History Main / HumanDisguise

* In the ''Literature/UkiahOregon'' series, the aliens are actually TheVirus, but they arrived on Earth in the bodies of aliens. The last remaining original invader (referred to as Hex), is a NotQuiteHuman alien who uses heavy clothes and similar to disguise his differences when necessary.

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[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/brain_human_disguise.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"I'll take 'Who is an impostor?' for $500, Alex."]]

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* Many a MonsterOfTheWeek in Anime/SailorMoon disguise themselves as a human until they [[GameFace transform to battle the Soldiers.]] More common in the earlier seasons (almost all the Youma do it).
* In ''Manga/InuYasha'', it is common for small yokai (kitsune, tanuki, kawauso, etc.) to be able to pretend to be human. However, it is implied that they can only sustain this transformation for a short time.
** In an early episode we see a mantis yokai. She killed a human princess and brushed her skin over her own body to [[LiteralManeater trap unsuspecting men]].

* The ''Magazine/{{Mad}}'' comic "National Gorilla Suit Day" is an OverlyLongGag about various people revealing that they are actually {{Killer Gorilla}}s wearing human suits.

* While {{Franchise/Superman}} was raised under the name Clark Kent and is a HumanAlien, as an adult he refrains from using his powers in noticeable ways in public while being {{Clark Kent|ing}}, in order to be able to keep living quietly as Kent with a job and family separate from [[SecretIdentity Superman]].

* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11989539/1/Hakkōna Hakkōna]]'' and ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12023508/1/Kaitō-Kokoro Kaitō Kokoro]]'': [[spoiler:Kiku, a nekomataneko, can take on a human form in an attempt to blend in with other humans. Not that his nekomataneko form is that different barring the cat ears and twin tails though.]]

* The ''Franchise/MenInBlack'' [[Film/MenInBlack movies]] (and [[WesternAnimation/MenInBlackTheSeries cartoon]]) make prominent use of this trope. [[AliensAmongUs Extraterrestrial immigrants live on Earth]], [[{{Masquerade}} hiding in plain sight]] by disguising themselves as humans (typically by wearing [[LatexPerfection rubber skins]] or [[MobileSuitHuman robotic suits]]). Also, an evil [[InsectoidAliens Bug alien]] somehow accomplishes this by [[GenuineHumanHide murdering a farmer and stealing his skin]].
* In ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'', the {{Toon}} who ''really'' killed Marvin Acme turns out to be [[spoiler:Judge Doom]], who wears a rubber suit to disguise himself as a human. [[UnseenEvil We never get to see what he really looks like]] -- other than his ever-shifting {{red eyes|TakeWarning}}, which he normally hides by fitting a pair of {{glass|Eye}} ones into the eyeholes of his [[LatexPerfection rubber mask]].

** As first seen in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E4AliensOfLondon "Aliens of London"]]/[[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E5WorldWarThree "World War Three"]], the Slitheen kill humans and use [[GenuineHumanHide their skin]] as a disguise.
** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E17E18TheEndOfTime "The End of Time"]], two normal-looking scientists turn out to be green cactus people disguised with a "shimmer".

* ''Series/TheGoodPlace'': In order to [[spoiler:secretly torture the four humans whom they live with, the demons give themselves human skins so the humans don't notice anything odd.]]

[[folder:Web Video]]
* A common scenario in ''WebVideo/SevenSecondRiddles'' involves finding aliens in disguise as humans. They will inevitably give themselves away ''somehow'', simply by doing things humans cannot- like [[PowerGlows glowing]], sporting ExtraEyes, or displaying some sort of superpower.

* ''WesternAnimation/The13GhostsOfScoobyDoo'' episode "Ship of Ghouls" had a ghost impersonate a human travel agent as well as a human ship captain named Captain Ferguson. For the former, he simply made his body more opaque. For the latter, he wore [[LatexPerfection a lifelike mask]].

* ''Franchise/LiloAndStitch'' franchise:
** Jumba and Pleakley are two aliens living with Lilo and Nani Pelekai in their Hawaiian home. Both of them blend in by wearing some rather [[HughMann poor]] [[PaperThinDisguise disguises]] (only just sets of human clothing -- [[DisguisedInDrag female in Pleakley's case]]) that somehow [[HumansAreMorons fool most people]].
** Similarly, Lilo's "pet" alien creature Stitch gets by through claims of being a "dog" despite looking nothing like one, and even he disguises himself as a human boy at times in ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitchTheSeries''.
*** In the second episode of the Chinese animated series ''Animation/StitchAndAi'', he also disguised himself as his new human friend in that series Wang Ai Ling by putting on a lot of face and body covering clothes in order to trick her aunt Daiyu, which prevented Ai from being taken to the city for the time being.

** In the short, "The Year Book Star" (part of "[[Recap/TinyToonAdventuresS2E6ToonPhysics Toon Physics]]"), Babs and Plucky compete against each other to see who can star in the most photos of the school yearbook, with the loser having to suffer the humiliation of the winner's choice. During the official count-off, the two appear to have tied, until it is revealed that a human boy wearing an orange hat appeared in the background of every photo either of them was in, [[DarkHorseVictory causing him to win easily]]. The Boy in the Orange Hat then reveals himself to be Buster Bunny [[LatexPerfection in a latex mask and suit]], who entered the competition to teach Babs and Plucky [[AnAesop not to compete to win a bet]], but all this does is prompt Babs and Plucky to beat him up as the short irises out.
** In the episode, "[[Recap/TinyToonAdventuresS3E1Thirteensomething Thirteensomething]]", Babs wishes she could audition for the titular ShowWithinAShow, and Buster dares her to. Knowing that the casting office only hires humans, Babs disguises herself as a human and changes her name to "Babs [[SesquipedalianSmith Bunawalskioversmith]]". Unlike Buster's disguise in "The Year Book Star", [[PaperThinDisguise Babs is able to pass for human simply by covering her ears]]. The fact that her face is covered in fur doesn't quite go unnoticed: "You really should get a wax, dear. You have a lot of facial hair!"

* Creator/IsaacAsimov's "Literature/SpellMyNameWithAnS": The numerologist is actually an {{Energy Being|s}} trying to prove a bet. They created TheLittleShopThatWasntThereYesterday just to present the idea of Dr Zebatinsky changing his name to [[MyNaymeIs Dr Sebatinsky]].

* ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995'': In "Starcrossed", Michael Ryan discovers that Teresita Arboleda, a waitress at his coffee beer Heaven, is a Hing in disguise.

* ''[[VideoGame/ExtrapowerGiantFist EXTRAPOWER Giant Fist]]'' The devil Coma disguises herself as a human doctor to aid her infiltration.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* Zim of ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'', uses this when he arrives on earth. However, he only uses human-like eye coverings while he retains his green skin, which Dib Membrane is the only one who notices.

* ''Literature/TheMurderbotDiaries'': The titular {{Cyborg}} goes undercover as a human when it's freed from the [[NGOSuperpower company]] that [[ArtificialHuman created it]]. Since it was mass-produced as a {{Faceless Goon|s}}, this consists of a long-sleeved shirt to hide its {{Arm Cannon}}s and [[BrainComputerInterface data port]], plus an {{Autodoc}} session to tweak its build just enough that it won't match the profile on computer sensors.

* ''Series/InterviewWithTheVampire2022'': For reasons unknown, the vampire Armand pretends to be Rashid, the human personal assistant of Louis, whenever he's in Daniel's presence, even going through the trouble of putting on brown contact lenses to hide his orange vampire eyes and wearing gloves to conceal his vampire fingernails. He drops the disguise in the final scene of Season 1.

''[[VideoGame/ExtrapowerGiantFist EXTRAPOWER Giant Fist]]'' The devil Coma disguises herself as a human doctor to aid her infiltration.

* In ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'', the {{Toon}} who ''really'' killed Marvin Acme turns out to be [[spoiler:Judge Doom]], who wears a rubber suit to disguise himself as a human. [[UltimateEvil We never get to see what he really looks like]] -- other than his ever-shifting {{red eyes|TakeWarning}}, which he normally hides by fitting a pair of {{glass|Eye}} ones into the eyeholes of his [[LatexPerfection rubber mask]].

'''Sub-tropes:'''

** In the episode, "[[Recap/TinyToonAdventuresS3E1Thirteensomething Thirteensomething]]", Babs wishes she could audition for the titular ShowWithinAShow, and Buster dares her to. Knowing that the casting office only hires humans, Babs disguises herself as a human and changes her name to "Babs [[OverlyLongName Bunawalskioversmith]]". Unlike Buster's disguise in "The Year Book Star", [[PaperThinDisguise Babs is able to pass for human simply by covering her ears]]. The fact that her face is covered in fur doesn't quite go unnoticed: "You really should get a wax, dear. You have a lot of facial hair!"

* In ''Manga/InuYasha'' it is common for small yokai (kitsune, tanuki, kawauso, etc.) to be able to pretend to be human. However, it is implied that they can only sustain this transformation for a short time.