History Main / ImpersonationExclusiveCharacter

* ''Film/Remember'': Dementia stricken protagonist Zev Guttman, who we've been led to believe is an Auschwitz survivor, is revealed to be Nazi war criminal Otto Wallisch, having taken he identity of Zev from a dead prisoner. The same goes for Rudy Kurlander, whose identity was taken by Wallisch's comrade Kunibert Sturm.

* ''Film/Re;member'': Dementia stricken protagonist Zev Guttman, who we've been led to believe is an Auschwitz survivor, is revealed to be Nazi war criminal Otto Wallisch, having taken he identity of Zev from a dead prisoner. The same goes for Rudy Kurlander, whose identity was taken by Wallisch's comrade Kunibert Sturm.

* ''Film/Remember'': Dementia stricken protagonist Zev Guttman, who we've been led to believe is an Auschwitz survivor, is revealed to be Nazi war criminal Otto Wallisch, having taken he identity of Zev from a dead prisoner. The same goes for Rudy Kurlander, whose identity was taken by Wallisch's comrade Kunibert Sturm.

** ''Film/SpiderManFarFromHome'': The post-credits stinger reveals that [[spoiler:the Nick Fury and Maria Hill who've been aiding Peter for the entire movie are in fact actually Talos and Soren, with the real Fury being in space on another mission.]]

** ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlxyHallows'': Pius Thicknesse is an even more drastic example, being placed under [[BrainwashedAndCrazy the Imperius Curse]] off-screen and only appearing under its influence. The Imperius Curse essentially turns the victim into a mindless puppet of another man, and that means that the only canonical portrayals we have of the man that should have been the legal Minister of Magic is essentially [[BlackShirt Yaxley]] speaking through another man's lips. We know very little about the man himself, but we can guess he was not a Death Eater.

** Pius Thicknesse is an even more drastic example, being placed under [[BrainwashedAndCrazy the Imperius Curse]] off-screen and only appearing under its influence. The Imperius Curse essentially turns the victim into a mindless puppet of another man, and that means that the only canonical portrayals we have of the man that should have been the legal Minister of Magic is essentially [[BlackShirt Yaxley]] speaking through another man's lips. We know very little about the man himself, but we can guess he was not a Death Eater.

** ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable'': Humble salaryman Kosaku Kawajiri is never seen until [[BigBad a random psychic-powered serial killer named Yoshikage Kira]] steals his face and identity and kills him. The real Kosaku is only ever seen as a faceless corpse.

* ''Webcomic/KaitenMutenmaru'': Granchio only appears as a silhouette in a flashback, saying that he would become a chef and make everyone smile before he went to war. His role in the story is to provide the impetus for Tetsujin Unit Number 1 to refashion himself as Tetsujin Granchio in honor of Granchio's mother who mistook the war robot for her son and ended up teaching him love.

* ''Webcomic/KaitenMutenmaru'': Granchio only appears as a silhouette in a flashback, saying that he would become a chef and make everyone smile before he went to war. His role in the story is to provide the impetus for Tetsujin Unit Number 1 to refashion himself as Tetsujin Granchio in honor of Granchio's mother.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': The man introduced as [[spoiler:O]] in ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS38E1E2Spyfalö Spyfall]]'' was not the real [[spoiler:O]]. [[spoiler:The Master killed the real O before showed up to work at [=MI6=] and took his place.]]

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': The man introduced as [[spoiler:O]] was not the real [[spoiler:O]]. [[spoiler:The Master killed the real O before showed up to work at [=MI6=] and took his place.]]

* ''Franchise/Ben10'': The majority of [[LoadsAndLoadsOfRaces the many alien species]] whose DNA is stored within the Omnitrix are only seen through Ben, a young human being, [[VoluntaryShapeshifting morphing into them]]. As a result, it's unknown how most of these aliens typically behave, since Ben usually retains his own personality in alien form, save for [[TheMindIsAPlaythingOfTheBody special circumstances]]. Justified in the case of Cannonbolt, since it's mentioned in his debut episode that ''his species' home planet was destroyed''.

** In "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS6E20VivaLasPegasus Viva Las Pegasus]]", Fluttershy, Applejack and the Flim-Flam Brothers try to trick the resort owner Gladmane into revealing his shady dealings through a ruse involving Fluttershy impersonating a businesswoman named Impossibly Rich. The Riches are an established family in the show, and Gladmane and the resort-goers all react to her as if she were someone real and well-known, but the real Impossibly Rich is never seen.
** The series' GrandFinale villain Grogar[[note]]one of the most iconic baddies from the franchise's first generation[[/note]] ultimately turns out to have been Discord in disguise all along; the real one ''did'' exist some millennia ago, and his signature weapon is dangerous as ever, but whether he ever recovered from his defeat is not known.

** Possibly the case with Double Trouble's [[SixthRangerTraitor "Flutterina" disguise]]. It's somewhat ambiguous if the first time we meet Flutterina she is already Double Trouble's latest disguise or herself, but shortly thereafter it's clearly Double Trouble from then on. It's also unclear if Flutterina was a real person and if that was even her real name.
** Season 5 has Peekablue, who we know is a peacock-themed prince with the power of far sight. Despite being said to be something of a recluse (though Adora had mentioned him and his girlfriend Sweet Bee when talking about the Princess Prom) Mermista heard a rumor he had been frequenting a shady bar scene recently so the princesses would need to go "undercover" to try and meet with him. Needless to say, the character we see using Peekablue's name and bragging about his abilities as part of a flashy show isn't the real one, but Double Trouble again, milking Peekablue's "brand" for all it's worth.

* In ''VideoGame/Persona5 Royal'', it turns out that Kasumi Yoshizawa, one of the new additions to the cast, is [[DeadAllLong long dead]], and the Kasumi the player's been getting to know for the entire game is actually her sister Sumire, who had her cognition altered to the point where she believed herself to be Kasumi. Given that the process is imperfect and Sumire-as-Kasumi is shown to differ from the real Kasumi in various ways, it's unclear how much of the former's behaviour can be considered to be an accurate representation of the latter and how much is simply Sumire acting how she thinks Kasumi would act. The real Kasumi is only shown in a short video in Maruki's Palace depicting her final moments, which only gives a small amount of insight about who she is.

* ''[[ComicBook/StarWarsTheHighRepublicAdventures2022 Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures (2022)]]'' final issue reveals that [[spoiler: the Lavalox Verzen, crazy and flamboyant member of Dank Graks, we see is actually Jedi Master Tera Sinube in disguise. According to him, he has put the real Lavalox, [[SamusIsAGirl who is a woman]], in a mental institution and decided to disquise himself as her in order to spy on the Dank Graks. While Sinube’s impersonation is implied to be spot on, real Lavalox is never seen]]

* In ''VideoGame/PokemonScarletAndViolet'', it turns out that Professor Sada/Turo were DeadAllAlong, so we only get to meet their AI duplicates.

* In the first ''Manga/{{Devilman}}'' TV series, the real Akira Fudo and his father were killed by three demons in the first episode [[HeKnowsTooMuch after they accidentally step inside their lair]] while mountain climbing in the Himalayas... and Amon kills the other two and then uses Akira's corpse as a disguise to pass as a human and start kicking the Demon Army's plan of global conquest on gear. For the rest of the show, Akira is ''just a disguise that Amon wears'', and not even Akira's girlfriend Miki (whom Amon [[AlwaysSaveTheGirl falls for and protects]]) knows the secret.