's arm is wrinkling after it gets wet.

* In an episode of the old television show ''{{It Takes a Thief}}'', Alexander Mundy gets a slash on the arm from the villain's [[TheDragon dragon]], and later the villain realizes who his opponent is when he studies photographs and spots that the fake skin on Mundy's arm is wrinkling after it gets wet.

* In an episode of ''{{Bones}}'' the identity of the Gravedigger is revealed via a rib injury sustained from being hit by a car.
* The cause of many a RoboticReveal: Data (while suffering amnesia) in one episode of ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' springs to mind.

* In ''Film/XMen2XMenUnited'', Wolverine recognises a disguised Mystique by the claw-marks he gave her in the previous film.

* In the first ''{{Spider-Man}}'' movie, Norman Osborne realizes that Peter is Spider-Man after Aunt May notices that Peter has a gash on his arm, the same gash that Norman (as Green Goblin) had given Spider-Man.

* In ''BatmanReturns'', Catwoman has to hide the injuries Batman gave her when she's seducing Bruce.
* In ''Film/{{X-Men}} 2'', Wolverine recognises a disguised Mystique by the claw-marks he gave her in the previous film.

* Averted in the ''GreenHornet'' movie. The titular hero refuses medical attention to the bullet wound in the shoulder he recieved while masked, knowing that it would arouse suspicion if somebody arrived with the same exact injury just after the battle. They decide to fake a drive-by shooting so that he can keep his arm without compromising his identity.

* In ''Film/PrinceOfPersia'', Dustan realizes his uncle is the true BigBad when he notices that [[PoisonIsCorrosive his hands are burned from handling the poisoned mantle that killed the Sultan]] - despite having never touched the robe on screen.

* In ''TalesOfSymphonia'' when [[spoiler:Colette]] takes an attack at the end of the first disk, it damages her sleeve enough to reveal that [[spoiler:her "angel toxicosis" is becoming much worse.]]. The scene plays out rather odd if you are in a new game+ and using a costume title, as they default to the normal costume mid cutscene.

<<|InjuryTropes|>>

* ''TheBloodyChamber'' uses this in ''The Werewolf''; Little Red Riding Hood takes out the cloth that has a wolf's paw wrapped in it, only for it to fall out as a human hand and reveal her grandmother is the werewolf she fought off earlier.

** Echoed in a StephenKing adaptation ''Silver Bullet'' (don't know about the original short story, though). A boy attacked by the werewolf shoots it in the eye with a bottle rocket. Later, he's able to identify the cursed man by the same (unexplained) injury.

* In an episode of ''DoctorQuinnMedicineWoman'' Sully identifies the leader of the Klu Klux Klan by revealing the burn mark on his arm that he sustained at a rally the night before.

* In ''X-Men 2'', Wolverine recognises a disguised Mystique by the claw-marks he gave her in the previous film.

* Averted in the GreenHornet movie. The titular hero refuses medical attention to the bullet wound in the shoulder he recieved while masked, knowing that it would arouse suspicion if somebody arrived with the same exact injury just after the battle. They decide to fake a drive-by shooting so that he can keep his arm without compromising his identity.

* In the old Zorro TV serial, Zorro's secret identity was figured out once by the BigBad of the season. Although there were many SherlockHolmes-esque clues he cited, they all were just to back up the fact that Don De La Vega had a sword wound in the exact place he had stabbed Zorro.

* In an episode of the old television show ''It Takes a Thief'', Alexander Mundy gets a slash on the arm from the villain's [[TheDragon dragon]], and later the villain realizes who his opponent is when he studies photographs and spots that the fake skin on Mundy's arm is wrinkling after it gets wet.
* While not an injury per se, there is an episode of ''White Collar'' where Neal gets himself captured and drugged up with an unspecified drug that makes him higher than a kite. When Peter rescues him Neal admits to him that he trusts Peter more than anyone - a revelation he probably wouldn't have made if he weren't so loopy.

* In the fourth case of PhoenixWrightAceAttorney, [[spoiler:Manfred Von Karma never had the bullet removed from his shoulder to avoid becoming a suspect in Gregory Edgeworth's death. Phoenix exposes him by first realizing that two bullets were fired (the one that broke the glass and hit von Karma in the shoulder and the one that killed Gregory), and using a metal detector to find the other bullet]]. Invoked in the third case, when someone steals the Steel Samurai case and pretends to be limping from a sprained ankle to cast suspicion on Will Powers, who sprained his ankle.
** In ApolloJusticeAceAttorney, the fact that Alita Tiala's scarf hides [[spoiler:the marks from where Dr. Meratkis tried to strangle her]] turns out to be a crucial point of evidence.

* This is sort of borderline, but in ''MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha Strikers'', late in the season, protagonist Subaru fights some combat cyborgs who are kidnapping her big sister Ginga. She loses the fight and is seriously injured, which is when we see that [[spoiler: she is a combat cyborg too.]]

* Subverted in the first ''{{Beethoven}}'' movie, in which the evil vet fakes an injury after claiming the titular dog attacked him. Later George grabs him by the arm and a moment later realises that there's no injury at all.

* There are sever
al tales in folklore of witches terrorizing a town in animal form, until their paw is wounded by a holy man or witch-hunter, who is then able to find the witch when she resumes human form, because her hand will bear the same wound.

* There are several tales in folklore of witches terrorizing a town in animal form, until their paw is wounded by a holy man or witch-hunter, who is then able to find the witch when she resumes human form, because her hand will bear the same wound.