Death by Secret Identity: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

This is when, normally in a movie or television adaptation of a superhero story, the villain discovers the hero's secret identity, but is killed in that same story/arc/episode/whatever two minutes after.

*** The Hush storyline in general makes it seem Batman sucks at keeping secrets, as it brings together just about everyone who knows his identity, then throws in a couple more.

** In various continuities, Batman tells Joe Chill that he's the son of Thomas and Martha Wayne. In ''Batman'' #47 (1948), Chill blurts out to some other criminals that he "created" Batman, and they kill him. In Modern Age ''Batman: Year Two'', Chill gets killed by the Reaper. ''[[Batman: The Brave And The Bold|Batman the Brave And The Bold]]'' is similar to the Golden Age version, however Batman saves Chill... but sees him get killed by falling masonry.

** The original Green Goblin actually had known Spider-Man's secret for a long time, but he did suffer from a convenient partial amnesia (when he wasn't Goblin-crazy, he couldn't remember what he had done as the Goblin and therefore also not that Peter Parker was Spider-Man) that later also affected his son Harry.

** ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' #200 featured Spider-Man's confrontation with [[No Name Given|the burglar]] who killed Uncle Ben. After Peter unmasked in a scene that reads like a [[Shout-Out]] to the [[Batman]]-Joe Chill showdown, the burglar suffers a fatal heart attack.

** To be fair, the (current) Phantom's wife, adoptive son, and presumably his real children have all seen his face without a mask too, and none of them have so far died horribly for it. Presumably the Old Jungle Saying has a caveat built in for voluntary de-maskings.

* Averted in an ''[[Astro City]]'' story in which a small-time hood accidentally discovers Jack-in-the-Box's identity. He considers selling the information to the hero's enemies... until it occurs to him that those enemies are ruthless enough to use [[Torture Always Works|cheaper methods]] to make him talk, after which [[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness|they would no longer need him alive]] and indeed [[He Knows Too Much|would prefer him dead]]. He leaves town, apparently intending to forget the whole thing.

 

== Film ==

* In the ''[[Spider-Man (film)|Spider-Man]]'' film series, Green Goblin is impaled soon after he discovers Peter's secret. In the second film, a big part of the movie marketing was that Harry would learn Peter's secret, but Harry's death wouldn't come until he made the full transition to baddie in the third movie. Peter also reveals his identity to Doc Ock, probably knowing that this trope would spell death for the doctor. In the final movie, this works against Eddie Brock/Venom, but actually leads to the redemption of the Sandman.

** Also in the first movie the robber who (apparently) killed Uncle Ben dies in a convenient accident seconds after Spider-Man unmasks to him.

** Vicki Vale and Catwoman, however, manage to survive after learning Bruce Wayne's secret in ''Batman'' and ''Batman Returns''.

* In ''[[The Incredibles]]'', Syndrome figures out not only who the Parr family is but also where they live, kidnapping their kid. Not long after that...

* Lex Luthor in ''[[Lois and Clark]]'': When Clone Lois tells him she's learnt that Clark is Superman, the Karmic Death is just a matter of time.

* Two criminals in ''[[The Adventures of Superman]]'' stumble onto Superman's secret identity. Unfortunately for them, in this series he doesn't have other superheroes in disguise, holograms, or such to throw them off the trail. He takes them off to a remote cabin high in a mountain range and tells them he'll keep bringing them supplies. They don't believe him and try to escape, dying in the process.

* Strangely averted by ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'': Everyone seems to believe that it's incredibly important for no one to realize that Buffy is, in fact, a slayer, even her mother. Most of the villains already know, however, and when the muggles eventually find out, by and large there are no ramifications whatsoever.

** It's more the fact that any time a vampire comes across a lone, blonde teenage girl who, instead of screaming in terror, makes threats and pulls out a stake, they can be reasonably sure that it's the Slayer; most of the time, they dismiss her until she gets to ready to fight, and then their eyes bug out and they say "It's the Slayer!". Her house hasn't really even been attacked by vampires (though that could also be because they can't come into dwellings without an invitation). Still completely averted with Glory though, a non-vampire [[Big Bad]] who knows Buffy's name and address and even visits her house to have a "nice" chat; Glory doesn't die until many episodes after that.

* It happened to any bad guy who learned Zorro's secret identity in Disney's live action [[Zorro]] series.

 

== Web Comics ==

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[[Category:Death Tropes]]