History Main / ForgotTheCall

** ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'':

* A villainous version occurs in "Going Sane". When Joker wrongfully believes he's actually ''killed'' Batman, he has a total mental breakdown at the thought of losing his WorthyOpponent. He's left amnesiac and takes on the identity of the ordinary, peaceful and sane Joseph Kerr, marries, and starts a normal life in the suburbs. Unfortunately, when Batman returns, the Joker persona resurfaces.

* In the post-''ComicBook/BatmanEndgame'' ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' series, Bruce Wayne reappears fully healed from fatal wounds given to him by the Joker, but with no memory or drive of being Batman. Alfred attempts to jog his memory, but ultimately decides to let someone else be Batman and persuades others to ''not'' jog Bruce's memory (further justified as Bruce's resurrection had completely 'rebuilt' his brain so that he had literally ''no'' memory of being Batman whatsoever).

* There was a ''Marvel Team Up'' issue featuring the heroic character [[ComicBook/TheInhumans Black Bolt]] suffering from amnesia. Black Bolt's [[MakeMeWannaShout voice is extremely powerful]] so he tends [[TheVoiceless not to talk very often]]. When he got amnesia, a child asked him his name. He muttered "I ... " and promptly destroyed a harbor.

* A strange example occurs in ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'', where [[spoiler:Terra appears to have come BackFromTheDead but without her powers or any memory of being a Teen Titan/minion of Slade's]]. At the end, [[spoiler:she implies that she DOES remember, but [[IJustWantToBeNormal wants no part in being a superhero]] anymore]], and we are left with no clue what precisely happened.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/MenInBlack'' episode "The Neuralyzer Syndrome", Agent Kay loses all of his memories of being an MIB agent when the "flashy thingy" accidentally goes off in his direction. Reverting to his teenaged self, "Kevin" promptly drives Agent Jay nuts by ''still'' insisting on driving the CoolCar. Played for tearjerking and when K insists on going to see his dad - K had told J the man was dead.

* The second season of ''Anime/CodeGeass'' starts with protagonist Lelouch back to being an OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent with no memories of leading LaResistance. [[spoiler: In the second episode we learn that his father, the Britannian Emperor, did it to him in order to draw out Lelouch's partner [[MysteriousWaif C.C.]]]].

* Minor subversion in ''Manga/{{Gintama}}'': Gintoki hits his head and loses all memory of who he is... and, after seeing what [[JerkAss other people think of him]], decides that he is better off working in a small factory for an actual wage. [[spoiler:Except it turns out that his boss is manufacturing explosives to take over the government, and then tries to use Gin as a hostage...which, in retrospect, was a stupid idea.]]

* The mostly forgettable ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' comic series had one instance where, instead of taking on an innocuous identity, Mario became convinced he was his super-powered idol, Dirk Drainhead. He then proceeded to trounce Bowser in his sleep.

* When the team was scattered after passing through the Siege Perilous, Colossus of the ComicBook/XMen was later found living as an artist in New York with no memory of his mutant powers or past as a hero.
* In the post-''ComicBook/BatmanEndgame'' ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' series, Bruce Wayne reappears fully healed from fatal wounds given to him by the Joker, but with no memory or drive of being Batman. Alfred attempts to jog his memory, but ultimately decides to let someone else be Batman and persuades others to ''not'' jog Bruce's memory (further justified as Bruce's resurrection had completely 'rebuilt' his brain so that he had literally ''no'' memory of being Batman whatsoever).

** Inverted in one issue, where she forgot her civilian identity after a blow to the head, and had to figure out who her secret identity was.

* In the ''Manga/DeathNote'' [[AlternateUniverseFic AU fic]] ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7073308/1/Not_an_Angel Not an Angel]]'' by Sashocirrione this happens to L after [[spoiler: [[BackFromTheDead he returns from the dead as a Shinigami.]]]] Naturally, [[ManipulativeBastard Light]] exploits it for all it's worth.
* In the ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' fan fic, "Self Be True", Vegeta develops EasyAmnesia after surviving an explosion and is nursed back to health by the people of a modest village who found him unconscious. He ends up living the simple life for a few weeks, having forgotten all about his family and friends. Even rebuffing them at first when they finally find him.
* The ''Final Fantasy 7'' fan fic "Stranger Highways" is the tale of a normal guy living in the real world who starts having terrible nightmares about living through the game, trying and failing to save Aerith at the Forgotten Capitol. Then one night a girl who looks just like her shows up, insisting that he knows who she is...
* Light in the ''Manga/DeathNote'' [[AlternateUniverseFic AU fic]] ''Fanfic/{{Seigikan}}'' after [[spoiler: he's hit by a car he gets EasyAmnesia and has forgotten all about being Kira and knowing L]] and therefore he sees no more reason to put up with L or his antics and leaves, much to L's dismay.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDoo'' fan fic ''[[http://www.velmadinkley.com/iaf01.html In A Flash]]'' Velma loses her memory after being struck by lightning and winds up becoming a beekeeper.
* This is the premise of the Tim Drake-centric ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' fanfiction ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/7084504/chapters/16101787 Retrograde]]'', where Tim loses his memory of being Robin after [[spoiler: getting shot in the head]].

* At the end of ''Film/MenInBlack'', Agent Kay deliberately [[LaserGuidedAmnesia wipes his own memory]] of being a secret agent for an organization watching over aliens on Earth. In the sequel, when he is needed again, his former colleague Jay finds him working at a post office and, trying to recruit him back, is forced to go through a long argument just to prove aliens exist...in that post office!

* In ''Film/Unknown2011'', [[spoiler:Martin Harris awakens from a ConvenientComa with memories only of his cover story as a scientist, rather than remember he was in Berlin on an assassination mission. ]]

* In Manning Cole's ''A Toast To Tomorrow'' British agent Tommy Hambledon gets amnesia while undercover as a supposed German citizen and doesn't recover his memory until fifteen years later, by which time he's a deputy chief of police in the Nazi Party.

* This is the basis of the episode "Tabula Rasa" in ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''. After a botched amnesia spell by Willow (intended to just erase a couple of specific events), everyone is forced to re-establish their identities from what they can figure out. While Buffy and Dawn correctly deduce that they're sisters despite only knowing Dawn's first name, Anya and Giles assume they're a couple because they own the shop together, Xander and Willow assume they're a couple because they woke up side-by-side with Willow wearing Xander's jacket, and Spike mocks Giles for being British until he realizes [[IAmVeryBritish he is, too.]] He also doesn't know he's a vampire until they're attacked and Buffy spots the GameFace he unconsciously puts on. And to top it off, Spike and Buffy don't even remember their own names, as neither has any ID on them -- Spike believes himself to be Giles' son, and Buffy chooses the name "Joan" for lack of a better option.

** In ''[[VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeonExplorers Explorers]]'', the player character's amnesia leads them to go on many amazing adventures, [[spoiler:yet they've still forgotten their very important mission. Their partner on said mission doesn't even ''realize'' that they've forgotten the call, leading to a near HeroicBSOD when the truth is revealed by a villain's EvilGloating.]]
* Played with in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild''. The people who put Link in the [[HealingVat Shrine of Resurrection]] fully anticipated that he would lose many of his memories during his slumber, so they took steps to ensure both that he would be pointed back on the path of defeating Ganon (e.g. Zelda contacting him telepathically when he wakes up) and that he could regain his other memories (recovering the photos on the Sheikah Slate).

* The entire premise of the webcomic ''[[http://losangeles.metromix.com/home/article/the-ninja-diaries-archived/535289/content The Ninja Diaries.]]''
* In the second Bonobo Conspiracy holiday special, Delaware Smith (Agent 00111), brainwashed by Zombie Jack, forgets his mission and thinks himself a pirate - that being ''less'' swashbuckling than his actual role as a Computational Archaeologist and spy. [[http://ansuz.sooke.bc.ca/bonobo-conspiracy/?i=838]]

* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'' had the Scotsman discovering Jack working as a waiter on a cruise ship and talking like a totally chill surfer dude with an American accent, after apparently losing his memory. The rest of the episode involved the Scotsman dragging the reluctant former samurai along as the duo retraced Jack's steps in an effort to get to the bottom of things.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/MenInBlack'' episode "The Neuralyzer Syndrome", Agent Kay loses all of his memories of being an MIB agent when the "flashy thingy" accidentally goes off in his direction. Reverting to his teenaged self, "Kevin" promptly drives Agent Jay nuts by ''still'' insisting on driving the CoolCar. Played for tearjerking and when K insists on going to see his dad -K had told J the man was dead.
* Wheeler of ''WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers'' probably had the worst luck -- he lost his memory and became homeless, spending his time in a slum [[spoiler: that soon was almost destroyed by one of the Eco-Villains. He barely escapes with his life, with the street people that sheltered him when amnesiac, and his returned memories.]]
* Happened to Scrooge [=McDuck=] in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'' where a whack on the noggin causes him to lose his accent, start working at his own plant as a menial laborer, organize a labor strike protesting the unfair business practices he himself imposed, and begin a relationship with Fenton Crackshell's mother.
* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/SonicUnderground'', Sonia bumps her head while the triplets are visiting [[{{Qurac}} Tashistan]], wanders the marketplace, and is almost tricked into selling her TransformationTrinket.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitchTheSeries'' episode "Amnesio", a brainwashing experiment temporarily caused Lilo and her nemesis, Gantu, to forget who they were. They temporarily became friends until they were un-brainwashed.

* Somewhat subverted in ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'': when Kim loses her memory, everyone rushes to remind her, and she is oddly passive and accepting about her role as a teen superhero. It's the fact that she's dating Ron that she doesn't believe, though to be fair Ron was the one telling her this and she was right to not take something like that at face value.[[note]]Interestingly, her father didn't include the dating in the DVD he made for her of "important Kim memories".[[/note]] [[spoiler:Leads to a moment when she gets her memories back, remembers that Ron is indeed her boyfriend, and tells him that she loves him.]]
* In the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "The Forgotten", Bruce goes undercover as a homeless man and suffers from amnesia after being kidnapped and forced to work in a mine with a bunch of other prisoners.
* A strange example occurs in ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'', where [[spoiler:Terra appears to have come BackFromTheDead but without her powers or any memory of being a Teen Titan/minion of Slade's.]] At the end, [[spoiler:[[IJustWantToBeNormal she implies she DOES remember, but wants no part in being a superhero any more]]]] and we are left with no clue what precisely happened.

* In Manning Cole's ''Literature/AToastToTomorrow'' British agent Tommy Hambledon got amnesia while undercover as a supposed German citizen and didn't recover his memory until fifteen years later, by which time he was a deputy chief of police in the Nazi Party.

* Ranma of ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'' once hit his head on a rock in the Koi pond while dodging Akane's attempt to brain him with a frying pan and woke up (in girl form) thinking that "she" was just an ordinary [[{{Kawaiiko}} cute little girl]].
* In the latter half of ''LightNovel/ScrappedPrincess'', Pacifica loses her memory due to a combination of physical and mental trauma, and settles down in the area under the care of a young man who resembles her adoptive brother. One gets the sense over the next couple episodes that she doesn't ''want'' to remember she's running for her life.
* Minor subversion in ''Manga/{{Gintama}}'': Gintoki hits his head and loses all memory of who he is... and, after seeing what [[JerkAss other people think of him]], decides that he is better off working in a small factory for an actual wage. [[spoiler:Except it turns out that his boss is manufacturing explosives to take over the government, and then tries to use Gin as a hostage...which, in retrospect, was a stupid idea.]]

** Don't forget Yue, who instead of doing something mundane and pastoral [[TookALevelInBadass took a level in Badass]] while under amnesia (This still counts because in the Magical World this is normal). Her memories ''did'' return but very slowly: at first she didn't remember anything but her name and her Magical World experiences, then she recalled almost everyone but Negi, and in the end she remembered him as well.
* Another forced mindwipe example: The PowerTrio of ''Anime/DigimonDataSquad'' have their DATS memories erased by the main villain, and their Digimon partners had to find them and restore their memories. Masaru was a bit more stubborn, [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu but Agumon knew how to fix that]].
* Happened to Ken in the first sequel series to ''Anime/ScienceNinjaTeamGatchaman'', Gatchaman II. (In ''Eagle Riders'', based on Gatchaman II, this happens to Hunter Harris.)
* In ''Anime/SailorMoon'' the girls and Tuxedo Mask all lose their memories in the first SeasonFinale. In the Japanese version Usagi wished on the Silver Crystal for all of them to be resurrected as normal teenagers, while in the Canadian dub -- where all their deaths were censored -- they appeared to have lost their memories for no reason.
* [[spoiler:Mimori Togo]] in ''Anime/YukiYunaIsAHero'', as a side effect of [[spoiler:activating Mankai during her first stint as a Hero in ''LightNovel/WashioSumiIsAHero'']]. She not only can't remember having been a Hero, but she can't remember her former best friend [[spoiler:Sonoko]].

** "Beneath the Surface" features all of SG-1 having their memories erased, and replaced with fake, alien memories. They then have to use ThePowerOfFriendship to regain each other's memories, without actually remembering anything themselves. Slightly subverted in that they were enslaved in the mines and so their current situation wasn't exactly an idyllic one.

** Much later in "Memento Mori" in the final season, Vala gets amnesia while on Earth and thinks she's an Earth person--complete with a refusal to believe in aliens, which is the equivalent of someone refusing to believe in cars because he got amnesia without having his car with him at the time.
* In the ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "The Paradise Syndrome", Kirk loses his memory and becomes a simple farmer, living on a planet with a bunch of displaced Native Americans.
** Also happened to Data in ''[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration The Next Generation]]'' in the episode "Conundrum". He happened to be behind the bar in Ten-Forward when the entire crew gets hit with an amnesia ray and ends up staying there and bartending until the command staff finds the personnel records and retrieves him.
** Happened ''again'' to Data in the episode "Thine Own Self", but with the added twist that when his memory was lost, he was carrying a case with radioactive material inside, and so was putting the primitive village in which he now lived in great danger without realizing it. His incredible intelligence allows him to deduce the harmful effects of the metals he was carrying, demonstrate their radioactive properties, and devise a way to counteract their effects on the population's health with the materials removed.
* ''{{Series/Supernatural}}'':
** In "It's a Terrible Life" Dean and Sam begin the episode as ordinary office workers, with Dean a middle manager/executive who drives a Prius and Sam a tech support specialist who tells people to reboot most of the day. They have no memory of their real lives or each other, outside of some dreams Sam has. The two "strangers" eventually team up to hunt an angry spirit that is haunting the office. [[spoiler: It turns out to be a SecretTest devised by the angel Zachariah.]]

* Both ''Series/TheAdventuresOfSuperman'' and ''Series/LoisAndClark'' had an episode where Superman loses his memory just as a giant meteor is hurtling towards the Earth, as did ''Series/MyHero''.

** ''Series/PowerRangersTurbo'': Divatox spends an episode as a pizzeria waitress after losing her memory because she turned [[MadScientist Porto's]] teleporter device UpToEleven and got blasted with a ricochet. How's THAT for LaserGuidedAmnesia?

* In Manning Cole's ''A Toast to Tomorrow'' British agent Tommy Hambledon got amnesia while undercover as a supposed German citizen and didn't recover his memory until fifteen years later, by which time he was a deputy chief of police in the Nazi Party.