History Main / SurgicalImpersonation

* Probably the most literal example is ''Film/FaceOff'', in which a policeman undergoes a special operation in which he has his face literally taken off and replaced with a crime lord's in order to infiltrate his organization... and later the crime lord manages to get the cop's face put on him to return the favor.

* Thomas Elliot, AKA Hush, the newest big member of {{Batman}}'s rogue gallery, uses surgery on himself to impersonate people. Taken to a HUGE extreme, since ''he performs the surgeries on himself''.
* An old ''Comicbook/{{Superman}}'' comic had a story about a man who'd had reconstructive surgery after being trapped in a fire as a boy: he'd been saved from the fire by Superboy, and asked to have his new face made to look like Superboy's as a tribute. As an embittered adult, he started committing robberies disguised as Superman.

* '''WesternAnimation/JonnyQuest'' episode "Double Danger". Dr. Zin uses plastic surgery on a man to make him look like Race Bannon so he can impersonate Race and steal a secret formula.

* ''Series/{{The Incredible Hulk}}'': "Broken Image" is a gangster example.

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* In ''ArsenicAndOldLace'', one of the characters is a wanted criminal who had surgery to change his appearance; the surgeon, inspired by a horror movie he'd been watching, gave him the face of Creator/BorisKarloff. (This started out as an ActorAllusion: in the original production, the actor playing the character ''was'' Boris Karloff.)

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* In ''ArsenicAndOldLace'', one of the characters is a wanted criminal who had surgery to change his appearance; the surgeon, inspired by a horror movie he'd been watching, gave him the face of BorisKarloff. (This started out as an ActorAllusion: in the original production, the actor playing the character ''was'' Boris Karloff.)

* Decoy Octopus, Foxhound's infiltration and espionage expert in the ''MetalGearSolid'' series uses this method to impersonate people.

* In ''SherlockHolmesAGameOfShadows'', part of Moriarty's plot turns out to involve having one of his underlings undergo surgery to impersonate a diplomat at an important peace conference.

A subtrope of MagicPlasticSurgery, this is when a person, whether by accident or on purpose, ends up with the face of another through reconstructive surgery. Usually, some kind of big accident is involved (or staged) that leads to the fateful operation, or the person might just disappear for a while and come back with the new face. However, as mentioned, this is a subtrope of MagicPlasticSurgery: it is not enough that the person has a new face, it is a ''specific'' face, the face of someone else that is known to the other characters, perhaps even a character who's a participant in the story. Also, this isn't LITERALLY having the other person's face ([[FaceOff usually...]]), just having surgery to look like the other person. Bottom line is this: the person's new face is not a random or unknown one, it is a face well known to the other characters. Also, this is not the same as LatexPerfection: while that might be another way of impersonating someone, it is not at all permanent like Surgical Impersonation is, nor does it have as many dramatic options.

* Probably the most literal example is ''[[FaceOff Face/Off]]'', in which a policeman undergoes a special operation in which he has his face literally taken off and replaced with a crime lord's in order to infiltrate his organization... and later the crime lord manages to get the cop's face put on him to return the favor.

* An old ''Superman'' comic had a story about a man who'd had reconstructive surgery after being trapped in a fire as a boy: he'd been saved from the fire by Superboy, and asked to have his new face made to look like Superboy's as a tribute. As an embittered adult, he started committing robberies disguised as Superman.
* {{XIII}} utilizes this trope in conjunction with [[spoiler:DeadPersonImpersonation]] to [[spoiler:draw out members of a government conspiracy.]] After the titular conspirator kills the president, [[spoiler:the rest of the group has him killed. His wife, another conspirator as well as TheMole, hires his rival from his old army unit to impersonate her late husband so the rest of the group will come out of hiding to try and finish him off.]]

* ''{{Alias}}'': One faction of bad guys can do this; they kill Sidney's best friend Francine and replace her with a duplicate.

* In the second case of ''[[AceAttorney Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Justice For All]]'': the murderer is revealed to be a woman who was believed to have died in a car accident, when it turned out that the one who died was actually her sister. She took her sister's identity by presenting the girl's picture while she was in surgery in order to impersonate her to take her revenge.

* ''JonnyQuest'' episode "Double Danger". Dr. Zin uses plastic surgery on a man to make him look like Race Bannon so he can impersonate Race and steal a secret formula.
* On ''TheSimpsons'' episode "The Bob Next Door", Sideshow Bob trades faces with his cellmate, who was to be released the next day, in order to enact his latest plan to kill Bart.

* In the ''[[TheManFromUncle The Man from UNCLE]]'' episode "The Double Affair," a THRUSH agent gets Magic Plastic Surgery and voice training to look and sound like Napoleon Solo so he can replace him and sabotage UNCLE affairs.
* An assassin in ''[[TwentyFour 24]]'' does this by impersonating a photographer and stealing his identity to get through security.

* ''DiamondsAreForever''. Blofeld has two {{mook}}s undergo plastic surgery to make them look like him in order to distract JamesBond.

* In ''Film/SherlockHolmes: A Game of Shadows'', part of Moriarty's plot turns out to involve having one of his underlings undergo surgery to impersonate a diplomat at an important peace conference.

* ''GetSmart'': In one of the many SpotTheImposter episodes, master impersonator Alexi Sebastian has his face altered to look like DaChief.

* In [[EdWood Ed Wood's]] ''Jail Bait'', a crook blackmails a plastic surgeon to change his face so the police won't recognize him. The plastic surgeon responds by giving him the face of his (the surgeon's) own son, who's been falsely accused of murder.

A subtrope of MagicPlasticSurgery, this is when a person, whether by accident or on purpose, ends up with the face of another through reconstructive surgery. Usually, some kind of big accident is involved(or staged) that leads to the fateful operation, or the person might just disappear for a while and come back with the new face. However, as mentioned, this is a subtrope of MagicPlasticSurgery: it is not enough that the person has a new face, it is a ''specific'' face, the face of someone else that is known to the other characters, perhaps even a character who's a participant in the story. Also, this isn't LITERALLY having the other person's face([[FaceOff usually...]]), just having surgery to look like the other person. Bottom line is this: the person's new face is not a random or unknown one, it is a face well known to the other characters. Also, this is not the same as LatexPerfection: while that might be another way of impersonating someone, it is not at all permanent like Surgical Impersonation is, nor does it have as many dramatic options.

A subtrope of '''MagicPlasticSurgery''', this is when a person, whether by accident or on purpose, ends up with the face of another through reconstructive surgery. Usually, some kind of big accident is involved(or staged) that leads to the fateful operation, or the person might just disappear for a while and come back with the new face. However, as mentioned, this is a subtrope of MagicPlasticSurgery: it is not enough that the person has a new face, it is a ''specific'' face, the face of someone else that is known to the other characters, perhaps even a character who's a participant in the story. Also, this isn't LITERALLY having the other person's face([[FaceOff usually...]]), just having surgery to look like the other person. Bottom line is this: the person's new face is not a random or unknown one, it is a face well known to the other characters. Also, this is not the same as LatexPerfection: while that might be another way of impersonating someone, it is not at all permanent like Surgical Impersonation is, nor does it have as many dramatic options.

* '''BecomingTheMask''': The character, in adopting someone else's face, actually starts living that person's life, and might even start to enjoy it and not want to go back to his previous life.
* '''IdentityAmnesia''': A very interesting combination: a character suffers amnesia and is given someone else's face. This can lead to a '''TomatoInTheMirror''' situation in which the character eventually finds, to his horror, that he's not the person everyone claims he is. A '''MiningAccidentOnTroy''' might also play a part here. If the author wants to hit the character with the full whammy, he might go for '''AmnesiacDissonance''', too.
* '''DeadPersonImpersonation''': One of the more common tropes associated with this one: the person is impersonating a deceased person for some motive or another, usually revenge. If the impersonator CAUSED the original's death, it's '''KillAndReplace'''. It can also be a case of '''MySiblingWillLiveThroughMe''': the person receiving the surgery takes this trope to the extreme, becoming physically identical to the dead relative.

Subtrope of '''MagicPlasticSurgery'''. Compare '''LatexPerfection'''. A form of '''ActingForTwo'''.

'''Examples:'''

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* On ''TheSimpsons'' episode "The Bob Next Door", Sideshow Bob trades faces with his cellmate, who was to be released the next day, in order to enact his latest plan to kill Bart.

* ''JonnyQuest'' episode "Double Danger". Dr. Zin uses plastic surgery on a man to make him look like Race Bannon so he can impersonate Race and steal a secret formula.

Subtrope of '''MagicPlasticSurgery'''. Contrast '''LatexPerfection'''. A form of '''ActingForTwo'''.