History Main / MasterOfDelusion

* Izuku Midoriya in ''FanFic/ViridianTheGreenGuide'' is particularly good at convincing himself he's below average and his injuries are nothing to be worried about, to the point of brushing off [[BrutalHonesty Eraserhead's]] sincere praise of his [[AwesomenessByAnalysis analytical abilities]] and convincing himself his arm isn't broken in spite of it being ''visibly bent in the middle of his forearm.''

The GenreBlind character who finds a chink in the ClarkKenting. At one or more points, they're ''one step away'' from uncovering the {{Masquerade}} and putting the pieces of the poorly protected puzzle together. They think, "Hmm, you look familiar... Where have I heard that CatchPhrase before?... How come you always run off right before the PartTimeHero shows up?...", just like any person with real world common sense.

* ComicBook/LexLuthor has at least once rejected clear evidence that Clark Kent is Franchise/{{Superman}}. Why? Because he cannot comprehend the idea that a being so powerful would adopt such a pathetic alter ego.

** Cyrano: In Act I Cyrano states that he does not believe that even an ugly woman could love him, much less beautiful Roxane. In Act IV, when Christian confronts him with Roxane's confession that she loves Christian soul instead of his beauty, Cyrano doesn’t believe and answers that if he confessed, Roxane would not love him. Then Cyrano averts this trope when his cousin assures him she would love Christian even if he were ugly…[[RuleOfThree three times]]. Justified because [[FreudianExcuse Cyrano]] [[LoveMartyr has]] [[MartyrWithoutACause serious]] [[MommyIssues issues]].

* Valerie of ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' started to notice odd things about Danny shortly after becoming a HunterOfMonsters ("Where's he running to all the time? Only guys I see running off like that have a job..."), but it never led anywhere (in [[TemporalParadox the real timeline]], anyway).

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

* ComicBook/LexLuthor has at least once rejected clear evidence that Clark Kent is {{Superman}}. Why? Because he cannot comprehend the idea that a being so powerful would adopt such a pathetic alter ego.

[[folder:Fan Fiction]]

** At one point in the ''Magazine/{{MAD}}'' parody of ''[[{{Superman}} Superman II]]'', Lois Lane realizes that Clark Kent is never around when Superman is, and confronts him with the obvious truth: "You're deliberately avoiding him!!"
** Lois comes ''this'' close in the original Superman movie, too, noticing that Clark never seems to be around when Superman is... no, never mind, that's just too crazy.

[[folder: Theater ]]

* Ran from ''Manga/DetectiveConan'' almost figured it out in the first volume, with many other close calls. ''Fifty-eight'' volumes later and she's ''still'' clueless. Justified considering all the calls she's gotten from Shinichi, and the fact that shrinking to the size of a six-year-old is ridiculous, and that one time she thought she saw Shinichi and Conan in the same room...When you get right down to it, Ran's no Kogoro and is clever but she's not in Conan's league. Every time she's obviously suspicious, Conan will always be able to figure out some way to outsmart her. (There's also the setting's otherwise realistic WeirdnessCensor to consider. It's so obviously ridiculous that someone could youthen, she'll immediately jump at any reasonably plausible alternative.)

** Many people have suspected that Paperinik and DonaldDuck are the one and the same, but tend to decide it's impossible. It helps that Paperinik is a well-known MasterOfDisguise who has been seen ''taking off Donald Duck disguises'' and the two have been seen together multiple times (one of them being a robotic double).

* There's a version of this trope in ''Film/SpiderMan1''. During the [[spoiler:Norman Osborne funeral scene]], where MJ and Peter kissed after she confessed her love for him, he told her they could only be friends. When he walks away, she has this BSOD look on her face as she touches her lips. [[spoiler:It seems she suspects who he really is.]]

* ''Manga/MutekiKanbanMusume'', being a deconstruction of the FightingSeries PlayedForLaughs, presents a variation: Kankuro fervently believes that he is Miki’s WorthyOpponent, but to Miki (and everyone else) he is only the UnknownRival:

* Izuku Midoriya in ''FanFic/ViridianTheGreenGuide'' is particularly good at convincing himself he's below average and his injuries are nothing to be worried about, to the point of brushing off [[BrutalHonesty Eraserhead's]] sincere praise of his [[AwesomenessByAnalysis analytical abilities]] and voncing himself his arm isn't broken in spite of it being ''visibly bent in the middle of his forearm.''

* Ran from ''Manga/DetectiveConan'' almost figured it out in the first volume, with many other close calls. ''Fifty-eight'' volumes later and she's ''still'' clueless. Justified considering all the calls she's gotten from Shinichi, and the fact that shrinking to the size of a six-year-old is ridiculous, and that one time she thought she saw Shinichi and Conan in the same room...When you get right down to it, Ran's no Kogoro is clever but she's not in Conan's league. Every time she's obviously suspicious, Conan will always be able to figure out some way to outsmart her. (There's also the setting's otherwise realistic WeirdnessCensor to consider. It's so obviously ridiculous that someone could youthen, she'll immediately jump at any reasonably plausible alternative.)

* SelfDemonstrating/LexLuthor has at least once rejected clear evidence that Clark Kent is {{Superman}}. Why? Because he cannot comprehend the idea that a being so powerful would adopt such a pathetic alter ego.

* SelfDemonstration/LexLuthor has at least once rejected clear evidence that Clark Kent is {{Superman}}. Why? Because he cannot comprehend the idea that a being so powerful would adopt such a pathetic alter ego.

* Arthur in Series/{{Merlin}}. He is aware that Merlin is smarter than he looks, believes that he's got something to hide, and often seems to see through Merlin's ObfuscatingStupidity. This extends to other characters, such as ''The Beginning of the End'' when he seemed unsettled after learning that the Druid boy he saved was [[spoiler: Mordred]] despite the fact that he hasn't done anything villainous yet (both in-show and to Arthur's knowledge). And yet he always thinks ItsProbablyNothing.

* About OnceAnEpisode for InspectorGadget, the endearingly inept "world's greatest detective." He'll notice the odd things going on, notice the little man in the coat following him, and completely fail to realize it's his own dog.

* Early in the Buu saga in ''DragonBallZ'', Gohan, who usually untransforms from Great Saiyaman on the school roof, accidentally does so in front of a girl, who he is then forced to date (and do whatever she wants) so that she'll keep his secret: [[spoiler: that he wears teddy bear underwear. She didn't see any of him as Great Saiyaman because [[BlindWithoutEm she didn't have her lenses on]].]]

* Valerie of ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' started to notice odd things about Danny shortly after becoming TheHunter ("Where's he running to all the time? Only guys I see running off like that have a job..."), but it never led anywhere (in [[TemporalParadox the real timeline]], anyway).

* Done straight in ''SupermanReturns'', apparently as a LampshadeHanging of ClarkKenting; Lois Lane and her fiance are discussing Superman, as Lois rattles off some of the hero's traits, including his height. Her fiance then looks at Clark, and asks Lois how tall she thinks he is. As they're looking thoughtfully at him, Clark "notices" them looking, gives a profoundly dorky wave, and they say "Nah..." and laugh.

* Taken to extremes for laughs in ''WordGirl''. Becky almost gets caught in several episodes--including one where her cape is actually sticking out from under her clothing (she's only able to throw off her friend by purposefully flubbing a "vocab bee") and another where a villain tricks her into flying in front of her family--then accidentally zaps away everyone's memory, including his own. Even her parents begin to put the pieces together, but the family pet intentionally distracts them just as they are about to have the epiphany.

* In the first episode of the second season of ''HannahMontana'', child prodigy Rico starts high school the same day as Miley & Co. and blackmails Miley into being his girlfriend by threatening to reveal her secret. Too bad it's the wrong secret...