History Main / SamusIsAGirl

** The ''VideoGame/MetroidPrimeTrilogy'' was the start of her armor being designed to more subtly allude to her feminine figure. Beyond that, the player can sometimes see her eyes reflected through her visor. The Space Pirates also describe her as a female in their log entries.''VideoGame/MetroidPrime3Corruption'' even shows her as a woman at the ''start'' of the game.

* In ''FanFic/RobbReturns'', a short lived version appears when the man Brynden Tully meets on his way south ends up revealing himself as Brienne of Tarth a few moments later.

** It was frequently implied and later confirmed in ''ComicBook/ImmortalXMen'' that Destiny didn't just share her real name with ''Literature/SherlockHolmes''[='=]s Irene Adler, but actually was Irene herself. While this isn’t an example of it, what's tied to it is: Holmes "himself" was, in fact, Characters/{{Mystique}}, Destiny's lover.

** It was frequently impliedand later confirmed in ''ComicBook/ImmortalXMen'' that Destiny didn't just share her real name with ''Literature/SherlockHolmes''[='=]s Irene Adler, but actually was Irene herself. While isn’t an example of it, what's tied to it is: Holmes "himself" was, in fact, Characters/{{Mystique}}, Destiny's lover.

* In ''ComicBook/TheGreatPhantomPeril'', Franchise/{{Superman}} assumes the strange and super-powerful spectral figure unleashing chaos all over Metropolis is a male being until the mists surrounding the "ghost" vanish and Superman discovers said "ghost" is a woman.

** [[spoiler:Shadow]] spends a good amount of time in the comics as this until an incident where Maxim [[ThanksForTheMammaries grabbed her]] [[http://www.squidi.net/comic/amd/view.php?ep=1=100 breast]], and it's not shown who she is until much later.

* ''Webcomic/DarthsAndDroids'' has the revelation "No, Luke, I am your ''mother''" -- coming, of course, from Darth Vader, the {{Magic|Knight}} BlackKnight InSpace, who was up to that point assumed to be Luke's father like in the [[Franchise/StarWars movies]]. Palpatine had figured the traditionalist military wouldn't want to follow an openly female leader. Of course, Vader's armour made him taller and gave him a lower voice in the original as well.

* In the parody article [[http://the-toast.net/2013/11/15/empowered-female-heroine/ "A Day In the Life of an Empowered Female Heroine,"]] the character in question is so tough she somehow does the reveal as the first thing when she wakes up.

* The music video for Music/TheProdigy's "Smack My Bitch Up". The reveal is at the end when the camera (from a first-person perspective) looks at a mirror. Before this she went to a bar, got drunk, beat up patrons and groped hot girls before returning home and passing out in front of a mirror.

** It was frequently impliedand later confirmed in ''ComicBook/ImmortalXMen'' that Destiny didn't just share her real name with ''Literature/SherlockHolmes''[='=]s Irene Adler, but actually was Irene herself -- and that Holmes "himself" was, in fact, Characters/{{Mystique}}.

** It was frequently impliedand later confirmed in ''ComicBook/ImmortalXMen'' that Destiny didn't just share her real name with Irene Adler, but actually was Irene herself -- and that Holmes was, in fact, Characters/{{Mystique}}.

* In ''ComicBook/XMen'', [[Characters/MarvelComicsProfessorX Professor X]]'s primary love interest Lilandra is introduced in a running subplot in which he is having ominous visions of space battles and a menacing armored figure. When the figure finally shows up and takes off its helmet, it isn't quite what he is expecting.

* In ''WesternAnimation/PussInBoots'', Puss's first meeting with Kitty Softpaws has him face her off in a DanceOff. When it ends, he's shocked when she removes her mask to reveal a feminine face and voice. Being a cat, she didn't need to do anything else to hide the her gender (though she wasn't trying to keep it a secret).

See TheFaceless and the {{Hackette}}, a SubTrope that relies on the myth that ThereAreNoGirlsOnTheInternet (TheCracker in question being not only contradicting evidence, but better at it than they'd expect her gender to be). Contrast UnsettlingGenderReveal (where characters/some audience members are physically/romantically attracted to this person in their mistaken gender), SweetPollyOliver (Samus Is a Girl from a viewpoint that already knows she's female), ViewerGenderConfusion (where the audience, not the characters, don't know what gender Pat is) and SupernaturallyValidatedTransPerson (where the story reenforces a character's gender rather than using it as a twist). See also GeekyTurnOn, which is sometimes related to this. FemaleMonsterSurprise is a similar trope, but with a monster. May involve GenderMisdirection. Not AlwaysFemale, but usually, due to the typical gender roles where everyone assumes the action hero is a dude; the cast being composed of Amazons is one example where this may be reversed.

* In ''WesternAnimation/PussInBoots'', Puss's first meeting with Kitty Softpaws has him face her off in a DanceOff. When it ends, he's shocked when she removes her mask to reveal feminine facial features. Being a cat, she didn't need to do anything else to hide the her gender aside from not talking (though she wasn't trying to keep it a secret).

* [[DramaticIrony While the audience obviously knows]] WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}} is a girl, she manages to effectively [[SweetPollyOliver hide herself]] by wearing bulky armour, strapping her torso down, wearing her hair up and speaking in a deep voice (or trying to at least). InUniverse this reaction happens when “Ping” is discovered, and she's almost executed.

* Technically, the stitchpunks of ''WesternAnimation/{{Nine}}'' are sexless constructs. This trope is still invoked with 7, whose feminine voice isn't heard until after she has demonstrated her combat prowess.
* Goblin minion Stuff in ''WesternAnimation/StrangeMagic'' thought it was obvious that she was female. Her male coworker might just be that dumb.
* One of the main villains of ''WesternAnimation/TheCondor'', Taipan, is revealed to be Tony's girlfriend Valeria who wanted to have "''some fun''" with him before she kills him. Helped by the voice distorter and masculine nature of her costume.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheFlightOfDragons'', the [[RagtagBunchOfMisfits band of heroes]] is saved from a pack of thieves by a Robin Hood wannabe. When the knight in the group goes to thank the mysterious archer, "he" takes off "his" cap, and the audience is treated to a slow-motion shot of long, glistening red hair as it flows down below her waist. The knight is speechless.
* In ''WesternAnimation/Incredibles2'', [[spoiler:the Screenslaver, the primary antagonist of the film, is revealed to be tech genius Evelyn Deavor]].

* "Damn, I Wish I Was Your Lover" By Sophia B. Hawkins. The song is about a friend who is stuck in an abusive relationship, and how she both has feelings for them and wishes she could help them, making it seem like it's about a guy with an [[DomesticAbuse abusive girlfriend]], until near the end where she mentions she had a dream about them where she "Sat on a mountainside with peace of mind, And I lay by the ocean making love to '''her''' with visions clear." Apparently the song is based on real events as well, as Sophia is bisexual and had a female friend this was happening to. Whether they ever got together is unknown.

** ''ComicBook/GrantMorrisonsBatman'' had the Absence, which gets {{lampshade|Hanging}}d by Dick!Bats.

** ''RolePlay/FateNuovoGuerra'' follows tradition and chocks one up with a certain Lancer from UsefulNotes/TheTrojanWar, though it wasn't so much a disguise as it was "[[PoliticallyCorrectHistory sexist historians]]" who didn't like how a girl was getting all that booty and kicking all that ass.

** The spinoff novel [[LightNovel/FateApocrypha Fate/Apocrypha]] also reveals [[spoiler:Mordred]] to be female.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* When ''Metroid'' first came out in the '80s, Nintendo of America ran a ''Metroid'' art contest in their magazine "the Nintendo Fun Club News" (a precursor to ''Magazine/NintendoPower''). All the winners who had Samus unmasked in their art depicted her as a man. (It's possible the judges deliberately chose entries with a male Samus in order to keep the twist a secret.)

* ''Manga/MetroidSamusAndJoey'' paints Samus as the mercenary equivalent of a ReclusiveArtist. Even InUniverse most people think that Samus is a man, and [[YouDidntAsk Samus doesn't bother to correct them]] - because she's [[IWorkAlone a lone wolf]] who HatesSmallTalk, and doesn't really care what people think of her as long as they keep giving her work. It's even implied she might be encouraging [[ShroudedInMyth some of the crazier rumours]] so that people won't recognize her when she's off-duty. Joey manages to go on multiple adventures with Samus [[DramaticIrony without realising she's a woman]], even thinking of her as a ''substitute father'' of sorts, until she removes her suit in front of him before they part ways at the end of the final chapter.

* In the ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}''[=/=]''Literature/{{Worm}}'' roleplay quest ''Roleplay/HatchlingQuest'', PRT's Head of Image brings this up when [[http://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/hatchling-quest-worm-metroid.22540/page-19 he remarks that Samus could easily pass for a boy while wearing her Power Armor.]] This trope (befittingly) becomes something of a RunningGag throughout the story. Samus keeps a SecretIdentity, and even though it's been publicly stated she is a girl from another universe, there are people who think she's a boy (or a robot). Even those who accept the official explanation are still surprised to find there's a blond girl under the power armor.
* Due to a combination of this trope and ProtagonistTitleFallacy, there is a [[MemeticMutation meme]] about the ''Metroid'' series where people refer to Samus in and out of her armour as two different people: the male hero Metroid and his girlfriend Samus.

* One of the stories in the ''Metroid'' anthology fanfic "See You Next Mission" involves this. [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/2391151/8/See-You-Next-Mission The second half of a two-parter]] has a fellow bounty hunter that Samus recently teamed-up with be [[ImpossiblyCoolClothes jealous of the Varia Suit]] and desiring to steal it for himself. He catches Samus off-guard while she's lounging around in her ship and manages to get away with the armor, but assumes the woman he just knocked unconscious was a dumb prostitute that Samus bought the services of. Then when Samus naturally starts hunting for him, he "realizes" that the woman was really Samus Aran's lover and that he's probably waiting nearby. He doesn't learn the truth until he sees Samus wearing the suit (sans helmet) moments before he dies.

* In ''WesternAnimation/BatmanMaskOfThePhantasm,'' [[spoiler:the Phantasm kills several members of Gotham City's mafia. At first, all signs point to the Phantasm being Carl Beaumont, who owed the mafia money, but the Phantasm is later revealed to be Andrea Beaumont, his daughter (and Bruce Wayne's {{Love Interest|s}})]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/BatmanMaskOfThePhantasm,'' [[spoiler:the Phantasm kills several members of a Gotham Mafia. Evidence suggests the Phantasm may be Carl Beaumont, who owed the Mafia money, but is later revealed to be Andrea Beaumont, his daughter (and Bruce Wayne's {{Love Interest|s}})]].

Perhaps nobody mentioned her gender because YouDidntAsk. Or because she's just one among a whole BadassArmy, so nobody paid attention specifically to her. Or because she's a complete stranger that nobody had seen before. Maybe she is a VoiceWithAnInternetConnection, and no one has ever seen her in person. (Audiences' disbelief that a woman could really be doing all these things may be bolstered by the fact that it often ''isn't'' in live-action productions, since CastAsAMask allows the use of male suit actors until the reveal scene.) This is notably harder to pull off in some languages. [[note]]Some languages don't use gender-neutral descriptors that much. It's one thing to say Samus is a bounty hunter in English, but in some languages -- like German, or all latinate languages -- all words are inherently masculine or feminine, and Samus would have to be explicitly described as a "bounty huntress"; likewise, a male character would have to be talked about using clearly masculine word endings. Characters that ''do'' know about Samus' gender and just don't care to elaborate to the listener couldn't just call her a bounty hunter without stretching suspension of disbelief. It's one thing to trick the viewers by clever terminology, but when you completely break your language to do it, the effect becomes not so much "Hey, that's right, the gender was never actually mentioned!" as "Um, why have you been calling her a man this whole time?" Whether this works in Mandarin may even hinge on the medium; this is because Mandarin "he" and "she" are pronounced the same but written differently. But in other languages like Japanese and English, it is becoming more common to use the "masculine" or "gender-neutral" term when referring to women. For example, female comedians are almost never referred to as comediennes these days, and waiters and waitresses are often known as just servers.[[/note]]

*** In Chapter 2, [[spoiler:the mysterious Genocider Syo, who has been referred to as "he", is revealed to be the SplitPersonality of Touko Fukawa, a female student]]. Made even more shocking in the English release, where [[spoiler:"he" was named Genocider Jack before TheReveal, and Genocider ''Jill'' afterwards]]. Chapter 2 also [[UnsettlingGenderReveal inverts]] this with [[spoiler:Chihiro Fujisaki, a boy disguised as a girl to avoid bullying]].

* Technically, the stitchpunks of ''WesternAnimation/{{Nine}}'' are sexless constructs. This trope is still invoked with 7, whose female voice isn't heard until after "she" has demonstrated "her" combat prowess.

'''Monkey:''' And if I were alive at that point I might've found that insulting.

* In ''WesternAnimation/Incredibles2'',[[spoiler:the Screenslaver, the primary antagonist of the film, is revealed to be tech genius Evelyn Deavor]].

-->'''Russell:''' (almost casually) Kevin's a girl?

* Miko Miyazaki from ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' does this. For about eighty or so strips, she appears only as a blue-hooded figure, until she takes on the Order of the Stick, at which point she drops her hood and we see that yes, she is in fact female (and, [[InformedAttractiveness judging from Roy's reaction]], fairly attractive). Roy plays her Bob for a while, until he gets put off by her [[LawfulStupid personality]]. This wasn't that drastic, as she seemed more ambiguous than masculine prior to this -- insofar as she even seemed human at all.
* Also initially appearing as a hooded figure was [[spoiler:the previous Wotch]], Miranda West of ''Webcomic/TheWotch''. Her initial appearance was in the very first story arc. Her reveal was at the end of the ''fifteenth''.
* [[spoiler:Ashido]] from ''Webcomic/{{Inhuman}}'' is shown to be an example of this when another character walks in on her changing.
* [[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep Peregrine Mendicant]] of ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}''. The [[WordOfGod author]] never intended her to actually have a gender at all, but [[AscendedFanon gave in to fan speculation]].

* {{Inverted|Trope}} in ''Webcomic/HannaIsNotABoysName'''s [[https://hinabnontumblargh.tumblr.com/post/72104675288#notes opening strips,]] as [[FirstPersonPeripheralNarrator Zombie]] naturally assumed that "[[GenderBlenderName Hanna Cross]]" would be a woman. Played straight [[https://hinabnontumblargh.tumblr.com/post/72104450519#notes a short time later]] when [[ShapeshifterModeLock bat!]][[FullyEmbracedFiend Adelaide]] is introduced.

** A similar "woman doing manly things only revealed to be a woman at the end" music video is Bush's "Machinehead".

** ''Super Metroid'' has a hidden technique called the "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5j7ddcBlQI Crystal Flash]]", that allows Samus to completely restore her health at low energy if she has an ample supply of ammo. When activated, a nude Samus starts floating in a sphere of energy for a few seconds.

* American ''Metroid'' commercials avoided referring to Samus by pronouns for years. It wasn't until ''Zero Mission'' that Samus' gender would [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqxuR1kQu2w finally be stated in ads]].

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmT74EgWNdE In this Red Bull ad]], the biker is a woman. And deaf.

* The 1953 Creator/ECComics story "Judgment Day", although [[spoiler: the example is racial rather than sexual]]. The planet the story takes place on is populated by orange and blue robots. They are identical but for outer casings and programming, but the blue robots sit at the back of the bus, recharge in different stations, live in their own sector in town. The human evaluating the robot society does not let them progress to space until they can get over that, noting that Earth was like this once, and only owned the universe after humans learned to live together. In the last panel of the story [[spoiler: he takes off his helmet, revealing that he is black]].

* In an old [[TheThirties 1933]] story arc in ''ComicStrip/ThimbleTheater''[[note]]The original ''ComicStrip/{{Popeye}}'' comic[[/note]], Popeye the Sailor must battle [[WickedWitch The Sea Hag]] and her [[TheHeavy gigantic minion]] known as a "Goon" [[note]]A race of InexplicablyIdenticalIndividuals who are powerfully-built [[https://i.ibb.co/YXvvRmP/Alice-Goon1.png bald giants]] with hairy forelimbs with noses like Proboscis monkeys[[/note]]. Popeye is utterly [[WouldntHitAGirl besides himself]] when the minion is revealed, mid-brawl as a woman named "Alice" and that she's both [[MonsterIsAMommy a mother]] and that she (and her people) are also [[ForcedIntoEvil enslaved]] by the Sea Hag. "Alice The Goon" would [[https://i.ibb.co/ctcDk3M/Alice-Goon2.png eventually don a dress]] and become one of Popeyes best friends and allies [[https://i.ibb.co/qFt6Nhd/Alice-Goon3.png and even join]] The U.S. Army with Olive Oyl in a [[TheEighties 1980s]] [[SaturdayMorningCartoon Saturday Morning]] cartoon show.

* In [[https://archiveofourown.org/works/4034221 ''Meeting Someone New'']], a ''Film/TheHobbit'' fanfic on Website/ArchiveOfOurOwn, new settlers come to Erebor, and Kíli hates one of them, a brave warrior, at first sight, because he's everything Kíli is not. When the stranger starts to court Kíli, hate turns to love. When the other dwarf reveals that she is a woman, Kíli is surprised, but not shocked. As all dwarves have beards, no helmet is required for the misunderstanding to happen.

* In the ''Film/{{Brightburn}}'' fic "[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13300152/1/Dies-the-Fire Dies the Fire]]", after fifteen years conquering the world, Brandon is lured back to Brightburn and confronted by a warrior in a suit of armour. The full-body suit and modulated voice lead Brandon to assume the warrior is male, and it's only after his opponent has revealed their access to grenades based on the radiation generated by Brandon's ship that he does enough damage to the suit to realise that his opponent is female, and he only identifies her as his old crush, Caitlyn Connors, after she's done enough damage that he's begging for his life.

* In chapter 2 of ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12213237/1/Metroid-Kamen-Rider-Generations-Vol-2-Ex-Aid-Era-feat-Cross-Ange Metroid: Kamen Rider Generations Vol. 2 -- Ex-Aid Era feat. Cross Ange]]'', the second season to the aforementioned ''Metroid: Kamen Rider Generations''; [[Anime/CrossAnge Ange]] learns the hard way that Samus and the mysterious armored man who saved Tusk and Momoka are actually one and the same person. The fact after Samus sheds her armor in front of Ange, Tusk, and Momoka left them utterly speechless.

* The [[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse MCU]] fic ''Fanfic/{{Dial}}'' introduces the Winter Guard, with the bulky power-armored Crimson Dynamo as part of the lineup. However, it's revealed later that this version of Crimson Dynamo is [[https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Galina_Nemirovsky_(Earth-616) Galina Nemirovsky]].

** Syrio is revealed in the back half of Book 1 to actually be [[spoiler: Mystique in disguise]].
** The first chapter of Book 3 reveals that the [[LegacyCharacter first]] Vulture King was in fact [[spoiler: a NotQuiteDead Rhaenys Targaryen]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/BatmanMaskOfThePhantasm,'' [[spoiler:the Phantasm is presumed to be a member of the Gotham mafia, possibly affiliated with the Gotham mayor, killing old mobsters to clear their name. The Phantasm is later revealed to be Andrea Beaumont, the daughter of one of the mafia's old victims (and Bruce Wayne's {{Love Interest|s}})]].
* In ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheLongHalloween'', the death of [[spoiler: Alberto Falcone]] completely takes away the the AmbiguousEnding of the original comic [[spoiler: which throws suspicion onto Gilda Dent, who is indeed revealed to be the Holiday Killer]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/Incredibles2'',[[spoiler: the Screenslaver, the primary antagonist of the film, is revealed to be tech genius Evelyn Deavor]].

* ''Manhwa/WitchHunter'' pulls this card with [[spoiler: Halloween, Tasha's pumpkin-headed marionette]] who is initially thought to be genderless due to [[spoiler: being a marionette]] and all that, but when [[spoiler: Tasha]] breaks [[spoiler: Halloween]]'s first seal, its true form is revealed to be [[http://download.minitokyo.net/Witch.Hunter.477596.jpg this.]] Tasha is, naturally, shocked.

** In ''[[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneySpiritOfJustice Spirit of Justice]]'', [[spoiler: Armie Buff is a shut-in who could only communicate with an armed drone. She acts as a war general and talks in a scruffy masculine voice thanks to a voice filter. Naturally, when Armie revealed herself everyone in the courtroom is surprised to see the witness was a 12-year-old girl in a wheelchair]]. It's also {{inverted|Trope}} with [[spoiler: the vigilante rebel hunter styling themselves after the legendary Khura'inese female warrior Lady Kee'ra, who turns out to be a man]].

* {{Inverted|Trope}} in ''Webcomic/HannaIsNotABoysName'''s [[https://hinabnontumblargh.tumblr.com/post/72104675288#notes opening strips]], as [[FirstPersonPeripheralNarrator Zombie]] naturally assumed that "[[GenderBlenderName Hanna Cross]]" would be a woman. Played straight [[https://hinabnontumblargh.tumblr.com/post/72104450519#notes a short time later]] when [[ShapeshifterModeLock bat!]][[FullyEmbracedFiend Adelaide]] is introduced.
* [[spoiler: Count Repugsive]] in ''Webcomic/{{Nodwick}}''. The reason she gives for the deception is that "female villains only get respect if they're hot". [[spoiler: Which she certainly isn't, being an undead BlackKnight.]]

* ''Webcomic/HarpyGee'': The unnamed hulking knight that acted as one of Princess Halcea's bodyguards. The "Courage and Fear" story revealed not only that the knight was a human woman, but [[spoiler: Cinder, Ash's mother.]]

* In the fifth season of ''WebVideo/TheGuild'', [[spoiler: Zaboo's two Master Chief lackees]] are revealed as hot girls.

* In the parody article [[http://the-toast.net/2013/11/15/empowered-female-heroine/ "A Day In the Life of an Empowered Female Heroine"]], the character in question is so tough she somehow does the reveal as the first thing when she wakes up.

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevalier_d%27Eon Chevalier d'Eon]], 18th Century French spy and diplomat, who presented as male for most of his life, until his political enemies began to circulate rumors that he was secretly a woman. Rather than dispute the rumor, d'Eon inexplicably elected instead to live openly as a woman for the remainder of their life. A post-mortem examination revealed that d'Eon was biologically male (albeit with some mildly feminine characteristics). Theories that they may have been transgender or intersex still abound.
* There was a stagecoach driver in the American West named [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charley_Parkhurst Charley Parkhurst]]. One-eyed Charley was known for his toughness and could handle anything, up to and including armed bandits. After his death (at age 67), the person who laid him out discovered "Charlie" was biologically female, and his birth name turned out to be Charlotte.

** A similar discovery was made about jazz musician [[http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1060/whats-the-story-on-the-female-jazz-musician-who-lived-as-a-man Billy Tipton (nee Dorothy Lucille Tipton)]], following Tipton's death. Even Tipton's adopted sons and at least one sexual partner didn't know Tipton's true sex.

* GenderFlip: The video [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TBd-UCwVAY "It's Time"]], shot from the perspective of someone who falls in love with a man and builds a relationship with him. The video ends with the man proposing marriage, and the camera pulls back to reveal that the point-of-view character was [[QueerRomance another man this whole time]]. The video was heavily promoted by gay marriage advocates, causing many people to [[ItWasHisSled not even realize that the POV character's gender was supposed to be a]] TwistEnding.

* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'':

* The infamous [[spoiler:"[=TheLegend27=]"]] from ''VideoGame/GameOfWarFireAge''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCiDfm9i9rQ ads.]]

* In the one-shot crossover ''Franchise/SpiderMan vs. ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}'', both heroes are on the trail of Wolverine's former partner, named "Charlie", which is given as being short for: "Charlemagne". When Wolverine finally catches up with Charlie, the rogue agent is revealed to be a "she". Wolverine naturally knew all along, but Spidey, as well as the READER were kept in the dark by clever avoidance of gender-specific pronouns (not to mention a flashback where "Charlie" is deliberately shown in gender-neutral disguise). It's implied that Charlemagne uses the ambiguous nature of her name as an additional cover to her identity.
* In ''ComicBook/XMen'', ComicBook/ProfessorX's primary love interest Lilandra is introduced in a running subplot in which he is having ominous visions of space battles and a menacing armored figure. When the figure finally shows up and takes off its helmet, it isn't quite what he is expecting.
* The original Ronin in ''ComicBook/NewAvengers'' turned out to be ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}'s love interest Echo (after a minor RedHerring that it was DD himself).

* ''ComicBook/TheSandman''

* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'':

* ''ComicBook/WhateverHappenedToTheCapedCrusader''. In Selina Kyle's story of how she first met Batman, she's wearing a [[CheapCostume fullface cat mask and flowing cape]] instead of the familiar slinky catsuit. So Batman gets a surprise when her mask comes off during their struggle.

* In ''ComicStrip/FunkyWinkerbean'', The Eliminator was a EnfantTerrible arcade gamer of such skill, he could make a Defender machine tilt like a pinball game. His face was always covered by a visored helmet (a ShoutOut to Darth Vader, as ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'' was THE hot movie at the time of his debut). Midway through the first TimeSkip, the grown-up Eliminator was reintroduced... as Donna, a hot blond woman. She eventually ended up dating and marrying Crazy Harry, who'd considered The Eliminator his nemesis back in high school.

* In ''WesternAnimation/BatmanMaskOfThePhantasm,'' [[spoiler:the Phantasm is presumed to be a member of the Gotham mafia, possibly affiliated with the Gotham mayor, killing old mobsters to clear their name. The Phantasm is later revealed to be Andrea Beaumont, the daughter of one of the mafia's old victims (and Bruce Wayne's LoveInterest).]]
** In the animated adaptation of Batman: The Long Halloween, the death of [[spoiler: Alberto Falcone]] completely takes away the the AmbiguousEnding of the original comic [[spoiler: which throws suspicion onto Gilda Dent, who is indeed revealed to be the Holiday Killer]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/Incredibles2'',[[spoiler: the Screenslaver, the primary antagonist of the film, is revealed to be tech genius Evelyn Deavor.]]

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5aam4MpZss The first trailer]] for ''The White Queen'' has this [[RuleOfThree three times over]].