History Main / DeepCoverAgent

* ''[[Literature/{{Rihannsu}} The Romulan Way]'' has Arrhae ir-Mnaeha t'Khellian, outwardly the household manager of a relatively minor Romulan nobleman. Inwardly, she's Lieutenant Commander Terise Haleakala-[=LoBrutto=], a Federation Starfleet officer who underwent MagicPlasticSurgery and was inserted onto Romulus. However rather than having a mission of sabotage, she's an anthropologist tasked to covertly study the secretive Romulans so that the Federation can hopefully have more amicable dealings with them in the future.

* The FX series ''Series/TheAmericans'' is based around a married couple of deep-cover [[MoscowCentre KGB]] agents living in suburban America in 1981, at the start of the RonaldReagan administration, with an FBI agent moving in next door. Series writer Joseph Weisberg, who worked for the CIA in the early 90's, has said that the 2010 FBI bust of a Russian spy ring (see top) was a direct inspiration for him.
** And ''both'' of them seduce Americans for information.

* In ''JudgeDredd'', Wally Squad Judges are heroic ... well, Mega-City One [[LawfulNeutral justice]] ... versions. They're plainclothes judges who live entire lives as ordinary citizens, and are notably the ''only'' plainclothes officers on the force. They're called the Wally Squad because being an "ordinary" Mega-City One citizen means [[CityOfWeirdos being insane]], and most of them have [[BecomingTheMask become the mask]] to some extent. Two strips have focussed on Wally Squad members: ''Comics/LowLife'' and ''TheSimpingDetective''.

* In ''Manga/DeathNote'', [[VillainProtagonist Light Yagami]] joins the task force looking for Kira to throw off suspicion as ''he himself'' is Kira. At one point, he erases his own memory, and becomes such a DeepCoverAgent that even '''he''' doesn't know he's undercover! He's practically a ManchurianAgent, except that he isn't being manipulated by anyone other than himself. Everything goes [[GambitRoulette exactly as planned]].

Deep down, however, they've got a dark secret. They're agents from another country or a rival organization, sent on a long-term secret mission, spending their free time (or even work hours) involved in CloakAndDagger business. In extreme cases the agent might have been planted as a ''child'' and have lived their entire adult life in their host country, [[BrainwashedAndCrazy brianwashed]] into having [[PatrioticFervor total loyalty to their homeland]].

This is often times TruthInTelevision, even [[http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/29/world/europe/29spy.html?ref=global-home in]] a post-ColdWar world.

* BuckyBarnes, during his time as the [[CaptainAmerica The Winter Soldier]] often served this role during the ColdWar, given that he was an American [[BrainwashedAndCrazy brainwashed]] into serving as a Soviet assassin.

* The ColdWar-era movie ''Film/TheExperts'' has JohnTravolta's character and his friend being hired to manage a club in a quiet suburban town. They are drugged and secretly transported to a town in the USSR designed to perfectly mimic American suburbia (they even found a black guy). Of course, their data is a little off, and the town looks more like it came from the 1950s. The purpose of the town is to train whole families of deep cover agents. Travolta's character's girlfriend turns out to fall in love with him, while his friend's girlfriend betrays them as soon as they reveal that they know the truth. However, the whole town ends up BecomingTheMask and opts to defect to the US when they get the chance.

* Possibly the most iconic in gaming is the ''[[Franchise/MetalGear'' series' [[MagnificentBastard Revolver Ocelot]], [[TheRival AKA Major Ocelot]],[[IHaveManyNames AKA Shalashaska]], [[DoubleAgent AKA Adamska]], [[BrainwashedAndCrazy AKA Liquid Ocelot.]]

* Possibly the most iconic in gaming is ''[[Franchise/MetalGear Metal Gear's]]'', [[MagnificentBastard Revolver Ocelot]], [[TheRival AKA Major Ocelot]],[[IHaveManyNames AKA Shalashaska]], [[DoubleAgent AKA Adamska]], [[BrainwashedAndCrazy AKA Liquid Ocelot.]]

* Possibly the most iconic in gaming is ''[[Franchise/MetalGear Metal Gear's'', [[MagnificentBastard Revolver Ocelot]], [[TheRival AKA Major Ocelot]],[[IHaveManyNames AKA Shalashaska]], [[DoubleAgent AKA Adamska]], [[BrainwashedAndCrazy AKA Liquid Ocelot.]]

* ''Franchise/MetalGear'', [[IHaveManyNames Revolver Ocelot/Major Ocelot/Shalashaska/Adamska/Liquid Ocelot.]]

* ''Franchise/MetalGear'', Revolver Ocelot/Major Ocelot/Shalashaska/Adamska/Liquid Ocelot.

She seems to be the all-American woman. She's married to a nice man, she helps out at the PTA, bakes cookies for charity and drives a car with the US flag on it. She speaks like she's lived in the US all her life, and every Memorial Day lays flowers on her war-hero [[ConvenientlyUnverifiableCoverStory parents' graves]].

Deep down, however, she's got a dark secret. She's from CommieLand or somewhere like that. She's been sent on a long-term secret spying mission and got herself a senior government or CloakAndDagger figure, who she can get information from in their intimate moments ([[SensualSlavs Reds ''in'' the bed!]]). Add a sprinkle of NeuroVault and you get the ManchurianAgent.

In extreme cases the agent might have been planted as a ''child'' and have lived their entire adult life in their host country.

Since the actress playing said agent is usually non-Russian, you get the interesting situation of a [[RecursiveCrossdressing Recursive Crossdresser]]-esque FakeAmerican FakeRussian. They're sometimes in danger of {{becoming the mask}}, though their training tends to make them more resistant to the temptation.

This is TruthInTelevision, even [[http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/29/world/europe/29spy.html?ref=global-home in]] a post-ColdWar world.

Since the actress playing said agent is usually non-Russian, you get the interesting situation of a [[RecursiveCrossdressing Recursive Crossdresser]]-esque FakeAmerican FakeRussian. They're sometimes in danger of {{becoming the mask}}, though their training tends to make them more resistant to the temptation.

* In the [=BattleTech=] novel ''Bred for War'', it's a DNA test performed by a (mostly unwitting) deep cover agent that leads to the discovery that the son of Thomas Marik, Captain-General of the Free Worlds League, has died of his leukemia and been replaced by a double while undergoing treatment in the Federated Commonwealth. This does not go over well (it starts a war, in fact), but in the end also clues the Commonwealth's ruler in to the fact that [[spoiler:'Thomas Marik' is ''himself'' a deep-cover agent -- his son was in fact his son, but 'his' older daughter's DNA doesn't match his at all]].

* In ''KamenRiderDragonKnight'', the reporter Michelle Walsh turns out to have been working for the No Men all along, helping them squash the rumours that other reporters were stirring up.

* ''TheLongKissGoodnight'' had a case of this, but Charlie's Deep Cover situation (which fractured at inopportune moments) was more a case of amnesia (which resulted in [[BewareTheNiceOnes sweet, cute housewife displaying mad skills]]) based on a sudden betrayal.

* In ''{{Salt}}'', the main character is accused of being this. [[spoiler:It's true. But then she turns out to be a DoubleAgent... Sort of.]]

* In ''NoWayOut'', a Pentagon WitchHunt for a [[RedHerringMole supposed Soviet mole]] is used as a cover story to frame someone for a murder committed by the Secretary of Defense. Of course, it turns out that [[FramingTheGuiltyParty there really is a mole]], who was inserted into the country as a child and managed to work himself up through the military until he was in a position of absolute trust.
* In ''InglouriousBasterds'', [[spoiler:Hans Landa]] demands to be [[InternalRetcon retconned]] into one when negotiating a change of sides.

* Marvel's CivilWar involved Namor having multiple sleeper cells in the USA. Of course, seeing as this was the B-story, this didn't go anywhere.