History Main / HeelFaceMole

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Skunk Fu!}}'', one of the Ninja Monkeys is "ousted" from the tribe. Skunk befriends him and brings him to the Valley. Of course, everyone else was suspicious about his true colors from the start.

* Schreient of ''Anime/WeissKreuz'' uses this ploy on Weiss by having Neu pose as Yoji's dead partner Asuka, revived by a MadScientist and amnesiac, in order to lure Weiss into a trap. Nastily enough, the series hints that Neu ''is'' in fact Asuka, but she [[KilledOffForReal dies for real]] without ever realizing that fact.

* In ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'', [[spoiler:the Ruby that Steven dubs "Navy"]] claims to want to join up with the Crystal Gems. It's really just a ruse to [[spoiler:steal back her ship, while also [[SoftSpokenSadist getting to see the looks on the faces of the Crystal Gems as they're betrayed]]]].

* In ''Anime/{{Pokemon}} Best Wishes'' [[spoiler:Meowth pulled this, joining Ash's group for several episodes in order to lure them into a trap set by Team Rocket at Nimbasa City]]. Ash's Pikachu didn't buy it for a second, glaring at him constantly.

* This happened in an episode of ''Series/GetSmart'', where Siegfried attempts to "defect" to CONTROL, going so far as to turn in several KAOS agents, including ''his own sister''. Eventually he gives them fake data to divert security away from the CONTROL Chief's Banquet so he can use sleeping gas to kidnap all of CONTROL's leadership in one fell swoop, only to be foiled by [[ItMakesSenseInContext Max's lapel flower]]. [[note]]Siegfried had claimed said flower smelled good despite it being artificial. Max deduced Siegfried's sense of smell was being blocked by a nose gas filter, so he decided to secretly wear one as well, pretend to be knocked out, and hold Siegfried at gun point.[[/note]]

* At Wrestling/{{WCW}} 1994 ''Clash of the Champions XXVII'' Wrestling/SherriMartel showed up for a title unification match between Wrestling/{{Sting}} and Wrestling/RicFlair with face paint similar to Sting. Since Sting was the biggest baby {{face}} in WCW, it was assumed Sherri had turned face since leaving Wrestling/ShawnMichaels...nope, she helped Ric Flair win.
* Black Boy, a {{heel}} {{jobber}} who was fired from the IWA and told to go back to WWC, where he was a baby face. He should have at least been a suspected mole but was received as a baby{{face}} again, before he revealed himself to be a mole. But not a mole for the IWA but for the Dominican Republic! See he hated himself for being Puerto Rican but found a solution, be a Dominican Boy instead. So he aligned with the {{evil foreigner}} Broncos and Eli Rodriguez.
* WWC also teased the evil La Tigresa returning to her previous long run as a baby face but it turned out her good girl act was just set up by El Bronco #1 to get one over on Pablo Marquez.

* {{Subverted|trope}} when DJ Hyde entered Wrestling/{{WSU}} under the guise of a ReasonableAuthorityFigure. No one believed him and Jessicka Havok was universally cheered for giving him a demon drop.

* At EVOLVE 33 the Premier Athlete Brand announced they had fired their secretary for fraternizing with Rich Swann. Later she came out to cheer Swann against his nemesis Johnny Gargano during their "[[NoHoldsBarredContest End Of Evolution]]" and gave Swann a kiss for winning, then gave him as shot to the nuts as The Premier Athlete Brand ran out to beat him down. Their trickery did lead to a real face turn from Gargano though as like Swann or not, he thought he'd be betraying himself [[ItsThePrincipleOfTheThing if he just watched that happen]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TheNewAdventuresOfSuperman'' episode "Can a Luthor Change His Spots?" Luthor convinces Perry White that he's gone straight and is given a laboratory in the Daily Planet building. Jimmy Olson correctly believes that Luthor is lying and tries to catch him committing a crime.

* Greg Withrow is a White Supremacist who, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Withrow for over a decade]], claimed to see the error of his ways and appeared on the talk show circuit as a "former-racist" who spoke out against White Supremacy and bigotry in general, even getting involved with a few Civil Rights organizations and marrying a Mexican woman. He was one of the few key givers of testimony in favor of Hate Crime Laws in California. However, the whole thing was a hoax and he claims that the entire scheme was a means to subvert the efforts of Civil Rights groups. He never loved his wife and saw her as a mere slave. The crucifixion-based hate-crime he allegedly experienced was self-inflicted. He claims that his testimony in favor of Hate Crime laws in California should be moot since he committed perjury and is even filing a lawsuit (which isn't being considered by the State, fortunately, since he was just one out of several people and [[SmallNameBigEgo has a lot of hubris]]).

->''''Once a rabbit wanted to get to the other side of the lake. A crocodile told him, "You can ride on my back."''

Compare FakeDefector (the equivalent for the other side), HeelFaceRevolvingDoor, FalselyReformedVillain and DoubleReverseQuadrupleAgent. Contrast ReformedButRejected and RedemptionRejection. See also BecomingTheMask. There's also ReverseMole, the inversion.

* In one episode of ''Manga/InuYasha'', Sango's [[{{Brainwashed}} brother Kohaku]] appears to be free from being brain-controlled, [[IdentityAmnesia Identity Amnesia included]]. However, at the end of the episode we see that he's still controlled by [[BigBad Naraku]], since it was all part of his insidious plan.
* In ''Anime/{{Pokemon}} Best Wishes'' [[spoiler: Meowth pulled this, joining Ash's group for several episodes in order to lure them into a trap set by Team Rocket at Nimbasa City]]. Ash's Pikachu didn't buy it for a second, glaring at him constantly.

** [[spoiler:Beatrice plays it straighter in EP 3]].

* Schreient of ''Anime/WeissKreuz'' use this ploy on Weiss by having Neu pose as Yoji's dead partner Asuka, revived by a MadScientist and amnesiac, in order to lure Weiss into a trap. Nastily enough, the series hints that Neu ''is'' in fact Asuka, but she [[KilledOffForReal dies for real]] without ever realizing that fact.

* ''FanFic/APieceOfRebellion'': Bad Cop/Good Cop decide to trick the Master Builders by pretending that Good Cop wants to defect.
* In ''[[http://www.tthfanfic.org/Story-26870-91/RubyPaladin%2bThe%2bBunny%2bHutch.htm Mortal Kombat]]'', [[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer Jenny Calendar]] helps two soldiers escape from Outworld to warn Earth of Xander's impending invasion but afterwards it's shown that it was simply to allow Xander's forces to easily find the right Earth. Said soldiers had the strongest ties back to their Earth, making them the easiest to send, and with a couple of tracking spells Outworld's forces can follow.

* The wife of the terrorist in ''Film/CollateralDamage'' betrays him only to reveal she was just doing it to infiltrate the CIA.
* In ''Film/FantasticFourRiseOfTheSilverSurfer'', the Four are assisted in the Silver Surfer's capture by [[spoiler:Victor von Doom, their arch nemesis]]. They were reluctant at first, understandably.
* ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull''. [[spoiler:Mack was a good guy turned bad turned good... but the last turn was a lie]].

* In Literature/TheBible it is unclear but reasonably deduced that King Saul, after two incidents, would only ''continue'' abusing his position as king whether David should succeed him or not.

* Also subverted in ''Literature/{{Flashman}} and the Angel of the Lord''. [[spoiler:Joe Simmons]] was supposed to sabotage John Brown, but ended up following him for real.

** In Season 8, the traitorous Chief of Security to Omar Hassan has his daughter held hostage, but ultimately his feelings for her turn out to be genuine and he dies saving her life. Or not, since it was all an act to help her escape and deliver a bomb wired with an EMP to the offices of CTU.

* ''Series/{{Angel}}'': Harmony joins, betrays and rejoins Angel's team, against his strong oppositions. And then she betrays him again. All those resisted urges to stake her, to no good end!

* This happened in an episode of ''Series/GetSmart'', where Siegfried attempts to "defect" to CONTROL, going so far as to turn in several KAOS agents, including ''his own sister''. Eventually he gives them fake data to divert security away from the CONTROL Chief's Banquet so he can use sleeping gas to kidnap all of CONTROL's leadership in one fell swoop only to be foiled by [[ItMakesSenseInContext Max's lapel flower]]. [[note]]Siegfried had claimed said flower smelled good despite it being artificial. Max deduced Siegfried's sense of smell was being blocked by a nose gas filter so he decided to secretly wear one as well, pretend to be knocked out and hold Siegfried at gun point.[[/note]]
* From ''Series/{{Glee}}'': Jesse St. James, who seemingly gave up his UCLA scholarship and position as [[OpposingSportsTeam lead male of]] [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter Vocal Adrenaline]] for Rachel. [[SarcasmMode Yeah, we'll give you a second to get over that shocking revelation]]. [[spoiler: Subverted, though, as it's revealed he was never a spy or a saboteur and reuniting Rachel and her mother was definitely not the motive anybody expected]].

* Kashyk, the charming Devore inspector from ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'''s "Counterpoint", defects from his species and seeks asylum aboard Voyager, romancing Janeway to get her to trust him. [[spoiler:She doesn't]].
* Averted in three consecutive episodes of ''Series/StargateSG1'': Between the finale of Season 4 and the first episode of season 5, Apophis {{brainwashed}} Teal'c into believing he was one of these all along. He consequently behaved [[BrainwashedAndCrazy as though he were still militantly loyal to Apophis]]--until he was [[{{Deprogram}} deprogrammed]] in "Threshold". To nobody's great surprise, his [[HeelFaceTurn defection]] at the beginning was genuine after all--although it took a lot more than logic to convince him of that.

* Season 2 of ''Series/{{Warehouse 13}}'': H.G. Wells rejoined the Warehouse just so she could [[spoiler:get ahold of the world's first weapon of mass destruction and use it to trigger another ice age.]] She does a HeelFaceTurn for real after the incident though, [[spoiler:to the point where at the end of Season 3, she sacrifices herself to save the protagonists from a bomb with the force of the entire German ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luftwaffe Luftwaffe.]]'' Let me say that again: [[BigBulkyBomb THE ENTIRE. GERMAN. LUFTWAFFE.]]]]

** The Season 10 episode "About a Boy" has the Winchester's discovering that the witch they're after is the same one from ''Literature/HanselAndGretel'', and the large man who they thought was the witch is Hansel himself. He claims he hates the witch for making him and Gretel her servants, and when they tried to escape, she tortured Hansel and then forced him to eat Gretel's heart. Then he offers to help the Winchesters kill her. [[spoiler:It's a trick. He works for the witch willingly. Also, he didn't make up that part about him eating his sister's heart. What he did make up was the part where he was ''forced'' to do it.]]

** Kain in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'', is kidnapped by TheDragon early in the game and brainwashed into serving him. Partway through the game, he is "freed" from his control and rejoins the party. Later, it is revealed that he had been under control the whole time when he absconds with the [[PlotCoupon crystal]] he had been aiding the party in recovering.
** However, in the GBA and DS versions, when the crystal is retrieved, the new "Inner thought" feature reveals that TheDragon was in the process of taking his mind. Not sure if it's a subversion, but either way, he does betray you twice. This is probably due to better translation teams.

* ''VideoGame/{{Wild ARMs 3}}'s'' first minor antagonist, Janus Cascade, does this fairly early on in the game by supposedly wanting to help Virginia find the Eternal Sparkle in hopes of redeeming himself for the scuffle on the train, but it turns out he just wanted one of the 3 masks that's the key to getting the Eternal Sparkle for himself. Well more like the Prophets, but still...
** Well he's [[MeaningfulName named after the Roman God who had 2 faces]], so... what do you expect?
* The second act of the Imperial Agent storyline in ''Videogame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'' has you do this. You fake your defection from Imperial Intelligence in order to infiltrate Republic SIS. However, things get complicated when spymaster Ardun Kothe uses a TriggerPhrase to brainwash you to ensure your loyalty. [[spoiler:While you do eventually break your brainwashing, depending on your actions it's possible to actually defect to the Republic as a double-agent in the ending.]]

* In ''Roleplay/TheGamersAlliance'', [[ManipulativeBastard Ferron]] defects to the Alliance's side after the Yamatian Invasion because his superiors in the dark clergy betrayed him and he wants revenge. Although he helps the heroes deal with his former colleagues and befriends many people in the Alliance, he has a far more sinister agenda in mind. He almost [[BecomingTheMask switches sides for real]] because of all the friends he has gained but eventually decides to subvert his character development and betrays the heroes at a crucial moment because his lust for power overshadows his growing friendship with the heroes.
** [[OverlordJr Xerathas]], [[AntiVillain Varalia]] and [[EnigmaticMinion the Shadow]] also join the Alliance's heroes during the Vanna arc and claim they'll help the Alliance so that they can atone for their actions as well as prevent a greater threat from rising. Knowing what they're dealing with, the heroes don't buy the excuse but decide to let them tag along while keeping an eye on them. To the heroes' surprise the trio are surprisingly helpful during many encounters, which makes many Alliance members question whether the trio have finally seen the light. Everything changes during the battle of Vanna, however, when the three antagonists reveal the extent of their plan and betray the heroes at the Alliance's most vulnerable moment while the Alliance is busy dealing with another threat.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/CaptainNTheGameMaster'' episode based on ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaIIIDraculasCurse'', Alucard turned out to be one of these. This is not even close to the worst thing they did to his character.

* In the Ruby-Spears ''WesternAnimation/MegaMan'' cartoon, the evil Proto Man temporarily switched sides in order to cover up a plot of Dr. Wily's. (In the games, [=Protoman=] was never evil but only framed by Dr. Wily, but the writers either never beat ''VideoGame/MegaMan5''--Or ''VideoGame/MegaMan3'', where he ''first'' showed up and seemed to be a villain, but was later revealed to be a good guy--or ignored it for the sake of having a EvilCounterpart and {{rival}} for Mega.)

** In ''3'', Dr. Wily repents and works with Dr. Light. [[HijackedByGanon It ends predictably]].
* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Superfriends}}'' fell flat for this when the entire Legion of Doom suddenly did a HeelFaceTurn.

* [[spoiler: [[VileVillainSaccharineShow Lotso]]]] becomes one at the end of ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory3''.

* In ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'', [[spoiler:the Ruby that Steven dubs "Navy"]] claims to want to join up with the Crystal Gems. It's really just a ruse to [[spoiler:steal back her ship, while also [[SoftSpokenSadist getting to see the looks on the faces of the Crystal Gems as they're betrayed]].]]

* Greg Withrow is a White Supremacist who, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Withrow for over a decade]], claimed to see the error of his ways and appeared on the talk show circuit as a "former-racist" who spoke out against White Supremacy and bigotry in general, even getting involved with a few Civil Rights organizations and marrying a Mexican woman. He was one of the few key givers of testimony in favor Hate Crime Laws in California. However; The whole thing was a hoax and he claims that the entire scheme was a means to subvert the efforts of Civil Rights groups. He never loved his wife and saw her as a mere slave. The crucifixion-based hate-crime he allegedly experienced was self-inflicted. He claims that his testimony in favor of Hate Crime laws in California should be moot since he committed perjury and is even filing a lawsuit (which isn't being considered by the State, fortunately, since he was just one out of several people and has a lot of hubris).

* In ''Fanfic/OliviaGoesWest'' -- a crossover between ''Disney/TheGreatMouseDetective'' and ''WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTail'' --, as part of his scheme to take over Green River (and then gradually America) [[VillainTeamUp with Professor Ratigan]], Cat R. Waul pretends to have seen the error of his ways and become a [[VegetarianCarnivore vegetarian cat]] like Tiger. By using support of the charming Professor Ratigan (who's anonymous in America), some "tokens of atonement" and the captured Sheriff Wylie Burp's forced public verifications and [[PassingTheTorch promotion of Waul to the new sheriff]], [[VillainWithGoodPublicity Waul and Ratigan win the trust of nearly all of Green River's inhabitants]] until their inconspicuous crimes are exposed by the heroes.

Compare FakeDefector (the equivalent for the other side), HeelFaceRevolvingDoor, CivilianVillain and DoubleReverseQuadrupleAgent. Contrast ReformedButRejected and RedemptionRejection. See also BecomingTheMask. There's also ReverseMole, the inversion.

* This happened in an episode of ''Series/GetSmart'', where Siegfried attempts to "defect" to CONTROL, going so far as to turn in several KAOS agents, including ''his own sister''. Eventually he gives them fake data to divert security away from the CONTROL Chief's Banquet so he can use sleeping gas to kidnap all of CONTROL's leadership in one fell swoop only to be foiled by [[ItMakesSenseInContext Max's lapel flower]]. [[note]]Siegfried had claimed said flower smelled good despite it being artificial. Max, in a rare display of intelligence deduced Siegfried's sense of smell was being blocked by a nose gas filter so he decided to secretly wear one as well, pretend to be knocked out and hold Siegfried at gun point.[[/note]]

* In ''Anime/{{Pokemon}} Best Wishes'' [[spoiler: Meowth pulled this, joining Ash's group for several episodes in order to lure them into a trap set by Team Rocket at Nimbasa City]].
** Ash's Pikachu [[GenreSavvy didn't buy it]] for a second, glaring at him constantly.

* ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'' had one of these in Op. U.N.D.E.R.C.O.V.E.R., where one of the Delightful Children joins the KND. [[spoiler:Of course, in this case, all the good guys except [[DumbMuscle Numbuh Four]] [[GenreSavvy knew he was lying]]]].

Compare FakeDefector, HeelFaceRevolvingDoor, CivilianVillain and DoubleReverseQuadrupleAgent. Contrast ReformedButRejected and RedemptionRejection. See also BecomingTheMask. There's also ReverseMole, the inversion.

* Kerrigan in ''{{Starcraft}}: Brood War'', who successfully pulls this scheme on several rival organizations simultaneously, ultimately playing them off each other to consolidate her control over the Zerg Swarm. [[MagnificentBastard "Pretty much the Queen Bitch of the Universe,"]] indeed.

* King Zarkon did this as the ShockingSwerve for the ''Anime/{{Voltron}}'' revival, ''Voltron: The Third Dimension''.

* [[spoiler:Terrence]] in ''KateModern'', despite having secretly become a much nastier villain than before.

* In the second (or third) [[Film/FantasticFour Fantastic Four movie]], the Four are assisted in the Silver Surfer's capture by [[spoiler:Victor von Doom]]. They were reluctant at first, understandably.

* In one of the earliest ''BabysittersClub'' books, the girls are losing clients to the Baby-Sitters Agency (mainly because their members are older than twelve), so Kristy tries to find some new members. The two she gets are Janet and Leslie (?), who apparently quit the Agency because they didn't like how it was being run. So they're promptly booked for jobs with two new clients who saw the club's advertising for new, older sitters who could stay out later. Imagine the girls' shock at the Monday evening meeting, when their "defectors" don't show up, and the new clients call to complain that they were stood up. Kristy was absolutely devastated when she confronted them and learned that they did it deliberately to sabotage the [=BSC=]'s reputation.

-> ''Once a rabbit wanted to get to the other side of the lake. A crocodile told him, "You can ride on my back."
-> "But you will eat me", responded rabbit.
-> "I will not, I've changed," said crocodile. So rabbit sat on the crocodile's back. But when they were in the middle of the lake, crocodile started to eat rabbit.
->"You lied to me!" screamed rabbit.
-> "I'm a crocodile. What were you expecting?"

Compare FakeDefector, HeelFaceRevolvingDoor, CivilianVillain, ReliableTraitor and DoubleReverseQuadrupleAgent. Contrast ReformedButRejected and RedemptionRejection. See also BecomingTheMask. There's also ReverseMole, the inversion.

* Schreient of ''WeissKreuz'' use this ploy on Weiss by having Neu pose as Yoji's dead partner Asuka, revived by a MadScientist and amnesiac, in order to lure Weiss into a trap. Nastily enough, the series hints that Neu ''is'' in fact Asuka, but she [[KilledOffForReal dies for real]] without ever realizing that fact.

* ''TheNewAdventuresOfSuperman'' episode "Can a Luthor Change His Spots?" Luthor convinces Perry White that he's gone straight and is given a laboratory in the Daily Planet building. Jimmy Olson correctly believes that Luthor is lying and tries to catch him committing a crime.

* In ''Fanfic/OliviaGoesWest'' -- a crossover between ''Disney/TheGreatMouseDetective'' and ''Western Animation/AnAmericanTail'' --, as part of his scheme to take over Green River (and then gradually America) [[VillainTeamUp with Professor Ratigan]], Cat R. Waul pretends to have seen the error of his ways and become a [[VegetarianCarnivore vegetarian cat]] like Tiger. By using support of the charming Professor Ratigan (who's anonymous in America), some "tokens of atonement" and the captured Sheriff Wylie Burp's forced public verifications and [[PassingTheTorch promotion of Waul to the new sheriff]], [[VillainWithGoodPublicity Waul and Ratigan win the trust of nearly all of Green River's inhabitants]] until their inconspicuous crimes are exposed by the heroes.

* King Zarkon did this as the ShockingSwerve for the ''{{Voltron}}'' revival, ''Voltron: The Third Dimension''.

* ''VisualNovel/UminekoNoNakuKoroNi'' has this in the form of [[spoiler:Bernkastel, who has, up to the point of TheReveal, made it appear that she is on the protagonist's side]].

* Played with in ''Villains United'', the prequel to the current volume of ''ComicBook/SecretSix''. [[spoiler:Knockout]] is recruited to the Society, and reveals herself to be both TheMole and [[spoiler:Scandal's lover]]. As it happens, though, [[spoiler:both teams are working for Lex Luthor without knowing it, just different versions of him]].