History Main / TheVillainKnowsMoment

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' has an example involving a GambitPileup between [[Characters/SouthParkEricCartman Eric Cartman]] and Scott Tenorman in the Season 5 episode [[Recap/SouthParkS5E4ScottTenormanMustDie Scott Tenorman Must Die]]. After Cartman ultimately fails to recover his money from Scott (who burns it right after humiliating him), he devises a plan to humiliate him in return: He begins training a pony so it bites Scott's penis during a chili festival, and tries to persuade Stan and Kyle to invite him into the event; the two boys not only refuse to join his plan but secretly call Scott via phone to leak the information to him, thus giving '''him''' a chance to retaliate with an even more humiliating plan (to make Cartman eat chili seasoned with the pubic hair of ''half the population'' of South Park during their chili festival). During the fateful event, Cartman tries to convince Scott to ride the pony so everybody can see it bite his penis, but Scott ends up overriding the plan in favor of both going first to eat chili, so it all seems like Scott has succeeded in his sordid plan. However, when the two characters are about to finish eating and Scott prepares to reveal the AwfulTruth (that Cartman ate the chili seasoned with pubic hair), Cartman in turn reveals to Scott that he knew about ''that'' plan; so he not only ate chili from a different bowl, but also reveals that Scott inadvertently ate chili seasoned with the remains of his parents. Cartman proceeds to explain how that happened, and it all started from the moment he tried to invoke this very trope thanks to Stan and Kyle (the plan about the pony biting Scott's penis was a ''decoy'').

[[quoteright:1000:[[ComicBook/{{Daredevil}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/daredevil_v2_005_0102.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:1000:As one Devil to another...]]

This trope is also a common target of subversions. The villain might smugly tell the heroic character that they are privy to their little secret. Cue the heroic character sweating bullets for a moment as they brace for the impact of their carefully laid plans coming crashing down, only for the villain to then reveal that they are entirely misinformed about whatever the secret is (possibly the villain turns out to be RightForTheWrongReasons or EntertaininglyWrong). The villain might even just be talking about [[BaitAndSwitchAccusation something completely unrelated and innocous]], but still treat it like they are about to drop some kind of incredible insight. In this kind of situation, a character with a tendency to act before they think might actually be the one accidentally gives away the information by panicking and ending up SayingTooMuch before the villain can finish his statement (at which the bemused villain might note "Huh. I was really talking about something else entirely, but thank you for telling me nonetheless."). A savvier character will often calmly hear the villain out and, being in no hurry to disabuse them of their wrong assertion, solve the situation with a SureLetsGoWithThat

->'' I know you! I almost knew you as soon as I saw you on the road coming to my door. Since then, there is no movement of yours that has not betrayed you! A pace, a glance, a turn of the head, the flash of your throat as you breathe... even your way of standing perfectly still - they were all my spies!''

* ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'': In the "Moxibustion Arc", after Ranma has been rendered physically weak by Happosai, Cologne teaches him the Hiryu Shoten Ha, a technique that requires no strength and uses an enemies power against them. Ranma masters the technique, then goes off to confront Happosai. Except there's a problem. Easily provoked as Happosai usually is, he refuses to fight Ranma. Then it turns out that despite Cologne's earlier statement that no one outside of her tribe had seen the Hiryu Shoten Ha in hundreds of years, Happosai reveals that he knows the technique and that Ranma is trying to use it. How? Turns out Cologne forgot that the last time she used the technique over a hundred years earlier, it was against ''Happosai''.

[[folder:Film -- Animation]]

[[folder:Film -- Live Action]]

* ''Film/AvengersEndgame'': The Avengers perform a TimeTravel across different eras to retrieve the Infinity Stones (Thanos had destroyed them in the present) in order to bring back all the people who vanished at the end of ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar''. However, when Nebula and Rhodey travel to 2014 to retrieve the Power Stone, Nebula experiences an overlap with the memories of the 2014 version of herself, who happens to be with Thanos at that time. Thanos scans the memories with the Nebula who's with him and discovers what the Avengers plan to do in the future. When the present-era Nebula exits the overlap, she realizes to her horror that Thanos discovered the plan and tries to go back to the present, but she's abducted into the ''Sanctuary II''.

-->'''Hans:''' I'm going to count to three...
-->'''John:''' Like you did with Takagi?
-->'''Hans:''' ''(pulls trigger repeatedly to find the gun empty)''
-->'''John:''' Whoops. No bullets! ''(takes the gun back)'' You think I'm fucking stupid, Hans?

-->'''Smaug:''' And what about your little [[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame Dwarf]] friends? Where are ''they'' hiding?
-->'''Bilbo:''' [[OhCrap D-Dwarves]]? No, [[BlatantLies there's no Dwarves here]], you've got that all wrong.
-->'''Smaug:''' Oh, I don't think so, ''"Barrel-Rider"''. They sent you in here to do their dirty work, while they ''skulk about outside!'' {...} I [[TheNoseKnows know the smell and taste of Dwarf]]! ''No one better!'' It is [[DragonHoard the gold]]. They are [[GoldFever drawn to treasure]] like ''flies to dead flesh!''

* ''Film/SpiderManHomecoming'' has a scene where Adrian Toomes, aka the Vulture learns that Peter Parker is Spider-Man, shown in a EurekaMoment. Shortly afterwards, he has his daughter Liz Allen get out of the car so that he can give Peter "the dad talk". This is where he reveals that he's figured it out and offers to spare Peter and his loved ones as gratitude for saving Liz, but only if he stays out of his way.

-->'''Fletcher''': Do you think I'm fucking stupid? I know it was you.

--> '''Harry:''' Umbridge has passed a decree, meaning we're not allowed to have Quidditch teams.
--> '''Sirius:''' Or secret Defence Against the Dark Arts groups?

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003'':

This trope is also a common target of subversions. The villain might smugly tell the heroic character that they are privy to their little secret. Cue the heroic character sweating bullets for a moment as they brace for the impact of their carefully laid plans coming crashing down, only for the villain to then reveal that they are entirely misinformed about whatever the secret is (possibly the villain turns out to be RightForTheWrongReasons or EntertaininglyWrong). The villain might even just be talking about [[BaitAndSwitchAccusation something completely unrelated and innocous]], but still treat it like he is about to drop some kind of incredible insight. In this kind of situation, a character with a tendency to act before they think might actually be the one accidentally gives away the information by panicking and ending up SayingTooMuch before the villain can finish his statement (at which the bemused villain might note "Huh. I was really talking about something else entirely, but thank you for telling me nonetheless."). A savvier character will often calmly hear the villain out and, being in no hurry to disabuse them of their wrong assertion, solve the situation with a SureLetsGoWithThat

* ''ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}'': During the Creator/KevinSmith run on Daredevil, Matt asks Doctor Strange to help him figure out who has been trying to mess with him and his friends. Strange summons Mephisto, and asks him what he knows. Mephisto is summoned in a position where he's bound and blindfolded, and Strange asks him if he knows anything about the returning of the Messiah as an infant. Mephisto points out that in ''Literature/TheBible'', Jesus will return as an adult, the way he left, then grins evilly, asking how the person who wants to know can be so ''blind''. It is at that moment that Matt knows Mephisto is aware of his presence.

-->-- '''King Haggard''',''WesternAnimation/TheLastUnicorn''

Due to the nature of the trope '''''Beware of unmarked spoilers.'''''

-> '' I know you! I almost knew you as soon as I saw you on the road coming to my door. Since then, there is no movement of yours that has not betrayed you! A pace, a glance, a turn of the head, the flash of your throat as you breathe... even your way of standing perfectly still - they were all my spies!''

And then the BigBad drops the major bomb on them, figuratively speaking. They already know the key piece of information, or the details of ThePlan, and they've prepared accordingly.

* ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'': In the "Moxibustion Arc", after Ranma has been rendered physically weak by Happosai, Cologne teaches him the Hiryu Shoten Ha, a technique that requires no strength and uses an enemies power against them. Ranma masters the technique, then goes off to confront Happosai. Except there's a problem. Easily provoked as Happosai usually is, he refuses to fight Ranma. Then it turns out that despite Cologne's earlier statement that no one outside of her tribe had seen the Hiryu Shoten Ha in hundreds of years, Happosai reveals that he knows the technique, and that Ranma is trying to use it. How? Turns out Cologne forgot that the last time she used the technique over a hundred years earlier, it was against ''Happosai''.

** Desslar has a hotline to Starsha of Iscandar. One conversation he has with her early on has him reveal to her, without saying it out loud, that he knows she's the ones who provided Earth with the plans for the Wave Motion Engine, and, in turn, allowed them to make a WaveMotionGun. He's fully aware of their final destination, the planet Iscandar, which he can literally see from his bedroom window.

** Downplayed. Mabruk, angry at being cast out by Haggard, starts to summon a powerful spell, only for Amalthea to step between the wizard and Haggard. Mabruk sees the star shaped mark on her forehead glow and pulse, and starts laughing madly at Haggard, showing Mabruk ''knows'' who and what Amalthea really is.
--> '''Mabruk:''' Haggard, I would not be you for all the world! You have let your doom in by the front door! But it will not depart that way! Farewell, poor King Haggard. Farewell. ''(vanishes in a whisp of smoke)''

--> '''Schmendrick:''' Molly, he ''knows''. Haggard knows what Amalthea is, I'm sure of it.

* ''Film/TheAssistant'': While working as an assistant for a very successful producer, Jane cracks and goes to [=HR=] to inform them about his mass sexual assault (including of very young women). This happens ''three'' times to her in quick succession. First, [=HR=] spells out for her that they know all about the producer's abuses and won't do anything about them. Then, when Jane returns to her desk, despite Wilcok's promise not to share that information, it becomes clear that two of her unfriendly co-workers know that she went there to report him when they tell her to "come to them first." ''Then'' the Boss himself calls Jane. After having essentially berated and attacked her throughout all of their other conversations, this time the Boss is extremely nice to Jane and tells her he thinks she's cut out for big things. Jane's facial expressions reveal that, while she's flattered, she knows ''exactly'' what caused this change.

--> '''Hans:''' I'm going to count to three...
--> '''John:''' Like you did with Takagi?
--> '''Hans:''' ''(pulls trigger repeatedly to find the gun empty)''
--> '''John:''' Whoops. No bullets! ''(takes the gun back)'' You think I'm fucking stupid, Hans?

-->'''Smaug:''' And what about your little [[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame Dwarf]] friends? Where are ''they''hiding?

-->'''Smaug:''' Oh, I don't think so, ''"Barrel-Rider"''. They sent you in here to do their dirty work, while they ''skulk about outside!'' {...} I [[TheNoseKnows know the smell and taste of Dwarf]]! ''No-one better!'' It is [[DragonHoard the gold]]. They are [[GoldFever drawn to treasure]] like ''flies to dead flesh!''
* ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'': Palaptine tells Luke, who is a prisoner, that he is fully aware of the Rebel fleet approaching, as it was ''he'' who allowed the Death Star's location to be leaked to the Rebel Alliance, and that he has an entire legion of troops waiting on Endor to deal with the team assigned to destroy the deflector shield generator.

* ''Literature/TheDarkHalf'': Elizabeth Beaumont, confronted by the physical manifestation of her husband's pseudonym, George Stark, is abducted, along with their twin children, by the dark reflection of her husband. She manages to conceal a pair of scissors in her panties with an eye to stabbing Stark if the opportunity presented itself. Once they reach their destination, an occasion arises where Stark needs the scissors, and reaches into Elizabeth's undergarments to retrieve them. She is both alarmed and astonished that he knew they were there.
* Discussed in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix''. Immediately after Harry, Ron and Hermione have formed their secret Defence Against the Dark Arts group "Dumbledore's Army", notices appear all around the school from Professor Umbridge decreeing that all student groups are disbanded. Harry says angrily that it's not a coincidence, and that Umbridge knows. A similar moment occurs on their own side, when their ally Sirius Black reveals that he also knows, which they were not expecting.

* ''Literature/LivingDeadGirl'': One of Ray's favorite tactics of emotional warfare against Alice is to pretend that he knows less than he does, only to reveal that he does even if it's petty. The biggest and most dramatic example is when he goes to the park and learns that Alice has been talking to Barbara, a police officer. Though Alice hasn't engaged with Barbara, Ray doesn't believe her and ultimately rages at her to a point where he stabs her.
* ''Literature/YesDaddy'': Jonah's relationship to Richard goes horrifically sour after he writes a dramatic scene where a fictional {{Expy}} of Jonah confronts "Richard" for sexually assaulting him. Jonah falls asleep and leaves the laptop open, causing Richard to read the scene on the laptop. For a while it appears that things ''might'' be okay, but it soon becomes clear to Jonah that it won't and Richard will make him suffer.

* ''Series/{{Leverage}}'': Frequently subverted on the show. There are many instances where it looks like the BigBad of the episode is aware of the heroes and what they're doing, but typically this is a KansasCityShuffle by TheChessmaster, Nate. The first and most glaring example is in the pilot episode, when Victor Dubenich shows his [[TheDragon Dragon]] the bug the team had planted, then leads him out of the room so they can talk freely, saying that he figured it out quickly, what with Nate using "Nigerians", as it was too reminiscent of an internet scam. But it turns out Nate and the others ''wanted'' Victor to find the bug "with the blinking red light" so he would give himself enough rope to hang himself thinking he was being clever.

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' has an example involving a GambitPileup between [[Characters/SouthParkEricCartman Eric Cartman]] and Scott Tenorman in the Season 5 episode [[Recap/SouthParkS5E4ScottTenormanMustDie Scott Tenorman Must Die]]. After Cartman ultimately fails to recover his money from Scott (who burns it right after humiliating him), he devises a plan to humiliate him in return: He begins training a pony so it bites Scott's penis during a chili festival, and tries to persuade Stan and Kyle to invite him into the event; the two boys not only refuse to join his plan, but secretly call Scott via phone to leak the information to him, thus giving '''him''' a chance to retaliate with an even more humiliating plan (to make Cartman eat chili seasoned with the pubic hair of ''half the population'' of South Park during their chili festival). During the fateful event, Cartman tries to convince Scott to ride the pony so everybody can see it bite his penis, but Scott ends up overriding the plan in favor of both going first to eat chili, so it all seems like Scott has succeeded in his sordid plan. However, when the two characters are about to finish eating and Scott prepares to reveal the AwfulTruth (that Cartman ate the chili seasoned with pubic hair), Cartman in turn reveals to Scott that he knew about ''that'' plan; so he not only ate chili from a different bowl, but also reveals that Scott inadvertently ate chili seasoned with the remains of his parents. Cartman proceeds to explain how that happened, and it all started from the moment he tried to invoke this very trope thanks to Stan and Kyle (the plan about the pony biting Scott's penis was a ''decoy'').

** "Masks" sees a new and enterprising villain known as Red X stealing components that [[Characters/TeenTitans2003Slade Slade]] wanted, then offering to sell them to Slade. Having finally gathered all the components, Red X asks Slade what he wants with them, at which point Slade says, "Patience. You can't expect me to trust with such sensitive information right away, can you... [[WhamLine Robin]]?"

* ''Series/{{Leverage}}'': Frequently subverted on the show. There are many instances where it looks like the BigBad of the episode is aware of the heroes and what they're doing, but typically this is already part of ThePlan by TheChessmaster, Nate. The first and most glaring example is in the pilot episode, when Victor Dubenich shows his [[TheDragon Dragon]] the bug the team had planted, then leads him out of the room so they can talk freely, saying that he figured it out quickly, what with Nate using "Nigerians", as it was too reminiscent of an internet scam. But it turns out Nate and the others ''wanted'' Victor to find the bug "with the blinking red light" so he would give himself enough rope to hang himself thinking he was being clever.

[[/folder]]

Can overlap with InternalReveal if the audience knows what the villain knows, but the heroes are unaware. Often overlaps WhamLine.

* ''Film/AvengersEndgame'': The Avengers perform a TimeTravel across different eras to retrieve the Infinity Stones (Thanos had destroyed them in the present) in order to bring back all the people who vanished at the end of ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar''. However, when Nebula and Rhodey travel to 2014 to retrieve the Power Stone, the former character experiences an overlap with the memories of the 2014 version of herself, who happens to be with Thanos at that time. Thanos scans the memories with the Nebula who's with him and discovers what the Avengers plan to do in the future. When the present-era Nebula exits the overlap, she realizes to her horror that Thanos discovered the plan and tries to go back to the present, but she's abducted into the ''Sanctuary II''.

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': Halfway through the episode "The Day of Black Sun", [[spoiler:there's the big InternalReveal that Azula's known about the invasion for months, and she planned ahead (meaning that Ozai isn't anywhere where the Avatar can get to him, she has her Dai Li agents to protect her (seeing as how they're earthbenders and unaffected by the eclipse), and she's easily able to manipulate Sokka into wasting the precious time they have.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' has an example involving a GambitPileup between Cartman and Scott Tenorman in the Season 5 episode [[Recap/SouthParkS5E4ScottTenormanMustDie Scott Tenorman Must Die]]. After Cartman ultimately fails to recover his money from Scott (who burns it right after humiliating him), he devises a plan to humiliate him in return: He begins training a pony so it bites Scott's penis during a chili festival, and tries to persuade Stan and Kyle to invite him into the event; the two boys not only refuse to join his plan, but secretly call Scott via phone to leak the information to him, thus giving '''him''' a chance to retaliate with an even more humiliating plan (to make Cartman eat chili seasoned with the pubic hair of ''half the population'' of South Park during their chili festival). During the fateful event, Cartman tries to convince Scott to ride the pony so everybody can see it bite his penis, but Scott ends up overriding the plan in favor of both going first to eat chili, so it all seems like Scott has succeeded in his sordid plan. However, when the two characters are about to finish eating and Scott prepares to reveal the AwfulTruth (that Cartman ate the chili seasoned with pubic hair), Cartman in turn reveals to Scott that he knew about ''that'' plan; so he not only ate chili from a different bowl, but also reveals that Scott inadvertently ate chili seasoned with the remains of his parents. Cartman proceeds to explain how that happened, and it all started from the moment he tried to invoke this very trope thanks to Stan and Kyle (the plan about the pony biting Scott's penis was a ''decoy'').
* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'':
** "Masks" sees a new and enterprising villain known as Red X stealing components that Slade wanted, then offering to sell them to Slade. Having finally gathered all the components, Red X asks Slade what he wants with them, at which point Slade says, "Patience. You can't expect me to trust with such sensitive information right away, can you... [[WhamLine Robin]]?"

* ''Literature/TheHungerGames'': In ''Literature/CatchingFire'', President Snow visits Katniss at her home to warn her that [[spoiler:her and Peeta's action of threatening to commit mutual suicide rather than be forced to kill each at the end of the 74th Hunger Games]] is inspiring an uprising among the oppressed districts. He reveals that he knows about her hunting in the woods with Gale, which is illegal, and the only reason he doesn't execute her is because it would make the districts even more angry (Gale has no such protection, however). He uses this information to threaten her that while she's on the Victory Tour, she better act like she's nothing but a silly, lovestruck girl and no IconOfRebellion. His last words to her before he leaves the house are "By the way, I know about the kiss," revealing that [[ParanoiaFuel he also knows about the time when Gale kissed her when they were alone]].