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Is that so, Mr Bond? You don't think that since your job is a ''secret'' agent that perhaps you shouldn't ''tell everyone your real name!?''
Maybe that's why every [[Super Villain]] you encounter already knows who you are, knows your name, your "secret" code number, what you look like, and [[Drink Order|how you like your martinis]].
Hollywood secret agents seem to have a habit of being remarkably unsecretive, whether it's by using their real names, lack of disguises, waving their weapons and performing stunts in public while dressed in a [[Tuxedo and Martini|tuxedo]], or merely looking like [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]]. Compare [[Highly-Visible Ninja]] and [[Paper-Thin Disguise]]. See also [[The Men in Black]], who are also meant to be some kind of covert operatives, but are just as conspicuous.
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{{examples}}
== Anime
* [[Golgo 13]] is known in civilian life as Duke Togo. When using an alias, he goes by... Duke Togo. Or some variation thereof. The general consensus is that, after decades of killing people for money, Duke's untouchable and he ''knows'' it.▼
* ''[[Groo the Wanderer]]'': Groo once was given a job as a spy, thus proving that there are, at times, [[What an Idiot!|people even dumber than Groo]]. Needless to say, things do not go as planned. Groo is ept at some things. Being "covert" is not one of those things.
* ''[[Jet Dream (Comic Book)|Jet Dream]]'': Jet Dream and her Stunt-Girl Counterspies are Hollywood Stunt-Girls by day, and private counter-intelligence agents... also by day. Their identities and jobs seem to be, at best, open secrets (if not just plain "open.")
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== Film ==
* [[James Bond (film)|James Bond]], despite the description, largely averts this. He frequently uses aliases, and officially James Bond is just an employee of Universal Exports (actually a front for British Intelligence). Usually the villain finds out despite all this; often he's up against enemies who are either themselves spies or connected to some foreign government or intelligence agency, and he is identified that way, or the villain turns out to be a supposed ally or client of [[MI 6]]. Most people do not know who [[James Bond (film)|James Bond]] is.
** Except in the early 70's when even small time diamond smugglers recognized his name, and [[The Man with the Golden Gun|the world's top assassin]] actually had a mannequin of him. Stromberg from ''[[The Spy Who Loved Me]]'' knew him too, but he also identified Russian agent Triple X so he might just be that connected. Otherwise, he usually avoids it.
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* ''[[Inglourious Basterds]]'': For a world-renowned actress and double agent, Bridget von Hammersmark is a pretty lousy spy, able to make decent small talk but falling apart quickly the moment someone starts pulling on a thread in her act. {{spoiler|It eventually gets her killed.}}
==
* The whole idea behind [[Alex Rider]] is that his status as a [[Teen Superspy|teenager]] means that he should be more covert because bad guys will think he is [[Just a Kid]], however not only does he keep doing things that clearly a kid would not do, such as parachuting into secret enemy bases, but many bad guys in his books seem quite capable of finding all about his connections to MI-6. In strong contrast, the [[CHERUB Series]] agents are so secret even most members of the British Government can't find out about them, the existence of CHERUB is never revealed, CHERUB agents have very strong covers, and while they have exotic training most of the time they do things that any ordinary teenager would do.▼
* In Daniel Silva's series of novels about Israeli agent Gabriel Allon, Allon is actually known to other countries' intelligence agencies as being a participant in the targeted assassinations carried out in revenge for the massacre of Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics, and is in fact arrested for this in one of the books. Also, while he does have a covert identity as an Italian art restorer, his accent is clearly not that of a native, and this gets lampshaded by having his colleagues remark on his oddness, and one of them jokes that he might be Osama bin Laden.▼
* A couple of the ''Matt Helm'' novels actively used his status as a government assassin who had been around forever and everyone in the trade knew by reputation in order to have him act as a decoy or to intimidate the local baddies.▼
** ''The Wrecking Crew'', the second Matt Helm novel, had him using his real name and background, so everyone would think he was a former assassin who had been out of the business for decades (true) and was pretty much useless now (false). The badguys who assumed this didn't survive to the end of the book.▼
* [[Golgo 13]] almost always uses some variant on "Duke Togo" as a cover identity. Which wouldn't apply except that Duke Togo is also the name he goes by in public. He ''has'' subverted the trope by using fairly different names, but he keeps coming back to Duke Togo.▼
** But if he was caught, who would the government in question use when they needed people shot in the head?▼
* Subverted in the [[Discworld]] book ''[[
** Vetinari uses a similar plan in ''[[
** [[Double Subverted]] in ''[[
* ''[[Geronimo Stilton]]'': One of Stilton's old friends, Kornelius Von Kickpaw, is a secret agent who always wears [[Conspicuous Trenchcoat|a trenchcoat and dark glasses]]. His sister, also a secret agent, always wears a distinctive perfume.▼
* Compared to his cinematic alter ego, the [[James Bond]] of [[Ian Fleming]]'s novels is portrayed in a relatively realistic manner. Nevertheless, when he's in London, Bond's real name is known, as is his true employer ("Something at the Ministry of Defense.") The precise nature of his job is still unknown, but the fact that he's doing ''some'' sort of secretive work is not. This is pretty much [[Truth in Television]] (see Valerie Plame, below, for what's actually a rather typical, if unusually widely-known, example, below.)▼
* In ''[[The Winds of War and War and Remembrance]]'' Victor Henry is Naval Liason in several capitals including Berlin. Much of his work consists of going to parties with Important People. But he catches the attention of the President by predicting an agreement between Germany and Russia. In this case there really is no secret that he is a spy other then the point that it is kind of rude to say, "I am a spy" in a foreign country(it is the diplomatic equivalent of telling a woman that her dress has a coffee stain in the middle of a party). What is secret is when he is cultivating traitors, or just talking to people to stupid to keep their mouths shut(the later method is where he actually gets his information; apparently there are a surprising number even in a police state which given the real Third Reich's security record probably is not unrealistic).▼
== Live-Action TV ==
* Jack Bauer on ''[[24]]'' almost never uses an alias, even when working deep cover with drug cartels or right-wing militias. In his case, however, the terrorists never seem to wise up, even though Bauer is undoubtedly one of the best known people on the government's payroll in the ''24'' universe (having been mentioned on national TV news at least once.) However, the one time he ''is'' seen to use an alias, after faking his death, it ends up not doing him any good at all.
** The reason he hardly ever uses an alias is that the bad guys ''always'' seem to know who Jack Bauer is from the outset of the story, and he only ever has a day to stop them anyway. Season 1 revolves around a revenge plot against him and David Palmer; season 2 features well connected villains and Nina Myers who knows him personally; season 3 has drug lords he was undercover against, Nina Myers ''again'', and Bauer [[Face Heel Turn|friend turned terrorist]] Stephen Saunders. In season 4 his ID does not matter much but Marwan appears to recognise his name anyway; in season 5 it's a government conspiracy including his [[Evil Mentor|old mentor]] and the [[President Evil]] who tried to have him murdered, plus well-connected foreign terrorists; in season 6 his own ''family'' are the villains, along with an Islamic terrorist with a grudge against Jack because who killing his brother, with Jack's old Chinese captors thrown in for good measure; and 7 has another government conspiracy with guys who who have been [[The Man Behind the Man]] since at least season 5. By 8 it no longer matters.
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* ''[[Covert Affairs]]'' is a justified version: Since the CIA actually gives out real names with an assumed cover identity, nobody is really expecting Annie to not give out her real name. Also subverted in one episode-when she helps her sister with some photography, the agency orders the pictures of her taken down.
* In ''[[Alphas]]'' Gary's autism makes him not very good at going undercover, often refers to himself as a secret agent, often in front of people who aren't supposed to know, and when another member of the team is giving a cover story has identified it as such.
▲== Literature ==
▲* The whole idea behind [[Alex Rider]] is that his status as a [[Teen Superspy|teenager]] means that he should be more covert because bad guys will think he is [[Just a Kid]], however not only does he keep doing things that clearly a kid would not do, such as parachuting into secret enemy bases, but many bad guys in his books seem quite capable of finding all about his connections to MI-6. In strong contrast, the [[CHERUB Series]] agents are so secret even most members of the British Government can't find out about them, the existence of CHERUB is never revealed, CHERUB agents have very strong covers, and while they have exotic training most of the time they do things that any ordinary teenager would do.
▲* In Daniel Silva's series of novels about Israeli agent Gabriel Allon, Allon is actually known to other countries' intelligence agencies as being a participant in the targeted assassinations carried out in revenge for the massacre of Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics, and is in fact arrested for this in one of the books. Also, while he does have a covert identity as an Italian art restorer, his accent is clearly not that of a native, and this gets lampshaded by having his colleagues remark on his oddness, and one of them jokes that he might be Osama bin Laden.
▲* A couple of the ''Matt Helm'' novels actively used his status as a government assassin who had been around forever and everyone in the trade knew by reputation in order to have him act as a decoy or to intimidate the local baddies.
▲** ''The Wrecking Crew'', the second Matt Helm novel, had him using his real name and background, so everyone would think he was a former assassin who had been out of the business for decades (true) and was pretty much useless now (false). The badguys who assumed this didn't survive to the end of the book.
▲* [[Golgo 13]] almost always uses some variant on "Duke Togo" as a cover identity. Which wouldn't apply except that Duke Togo is also the name he goes by in public. He ''has'' subverted the trope by using fairly different names, but he keeps coming back to Duke Togo.
▲** But if he was caught, who would the government in question use when they needed people shot in the head?
▲* Subverted in the [[Discworld]] book ''[[Discworld/Maskerade|Maskerade]]'', with two operatives are extremely overt due to being Corporal Nobbs and Detritus, some of the Watch's best known and least deceptive members - who are there to distract attention from their real agent, who's been there for some time already.
▲** Vetinari uses a similar plan in ''[[Discworld/Going Postal|Going Postal]]'' when he had someone tailed by an incompetent agent: if you see Vetinari's spy, it's a spy he wants you to see.
▲** [[Double Subverted]] in ''[[Discworld/Jingo|Jingo]]''. Sergeant Colon and Corporal Nobbs are trying (and failing) to pretend to be Klatchian. However the Klatcians they are talking to assume that they must actually be Klatchians pretending to be Ankh Morporkians since Ankh Morpork would not use such obvious Overt Operatives.
▲* ''[[Geronimo Stilton]]'': One of Stilton's old friends, Kornelius Von Kickpaw, is a secret agent who always wears [[Conspicuous Trenchcoat|a trenchcoat and dark glasses]]. His sister, also a secret agent, always wears a distinctive perfume.
▲* Compared to his cinematic alter ego, the [[James Bond]] of [[Ian Fleming]]'s novels is portrayed in a relatively realistic manner. Nevertheless, when he's in London, Bond's real name is known, as is his true employer ("Something at the Ministry of Defense.") The precise nature of his job is still unknown, but the fact that he's doing ''some'' sort of secretive work is not. This is pretty much [[Truth in Television]] (see Valerie Plame, below, for what's actually a rather typical, if unusually widely-known, example, below.)
▲* In [[The Winds of War and War and Remembrance]] Victor Henry is Naval Liason in several capitals including Berlin. Much of his work consists of going to parties with Important People. But he catches the attention of the President by predicting an agreement between Germany and Russia. In this case there really is no secret that he is a spy other then the point that it is kind of rude to say, "I am a spy" in a foreign country(it is the diplomatic equivalent of telling a woman that her dress has a coffee stain in the middle of a party). What is secret is when he is cultivating traitors, or just talking to people to stupid to keep their mouths shut(the later method is where he actually gets his information; apparently there are a surprising number even in a police state which given the real Third Reich's security record probably is not unrealistic).
▲* [[Golgo 13]] is known in civilian life as Duke Togo. When using an alias, he goes by... Duke Togo. Or some variation thereof. The general consensus is that, after decades of killing people for money, Duke's untouchable and he ''knows'' it.
== Tabletop Games ==
* In ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]]'' Fantasy Battles Deathmaster Snitch is known by the name Snitch. Of course being an assassin is a respected profession for a skaven, and as a bipedal rat he can't exactly blend in with other races no matter what he calls himself. It might pose issues with rival clans if skaven weren't in a constant state of paranoia anyway.
* In ''[[Paranoia]]'', many Internal Security agents go undercover as members of another security group; this usually works okay (as long as they're not actually called on to fix a malfunctioning nuclear reactor or whatever), but a few of them are ''completely'' incompetent at hiding it; their every word and action practically screams "hi, I'm an Internal Security plant!". They're usually [[Feed the Mole|fed false leads]] and otherwise left alone, lest Internal Security send someone competent in their place. (A few of them [[Obfuscating Stupidity|act this way on purpose]] so no one will notice the ''other'' Internal Security plant.)
== Webcomics ==▼
* In ''[[Girl Genius]]'' Ardsley Wooster, after a long but ultimately ineffective (in that his target knew all along) cover opp as Gilgamesh Wulfenbach's manservant, has skipped into this territory with his dirigible-hopping announcement of himself to a foreign power as "Ardsley Wooster, British Intelligence." It was tactically viable, though, and it's not like his cover wasn't blown already.▼
** His cover had been blown all along to Gil (and at least someone else in the Wulfenbach government, as someone's apparently been feeding Gil information on Wooster's background - he assures Punch and Judy that he's been "told [Wooster] is quite good"). The only other person before the dramatic airship entrance/exit who saw him to identify him acting as an enemy was [[Axe Crazy|Bangladesh Dupree]], who spent the period immediately following that with her jaw wired shut AND bigger fish to fry. She still may assume he acts on Gil's orders... which is, after all, ''true''. Jager generals are loyal exclusively to Heterodynes, and Wooster already had to tell their boss whom he does represent to offer her sanctuary. The bigger question up to that point was whether/how much he's still working as a [[Double Agent]] for Gil. {{spoiler|Apparently not, though he's not exactly working against him, either. Gil's attempt to scare him by talking out of [[The Madness Place]] worked, and was reinforced when Gil proven himself a worthy heir to Klaus. So going with the original plan will satisfy his real boss, but he also thinks it's in their interest to make sure Gilgamesh is not hostile.}}▼
** Later Wooster [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20171113 meets his colleague]. Who got into previously mentioned [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20040206 Trelawney Thorpe novels] That implied to be more or less Renaissance version of James Bond adventures (Wooster insists that "Miss Thorpe is a real person"… and that those are still not as much of yarn than Heterodyne stories).▼
*** [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20171206 Miss Thorpe] ''is'' indeed a real person, she ''is'' Wooster's colleague, and her opinion of those "terrible [[Dime Novel|penny sparklies]]" is pretty low too.▼
*** Then Gil gets to [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20180312 meet her], too.▼
* Subverted in [http://www.viruscomix.com/page529.html this] ''[[Subnormality]]'' strip.▼
* Agent Ben and Agent Jerry in ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]]'' are extremely obvious [[The Men in Black]] anyway, but they also have a big black car and a [[Van in Black|big black van,]] each clearly labeled "F.B.I. Undercover" in large, friendly letters.▼
* ''[[Paranatural]]'' have someone evidently advertising his services by driving around [http://www.paranatural.net/index.php?id=159 in a car] marked with big "Papa Squat's PIZZA and wiretapping" on top.▼
== Western Animation ==▼
* ''[[Archer]]'': Sterling Archer of ISIS tends to get a lot of this, probably stemming from his [[Jerkass]] behavior and the fact that he tells everybody he meets that he's a secret agent. As early as the third episode it's revealed that Archer is responsible for the deaths of no less than three fellow agents via blowing their cover frivolously in an attempt to get laid.▼
== Video Games ==
* Lampshaded at the end of ''[[Metal Gear Solid]] 3'' when Ocelot laughs about how no-one has figured out Adam's identity. {{spoiler|It's Ocelot, and his real first name is Adamska}}. [[Mind Screw|Probably.]]
** Solid Snake himself is normally somewhat overt (although he relies on just not being seen, not false information) and even does a nice subversion in ''Sons of Liberty.'' Disguised as a Navy SEAL, he succeeds in infiltrating the Big Shell with the SEAL team. We in the audience instantly know it's him when he takes his balaclava off, and we expect Raidan to call shenanigans...but it turns out Raidan doesn't actually know what Solid Snake looks like, so it works.
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* In ''[[Alpha Protocol]]'', Mike Thorton is only too eager to tell his name to everyone he encounters. (It's implied a couple of times that it may not be his ''real'' name, but it's still the name under which he is {{spoiler|wanted by the American government}} for most of the game.)
==
▲* In ''[[Girl Genius]]'' Ardsley Wooster, after a long but ultimately ineffective (in that his target knew all along) cover opp as Gilgamesh Wulfenbach's manservant, has skipped into this territory with his dirigible-hopping announcement of himself to a foreign power as "Ardsley Wooster, British Intelligence." It was tactically viable, though, and it's not like his cover wasn't blown already.
▲** His cover had been blown all along to Gil (and at least someone else in the Wulfenbach government, as someone's apparently been feeding Gil information on Wooster's background - he assures Punch and Judy that he's been "told [Wooster] is quite good"). The only other person before the dramatic airship entrance/exit who saw him to identify him acting as an enemy was [[Axe Crazy|Bangladesh Dupree]], who spent the period immediately following that with her jaw wired shut AND bigger fish to fry. She still may assume he acts on Gil's orders... which is, after all, ''true''. Jager generals are loyal exclusively to Heterodynes, and Wooster already had to tell their boss whom he does represent to offer her sanctuary. The bigger question up to that point was whether/how much he's still working as a [[Double Agent]] for Gil. {{spoiler|Apparently not, though he's not exactly working against him, either. Gil's attempt to scare him by talking out of [[The Madness Place]] worked, and was reinforced when Gil proven himself a worthy heir to Klaus. So going with the original plan will satisfy his real boss, but he also thinks it's in their interest to make sure Gilgamesh is not hostile.}}
▲** Later Wooster [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20171113 meets his colleague]. Who got into previously mentioned [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20040206 Trelawney Thorpe novels] That implied to be more or less Renaissance version of James Bond adventures (Wooster insists that "Miss Thorpe is a real person"… and that those are still not as much of yarn than Heterodyne stories).
▲*** [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20171206 Miss Thorpe] ''is'' indeed a real person, she ''is'' Wooster's colleague, and her opinion of those "terrible [[Dime Novel|penny sparklies]]" is pretty low too.
▲*** Then Gil gets to [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20180312 meet her], too.
▲* Subverted in [http://www.viruscomix.com/page529.html this] ''[[Subnormality]]'' strip.
▲* Agent Ben and Agent Jerry in ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]]'' are extremely obvious [[The Men in Black]] anyway, but they also have a big black car and a [[Van in Black|big black van,]] each clearly labeled "F.B.I. Undercover" in large, friendly letters.
▲* ''[[Paranatural]]'' have someone evidently advertising his services by driving around [http://www.paranatural.net/index.php?id=159 in a car] marked with big "Papa Squat's PIZZA and wiretapping" on top.
▲== Western Animation ==
▲* ''[[Archer]]'': Sterling Archer of ISIS tends to get a lot of this, probably stemming from his [[Jerkass]] behavior and the fact that he tells everybody he meets that he's a secret agent. As early as the third episode it's revealed that Archer is responsible for the deaths of no less than three fellow agents via blowing their cover frivolously in an attempt to get laid.
* One interesting factor of the whole Valerie Plame scandal is that she was apparently a covert agent yet was an ambassador's wife well-known by a number of important people. Although in her case much of her covert activity had taken place before she'd been married and the CIA was in the process of moving her to "official cover" (that is, she'd be officially working for the US government but not officially the CIA) when she'd been outed.
** Rather, unofficial cover means your link to the US government is deniable, whereas official cover puts you in the diplomatic corps. In neither case is one allowed to admit they work for the CIA, and in either case it's a crime for anyone in the know to out the officer as a CIA employee, because not only does it place the officer's lives in jeopardy, but also the lives of any agents they've ever been in contact with.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Characters As Device]]
[[Category:Espionage Tropes]]
[[Category:Just for Pun]]
▲[[Category:Overt Operative]]
[[Category:Example as a Thesis]]
[[Category:Alliterative Trope Titles]]
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