Impersonating the Evil Twin: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
The situation where [[Evil Twin]] is
Compare with [[Hugh Mann]]. Sometimes exposed by a [[Bluff the Impostor]] maneuver.
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== Fan Works ==
* Played with in ''[[
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* Pretty much all of the movie ''[[Face Off]]'' is a twist on this, with both hero and villain assuming each other's identities for different reasons (Archer to stop the bad guy's evil plot and Troy to mess with Archer's life royally). This is made easier through a process that allows them to switch faces, [[Hand Wave|with body differences being taken care of as well]]. Archer has spent so much time pursuing Troy, that he knows everything about him and as such can properly imitate him. Troy on the other hand acts nothing like Archer, but as Archer was not liked by his coworkers or family they all like him more.
* This was the ultimate twist in the 1993 film version of ''The Man in the Iron Mask''.
* ''[[The Avengers (1998
* Tom Lincoln in ''[[The Island]]'' isn't necessarily evil. He's just a rich playboy whose philandering ways have resulted in him having a few months left to live. But when his "insurance policy", i.e. his clone Lincoln Six Echo shows up at his home, he appears to be glad to find out about it. He then immediatley calls the cloning company and tells them about the clone. Later on, Lincoln Six Echo (conveniently wearing Tom's clothes) manages to slip his bracelet on Tom's arm, resulting in the latter's death. He further continues to imitate Tom by adopting his Scottish accent after hearing is for about an hour. Laurent, a trained mercenary, fails to detect any deception, even though the clone slipped the bracelet on Tom's arm in while Laurent was looking at them. Only later, while performing an autopsy on Tom's body, the doctor realizes that the bracelet is on the wrong arm. Meanwhile, the clone has infiltrated the cloning company as Tom (supposedly there to make a new clone), still using a Scottish accent and behaving like a rich playboy. Oh, and he says "shite" at one point, even though Tom never said the word in his presense.
** Of course, one of the subplots in the film is that {{spoiler|the clones are starting to recall memories of their "donors"}}, so this is partially justified.
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== Literature ==
* Played both ways and then subverted multiple times in thriller ''The Third Twin'' by Ken Follett. Main character, [[Plucky Girl|plucky academic underdog]], has uncovered evidence that eight identical twins (including her boyfriend) were implanted secretly (and nonconsensually) in separate mothers during the early days of ''in vitro'' fertilization; boyfriend's [[Evil Counterpart]] and titular Third Twin, who was raised by the [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] who ran the experiment, spies on her on his father's behalf. Evil Counterpart's cover is blown when he shows a behavioral tic she saw his dad use, and then captured when Boyfriend intervenes. Boyfriend then impersonates Evil
* In [[Keith Laumer|Keith Laumer's]] classic ''[[Imperium]]'', a man is recruited by an interdimensional empire that occupies alternate Earths. His mission is to replace the overlord of one of these realities, who is his alternate self. The ruse works perfectly until the first time he confronts one of the overlord's inner
* Done inadvertently in [[Marion Zimmer Bradley]]'s ''The Door Through Space''; the hero and his antagonist both fit the same general description, and when the hero realizes that the bad guys have mistaken him for the other guy he proceeds to take advantage as best he can.
* Similarly, in the ''[[
* Kim Kinnison does something very similar to this in ''[[Lensman|Second Stage Lensmen]]''. While not actually standing in for an evil version of ''himself'', the position he rises to within the enemy organisation corresponds almost exactly to the one he occupies in the Galactic Patrol's hierarchy (one below the actual leadership but with major input into strategic decision making), and the mental discipline needed to stay in character matches this trope very well. Unfortunately the one being who has any suspicion of him and can call him on it does, and at the most critical point in the plan. The fact that Kinnison pretty much knows this is coming doesn't make what follows any easier for him.
* An example from the children's book series ''Secrets of Droon''. The [[Power Trio]] is exploring a lost city and find out that two of them are doubles of the Duke and his sister. The kid who looks like the Duke tries to get the guards to go away by ordering them to go make him a burger... but he asks for extra pickles, leading to this exchange:
{{quote|
'''Neal:''' Really? What kind of a nut is he? I mean, am I? }}
* Subverted in ''[[
== Live-Action TV ==
* ''[[
** Subverted in ''The Chase''. The Daleks have made a robot double of the Doctor, which he pulled the plug on. The travellers discuss having the Doctor pretending to be the robot, and conclude that it's an absurd idea because the Daleks should know that their own robot isn't working. The Doctor sneaks off in the middle of the conversation to do it anyway... and is caught in around five seconds.
** In ''The Enemy of the World'', the Doctor visits Earth during the year 2030, and is discovered to bear a shocking resemblance to a South American dictator named Salamander. The "good guys" ask him to impersonate Salamander and infiltrate his organization. At the end of the story, with his evil plans in ruins, Salamander makes an unsuccessful attempt to escape in the TARDIS by impersonating the Doctor.
** Done also in ''The Android Invasion
** Done by the Doctor in the story ''[[Doctor Who
* In ''[[
* On ''[[Knight Rider]]'', Michael Knight impersonates his evil twin, Garth, in "Goliath". Revealed when his [[Beard of Evil]] is torn off.
* ''[[Hercules: The Legendary Journeys]]'': Done when Hercules ends up in a [[Mirror Universe]]. In this case, though, he ''is'' undone by a flaw in his
* ''[[Star Trek]]''
** The only really good example of this in canon ''[[Star Trek]]'' is the original Mirror Universe episode "Mirror, Mirror". In ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine|Deep Space Nine]]'' Mirror Universe episodes, counterpart visitors are either known to be counterparts or were replacing good guys, and in ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise|Enterprise]]'' Mirror Universe episodes, there ARE no counterparts. Non-canon novels, comics, and fanfics still feature this trope, though.
** In encounters with the Borg, Jean-Luc Picard occasionally imitates Locutus (his identity when he was assimilated), since Borg drones will still acknowledge him as such. He does this a couple of times on the show and extensively in the novel ''The Return''.
** Lampshaded at the end of "Mirror, Mirror", when Spock points out that Good Kirk and co., being civilized, were successfully able to pretend to be savages, while their savage counterparts lacked the self-control necessary to pull the reverse stunt.
** In the Expanded Universe, Mirror Kira has now been replaced by a crazy Cardassian from this universe, who was surgically alternated years ago to resemble the Kira over here in part of a failed intelligent scheme. (Although this Cardassian was never seen in the series, an episode had Kira asserted to be her and surgically altered 'back'.) This attempt appears to have inexplicably worked, despite the replacement not being the correct species, from the correct universe, or even an alternate universe version of that person, and thus having obvious gaps in knowledge.
* ''[[Sliders]]''
** Averted in the pilot, where Arturo does a fairly reasonable impersonation of his otherworld Communist general counterpart. The soldier lets him through, but still shows the wherewithal to call command and ask where the said general is.
** Unfortunately, this trope was played all too straight as the series wore on.
* On ''[[
* ''[[The Prisoner]]'' episode "The Schizoid Man". After his double is killed, Number 6 decides to impersonate him in order to escape from The Village. He fails due to a [[Bluff the Impostor]] trick by Number 2.
* An episode of ''[[Friends]]'' has Phoebe pretending to be her sister Ursula to break up with Joey.
* Done in an episode of ''[[Stargate SG
* In one ''[[Hogan's Heroes]]'' episode, the Germans planned to fake the escape of a British officer, sending his double, who'd assassinate Churchill after arriving in England. The Heroes, of course, captured the German impostor, rescued the Brit, and let the Germans ship him safely off to Britain. When greeted by a German soldier, he covered up his inability to speak German by claiming he was sticking to the British disguise. "Speak in English, you fool; I'm Group Captain Roberts, RAF."
* An episode of ''[[The Avengers (TV series)|The Avengers]]'', "Two's a Crowd" had foreign agents groom an unscrupulous male model who closely resembled Steed to murder and impersonate him. He didn't do a good enough job of the "murder" part, resulting in Steed infiltrating the spy ring. Essentially the same concept was reused in ''The New Avengers'' episode "Faces."
* In ''[[
* This trope is retty much the entire plot of [[Ringer]], although Bridget doesn't know that Siobhan is still alive {{spoiler|until the last episode of the first season.}} Bridget gets away with it most of the time, although {{spoiler|if on the occasions she's had to go to the police they'd thought of ''just taking her fingerprints'' the game would have been up a lot sooner...}}
== Video Games ==
* Weird example in ''[[Metal Gear Solid]] 2'', as it was coincidental. Solid Snake dresses as a fictional Navy SEAL in order to get into an offshore cleaning facility without arousing suspicion. He encounters Raiden, who instantly recognises him as being a dead ringer for Liquid Snake, another survivor of the [[Cloning Blues|cloning project]] which Solid Snake was born
* At the beginning of ''[[
* ''[[
== Web Comics ==
* This is toyed with in a storyline for ''[[Bob and George]]''
* Inverted in ''[[The Order of the Stick
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** To further confuse the point, the Flash ''really is'' Lex Luthor (on ''[[Smallville]]''). That is to say, Michael Rosenbaum, who plays Luthor in ''Smallville'', is also the voice of the Flash.
** It's averted in the same episode by the fact that Dr. Fate, whose magic was involved in the mind switch, immediately points out that Luthor's mind has ended up in Flash's body. Luthor, for his part, doesn't even ''try'' to act like the Flash. And when he takes of his mask, he has [[Crowning Moment of Funny|"no idea who he is."]]
* Also from ''[[Justice League]]'', the League members are sent to a [[Alternate Universe]] where their counterparts, known as the Justice Lords, [[The Psycho Rangers|eventually went rogue]] and took the [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]] route. There's a point when the League members (excluding Batman) try to enter the alternate universe Arkham by pretending to be their counterparts, which they fail to pull off due to not following the secret password procedure correctly.
** The trope is then subverted when the league are surrounded by the police; Lord Batman shows up and calls them off, escorting the League to safety. Superman at first thinks it's really their own Batman obeying this trope, [[Actually, I Am Him|but it turns out that it really is Lord Batman]].
* Scarlett from ''[[G.I. Joe]]'' is a [[Master of Disguise]], but was typically horrible at actually impersonating somebody. In one episode, she attempts to impersonate an evil scientist's wife/partner. The trope is subverted in that she is immediately spotted because she did not greet "her" husband by insulting him. Typically Scarlett will get caught one way or another. Her evil counterpart -- [[The Baroness]]
* ''[[Darkwing Duck]]''
** Darkwing Duck tries to pull this off once. It actually works perfectly, but [[Legion of Doom|The Fearsome Five]] had just decided to betray Negaduck....
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[[Category:This Index Is Not an Example]]
[[Category:Twin Tropes]]
[[Category:I Am He
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