Disguised Hostage Gambit: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

* In ''[[Angel Sanctuary]]'' a variation of this was used against one of the supporting character's [[Backstory]]. [[Celestial Bureaucracy]] questioned said character's loyalty, and had suspected he had relations with another Angel (which was [[Forbidden Fruit|strictly forbidden]] and the punishment is severe), they sent him off to kill the leader of a rebel fraction in their Ghetto. Turned out the supposed leader was actually the Angel's lover - her hair was cut short, dyed red, and a gun tied to her hands so he wouldn't recognize her at first. He didn't realized this until after he shot and killed her.

 

== [[Comic Books]] ==

* More than once [[Jonah Hex]] has captured a enemy, dressed the bad guy in his trademark jacket and hat, gagged him and bound him to the saddle before sending the horse galloping into the outlaw camp to draw fire.

* A variation occurs in the fist issue of ''[[Ninjak]]''. The title character tapes a villainess' mouth shut and tapes her hand to a sword. When her mooks arrive, they see a shadowed figure holding a weapon and open fire, killing her and allowing Ninjak to escape.

* An issue of ''[[Teen Titans (Comic Book)|Teen Titans Spotlight]]'' has Two-Face kidnapping Cyborg's girlfriend Sarah in order to lure him into a trap. He tapes her mouth shut and dresses her up in a convincing Two-Face costume, hoping that Cyborg will accidently kill her in a fit of rage. Fortunately, Cyborg sees through the ruse at the last second.

 

== [[Fan Fiction]] ==

 

== [[Film]] ==

* In ''[[The Dark Knight Saga|The Dark Knight]]'', {{spoiler|The Joker does this with his hostages (with their mouths taped shut, masks to hide this and weapons tied to their hands), forcing [[Batman]] to disable the police officers (although they worked it out eventually)}}.

* An ([[Anti-Hero|anti-]])heroic example: in the ''[[V for Vendetta]]'' film: {{spoiler|The police shoot a hostage because they're all wearing V masks.}}

** Slightly different in the graphic novel. Just one guy is dressed up as V, and he was pretty much one of the bad guys (a high ranking party member with some seriously sleazy [[Kick the Dog]] moments, though no outright [[Moral Event Horizon]] crossings).

* ''[[Inside Man]]'' has a variant, in which the thieves make the hostages wear the same uniform as them, but with the full knowledge of the police outside. This keeps the police from interfering at first. {{spoiler|It also lets most of the robbers blend into the crowd of freed hostages and escape after the robbery is complete.}}

* The title character does this in ''[[Darkman]]''. After capturing one of the villainous mooks, he duct-tapes the man's mouth shut and then dresses him up in a realistic mask, making him resemble the hero.

* A variation occurs in the film ''[[Master and Commander]]'' when {{spoiler|at the end Aubrey realizes, from an offhand comment by Maturin, that the doctor on the ''Acheron'' had died some time before the final battle, so the "doctor" who told Aubrey the captain had been killed had ''been'' the captain, so was in a position to organize the captured French sailors and retake the ship. It also pays of the foreshadowings seen earlier in the film that the audience, and Aubrey, never see the French captain's face clearly.}}

 

== [[Live-Action TV]] ==

* The season 4 finale of ''[[CSI: NY|CSI: New York]]'' had Irish terrorists do this to captured police officers. One of the main characters was able to free himself (he was tied up nearby) and stop the police from shooting them.

* In an episode of ''[[Medium]]'', the bad guy released an hostage through a back door with a balaclava on his head and a gun taped to his hand. The police shot him dead. Fortunately, it was [[All Just a Dream]]. A prophetic one, but the main character managed to save the victim when it happened for real.

* An interesting variation is used in ''[[Burn Notice]]''. After their attempts to defuse a hostage situation result in them [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|accidentally becoming accomplices]] (someone pulled a gun and Mike took it away from him), Mike and Sam need to find a way out of the situation. After discussing trying this based on an urban legend, and the fact the cops haven't seen the hostage-taker, they manage to convince one of the two hostages (who just found out the other one, her boss, is really a sleazy con artist) to name the other as the gunman. Mike then engineers a situation where said sleazeball is able to take his gun back, and when the cops burst in the plan works without a hitch. Though the negotiator is kind of curious why somebody blew open a safe full of ill-gotten money...

** A similar variation occurs on ''[[Leverage]]''. Nathan is about to con a corrupt judge out of thousands of dollars when the bank is robbed and the robbers take everyone hostage when the police arrive. The robbers turn out to be father and son who only rob the place to get money to pay off some thugs holding the father's wife for ransom. The judge figures out that he is being scammed and when he disarms the robbers, he uses the gun to shoot Nathan. When the cops storm the bank in the end, the team has arranged things to look like the judge was the sole robber and hostage taker. All the witnesses back them up since the judge is reviled by everyone and the cops will not investigate further since they hate his guts as well.

** Another episode has [[Dragon Lady|Roulette]] dressing up a bound and gagged Lois Lane in a replica of her costume in order to trick [[Green Arrow]] into shooting her.

* On Psych (episode "Ferry Tale") escaping convicts on a ferry surrounded by the police {{spoiler|take prisoners inside and pretend to shoot them. When the police raid the boat and take two wounded "hostages" to one of their boats they discover too late that two of the criminals are in fact convicts.}}

 

== [[Newspaper Comics]] ==

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

 

== [[Real Life]] ==

[[Category:I Have Your Index]]

[[Category:Betrayal Tropes]]