History Main / MasterOfDisguise

* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'': Envy is an example of this. Oftentimes he will disguise himself as various members of the army to get to places that he otherwise could not go. He also uses his power of shapeshifting to confuse people and take advantage of them. He used this tactic when [[spoiler:he kills Hughes by disguising as Ross and Gracia]]. In the manga and in ''Brotherhood'', he constantly uses this power to [[spoiler:keep his monstrous true form hidden]] and in the original anime to hide [[spoiler:his identity as Ed and Al's eldest brother.]].

*** The Chameleon. He wears exquisitely made latex masks, is a skilled mimic, and his own mask is equipped with voice changer software. For a time, the Chameleon also used a holographic belt that could instantly create an image of whoever he wanted to pose as. Chameleon is also astounding at being able to imitate someone. When he posed as Tigra, ''ComicBook/AvengersAcademy'' member Finesse (who prides herself on knowing a person through their fighting moves) is in denial Chameleon could duplicate Tigra's micro-expressions enough to fool her.

** ComicBook/{{Mystique}}, ''Comicbook/XMen'' - she's a shapeshifter, and is quite comfortable as either a man or a woman. On the other hand, she has more difficulty maintaining a shape that is different in mass than herself. For example, when she spent a few years pretending to be a Governor's wife, using the name Mallory Brickman, part of her disguise was that she was about twice her normal weight. Since she was going to have to maintain this image for a very long time, she gained weight, to bring her own mass up to the same amount as "Mallory".

** The Scourge of the Underworld, a collective group of assassins trained to eliminate super-villains, each is one, and through a combination of makeup and LatexPerfection can impersonate nearly anyone to get close to a target. It's this and their efficiency that has left the Scourge as TheDreaded for many villains.

** ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'' villain, The Chameleon. He wears exquisitely made latex masks, is a skilled mimic, and his own mask is equipped with voice changer software.
*** For a time, the Chameleon also used a holographic belt that could instantly create an image of whoever he wanted to pose as.
*** Chameleon is also astounding at being able to imitate someone. When he posed as Tigra, Avengers Academy member Finesse (who prides herself on knowing a person through their fighting moves) is in denial Chameleon could duplicate Tigra's micro-expressions enough to fool her.

* Spoofed in ''Series/TheGoodies'' with the villainous Nasty Person, who says he got his [[IncrediblyLamePun Master of Disguise from Sussex University]].

* ''VideoGame/FreakyFlyers'': The FinalBoss Pilot X always shows up at the end of each character's adventure mode by revealing he was disguised as a random person or object, before challenging them to [[CatchPhrase a battle in outer space]]. Said disguises include a gynoid, a camel's hump, barbequed roadkill, and himself.

* Artemus Gordon in ''Film/WildWildWest''. He can become President Grant, a fur trapper, or a rather ugly woman. (He isn't perfect, however. His Grant disguise didn't fool West because he had a Harvard right, and West knew that the real Grant went to West Point.)

* Agent 47 in the ''VideoGame/{{Hitman}}'' series is truly a master of disguise. Being able to take on the identity of pretty much anyone without raising an alarm despite being bald and having a barcode on his head. Granted, his disguises (that is, changes of clothes) are meant to hold up to cursory examinations, aside glances, and to people who haven't met the person he's impersonating. In the first three games this often even crossed racial and ethnic boundaries, but in ''Blood Money'' he could no longer disguise himself as someone with a notably different skin tone (though later games once again lets him disguise himself as almost anyone).

* The Spy in ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'', when in disguise, looks exactly like the person he's imitating--body shape, face, and voice.
** Only to the other team. When looking at a friendly spy, he's wearing a [[PaperThinDisguise paper-thin cardboard mask]] with the face of whoever he is disguised as. [[ParanoiaFuel Unless that Spy is a Spy...]]
*** It also shows that looking the part doesn't make a person this trope. Bad spies are fairly easy to tell apart (and kill) from real teammates since they often don't act like the class they are playing as. Good spies, however, are often impossible to tell apart from your allies until the knife is in your back.
*** To add more fuel to the ParanoiaFuel fire, a Spy can disguise as his own allies. Why is this useful, you ask? You're still going to be shot down by your enemies. However, if you fake your own death using the Dead Ringer watch, your enemies will think "Okay, I just killed that enemy Medic/Pyro/etc.", making their death by backstab all the more unexpected!

** ''ComicBook/TheWarlord'': Using the Apokoliptan technology supplied to her by Desaad, the assassin Y'Smalla could create flawless disguises.

* ''LightNovel/AriaTheScarletAmmo'': Riko Mine is another thief character with the ability to disguise themselves excellently. [[spoiler: Because she is the great-granddaughter of Arsene Lupin, and Holmes's nemesis.]]

* Great Britain aka 007 of ''Manga/{{Cyborg 009}}''. In fact, he was a brilliant classically-trained actor before being turned into a Cyborg.

* ''Lightnovel/FullMetalPanic'': Wraith, whose job in MITHRIL is to be a Master of Disguise. Kaname has no idea what he/she really looks like.

* Team Rocket from ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' disguise themselves as somebody or another, sometimes crossdressing, or in the case of Meowth dressing as another ''species'', on average once an episode. Jessie "Jessebella" "Jessadia" "Jessalina" "Jessilinda" "Jessilynlyn" "Jessirilyn" has used so many deviations of her name with rather [[WigDressAccent small]] (relatively -- her big dress-up costumes are usually very detailed) changes to her outfit [[PaperThinDisguise it isn't even funny]]. Ash and Co. never figure out who Team Rocket is until they out themselves -- if they figure it out at all.

[[folder:Films — Animation]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheBadGuys'', this is PlayedForLaughs with Mr. Shark. Described as the "apex predator of a thousand faces", he's the team's disguise guy, blending into crowds to gather intel, causing distractions, and getting into highly secure areas. His disguises [[PaperThinDisguise do nothing to hide him being a great white shark]], yet they all work flawlessly.

[[folder:Films — Live-Action]]

* Lupin's Bride, another character inspired by the Literature example, from ''Manga/CatsEye''. Her debut episode has her stealing a painting by posing as the artist who created it, with the real artist BoundAndGagged off-screen.
** Also, the Kisugi sisters, AKA the titular thieves. Their usual disguises are those of random police officers or invented persons, but Rui has disguised herself as either Mitsuko Asatani or Toshio (the latter was problematic and led to Toshio being MistakenForGay, as Rui has issues at actually acting like a man), and Hitomi has easily disguised herself as anything and anyone.
*** In a pinch, the Kisugi sisters have also been known [[MuggedForDisguise to quickly disguise themselves as random people they come across]]. In one episode Hitomi and Ai tie up and gag a pair of female wrestlers and steal their costumes, fooling the pursuing cops in the process.

* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' Envy is an example of this. Oftentimes he will disguise himself as various members of the army to get to places that he otherwise could not go. He also uses his power of shapeshifting to confuse people and take advantage of them. He used this tactic when [[spoiler:he kills Hughes by disguising as Ross and Gracia]]. In the manga and in ''Brotherhood'', he constantly uses this power to [[spoiler:keep his monstrous true form hidden]] and in the original anime to hide [[spoiler:his identity as Ed and Al's eldest brother.]].

* ''Manga/KenichiTheMightiestDisciple'': [[BigBad Saiga Furinji]] reveals that he's capable of this. To what degree? [[spoiler:He was disguised as the fat, short, bumbling, jolly mercenary John for most of the rescue mission to save Miu from Silcardo Junazard. To put it in perspective, Saiga is much taller and leaner than the John disguise, capable of cowing the members of YAMI's Nine Fists by simply ''speaking'', and is physically capable of beating down several skilled assassins [[PetTheDog while covering up his daughter with his jacket]]]].
** What makes it even better is that Sakaki Shio, one of the Ryouzanpaku masters and therefore someone you'd expect to be skilled enough to see through such a disguise, ''doesn't suspect anything at all''.

* In ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'' [[spoiler: {{Anti villain}}ess and]] Fate's minion [[spoiler:Shiori]] has a specialized kiss that can steal the full appearance of the one she kisses, as well as the ability to lose her consciousness and ''[[MemoryGambit think]]'' she's the person. Needless to say, no one figures it out once she switches with [[spoiler: Asuna... until they meet up with the Governor General, that is. And it still takes quite a while to unmask her.]]

* Masaharu Niou and Hiroshi Yagyuu from ''Manga/ThePrinceOfTennis''. [[spoiler: They pretend to be ''each other'' during a doubles match, after all.]]

* ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'' has Tsubasa Kurenai, a oneshot (twoshot in the anime, with a pair of cameos) character whose specialty is dressing up in elaborate costumes, mainly of inanimate objects, which allow him to blend in perfectly with his surroundings if he chooses. He's been a mailbox, a statue, the sign outside Ukyo's restaurant, a trashcan, a [[{{Karakasa}} kasa-obake]], a vending machine... and underneath the costume, he also dresses in women's clothes as an expression of his love for {{Bifauxnen}} WholesomeCrossdresser Ukyo Kuonji. He's so good at impersonating a woman that just about everyone he meets actually thinks he is one at first. He even has a girl's voice (unless he's angered; in that case, his voice becomes as male as you can hear it from someone his age)!

* Hannya from ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'', to the point that he actually mutilated his own face to make the process easier. The result is horrific, and it's understandable why the anime didn't include that bit (only showing us one of his eyes).

* Franchise/TheDCU:
** Franchise/{{Batman}} sometimes disguises himself to infiltrate places, gather intel he couldn't acquire in his costumed identity or his civilian identity as Bruce Wayne, plant listening devices in criminals' lairs, etc. He's been everything from BeneathNotice janitors and security guards to a streetwise thug nicknamed "Matches Malone."

*** Both ComicBook/TheJoker and ComicBook/HarleyQuinn are extremely good with disguises and impersonations as well.
*** Mary Wills, AKA Roberta the Girl Wonder, an obscure character from the golden age. As indicated by her name, she was a DistaffCounterpart to [[ComicBook/{{Robin}} Robin]] (the very first, in fact). While her career didn’t last long, she was shown to be very good at disguising herself. In fact, whenever she and Robin worked together, he often asked her to disguise herself and go undercover to help him catch criminals.

** In the earlier stories, ComicBook/JimmyOlsen could disguise himself so well that Perry, Lois, and even Superman had trouble recognizing him.

** ComicBook/BlackOrchid's M.O. involved mugging and replacing a minor female character in each story, with her involvement only revealed at the very end.
** Cosmo, the Phantom of Disguise, one of the detectives who featured in ''ComicBook/DetectiveComics'' before it became an all-Batman title, could disguise himself as any occupation (or any race, although those stories are pretty cringe-inducing in retrospect) through clever use of costumes and make-up.
** The King, a [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] hero. Using a combination of the target's clothing and a bit of stage magic, the King could become whoever he wished to be. His most frequent adversary was the Witch, who rivaled his ability to disguise himself.

** ''Franchise/WonderWoman''

*** ComicBook/SteveTrevor doesn't often go far out of his way to disguise his appearance but when he does even his closest friends and girlfriend have been fooled.

* The entire premise of DC Vertigo title ''ComicBook/HumanTarget'', along with a healthy dose of BecomingTheMask.

* Christopher Chance, star of the comic book and [[{{Creator/FOX}} quickly-cancelled]] TV series ''Series/HumanTarget'', though comicverse Chance doesn't impersonate, he ''becomes'' (often resorting to surgery, which is kind of cheating).
** In the original comic books, he often relies on disguises.

* ''Film/{{Zelig}}'' (played by Creator/WoodyAllen) is pathologically capable of blending in [[TheZelig with important people]], due to a childhood need to fit in. This enables him to impersonate a surgeon, a sex god, and a member of Hitler's inner circle (among other politicians), despite having no particular skill and being Jewish. He can even [[BlackLikeMe change his race]], causing the Ku Klux Klan to pronounce him "a triple threat".

* ''LightNovel/AscendanceOfABookworm'': Ferdinand's spy Justus has a real appearance that makes him TheNondescript, which allows him to choose what distinctive features to have when disguised. It's also not unheard of him to [[DisguisedInDrag dress up as a woman]] to go into places where men aren't allowed, such as gender-segregated social events.

* In Season Two of ''Series/ThePunisher2017'' we have Amy, a teenage grifter who teams up with Frank Castle. In "Nakazat", she switches from waitress to schoolgirl guise in a matter of seconds ''while being followed''. Earlier she dresses in a Creator/JudyGarland outfit to get Frank into a child pornographer's studio.

* ''Series/MissionImpossible'':
** Rollin Hand (Martin Landau) and Paris (Creator/LeonardNimoy).
** The revival had Nicholas Black: he was the one to wear the LatexPerfection masks because he had an acting background.

%%* The Spanish character [[ComicBook/MortadeloYFilemon Mortadelo]].

* ''Literature/TheDayOfTheJackal'', in which the eponymous assassin is a Master of Disguise capable of getting close to his target (Charles De Gaulle) undetected, helped [[LifeImitatesArt inspire the nickname]] for RealLife assassin and terrorist Carlos "The Jackal", who had similar abilities to elude authorities.