History Main / BookedFullOfMooks

* ''WesternAnimation/XiaolinShowdown'': During the 2nd episode, ''[[Recap/XiaolinShowdownLikeARock Like a Rock]]'', Jack Spicer and Wuya are in Paris, France talking about their partnership in finding Shen Gong Wu while the former is using the Third-Arm Sash to drink some tea, when a mime named Le Mime walks up, causing Jack to call in his Jack Bots to attack him. Thankfully, Wuya tells Jack to just hire him instead of hurting him, since he could be useful in finding the Fist of Tebigong and getting the Monks and Dojo off their backs.

* ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'': In the episode, "M.O.V.I.E.", Numbah 4 disguises himself as an adult to sneak into an R-rated movie, but when he gets into the theater, he finds that all the adults are villains in disguise and the R-rated movie was just a cover for their meeting.

* This also happens in a meeting between Yakuza and TheMafia in ''Film/{{The Punisher|1989}}'' -- everyone else in the restaurant turns out to be a HiredGun belonging to the Yakuza.

* ''Film/{{Mission Impossible|1996}}'': After the disastrous opening mission, [=IMF=] agent Ethan Hunt has an OvertRendezvous with his superior Kittridge in an upscale restaurant. Ethan realizes something's up when he recognizes people in the restaurant--Kittridge suspects Ethan of being TheMole, so all of the staff and guests in the café are fellow [=IMF=] agents preparing to apprehend him.

* ''Series/SecretInvasion2023'': Varik and Talos meet in a crowded cafe for a parley. When Gravik tells Talos that he's lucky not to have had G'iah (Talos' daughter) sent back to him in a body bag, [[PapaWolf Talos furiously lunges at him]], at which point every other person in the room drops what they're doing and [[MeIsACrowd assumes Gravik's appearance]], revealing that they're all Skrulls allied with him. Talos swiftly backs down. But not for long.

* ''Series/SecretInvasion2023'': Varik and Talos meet in a crowded cafe for a parley. When Gravik tells Talos that he's lucky not to have had G'iah (Talos' daughter) sent back to him in a body bag, [[PapaWolf Talos furiously lunges at him]], at which point every other person in the room drops what they're doing and [[MeAsACrowd assumes Gravik's appearance]], revealing that they're all Skrulls allied with him. Talos swiftly backs down. But not for long.

* ''Series/{{Daredevil|2015}}'': In a season one episode, crime boss Wilson Fisk takes Vanessa out to a restaurant full of couples eating and chatting. A rival of Fisk's shows up, and ''all'' the men seated at the other tables immediately stand up and move in on him to prevent him from reaching Fisk. Fisk booked the entire restaurant for the evening and made sure that the only patrons present were his men and their wives and girlfriends.

* ''Series/{{The Defenders|2017}}'': Danny Rand enters Midland Circle, a financial organization being used as a cover business by [[{{Ninja}} the Hand]], in order to confront their leadership; not warrior-to-warrior, but businessman-to-businessman. After crashing what ''appears'' to be a stockholder meeting, he's caught off-guard and nearly captured when it turns out the ''suits'' are all disguised ninja too.

* ''Series/{{Fargo}}'': In season 3, Nikki meets with mysterious V.M.Varga in a public place, positive he can't do anything as "you're a pretty distinctive guy." Varga just smirks. "Am I? Look around." Nikki does...and sees that just in this lobby, there are at least six people who are dressed almost exactly the way Varga is.

* ''Series/SecretInvasion2023'': Varik and Talos meet in a crowded cafe for a parley. When Gravik tells Talos that he's lucky not to have had G'iah (Talos' daughter) sent back to him in a body bag, Talos furiously lunges at him only for every other person in the room to suddenly turn into copies of Gravik, revealing that they're all Skrulls. Talos swiftly backs down. But not for long.

* ''Series/SecretInvasion'': Varik and Talos meet in a crowded cafe for a parley. When Gravik tells Talos that he's lucky not to have had G'iah (Talos' daughter) sent back to him in a body bag, Talos furiously lunges at him only for every other person in the room to suddenly turn into copies of Gravik, revealing that they're all Skrulls. Talos swiftly backs down. But not for long.

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[[quoteright:600:[[Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/booked_full_of_mooks.jpg]]]]

'''This is a PlotTwist trope, so beware of unmarked spoilers!'''

Subtrope of TheReveal. A subversion of OvertRendezvous, NonviolentInitialConfrontation, and SafetyInMuggles. Compare SinisterSurveillance, WeAreEverywhere, and LockedOutOfTheLoop. Compare and contrast TheMole, about a single infiltrator in a group. May overlap with YouAndWhatArmy and FlockOfWolves. For examples that take place on a society-wide scale, see {{Masquerade}} and TrumanShowPlot. Do note that it requires the ''entirety'' of the group to be in on it, not simply a few "plants" in an otherwise unaware crowd.

A place is booked full of mooks when a character orchestrates to have a public venue--such as a restaurant, town square, theater, or museum--filled with actors, agents, or acolytes who give the appearance of normal bystanders. This is often done with the intent of fooling an opponent into thinking that there's nothing amiss, when in fact they're hopelessly outnumbered. For extra dramatic effect, the orchestrator may deliberately reveal this by having all the "bystanders" react at once, cueing an OhCrap moment from the opponent.

This is a good shorthand to demonstrate not only the orchestrator's wealth and power but also the lengths they'll go to in order to be totally in control of the situation. They're able to hire dozens, if not hundreds of people, book out an entire venue, and dedicate them to posing as normal citizens for hours, just to remove any unexpected variables. It's also a good dose of paranoia for their opponents--if the orchestrator can completely infiltrate and control a whole area, can they ''ever'' be safe out in public?

Subtrope of TheReveal. A subversion of OvertRendezvous, NonviolentInitialConfrontation, and SafetyInMuggles. Compare SinisterSurveillance, WeAreEverywhere, and LockedOutOfTheLoop. Compare and contrast TheMole, about a single infiltrator in a group. May overlap with YouAndWhatArmy and FlockOfWolves. For examples that take place on a society-wide scale, see TheMasquerade or TrumanShowPlot. Do note that it requires the ''entirety'' of the group to be in on it, not simply a few "plants" in an otherwise unaware crowd.

* ''Literature/{{Durarara}}'': Mikado agrees to meet Namie in a public and rather crowded street while she is trying to get her hands on Mika Harima. She pretends to go alone but mixes a couple of her men into the crowd. When she confronts Mikado he sends a group message, revealing everyone else in the crowd to be member of the Dollars and that he is the leader. The crowd becomes too thick for Namie's men to get to her.

* ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders'': Everyone in or near the bar where the Joestar Group encounters Daniel J. D'Arby is under D'Arby's employ, either to help rig games in his favor, or on the off-chance somebody is able to catch him cheating.

* ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'': Late in Season 5, as Jack and Ashi are hitching a ride to get to Aku's hideout, they soon become suspicious of the other passengers riding with them, who are all [[CatFolk Tiger Men]]. It soon becomes clear that they're all bounty hunters out to kill or capture them, with the cherry on top being their shirts spelling out their intentions and later their reactions to Jack's and Ashi's counterattacks.

''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'': In the episode, "M.O.V.I.E.", Numbah 4 disguises himself as an adult to sneak into an R-rated movie, but when he gets into the theater, he finds that all the adults are villains in disguise and the R-rated movie was just a cover for their meeting.

* ''{{Literature/Durarara}}'': Mikado agrees to meet Namie in a public and rather crowded street while she is trying to get her hands on Mika Harima. She pretends to go alone but mixes a couple of her men into the crowd. When she confronts Mikado he sends a group message, revealing everyone else in the crowd to be member of the Dollars and that he is the leader. The crowd becomes too thick for Namie's men to get to her.
* ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders]]'': Everyone in or near the bar where the Joestar Group encounters Daniel J. D'Arby is under D'Arby's employ, either to help rig games in his favor, or on the off-chance somebody is able to catch him cheating.

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[[folder:Film--Live-Action]]

* ''Film/{{The Man From UNCLE|2015}}'': Napoleon and Ilya meet at a West Berlin café with their CIA and KGB handlers to discuss teaming up to steal dangerous nuclear secrets from an Italian terrorist group. When the handlers leave, all the other patrons at the café leave too--they're all agents who took up the other tables to make sure the conversation remained confidential.

* This also happens in a meeting between Yakuza and TheMafia in ''Film/ThePunisher1989''--everyone else in the restaurant turns out to be a HiredGun belonging to the Yakuza.
* ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'': In Cairo, Indiana Jones is told that someone in a local bar wishes to speak with him. Indy walks inside and finds his arch-rival Rene Belloq. They spar verbally for a bit until Indy gets pissed enough to pull out his gun and threaten Belloq--at which point every Arab in the bar draws their own gun and takes aim at Indy. [[spoiler:Indy only escapes getting gunned down right there because [[WouldntHurtAChild Sallah sends his own children in]] to retrieve their "Uncle Indy."]]

* ''Film/{{Sonic The Hedgehog 2|2022}}'': Sonic escapes from the avalanche in Siberia by teleporting to Rachel's wedding in Hawaii, at which point the groom, Randall, tasers Sonic and takes him into custody, revealing himself as an undercover GUN agent. Randall's helped by his groomsmen, his "family," all the guests he invited, and the staff at the wedding venue, all of whom are undercover GUN agents, too. Even the priest officiating the ceremony has a taser hidden in his Bible. Poor Rachel and her family were the only ones unaware that the wedding was just a ploy to capture Sonic.

* In the Literature/AubreyMaturin novel ''The Reverse of the Medal'', Captain Jack Aubrey is framed for stock-market fraud and sentenced to an hour in the public stocks. Unknown to him, though, all his numerous Navy subordinates and old friends have cleared the square of gawkers, disgruntled investors, and rock-bearing hired thugs. When Jack is finally locked into the stocks and looks up, the crowd is wholly composed of sailors who commence to cheer for him.