History Main / ActuallyADoombot

* Hugo Strange blows himself up in "The Double Life of Hugo Strange" when fighting Batman and Robin in a fake version of the Batcave under a fake Wayne Manor that's set up to make Bruce Wayne/Batman crazy by having numerous robotic clones ("mandroids") of his friends attack him and then disappear. With this setup and with Strange already having cheated apparent death before, it's not the most surprising move for him to later reappear and reveal that the one who blew up was another mandroid.

** 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.

* 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.

* Played with in the Marvel crossover ''ComicBook/SecretInvasion2008'', 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.

* The Super-Adaptoid is an [[Characters/MarvelComicsAIM A.I.M.]]-created robot which has plagued ComicBook/TheAvengers since in 1966. Because of its PowerCopying abilities it is rather difficult to take down. A 1993 Spider-Man story had it serving as a LivingWeapon henchman and easily defeated by a BadassNormal opponent. Which interfered with developments in other titles where the Adaptoid was revealed as the DiabolicalMastermind behind the efforts of AIM to become a power player in the world stage. As an explanation the Super-Adaptoid of the Spider-Man story was retconned to an inferior copy of the original.

* In ''[[TabletopGame/{{Warhammer40000}} Warhammer 40,000]]'', famous Necron Trazyn the Infinite almost never walks onto a battlefield himself, preferring to set up a small team of body doubles in his stead. The body doubles [[{{Troll}} are rarely willing volunteers]], we should mention, [[InvoluntaryShapeshifter often not even aware that Trazyn has uploaded himself inside them until his previous double has been felled]].

** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' the [=SeeD=] and their clients the Timber Resistance get the opportunity to kidnap the President of Galbadia (who at this point is thought to be the BigBad) and do so. However, this "president" is not just a decoy, but an undead construct created by [[ManBehindTheMan the Sorceress Edea]] to trick the Timber Resistance.

*** Wily's first instance of this is in ''VideoGame/MegaMan2'', where he appears to morph into an alien, [[Main/ScoobyDooHoax but it's just a holographic projection.]]

** The [[Platform/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).

* In ''VideoGame/UnleashTheLight'', [[spoiler:the Squaridot who's threatening to take back George turns out to be a Squari''bot'' that the AI of Hessonite's Warship programmed while holding the real Squaridot captive. After the Crystal Gems defeat it, [[TrickBoss the AI takes over as the real boss of the Peridot DLC.]]]]

** His huge assault on the Krusty Krab at the beginning of ''WesternAnimation/TheSpongeBobMovieSpongeOutOfWater'' ends with him giving Mr. Krabs his last penny and sulking near the Krusty Krab sign for 20 minutes. Mr. Krabs then finds that the Plankton outside was a robot and the real Plankton was inside the penny, which Mr. Krabs put in the wall safe with the formula. Upon Krabs realizing he's been had, the robot does a victory dance.

** 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''; 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'', 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]].

* The return of Characters/{{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.

*** Wily's first instance of this is in ''VideoGame/MegaMan2'', where he appears to morph into an alien, but it's just a holographic projection.

* ''Manga/DeathNote'': 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.

* Hugo Strange blows himself up in "The Double life of Hugo Strange" when fighting Batman and Robin in a fake version of the Batcave under a fake Wayne Manor that's set up to make Bruce Wayne/Batman crazy by having numerous robotic clones ("mandroids") of his friends attack him and then disappear. With this setup and with Strange already having cheated apparent death before, it's not the most surprising move for him to later reappear and reveal that the one who blew up was another mandroid.

* In the UsefulNotes/GameBoy version of ''VideoGame/KidDracula'', the first Garamoth you fight turns out to be a robot being piloted by an alien.

** 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).

-->-- '''[[Characters/BatmanTheCharacter Bruce Wayne]]''', ''ComicBook/TheBatmanAdventures'' #6

* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'':