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1An EvilTwin will often try to impersonate the character they're a twin of, but sometimes it's reversed and instead the character is pretending to be the Evil Twin. Never mind that the original character hasn't studied the Evil Twin's typical mannerisms, knows nothing of his background and may not have his abilities. Never mind that the Evil Twin may be wearing a mask or equivalent which the real character can't take off since it's his real face. They look alike, so it has to work, right? In fact, it works more often than it should, often stopped only by gross problems (such as the real Evil Twin walking through the door or [[IfYoureSoEvilEatThisKitten being put in a situation where they'd have to commit a truly evil act]]), not by the dozens of flaws in the impersonation that nobody notices. Frequently it works because even if the Evil Twin's {{Mooks}} might notice that their boss is NotHimself, they are often ultimately [[BadBoss too scared of him to question his changes in behavior]].
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3Compare with HughMann, where an attempt to pass as human by a non-human is hilariously obvious. Sometimes exposed by a BluffTheImpostor maneuver. Subtrope to IdenticalTwinMistake.
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6!!Examples
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9[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
10* In the Reigai arc in ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'', [[spoiler:Mayuri]] disguises [[spoiler:himself]] as [[spoiler:his]] reigai impostor. Using fake contact lenses.
11* The Decepticon toy-only character Sky Shadow in the ''Anime/TransformersCybertron'' has the same body mold as the Autobot Jetfire, which allows him to impersonate Jetfire as a spy. However, he actually ''is'' Jetfire, [[DoubleAgent impersonating an impersonator]] in order to spy on the Decepticons. Confused yet?
12* In ''Manga/FushigiYuugi'', Suboshi pretends to be Amiboshi for awhile so he can avenge Yui's [[spoiler: alleged]] rape.
13* In ''Manga/FairyTail'', Erza Scarlet impersonates Erza Knightwalker, her BizarroUniverse counterpart. After the ruse is exposed, Knightwalker angrily cuts her hair so Scarlet can't do it again.
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16[[folder:Comic Books]]
17* ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'': In ''ComicBook/FantasticFour1961'' #2, the original Skrull story, the FF pretend to be the Skrull spies. They get away with it, too, since apparently the Skrulls don't ask them to speak Skrullian, let alone to change back into Skrull form. They also convince the Skrulls that Earth has amazing defences by showing them a ''science-fiction comic book''. Reed explained that something about how they see compared to humans resulted in them believing that what they saw on the comics were actual Earth defensive monsters.
18* ''ComicBook/TheFlash'': Detective Morillo impersonates Plunder, his MirrorUniverse evil duplicate, and takes the opportunity to bust on his partner.
19-->'''Morillo''': Yeah, I killed those cops and buried 'em. It wasn't easy. The old one was really fat. And ugly. And pretty bad at his job...
20* ''ComicBook/TheSmurfs'': Papa Smurf in the story "The Smurf Menace" attempts to impersonate his EvilTwin self the Great Leader after he, Jokey, and Hefty escape being imprisoned in the Gray Smurfs' prison camp in order to find the laboratory in the Grey Smurf Village and make the antidote that will cause the Gray Smurfs to disappear. The Gray Smurfs encountering Papa Smurf almost buy into the impersonation until Jokey accidentally lets slip a joke that gives them away.
21* ''ComicBook/ShangChi'': In ''ComicBook/MasterOfKungFu'', one of the final arcs reveals that his father has cloned Shang-Chi to create an equally deadly but more obedient son. Shang-Chi fakes his clone's facial scar and impersonates him to fool his father.
22* ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'': An odd variant, as Evil Sonic, prior to his change into Scourge, decides to have some fun and swaps places with Sonic, putting our hero at the mercy of his traitorous teammates while he decided to woo every girl in Knothole. It's also discovered that he had done that to his Antoine as well, swapping him with his heroic counterpart. This last bit was to explain away why Antoine TookALevelInJerkass after a TimeSkip.
23* ''ComicBook/TeenTitans'': In one storyline, the villain (mentally disturbed former Titan Jericho) can [[GrandTheftMe jump into people's bodies]], and was last seen occupying ComicBook/{{Cyborg}}, so to draw out another hero (the Vigilante) who is also looking for him, Cyborg pretends to still be possessed and fights his teammates... only to get the robot half of his head shot out for his trouble when the Vigilante shows up. Sometimes this works ''[[GoneHorriblyRight too]]'' [[GoneHorriblyRight well]]...
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26[[folder:Fan Works]]
27* Played with in ''Fanfic/WithStringsAttached''. During the New Zork chapter, the real Ringo is automatically mistaken for “Beagle Ringo” when he accidentally teleports into the Plaza Hotel, even though he has a beard (everyone assumes he had it magically grown on during a drunken bender). Given that his presence makes some trouble for “Beagle Ringo,” this sort of makes him the EvilTwin through no fault of his own. (It also makes his beard a BeardOfEvil.)
28* In the ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' fanfic ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/939330/1/Worshippers-of-insanity Worshippers of Insanity]]'' and related works by the author, [[spoiler:Gogo is actually Kefka's (good) twin brother. Long story]]. [[spoiler:He]] uses this to [[spoiler:his]] advantage twice in the former by pretending to be [[spoiler:Kefka]] in front of members of the [[spoiler:Cult of Kefka]] to trick them into spilling their plans and later leave [[spoiler:him]] alone with [[spoiler:the captured Returners]]. There's even a second duplication of sorts, as for the latter trick to work, [[spoiler:Cid]] had to impersonate [[spoiler:Gogo]].
29* In ''Fanfic/OutOfTheDeadLand'', one character manages to pull this off in the lead-up to a BigDamnHeroes scene, with "twin" meaning "robot duplicate" here. [[spoiler:Namely, Natasha, who Tony later points out is probably the only one of them who could impersonate a robot convincingly enough to fool a literal computer program (e.g. the NotQuiteDead Arnim Zola).]]
30[[/folder]]
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32[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
33* Pretty much all of the movie ''Film/FaceOff'' is a twist on this, with both Sean Archer and Castor Troy assuming the other's identity for different reasons (Archer to stop Castor's evil plot and Castor to mess with Archer's life royally). This is made easier through a process that allows them to switch faces, [[HandWave with body differences being taken care of as well]]. Archer has spent so much time pursuing Castor that he knows everything about him and as such can properly imitate his voice. Castor, on the other hand acts nothing like Archer, but given Archer had a strained relationship with his coworkers and family since Castor killed his son, when Castor goes around acting as Archer, they are taken aback by his different personality like he found religion but nobody immediately guesses the truth.
34* This was the ultimate twist in the 1998 film version of ''Film/TheManInTheIronMask'', as the Three Musketeers work to replace the corrupt King of France with his secret twin brother.
35* ''Film/TheAvengers1998''. Mrs. Peel gets into Sir August's underground base by posing as her EvilTwin clone (she wears the clone's black leather jumpsuit and gives a password). Sir August thought that the clone survived the balloon crash and tricked Steed into thinking that it was the real Mrs. Peel. He realizes she isn't the clone (and sends Bailey after her) when he detects her going after his weather control machine. Note that none of this was stated in the movie, the audience had to figure it out for themselves.
36* Tom Lincoln in ''Film/TheIsland2005'' isn't necessarily evil. He's just a rich playboy whose philandering ways have resulted in him having a few months left to live. But when his "insurance policy", i.e. his clone Lincoln Six Echo shows up at his home, he appears to be glad to find out about it. He then immediately calls the cloning company and tells them about the clone. Tom Lincoln tells Lincoln Six Echo he will take him to the media to reveal this fraud but it's really a trap. At the end of the trap Lincoln Six Echo (conveniently wearing Tom's clothes) manages to slip his bracelet on Tom's arm, resulting in the latter's death. He further continues to imitate Tom by adopting his Scottish accent after hearing it for about an hour. Laurent, a trained mercenary, fails to detect any deception, even though the clone slipped the bracelet on Tom's arm in while Laurent was looking at them. Only later, while performing an autopsy on Tom's body, the doctor realizes that the bracelet is on the wrong arm. Meanwhile, the clone has infiltrated the cloning company as Tom (supposedly there to make a new clone), still using a Scottish accent and behaving like a rich playboy. Oh, and he says "shite" at one point, even though Tom never said the word in his presence.
37** Of course, one of the subplots in the film is that [[spoiler:the clones are starting to recall memories of their "donors"]], so this is partially justified.
38* Creator/BetteDavis did this in two different movies. In romantic melodrama ''Film/AStolenLife'', Kate is accidentally mistaken for her now dead EvilTwin sister, Pat. She passes off as her easily enough but soon everyone around her knows something is off. In ''Film/DeadRinger'', which is played more for tragic drama, Edith murders her EvilTwin sister Margaret and assumes her identity. Once again (of course), things go wrong.
39* A wild turn in the 2023 Lifetime film ''The Man With My Husband's Face.'' When her husband Heath vanishes on a trip, Katrina is happy when he returns but with some mild amnesia. She writes off his odd behavior as effects of the accident but gets suspicious when she sees he suddenly has a leg tattoo. A woman named Prisca shows up, claiming she's the therapist for Jacob, Heath's twin brother who was separated at birth. Heath just learned Jacob existed and upset at him having a great life. Katrina and Prisca look up a storage locker and horrified to find Heath's body. Katrina races to tell the police of this imposter but [[spoiler: [[ItWasHereISwear the body is gone]] and when she brings them to Prisca, she claims to have no idea who Katrina is and to top if off, Jacob's tattoo is gone. Escaping the cops, Katrina finds Jacob and Prisca together and realizes the truth: "Jacob" never existed, it's been Heath all along and this whole thing was a scam to make it appear Katrina was crazy about "my husband's evil murderous twin" and have her institutionalized so Heath can get control of her stock options in a company about to go public and make her millions. Luckily, Katrina is able to stop both and expose the plot to the cops.]]
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42[[folder:Gamebooks]]
43* In book 19 of ''Literature/LoneWolf'', the hero kills his EvilTwin, Wolf's Bane, and impersonates him. He successfully infiltrates the enemy base, and Wolf's Bane's superiors are fooled because Lone Wolf's aura was altered to match his. He is outed when he is forced to help Alyss, who has snuck in as well and gets spotted.
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46[[folder:Literature]]
47* Played both ways and then subverted multiple times in thriller ''The Third Twin'' by Ken Follett. Main character, [[PluckyGirl plucky academic underdog]], has uncovered evidence that eight identical twins (including her boyfriend) were implanted secretly (and nonconsensually) in separate mothers during the early days of ''in vitro'' fertilization; boyfriend's EvilCounterpart and titular Third Twin, who was raised by the CorruptCorporateExecutive who ran the experiment, spies on her on his father's behalf. Evil Counterpart's cover is blown when he shows a behavioral tic she saw his dad use, and then captured when Boyfriend intervenes. Boyfriend then impersonates Evil Counterpart--and succeeds for nearly 12 hours--only to have ''his'' cover blown when he ''fails'' to show a behavioral tic (a family in-joke).
48* In Creator/KeithLaumer's classic ''Imperium'', a man is recruited by an interdimensional empire that occupies alternate Earths. His mission is to replace the overlord of one of these realities, who is his alternate self. The ruse works perfectly until the first time he confronts one of the overlord's inner circle -- who, upon seeing him, immediately orders his arrest. [[spoiler: What no one except the inner circle knew was that the warlord had lost both his legs some time previously.]]
49* In the ''Literature/SkulduggeryPleasant'' novel ''Kingdom of the Wicked'', Valkyrie impersonates [[spoiler:her AntiChrist EvilCounterpart Darquesse]]. In a subversion, she acts her heart out and does a decent job, probably because the stakes are insanely higher than usual with this trope - [[spoiler:Darquesse is a [[PhysicalGod Physical Goddess]] who can survive ''beheadings'', and she is trying to bluff Mevolent, another PhysicalGod who can and has fought her to a standstill. Eventually, Mevolent sees through her, just in time for a handy Teleporter to get Val the hell out of there.]]
50* Done inadvertently in Creator/MarionZimmerBradley's ''The Door Through Space''; the hero and his antagonist both fit the same general description, and when the hero realizes that the bad guys have mistaken him for the other guy he proceeds to take advantage as best he can.
51* Similarly, in the ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' story ''The Andalite Chronicles,'' Elfangor impersonates Visser Three shortly after the latter managed to take control of Alloran's body. The thing is, the Visser's subordinates only know that he's supposed to have an Andalite host now, but doesn't know ''which'' Andalite, so they believe Elfangor and obey his order... to attack the ''real'' Visser Three while Elfangor escapes. Oops.
52* Kim Kinnison does something very similar to this in ''[[Literature/{{Lensman}} Second Stage Lensmen]]''. While not actually standing in for an evil version of ''himself'', the position he rises to within the enemy organisation corresponds almost exactly to the one he occupies in the Galactic Patrol's hierarchy (one below the actual leadership but with major input into strategic decision making), and the mental discipline needed to stay in character matches this trope very well. Unfortunately the one being who has any suspicion of him and can call him on it does, and at the most critical point in the plan. The fact that Kinnison pretty much knows this is coming doesn't make what follows any easier for him.
53* An example from the children's book series ''Secrets of Droon''. The PowerTrio is exploring a lost city and find out that two of them are doubles of the Duke and his sister. The kid who looks like the Duke tries to get the guards to go away by ordering them to go make him a burger... but he asks for extra pickles, leading to this exchange:
54-->'''Guard:''' But... Duke Slorpo ''hates'' pickles...\
55'''Neal:''' Really? What kind of a nut is he? I mean, am I?
56* Subverted in ''Literature/RangersApprentice'' with [[spoiler:Halt]]. He has to impersonate his twin brother, but actually knows what his evil twin is like. It helps that his twin hardly ever appeared in public, so the impersonation was fairly easy to pull off. Those who had met his twin were surprised, and suspected something, but, not being aware that he had a twin in the first place, they weren't sure what to think.
57* Tash Arranda tries this, not so much to fool any one person but to better blend in with her horde of clones in ''Literature/GalaxyOfFear''. Success is mixed - her first attempt fails, but later she also pretends one of her clones is ''her'', which works.
58* "[[Literature/MikeHammer One Lonely Night]]" by Creator/MickeySpillane. A radical politician campaigning against corruption and DirtyCommunists hires Mike Hammer to catch his insane twin brother who committed a murder in public in apparent attempt to destroy his reputation (fortunately the politician was giving a speech before hundreds of people at the time). [[spoiler:Inverted in that Mike discovers the brother is a fraternal twin who doesn't look anything like the politician, who hired a look-alike actor to give the speech and committed the murder himself.]]
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61[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
62* ''Series/DoctorWho''
63** Subverted in ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS2E8TheChase The Chase]]''. The Daleks have made a robot double of the Doctor, which he pulled the plug on. The travellers discuss having the Doctor pretending to be the robot, and conclude that it's an absurd idea because the Daleks should know that their own robot isn't working. The Doctor sneaks off in the middle of the conversation to do it anyway... and is caught in around five seconds.
64** In ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS5E4TheEnemyOfTheWorld The Enemy of the World]]'', the Doctor visits Earth during the year 2018 and is discovered to bear a shocking resemblance to a Central American would-be dictator named Salamander. The "good guys" ask him to impersonate Salamander and infiltrate his organization. At the end of the story, with his evil plans in ruins, Salamander makes an unsuccessful attempt to escape in the TARDIS by impersonating the Doctor.
65** Done also in ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E4TheAndroidInvasion The Android Invasion]]'' when the Doctor pretends to be his android double and successfully fools the other androids. He also succeeds in reprogramming his double to assist him, a fact which is only revealed after the double has done a HeroicSacrifice in front of his horrified companion.
66** Done by the Doctor in the story ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E2Meglos Meglos]]''; discovered only when Meglos is shot in the belief that he's the Doctor and replies, "satisfied?"
67** Again in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E6TheAlmostPeople The Almost People]]" with the Doctor switching places with his Ganger counterpart. [[spoiler:His impersonation fools everyone... and the Gangers turn out to not be ''evil'' after all.]]
68* In ''Series/{{Alias}}'', after Anna Espinosa is "doubled" to look exactly like Sydney Bristow, Sydney kills and impersonates her to gain access to Prophet 5 and Arvin Sloane.
69* In ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' episode "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E16Doppelgangland Doppelgangland]]", Willow pretends to be Vampire Willow. She gets caught due to being insufficiently evil, which one supposes you could call an error in the impersonation. However, it initially works well, and has an effect on helping the Scoobies' strategy, because the MirrorUniverse EvilTwin's mooks don't know her much either and also are scared of her.
70* In ''Series/KnightRider'', Michael Knight impersonates his evil twin, Garth, in "Goliath". Revealed when his BeardOfEvil is torn off.
71* A non-twin variation is used in ''Series/The100'', where [[spoiler:Clarke, having been subjugated to a GrandTheftMe by Josephine for several episodes before purging her, has to impersonate being Josephine herself, claiming that "she" eliminated "Clarke's" mind. As the two had seen each other's thoughts and memories during that time, and even gained some of each others skills, Clarke can put on a near-perfect impersonation of Josephine]].
72* ''Series/HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys'': Done when Hercules ends up in a MirrorUniverse. In this case, though, he ''is'' undone by a flaw in his impersonation -- specifically, by an offer of his "favorite" food, which his EvilTwin actually hated.
73* ''Franchise/StarTrek''
74** The only really good example of this in canon ''Series/{{Star Trek|TheOriginalSeries}}'' is the original MirrorUniverse episode "[[Recap/StarTrekS2E4MirrorMirror Mirror, Mirror]]", in which Kirk, Uhura, [=McCoy=], and Scotty switch places with their Mirror counterparts due to a teleporter accident (meanwhile, in the Prime Universe, their Mirror counterparts are swiftly unmasked and thrown in the brig by Spock). In ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' Mirror Universe episodes, counterpart visitors are either known to be counterparts or were replacing good guys, and in ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' Mirror Universe episodes don't feature the main universe at all, so there ''are'' no counterparts. Non-canon novels, comics, and fanfics still feature this trope, though.
75** In encounters with the Borg, Jean-Luc Picard occasionally imitates Locutus (his identity when he was assimilated), since Borg drones will still acknowledge him as such. He does this a couple of times on the show and extensively in the novel ''The Return''.
76** Lampshaded at the end of "Mirror, Mirror", when Spock points out that Good Kirk and co., being civilized, were successfully able to pretend to be savages, while their savage counterparts lacked the self-control necessary to pull the reverse stunt.
77** In the Expanded Universe, Mirror Kira has now been replaced by a crazy Cardassian from the main universe, who was surgically alternated years ago to resemble the main Kira in part of a failed intelligence scheme. (Although this Cardassian was never seen in the series, "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS03E05SecondSkin Second Skin]]" has Kira asserted to be her and surgically altered "back".) This attempt appears to have inexplicably worked, despite the replacement not being the correct species, from the correct universe, or even an alternate universe version of that person, and thus having obvious gaps in knowledge.
78** And now, in ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'', the good guys have to pretend to be their Mirror Universe counterparts again. The two best examples are Sylvia Tilly, whose {{Doppelganger}} is the ruthless captain of the ISS ''Discovery'' (i.e., everything Tilly is ''not'') and Michael Burnham, whose counterpart is the equally feared captain of the ISS ''Shenzhou''. Brunham easily slips into the role of her counterpart, while Tilly takes several tries to get it right. Also, while Lorca does pretend to be his own double, we're not told anything about Mirror Lorca, other than his failed attempt at rebelling against TheEmperor, which could either indicate that he's a good guy (unlikely, given that it pretty much takes a KlingonPromotion to become a captain in this universe) or that he was simply making a play for the throne himself. Then again, Prime Lorca is hardly a paragon of virtue, given his highly questionable actions of late (which gets explained when it turns out [[spoiler:the Lorca we'd been following through the series ''is'' Mirror Lorca -- he crossed over after his coup failed and impersonated his Prime counterpart, covering up imperfections by pretending to have PTSD from the loss of his entire command]]). For bonus points, Lorca has his crew disguise the ship herself as her own EvilCounterpart, even repainting the decals to say "ISS ''Discovery''", and modifying the crew's uniforms to match the Terran ones, plus removing any aliens from the bridge.
79** Zig-zagged throughout the two-part ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' episode "Equinox". The EMH from the USS ''Equinox'', whose [[MoralityChip ethical subroutines]] were deleted by Capt. Ransom, inverts this trope, forcibly trading places with the Doctor from ''Voyager''. Posing as his ''Voyager'' counterpart, he helps free his ship's officers after they're arrested and later secretly gives information about ''Voyager'' to them. While aboard the ''Equinox'', the Doctor has his own subroutines suspended by Ransom and forced to operate on Seven, effectively turned into his own evil twin. After he's brought back to normal, the Doctor notes "It's quite disconcerting to know that all someone has to do is flick a switch to turn me into Mister Hyde.".
80* ''Series/{{Sliders}}'':
81** Averted in the pilot, where Arturo does a fairly reasonable impersonation of his otherworld Communist general counterpart. The soldier lets him through, but still shows the wherewithal to call command and ask where the said general is.
82** Unfortunately, this trope was played all too straight as the series wore on.
83* In the ''Series/Charmed1998'' episode "[[Recap/CharmedS5E11TheImportanceOfBeingPhoebe The Importance of Being Phoebe]]", the demon Kaia shapeshifted to appear like Phoebe, and Phoebe was able to impersonate Kaia in turn just by adopting some of her slutty mannerisms such as constantly playing with her hair.
84* ''Series/ThePrisoner1967'': In the episode "[[Recap/ThePrisonerE5TheSchizoidMan The Schizoid Man]]", after his double is killed, Number 6 decides to impersonate him in order to escape from The Village. He fails due to a BluffTheImpostor trick by Number 2.
85* An episode of ''Series/{{Friends}}'' has Phoebe pretending to be her sister Ursula to break up with Joey (to clarify, Ursula had decided to just stop seeing Joey, so Phoebe posed as her to give Joey closure with a proper break-up).
86* Done in the ''Series/StargateSG1'' episode "[[Recap/StargateSG1S9E13RippleEffect Ripple Effect]]", when the team's counterparts from other realities start getting stuck in their world. One team is slightly eviler than the rest. Predictably, this situation results in a brain-exploding number of self-impersonations. Also, in an earlier episode, Teal'c pulls a KillAndReplace on his own doppelganger to fool alt-Apophis, even though the original plan was to stun the double.
87* In one ''Series/HogansHeroes'' episode, the Germans planned to fake the escape of a British officer, sending his double, who'd assassinate Churchill after arriving in England. The Heroes, of course, captured the German impostor, rescued the Brit, and let the Germans ship him safely off to Britain. When greeted by a German soldier, he covered up his inability to speak German by claiming he was sticking to the British disguise. "Speak in English, you fool; I'm Group Captain Roberts, RAF."
88* An episode of ''Series/TheAvengers1960s'', "Two's a Crowd" had foreign agents groom an unscrupulous male model who closely resembled Steed to murder and impersonate him. He didn't do a good enough job of the "murder" part, resulting in Steed infiltrating the spy ring. Essentially the same concept was reused in ''The New Avengers'' episode "Faces."
89* In ''Series/TheLegendOfDickAndDom'', the BigBad creates EvilTwin versions of the heroes; when this is discovered, Prince Dick impersonates one of them to discover what they are up to. Notably, his fake BeardOfEvil is slightly ''more'' convincing than the doppleganger's real one, probably because the BigBad is [[StupidEvil not very competent]].
90* This trope is pretty much the entire plot of ''Series/{{Ringer}}'', although Bridget doesn't know that Siobhan is still alive [[spoiler:until the last episode of the first season]]. Bridget gets away with it most of the time, although [[spoiler:if on the occasions she's had to go to the police they'd thought of ''just taking her fingerprints'' the game would have been up a lot sooner]]...
91* In one episode of ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess'', Joxer pretends to be his triplet brother Jett, a freelance assassin. It's quite amusing.
92* In one episode of ''Series/{{Thunderstone}}'', Sundance is forced to do this in order to save Becky after she is captured by Sutch (Who tricked her by pretending to be Sundance). It fools almost nobody, but Sundance still manages to escape with Becky (as well as Noah and Arushka) because part of the villain’s plan involved letting them go.
93* ''Series/TheFlash2014'':
94** In "[[Recap/TheFlash2014S2E6EnterZoom Enter Zoom]]", Linda Park impersonates her Earth 2 counterpart, Doctor Light, in an attempt to lure Zoom into a trap. Unfortunately, [[BadBadActing her acting skills are horrible]]. It's a moot point because Zoom takes the bait anyway to prove he's much more powerful than Flash and beats the crap out of him.
95** In "[[Recap/TheFlash2014S2E7GorillaWarfare Gorilla Warfare]]", the Earth-2 Harrison Wells puts on his Earth 1 counterpart's Reverse Flash costume in an attempt to pacify Grodd, as Reverse Flash was one of the only humans Grodd liked. It fails because he's too nice; Grodd points out Reverse Flash never politely asks for anything and instead takes it.
96** In "[[Recap/TheFlash2014S2E22Invincible Invincible]]", Cisco and Caitlin distract Black Siren by disguising themselves as their Earth 2 counterparts, Reverb and Killer Frost. The attempt fails, as she pulls a "think fast" trick on "Reverb", then reveals that Cisco's Earth-2 counterpart has a different dominant hand.
97* In ''Series/CrisisOnEarthX'', Oliver impersonates his Earth-X Nazi counterpart to infiltrate their base. The ruse falls apart when he is asked to execute the counterpart of his love interest Felicity. Naturally, Quentin-X is ProperlyParanoid and doesn't give him a loaded gun, but being [[BadassNormal Oliver]] that doesn't stop him from instead slaughtering everyone else in the room and freeing her.
98* In the episode of ''Series/OnceUponATime'', "The Brothers Jones", David pretends to be James to fool Cruella, as the two are lovers. Subverted as it turns out Cruella wasn't fooled for a second and just played along for fun.
99* ''Series/WonderWoman1975'': In [[spoiler:"The Deadly Toys". Wonder Woman faces off against the toyman's robot version of herself that has been designed to defeat Diana and take her place. The battle ends with Wonder Woman being knocked unconscious by the aforementioned robot, who then follows the bad guy to enact his evil plan]]. Or so it seems.
100* In ''Series/Batwoman2019'', following ''Series/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths2019'' a Beth Kane from a universe where she never became Alice ends up on Earth-Prime. She attempts to impersonate Alice to save Kate, but doesn't know about Alice and Mouse's TrustPassword.
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103[[folder:Video Games]]
104* At the beginning of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'', Basch was imprisoned for regicide on Dalmasca's sovereign, Ashe's father, though [[spoiler:it comes to light later when Basch is rescued that it wasn't he who committed the crime, but his identical twin brother who works under the Archadian Empire: Judge Gabranth. This was reversed at the end of the game when Gabranth, on his dying breath, asked Basch to protect Larsa, who was to be the next Archadian Emperor. Basch takes on the role of Judge Gabranth for this purpose, his brother's death kept a secret.]]
105* ''VideoGame/MetalGear'':
106** Done briefly in a GimmickLevel in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid Integral'''s VR Missions - one stage requires the player to identify a soldier with poor eyesight who 'even mistook Snake for someone else', who is a murderer, and drag him to a spot on the map. The way of doing this is discovering a blond wig item hidden in the stage, which Snake then puts on, making him resemble Liquid. With the wig, walking past the soldier who did it causes him to salute.
107** Averted in the main game where, during the opening briefing sections Snake has long hair just like Liquid. One of the things he asks for at the end of the briefings is for a pair of scissors to cut his hair so he ''won't'' be mistaken for his evil twin.
108** Weird example in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'', as it was coincidental. Solid Snake dresses as a fictional Navy SEAL in order to get into an offshore cleaning facility without arousing suspicion. He encounters Raiden, who instantly recognizes him as being a dead ringer for Liquid Snake, another survivor of the cloning project which Solid Snake was born from -- because of this, he's unnaturally suspicious. It doesn't help that the disguise is paper-thin -- the director stated he wanted to make the disguise as transparent as possible to see how many players he could manage to fool nonetheless. (Add to this a third clone claiming to be Solid Snake while not even bothering to dress up, and you've got yourself a headache.) The game also credits the voice actor whenever a new character is introduced, so it doesn't take a rocket surgeon to put two and two together.
109* ''VideoGame/MOTHER3'': [[spoiler:Lucas was accidentally allowed into several Pigmask complexes after the Pigmasks mistake him for his twin brother Claus, aka their commander the Masked Man. The Pigmasks even gave him "his" uniform and provided Pigmask ones for his friends! Lucas had no idea that his brother was still "alive", much less the commander of the Pigmasks, so he was probably thoroughly confused by the incidents.]]
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112[[folder:Visual Novels]]
113* In the backstory of ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyTrialsAndTribulations'', [[NiceGirl Iris]] pretends to be Dahlia (her murderous twin sister) for several months in an attempt to date Phoenix and get his pendant from him, which is proof of Dahlia's murder attempt against another man.
114* A major twist in ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'' is that the [[spoiler:Junko who was killed at the beginning of the game was actually her older twin sister, Mukuro. Before the [[DeadlyGame killing game]] began, the two pulled a TwinSwitch so that Junko could [[BigBad mastermind the game from the guise of Monokuma]]. The plan was supposed to include Mukuro having [[FakingTheDead her death faked]] so that she could continue to help Junko from behind the scenes, but Junko had other plans and murdered Mukuro ForTheEvulz.]]
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117[[folder:Webcomics]]
118* This is toyed with in a storyline for ''Webcomic/BobAndGeorge'' -- when the president is [[ShoutOut kidnapped]] [[VideoGame/BadDudes by ninjas]], Mike finds the ninjas obeying him without reason or rhyme, letting the president go without a fight. Later on, it's discovered that Mike's ''non''-alternate universe variant (as Mike came from an alternate universe with Mynd) is their real boss. [[YouHaveFailedMe Well, was.]]
119* Inverted in ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'': Elan manages to (finally) use his twin situation to his advantage when he tricks a prisoner of [[spoiler:his father]] into attacking Nale by making said prisoner believe Nale is him.
120* In ''{{Webcomic/Drowtales}}'' Ariel Val'Sarghress and Kalki aren't twins, actually being half-sisters, but thanks to Ariel's shapeshifting she's able to impersonate Kalki long enough to get them out of the city of Felde by pretending to kick all the guests out, relying on Kalki's WildCard reputation and status as the boss' kid to divert any push back or suspicion.
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123[[folder:Western Animation]]
124* ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck'':
125** Darkwing Duck tries to pull this off once. It actually works perfectly, but [[LegionOfDoom The Fearsome Five]] had just decided to betray Negaduck, so they all jump him... before the ''real'' Negaduck walks in, and whips them back into line.
126** There's also an odd case where he actually ''turns himself'' into Negaduck in order to find the real Negaduck's hideout.
127* Scarlett from ''WesternAnimation/GIJoeARealAmericanHero'' is a MasterOfDisguise, but was typically horrible at actually impersonating somebody. In one episode, she attempts to impersonate an evil scientist's wife/partner. The trope is subverted in that she is immediately spotted because she did not greet "her" husband by insulting him. Typically Scarlett will get caught one way or another. Her evil counterpart -- TheBaroness -- and [[MasterOfIllusion shapeshifter/illusionist]] Zartan are much more competent.
128* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'':
129** The League members are sent to a AlternateUniverse where their counterparts, known as the Justice Lords, [[FaceHeelTurn eventually went rogue]] and took the WellIntentionedExtremist route. There's a point when the League members (excluding Batman) try to enter that universe's Arkham by pretending to be their counterparts, which they fail to pull off due to not following the secret password procedure correctly.
130** The trope is then subverted when the league are surrounded by the police; Lord Batman shows up and calls them off, escorting the League to safety. Superman at first thinks it's really their own Batman obeying this trope, [[ActuallyIAmHim but it turns out that it really is Lord Batman]].
131* Played with in the ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited'' episode "The Great Brain Robbery". Flash's mind is [[FreakyFridayFlip stuck in Lex Luthor's body]], and Flash's impersonation of Luthor largely consists of him ham-handedly [[MostDefinitelyNotAVillain talking about how "evil" all his actions are]]. He is only outed after Luthor (in Flash's body) exposes him. A few people ''do'' catch on to the ruse, but don't reveal it for their own reasons:
132** Tala prefers the gentler Flash as her lover. (So much for Hawkgirl's "fastest man alive" insult.)
133** Gorilla Grodd hates both Flash and Luthor and is fine with [[PassThePopcorn letting Flash sweat it out]] until the ruse falls apart on its own.
134** Bizarro is... well, Bizarro, and unable to articulate his insight. "Am you Bizarro's mommy?"
135** To further confuse the point, the Flash ''really is'' Lex Luthor (on ''Series/{{Smallville}}''). That is to say, Creator/MichaelRosenbaum, who plays Luthor in ''Smallville'', is also the voice of the Flash.
136** It's averted in the same episode by the fact that Dr. Fate, whose magic was involved in the mind switch, immediately points out that Luthor's mind has ended up in Flash's body. Luthor, for his part, doesn't even ''try'' to act like the Flash. And when he [[AntiClimacticUnmasking takes off his mask to find out the Flash's secret identity]], he has "no idea who this is."
137* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998'' episode "Bubble Boy" has Bubbles impersonating her SpearCounterpart Boomer. However, she actually does have trouble with Boomer's mannerisms (which apparently includes eating cockroaches) and Brick is almost immediately suspicious of her. [[PaperThinDisguise And of course, there's still the question of how she manages to look exactly like Boomer just by putting down her hair...]]
138* In ''WesternAnimation/TheAvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes'' episode "Ultron Unlimited", [[spoiler: Captain America]] pretends to be a robot so he can rescue the other heroes from Ultron. The other "robo-vengers" fall for this disguise, but Ultron sees through it.
139* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': During the big fight against the changelings in "A Canterlot Wedding, Part 2", Fluttershy convinces three changelings disguised as her that she's also a changeling, by acting hostile just like them. They leave her alone, but four Rainbow Dashes assault her... and one of them sucker punches the other three, revealing herself to be the real Dash. Conversely, Applejack finds her BackToBackBadasses moment with Twilight ruined when the latter reveals its real form.
140* ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama Pahkitew Island'': After [[AlphaBitch Amy]] frames [[ExtremeDoormat Sammy]] for losing the challenge, Sammy tricks her into eating a poisonous fruit that renders her unable to speak, and then poses as her during the elimination ceremony. The TwinSwitch works with the only people who noticed it being Jasmine (who thought Amy deserved it), Chris (who thought it was interesting and got a lot of mileage out of hinting it to Sammy afterward), and Scarlett (who didn't care and thought everyone else noticed as well). Sammy only needed to copy Amy's mannerisms during the elimination; she's free to act like herself afterward because Amy was able to convince everyone but Jasmine and Scarlett that she was the nice one.
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