History Main / ReverseRelationshipReveal

* In ''Film/WhateverHappenedToBabyJane'', Blanche has been abused and horrifically treated by her sister Jane, who crippled her for life while attempting to kill her. It was actually Blanche who crippled herself trying to kill a drunken Jane, who remembers nothing of that night, and on whom Blanche has manipulatively pinned her crippling.

* In one of the stories in ''The Practical Princess and Other Liberated Fairy Tales'', "Literature/{{Petronella}}", the eponymous heroine is a princess who is trying to rescue a handsome prince from an evil wizard who sets her {{Impossible Task}}s. It eventually transpires the completely obnoxious prince is TheThingThatWouldntLeave, and the not-so-evil wizard was setting these tasks because ''he'' was attracted to her and didn't know how to say so.

* ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone'' sets the audience up to believe that Snape is evil, and that he is blackmailing the innocent Professor Quirrell. It turns out that Quirrell is actually a servant of Lord Voldemort and Snape is trying to stop him.

* In Creator/HarryHarrison's SF novel ''Invasion: Earth'', an alien spacecraft crash-lands on Earth, after being hijacked by a different alien race. It turns out the peaceful alien race is being set up to look like aggressors by the aliens who actually want to take over Earth.

** ''Literature/TheMurderOnTheLinks'': Jack Renaud is apparently in love with TheGirlNextDoor Marthe Daubreuil but had a brief fling with a Vaudeville performer named Bella Duveen. It turns out that Jack is really in love with Bella, and it was his affair with Marthe that was just a passing infatuation.

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* The ''WesternAnimation/LoonaticsUnleashed'' episode ''My Life Is A Circus'' has the Loonatics captured by The Ringmaster, who has Otto the Odd use a sonic DNA scrambler to transform them into patchwork freaks. After their escape, the Loonatics corner The Ringmaster, only to discover that he's merely the face of the operation. Otto the Odd is the mastermind behind the freak show.

* In ''WithoutAClue'' it's revealed early on that Dr Watson is actually the brilliant detective, and SherlockHolmes is the bumbling sidekick.

* ''{{Manga/Bleach}}'': [[SmugSnake Gin]] seemed to be the BigBad who had killed [[FatherToHisMen Aizen]] for working against him. Then it's revealed that Aizen is actually the BigBad and Gin is his [[TheDragon right-hand man]]. Eventually, it's revealed that Gin joined Aizen solely to kill him for a wrong that happened in Gin's [[BestServedCold distant past]]. However, Aizen knew Gin's real motive and [[ThanatosGambit kept him close]] to turn Gin's betrayal into an opportunity for a huge power-up. While Gin's goal was the same as the protagonists (to stop Aizen), he was always a villain, albeit one Aizen was using rather than relying on.
* In ''Anime/SeikimatsuOccultGakuin'', among the characters the "[[ClassicalAntiHero hero]]" Fumiaki interacts with are Chihiro, a suspicious character who spies on the heroine, Maya, and has an [[AbhorrentAdmirer unwanted]] crush on Fumiaki, and the sweet Mikaze, who is the Betty to the heroine's Veronica. It turns out Chihiro was GoodAllAlong and trying to protect Maya and the innocent Mikaze is actually a [[HornyDevils Horny Devil]] and the BigBad.

** The short story ''Triangle At Rhodes'' involves two married couples, with two of the partners apparently in an adulterous affair. It is really the other two partners who are in an affair, and who are plotting to kill their spouses and marry each other, and this plot includes creating the illusion of an affair between the others.

*** Jane Wilkinson is apparently the victim of a frame-up, in which Carlotta Adams was employed to kill Lord Edgware. In fact, Jane was the real murderer and Carlotta her victim.

* In HarryHarrison's SF novel ''Invasion: Earth'', an alien spacecraft crash-lands on Earth, after being hijacked by a different alien race. It turns out the peaceful alien race is being set up to look like aggressors by the aliens who actually want to take over Earth.

* In ''{{Danganronpa}}'', [[SacrificialLamb Junko Enoshima]] [[CruelAndUnusualDeath is sadistically killed by Monokuma]] right after the start of the first case as punishment for protesting the rules of his "game." Later, it's revealed that there is a 16th student whose identity has been kept secret: "Super High School-Level Soldier" Mukuro Ikusaba, who is immediately speculated to be the true identity of the mastermind. However, it turns out that Mukuro and Junko are ''sisters,'' [[TwinSwitch and they switched places before the game even started]]: not only is Junko the ''real'' mastermind, but ''she'' killed Mukuro rather than vice versa!

* ''{{Manga/Bleach}}'': [[SmugSnake Gin]] seemed to be the BigBad who had killed [[FatherToHisMen Aizen]] for working against him. Then it's revealed that Aizen is actually the BigBad and Gin is his [[TheDragon right-hand man]]. Eventually, it's revealed that Gin joined Aizen solely to kill him for a wrong that happened in Gin's [[BestServedCold distant past]]. However, while the rest of the characters didn't know this, Aizen did. He [[ThanatosGambit needed]] Gin to betray him because it guaranteed he'd obtain a power-up in the process. While Gin's goal was the same as the protagonists (to stop Aizen), he was always a villain, albeit one Aizen was using rather than relying on.

* ''{{Manga/Bleach}}'': [[SmugSnake Gin]] was initially believed to be the BigBad who had killed [[FatherToHisMen Aizen]] for working against him. Then it's revealed that Aizen is actually the BigBad and Gin is his [[TheDragon right-hand man]]. Eventually, it's revealed that Gin joined Aizen solely to kill him for a wrong that happened in Gin's [[BestServedCold distant past]]. However, while the rest of the characters didn't know this, Aizen did. He [[ThanatosGambit needed]] Gin to betray him because it guaranteed he'd obtain a power-up in the process. While Gin's goal was the same as the protagonists (to stop Aizen), he was always a villain, albeit one Aizen was using rather than relying on.

* ''{{Manga/Bleach}}'': [[SmugSnake Gin]] was initially believed to be the BigBad who had killed [[FatherToHisMen Aizen]] for working against him. Then it's revealed that Aizen is actually the BigBad and Gin is his [[TheDragon right-hand man]]. Eventually, it's revealed that Gin joined Aizen solely to kill him for a wrong that happened in Gin's [[BestServedCold distant past]]. However, while the rest of the characters didn't know this, Aizen did. He [[ThanatosGambit needed]] Gin to betray him because it guaranteed he'd obtain a power-up in the process. While Gin's goal was the same as the protagonists (to stop Aizen), he was never anything but a villain, albeit one Aizen was using rather than relying on.

* In ''{{Manga/Bleach}},'' Gin Ichimaru is believed to have killed Sosuke Aizen; his subsequent behaviors establish him as an evil character who brutally impaled the beloved captain. In two separate reveals, Aizen is exposed as the actual BigBad who faked his death as part of a plot to seize power, and Ichimaru's back story shows that he [[TheMole became close to Aizen in order to take revenge for prior evil deeds]]. When Ichimaru actually ''does'' run Aizen through much later in the story, there is no question as to which character is the actual antagonist.

** The villain Nale, the EvilTwin of one of the protagonists, is consistently presented as an unpleasant SmugSnake. Later in the strip, the reader is introduced to Nale's [[AffablyEvil affable]] EvilOverlord father, Tarquin, and his equally affable sidekick, [[EvilChancellor Minister Malack]], both of whom oppose him. While initially, the reader is encouraged to root for the two of them against Nale, especially because Malack has a personal motive as Nale murdered his children, it turns out that [[BaitTheDog both of them are probably even eviler than Nale]], and Tarquin opposes Nale because [[DoWrongRight Nale is bad at being an effective villain]]. As for Malack, he is a vampire, his "children" were his vampire spawn, and he plans to outlive all his allies, thus claiming a continent spanning empire for himself so he can start making hundreds if not ''thousands'' of ''daily'' human sacrifices ([[DeathCamps he hopes to develop some sort of automation]] [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything to make this sacrifice process more efficient, maybe with a gas chamber or something...]]).

** The villain Nale, the EvilTwin of one of the protagonists, is consistently presented as an unpleasant SmugSnake. Later in the strip, the reader is introduced to Nale's [[AffablyEvil affable]] EvilOverlord father, Tarquin, and his equally affable sidekick, [[EvilChancellor Minister Malack]], both of whom oppose him. While initially, the reader is encouraged to root for the two of them against Nale, especially because Malack has a personal motive as Nale murdered his children, it turns out that [[BaitTheDog both of them are probably even eviler than Nale]], and Tarquin opposes Nale because [[DoWrongRight Nale is bad at being an effective villain]]. As for Malack, he is a vampire who wants to rule over an empire in which living creatures are treated like cattle, and his children are his vampire spawn.

* The ''WesternAnimation/LoonaticsUnleashed'' episode ''My Life Is A Circus'' has the Loonatics captured by The Ringmaster, who has Otto the Odd use a sonic DNA scrambler to transform them into patchwork freaks. After their escape, the Loonatics corner The Ringmaster, only to discover that he's merely the face of the operation. Otto the Odd is the mastermind behind the freak show.

* The sci-fi story upon which ''Film/TheDayTheEarthStoodStill'' is based on, Harry Bates' "Farewell To The Master", Klaatu is set up to be [[MyNaymeIs Gnut]]/[[KillerRobot Gort's]] master and gets killed early on (in the original story he's shot by a lunatic immediately after he introduces himself, making both movies a variation of SparedByTheAdaptation (in that he lasts longer)), with the [[WhamLine twist at the end]] that Gnut/Gort was ''Klaatu's'' master all along.

* ''Series/TheBennyHillShow''. At the end of a sketch parodying ''Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid'' Butch & Sundance are captured. We see them talking to Butch's girlfriend through prison bars; then they leave and we see that she is the one locked up while they ride off into the sunset.

* In ''Film/TheSting'', we see the gloved hand of a man stalking Johnny Hooker, then later that hand raising a gun and firing... at Hooker's new girlfriend (who we later learn was about to kill Hooker). Then the man comes out of hiding, explains the situation, and tells Johnny he (the man) was hired by Gondorff to protect Johnny.

* In an episode of ''Series/PicketFences'' Kimberly sees one of her classmates kissing said classmate's father. Kimberly calls the cops. It turns out the classmate and the father aren't father and daughter, but husband and wife in a Mormon polygamous marriage (with the "mother" actually being the senior wife).

** Early in the comic, the BigBad Xyon, and TheDragon, Redcloak, appear to have a VillainousFriendship. This is revealed to be very much not the case in the prequel work ''Start Of Darkness'', which reveals that initially Xykon was TheDragon to Redcloak and his brother, Right Eye, who partnered with him to advance their well-intentioned goals. Ultimately, Redcloak helped Xykon become a lich and Right Eye realized that Xykon was bad news and wanted to pursue a peaceful life, and attempted to stop Xykon. Redcloak killed his brother, and Xykon then gave Redcloak a brutal (and accurate) TheReasonYouSuckSpeech, revealing that he couldn't have been harmed anyway but wanted to see what Redcloak would do- he states that he knows he can't trust Redcloak, but knows Redcloak would never betray him, because [[NeverMyFault while Redcloak knows he did/is doing the wrong thing, if he ever admitted it, he would be acknowledging that his brother died for nothing]].

May involve TheManInFrontOfTheMan. BettyAndVeronicaSwitch and ActuallyThatsMyAssistant are subtropes, as is DecoyLeader as long as the audience doesn't know before TheReveal. Compare also AggressiveSubmissive.