History Main / DecoyLeader

* In an episode of ''Series/StargateSG1'' involving [[ManchurianAgent brainwashed assassins]] programmed to sabotage negotiations between the Unites States and the Tok'ra, ''both'' sides do this.

[[folder:Fanfic]]

* In ''Literature/RakuinNoMonshou'', this was Fedom's plan when Prince Gil was shot. Orba would take over the Prince's spot in the Empire and eventually become Emperor, with Fedom manipulating him to become the power behind the throne.

* In ''{{Manga/MAR}}'', Phantom publicly serves as the leader of [[NebulousEvilOrganization Chess]], but is actually a proxy for the true leader, [[ChessMotifs the King]], who avoids appearing in front of people to hide that they're [[spoiler: an [[MadeOfEvil orb containing the concentrated evil of an entire world]], currently [[DemonicPossession possessing]] the body of the main character's father. The only reason Phantom goes along with the deception is due to [[BrainwashedAndCrazy mind control]]]].

* Mr. Pilgrim from ''ComicBook/SteelgripStarkeyAndTheAllPurposePowerTool''.

* In the ''Literature/TheHungerGames''/''Series/{{Angel}}'' crossover "[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10718717/1/Demon-s-Games Demon's Games]]", Katniss is essentially this for Angel; while Angel is the official leader of District Thirteen (which here was once a prison for Wolfram & Hart's enemies before they created Panem), he is training Katniss to serve as the public face of the resistance to the Capitol on the grounds that people will be more accepting of her. However, while Angel encourages Katniss to take the lead, he doesn't force her to do anything she doesn't feel ready for, and she in turn acknowledges that Angel is in charge when discussing their plans even as she is encouraged to voice her opinion. After [[spoiler:Buffy returns, Angel still advises that the resistance treat Katniss as their only active Slayer in the field as Buffy doesn't have Katniss's public reputation, allowing Thirteen to send Buffy on more stealth-required missions while Katniss draws the Capitol's attention to their more public attacks]].

* Kuato the mutant in the original ''Film/TotalRecall1990'' was hidden under the shirt of his decoy "host".

* ''Franchise/StarWars''
** In ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'', Queen Amidala operates as the [[KingIncognito Queen Incognito]] Padme -- which is her real name -- and throughout the movie has a decoy-bodyguard, Sabe, who replaces her. Both happen to be [[ActionGirl handy with a blaster.]] Helping the deception along is the fact that the Queen of Naboo always wears heavy ceremonial makeup.
** In the original cut of the scene in ''Film/ANewHope'' where Solo talks to Jabba in front of the Falcon, he was talking to a human. One of the short stories in the Expanded Universe explains that this man was a decoy authorized to negotiate with smugglers in Jabba's name. Then the remastered version of the film rendered that explanation meaningless when they have Han talk to the real Jabba in that scene.

'''Assistant''': ''[kneels]''\\

'''President''': ''[steps forward]'' They're protecting me. I'm the President.
* At the end of ''Film/TheEagleHasLanded'' the protagonist appears to successfully assassinate Winston Churchill before being shot. [[spoiler: However it turns out he was an impersonator and the real Churchill [[ShaggyDogStory was at the Tehran conference all along]]. It was noted that if he had spoke, it would have blown it.]]

* In ''Film/IronMan3'' [[spoiler:"The Mandarin" is actually a washed up vice-addled British actor named Trevor Slattery hired by Aldrich Killian, the real villain, to "explain" the explosions caused by Killian's supersoldiers losing control of their powers by making them seem like terrorist attacks (and it's suggested Slattery isn't even aware he's talking about real events because he's out of his mind on drugs most of the time). Needless to say, as ''Film/AllHailTheKing'' shows, [[RealAfterAll the actual Mandarin]] is not happy, even having Trevor imprisoned at his personal compound by the time of ''Film/ShangChiAndTheLegendOfTheTenRings.'']]

* ''Literature/{{Gor}}''
** In ''Nomads of Gor'' the leaders of the four tribes of Wagon Peoples [sic] all employ these - the Wagon Peoples know who the leaders really are but outsiders think the decoys are the leaders.

* An interesting variation in ''[[Literature/XWingSeries Starfighters of Adumar]]'': General Wedge Antilles arranges for [[{{Redshirts}} a couple of fighters in each squadron]] of his allied force to have identity transponders that can switch between their real details (Adumari pilots gain prestige from downing more experienced foes, so this information is readily available even to the enemy) and one picked from the [[AcePilot top thirty or so pilots in the force]]. Likewise the genuine best pilots could switch their [=IDs=] for nobodies. In addition to general misdirection and confusion ("How'd that guy end up on the opposite end of the battlefield?"), he hopes the [[ProudWarriorRace honor-obsessed Cartaanese pilots]] will go haring off after the decoy aces (who would ideally be good at evading even if they were bad shots), allowing the alliance's best shooters time to line up. He also exploited the relatively primitive Adumari sensors by having a squadron of fighters fly in tight formation and all broadcast the same ID, so that [[ActuallyFourMooks they'd appear to be a single large bomber or command ship until the enemy got into visual range]], while at the same time having the command ships and bombers broadcast multiple [=IDs=] so they would appear to be fighter squadrons without any prestigious aces (or with them, in the case of the well-shielded and heavily-armed command ships), thus allowing the bombers to more easily reach their targets.

* ''Series/TwentyFour''

** This was the case of the first season's BigBad, Victor Drazen. Before the events of the series Jack led a team to assassinate him, but wound up killing one of these instead (IDW's comic prequel, ''Nightfall'' also shows this in more detail).
* In the ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'' episode, "Exit Strategy", the [[spoiler: UsefulNotes/SaddamHussein on trial]] clams to be this, alleging that the real [[spoiler: Saddam]] has [[spoiler: a scar on his head and [[{{Pun}} "I'm No-Scar...]] [[RunningGag Dot Com]]!"]]
** In "[[GrandFinale Development Arrested]]", [[spoiler: George Sr is revealed to have been this for the Bluth company all along; Lucille is the real BigBad of the series]].

* It's eventually revealed that the person in charge of TheConspiracy in ''Series/{{Utopia}}'' is [[spoiler: ''not'' Letts but his [[NoNameGiven anonymous aide]]. And then the assistant turns out to be a cleverly disguised foil, and the real [[TheManBehindTheMan Man Behind the Man]] is Milner.]]
* ''Series/KamenRiderV3'' ends with [[spoiler: the skull of Destron's leader being cracked open, revealing only a tape player.]]
** ''Series/KamenRiderAmazon'' reveals that [[spoiler: the Emperor Zero that's been in charge the whole time is really just a stand-in for the real one.]]

--> '''Green-clearance Team Leader''': All right, men, let's go!
--> '''Bystander''': ''(eyeing "Blue"-clearance Executive Officer)'' Hey, why are you letting him order you around?
--> '''"Blue"-clearance Executive Officer''': Hey, yeah! ''*BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM*'' All right, men, let's go!

* Also used in ''Theatre/HenryIVPart1'', where Sir Walter Blunt wears the king's armor and is killed in the battle (see RealLife below).

* In ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'', [[spoiler:"Gwynevere" is actually an illusion controlled by the Dark Sun Gwyndolin, the real Gwynevere having abandoned Anor Londo long ago to marry a foreign god. Even "her" sunlight is just an illusion which is dispelled if the player kills "Gwynevere".]]

* The ruler of the Shi in ''VideoGame/Fallout2'' is publicly known to be the Shi Emperor, who hides from public view for security. The ''actual'' ruler turns out to be [[spoiler: the Emperor's adviser. As it turns out the 'Emperor' is a -- non-sapient -- supercomputer the supposed adviser uses as an aide to making decisions which are then passed on to the public as the Emperor's decisions.]]
* Seen in ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'', but only if [[spoiler:the player joins the Dark Brotherhood and completes the quest chain. One of the final missions involves killing ''the Emperor himself'' by impersonating a famous chef and poisoning his soup. Of course, it turns out that the one who eats the soup is merely a decoy; the real Emperor is encountered later in the chain.]]

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': In Volume 5, [[spoiler:we're led to believe Vernal is the Spring Maiden, but when Cinder kills her, we discover that she was actually a decoy for Raven, who is the ''real'' Spring Maiden.]]

* In ''Film/IronMan3'' [[spoiler:"The Mandarin" is actually a washed up vice-addled British actor named Trevor Slattery hired by Aldrich Killian, the real villain, to "explain" the explosions caused by Killian's supersoldiers loosing control of their powers by making them seem like terrorist attacks (and it's suggested Slattery isn't even aware he's talking about real events because he's out of his mind on drugs most of the time). Needless to say, as ''Film/AllHailTheKing'' shows, [[RealAfterAll the actual Mandarin]] is not happy]].

* In ''Film/WildWildWest'', the first version of UsefulNotes/UlyssesSGrant we see is actually Artemus Gordon, but Jim West sees through the deception. Seconds later the real Grant arrives and chews them both out, suggesting he was unaware of what Gordon was doing. Note that both Gordon and Grant are played by the same actor. This gets repeated in a later scene where Loveless tries to kidnap the President and Gordon shows up disguised as Grant to buy the President time to escape. Unfortunately, before the President figures out that he's supposed to be leaving so that the imposter can be kidnapped, Loveless grabs them both. Gordon can't help but [[ButHeSoundsHandsome praise himself]] even when in-character, which is partly what causes West to realize he's not the President. The other reason? Gordon forgot to take off his Harvard ring. West is fully aware that Grant attended West Point.

* In the ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'' episode, "Exit Strategy", the [[spoiler: UsefulNotes/SaddamHussein on trial]] clams to be this, alleging that the real [[spoiler: Saddam]] has [[spoiler: a scar on his head and [[JustForPun "I'm No-Scar...]] [[RunningGag Dot Com]]!"]]

* A variation in ''The Healing Wars'', with the leader of LaResistance, Onderaan, and his NumberTwo, Jeatar, who is younger, quieter, and defers to him in public. [[spoiler:Nya notices that Onderaan tends to defer to ''Jeatar'' out of the view of the rest of the rebellion, and it's later revealed that Jeatar is mostly handling their tactics, financing the Underground, and [[KingIncognito is actually]] the [[BigBad Duke's] nephew, preferring to not draw attention to avoid this last item getting him hunted down and killed. Eventually they give up on the disguise in order to use Jeatar as a rallying point and figurehead for the combined resistance.]]

* ''Literature/TheNikolaiDuology'': [[spoiler:When king Nikolai goes missing, his allies get Isaak, one of the royal guards, to pretend to be the king so that the country wouldn't descend into chaos. The appearance isn't a problem, since they can just use magic for that, but imitating the king's behaviour and mannerisms is way harder. He also has a lot of trouble navigating diplomatic situations, since he is just a guard from a poor family with no experience in court poilitics. Luckily the king's advisors are there to help him.]]
* An interesting variation in ''[[Literature/XWingSeries Starfighters of Adumar]]'': General Wedge Antilles arranges for [[{{Redshirts}} a couple of fighters in each squadron]] of his allied force to have identity transponders that can switch between their real details (Adumari pilots gain prestige from downing more experienced foes, so this information is readily available even to the enemy) and one picked from the [[AcePilot top thirty or so pilots in the force]]. Likewise the genuine best pilots could switch their [=IDs=] for nobodies. In addition to general misdirection and confusion ("How'd that guy end up on the opposite end of the battlefield?"), he hopes the [[ProudWarriorRace honor-obsessed Cartaanese pilots]] will go haring off after the decoy aces (who would ideally be good at evading even if they were bad shots), allowing the alliance's best shooters time to line up. He also exploited the relatively primitive Adumari sensors by having a squadron of fighters fly in tight formation and all broadcast the same ID, so that [[ActuallyFourMooks they'd appear to be a single large bomber or command ship until the enemy got into visual range]], while at the same time having the command ships and bombers broadcast multiple [=IDs=] so they would appear to be fighter squadrons without any prestigious aces (or with them, in the case of the well-shielded and heavily-armed command ships), thus allowing the bombers to more easily reach their targets.

How does a leader create a decoy leader? The decoy may be an actor who is skilled at taking on roles. Perhaps the decoy is a member of the regime's intelligence services, which also means they are skilled at taking on cover roles.

If the real leader is a MasterOfDisguise or can at least [[SheCleansUpNicely clean up nicely]], which they'll use this in order to move around royal and civil society freely. In fact, the leader will likely enjoy going about with the common folk. They can find out what everyday people ''really'' think of him or her. Of course, a savvy hero or villain will be able to tell this KingIncognito out, due to a "tell" such as their regal bearing or comportment.

Where this gets interesting is that in some cases, the decoy doesn't need to look anything like the leader either, as long as no one knows what the real leader looks like. A long-standing king, queen or president couldn't use this variant tactic, but a secretive leader of LaResistance or head of a TheSyndicate (who no one outside the organization has ever met) could use a decoy who doesn't look at all like them.

Where this gets interesting is that in some cases, the decoy doesn't need to look anything like the leader either. The leader may be a MasterOfDisguise or can at least [[SheCleansUpNicely clean up nicely]], which they'll use in order to move around royal and civil society freely. In fact, the leader will likely enjoy going about with the common folk. Of course, a savvy hero or villain will be able to tell this KingIncognito out.

* SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO many real life examples throughout history. Please add more in the future.

Where this gets interesting is that the decoy doesn't need to look anything like the leader either. The leader may be a MasterOfDisguise or can at least [[SheCleansUpNicely clean up nicely]], which they'll use in order to move around royal and civil society freely. In fact, the leader will likely enjoy going about with the common folk. Of course, a savvy hero or villain will be able to tell this KingIncognito out.

Compare PuppetKing, where the actual legal leader has become purely a tool for somebody else. The logical extreme of this trope is the ElCidPloy, where the real leader may be missing or even dead but still "commands" because another is impersonating him or (as in the original) no one realizes that he's dead. Also compare with TheManInFrontOfTheMan, for when TheManBehindTheMan poses as a supposed minion of the Decoy Leader, and ActuallyThatsMyAssistant, for other times people mistake a subordinate for the leader. Compare TheManBehindTheMan, a person who controls a real leader behind the scenes.

TheManBehindTheMan is a person who controls a real leader behind the scenes. Some leaders may employ a BodyDouble to confuse [[ProfessionalKiller assassins]], but those impersonators typically only look the part. But sometimes, that leader uses a Decoy Leader to take their place and impersonate them, often conducting him or herself as if they were the real deal. The decoy leader needs to be able to speak and act like the real leader. Often, the real leader feeds them instructions via audio device, hand signals, extensive training, or other means so the leader can conduct meaningful policy. Usually, the decoy is willing to die for the leader, and has little to no political ambitions of their own. The decoy helps the leader avoid the limelight and long daggers of assassins.

Compare PuppetKing, where the actual legal leader has become purely a tool for somebody else. The logical extreme of this trope is the ElCidPloy, where the real leader may be missing or even dead but still "commands" because another is impersonating him or (as in the original) no one realizes that he's dead. Also compare with TheManInFrontOfTheMan, for when TheManBehindTheMan poses as a supposed minion of the Decoy Leader, and ActuallyThatsMyAssistant, for other times people mistake a subordinate for the leader.

TheManBehindTheMan controls a real leader behind the scenes. Some leaders may employ a BodyDouble to confuse [[ProfessionalKiller assassins]], but those impersonators typically only look the part. But sometimes, that leader uses a Decoy Leader to take their place and impersonate them, often conducting him or herself as if they were the real deal. The decoy leader needs to be able to speak and act like the real leader. Often, the real leader feeds them instructions via audio device, hand signals, extensive training, or other means so the leader can conduct meaningful policy. Usually, the decoy is willing to die for the leader, and has little to no political ambitions of their own. The decoy helps the leader avoid the limelight and long daggers of assassins.

TheManBehindTheMan controls a real leader behind the scenes. Some leaders may even employ a BodyDouble to confuse [[ProfessionalKiller assassins]]. But sometimes, that leader puts a decoy in front of them to avoid the limelight and long daggers.

A Decoy Leader takes the place of a leader and impersonates them, often conducting him or herself as if they were the real deal. Often, the real leader feeds them instructions via audio device, hand signals, extensive training, or other means so the leader can conduct meaningful policy. Usually, the decoy is willing to die for the leader, and has little to no political ambitions of their own.

* The ''Series/{{Smallville}}''/''Franchise/TheFastAndTheFurious crossover'' "[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9472416/1/On-the-Run On the Run]]" opens with Letty basically setting up Clark to be this; when he’s entering a racing competition to track down the man who apparently murdered Chloe, Letty acts as his advisor, giving him tips on how to beat Dom in a street race despite Clark’s lack of experience.

** One time when CTU was invaded by bad guys they asked "who's in charge?" One guy (who wasn't in charge, but was in love with the woman who was in charge) stood up and said "I am," so they shot him.

* The ''Series/{{Smallville}}''/''Film/TheFastAndTheFurious crossover'' "[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9472416/1/On-the-Run On the Run]]" opens with Letty basically setting up Clark to be this; when he’s entering a racing competition to track down the man who apparently murdered Chloe, Letty acts as his advisor, giving him tips on how to beat Dom in a street race despite Clark’s lack of experience.

* ''Lieterature/NickVelvet'': In "The Theft of the Bermudan Penny", Nick eventually figures out the solution to the current mystery when he realises that the man claiming to the millionaire's personal companion is actually the millionaire, and the supposed millionaire is actually the personal companion; having swapped roles to allow the millionaire to study Nick and work out what his motivations are.

* ''Lieterature/NickVelevet'': In "The Theft of the Bermudan Penny", Nick eventually figures out the solution to the current mystery when he realises that the man claiming to the millionaire's personal companion is actually the millionaire, and the supposed millionaire is actually the personal companion; having swapped roles to allow the millionaire to study Nick and work out what his motivations are.