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.

This is done to heighten the dramatic tension between the two enemies, as now both are on a level playing field and the villain's threat level is elevated. However, the writers (normally) don't let the villain last that long, since if there's a bad guy out there who knows the biggest secret of the mythos, he'd definitely eclipse all other bad guys and would never cease to be a threat, at least not until he's put down for good. This can also come in the form of a coma, amnesia, or imprisonment for years and years.

 

 

{{deathtrope}}

 

* ''[[Identity Crisis]]''. We learn that during [[The Silver Age of Comic Books]] and [[The Golden Age of Comic Books]], villains learned superheroes' secret identities all the time. Heroes toed the line of the [[Moral Event Horizon]] by using Zatanna to make them forget.

** The Riddler learnt during the Hush storyline after using one of Ra's al-Ghul's lazarus pits, and was convinced not to blab it since a riddle ("Who is Batman") is worthless if everyone knows it, not to mention that doing so would alert Ra's al-Ghul that he used a pit without permission. Later, he got both [[Easy Amnesia]] and a [[Heel Face Turn]] as well.

*** 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.

** 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.

*** In the first movie, the robber dies in a self-inflicted accident after Spider-Man pulls his mask off to him when he catches up with him in an abandoned house.

* Perhaps a reason why [[Batman|The Joker]] has [[Joker Immunity]] is that he has had opportunities to learn Batman's secret identity, but for the most part, he does not ''care'' to know. For him, matching wits against Batman is what interests him most and having that air of mystery removed from his nemesis would make him less entertaining a foe.

* ''World's Finest'' #173, "The Jekyll-Hyde Heroes!" Dr. Arron develops a [[Psycho Serum]] that turns the drinker into their most feared enemy and doses both Batman and Superman. He's hit with his own serum at the end, and since he fears both heroes equally, he turns into a half and half version of them. He's also learned their secret identities, but overexposure to the serum leaves him a raving lunatic.

** 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 ==

 

** 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.

** 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 ==

 

** Even when they know that Donte is Emeraldon and that Emeraldon has Ciem as a sometimes-sidekick; ''and'' that Donte has a girlfriend whom he visits frequently, who just so happens to be the same ethnicity as one of Shalia Flippo's daughters, whom they suspect of being the [[Chosen One]], and who even has the same first name, they [[Plot Induced Stupidity|still can't]] [[Too Dumb to Live|figure it out]]! And her only disguise that she's not a Flippo is [[Clark Kenting|dyed-red hair and her ex-husband's last name]]!

** Kolumn plays it straight, being the second [[Big Bad]] after Kimi to deduce what should have been obvious to everyone. Yet, those two invert the trope by being killed more because they ''don't'' know that Dolly is the Earwig than because they know Candi is Ciem.

== Western Animation ==

 

** Hugo Strange also learns it, and lives. However, Batman sets him up and makes the supervillains he's trying to sell the info to think he's planning to betray them. [[Cassandra Truth|Consequently, none of them believe him when he tells them the truth]].

** [[Dirty Cop]] Gil Mason removes Batgirl's mask and realizes it is Barbara Gordon, whose father he'd been framing and being said girl he likes. He is so horrified by the discovery he lets her go and hits his head. Mason falls into a coma and is never seen or mentioned as having come out of it.

** ''[[Batman Beyond]]'': Before he can expose Bruce and Terry's secret on a tabloid television program, Ian Peek becomes completely intangible and falls to the Earth's core.

'''[[The Spectre]]:''' [[Blatant Lies|I wouldn't know]] ''[[Blatant Lies|anything]]'' [[Blatant Lies|about that]]. }}

** In the 60's Superman cartoon, Parasite immediately learns Superman's identity when he drains Clark, which for the genre savvy is a clue that he is going to die at the end of that episode. And he does.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Death Tropes]]