Anti-Climactic Unmasking: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''"What did you expect? A Monster?''|'''Machine''', ''[[Eight MM|8mm]]'' }}

'''The Joker:''' And reduce my primal enemy to a mere man? Harley, dear, I'm so disappointed in you! [[Defied Trope|Where's the fun in that?]]|''[[Batman: theThe Brave And The Bold (Animation)|Batman the Brave And The Bold]]''}}

** An early issue of ''[[Ultimate Spider -Man]]'' had Peter get unmasked by the Kingpin and his thugs, but not know who he was.

* Deconstructed (like [[Deconstructor Fleet|many other things]]) in ''[[Watchmen (Comic Bookcomics)|Watchmen]]''. {{spoiler|Long before Rorschach is unmasked, his alter ego is shown on-page many times as a random kook with a sign that reads "the end is near". Because the character was not notable at all, it was easy for readers dismissed him as being an extra.}}

* In ''Astonishing [[X -Men]]'' as written by [[Warren Ellis]], the X-Men spend the better part of a story arc hunting down a man named Kaga who is using dead X-Men, Brood and Sentinels to try and kill them. Kaga turns out to be {{spoiler|an old cripple in a wheelchair.}} Even better, his motivation for trying to kill them is anticlimatic in itself, amounting to {{spoiler|hatred of them for being gorgeous, picturesque mutants, rather than like him, a deformed old freak whose more mundane mutation was a result of Hiroshima.}} Kaga himself [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]] this, sneering "What were you expecting? A master plan? A scheme to turn off the sun? This is the real world. Hatred and disgust are good enough reasons to want to kill people."

* In ''[[Spider -Man (Filmfilm)|Spider Man]] 2'', Spider-Man's mask is removed after he saves a train full of innocent civilians. They take a glance at him and realize that he could be anyone. One guy even states that Peter Parker looks a lot like his own son.

* Played with in the 2009 ''[[Speed Racer (Filmfilm)|Speed Racer]]'' movie. Right after the Monte Cristo 5000 race, Speed and Racer X <ref>who is really Speed's older brother, Rex Racer</ref> meet on an empty track. When Speed claims that X is his older brother <ref>which he really is</ref>, X removes his mask to show that he is just some guy--not Speed's older brother, Rex Racer <ref>[[Running Gag|even though he is Speed's older brother, Rex]]</ref>. This turns out to be a ruse pulled off thanks to [[Magic Plastic Surgery]], because as we all know, {{spoiler|[[Overly Long Gag|Racer X is Speed's older brother, Rex Racer]]}}.

* Quietly played straight in ''[[Kick-Ass (Filmfilm)|Kick-Ass]]''. Our hero is beaten down by thugs early into the film and stripped of his costume by the paramedics. They toss the suit out and never tell his father. Later, when Kick-Ass becomes all the rage, it seems no one remembers that geeky kid who was just one more random mugging victim.

* Inverted and combined with [[Stranger Behind the Mask]] during the ending to ''[[Eight MM|8mm]]'' when [[Nicolas Cage]] takes the mask off [[The Dragon|Machine]] and he's just a bald fat guy who "does it because he enjoys it". He even has a speech about the fact his unmasking was inevitably going to be anti-climactic.

* Much like the page quote above, [[The Joker]] defies this trope in ''[[Batman: Arkham City (Video Game)|Batman Arkham City]]'' when Harley Quinn tries to remove [[Batman]]'s mask.

* In the ''[[Justice League (Animationanimation)|Justice League]]'' cartoon, [[Lex Luthor]] has [[Freaky Friday Flip|swapped bodies]] with [[The Flash]]. As he's being chased through the Watchtower by the rest of the League, he stops in a bathroom and muses that at the very least, he has the opportunity to learn Flash's secret identity. He looks in the mirror and takes off his mask, looks annoyed for a moment, then comments that he has no idea who the heck he is.

* In ''[[Spider-Man: theThe Animated Series (Animation)|Spider-Man the Animated Series]]'', Peter is suffering from [[Power Incontinence]] and is facing off against the Insidious Six. Because he lacks his powers and is facing off against six super-powered foes, he is quickly beaten and unmasked before Kingpin and dissatisfied members of his criminal empire like Silvermane... only for Doctor Octopus to declare that Peter Parker could not be Spider-Man (due to his seeming lack of powers). This pisses off Silvermane and he mocks Kingpin for supposedly kidnapping an old woman and forcing her desperate nephew to play along.

* In ''[[Batman: The Animated Series (Animation)|Batman the Animated Series]]'' Batman's unmasking of Bane reveals, not Venom-twisted monstrosity, but simply vaguely handsome, boyish face with nothing really remarkable about it.

* [[Defied]] in ''[[Batman: theThe Brave And The Bold (Animation)|Batman the Brave And The Bold]]'' (see page quote)--[[The Joker]] doesn't ''want'' to unmask Batman because it's Batman he's obsessed with. Finding the person under the hood would just ruin the fun.