Spotting The Thread / Comic Books

Spotting the Thread in Comic Books.

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• Spoofed in Adventures in the Rifle Bridage, where the title commando unit is Dressing as the Enemy in Berlin and runs into an SS squadron. Captain Darcy salutes the British way, and it's hard to tell with the Translation Convention but he seems to still be speaking English ("Regards to your sister, old man.") They almost get away with it when someone notices that Sgt. Crumb is slightly out of uniform - one of his epaulettes is on crooked.
• The key moment in the Astro City story "Confession" is when Brian confronts the Confessor with various observations he's made.
  Brian: You're prenaturally strong and fast. Bullets go through you. You can turn into mist. You mesmerize people with a look...You snuck up on me when I was looking in a mirror! You don't have a reflection! You...you're a vampire, aren't you?
  Confessor: Ah, Brian, well...well done.
  • Shortly after, Brian openly notes that "I spotted the clues but you let me", knowing the Confessor wanted him to figure out his secret.
• The Avengers:
  • During Avengers: The Kree/Skrull War, Captain Marvel is trying to make an omni-wave projector, with Carol Danvers nearby. Just as he's finished, he suddenly smashes it. Why? Because Carol called him "Mar-Vell". He never told her his name, which is how he deduces "Carol" is actually a Skrull. And not just any Skrull - it's Super-Skrull.
  • A noted Russian scientist and chess player is electrocuted during a game against a highly-advanced chess-playing super-computer. Later that night, a man exits the computer, having sabotaged it. He's startled by the arrival of the Vision who explains that, as an avid chess player himself, he found it odd that this supposedly infallible supercomputer would have used a move disqualified in play several years earlier. The Vision realized the only answer was someone wanted the Russian to move a specific piece to set off the trap.
• Batman:
  • In Batman: No Man's Land, Gotham City is hit with a cataclysmic earthquake and quarantined. Batman is in the city trying to clean it up, having sent Superman away. But Superman has come back as Clark Kent, trying to help people on a different scale. He tells Batman that he did his best to rough up his clothes so as not to stand out and asks Batman how he did. Batman looks him over and says "The toes of your shoes are scuffed, but you forgot to scuff the heels. Your shirt is dirty but bears no evidence of sweat or epidermal oil secretion stains. And no one around here has smelled of deodorant, soap or laundry detergent for over five months." Clark asks how he looks to someone who isn't the world's greatest detective. Batman says he looks fine.
  • Prior to this, in Batman: Cataclysm, Robin is constantly watching the ransom video from the villain known as Quakemaster. He realizes he's choosing words much more carefully and replacing them with more odd ones, like "Currency" instead of "Bills" and "Prior" rather than "Before". Then it hits him who the Quakemaster really is: it's the Ventriloquist, who infamously cannot say words with a "B" in them, replacing them with a "G".
• JLA (1997): In the first arc, Batman deduces the true nature of the Hyperclan this way. Strength, speed, shapeshifting, aversion of fire: They're Martians. They got away with it as long as they did with each one emphasizing a different power from the common power set.
• In a 1997 team-up special, Batman and Daredevil are working together. Used to heroes thinking he can see, Daredevil brushes off knowing info on "let's just say I'm lucky".
  Batman: No, let's say you're visually impaired. You favor your other modes of sensory input. A subtle inclination of your head whenever there's a sound. An extremely slight floating of your nostrils, indicating olfactory acuteness. You're practiced... or possess sensory enhancements... making your powers of observation markedly proficient.
  Daredevil: Thanks... you aren't bad either.
• The Brave and the Bold: In one issue, the Penguin captures Black Canary and has a female assassin impersonate her in order to kill Batman. Batman quickly subdues the impostor after noticing that she's a natural blonde, unlike the real Black Canary, who wears a wig.
• In the Captain America arc that retcons the "Commie Smasher" Captain America as an impostor, Falcon knows from the beginning that William Burnside isn't the real Steve Rogers because he noticed that the stripes on Burnside's costume are only on the front rather than the real Captain America costume's wrap-around stripes.
• Captain Atom had the government put out the story that Captain Atom had been given his powers in an atomic explosion and a non-existent "history" of being a superhero decades earlier. Justice League teammate Booster Gold is surprised when Mister Miracle and the Blue Beetle tell him that's all a lie. Miracle had been checking out an injured Atom to discover he was half-extraterrestrial, which didn't match the "atomic bomb empowerment" story. Meanwhile, Atom had tried to win Beetle's favor by talking of a past adventure with the original Blue Beetle, Dan Garrett. That included a "journal" mentioning things like Atom flying alongside Garrett's flying "Bug" ship. But Ted Kord knew that Garrett never had a bug as he flew under his own power and so knew the story was fake.
• Deadpool got a memory/flashback version in Cable & Deadpool-when T-Ray showed Deadpool the moment when Deadpool "tried to kill him and then stole his identity" in an earlier series, Deadpool was already in costume. When Cable fixed Deadpool's memories later, Deadpool remembered that he only got the costume after Weapon X, which he only joined because his cancer made him leave the army-
  Deadpool: Which I signed up for as Wade Winston Wilson!
  • This gets retconned in and out Depending on the Writer, though fans typically take this as proof that Deadpool is Wade and T-Ray is not.
• G.I. Joe villain Zartan uses several different methods to make himself into the perfect infiltrator, but is prone to missing details. Storm Shadow foils one disguise—a moped-riding priest—by recalling how Zartan drives motorcycles.
• Knights of the Old Republic: Shad Jelavan proves to be a quite perceptive young lad when he arrives to the knighting ceremony of the Jedi Enclave on Taris. First, he asks why the Jedi Masters are all carrying their lightsabers, which is not allowed on the Temple floor, but the masters claim that it's for the knighting ceremony. Shad accepts the answer, but questions why Lucien, who's Padawan was the most inept of the bunch, is carrying his saber, which Lucien claims is because more Jedi, even inept ones, are needed for the war. The Padawans briefly celebrate on behalf of their friends, until realizing that, with how derogatorily Lucien had treated his Padawan, there was no way he would let him become a Knight. Unfortunately, this thread-pulling is not enough to save him, as the masters simply kill them all while they're unarmed. It does, however, ensure that the aforementioned inept Padawan, who arrived late, survives by walking in on the massacre.
• Lucky Luke: In the comic "The Singing Wire", Lucky Luke finds out that the Indian in their team is in fact not a real Indian but a disguised crook who had been sabotaging their attempts to build a telegraph wire, because he smells like shaving cream and Indians don't have beards.
• Mickey Mouse Comic Universe:
  • Used in an old Italian story. Mickey Mouse wakes up and finds himself to be an old man, residing in a run-down version of his home. An elderly Goofy claims that Mickey is suffering from amnesia and has forgotten entire decades of his life. He offers information on what happened with Mickey's former fiancée Minnie and former friends. It all seems very convincing. During a conversation between the two old men, Mickey namedrops a number of characters and observes Goofy's reaction. He then unmasks "Goofy" as an impostor and reveals that the whole tale was an elaborate hoax. The impostor failed to notice that at least one of the people Mickey mentioned in their conversation never existed (it was a made-up name), and the impostor offered to contact her. The real Goofy would be at least surprised.
  • Used it a 1990s story where someone impersonates the Phantom Blot. While investigating this Blot's crimes, Mickey is puzzled why the Blot has reverted to using long-abandoned methods from the early days of his career. Following several clues that this Blot is an immature rookie, Mickey reveals his identity as that of a college student who had done extensive research on the real Blot for a criminology course. The impostor had decided to become a copycat super-villain, but was using outdated sources on the Blot's methods, and had no real experience in orchestrating crimes.
• In Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: Shattered Grid, in a case of Once More, with Clarity, Lord Drakkon finally gets in contact with Ranger Slayer, who was accidentally sent into the past of the original Power Rangers team. As they talk, Finster 5 notices something - she's morphed, but she's missing her bow. It clues Drakkon in that her Brainwashed and Crazy spell is broken.
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (IDW): When trapped in a Lotus-Eater Machine in the second story-arc, Spike realizes it's not real when Rarity tells him to forget everyone else and serve only her, and doesn't fully appreciate the significance of the Fire Ruby he brought with him (it was previously a gift he gave to her).
• In the Mark Millar series Prodigy, super-genius Edison Crane is approached by CIA agent Rachel Straks who needs his help against a mysterious conspiracy. Crane is able to work out a massive code being used by the sinister Tinker to pave the way for an army from another dimension to invade Earth. At which point, Rachel turns out to be Tinker's half-sister and they were using Crane to crack the code for them. They implement it... and it ends up giving Crane total control of their systems so he can thwart the entire invasion plan. Crane states that, contrary to what the duo believed, he was quick to figure out "Rachel Straks" was an anagram for "Charles Trask", the traitor from East of Eden. He also recognized that the name of the general who supposedly sent Rachel on her mission was "Bear Thriftbank" which was an anagram for Frank the Rabbit, the Imaginary Friend from Donnie Darko. Also, while Rachel's fake background was excellent, she couldn't speak Bedouin when it was a prerequisite for any CIA agent in the area she claimed to have been stationed in. "If she was lying about that, she was lying about everything else." He lampshades how their attempt to be Too Clever by Half just gave away their scheme for him.
• Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics): Mammoth Mogul orchestrates a fight between the Chaotix and the Freedom Fighters by disguising his own minions as one group to attack the other. The heroes manage to work out the deception from a few clues. First, "Archimedes" was able to perform one of his "teleports" at a distance while he had always before needed to be able to touch people to do it. Second, "Bunnie" was able to throw boulders with both her arms when in reality she can only do it with her cybernetic one. Third, Mogul wasn't able to properly replicate Sonic's speed and the duplicate was too slow. Fourth, Mogul only had four minions on staff to disguise while the Chaotix had six members and the Freedom Fighters had seven. Only having four of the six or seven members attacking was too suspicious.
• Spider-Man:
  • Villain Chameleon is caught out like this twice when he goes after Mary Jane and Aunt May, both of whom are easily able to tell that he's not the real Peter Parker through clues like this, and are thus able to administer particularly awesome kickings of his ass as a result.
    Aunt May: You'll be interested to learn that Peter's Uncle Ben couldn't go to sleep without making sure that every door in the house was locked and double-locked. And that Peter's favorite cookies are ginger snaps and that he hates oatmeal raisin (yes, even mine).
    (Chameleon ends up passing out from the pills May had crushed into the cookies as a result of this)
  • Happens to the Chameleon again in the Spider-Man & the X-Men mini-series. The first time, he impersonates Eye-Boy, who had been taking pictures for the school paper, but then claims later that he was taking photos for the Bugle, clueing Spidey in. The second time, he impersonates Gambit, and lights a cigarette with a match, and Rockslide points out that it makes no sense for Gambit to even use a match when he could just as easily use his powers to the same effect.
  • In Dead No More: The Clone Conspiracy, we're met with Gwen Stacy as part of the clones, someone who doesn't set off Spider-Man's Spider-Sense. Ultimately, the cloned Captain George Stacy notices something's off and pulls a gun on Gwen. Turns out it's not the 616 Gwen, but a disguised Spider-Gwen.
• In Udon's Street Fighter II series, Guile compliments his secretary Gibson on her new contact lenses. When Gibson becomes confused by this statement, he mentions that she usually wears glasses. Later on, its revealed that the woman he was talking to was actually Juni, one of M. Bison's agents, and that the real Gibson was left Bound and Gagged in her own kitchen.
• Suicide Squad: Towards the end of the 2019 run, the team's attempt at finally taking down Ted Kord is defused when Superman arrives. Deadshot stays behind for a heart-to-heart with the Man of Steel, asking if he can get an autograph for his daughter. Superman does just that and gives it to Floyd, who then immediately tells the Squad to get back to the office. Floyd then points out that a) the window looks like Superman flew through it but the floor isn't covered in glass shards, b) Kord is currently Bound and Gagged when it doesn't make sense for Superman to do that, and c) the autographed magazine is made out to Zoe when Floyd never told Superman his daughter's name. The fake Superman then reveals himself as Black Mask... immediately after Floyd gets shot for the trouble.
• Superman:
  • In the Pre-Crisis comics, a Kryptonian criminal called Roz-Em had plastic surgery to make him look like Jor-El. In Adventure Comics #395, he pretends to be Jor-El's ghost to drive Supergirl out of her mind. He gives himself away when he tells he knows her secret identity. Since her uncle can't know that because he died long before she was born, Supergirl deduces the "ghost's" real identity.
  • In Superman vs. Shazam!, Supergirl and Mary Marvel deduce who has been impersonating their relatives through an elimination process. Mary correctly guesses Black Adam is the only who can replicate her brother's powers, whereas Supergirl eliminates possible candidates (Bizarro is not articulate enough, all Phantom Zoners have been accounted for, and they would have already heard if a Kandorian had left the Bottle City), until she remembers the Quarrmer.
  • In The Strange Revenge of Lena Luthor, Supergirl realizes that her captor cannot be the real Lex Luthor because of several reasons: Luthor was still in prison that morning, and not even Lex can break out and build a maze full of anti-Kryptonian death traps in a matter of hours; and her kidnapper gaslighted her into believing her powers had been nullified instead of just nullifying them how Luthor would do.
  • The Plague of the Antibiotic Man: Jevik changes himself into Supergirl to trick Superman into letting down his guard. However, Superman knows right away something is wrong because Jevik did not think of changing his distinctive voice.
  • The Supergirl-Batgirl Plot: Superman realizes that he is not fighting the real Supergirl but an impersonator when his adversary is knocked out by a meteorite after failing to be hurt by Kryptonite. Similarly, when Batmite tries to fool Batman into believing Batgirl is Catwoman's second secret identity, Batman replies Batgirl's eyes are blue whereas Catwoman's are green.
  • In The Leper from Krypton, Superman returns to Earth after several days and finds out someone has been impersonating him during his time away. As investigating his immpersonator's identity, Superman notices he handles each Crisis in odd ways: shattering an iceberg by vibrating instead of punching it, dodging a lava flow while rescuing a building... Then he realizes that it is not one single pretender but seven: his Justice League male teammates stepped in for him while he was away.
  • In Girl Power, Clayface poses as the original Batgirl to get close to Supergirl. When he drops the pretense, Clayface smugly gloats about getting Supergirl fooled...until Kara reveals he did not. She already knew about Barbara Gordon getting crippled and was merely playing along to find out who was impersonating her.
    Clayface: "I thought it was kinda weird being the old Batgirl, but you didn't notice. Where you from that you didn't know, anyway?"[...]
    Supergirl: "Guess you weren't paying attention when I said, "I've read a little about you." I didn't know who was impersonating her— But I knew sooner or later you'd reveal yourself— Clayface."
  • DC Retroactive Superman: In "The 80s" issue, a figure who claims to be Destiny of the Endless appears before Superman in his dreams to put him through a mental test. Superman wonders why Destiny is trying to manipulate him...until he realizes that Destiny's very nature would not allow him to goad someone into not doing what they are meant to do. That entity may look and even sound like him, but it is not Destiny. Before Superman can get hold of him, though, the figure fades away.
  • The Life Story of Superman: When Luthor replaces Superman with a clone, Lois and Lana start suspecting something is wrong with their old friend/love interest when he starts rambling about poor, misunderstood Lex Luthor, who was fated become the world's most renowned genius but was ruined by Superman's petty jealousy. When the Superman duplicate tells the origin of his feud with Luthor -according Luthor himself-, Lana confronts him by pointing out that she was around back then and that was not what happened.
  • "Supergirl's Big Brother": Supergirl figures out that the man claiming to be her adoptive brother Jan Danvers is a fraud when she notices that the crescent birthmark on his wrist, which he displayed to prove her parents that he is the real deal, has vanished.
  • The Death of Lightning Lad:
    • When an applicant called Lemon introduces himself and shows off his very familiar powerset, the Legionnaires wonder whether they are being pranked by Superboy, but he proves to be invulnerable to Kryptonite. However, Brainiac 5 realizes "Lemon" is an anagram of "Mon-El".
    • When Lightning Lad seems to revive, Sun Boy notices the back of his neck is not tanned and he lacks his Adam's apple, whereupon he figures out Lightning Lad is being impersonated by his twin sister.
  • "The Unknown Legionnaire": Superboy spends the whole story trying to figure Unknown Boy's identity out. He cannot be a robot or android because it would remember being built. So he is a humanoid being, he has a Kryptonian-like power set and considers himself bound to the Legion code. Though, it cannot be Ultra Boy because he can use several powers at once; and it cannot be Mon-El because Unknown Boy wears a lead mask which he can see through of. So the list of possible candidates has been narrowed down to one: an amnesiac Supergirl.
• In Thunderbolts, Captain America meets the new Citizen V who he naturally assumes is still Baton Zemo in disguise. It takes just a few moments of fighting for Cap to realize the body language and fighting style are completely different from Zemo. After V relates his origin of being the grandson of the original World War II hero, Cap says she should use "grandchild" as he's fought enough people of both genders to know when someone is wearing a padded suit.
• The Transformers: More than Meets the Eye: Spoofed when Nightbeat dramatically bursts in to stop Swerve hosting auditions for new crew-members to reveal it's a big fake. The things he's pointing out are blatantly obvious, starting with the idea that Swerve is being allowed to screen crewmembers at all. Also, the crudely drawn sign saying "crewditions".
• The Twelve: When the group of superheroes who've been in suspended animation since 1945 thanks to a Nazi booby-trap are revived, the government goes to great lengths to make them think it's still the 1940s, wanting to break the news to them gently. The Phantom Reporter begins to notice many things that are odd. One of them is that his nurse only wears one pair or earrings, but has piercings running up her earlobes for many more.
• While playing Body Double for King George VI, the Unknown Soldier realized that a groundskeeper gifting him a rare black swan caught on the property must be a German agent in disguise; anyone who works for the royal family knows that the King of England owns all wild mute swans in the British Isles outright.
• Wonder Woman (Rebirth): On meeting the Amazons again, Steve Trevor tries looking for the one that healed him the first time he crashed on their island. It's when the Amazons have no idea who he's talking about that Steve and Diana figure they're fakes.
• X-Men:
  • In one of the House of M tie-in series, Professor Xavier and Magneto become friends fighting for mutant equality. Xavier sees Magneto talking to Quicksilver, Polaris and Wanda (the latter powerless in this reality). After they leave, Xavier dryly says that "if you don't want them to know you're their father, you shouldn't dote on them so." When Magneto accuses Xavier of reading his mind, Xavier replies there was no need. "Pietro looks just like you, Lorna has your powers and Wanda bears a striking resemblance to the woman in the portrait who I presume was your wife."
  • Ultimate X Men: Mid-way through a conversation, Charles Xavier reveals to Betsy Braddock he knows she's actually possessed by his son, David. David asks how he figured it out, and Charles notes that the upper-class Englishwoman ordering a cheeseburger and fries was a tip-off, but the fact she kept checking out the waitress's ass cinched it.
  • Uncanny X-Men: The X-Men come under attack from a resurrected Dark Phoenix, who blasts Cyclops in Alaska, travels to New York to thrash the rest of the team, and seemingly destroys Manhattan to prevent the X-Men from calling other superheroes for help. But then Cyclops wakes up in the infirmary to discover that, despite having been set on fire, he is completely unharmed. It then dawns on him that Dark Phoenix waited half a day before attacking the team in the mansion despite being able to travel between galaxies in the blink of an eye, almost as if someone needed time to fly across the country in a plane. From this, Cyclops deduces that Dark Phoenix is just an illusion conjured by the X-Men's old enemy Mastermind.

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