Cover-Blowing Superpower: Difference between revisions

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* Michael Westen of ''[[Burn Notice]]'' is a [[Badass]], but frequently spends episodes undercover in notably un-Badass personas. This gets annoying when it would be tactically advantageous to not win fights; Westen has to struggle to find ways to plausibly lose fistfights, or allow his arm to be dislocated. This is usually played straight (''e.g.'' the arm dislocation), but sometimes for comedy, as the camera cuts to his face to show him bored and disdainful of his opponent's flailing failure to hurt him.

* In Season 3 of ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'', Nathan is pretending to be powerless, but Danko suspects him of being a super, and in an attempt to try to get him to reveal himself, {{spoiler|Danko pushes him out a window, and Nathan is forced to use his flight ability to save his life.}}

* This happens to Don Diego de la Vega in the original ''[[Zorro]]'' TV series. Once, having no time to slip away and get into the Zorro outfit, he must enter a swordfight without blowing up his [[Rich Idiot With No Day Job]] cover, thus pretending to be a clumsy swordsman but still blocking every of the villain's attacks. He then, for the witnesses, tries to pass off his success as sheer luck.~~<br~~ />The final "move" he pulls in the fight is as follows: Don Diego goes in for a clumsy but powerful thrust which is easily parried by the villain, causing Diego to "jam" his own sword into a rock crevice. As Diego is pretending to desperately try to yank the sword out, the villain gloats a little and goes for the fatal blow. At that precise moment Diego summons all his strength and "finally" pulls his weapon free, causing him to stagger backwards and "flail" his sword, knocking his unsuspecting opponent's weapon out of his hand and over the side of the cliff, winning the fight. Keep in mind the villain was considered the best swordsman in the province.

* This happens to Don Diego de la Vega in the original ''[[Zorro]]'' TV series. Once, having no time to slip away and get into the Zorro outfit, he must enter a swordfight without blowing up his [[Rich Idiot With No Day Job]] cover, thus pretending to be a clumsy swordsman but still blocking every of the villain's attacks. He then, for the witnesses, tries to pass off his success as sheer luck. The final "move" he pulls in the fight is as follows: Don Diego goes in for a clumsy but powerful thrust which is easily parried by the villain, causing Diego to "jam" his own sword into a rock crevice. As Diego is pretending to desperately try to yank the sword out, the villain gloats a little and goes for the fatal blow. At that precise moment Diego summons all his strength and "finally" pulls his weapon free, causing him to stagger backwards and "flail" his sword, knocking his unsuspecting opponent's weapon out of his hand and over the side of the cliff, winning the fight. Keep in mind the villain was considered the best swordsman in the province.

* ''[[Lois and Clark]]'', all the time. Usually Clark will use his powers and come up with some other excuse to cover it up, such as claiming he can read lips to explain how he knows something he picked up via super-hearing, or explaining that the ropes he tore through with his super-strength were frayed.

* In the third episode of ''[[Covert Affairs]]'', the corrupt Venezuelan government official Annie's covertly investigating encourages her to drive his sports car as ridiculously fast as he does. She grinds the gears and pretends to be out of her depth, but the sudden appearance of an unexpected roadblock causes her to reflexively swerve around it in a way that gives away her advanced driving skills.

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** Aang gets a [[Played for Laughs]] version of this in "City of Walls and Secrets", too, albeit briefly. He accidentally makes a woman spill her drink on herself while undercover at a party, and tries to use his airbending to dry her off. This reveals his identity to the whole party.

* In ''[[The Spectacular Spider-Man]]'', Peter Parker successfully dodges many water balloons thrown by Flash Thompson. He notices a crowd is gathering, admiring his skills, so he has to stop dodging and let himself get soaked.

* During one unlucky occasion in ''[[Batman: The Animated Series]]'', Bruce Wayne and a reporter are [[Bruce Wayne Held Hostage|held captive by a ninja]]. Bruce is put in the unenviable position of having to fight his captor at about half-strength to keep his companion (who knew of his ninja training, but not his identity) from putting two and two together. He probably would have lost had Robin not rushed her out of sight before he got too beaten up.~~<br~~ />Not to mention the fear Bruce almost certainly felt when facing the ninja, who according to Alfred was the only guy who could beat him at the Japanese dojo where Bruce learned the martial arts. It's worth noting that Robin didn't seem to have any trouble fighting the ninja, and it's just as likely that knowing Robin had his back was what allowed Bruce to fight back and win. A later episode reveals that the ninja himself was not fooled by the ruse in the long run. Having fought both Batman and Bruce Wayne (even holding back), he could tell that they were the same man.

* During one unlucky occasion in ''[[Batman: The Animated Series]]'', Bruce Wayne and a reporter are [[Bruce Wayne Held Hostage|held captive by a ninja]]. Bruce is put in the unenviable position of having to fight his captor at about half-strength to keep his companion (who knew of his ninja training, but not his identity) from putting two and two together. He probably would have lost had Robin not rushed her out of sight before he got too beaten up. Not to mention the fear Bruce almost certainly felt when facing the ninja, who according to Alfred was the only guy who could beat him at the Japanese dojo where Bruce learned the martial arts. It's worth noting that Robin didn't seem to have any trouble fighting the ninja, and it's just as likely that knowing Robin had his back was what allowed Bruce to fight back and win. A later episode reveals that the ninja himself was not fooled by the ruse in the long run. Having fought both Batman and Bruce Wayne (even holding back), he could tell that they were the same man.

* ''[[Batman Beyond]]'': Based on a hunch, Terry throws a glass of water right at [[Took a Level In Badass|Willy Watt's]] head. Yup, Willy has Telekinesis and halts the glass mere inches from his face. And since it was caught on a security camera, Terry doesn't have to worry about blowing his own cover.

* ''[[Spider-Man]]: The New Animated Series''