History Main / ConspicuousTrenchcoat

* A ''ComicBook/CivilWar'' tie-in issue of ''[[ComicBook/SpiderMan Sensational Spider-Man]]'' features a story where both The Chameleon and Electro are dressed in a trenchcoat and fedora stalking Mark Raxton's son at a little league game full of children and their parents, in the heat of the summer and no-one seems at all concerned or suspicious. Made especially "wha?" when you consider that the Chameleon's whole hat is incredibly effective disguises.

* In ''Fanfic/CommonSense'', the ensemble makes up [[Anime/{{Pokemon}} Meowth's]] [[HughMann Mr. Pokémon]] [[PaperThinDisguise disguise]].

* Series/StargateSG1: Often when they need to investigate something while out of uniform. Season 6's "[[Recap/StargateSG1S6E5Nightwalkers Nightwalkers]]" comes to mind.

* In the WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}} episode "Murmur on the Ornery Express," a tall dark stranger dressed this way boards the train the main cast is riding, initially only seen in silhouette or shadow. When Chuckie's beloved teddy bear Wawa goes missing, the babies suspect the stranger, whom they refer to as the "Shadow Guy," as having stolen Wawa due to him appearing to hold the bear while in silhouette/shadow. Near the end, it turns out [[spoiler:the tall dark stranger was actually Jonathan, who snuck aboard the train to help get Charlotte's work done so she could spend more time with the family, and the shape the babies thought was Wawa turned out to be Jonathan's cell phone]].

* ''Franchise/CarmenSandiego'' not only wears a trenchcoat and fedora, but a ''fire engine red trenchcoat and fedora''. On the other hand, she is motivated by showing off.
** [[spoiler:She takes advantage of the inconspicuousness by [[LostInACrowd somehow arranging other non-criminal women in trenchcoats to visit the area]] near ACME Headquarter so that she could more easily rob it.]]
** When catching a V.I.L.E. agent, they'll be wearing these in the cutscenes.
* The Spy in ''VideoGame/ChipsChallenge'', who steals all your tools if you run into him, wears sunglasses with a blue fedora and trenchcoat. The same icon is used for the Microsoft 'Spy' utility, with the costume changing colour with the version.

** Just like his first appearance in the original ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2'', Mr.X in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2Remake'' also wears a trenchcoat, this time complemented by a [[NiceHat fedora]] which unlocks an achievement when you shoot it off from Mr.X's head.

* Occasionally played straight in ''Series/HillStreetBlues'', but justified because the show is set in the early Eighties when a trenchcoat was perfectly normal menswear; [[DaChief Captain Furillo]] is often seen wearing one. In fact, on one occasion it was a plot point that seeing someone wearing a trenchcoat ''[[UpToEleven with ski-mask]]'' wasn't enough to count as reasonable suspicion for a stop-and-search, because the city was in the grip of a particularly brutal ColdSnap at the time.

* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'': The Team Rocket trio have started doing this in the Unova saga. They most likely switched from a PaperThinDisguise to this now that they're [[spoiler:more competent.]]

Wiki/TheOtherWiki also explored this trope in [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trench_coats_in_popular_culture its own page]].

* ''WesternAnimation/Incredibles2'': Bob, Helen and Lucius wear trenchcoats over their super suits to go to their first meeting with Winston Deavor. Nobody is particularly fooled and Violet and Dash look very suspicious.

[-[[caption-width-right:350:[[UsefulNotes/McDonalds "Hello, I wanna see if this place's burgers are better than mine]]. [[BlatantLies Not that I look familiar or anything."]]]]-]

* Creator/HarryHarrison's "Literature/TheFourthLawOfRobotics": When robbing a bank, the suspect wears enough rain/cold weather gear (all black) that nobody is able to detect that it is a [[TinCanRobot metal robot]] underneath all of those clothes.

* In the non-fiction book ''The Cuckoo's Egg'', Clifford Stoll worries that people at Berkley will realise he's meeting with the notorious Central Intelligence Agency (about a hacker involved in espionage) due to their conspicuous trenchcoats. When the CIA do turn up, his colleagues instead think they're IBM salesmen due to their conspicuous suits and ties.

* ''Manga/DetectiveConan'' has members of the Black Organization frequently showing up in conspicuously sinister black trenchcoats.

-->'''Bargie:'' That's why I always wear a coat.

* ''WesternAnimation/WolverineAndTheXMen'' Beast uses a hat and long gray trenchcoat to conceal his blue furry form.

* In ''[[Comicbook/XMen Uncanny X-Men]]'' #111, the new furry Beast uses this disguise to enter a crowded carnival. Jean Grey lampshades how strange his outfit looks.

** And again in [[Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles the 2014 movie]]. The new designs for the Turtles makes the attempt even ''more'' conspicuous.

** Just like his first appearance in the original ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2'', Mr.X in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2Remake'' also wears a trenchcoat, this time complemented by a [[{{NiceHat}} fedora]] which unlocks an achievement when you shoot it off from Mr.X's head.

** ''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution'''s Adam Jensen wears an [[{{BadAssLongcoat}} awesome black leather longcoat]] with a [[RealMenWearPink cool-looking floral print on the shoulders]], but unlike J.C. he doesn't have any justification for it - nobody else wears one[[note]]While he wore the coat before he was turned into a cyborg, the new coat (the old one was destroyed) was designed specifically for Adam: it includes magnets that align the sleeves and torso portion with the ports for his Typhoon weapon system, so that he can launch a few pounds of steel balls at his opponents without also completely shredding his longcoat[[/note]]. There is an implication that he's using the coat to at least attempt to be somewhat inconspicuous: an augmented human is not unusual in 2027, but many of Adam's augmentations are military-grade, and prototypes or bleeding-edge technology at that, and he also carries military weaponry and wears body armor all the time (under the coat), so he's likely trying to avoid drawing ''a lot'' of attention. At least he takes it off when on serious infiltration missions in favor of a sleeveless combat vest.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic's [[http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/thatguywiththeglasses/nostalgia-critic/2685-godzilla-1998 review]] of ''Film/{{Godzilla 1998}}'' poked fun at how easy it for Zilla to hide in UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity by cutting to a picture of the monster wearing a trenchcoat and dark glasses. No one seems to notice the six ton behemoth when he's wearing that!

* Many a colorful villain in ''WesternAnimation/{{Ben 10}}''. Even more odd since it's the [[ItsAlwaysSpring middle of the summer]].

* In the original ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' cartoon, the Turtles originally used trenchcoats as disguises when they went above ground, sometimes using [[LatexPerfection rubber human masks]] with them, but as the series went on they began being treated more like standard superheroes and walked around openly.

* Grace of ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', was introduced wearing a trenchcoat ...and nothing else.

This one started out as TruthInTelevision. From the late 1930s to late 1950s, a trenchcoat and fedora were the standard outerwear for a man who was neither upper-class nor extreme lower-class. Consequently, they were the natural choice for spies, detectives and anyone wanting to blend in with the added bonus of easily concealing weapons. But as this style fell out of fashion with the general public, it came to be exclusively associated with said spies and detectives, whose continued use of this fashion would [[RevealingCoverup make them more conspicuous]] [[BystanderSyndrome if anyone]] [[FailedASpotCheck were paying attention]].

* Series/StargateSG1: Often when they need to investigate something while out of uniform. Season 6's "[[Recap/StargateSG1S6E5Nightwalkers Nightwalkers]]" comes to mind

** When Giles suggests Buffy tail someone in "I Robot, You Jane", she sarcastically replies, "What, in dark glasses and a trenchcoat?" GilliganCut to Buffy following Dave in a [[SoMuchForStealth trendy short trenchcoat and pink-framed sunglasses]].

* In TheFifties MI5’s surveillance unit, A4, were expected to wear trilby hats and raincoats, which might have been good for rainy Britain but made them look exactly like surveillance agents when seen standing on street corners. As this getup was even more conspicuous in the countryside, they were seldom deployed outside London, and the KGB also noticed these raincoat-wearing men were never hanging around the Soviet Embassy at night or over the weekend. So when Donald Maclean came under suspicion of being TheMole, the KGB waited until the A4 unit had knocked off for the weekend, then arranged for Maclean (along with Guy Burgess) to do a midnight flit across the English Channel. By the time the alert was given on Monday, they were already in Moscow.