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{{trope}}
[[File:Dilton Impostor 4491.jpg|link=Archie Comics|rightframe]]
 
The heroes encounter a situation where the villain is an imposterimpostor of one of their own and/or a sympathetic character. The heroes must find out about the imposterimpostor and expose him/her to stop him.
 
Typically, the situation will involve the impostor and the real person standing side-by-side, both claiming to be the real one, and the other heroes must use their wits to identify who is who, usually by finding a quality that the real person doesn't have (in comedic examples, a positive quality). Or the real person may ask that their friend [[Kill Us Both|shoot both of them]] just to guarantee they get the imposterimpostor (and it's almost inevitable if the person has a [[Healing Factor|super-healing power]]), which usually results in the heroes shooting the other one, because the impostor wouldn't be noble enough to suggest making the [[Heroic Sacrifice]]. This is often parodied these days where the imposterimpostor suggests it, [[Genre Savvy|knowing they'll assume the noble act to mark them out as the original]]—and sometimes double-parodied when this ends up outing him as the fake since [[Jerkass|the real person wouldn't be so noble]].
In live-action media this will usually be accomplished by [[Acting for Two|having the same actor playing both roles]] (with camera and editing tricks) so that even the ''audience'' can't guess who is who, though it can also be done with [[Making Use of the Twin|identical-twin actors]].
 
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[[Speculative Fiction]] variants can get really confusing once you add in the possibilities of magic and/or [[Applied Phlebotinum]]: For example, the victim of a [[Body Swap]] must find a way to convince their friends that the person who looks like them really isn't, while the impostor is trying to convince the same friends that the victim is trying to ''initiate'' a body swap instead of ''undo'' one.
 
A common subversion is for the protagonist to either shoot in a blind guess that turns out correct, or simply shoot both and see who gets madder. In both situations, the victim of the imposterimpostor is likely to be incensed that the hero couldn't tell him from his doppelganger.
 
Another subversion is for neither of them to be an imposterimpostor but in fact both are two parts of the same person split with [[Applied Phlebotinum]]; see [[Evil Twin]] and [[Starfish Character]]. If they are two (visibly) different people but both claiming to be the 'real' whatever-position-would-be-relevant (captain, mother, president, owner, etc), see [[Judgment of Solomon]].
 
May be caused by a [[Shell Game]] with people or when a [[Kill and Replace]] situation has occurred.
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{{examples}}
== Anime & Manga ==
* In ''[[Naruto]]'', two different characters use ninjutsu to disguise themselves as Naruto himself in the ''same episode'', but one is identified as an imposterimpostor because [[A Sinister Clue|he was left-handed]] (his throwing knife holder was on the wrong side), and the other reveals himself as a fake by repeating a long, complicated [[Trust Password]] that the ''real'' Naruto would [[Something Only They Would Say|never be able to remember]].
** The existence of a transformation technique in the series lead to several more instances of Spot the Imposterimpostor, both for mindgames in fights and for comedic filler.
* In one episode of ''[[Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex]]'', a woman who has obsessively studied Pazu has a duplicate of his cyborg body made and her brain put into it; the two then fight and one ends up dead; the incident is not brought up for the rest of the series, implying that either the real Pazu won, or the fake was so good that she simply took his place.
** Judicious use of the pause button, combined with paying ''very careful'' attention to details such as wounds inflicted at the start of the fight (when viewers still know which Pazu is the real one), make it clear that the real Pazu won the fight. However, the show [[Viewers Are Geniuses|lets you figure it out for yourself]] instead of spelling it out for you.
* Something similar occurs in the climax of ''[[Read or Die]]'''s OVA. By paying attention, it's possible to note that {{spoiler|the "real" Miss Deep is the winner}} before it's revealed as part of the plot.
* In an episode of ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]'', Yuusuke is told that one of his friends is an imposterimpostor, and he must identify the imposterimpostor by punching them. He correctly chooses Kuwabara, but then reveals that he'd simply chosen the suspect who'd be best able to cope with being punched in the face. And the one who'd most likely fall into the trap allowing an impostor to appear in the first place.
* Again the split was used in ''[[Ah! My Goddess]]'', when Urd was split into her Demon and Goddess parts. Made easier when it turns out that {{spoiler|Skuld had secretly put a mark on the goddess Urd.}}
* In an episode of ''Rockman.EXE Beast'', an evil alternate version of Numberman shows up infiltrating the core group of friends. When the normal universe's Numberman arrives, obligatory hilarity ensues as the two attack each other identically, to such an extent that their ''Dice Bombs'' roll the same number. The problem is solved when it's realized that if they attack both Numbermen, the fake one would be forced to shapeshift, and then all present protagonists can hit him at once.
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* In ''[[Gash Bell]]'', one of the characters has the ability to change into other characters... badly. He often has a way too big nose or forehead, but everyone but the one he transformed into is oblivious to the differences.
* One of ''[[Pokémon (anime)|Pokémon]]'''s episodes is titled "Will the Real Oak Stand Up?", with James from Team Rocket being the impostor.
** [[Fleeting Demographic Rule|A recent episode did the same thing, with the same imposterimpostor,]] [[Too Dumb to Live|with the same costume. They barely look alike.]] [[Epic Fail|Nobody can tell the difference.]]
* In the Alabasta arc in ''[[One Piece]]'', [[Shape Shifter|Mr 2: Bon Kurei]] assumes the form of Usopp to fool Vivi. He fails because the crew was on guard, having met him before and had prepared a special sign to reveal their true identities.
* In ''[[Sumomomo Momomo]]'', Iroha uses her clan's ability to turn into Momoko, voice and all. She gets touchy feely with Koushi when in the presence of Sanae so Sanae will not interfere with Momoko and Koushi's future marriage. The real Momoko shows up and Koushi figures the right one because Iroha is grabbing onto his arm which was just injured the previous episode and the real Momoko would know about that since she treated the injury. The real Momoko thinks the fake one is an assassin and quickly blasts her away. Iroha shows up about 5 seconds later without the disguise, but very bruised. Nobody ever figures it out or asks about it again.
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{{quote|'''Deadpool''': DING DING DING! ''Real'' Spidey {{spoiler|doesn't want me to kill ''anyone''}}. [[J'accuse!]] *BLAM* }}
* ''[[Gold Digger (Comic Book)|Gold Digger]]'' plays with this trope. [[Shape Shifter]] Madrid arranges to disguise herself as [[the Hero]]ine, Gina Diggers. She then arranges for the real Gina to act out of character in several suspicious ways (an out-of-date outfit, etc.), while trapping herself for Gina's companions to find. As a finishing touch, during the confrontation with Gina, she uses the "<s>shoot us both</s> lock us both up" subversion to win the trust of the others.
* In the recent ''[[Amazons Attack]]'' DCU [[Crisis Crossover]], two Sgt. Steels have been discovered, and the government agency he runs need to figure out which is which. Finally, after a long interrogation, one of the Sgt. Steels points out in exasperation that he has a metal arm, which doesn't bleed—and then swiftly stabs the other Steel in the 'metal' arm with a pencil, showing the second Steel to be a [[Shape Shifter]] when he shouts out in pain. This is subverted, however, in that the first 'Sgt. Steel' is ALSO an imposterimpostor, one who has taken on Steel's form to discover where the real one is; he just happens to be an imposterimpostor who's quicker at thinking on his feet than the first one.
* Somewhat complicated version in a ''[[Nick Fury]]'' comic: Fury is battling Baron von Strucker, the head of [[Nebulous Evil Organisation|HYDRA]] in his soon to be [[Collapsing Lair]], but he has to disguise himself as Strucker using a convenient masking device in order to commandeer a plane out. However, he also sets up Strucker's death by first disguising Strucker as Fury and then putting a ''second'' mask on Strucker so he's wearing his own face on top of Fury's. Result? HYDRA troops burst in and see two Struckers fighting. Fury-disguised-as-Strucker convinces the HYDRA troops he's the real Strucker by yelling louder and ordering troops to remove Strucker-as-Fury-as-Strucker's mask, so the troops comply. Strucker panics and dives into the alpha particle generator, dying. Fury-as-Strucker jets off.
** A bit of [[Fridge Logic]]: [http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/01/nickfury4.jpg Fury] wears an [[Eyepatch of Power|eyepatch]], while [http://www.marveldirectory.com/individuals/b/baronstrucker.htm Strucker] wears a monocle. Where did Fury get two eyepatches and two monocles from?
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* The ''[[Alex Rider]]'' book ''Point Blanc'' ends with a genuinely disturbing sequence in which Alex and his [[doppleganger]] go ''mano a mano''. The prose deliberately acts like a distant camera, leaving the reader to play Spot The Doppleganger and find it impossible, even when one dies. Of course, in the next book, everything's all fine and dandy with Alex being the survivor, but...
* In the ''[[Thursday Next]]'' book ''First Among Sequels'', Thursday fights off a fictional duplicate of herself. As a twist {{spoiler|the writing changes so that we see things from the duplicate's point of view, despite being in the first person narrative, and without warning. It can take a reader a while to notice the switch.}}
* Meg must perform this task in [[Madeleine L'Engle]]'s ''[[A Wind in the Door]]'', distinguishing her detested principal Mr. Jenkins from two impostersimpostors created by echthroi (which are essentially that universe's equivalent of demons). The impostersimpostors try ''too'' hard to be Mr. Jenkins and so fail, while the real Mr. Jenkins simply acts like himself (bored, confused, and wondering when this little game will be over).
* Averted in ''[[Vorkosigan Saga|Brothers in Arms]]'' by [[Lois McMaster Bujold]]. Miles is kidnapped, replaced by his clone, and interrogated; at one point in the interrogation, he and the clone are briefly alone together. He considers trying to trick his captors into thinking that he's the clone, but rejects the idea when he realizes that he hasn't shaved since he was taken and is currently sporting several days more stubble than the clone is.
* The ''[[Iron Man]]'' novel ''Operation: A.I.M.'' had several Avengers battling shapeshifting "adaptoids"; Iron Man tricks the War Machine impostor into giving himself away by pretending his [[Powered Armor]] had a [[Shout-Out|chameleon circuit]]. When the android uses this as an excuse to shapeshift in front of the others, his cover is blown. Later, the heroes must fight their own doppelgangers and resort to uncharacteristic tactics to win since the fakes know all their usual moves.
* In the online novel ''[[John Dies at the End]]'', determining who is a copy is simple, since their makers [[Conspiracy Placement|actually mark each clone's big toe]]. This leads to {{spoiler|a [[Tomato in the Mirror]] for one of the protagonists}}.
* Subverted in ''[[Maximum Ride]]''. After the situation is set up, the imposterimpostor is instantly identified by Angel, who points out "I can ''read minds'', you moron."
* It also gets some time in the ''[[Harry Potter]]'' books because of the Polyjuice Potion: at the start of ''Order of the Phoenix'', where Lupin asks Harry what his Patronus is, several uses after the {{spoiler|Seven Potters escape}}, and a number for trying to detect Death Eater impersonators.
* Happens in one of the ''[[Goosebumps]]'' books, involving a plant clone. After the clone is revealed to be a plant being, the plot seems to wrap up... until a flower in the front garden attempts to convince the protagonist that it is the real one.
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== Live-Action TV ==
* ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series]]'' loves this trope to pieces.
** In the episode "Whom Gods Destroy", Spock sees Kirk standing right next to an insane shapeshifter who is posing as Kirk. Spock identifies the imposterimpostor getting into a fight and noticing that one Kirk orders them both shot to prevent the imposterimpostor from escaping. Knowing that the imposterimpostor would never give that kind of command, Spock stuns the other one. This may be the origin of the "shoot us both" gambit, which itself is so well-known that [[Evolving Trope|today]] it's more likely that the evil one will use it, expecting the decider to shoot the other one (several such examples are below).
*** Spock knew that the shapeshifter in question couldn't hold another identity for more than a few minutes. He says so, and explains that all he has to do is wait. That's when the "Shoot him! No, shoot us both" dialogue occurs.
*** Leonard Nimoy hated this episode, noting that a [[Smart Guy]] like Spock should have been easily to quickly create the kind of highly personal trick questions only his best friend, Kirk, should be able to answer properly to identify himself.
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'''Kirk:''' I'm not sure, but I think we were just insulted...
'''McCoy:''' Oh, I'm sure of it. }}
* ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'' did an entire [[Arc]] about shapeshifting impostersimpostors. However, the first episode in the arc ("The Adversary") was actually a subversion. A Founder traps the crew inside a ship it controls, then tries to pick off the crew one by one. The climax of the episode is O'Brien seeing two Odos, who demand he pick the real one. O'Brien shrugs, says "I've got better things to do than play 'choose the changeling'." and begins reprogramming the ship's computer—which forces the imposterimpostor to reveal himself by attacking.
** One episode had Sisko and a Jem'Hadar grappling, while an ally stood nearby with a phaser. The visibility was so poor he could only make out silhouettes. He found a way to shoot the right one:
{{quote|'''SISKO''': You've got sharp eyes.
'''EDDINGTON''': Not really. I just waited to see which of you was knocked down first, and then I shot the one still standing. }}
* In a weak first-season episode of ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'' Lore incapacitates Data and proceeds to impersonate him. Handled in a terrible, confusing way: Wesley quickly notices the impersonation, but Picard is inexplicably unwilling to believe him, telling Wesley to "shut up."
* In ''[[The A-Team]]'', B.A. faces a sympathetic character who is standing right next to his imposterimpostor, who resembles him in every way, except that they each have different colored lapel flowers. He claims that he can use those flowers to identify the imposterimpostor, a bluff based on the (successful) gamble that the imposterimpostor would bolt in a panic, thus revealing himself.
* ''[[Red Dwarf]]'', "Psirens": The fake Lister is identified because he can actually play the guitar.
* ''[[The Bionic Woman]]'' and ''[[Gemini Man]]'' both shared a [[Recycled Script]] in which each show's hero must cope with an identical imposterimpostor. The Bionic Woman proves her identity while standing side by side with the imposterimpostor by calling attention to herself and then jumping several metres up, a move the imposterimpostor cannot duplicate, thus exposing her. The hero of ''Gemini Man'' simply turns on his invisibility.
* ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' has the episode "Holiday", where Daniel is tricked into switching bodies with an aging scientist who wants to have a little fun before he dies. Though the two are different characters, they are both played by the same actor.
** In that episode, Daniel (in Machello's body) is questioned to prove whether he's really Daniel or not:
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'''Daniel:''' I don't have a sister, and if I did, I'd never let her date you anyways. }}
** Jack is once transformed into his teenaged self {{spoiler|(sort of, it is a clone, but we don't know that until the end of the episode)}} and starts revealing classified information about the rest of the team to prove who he is.
** There is another one where Daniel is invisible and communicating through his grandfather, who is [[It Makes Sense in Context|the only one who could see him.]] Spot the Imposterimpostor without the imposterimpostor.
{{quote|'''Daniel:''' Repeat what I say. I'm standing right next to you.
'''Nick:''' He's standing right next to me.
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'''Jack:''' ''(looking towards Daniel in surprise)'' Daniel? }}
* Similarly, ''[[Angel]]'''s third-season episode "Carpe Noctem" featured an old man who switched bodies with Angel.
* ''[[Seven Days]]'' had a recurring imposterimpostor character, Galina Komanov, who looked exactly like the main character Dr. Olga Vukovich. She appeared in the first-season episode "There's Something About Olga" ''and'' the second-season episode "Two Weddings and a Funeral".
* Noticeably subverted in the 1995 ''[[Are You Afraid of the Dark?]]'' episode "The Tale of the Chameleons", where it appears that the imposterimpostor actually manages to survive while the impostee is killed. Also notable for the fact that the imposterimpostor and impostee were played by different people (namely the Mowry twins).
* In an episode of ''[[Get Smart]]'', Max is unable to prove himself legitimate, as the imposterimpostor who replaces him is well-informed. Why no-one finds it suspicious that normally lame-brained Max would be so up on top-secret information is a mystery.
** ''Get Smart'' must have the highest ratio of evil imposterimpostor plots, Max, 99, and the Chief all being impersonated at least twice in its 5-year run.
* The fifth season finale of ''[[Lost]]'', "The Incident", provides an interesting variation on this. {{spoiler|At the end of season 4, it was revealed that John Locke was dead. However, in the fifth season, after the Oceanic 6 return to the island via a plane that was carrying John's coffin, John is revealed to be very much alive. This is lampshaded by Ben, who is just as confused as the viewers, saying that the island has never brought someone back to life before. In the season finale, it is revealed that this John Locke is actually an imposterimpostor (Jacob's as-yet unnamed rival, who was looking for a "loophole" to kill Jacob). The body of the real Locke was still in the cargo hold of the plane, and it is not yet known how this man could have turned himself into an exact duplicate of Locke.}}
** As it turns out, {{spoiler|the imposterimpostor is Jacob's twin brother, also known as [[No Name Given|The Man in Black]], also known as [[Big Bad|the Smoke Monster]] that had been antagonizing our heroes since Season 1. The Man in Black has the ability to take on the form of any person who had died in order to manipulate their loved ones into doing his bidding; after Jacob is murdered, he is [[Shapeshifter Mode Lock|somehow]] "[[Incredibly Lame Pun|locked]]" in the form of Locke for the rest of the show. However, the other characters eventually discover his true identity, aided by the fact that he slips into his [[One-Winged Angel|smoke form]] from time to time in order to slaughter anyone who stands in his way.}}
* The split personality type is used in ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'', when Xander is split into his "Cool" and "Lame" sides by a magical artifact. We follow the lame Xander around and [[Tomato Surprise|discover suddenly]] that they're the same person. Surprisingly, the dual body effect was done so well because the actor Nicholas Brendon is actually an identical twin whose brother guested on the episode, although the twin was mainly used as a body double—Nicholas Brendon played all of the scenes in which one twin was alone, and whichever role was larger in the scenes where they were together.
** The episode where Giles is turned into a demon, Buffy is able to tell it's him when she looks into his eyes "because no one else can look quite that annoyed with me."
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* The same plot is used in ''[[The Commish]]'' with twin brothers confessing to the same crime (a case of [[Artistic License: Law]] as both could be arrested for conspiracy). The real murderer is uncovered because he's dyslexic, and when telling his brother about the crime he passed on his incorrect reading of a sign.
* Subverted in the final episode of the second ''[[Blackadder]]'' series: Blackadder tells a would-be assassin that Queen Elizabeth's nursemaid will attend her costume party dressed as a cow. After he escapes, Edmund hurries to the party and stabs the person in the cow costume. The others think he's killed Nursie... until she rushes in, wearing four costume udders, at which point Edmund points out: "Ludwig was a master of disguise, whereas Nursie is a sad insane old woman with an udder fixation."
* ''[[Painkiller Jane]]'' has a variant of the "shoot them both" scheme where it is viable because Jane has regeneration powers. The imposterimpostor has regeneration powers too, but he does the [[Shapeshifter Swan Song]] and its all a plan bordering on [[Gambit Roulette|roulette]] anyways, so it works out well for the team.
* Partially subverted amusingly in ''[[LazyTown]]'' when Robbie Rotten impersonates Sportacus. The other characters can't tell the difference despite Robbie being, among other things, 4-5 inches taller and a lot less muscular. Stephanie suggests a race to tell them who is the real Sportacus, and Robbie wins because Sportacus is forced to forfeit the race halfway through to rescue Bessie. Stephanie realises that the one who forfeited to rescue Bessie must be the real one, says so, and unmasks Robbie by pulling his false moustache off. The tag would be a very touching [[Aesop]] on friendship if it wasn't for the simple fact that [[Idiot Plot|Robbie and Sportacus look nothing alike, and they]] ''[[Idiot Plot|should]]'' [[Idiot Plot|have been able to tell them apart by looking at them.]]
** Though it made a great "[[Incredibly Lame Pun|I am Sportacus]]" gag.
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* In the ''[[Law and Order]]'' episode "Brother's Keeper", the detectives found that their gangster murder suspect has a respectable look-alike younger brother who could have committed the crime.<ref>One of the crimes. The original murder was of a drug dealer. The second was of a witness to the first crime. The respectable brother committed the first crime (the dealer sold a lethal dose of drugs to his daughter) and the gangster killed the witness to cover the other's tracks</ref> The cops have a witness, but the gangster's lawyer forces the cops to include both brothers in the line-up. As it turns out, the witness is a nurse and could easily tell the brothers apart because the gangster is a heavy drinker with all the body wear from the habit.
* The list wouldn't be complete without mention of ''[[Sliders]]'', where Professor Arturo meets his alternate-universe-evil-self, and with the gang just about to depart forever to the next Alternate Earth, the two engage in fisticuffs and one Arturo dives through the extra-dimensional portal, which then closes, stranding the other. We're never, ever told if the team got the real Arturo or the alternate one, but he dies anyway so it probably didn't matter.
** It's hinted a few times in the following two episodes that they took the imposterimpostor instead (Arturo was an established football fan in previous episodes but here he wasn't) until the subplot was dropped. A later interview confirmed that they were supposed to have taken the imposterimpostor which would have been followed up had the show not gone off in the direction that it did. It was never said if it was only intended to be or if the Arturo that died was the imposterimpostor and the real one still lived.
* The trope-heavy ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' Digital Shorts directed by [[The Lonely Island]] did a short, [https://web.archive.org/web/20090923015842/http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/#mea=2923 Doppelganger], whose punchline was a masterful totally context-free segue into the standard "Spot the Impostor" scenario.
* In an episode of ''[[Super Sentai|Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger]]'' (and replicated almost scene-for-scene in ''[[Power Rangers SPD]]''), Hoji is [[Body Swap|bodyswapped]] with an alien criminal. To make matters worse, the criminal then breaks the [[Translator Microbes|translator collar]] around the neck of his alien body, ridding Hoji of his ability to speak Japanese (because [[Fridge Logic|language is biological, after all]]). The real Rangers figure out who the imposterimpostor is by noticing if this Hoji acts OOC (for instance, calling Ban his 'partner').
** The typical way to expose an imposterimpostor in Sentai shows is for the leader to have the team assume their standard Super Sentai Pose. The impostee will fall in line with the team while the imposterimpostor is totally lost.
* This was the entire premise of ''[[Kamen Rider|Kamen Rider Blade]]'''s Hyper Battle Video, "Blade Versus Blade", in which one of the [[Killer Robot|Trials]] becomes an evil copy of [[The Hero|Kazuma]] (and by extension, an evil copy of Blade). Played for laughs all the way, his comrades' attempts at identifying the real Kazuma result in him getting shot in the ass and smacked on the head, despite the fact that the copy is wearing an extremely obvious red scarf. When resident [[Anti-Hero]] Hajime comes along, he easily identifies the real one by calling out Kazuma's name; the superhuman reflexes of the Trial cause it to react first, but as Kazuma later complains, "That kind of makes me look slow, doesn't it?"
* This happens a ''lot'' in ''[[Kamen Rider Kabuto]]'' thanks to the fact that the main villain faction are [[Shapeshifting|shapeshifters]] who can copy a host's memories as well as their appearance. The most notable example comes when they imitate one of the main Kamen Riders so well that even the sentient [[Transformation Trinket]] is confused. His [[Mysterious Waif]] sidekick, however, knows exactly which one is the fake. {{spoiler|The fake is right-handed, while the original is left-handed. This is never pointed out in the show, making it more of a bonus for eagle-eyed viewers}}.
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* ''[[Fringe]]'' season 2 ends with the team returning from the [[Alternate Universe]], with Olivia's [[Evil Twin]] having switched places with her. This is known to the audience but not the other characters. In Season 3, the alternate Olivia has noticeably different mannerisms; she's not as cold, and seems more feminine. It's not immediately apparent whether this is merely a reminder to the audience or is noticeable to the characters. When it becomes evident, she explains it away by saying her experiences in the alternate universe changed her. She gets away with it to the extent of getting intimately involved with Olivia's Fringe-team partner, and is not caught until the real Olivia shows up. (at which point a [[Bluff the Impostor]] game ensues).
** On the other side, some [[Applied Phlebotinum]] allows the original Olivia to remain completely undetected by those in the [[Alternate Universe]] who don't already know, despite some revealing mistakes.
* ''[[Cleopatra 2525]]'' has both the original and the imposterimpostor believing they are the true version.
* ''[[Power Rangers]]'' has used this one a few times. The Primator (who had impersonation as his power) gave himself away while pretending to be Tommy by saying the rangers should give up (to clarify, Tommy is a [[Determinator]] who on several occasions in the series, both before and after this moment, was willing to fight even without his powers, so giving up is so out-of-character for him it had to be the Primator). Also, while Primator disguised as Trini, Jason challenged both Yellow Rangers to fight him, saying he can easily recognize her fighting style. However, Trini proved her identity by refusing to fight, lest she harm a fellow Ranger, while the Primator leaped towards Jason to attack him with way too much enthusiasm for just testing Trini's identity.
** In "Master Vile and the Metallic Armor," Tommy journeys into the Caves of Deception to retrieve the Zeo Crystal. Among the illusions he encounters are of the team and then just Catherine. They're brief, but pretty dead-on. Tommy sees through the illusions because of their willingness to surrender and professed belief that evil cannot be defeated.
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* In ''[[The Outer Limits]]'' episode "Replica", when confronted by his wife and a clone, a guy is able to tell them apart because the original had a tattoo.
* ''[[Hercules: The Legendary Journeys]]'' gave us some heroic examples in their Other World episodes. In "Stranger in a Strange World," Iolaus has to masquerade as his cowardly jester counterpart after an accidental switch. Later in "Stranger and Stranger," Hercules briefly masquerades as [[Evil Counterpart|the Sovereign]] to get information from Nebula 2. To ensure his success, he actually throws a man out a window (though he had a soft landing arranged).
* In the ''[[Farscape]]'' episode "Exodus from Genesis," the aliens-of-the-week create [[The Voiceless|voiceless]] duplicates of the crew. The real crew give themselves marking to try to spot impostersimpostors, but Crichton discovers that the duplicates can change their bodies to reflect such markings at will.
* ''[[Shining Time Station]]'': In "Mr. Conductor's Evil Twin", when Kara has to distinguish the two doubles. Remembering the real Mr. C's whistle was out of tune, she asks both to play a note.
* In the ''[[Without a Trace]]'' episode, "Doppelgänger II", the team was hunting a serial killer who had a (completely innocent) twin brother. At the end of the episode, Jack and Sam come across "Greg" (the good twin) in an elevator, who claimed Rick (the bad twin) had run off. Jack spots what looks like blood coming from the ceiling tiles and calls out "Hey, Mouse!" Being called "Mouse" was Rick's [[Berserk Button]], and his reaction tells them that they're facing Rick and that the blood is probably coming from Greg (who was still alive, but barely).
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== Myths & Religion ==
* [[The Bible]] makes this [[Older Than Feudalism]]. King Solomon was famous for his wisdom, not only because he prayed for it, but because he was able to figure out which of two women was the mother of a child (a [[Judgment of Solomon|trope of its own]]). One woman's baby boy was dead, and both women claimed to be the mother of the living baby. He spotted the imposterimpostor when he offered to take a sword and cut the baby in half, allowing each woman to have a half of the child. The woman who protested that decision by giving up her claim on the child was judged to be the true mother. 1 Kings 3:16-28
** Also, likely the origin of the "kill both of us" gambit, though that is a variation, of course.
 
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{{quote|Silently, we both wondered who the hell she was.}}
* Subverted with Molly and Golly in the first panel of [http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20080722.html this] strip from ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]]''.
* ''[[Amazing Super Powers]]'' has [http://www.amazingsuperpowers.com/2009/08/which-one-do-i-shoot/ a wife shooting both her husband and the imposterimpostor] because neither one knew anything about her. The [http://www.amazingsuperpowers.com/hc/08272009/ hidden comic] reverses this.
** And [http://www.amazingsuperpowers.com/2010/07/clones/ another one] (as usual, with [[Alt Text]] and a hidden comic).
* Subverted in ''[[Dead of Summer]]''. The deal with {{spoiler|Panther and his clone}} seems to be leading into this, as the two meet face to face...and the real {{spoiler|Panther}} takes the clone out in one blow. It's [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|awesome]].
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** Parodied in the episode "German Guy", where Chris befriends an elderly puppeteer, Franz Gutentag but discovers that he used to be a Nazi. When Franz finds out, he takes Chris and Peter hostage; Peter knocks the gun out of his hand, and Chris grabs it, but suddenly he's confused which one to shoot. This is despite the fact that they look nothing alike, as Peter points out. Chris asks when is his birthday; Peter doesn't know, but Franz does, so Chris ends up shooting Peter in the shoulder.
** It's used more straight in the next episode "The Hand that Rocks the Wheelchair", where Stewie creates an evil (or more evil) clone of himself, and Brian ends up pointing a gun at them; he lampshades the situation saying "Oh, come on, not this thing, really?" He eventually asks them to look at their feet, and shoots the one who doesn't start to laugh, as the real Stewie told him earlier that he spent an hour laughing at his feet.
** This is also lampshaded at the end of "Thanksgiving", in which the "real" Kevin Swanson suddenly appears and tries to warn about the imposterimpostor in the room. "Wait! That man's an imposterimpostor; I'm the ''real'' Kevin Swanson!" Peter then remarks "Guys I don't think we have time for this." right before the episode ends.
* ''[[Danny Phantom]]'': Danny gets accidentally body-switched with a ghost and proves his identity by telling Sam about the time Tucker threw up in her lunchbox back in elementary school.
* In ''[[Transformers Generation 1]]'', the Decepticons built a fake Optimus Prime that was remote-controlled by Megatron. The Autobots came up with some ''really'' stupid tests (one of them was to ''have a race'') and ended up walking away with the fake. Megatron proceeded to expose himself by not being particularly worried about where their human buddy had disappeared off to (being a little too eager to lead the Autobots to their doom).
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* Subverted in the ''[[SpongeBob SquarePants]]'' episode "Imitation Krabs", where SpongeBob can't distinguish between Mr. Krabs and Plankton's robotic replica of Krabs—despite the fact that one is [[Paper-Thin Disguise|clearly a robot]], complete with [[Robo Speak]]. SpongeBob asks questions that (he thinks) only the real Mr. Krabs would know. Krabs, however, fails to answer each one correctly, and is thrown out.
* ''[[The Tick (animation)]]'' (animated version) featured a classic episode playing up Spot the Impostor, where an evil tentacular alien makes a very bad clone of the Tick's sidekick Arthur to spy on him. When the real Arthur escapes and confronts the Tick, he becomes infuriated that the Tick can't tell which of them is real despite the fact that the clone is green in color, shuffles around like a zombie and can only say the phrase "I... Arthur" (to which the Tick replies "He's got a good argument there.").
* In one episode of ''[[Dungeons and Dragons (animation)|Dungeons & Dragons]]'', Hank correctly works out that the [[Dungeon Master]] is an imposterimpostor when he ''[[Cryptic Conversation|gives the group a straight answer]]''. Unfortunately he doesn't realize that the Dungeon Master who shows up after that is ''also'' an imposterimpostor.
* Averted in an episode of the 2003 ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003|Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' cartoon involving a robotic Master Splinter. Hun begins to try this when the real Splinter shows up, only to be reprimanded by Shredder, who has already decided that they'll never fall for such an obvious trick.
* Used with a bit of a twist in ''[[The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest]]'': In the "Questworld" virtual reality program, Jesse has two Jonnies at gunpoint. One starts reeling off the details of their last race in Questworld, at which point the other counters that of course, that's in the computer's memory banks, then brings up their ''real-life'' race immediately thereafter, at which point the double attacks him and gets zapped in about half a second.
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** In "XANA's Kiss", when confronted with two Jérémies, Aelita can guess which one is genuine because the Clone had kissed her without permission, which the true Jérémie would not have dared. Later in the same episode, Odd recognizes the real Yumi from the Clone impersonating her when she calls him a dork.
** Subverted in "Opening Act", when Jim Moralès can't tell apart his nephew from the Clone, and ends up dumbly attacking the real Chris.
* In ''[[Darkwing Duck]]'', they used the split personality variant for the episode "Negaduck". When Gosalyn and Launchpad decide to set free the good Darkwing to help them retrieve the [[Applied Phlebotinum]] that caused the split, in order to undo it, they mistakenly release the evil Darkwing, and he pretends to be the good one briefly, until he can effect his getaway. In subsequent episodes, the unsplit genuine Darkwing has an actual [[Evil Twin]] who goes by Negaduck, and on multiple occasions one of them has disguised himself as the other, resulting in Spot the Imposterimpostor scenes for the allies of whichever one they're disguised as.
** One memorable moment has Darkwing and Negaduck dressed identically (except Negaduck wore a black mask) and acting so much like each other that they mirrors each other's words and body motions perfectly. Then Darkwing breaks the impasse by declaring that a cute defenseless bunny rabbit is nearby, whereupon Negaduck (who was ''hatched'' from a [[Villain Ball]]) compulsively tries to kill the bunny with a shotgun. Before that, however, we get this memorable solution:
{{quote|'''Dr. Bellum:''' ''(completely nonchalant)'' Well, we'll just have to kill them both. ''(arms bazooka)''}}
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* ''[[Jackie Chan Adventures]]'': In an episode involving a group of [[Evil Knockoff]]s cloned off the [[Five-Man Band]], Jackie's clone is found but the rest of the group needs to know which Jackie is the real one. Jade asks both Jackies if they can take her to an amusement park, the first says yes while the second says no and tells her to do her homework.[[Something They Would Never Say|Jade knows better]] and the first Jackie is exposed as the clone. In the same episode, Paco keeps calling Jade by pronoucing her name correctly, while in all the other episodes he pronounces it "Yade." She catches on to this as well and it is exposed that he too is a clone.
** Before Jade asked about the amusement park, Capt. Black made an attempt by asking about his birthday. Neither Jackie knew the day.
* ''[[Wild Kratts]]'': A Zachbot disguises itself as Chris in order to convince Martin that everything's okay, as opposed to, say, locked in a cell and glaring at his impostor from off-screen. Martin gets it in the end though.
* In ''[[Transformers Animated]]'', in order to determine who is the real Bumblebee after Wasp switched their paint jobs, helmets, and voices synthesizers, Bulkhead has them play a video game that Bumblebee is the undisputed master of. Wasp takes Bumblebee hostage before his cover gets blown.
** Now, before that point, the real Bumblebee mentioned covering for Bulkhead back in boot camp (something no one else knew), but Wasp, who had looked up on the Autobots' files while the rest of them had gone, rendered that unable to work when they all got back to their base. At the same time, however, Wasp had proved himself completely pathetic at the aforementioned video game, hence why he cracked.
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{{quote|'''Leela:''' Shoot her! She's the robot!
'''Robot Leela:''' No! Shoot her! She's the human! }}
* Used to hilarious effect in a ''He-Man'' sketch on ''[[Robot Chicken]]''. Skeletor commissions Beast Man to create a magical clone of He-Man. The result is a the blue-skinned, incredibly stupid clone Faker. Undaunted, Skeletor sets Faker upon his enemies. Its odd appearance, mannerisms, and speech go unnoticed by all except Prince Adam himself; in fact, this laid back clone is far more popular and quickly becomes the life of the party, much to Skeletor's annoyance. When Adam returns as the real He-Man, Faker has either killed or captured most of his enemies. He-Man's outrage at the act, as well as the general hedonism Faker has inspired, leads the crowd to dub him a wet blanket and vote him as the imposterimpostor (even though Faker voted for him as the genuine article). He-Man is then executed, and it is only after Faker expresses no knowledge of being Prince Adam does someone finally catch on.
** Subverted at the end of ''[[Robot Chicken]]'''s "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMSZC3f0qf8 Michael Jackson vs. Michael Jackson]" sketch.
{{quote|'''Alien 1:''' How where we going to take over the world with a white Michael Jackson anyway?
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* Used in ''Action League NOW!'' on Nickelodeon. The villain has created a "perfect duplicate" of the heroic (if moronic) Flesh (who looks just like him except for the various bolts sticking out of every part of his body and his mechanically modulated voice). When the two Fleshes square off, the rest of the Action League try to determine which is the real one by asking for the League password. Both ''incorrectly'' guess "devilled egg". Finally Stinky Diver gets the idea to yell "Hey, stupid!", and the real Flesh responds.
* Inverted in ''Chaotic'' (the cartoon based on the card game), when season [[Big Bad]] Aa'une goes [[One-Winged Angel]], leaving Maxxor, Chaor, and Iparu [[Oh Crap|hopelessly outclassed]]—until Iparu uses his copycat-shapeshifting power to [[Godzilla Threshold|mimic Aa'une's transformation]] and level the playing field! Chaor solves the inevitable who's-who dilemma by drawing attention to himself just before jumping off a cliff; Iparu instinctively saves him, and the good guys triple-team the real Aa'une.
* In an episode of ''[[Richie Rich (comics)|Richie Rich]]'', an imposterimpostor impersonates Dollar, the dog. In an attempt to determine who is who, they present both dogs with a bowl of dog food. The imposterimpostor forces himself to eat it, and is promptly exposed. What he didn't realise was that the real Dollar is much too spoiled to eat common dog food.
* [[Inspector Gadget]] once had to deal with this problem when [[Big Bad|Dr. Claw]] hired a [[Master of Disguise]] to impersonate him and spy at an important police conference. Gadget eventually confronts his evil lookalike, and no-one can figure out who's real and who's fake. Eventually, the real Gadget stands next to Chief Quimby, and his Gadget mallet activates on its own and bonks Quimby on the head. The dazed Chief immediately orders that the other guy be arrested, since the one standing next to him is obviously the real Gadget.
* ''[[Johnny Test]]'' has this when Johnny and Dukey encounter their cyborg clones. After disposing of his clone with a "Fetch the Grenade" trick, Dukey takes the Clone's weapon and confronts the Johnnys. The cyborg immediately does the rapid spin clone switcheroo so they can't tell which one's real and which one's the cyborg. Dukey eventually manages to get the cyborg to give himself away by asking a math question, and blasting the one who answers immediately, knowing that Johnny always does math by counting on his fingers.
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* Subverted in [[G.I. Joe: Renegades]] when Zartan impersonates Duke. The Joes catch up and find the real Duke fighting the impostor, resorting to the usual [[Something Only They Would Say]] ploy by asking them a question about a conversation from the beginning of the episode. Duke doesn't remember it and they ''both'' say "no idea." Snake Eyes, who can hear the difference in their heartbeats, kicks Zartan in the face before it can escalate.
* One episode of ''[[Dog City]]'' has Bugsy Vile impersonating Barney [[Expy]] Bernie, the Big Pink Saint Bernard. At the end, the real Bernie appears and challenges his double to a sing-off of his [[Show Within a Show]]'s theme song ('X is Good, X is Nice, X goes with everything, even with Rice', where X is something related to the theme of the episode). Halfway through verse three, Bugsy unmasks himself and begs the police to take him away.
* On ''[[Regular Show]]'' a shapeshifting otter tries to take Rigby's place and the others can't tell them apart. Mordecai points at one of the Rigbys as the real one and asks for a hug. He does... which is how Mordecai knows he's the imposterimpostor, because the real Rigby hates to hug.
* ''[[American Dad]]'' did this when Francine realizes that Stan assigned Bill (his double) to keep herself company while he dates the prom queen. She gets furious and pulls out Stan's gun, but can't tell them apart. One of them steps up apologizing and loves her, but Francine assumes the other Stan is the real one and shoots him thinking that Stan will never say something like this. It turns out the apologizing Stan was the real one and Bill was the one shot.
* ''[[Spider-Man: The Animated Series]]'': This happened in almost every episode that [[Master of Disguise|The Chameleon]] was in. And then there was the time that [[Evil Twin|Spider-Carnage]] kidnapped and replaced our Peter (who was himself pretending to be this reality's--long story—Peter). Gwen Stacy sees through them both, recognises that our Peter is still the heroic one, and frees him.
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Gwen Stacy: The one downstairs? He's as [[Axe Crazy|nutty as a fruitcake]]. A girlfriend notices these things. }}
* In ''[[Transformers Prime]]'', Bumblebee was able to figure out Nemesis Prime wasn't the real Optimus because Nemesis (and by extension MECH) couldn't understand Bumblebee's form of speech.
* Averted in the season 2 finale of ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'' when Twilight Sparkle and the real Cadance crash the wedding that has {{spoiler|Queen Chrysalis}} posing as Cadance. The villain gives up the pretense concluding that since Twilight Sparkle's previous voiced suspicions about the bride now have the real Cadance's support, everyone else will instantly put one and one together and realize who is impostor is.
* ''[[The Life and Times of Juniper Lee]]'': Ray Ray had to identify the real Juniper. One failed attempt consisted on asking both Junes to tell her middle name. Both knew it was "Kim". Ray Ray eventually managed to tell who the real was the same way Jade did with Jackie in an above example. To her dismay, he was helped by a zit she tried to rid herself of earlier.
* When Olive Oyl invited [[Popeye]] to eat hamburgers at her place, Wimpy disguised himself as Popeye and managed to fool Olive. Popeye then ate his spinach and defeated Wimpy. It's unclear if Popeye ever told Olive it was Wimpy or that he actually fooled her.
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== Real Life ==
* Boston landmark Faneuil Hall has an unusually-shaped weathervane (a grasshopper), which was sometimes used as a Spot the Impostor test during the American Revolutionary War.
* Alan Turing [[wikipedia:Turing test|proposed]] that a computer program which could win a text-only game of Spot the Imposterimpostor should be considered intelligent. The validity of his argument [[Your Mileage May Vary|is widely questioned]].
** [http://www.loebner.net/Prizef/TuringArticle.html The original paper is available online], for the curious.
* During the Battle of the Bulge, German troops in US Army uniform infiltrated the lines with the intent of causing sabotage and disruption. Checkpoints grilled GI's on things every true-blooded American was expected to know such as the identity of Mickey Mouse's girlfriend, baseball scores, or the capital of Illinois. This last question resulted in the brief detention of General Bradley; although he gave the correct answer (Springfield) the GI who questioned him apparently believed the capital was Chicago. Although this behaviour is often ridiculed in fictional depictions of the battle, it did succeed in identifying a number of infiltrators, many of whom didn't speak fluent English or know anything about American society.
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[[Category:Doppelgänger]]
[[Category:Plots]]
[[Category:Spot the Imposterimpostor]]
[[Category:Identity Index]]
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