Impersonating the Evil Twin: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

The situation where [[Evil Twin]] is reversed -- the Evil Twin isn't pretending to be the character, but instead the character is pretending to be the Evil Twin. Never mind that the original character hasn't studied the Evil Twin's typical mannerisms, knows nothing of his background and may not have his abilities. Never mind that the Evil Twin may be wearing a mask or equivalent which the real character can't take off since it's his real face. They look alike, so it has to work, right? In fact, it works more often than it should, often stopped only by gross problems (such as the real Evil Twin walking through the door), not by the dozens of flaws in the impersonation that nobody notices. Frequently it works because the Evil Twin's [[Mooks]] are [[Bad Boss|too scared of him to question his changes in behavior]].

== Fan Works ==

* 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''.

* 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.

* 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 circle -- who, upon seeing him, immediately orders his arrest. {{spoiler|What no one except the inner circle knew was that the warlord had lost both his legs some time previously.}}

* 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.

* 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| '''Guard:''' But... Duke Slorpo ''hates'' pickles...<br />

'''Neal:''' Really? What kind of a nut is he? I mean, am I? }}

** Done also in ''The Android Invasion" when the Doctor pretends to be his android double and successfully fools the other androids. He also succeeds in reprogramming his double to assist him, a fact which is only revealed after the double has done a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] in front of his horrified companion.

** Done by the Doctor in the story ''[[Doctor Who/Recap/S18 E2 Meglos|Meglos]]''; discovered only when Meglos is shot in the belief that he's the Doctor and replies, "satisfied?"

* 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 impersonation -- specifically, by an offer of his "favorite" food, which his [[Evil Twin]] actually hated.

* ''[[Star Trek]]''

** 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.

** 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.

* ''[[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.

* 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."

* 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 from -- because of this, he's unnaturally suspicious. It doesn't help that the disguise is paper-thin -- the director stated he wanted to make the disguise as transparent as possible to see how many players he could manage to fool nonetheless. (Add to this a third clone claiming to be Solid Snake while not even bothering to dress up, and you've got yourself a headache.) The game also credits the voice actor whenever a new character is introduced, so it doesn't take a rocket surgeon to put two and two together.

== Web Comics ==

* This is toyed with in a storyline for ''[[Bob and George]]'' -- when the president is [[Shout-Out|kidnapped]] [[Bad Dudes|by ninjas]], Mike finds the ninjas obeying him without reason or rhyme, letting the president go without a fight. Later on, it's discovered that Mike's ''non''-alternate universe variant (as Mike came from an alternate universe with Mynd) is their real boss. [[You Have Failed Me|Well, was.]]