History Main / SecretIdentityIdentity

* At one point of the manga version of ''Manga/CatsEye'', the girls decide to try and draw [[SympatheticInspectorAntagonist Toshio]] into their thieving gang, with Hitomi (who is also [[DatingCatwoman Toshio's girlfriend]]) materially attempting the job with her hair dyed blonde and green contact lenses. At first, she's just doing the attempts and flirting with him... But at one point, Hitomi realizes that she's jealous of the blonde Cat's Eye, ''and the blonde Cat's Eye is jealous of Hitomi!'' [[LampshadeHanging Hitomi openly wonders what's wrong with herself]]...

*** In ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight'', if you wait until [[spoiler:Scarecrow publically outs Batman's identity]] to aprehend [[spoiler:Two-Face]], they will provide their own thoughts on the trope. [[spoiler:''both'' Two-Face and Harvey Dent think Bruce is the persona and they know a thing or two about personas.]]

---->'''[[spoiler:Two-Face]]''': [[spoiler:...it's the face you ''choose''.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'', there's a strong indication that Adrien feels pressured into hiding his true self for his restrictive father's sake -- pressure he no longer feels as Cat Noir. Although the main difference between "Cat Noir" and "Adrien Agreste" is that the former dials his verbal filter back a bit and makes more lame puns, so the identity crisis is more about him having some self-confidence issues than being LostInCharacter. That said, he is quite hurt when Kagami, during their brief stint as a couple, insists that his "clown"-like behavior is not Adrien's true self, and is made quite happy to hear Ladybug say (under the effects of a TruthSerum-like power) that, despite trying to hide it, she actually ''likes'' Cat Noir's sense of humor, "clown" and all.

** Throughout the mythos, there is a [[DependingOnTheWriter common but far-from-universal]] idea that is Batman is the real identity, while Bruce Wayne is a construct.

** The extent to which this is true varies over time, tending to oscillate from one extreme to the other in a manner reminiscent of a CyclicTrope. As of October 2007, most current portrayals are tending away from this trope; no doubt it will change back in a few years. And given the speech about Bruce being the mask at the end of ''Batman Begins'', and the way movies tend to set the next few years of the comics they're based on, that may already be starting.

* ComicBook/{{Superman}} goes up and down the spectrum, depending on series [[DependingOnTheWriter and writer]]. During UsefulNotes/{{the Silver Age|OfComicBooks}}, the "real" persona seemed to be Kal-El; ComicBook/PostCrisis, it's more Clark Kent. He's always "Clark" with his adopted parents, though. A key point in the plot of ''ComicBook/KingdomCome'' is that Superman has begun to lose his humanity, becoming less "Clark" and more "Kal-El".
** [[UsefulNotes/TheBronzeAgeOfComicBooks Bronze Age]] story ''ComicBook/DCComicsPresents #85: ComicBook/TheJungleLine'' by Creator/AlanMoore featured Superman getting infected by a Kryptonian disease. The disease causes hallucinations comprised of two figures, similar to a GoodAngelBadAngel, one of whom thought he should accept it because death comes to us all, while the other one insisted he had a duty to fight it off. The defeatist appeared as an empty suit with glasses hovering above it, and the fighter as an empty Superman costume. Both referred to him as "Kal" and to each other as "Clark" and "Superman". At the end he wakes up, insisting he invented both of them, and [[TakeAThirdOption neither are real]].

* Unlike ComicBook/{{Superman}}, ComicBook/WonderWoman was not raised by mortals, which makes all the difference. For some time in UsefulNotes/{{the Silver Age|OfComicBooks}}, she was a full-time civilian. For about two decades ComicBook/PostCrisis, she had no secret identity at all. At all times, the Amazon Princess Diana is basically the real her.

** Several of Batman's villains identify themselves by their codenames rather than their real names, and many come to see their costumed personas as their real selves. This includes popular foes such as Johnathan Crane (Scarecrow), Harvey Dent (Two-Face), and Edward Nygma (The Riddler).