Costume Copycat: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

A [[superhero]]-specific version of the [[Identical Stranger]]: a not-necessarily-identical stranger wearing an identical costume.

Not to be confused with [[Identity Impersonator]], where the hero has one of his friends wear an identical outfit so that the hero can appear to be in two places at once (usually to help protect his [[Secret Identity]]).

 

 

{{examples}}

* Towards the end of ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]] A's'', the two [[Malevolent Masked Men]] usurp Nanoha and Fate's appearances {{spoiler|[[Break the Cutie|to spectacularly execute the Wolkenritter in front of Hayate's eyes]]}}.

* An episode of ''[[Battle of the Planets]]'' involved Mark impersonating Zoltar by wearing a costume that actually didn't look much like Zoltar's.

* Kami- Sama from [[Saiyuki]] has an interesting case where, yes, he is impersonating a Sanzo priest... but he was also a disciple to one and supposedly inherited the title when his master got bored with it. This trope doesn't kick in till he takes the one thing his master didn't bequeath him (which happens to be the most important) the sutra, from Sanzo. He also tries to get Sanzo to "give" him his followers... yeah the man is insane. No one really falls for it besides him, but it still counts.

* While not so much a "costume" copycat, in [[Fist of the North Star]], Kenshiro is often-times described as "the man with seven scars". Needless to say, he gets a little puzzled when, after going around the [[Post Apocalyptic]] wasteland doing good and taking out small-level warlords, innocent people start freaking the hell out and running away from him. It turns out there's ANOTHER "man with seven scars", the mark of having survived a normally fatal Hokuto Seiken technique, only this guy's a rampaging maniac. When they meet, those scars are the ONLY thing that's similar, as the imposter is about a foot taller, twice as heavily muscled, and wears a mask halfway between a knight's helmet and a boiler grate. {{spoiler|Turns out that it's Jagi, Kenshiro's adopted brother, who lost out on the chance to be the one true successor of Hokuto Seiken, but the kind-hearted Kenshiro refused to kill.}} He gave ''himself'' the scars and was being such a madman simply to ruin Kenshiro's reputation and lure him into a fight.

* Subverted once when Dick Grayson/Nightwing ran into a rather psychotic vigilante who wore a domino mask and a hockey jersey with the name Nite-wing on it. There was little chance of mixing the two up.

** More recently, Damian (Bruce's son with Talia Al Ghul) showed up at Wayne Manor, wearing an approximation of the Robin costume, although there were notable differences that were easy to spot, and he wasn't really trying to impersonate current Robin, Tim Drake, so much as make the point that he felt that he should be Robin instead.

** And in a later ''Robin'' plot arc, an old Robin villain was running around dressed as Red Robin - an identity Jason had for about five minutes. Apparently someone pinched his shtick.

*** And when "Battle for the Cowl" was over, and Dick needed to take Damian as the new Robin (he was just gonna go out and try to fight crime alone anyway), Tim temporarily retired from being Robin. With the General (the last guy to wear the Red Robin costume) in jail, Tim became the new Red Robin (using it as a crux, he didn't want to step on Dick and Damian's shoes and, like Jason, couldn't accept that Bruce was dead and was looking for him).

* Like the previous examples above, a number of people had dressed up as Batman at one time or another. However, because of his mythological nature of being mysterious, it's easy for someone to think that another version of Batman is actually him and it would take a very skilled detective (or at least someone in-the-know) to realize that Batman isn't the real one.

** And yet again, possibly another annual. Peter goes to a little mom-and-pop store in need of workers and runs into someone in his costume. Immediately after running through a checklist ([[Genre Savvy|Clone? Robot?]] ''Impostor.'') and finding that this 'Spider-Man' once helped with a robbery and gets free food every time he shows up, Peter follows the guy, finding that he is a teenager who sleeps in an alley. Apparently this is his only reliable food source. After talking with Aunt May, Peter decides not to take offense, saving the kid from a gang and being told afterwards that the kid had stolen groceries from the store, then found a Spider-Man costume, felt bad, and returned them as Spider-Man. He'd like to make up for it. The next day Peter goes back to the store and is told by the woman who runs it that there was some excitement last night, when Spider-Man showed up with a nice new worker.

* While not a true copycat, the [[Cloudcuckoolander]] [[Deadpool]]'s costume is very similar to Spider-Man's, as is his sense of humor and [[You Fight Like a Cow|mastery of insult fighting]]. They met once in a comic and [[Lampshade Hanging|hung a lampshade]] on it.

** Also lampshaded in an issue of ''Deadpool'' which reveals how Deadpool got his costume: he found it in a costume shop, with a note saying, "Thanks but no thanks. -Spider-Man".

** Makes sense once you realise that Deadpool's costume is a rejected Spider-man costume.

* This applied to [[Iron Man]] when Tony Stark had become a drunken wreck thanks to [[The Chessmaster|Obadiah]] [[Manipulative Bastard|Stane]]. With Tony in no condition to pilot the Iron Man armor, his buddy [[War Machine (Comic Book)|Jim Rhodes]] took over as Iron Man until Stark got back on his feet.

* The 1990s [[Marvel Comics]] hero ''[[Darkhawk]]'' gained his powers from a special amulet that allowed him to summon a suit of special [[Powered Armor]] to help him fight crime. When protagonist Chris Powell needed time to get his head together after a very unpleasant trauma, his [[Heel Face Turn|former enemy Portal]] briefly took Chris's amulet and filled in for him as Darkhawk, taking on an [[Axe Crazy]] superhuman [[Mad Artist|snuff artist]] named Shaper.

* Happened in the reboot ''[[Legion of Super-Heroes (comics)|Legion of Super-Heroes]]'' where a planet was being robbed by "Legionnaires". Which was actually a set of dummies dressed as Legionnaires in a remote-controlled ship....

* [[The Mighty Thor]][[The Incredible Hercules|cules]]!

* Exception: Steel wore a costume in tribute to Superman after the latter's death. However, he was the only Superman-replacement who didn't claim to be the real thing, and his costume didn't look that similar, other than the symbol and the cape.

** In ''[[Kingdom Come]]'', Steel eventually switched his focus to Batman, using a Bat-Symbol and an axe instead of an 'S' shield and a hammer.

** Clint Barton also dressed up as Captain America for a bit after his real death, at Tony Stark's urging. He was shouted out of the idea by his own namesake.

* Spider-Man once met an imitator from The Netherlands (in a comic actually produced there.)

== Pro Wrestling ==

* Wrestling example: When the [[New World Order|nWo]] first formed, they started claiming they'd turned Sting to their side, which Sting vehemently denied... but then somebody in Sting's tights and facepaint started attacking the WCW guys. Sting went to Lex Luger, supposedly his best friend in the whole world, and pleaded his case... and not even Lex Luger believed him (keep in mind, the fake Sting was ''not'' exactly identical, just had a similar build and wore the same hairstyle, facepaint, and tights). The whole thing led to a [[Gimmick Matches|War Games]] match, in which the WCW team was supposedly a man down, as "Sting" would be on the nWo team... but who should come out as WCW's fourth man but the real Sting! He pulled a [[Look What I Can Do Now!]], then ''walked out of the cage'', angry because the WCW wrestlers were so distrustful that they'd actually believe the nWo's little con game.

* Also, during the early 1990s, [[The Undertaker]] was defeated by Yokozuna in a casket match after copious outside interference by nearly every heel on the roster. A few months later, Ted DiBiase brought "the Undertaker" back; in the end this turned out to be a look-alike. [[Paul Bearer]] (the Undertaker's manager), claimed that Taker would rise again at a PPV to defeat the impostor. So [[Mirror Match|Undertaker and Undertaker]] fought, though it was more like Undertaker versus a Dude dressed like the Undertaker who was shorter and less muscular.

** [[The Undertaker]]'s [[Kayfabe]] brother [[Kane (wrestling)|Kane]] would eventually be targeted by an impostor; though this was when Kane had unmasked, while fake Kane was wearing Kane's old costume (including a shirt, mask, and wig). Fake Kane was also a bit shorter.

 

== Video Games ==

* In ''[[Ultima IX]]'', reports of things the Avatar hadn't done come back to him. Eventually you can confront an extremely unstable fanboy (if you know where to look, you can actually find him and figure it out much sooner,) who is a dead ringer, except for his voice. He has so far miserably failed in every attempt to be just like the Avatar, and the Avatar can attempt to talk him into pursuing more realistic (and mentally healthier) goals.

* ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 (video game)|Sonic the Hedgehog 2006]]'' had Mephiles, who took on Shadow the Hedgehog's form by using his Shadow. The only differences were the lack of color, no mouth, and lizard-like eyes.

{{quote|'''Joker''': Wheeee! I'm the Batman!

'''Penguin''': Yeah. See, the thing is... you're not. }}

* An episode of the [[Zorro]] [[Animated Adaptation]] had the captain order one of his men to impersonate Zorro, and "capture" him when the governor is visiting. But when the governor insists he be tried in his presence, and the captain complies, "Zorro" feels a bit betrayed and when the real Zorro saves him, he leaves to become Zorro somewhere else.

* Kevin in ''[[Ben 10]]'' returned as this, having absorbed some of Ben's alien transformations.

* Seen in the episode "One Jem Too Many" of ''[[Jem]]''.

* An episode of ''[[The Powerpuff Girls]]'' had three escapee criminals disguised as the girls. Grown men in dresses were able to impersonate kindergartners and fool the whole town.

* Pulled off exceedingly well in ''[[Iron Man: Armored Adventures]]'' due to Madame Mask having access to a device that allows her to shape shift. The effect was convincing enough that it fooled one of Tony's best friends.

* Tap Tap the Chiseler in ''[[Underdog (animation)|Underdog]]'' did this in both his appearances.

* [[Batman: The Brave And The Bold]] episode "Night of the Batmen!" played this for laughs. Aquaman, Green Arrow Captain Marvel and Plastic Man all dress up like Batman after the real one is injured. The costumes are more their own costumes modified to look like Batman's. [[Recursive Adaptation|The comic the episode was based on, which tied into the show]], featured more people joining in at the end, including Blue Beetle and Black Canary.

 

{{reflist}}