History Main / ActuallyADoomBot

* ''Manga/FairyTail'': [[MookMaker Wall Eehto]] of Alvarez's [[PraetorianGuard Spriggan 12]] assaults Fairy Tail alongside two of his fellow Spriggans and faces off against the Thunder Legion and Ichiya, whereupon he reveals he, much like his robotic creations, is a [[MechanicalLifeforms Machias]]. After a hard battle, Wall is seemingly destroyed, but manages to [[ActionBomb detonate his head]] and take out the Thunder Legion...and then it's revealed the ''real'' Wall Eehto was hundreds of miles away on a ship, having been controlling the robot body like a puppet so he could take out the defensive barrier the Legion were maintaining around the town. Ironically, the real Wall [[RoboticReveal is a Machias himself]].

** Unlike most Sentai BigBad villains, Desnarak VII of ''Series/OhsamaSentaiKingOhger'' personally confronts the rangers quite regularly. It is revealed in episode 11 that he actually sends out copies of himself when he is seemingly killed by the new SixthRanger, but is declared to have been a fake immediately after.

* Don Armage, the BigBad of ''Series/UchuuSentaiKyuranger'' is killed several times with no effect. Tsurugi claims that he killed Don Armage in the past and is confused when he hears that Don Armage is still the leader of Jark Matter in the present. To solve the mystery of how he is still alive The Kyurangers travel back in time and kill him again in the past but find that the present hasn't changed when they return. They later kill him again in the present and guess that he must have the ability to make copies of himself. It turns out that he not only can make copies of himself, but can also revive himself by possessing other people's bodies if his real body is destroyed. The version that Tsurugi killed actually was the real Don Armage but he revived himself by possessing Quervo, and the others the Kyurangers fought were copies. In the present, the real Don Armage in Quervo's body is at Jark Matter's base in the Crux system.

** In the final battle, [[EvilVersusOblivion Aizen]] even does this ''to Yhwach'', using Kyoka Suigetsu to take Ichigo's place, [[PokeInTheThirdEye mess up]] Yhwach's [[RealityWarper The Almighty]] and fool him into thinking he's just impaled Ichigo, since [[ImmortalLifeIsCheap as an immortal, he has nothing to fear from Yhwach's attacks]]. Lacking the firepower to deliver a killing blow himself, Aizen taunts Yhwach as Ichigo exploits the opening and attacks Yhwach from behind.
** Shaz Domino and Guenael Lee are this to Gremmy, as [[ImaginationBasedSuperpower they are both figments of his imagination]]. Shaz subverts it, however, as he recreates his own body using [[FromASingleCell his power and gains free will, becoming Sternritter Σ.]]

** In the final battle, [[EvilVersusOblivion Aizen]] even does this ''to Yhwach'', using Kyoka Suigetsu to take Ichigo's place, [[PokeInTheThirdEye mess up]] Yhwach's [[RealityWarper The Almighty]] and fool him into thinking he's just impaled Ichigo, since [[ImmortalLifeIsCheap as an immortal he has nothing to fear from Yhwach's attacks]]. Lacking the firepower to deliver a killing blow himself, Aizen taunts Yhwach as Ichigo exploits the opening and attacks Yhwach from behind.

* ''Manga/{{Death Note}}'': In one of the first chapters L uses one of those to trick Light into revealing the region he lives in. Unusually for the trope, the decoy doesn't look anything like the real L, but since Light doesn't know L's appearance at that point, it still fools him.
* ''Manga/FairyTail'': [[MookMaker Wall Eehto]] of Alvarez's [[PraetorianGuard Spriggan 12]] assaults Fairy Tail alongside two of his fellow Spriggans and faces off against the Thunder Legion and Ichiya, whereupon he reveals he, much like his robotic creations, is a [[MechanicalLifeforms Machias]]. After a hard battle, Wall is seemingly destroyed but manages to [[ActionBomb detonate his head]] and take out the Thunder Legion...and then it's revealed the ''real'' Wall Eehto was hundreds of miles away on a ship, having been controlling the robot body like a puppet so he could take out the defensive barrier the Legion were maintaining around the town. Ironically, the real Wall [[RoboticReveal is a Machias himself]].
* Volume 4 of the political-drama manga ''The First President of Japan'' sees an AxCrazy Chinese general kill China's prime minister in a coup d'etat. He then finds an actor who looks and sounds enough like the Prime Minister to be the figurehead of state while the Chinese Army does the ''real'' leadership. The plan is foiled when a Japanese intelligence analyst superimposes the impersonator's face over that of the genuine article, and finds that the two don't ''quite'' line up.

* ''VideoGame/LuigisMansion'': The "Bowser" towards the end of the game is clearly a mechanical decoy (though fairly accurate/lifelike) used by King Boo with his magitek on it. Therefore, King Boo is a ''boss'' in disguise here. This idea may very well be based on the fake Bowsers from the mainline ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' platformers.

* Pulled off to astonishing effect by [[BigBad Yhwach]] in ''Manga/{{Bleach}}''.
** Aizen had fun with this too, using his illusion powers to achieve the same effect.
** In the final battle, Aizen even does this ''to Yhwach'', using himself as a "Doombot" for Ichigo to make Yhwach think he'd already won, since as an immortal he had nothing to fear from Yhwach's attacks but lacked the firepower to deliver a killing blow himself.
** Shaz and Guenael are this to Gremmy, as they are both figments of his imagination. Shaz subverts it, however, as he generates his own body using [[FromASingleCell his power and gains free will, becoming Sternritter Σ.]]

* The very end of ''[[VideoGame/NintendoWars Advance Wars: Days of Ruin / Dark Conflict]]'' reveals that the Caulder who has been orchestrating the entire game's events is actually a clone...one that murdered the real Caulder some time ago.

--->'''Chameleon Boy:''' ''"You're a living brain-- like the one who led the first group of Raiders! B-but that one turned out to be a robot!"''\\
'''Leader:''' ''"Rest assured that I am not a robot, Chameleon Boy... That construct was merely my agent on Earth."''

* This ends up becoming a plot point in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsIntoReverie'' where clones of [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsFromZeroAndTrailsToAzure Arios [=MacLaine=] ]], [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel McBurn, and Rufus Albarea]] are running around wrecking havoc while their true selves are trying to fix things. All three are actually playable with Rufus being the BreakoutCharacter of the game]].

* This ends up becoming a plot point in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsIntoReverie'' where clones of [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsFromZeroAndTrailsToAzure Arios [=MacLaine=], [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel McBurn, and Rufus Albarea]] are running around wrecking havoc while their true selves are trying to fix things. All three are actually playable with Rufus being the BreakoutCharacter of the game]].

** Perhaps the most infamous usage of this trick in Spider-Man history is the first "death" of Aunt May. She peacefully died of old age in a realistic and tasteful manner; Peter and the other characters mourned her and eventually moved on. However, later editor-in-chief Bob Harras ''demanded'' that she be brought back to life. So, Aunt May was found alive and it was revealed that [[Characters/MarvelComicsNormanOsborn Norman Osborn]] had hired an actress to impersonate Aunt May perfectly, and kept up the charade even on her deathbed, meaning Peter (and the readers) cried over a total stranger.

!!Examples:

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* Pulled off to astonishing effect by [[spoiler:[[BigBad Yhwach]]]] in ''Manga/{{Bleach}}''.

** In the final battle, [[spoiler:Aizen even does this ''to Yhwach'', using himself as a "Doombot" for Ichigo to make Yhwach think he'd already won, since as an immortal he had nothing to fear from Yhwach's attacks but lacked the firepower to deliver a killing blow himself]].
** Shaz and Guenael are this to Gremmy, as they are both figments of his imagination. [[spoiler:Shaz subverts it, however, as he generates his own body using [[FromASingleCell his power]] and gains free will, becoming Sternritter Σ.]]

** Noteworthy are the episodes when a criminal turns out to have not only one Doombot, but a whole number of them, and the one in which [[spoiler:the Major]] "dies", which is straight from the manga.

* In ''Manga/MegaManMegamix'', near the beginning of the ''The Greatest Enemy in History'' story arc, after [[spoiler:Copy]] Mega Man foils Dr. Wily's plans, he ''shoots him in the forehead'', only for the head to start bouncing on a spring, revealing it be a robot fake. The real Wily observed the event from his Wily Capsule, shocked at how Mega Man would shoot a human.

** There was a partial example later: When [[spoiler:Kisame fought Killer Bee]], the real him was there for most of the fight but was switched with a much weaker duplicate by the end. Granted, there's a very good chance that [[spoiler:Killer Bee and the Raikage]] ''really could'' have beaten the real him together. The switch was made to save his life, not to fake his death.

* ''Manga/OnePiece'': During the Dressrosa arc, we learn about Doflamingo’s Black Knight technique: he can make string marionettes indistinguishable from humans, resembling either himself or anyone that he wants. We find this out the hard way when [[spoiler:Usopp breaks Doflamingo's spell over the city, and Kyros manages to actually decapitate Doflamingo in a single stroke. Shortly afterward, the real one appears behind Kyros to attack him]].

* In ''Anime/PsychoPass'', [[spoiler:Chief Kasei]] had an array of cyborg body doubles as it was first revealed at the end of Episode 16. Whenever it gets damaged or destroyed, there would always be another one. But the brain residing that body does not. In [[Anime/PsychoPassTheMovie the movie]], [[spoiler:it turns out that the [=SEAUn=] chairman is a body double because the real one was assassinated by mercenaries hired by the Sibyl system themselves]].

** A doombot also appears in ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'', but [[spoiler: it's actually Ultron's]].

** ''ComicBook/OriginalSin'' has revealed that [[spoiler:possibly ''all'' modern day appearances by Fury have been LMD appearances. The original? Still alive, but much older]]. Then, it revealed that [[spoiler:Dum-Dum Dugan was ''also'' an [=LMD=], that the real one had been DeadAllAlong]]!
** Even before that, ''Comicbook/SecretWarriors'' revealed that [[spoiler: Nick's brother, Jake, was one of the first people to acquire an LMD, created by accident when he was retrieving the technology they were based on. It was that LMD that became the villainous Scorpio, while the real Jake was a deep-cover agent known only to his brother. This basically meant every post-WWII appearance by Jake prior to the reveal was actually the LMD]].
* Played with in the Marvel crossover ''ComicBook/SecretInvasion'', but instead of robots, it's with Skrulls, shape-shifting aliens. It begins with a character who is revealed to be a Skrull, who managed to stay undetected, and the whole story is about the paranoia of who ''else'' may be an undetectable Skrull. And then it got to the controversial ''ComicBook/CivilWar2006'': the New Avengers were so damn sure that [[Comicbook/IronMan Stark]] only did the things he did because he was secretly a Skrull, and Stark suspected that [[Characters/MarvelComicsSteveRogers Captain America]]'s resistance to the Registration Act may had been because he was a Skrull... but no. ''Secret Invasion'' was not used as a ResetButton of anything, and did not organize or start any of the recent disasters. Stark and Rogers in ''Civil War'' were both themselves, Hulk in ''ComicBook/WorldWarHulk'' was himself (and the creature that destroyed ''ComicBook/PlanetHulk'' to make him go in a rampage of revenge, too), [[Characters/MarvelComicsQuicksilver Quicksilver]] was himself when he stole the Terrigen crystals and started a war between ComicBook/TheInhumans and the human race, the Characters/ScarletWitch was herself in ''ComicBook/AvengersDisassembled'' (and Characters/TheWasp, who reminded her of her lost sons, too), and also in ''ComicBook/HouseOfM'' (and Quicksilver, who made her change reality, too), and so on. The Skrulls were simply in the background, trying to take advantage of the things happening, but not causing them.

*** In ''ComicBook/SpiderMen'', [[spoiler:Mysterio doesn't actually have an ComicBook/UltimateMarvel counterpart. "Ultimate Mysterio" is actually a robot double he was controlling all along]].

* The ''Marvel Now'' iteration of ''ComicBook/XForce'' revealed that [[spoiler:Cable has been making clones of himself and sending them out. The real one is in stasis, his body being awakened long enough to gather blood for a clone. As one clone states "He dies a little for two minutes. We die everyday."]]

* In ''ComicBook/MightyMorphinPowerRangersShatteredGrid'', Lord Drakkon sneaks into [[Series/PowerRangersRPM Corinth]] with the intent on taking out the team, taking their powers and taking over the domed city. In his act, he encounters Dr. K and makes the mistake of mentioning how [[spoiler:she created the Venjix Virus, which caused the situation her world is in]], actually being proud of it. This pisses off Dr. K so much that she goes in for the kill and strikes him down, revealing him to be a robot. What's frightening is that she didn't know and ''didn't care'' if that was the real Drakkon or not; he ''praised'' her for the biggest mistake of her life and she was not having it.

* ComicBook/Revolution2016's plot escalates when during a confrontation between the Autobots and G.I. Joes, R.O.M. [[spoiler: murders several Joes, including General Colton.]] However, they were actually Dire Wraiths: but neither side knew this and the Joes go out for Cybertronian blood and Optimus wants to capture and punish R.O.M. for his actions. Thus showing the danger of Doombots when no one knows they are doombots.

** [[spoiler: The CreepyMonotone clones]] in ''Fanfic/CalvinAndHobbesTheSeries''.
* ''Fanfic/ThinkingInLittleGreenBoxes'': Don't worry, that was just the [[ComicBook/{{SHIELD}} Life Model Decoy]] of [[spoiler: Cedric Diggory.]]

* [[BigBad General-Admiral Makarov]] from the ''Fanfic/PonyPOVSeries'' apparently has a habit of doing this to avoid assassination attempts. [[spoiler:He also does it after being defeated by Cadence and shot in the head by Dima.]] Justified as [[spoiler:he's a RealityWarper capable of replacing himself with a robotic copy at will, and a ParodySue who uses this for it's normal narrative effect of avoiding admitting he was beaten.]]
* [[spoiler:[[PragmaticHero Ian/Nate]]]] from ''Fanfic/ForTheMission'' rarely speaks in person after he [[spoiler:[[InternalReveal reveals his true mission to the guild]]]]. From then on, he uses [[ExpendableClone Substitute clones]] as communication, receiving the memories from them after the fact. He's put so much [[SubvertedTrope introspection]] [[ImpostorForgotOneDetail and detail]] into their construction that [[MirrorMatch they'll make the same decisions he would.]]

** When [[spoiler: Darth Sidious]] seemingly kills [[spoiler: Darth Plagueis]], it turns out to be a Force illusion.
** Done again later when [[spoiler: Plagueis is fighting Sidious and notices that his apprentice isn't reacting like he should; he quickly discovers that "Sidious" is a droid wearing a holographic disguise, which is soon joined by a whole squad of them.]]

[[folder:Film — Animated]]
* ''WesternAnimation/Incredibles2'': [[spoiler:Thanks to handy mind-control goggles, the Screenslaver, aka Evelyn Deavor, makes an innocent pizza delivery guy out to be the Screenslaver during the attack during Elastigirl's TV interview, resulting in her being able to act as MissionControl for Helen during the incident, making her seem innocent at the time]].
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Megamind}}''. [[spoiler: In the final battle against Tighten, Megamind rescues Roxanne but is killed—only to be revealed as Minion wearing a holographic disguise]].

[[folder:Film — Live-Action]]

* Comes up in the rather cruel TwistEnding to ''Film/TheEagleHasLanded''. [[spoiler:The man the protagonist shot dead just before being gunned down himself was not the real Winston Churchill, but a comic actor who specialised in celebrity impersonations, hired by the Ministry of War to help prevent German intelligence from learning that the Prime Minister was out of the country for [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yalta_Conference the Yalta Conference]].]]

* ''Film/SpiderManFarFromHome'''s ending uses a unique form of this, [[spoiler: revealing the Nick Fury and Maria Hill in the movie to be Skrulls shapeshifted to their image and put to work by the ''real'' Nick Fury, which explains their bad, bad decisions in trusting the villain throughout the entire movie in hindsight]].

** In ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'', Padmé did this all the time as Queen of Naboo, disguising herself as one of the Queen's handmaidens while a bodyguard (Sabé) disguised herself as the Queen. And she was ''not'' the first Queen of Naboo to do this. Her head of security Captain Panaka designed the strategy, and it was used by her predecessor (and presumably, her successor).
** Padmé uses the strategy again as a senator in ''Film/AttackOfTheClones''; [[spoiler:sadly, her decoy must fulfill her true duty this time when an assassin strikes, and is killed taking a bullet meant for Padmé]].
** In ''Film/TheLastJedi'', [[spoiler:Luke uses an AstralProjection to face down Kylo Ren, cleverly avoiding interacting with him to maintain the illusion. Per the use of this trope, while Luke himself [[DangerousForbiddenTechnique dies after he uses it]], it's considered a victory as it completely distracted Kylo and allowed the Rebels to escape]].

* Subverted in ''Literature/JohnDiesAtTheEnd''. Dave's enemies have been replacing people around him to mess with him. He eventually learns that [[spoiler: Dave himself]] [[TomatoInTheMirror is the doombot,]] and the real men has been dead for a couple of days.

* ''Literature/VillainsCode'': Doctor Mechanical often operates his PoweredArmor by remote when he needs it for something non-essential, such as giving instructions to new villains. The older villains often leave the suit behind, then walk up to a more comfortable lounge where the real Doctor Mechanical is waiting. [[spoiler:Actually, the real one rarely appears at all; even out of his suit, most of his appearances are robotic duplicates. Even better, the neural nanites he uses to control the duplicates are so efficient that he can pilot multiple duplicates at once, allowing him to save a lot of time.]]

** An instance of this appears on the ''Angel'' episode "[[Recap/AngelS05E07Lineage Lineage]]". A cyborg uses a {{Glamour}} to imitate [[spoiler: Wesley's father]]. When the cyborg threatens Fred, Wesley shoots it dead, revealing its true nature. Unlike most cases of this trope, the duplicate was not operating on behalf of the original.
* In Episode 8 of ''Series/DarkMatter2015'', Six (with the help of ExpendableClone service advertised four episodes prior) finally meets face-to-face with his treacherous former employer, The General. [[spoiler: Turns out The General used the same trick to command his underlings in person.]]
* ''Series/{{Doctor Who}}'': An interesting variant occurs in "A Good Man Goes to War" [[spoiler: when it is revealed that the baby Melody Pond the Doctor and his allies have just rescued is a [[DoppelGanger Ganger]]]].
** Ultimately, this trope is the driving force behind the entirety of [[spoiler: new Season 6, as the over-arcing plot concerns the Doctor dying at River's hand being a fixed point in time. Fortunately, at the half-season mark they meet a group of people who specialize in robots that can imitate people..]].
* ''Series/{{Farscape}}'': Unbeknown to the audience, [[spoiler:Aeryn Sun]] is swapped with a biomechnical replica to hide the real one's abduction. John Crichton doesn't awaken to the situation until the "bioloid" inadvertently fails at a TrustPassword. Crichton draws a gun on her and, during an increasingly-agitated round of questioning, the faker tries to draw hers as well. Crichton blasts the side of her head off, [[RoboticReveal revealing her inner components]] for all to see.

* ''Series/TheMentalist'': Protagonist Patrick Jane tracks down [[spoiler: and kills his almost-lifelong nemesis, serial superkiller "Red John", season ends]]. The next season begins, and, hey, what do you know: [[spoiler: that guy Jane shot? He was actually just a boring minion of Red John's]].
* ''Series/{{Smallville}}'': [[spoiler:Lana Lang]] is caught in a car bombing, with enough DNA evidence to confirm the death, in Season 6 finale. In the next season, it is revealed that it was actually [[spoiler:her clone created by Lex]].
* ''Series/StargateSG1'': System Lord Ba'al inherited Asgard Cloning Technology from his old master, Anubis. This let the writers kill him at least once almost every time he appeared after that. One episode revolved around SG-1 tracking down the lot of them. Or did they? [[spoiler:Turns out, they didn't. Either that, or he just made more clones afterward.]]

* Don Armage, the BigBad of ''Series/UchuuSentaiKyuranger'' is killed several times with no effect. Tsurugi claims that he killed Don Armage in the past and is confused when he hears that Don Armage is still the leader of Jark Matter in the present. To solve the mystery of how he is still alive The Kyurangers travel back in time and kill him again in the past but find that the present hasn't changed when they return. They later kill him again in the present and guess that he must have the ability to make copies of himself. [[spoiler:It turns out that he not only can make copies of himself, but can also revive himself by possessing other people's bodies if his real body is destroyed. The version that Tsurugi killed actually was the real Don Armage but he revived himself by possessing Quervo, and the others the Kyurangers fought were copies. In the present, the real Don Armage in Quervo's body is at Jark Matter's base in the Crux system.]]

* In Roleplay/DinoAttackRPG, [[Toys/LEGOAlphaTeam Ogel]] was killed [[RuleOfThree three times]] during the FinalBattle and yet ''still'' managed to survive. Wondering how? [[spoiler:Each time Ogel apparently died, it was actually one of his Skeleton Drones in disguise, as a reference to the March/April 2001 issue of LEGO Mania.]]

** [[spoiler:Nicol Bolas]] pulls this trick at the end of ''Literature/TestOfMetal''.

*** [[spoiler:The rationale being that Alpha Legion is so secretive that even they don't know what their plans are meant to achieve, and their primarch can blend in perfectly with any unit.]]

* The very end of ''[[VideoGame/NintendoWars Advance Wars: Days of Ruin / Dark Conflict]]'' reveals that [[spoiler:the Caulder who has been orchestrating the entire game's events is actually a clone...one that murdered the real Caulder some time ago]].

* ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' lets you [[TrickedOutTime do this retroactively]]. When [[spoiler:Crono gets killed by Lavos]], the death was very much for real, but there's a minigame [[ChekhovsGun you may have already played at this point]] that lets you win clones of your characters, and with the Time Egg, you can go back to the event and swap the killed character with a clone. Famously, this is an optional sidequest, despite the killed character being [[spoiler:the ''main'' character]].

** There even a bug which can occasionally result in a group of enemies composed solely of a half dozen or so Fake Nemesis.
* ''VideoGame/CrashFever:'' The Jeong Dojeons fought in other Gun Long Clan quests were fakes. The real one is killed during the events of Below Morning Glories in a last ditch attempt to take down the opposing forces.
* ''VideoGame/Destiny2'': During the Leviathan raid, you confront Emperor Calus, mighty leader of the Cabal Empire! Then you damage him a bit and ''his skin and body parts flake off'', revealing you’re actually fighting a robot duplicate of Calus. After the battle’s over, the real Calus speaks through the duplicate to praise your combat skill and encourage you to use the Leviathan to keep training, at which point it’s shown that he has a ''massive'' storeroom filled with nothing but Calus Doombots, hence [[SlidingScaleOfGameplayAndStoryIntegration the weekly raid reset]].

** The Japanese version of ''VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn'' also says that [[spoiler:The Black Knight]] that Ike defeated in ''Videogame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance'' was a "ghost" created by malfunctioning warp powder. The English localization, however, thinking that was ridiculous, changed it to an instance of ILetYouWin using existing canon and characterization.

* In the ''VideoGame/GIJoe'' arcade shooter, [[spoiler: the first battle with Cobra Commander is really a robot knockoff]].
* Used frequently by [[spoiler:[[BigBad Arfoire/Magiquone]]]] in ''VideoGame/HyperdimensionNeptunia''. After learning the truth about their RecurringBoss ArchEnemy (whose [[MyNameIsQuestionMarks name]] had been unknown to them up until TheReveal), Neptune and her friends learn that [[spoiler:she]] had been using clones to distract them while [[spoiler:her]] plan to TakeOverTheWorld went into motion.

* This ends up becoming a plot point in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsIntoReverie'' where [[spoiler:clones of [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsFromZeroAndTrailsToAzure Arios [=MacLaine=]]], [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel McBurn, and Rufus Albarea]] are running around wrecking havoc while their true selves are trying to fix things. All three are actually playable with Rufus being the BreakoutCharacter of the game]].

* In ''VideoGame/MarvelAvengersAlliance'', [[spoiler:Mission 3-5's Epic Boss is not just one, but ''three'' Doombots. And the trope gets lampshaded by the characters, to boot]].

** In ''VideoGame/MegaManZX Advent'', [[spoiler:Prometheus betrays and seemingly murders Master Albert for all the suffering he put him and his sister Pandora through in the penultimate level. After Grey/Ashe fight Prometheus and Pandora, however, it's revealed "Albert" was all along just a dummy body the real one worked through his entire time as both a member of the Sage Trinity and with all his interactions with his creations. There's actually {{Foreshadowing}} for this in one of the earlier levels, where Grey/Ashe are in a lab where they find Prometheus and Pandora's capsules (labelled DAN-001 and DAN-002), and then find another capsule further in labeled "Prototype" (DAN-000), which Albert reveals is ''his'' serial number and himself the genuine article]].
* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidV'' seems to have retconned ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' into this: [[spoiler: The Big Boss you kill in the first game is Venom Snake]].

* ''[[VideoGame/{{Contra}} Neo Contra]]'': [[spoiler: Once [[BigBad Master Contra]] is defeated, he turns out to be a machine. The real Master Contra is actually the facility itself, Project C]].
* ''VideoGame/Persona5'': [[spoiler:After learning that Akechi is planning to betray them and kill Joker, the Phantom Thieves quietly create a counter-plot by tricking Sae into taking Joker's phone and showing it to Akechi, Futaba then activates the [=MetaNav=], bringing both to Sae's Palace, around the identical-looking police station next to the casino. In the end, Akechi unknowingly ends up killing Sae's cognitions of the guard in the interrogation room and Joker]].
* In Chapter 8 of ''VideoGame/SakuraWars2ThouShaltNotDie'', [[spoiler:Keigo Kyogoku's death during the failed coup at the Great Imperial Theater actually turned out to be a body double so he can resurrect Musashi]].
* In ''VideoGame/ScottPilgrim'', [[spoiler: The final fight with Gideon turns out to be an example. Overlaps with ClippedWingAngel in that after beating the robot, the real Gideon goes down in a single hit.]]

* In ''VideoGame/SonicHeroes'', the Egg Albatross and Egg Emperor boss fights for all four teams end with the reveal that the Dr. Eggman piloting them was just a duplicate, which breaks or melts into goo. It ''would'' be a subtle hint that [[spoiler:Eggman isn't the BigBad]], except that in one of those cutscenes, [[spoiler:Metal Sonic is seen forming from the puddle of goo that "Eggman" left behind]], making it a subversion of the trope and also spoiling the surprise a bit.
* In the ''Spider-Man'' arcade game, [[spoiler:all battles with Dr. Doom turn out to be against Doom's robot duplicates]].

** In the fangame ''VideoGame/SuperMario63'', the Bowser in the Koopa Clown Car you fight [[spoiler:before ascending the Meteor Tower]] is a robot.
* The Hell King Gordon fought in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsBX'' was [[spoiler:an illusion created by Viscount Pygman]].

* During the fourth ''VideoGame/TyTheTasmanianTiger'' installment, [[spoiler:Ty comes across Fluffy, who was apparently brought back to life after the third installment and is now evil again. Ty is even shocked about this. But, after the boss fight, it turns out that this is not the same Fluffy that sacrificed herself at the end of the third game, but rather a robot of Fluffy]].
* In ''VideoGame/{{Vanquish}}'', you fight with seemingly ''two'' Victor Zaitsevs, one red and the other blue. After killing the first one, no matter which, Zaitsev will say you killed the wrong one. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, Zaitsev was never there to begin with; they are both just doombots.]]

* In ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', [[MadScientist Mekgineer Thermaplugg]] was [[{{Retcon}} revealed]] to have done this (Zalazane too, with HollywoodVoodoo), but after a final assault, [[spoiler: Thermaplugg is still alive. Zalazane is DraggedOffToHell, killing him for real]].

** During the fight between [[Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog Dr. Eggman]] and [[Franchise/MegaMan Dr. Wily]], after Metal Sonic knocks the latter out of his Wily Machine, [[ISurrenderSuckers Wily begs for mercy]], [[spoiler:but Eggman simply stomps on him with his Death Egg Robot. That "Wily" appeared to be a mere dummy, with the real Wily in a new Wily Machine]].

* ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'': Abraham would NeverHurtAnInnocent, so when he faces Fox, he is careful to use a powerful but rare non-lethal item... at which point she dissolves into nothingness, because she's just a summon. Abraham sighs. The problem is that when he faces [[spoiler:Nanase in her Guardian form]], he assumes she's another summon, and therefore sees nothing wrong with immediately resorting to lethal force.

* In the ''WebAnimation/OneMinuteMelee'' between Samus and Mega Man, [[spoiler:the Samus that Mega Man fights is actually [[VideoGame/MetroidFusion SA-X]]. The real Samus lends Mega Man a hand in finishing it off]].
* ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'': At the end of the Dark Phase scenario, it is revealed that Phase wasn't even on the battlefield, but was using holograms to seem like he was there. Chaka even [[InvokedTrope refers to this as a Doombot]]. [[spoiler: however, it then turns out that it wasn't even Phase at all -- he'd refused to go through the simulation, so Admiral Everhart stepped in to play his role.]]

* Used and then inverted in the Season 7 finale of ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}''. Archer and his robot double [[spoiler:head off to confront Veronica Dean, and one is shot and left to drown in her pool -- but due to the fact that Archer and Robot-Archer were wearing identical clothing, and only one Archer is in the scene, it's unclear which it is. When the police and ISIS show up to the scene, the "real" Archer appears, claiming that the Archer in the pool is merely his robot double. However, when he tries to propose to Lana, he (Robot-Archer) malfunctions due to his programming not being able to understand love, and it's revealed that the Archer in the pool is, in fact, the real Archer]].

* Slade used this trick a lot in ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003'', using an android duplicate of himself to both fight the Titans and deliver the occasional taunt from a remote location. The episode "Haunted" is the most dangerous example, proving that Slade could be a downright deadly threat to a hero's life ''and'' sanity without being there at all [[spoiler:(''This'' time it was a drug-induced hallucination, ''not'' a robot)]]. At least one is rigged to explode if defeated, and most have monitors behind their masks to facilitate last-minute megalomaniacal gloating.

** In "O.S.I. Love You" it's revealed that [[spoiler:the Sovereign is not really David Bowie, but rather a shapeshifter acquaintance of his]].

* After Bowser loses a minigame during a ''VideoGame/MarioParty 6,'' upon returning to the main map, he gloats about how he's going to punish the losers, then acts shocked that nobody lost. The LetsPlay/MarioPartyTV group joke that they must have fought a 'Bowser bot' instead.

** There were hints that Prometheus would actually return in some form, as both his helmet (which contained most of his knowledge) and the [[{{Lobotomy}} lobotomized]] [[EmptyShell body]] of his sidekick, I.Q., were later shown to be missing. It seems like there was a plan that was regulated to an AbortedArc thanks to the Comicbook/{{New 52}}.

*** In ''ComicBook/FiftyTwo'', Luthor claims that the insanity he was caught up in after losing the presidency in ''ComicBook/PublicEnemies'' was caused by an evil, alternate dimension Luthor. He's able to present his evidence in the form of the altered body of Alexander Luthor, Jr. ComicBook/{{Steel}} realizes something's up, but he can't pin it down.

!!Franchise/TheDCU

--->'''Supergirl:''' And how do we know you're even the real Winslow Schott? I've seen one of your robots before -- no, two of them. One here in Gotham, the other on New Krypton. And that one had a part in my world's destruction. A small part, sure, but an important one. Your work is very well made. Impossible to tell apart from real, live human beings, even with my X-Ray vision. So please. Answer Ms. Grant's questions, or else another outburst like that will lead me to believe you're one of Schott's automatons... and I'll start probing to make sure you're real.
** In ''Comicbook/SupergirlRebirth #2'', Kara fights Cyborg Superman. She wins, but she is disappointed when she discovers that it is only a drone.

** Speaking of Lex Luthor, he's done this a few times to invoke KarmaHoudini.
*** Following ''ComicBook/FinalNight'', a revitalized Luthor is arrested for the destruction of downtown Metropolis back in ''ComicBook/TheFallOfMetropolis''. He successfully argues that it wasn't him, but a clone of him created by Dabney Donovan to ruin his image. This is MetaphoricallyTrue as it was a clone of Luthor, but ''he'' was the clone the entire time.
*** In ''ComicBook/FiftyTwo'', Luthor claims that the insanity he was caught up in after losing the presidency was caused by an evil, alternate dimension Luthor. He's able to present his evidence in the form of the altered body of Alexander Luthor, Jr. ComicBook/{{Steel}} realizes something's up, but he can't pin it down.

-->-- '''[[ComicBook/{{Batman}} Bruce Wayne]]''', ''ComicBook/TheBatmanAdventures'' #6

** In the final battle, [[spoiler:Aizen even does this ''to Yhwach'', using himself as a "Doombot" for Ichigo to make Yhwach think he'd already won, since as an immortal he had nothing to fear from Yhwach's attacks but lacked the firepower to deliver a killing blow himself.]]

* ''Manga/OnePiece'': During the Dressrosa arc, we learn about Doflamingo’s Black Knight technique: he can make string marionettes indistinguishable from humans, resembling either himself or anyone that he wants. We find this out the hard way when [[spoiler:Usopp breaks Doflamingo's spell over the city, and Kyros manages to actually decapitate Doflamingo in a single stroke. Shortly afterward, the real one appears behind Kyros to attack him.]]

* ''Manga/TimeStopBrave'': Bahamut blows up the King of Darkness with a fireball. Just as the heroes start celbrating, his voice echoes and reveals they only destroyed an avatar and he was in another country the whole time.

* The return of Comicbook/{{Blade}}'s arch nemesis Deacon Frost was explained by him being able to create scientific doppelgangers of himself. He can create these (vampiric) copies from other characters as well, as seen in ''Comicbook/TheTombOfDracula'' where he made an evil version of Blade.
* Comicbook/DoctorDoom:

** A doombot also appears in ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'', but [[spoiler: it's actually Ultron's.]]

*** The first arc of [[ComicBook/BuckyBarnes The Winter Soldier]] comic implies that Doom actually programmes several Doombots to believe themselves to be the real Doom, to make them more life-like.
** Hilariously, one of Doom's only defeats that never got an official Doombot retcon was when ComicBook/SquirrelGirl took him down (more info on her page).

* Marvel's ComicBook/{{Mephisto}} has sometimes been impersonated by lesser demons who imitate his form. Such demons are defeated far more easily than the virtually invincible Mephisto.

** ''ComicBook/OriginalSin'' has revealed that [[spoiler:Possibly ''all'' modern day appearances by Fury have been LMD appearances. The original? Still alive, but much older.]] Then, it revealed that [[spoiler:Dum-Dum Dugan was ''also'' an [=LMD=], that the real one had been DeadAllAlong!]]
** Even before that, ''Comicbook/SecretWarriors'' revealed that [[spoiler: Nick's brother, Jake, was one of the first people to acquire an LMD, created by accident when he was retrieving the technology they were based on. It was that LMD that became the villainous Scorpio, while the real Jake was a deep-cover agent known only to his brother. This basically meant every post-WWII appearance by Jake prior to the reveal was actually the LMD.]]
* Played with in the Marvel crossover ''ComicBook/SecretInvasion'', but instead of robots, it's with Skrulls, shape-shifting aliens. It begins with a character who is revealed to be a Skrull, who managed to stay undetected, and the whole story is about the paranoia of who ''else'' may be an undetectable Skrull. And then it got to the controversial ''ComicBook/CivilWar2006'': the New Avengers were so damn sure that [[Comicbook/IronMan Stark]] only did the things he did because he was secretly a Skrull, and Stark suspected that ComicBook/CaptainAmerica's resistance to the Registration Act may had been because he was a Skrull... but no. ''Secret Invasion'' was not used as a ResetButton of anything, and did not organize or start any of the recent disasters. Stark and Rogers in ''Civil War'' were both themselves, Hulk in ''ComicBook/WorldWarHulk'' was himself (and the creature that destroyed ''ComicBook/PlanetHulk'' to make him go in a rampage of revenge, too), ComicBook/{{Quicksilver}} was himself when he stole the Terrigen crystals and started a war between ComicBook/TheInhumans and the human race, the ComicBook/ScarletWitch was herself in ''ComicBook/AvengersDisassembled'' (and ComicBook/TheWasp, who reminded her of her lost sons, too), and also in ''ComicBook/HouseOfM'' (and Quicksilver, who made her change reality, too), and so on. The Skrulls were simply in the background, trying to take advantage of the things happening, but not causing them.

* Franchise/SpiderMan:

*** In ''ComicBook/SpiderMen'', [[spoiler:Mysterio doesn't actually have an ComicBook/UltimateMarvel counterpart. "Ultimate Mysterio" is actually a robot double he was controlling all along.]]
*** One reason this trick works so often is that Mysterio is a well-established [[EvilGenius technical genius.]] His robots are [[MasterOfIllusion incredibly]] [[RidiculouslyHumanRobots realistic]], so much so that in the ''Guardian Devil'' story arc by Creator/KevinSmith, he manages to convince ''ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}'', the man who can [[SuperSenses hear heartbeats,]] into believing that Mysterio is dead.
** Perhaps the most infamous usage of this trick in Spider-Man history is the first "death" of Aunt May. She peacefully died of old age in a realistic and tasteful manner; Peter and the other characters mourned her and eventually moved on. However, later editor-in-chief Bob Harras ''demanded'' that she be brought back to life. So, Aunt May was found alive and it was revealed that ComicBook/NormanOsborn had hired an actress to impersonate Aunt May perfectly, and kept up the charade even on her deathbed, meaning Peter (and the readers) cried over a total stranger.

* ComicBook/{{Thanos}} has duplicates called [[http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8hakNOtM5KM/Uid1n3SREzI/AAAAAAAACZ0/SYWdc8789Kk/s1600/thanosclones19.jpg Thanosi]], some of which are indistinguishable from the original.[[note]]Others are given the abilities of various superheroes for Thanos to test himself against them.[[/note]] Like Doombots, these are used (usually by Thanos creator Jim Starlin) to explain away defeats. Particularly more embarrassing ones.

** There was a [[ArmedWithCanon War of the]] {{Retcon}}s about the Thanosi and ComicBook/SquirrelGirl, where S.G. defeated Thanos offscreen in a ''ComicBook/GreatLakesAvengers'' miniseries, and the Watcher was dragged on to say "This is definitely the real Thanos" -- and then in a different book some time later, Thanos casually mentions that he can create Thanosi that can fool even the Watcher. Just to make this even more ridiculous, the original story and the RetCon were written by the same guy. Of course, he visibly reels when S.G. [[ArmorPiercingQuestion threateningly asks what the difference is if the duplicate was completely identical to the real deal]], to which he responds by [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere leaving]].

* {{Exploited}} and {{Inverted}} by ComicBook/{{Ultron}} in his first appearance. A new villain called the Crimson Cowl is revealed to have a duplicate, and when both unmask, one is a robot, and the other is [[Comicbook/TheAvengers Avengers]] butler Edwin Jarvis. The twist is that the robot is the real one -- Ultron had hypnotized Jarvis into acting as his Doombot, and pretended he wasn't sentient to deceive both the Avengers and his own flunkies.
* Viper/Madame Hydra is a long-running Marvel villain who has appeared in many series. She had an out-of-character appearance in a storyline featured in ''Punisher War Journal'' #45-47 (August-October, 1992)., where she served as an ally to ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}, Nomad, and ComicBook/ThePunisher. A year later, Gregory Wright wrote a story where it was revealed that Viper has been using look-alike "Pit-Vipers" to act in her name. The "Viper" appearing in the Punisher storyline was a rogue Pit-Viper with her own agenda.

* The ComicBook/{{Brainiac}} usually has an excuse in being a vastly advanced A.I. that has plenty of bodies to spare. However, ''ComicBook/TheNew52FuturesEnd'' goes on step further and reveals that he is actually an EldritchAbomination whose all manifestations in canon so far have been probes sent to collect knowledge.
* This is revealed to be the case during ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis'' for the ComicBook/NewGods and ComicBook/{{Darkseid}}. All that Earth has ever seen is somewhat limited projections of the real gods which operate on a higher plane of reality.
* ''Franchise/JusticeLeague Europe'' "ComicBook/TheExtremistVector": It turned out that the original Extremists are already dead, and that the ones seen in this story are just robot replicas. Except for Dreamslayer, who's the real deal.

** Super-villain Toyman's robots look like real human beings, and they are capable of deceiving even XRayVision. In ''[[ComicBook/Supergirl2005 2011 storyline]]'' ''ComicBook/DayOfTheDollmaker'', ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} invokes the trope when she warns Toyman that if he does not answer her questions, she will tear him apart to make sure he is not a robot.

* ''Franchise/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]]: Wonder Woman uses her telepathy to know which "Blue Snowmen" are actually robots she can tear through without concern, instead of PoweredArmor since Byrna Brilyant made them identical to hide whether or not people are interacting with the real villain or not and help her maintain her SecretIdentity. Others are never sure whether they're dealing with a robot or the real thing.

* In the fan-loved "Fragments of Autumn" issue of ComicBook/PaperinikNewAdventures, [[RobotGirl Lyla]] accidentally shot a policeman. Since droids were recently given legal rights,she was [[DeconstructedTrope put on trial for that, rather that just going through a check up]]. However it was revealed that the policeman was actually another robot and that the whole incident was staged by a corrupt politician.

* {{Subverted}}/{{Averted}} in a (Warren times) ComicBook/{{Vampirella}} story, where your mad scientist of the week produces Vampirella clones. No advanced fanboy bookings, please -- the angered real Vampirella killed them all to prove that there is no substitute, and that was it. Astonishingly, none of those clones ever resurfaced in the Harris/Dynamite era. [[SarcasmMode Perhaps because no writer ever bothers to read the Warren comics.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/Incredibles2'': [[spoiler:Thanks to handy mind-control goggles, the Screenslaver, aka Evelyn Deavor, makes an innocent pizza delivery guy out to be the Screenslaver during the attack during Elastigirl's TV interview, resulting in her being able to act as MissionControl for Helen during the incident, making her seem innocent at the time.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Megamind}}''. [[spoiler: In the final battle against Tighten, Megamind rescues Roxanne but is killed—only to be revealed as Minion wearing a holographic disguise.]]

** Padmé uses the strategy again as a senator in ''Film/AttackOfTheClones''; [[spoiler:sadly, her decoy must fulfill her true duty this time when an assassin strikes, and is killed taking a bullet meant for Padmé.]]

** ''Literature/FoundationAndChaos'' by Creator/GregBear: Dors shoots a RidiculouslyHumanRobot under the belief that said robot is fundamentally damaged. It turns out the robot she shot was a remote-controlled duplicate of the real robot.
** "Literature/TheTercentenaryIncident": In 2076, the tricentennial of the United States, the country is ruled by a populist jerk, who is quickly losing support. He began to shake people's hands in the street, and suddenly explodes, becoming a pile of dust. Then he showed up at the balcony, and pointed that it was is a malfunction of his protocolar robot duplicate. He gave the "Tricentennial adress" (much better than his usual style) and strengthened the unity of the federation. And two years later... a guy shows up with very sound reasons to suspect that the president has been murdered that day, and that the robot, posing as human, has been acting as president since then.

* ''Literature/VillainsCode'': Doctor Mechanical often operates his PoweredArmor by remote when he needs it for something non-essential, such as giving instructions to new villains. The older villains often leave the suit behind, then walk up to a more comfortable lounge where the real Doctor Mechanical is waiting. [[spoiler:Actually, the real one rarely appears at all; even out of his suit, most of his appearances are robotic duplicates. Even better, the neural nanites he uses to control the duplicates are so efficient that he can pilot multiple duplicates at once, allowing him to save a lot of time]].

* In Episode 8 of ''Series/DarkMatter'', Six (with the help of ExpendableClone service advertised four episodes prior) finally meets face-to-face with his treacherous former employer, The General. [[spoiler: Turns out The General used the same trick to command his underlings in person.]]

** Ultimately, this trope is the driving force behind the entirety of [[spoiler: new Season 6, as the over-arcing plot concerns the Doctor dying at River's hand being a fixed point in time. Fortunately, at the half-season mark they meet a group of people who specialize in robots that can imitate people...]]

* ''Series/TheMentalist'': Protagonist Patrick Jane tracks down [[spoiler: and kills his almost-lifelong nemesis, serial superkiller "Red John", season ends.]] The next season begins, and, hey, what do you know: [[spoiler: that guy Jane shot? He was actually just a boring minion of Red John's.]]
* ''Series/{{Smallville}}'': [[spoiler:Lana Lang]] is caught in a car bombing, with enough DNA evidence to confirm the death, in Season 6 finale. In the next season, it is revealed that it was actually [[spoiler:her clone created by Lex.]]

** In ''[[Videogame/FireEmblemMysteryOfTheEmblem New Mystery]]'', the [[MeaningfulName Legion]] fought as the boss of Chapter 6x turns out to be just a clone. Marth and Co. won't fight the ''real'' Legion until 12x... where he's accompanied by an entire army of Legions. There are three 'boss' Roros with slightly higher stats, and a whole bunch of {{Mook}} Legions. The {{Mooks}} spawn constantly until the real one does, which could be any of the three 'boss' versions. (like Gharnef, it's random) This trope is also discussed in-story, it's implied Legion has taken this to such extremes even ''he'' doesn't know which of his clones is the real one anymore.

** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGaiden'' and its remake, ''Echoes: Shadows of Valentia'', also use this, but in the "HandWave for the player winning what's supposed to be a HopelessBossFight" form. Desaix, the game's StarterVillain, appears on the map in an early chapter with stats normally too high for you to beat at that point. If the cast someahow ''does'' manage to defeat him, his NumberTwo Slayde reveals he was actually a BodyDouble. [[SchrodingersGun It's likely this is only true if the player beat him]], since the body double isn't mentioned anywhere else.
* In the ''VideoGame/GIJoe'' arcade shooter, [[spoiler: the first battle with Cobra Commander is really a robot knockoff.]]

* This ends up becoming a plot point in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsIntoReverie'' where [[spoiler:clones of [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsFromZeroAndTrailsToAzure Arios [=MacLaine=]]], [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel McBurn, and Rufus Albarea]] are running around wrecking havoc while their true selves are trying to fix things. All three are actually playable with Rufus being the BreakoutCharacter of the game.]]

* In ''VideoGame/MarvelAvengersAlliance'', [[spoiler:Mission 3-5's Epic Boss is not just one, but ''three'' Doombots. And the trope gets lampshaded by the characters, to boot.]]

** In ''VideoGame/MegaManZX Advent'', [[spoiler:Prometheus betrays and seemingly murders Master Albert for all the suffering he put him and his sister Pandora through in the penultimate level. After Grey/Ashe fight Prometheus and Pandora, however, it's revealed "Albert" was all along just a dummy body the real one worked through his entire time as both a member of the Sage Trinity and with all his interactions with his creations. There's actually {{Foreshadowing}} for this in one of the earlier levels, where Grey/Ashe are in a lab where they find Prometheus and Pandora's capsules (labelled DAN-001 and DAN-002), and then find another capsule further in labeled "Prototype" (DAN-000), which Albert reveals is ''his'' serial number and himself the genuine article.]]
* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidV'' seems to have retconned ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' into this: [[spoiler: The Big Boss you kill in the first game is Venom Snake.]]

* ''[[VideoGame/{{Contra}} Neo Contra]]'': [[spoiler: Once [[BigBad Master Contra]] is defeated, he turns out to be a machine. The real Master Contra is actually the facility itself, Project C.]]
* ''VideoGame/Persona5'': [[spoiler:After learning that Akechi is planning to betray them and kill Joker, the Phantom Thieves quietly create a counter-plot by tricking Sae into taking Joker's phone and showing it to Akechi, Futaba then activates the [=MetaNav=], bringing both to Sae's Palace, around the identical-looking police station next to the casino. In the end, Akechi unknowingly ends up killing Sae's cognitions of the guard in the interrogation room and Joker.]]

* In the ''Spider-Man'' arcade game, [[spoiler:all battles with Dr. Doom turn out to be against Doom's robot duplicates.]]

* During the fourth ''VideoGame/TyTheTasmanianTiger'' installment, [[spoiler:Ty comes across Fluffy, who was apparently brought back to life after the third installment and is now evil again. Ty is even shocked about this. But, after the boss fight, it turns out that this is not the same Fluffy that sacrificed herself at the end of the third game, but rather a robot of Fluffy.]]

** During the fight between [[Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog Dr. Eggman]] and [[Franchise/MegaMan Dr. Wily]], after Metal Sonic knocks the latter out of his Wily Machine, [[ISurrenderSuckers Wily begs for mercy]], [[spoiler:but Eggman simply stomps on him with his Death Egg Robot. That "Wily" appeared to be a mere dummy, with the real Wily in a new Wily Machine.]]

** When Lex Luthor returned, he actually invokes this trope with one of his Lexbots to buy himself time to don the Warsuit. It becomes funny in a meta sense when you consider the fact that the guy who he uses this is against is none other than the above-mentioned, TropeNamer ''Doctor Doom''. Even Doom himself remarks on it.

* In the ''WebAnimation/OneMinuteMelee'' between Samus and Mega Man, [[spoiler:the Samus that Mega Man fights is actually [[VideoGame/MetroidFusion SA-X]]. The real Samus lends Mega Man a hand in finishing it off.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSpectacularSpiderMan'', whenever Quentin Beck/Mysterio is captured or defeated, it always turns out to be an illusion or a robotic double.

* Used on more than one occasion in episodes of ''WesternAnimation/SuperFriends'' to explain how the latest scheme by ComicBook/LexLuthor didn't actually work, since the heroes were being represented by robotic duplicates. [[FridgeLogic Raises the question]] of why the Legion of Doom doesn't bother with autopsies, or why they throw away their latest superweapon the minute the Super Friends "appear" to be dead.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBros'':

* The [[UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube GameCube]] version of ''VideoGame/MortalKombatDeception'' retcons Shao Kahn's apparent death at the beginning of ''VideoGame/MortalKombatDeadlyAlliance'' into that being a clone in order to explain his canonical [=GameCube=]-exclusive playable appearance. (additionally, the other exclusive character, Goro, was then rescued by Kahn in the battlefield where he was left for dead -- in the [=PS2=] \ Xbox version, he only cameos in Konquest mode)

*** It's actually been suggested that, due to Quan Chi's involvement in the plot of ''9'' (despite not being one of the characters from the original trilogy) and [[spoiler:TheStinger (where Shinnok appears and discusses future plans with his underling, setting up the new continuity's version of ''VideoGame/MortalKombat4'')]], Shinnok's status as one of the few survivors of Armageddon allowed him to [[spoiler:pull a Raiden and send a message to his past self (and likely with much greater clarity than Dark Raiden did), allowing him to play TheChessmaster using Quan Chi as his proxy.]]

* In the fan-loved "Fragments of Autumn" issue of ComicBook/PaperinikNewAdventures, [[RobotGirl Lyla]] accidentally shot a policeman. Since droids were recently given legal rights,she was [[DeconstructedTrope put on trial for that,rather that just going through a check up]]. However it was revealed that the policeman was actually another robot and that the whole incident was staged by a corrupt politician.

* In ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', [[MadScientist Mekgineer Thermaplugg]] was [[{{Retcon}} recently revealed]] to have done this (Zalazane too, with HollywoodVoodoo), but after a final assault, [[spoiler: Thermaplugg is still alive. Zalazane is dead, though. Right?]].
** [[spoiler: Zalazane is not only dead, but was explicitly dragged off to voodoo hell or whatever. He ain't coming back.]]

** In "Plankton Retires", he reveals that his claim to retire was another plan to get the formula and that the Plankton at the retirement home was a robot to distract [=SpongeBob=] and Mr. Krabs while he breaks into the Krusty Krab. As it turns out, the [=SpongeBob=] and Mr. Krabs at the retirement home were ''also'' robots and the real ones were still at the Krusty Krab as well. The episode ends with the robots deciding to live their own lives instead of helping in Krabs and Plankton's pointless war, then they hang out together until they [[StuffBlowingUp explode]].

The doombot may be used as well to fix a ContinuitySnarl, or as a ResetButton of a DorkAge. The hero fought a classic villain the writer was not aware that's supposed to be dead? Easy: it was actually a doombot. Of course, the longer the period that the character was supposed to have been a doombot, the less credible the trick may be.