History Main / RevealingCoverup

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': Near the end of "A Canterlot Wedding, Part One", Twilight Sparkle's slanderous and unfounded claims that her brother's wife-to-be, Princess Cadance is evil has resulted in her friends, her brother, and the princess losing their trust in her, leaving her a doubt-filled wreck. Instead of talking her into going back to Ponyville in shame, or just leaving her alone, the "Cadance" decides to reveal her true colors and sends Twilight down to the dungeons, where she finds Cadance (the '''REAL''' one), realizes she was half-right all along (with the other Cadance turning out to be an evil imposter) and organizes a breakout followed by a wedding interruption.

* When journalist Brian Deer began investigating Andrew Wakefield's study into the alleged connection between the MMR vaccine and autism, Wakefield attempted to shut him up by suing him for libel. This backfired massively, as not only did this act validate Deer's suspicions even further, but the terms of the lawsuit ensued that Deer would have full access to Wakefield's research notes and be able to see all the inconsistencies and lies firsthand. [[note]]In general, this is why launching a suit to hide something or make people stop talking about it is a bad idea. You do ''not'' control the [[https://www.hg.org/legal-articles/what-is-discovery-in-a-civil-case-30930 discovery process]]; it's best to assume that whatever you least want to know will come out in it.[[/note]] In an interview, Deer recalls that at one point, Wakefield's lawyers had realised ''just how bad'' some of the documents they had handed over were, and were rushing to court to withdraw the case so that they could recall all the discovery materials; meanwhile Deer and his team, aware that this was happening, were frantically scouring all the documents they had, looking for the damning evidence they now knew ''for sure'' had to be in there, but which would be taken out of their hands very shortly.

* Defied (although even then it requires explanation) in ''ComicBook/{{Preacher}}'': in a flashback to one of Herr Starr's first assignments for the conspiracy he works for he was asked to get rid of two reporters that the conspiracy had locked up in an insane asylum for getting too close to the truth in a way that doesn't lead back to them. Starr [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill sets the entire asylum on fire killing everyone inside, reporters included]]. When his baffled and irate higher-ups ask why the hell he did that, Starr explains that killing just the reporters would have probably provided proof that they were ProperlyParanoid, but killing ''everybody'' makes it impossible to discern who was the target, or even if there ''was'' a target, and may probably [[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident be dismissed as an accident]]. [[JerkassHasAPoint Starr's superiors acknowledge that he has a point.]]

** When villains Blockhouse and Jolt kidnap Comicbook/LoisLane, they cover the inner walls of their hideout with lead, so Superman cannot find them with his x-ray vision. However, the lead covering makes the building stick out like a sore thumb to Superman, since it was the ''only'' thing he couldn't see through. This isn't the only time criminals try the trick and have it backfire on them; even [[Characters/BatmanTheJoker the Joker]] once fell victim to this, abducting Lois, [[Characters/SupermanJimmyOlsen Jimmy Olsen]] and Perry White and putting them in lead coffins (although since his whole motive for the plan was "Why not?" he clearly cared more about the game then winning).

* [[https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/suzanne-morphew-case-evidence-photos/ Barry Morphew]], who was suspected to have shot his wife with a TranquilizerDart only to have to kill her before she could call the police because InstantSedation is not TruthInTelevision, claimed that he was using the tranquilizer gun on a deer in April so he could remove his antlers and sell them... which is illegal. The sheriff investigating the case testified that it would be extremely rare to see a deer with antlers in April. He also testified they were never able to find the antlers Barry claimed to have taken.

* ''VideoGame/RuneScape'' quest "One Piercing Note" has you investigating a series of murders in a convent, whose victims all have their feet mutilated. The first also has her ''face'' mutilated beyond recognition. This is supposed to tip the player off that [[spoiler: the first victim is not Sister Anna as the other nuns had assumed, but the missing novice Isabella, dressed in Anna's habit and placed in her bed. Sister Anna is the killer.]]

** Hugo Drax in ''Moonraker'' can't stop trying to shine suspicion onto himself. Bond was initially sent to investigate the shuttle vanishing with the Drax production facilities as simply the starting point in his investigation ... and before an hour has passed after his arrival Drax tries to have him killed in an 'accident', then tries again with a sniper the next day; all put holding up a giant 'I am the bad guy!' sign as he does so. When Bond didn't actually have ''any'' reasons to suspect him of being involved in the theft at all!

** Hugo Drax in ''Film/Moonraker'' can't stop trying to shine suspicion onto himself. Bond was initially sent to investigate the shuttle vanishing with the Drax production facilities as the starting point in his investigation ... and Drax promptly before an hour has passed after his arrival tries to have him killed, then tries again the next day; all put holding up a giant 'I am the bad guy!' sign as he does so. When Bond actually didn't have any reasons to suspect him of being involved in the theft at all.

* [[https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/suzanne-morphew-case-evidence-photos/ Barry Morphew]], who was suspected to have shot his wife with a TranquilizerDart only to have to kill her before she could call the police because InstantSedation is not TruthInTelevision, claimed that he was using the tranquilizer gun on a deer so he could remove his antlers and sell them... which is illegal.

* In [[WesternAnimation/Justice League]] the investigation into the source of Supergirl's nightmares seems to have been settled by a visit to a lab she was treated at until they're attacked as they leave, confirming there really ''is'' some conspiracy linked to her. Even worse, [[spoiler: Profesor Hamilton at the lab was part of the conspiracy, indicating that its members didn't even bother checking with each other before they attacked]].

* In ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "The First Duty", Nova Squadron's attempt to hide the fact they performed a highly illegal move that got a classmate killed ended up being exposed due to the fact that the crew of the ''Enterprise'' got involved as one of those involved was Wesley Crusher. When Picard figures it out, he's not too happy.

* In ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyDualDestinies'', [[spoiler:the desperate attempts of "the phantom" to keep his existence a secret, which includes at least two murders (three if you count him killing Bobby Fulbright and stealing his identity) and ''bombing a courtroom'' to destroy evidence, ultimately contributes to his undoing.]]

** When villains Blockhouse and Jolt kidnap Comicbook/LoisLane, they cover the inner walls of their hideout with lead, so Superman cannot find them with his x-ray vision. However, the lead covering makes the building stick out like a sore thumb to Superman, since it was the ''only'' thing he couldn't see through. This isn't the only time criminals try the trick and have it backfire on them.
** In another case from ''ComicBook/SupermansPalJimmyOlsen'', a group of crooks was running a scam with one pretending to be the Man of Steel and asking for money to guard various valuables. This attracts [[Characters/SupermanJimmyOlsen Jimmy's]] attention, as not only did the fake Supes fail to recognize him, but also he was aware that Superman would never ask for money for his services. The scam attracts further suspicion when Jimmy attacks and is easily able to give the fake Superman trouble, causing the crook to yell for his partners to shoot him "before he ruins everything!" A little late for that...

* In one episode of ''Series/MurderSheWrote'', Jessica is shot at while investigating at the behest of the accused's wife, while the accused himself is in jail. She quickly realizes [[spoiler:it was the wife, who was worried Jessica was starting to think her husband might be guilty and wanted to provide evidence otherwise]].

** Discussedd in ''Literature/GuardsGuards'': The Patrician orders the sooty smears that are the only remains of the dragon's first victims to be painted over to not cause panic. His secretary somewhat drily remarks that in [[TheCityNarrows the Shades]], fresh paint is far more suspicious than people-shaped stains on a wall.

** ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'': The culprit of the third trial falls afoul of this in trying to make their [[spoiler:first]] victim look like they committed suicide. [[spoiler:As the Ultimate Nurse, Mikan should have been able to tell that Ibuki had died of ''strangulation'' rather than hanging, despite the killer hanging the body afterwards]].

* In ''Film/Red2010'', and bonus points for being a cover-up ''of'' a cover-up. [[spoiler:In 1981, a young Army officer snapped and massacred an entire village in Guatemala. A number of CIA agents, including Moses, were shuttled in to clean up the mess. Now, some 30 years later, a young reporter named Stephanie Chen has gotten wind of the thing and tries to get the scoop from someone else who was involved, arms magnate Alexander Dunning (Dreyfuss). He calls the young Army officer—Vice President Robert Stanton—who panics and just decides to KillEmAll. (Again.) And this brings us back to Frank and Sarah. All of this is revealed to be a ruse because Dunning was planning to make Stanton the president and use the incident to blackmail him. Any surviving witnesses to the original incident (Frank, Joe, the people the reporter talked to) had to go because they knew too much.]]

* ''Fanfic/JWITCHSeason1'': The Guardians collapse [[TheAlcatraz Cavigor]] during the jailbreak in order to hide their use of the Infinite City to sneak in. However, the fact that they were so thorough in doing so makes Tarakudo suspicious, and leads him to posit that underground tunnels were used. Investigating this leads to the villains discovering the Infinite City anyway.

* In ''Literature/MakingMoney'' Cosmo always sends the ProfessionalKiller he keeps on staff to silence anyone related to his obession with Lord Vetinari when he has what he wants from them, turning quiet purchases even Vetinari might not have noticed into a pattern of murders.