Line #13 RefugeInAudacity/ComicBooks


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6	!!Administrivia/InUniverseExamplesOnly:
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8	ComicBooks taking RefugeInAudacity.
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10	!!DC:
11	* ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'':
12	** One comic has Bruce Wayne sequestered to sit on the jury of a man he arrested as Batman trying to kidnap a baby. The prosecuting counsel asks whether there is any reason why he should not sit on this jury. Bruce calmly admits he's prejudiced in the case because he's Batman (hey, he's under oath). After everyone's stopped laughing, the judge tells him to stop screwing around and take things seriously.
13	** During the initial run of ''ComicBook/{{Batman Incorporated\|2010}}'', Batman reveals his secret identity on an Internet message board, knowing full well that people will suspect Bruce Wayne of being Batman after he publicly announces his company's support for Batman's efforts. By putting the information on the Internet, he reckons people will dismiss it as just another crazy rumor. As if to prove his point, a troll immediately responds that Wayne is ''obviously'' a different person.
14	** El Gaucho DOES recognize him as Batman instantly, but asks why he's impersonating Bruce Wayne (he even says that he's not fooled because he's met [[ThePowerOfActing the genuine article]]).[[note]]By this time, Alfred has also pointed out that Batman's growl can now be heard in Bruce's normal, everyday voice.[[/note]]
15	** In ''Batman: Venom'', Alfred has to cover for an unconscious Bruce Wayne when a doctor cures him of a wound he received as Batman. He does so by saying Bruce got wounded by falling of a hot air balloon on a table full of sandwiches, which the doctor believes since it's too ridiculous to have been made up.
16	** ComicBook/{{Catwoman}} pulled this off in her very first appearance in ''ComicBook/TheBatmanAdventures'' (1992). While stealing a necklace from a museum, she's caught by a security guard with a gun. Rather than panicking, she simply acts as if he ''doesn't'' have a gun, leaving the guard so rattled that he [[HeroicBSOD freezes up]] and is still babbling after Catwoman has escaped.
17	-->'''Guard:''' She's crazy! I coulda shot her! I coulda, you know.
18	* ''ComicBook/{{Hitman\|1993}}'': Tommy Monaghan tells his first girl, Wendy, that he kills (bad) people for money. Wendy doesn't believe him until he shows up, shot. Ironically, his next girl doesn't believe Tommy refuses to say 'bitch' ''because'' he kills (bad) people.
19	* ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueInternational'': Maxwell Lord introduces himself to the League by acting like he's already working for them, i.e. giving Dr. Light a League communicator and turning up at headquarters to introduce ComicBook/BoosterGold as their newest member.
20	* ''ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes'': ''ComicBook/AdventureComics'' #320 has Superboy outraged that Kryptonian delinquent Dev-Em is being offered membership. He relates how Dev-Em had escaped Krypton's destruction, then, just for fun, posed as Superboy to commit various acts of destruction that turned the people of Smallville against him. Knowing that the claim of this being some superpowered imposter would be too much, Superboy and his police chief ally put out the "simpler" explanation that Superboy had been influenced by Red Kryptonite to excuse "his" behavior.
21	* ''ComicBook/TheNewGuardians'': A villain who snorts cocaine isn't anything special. A villain who ''gets his superpowers'' from cocaine, on top of being a top-grade ham, is sheer awesomeness, which is how Snowflame achieved EnsembleDarkhorse status.
22	* ''ComicBook/{{The Sandman\|1989}}'': Hob Gadling amazes his friends by insisting that mortality is for chumps and he intends to live forever by simply refusing to die. The ballsiness of the InsaneTrollLogic amuses Morpheus enough that he convinces his older sister, [[TheGrimReaper Death]], to make Hob TheAgeless, and arranges to [[PalsWithJesus meet Hob for drinks]] once a century.
23	* ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'': In both ''ComicBook/Superman1987'' and ''ComicBook/Superman2011'', Superman keeps his [[SecretIdentity civilian identity]] secret by pretending he doesn't have one. He reasons (correctly) that while a mask lampshades that you're hiding something, people will assume that a demigod who clearly doesn't need money or other material things does not have a day job and would not bother with the trivial nonsense of mortal life. Batman acknowledged this was genius. And indeed, one story has Lex Luthor firing a scientist for daring to suggest Superman has a secret identity at all (though this also says more about Lex's own mindset than anything else).
24	* ''ComicBook/YouAreHere'': The main villain manages to serve only a year for murdering his wife due to "A good lawyer, bad evidence, worse cops and prison overpopulation" and then goes on to publish a book called "Yes I Did It and I'll Kill Again." After attending a press junket he says "I plan to kill the bastard who was screwing my wife" ''on air''.
25	* ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'': An extremely dark play on this serves as the BigBad's [[WellIntentionedExtremist well-intentioned, but dastardly]] plan: as the world teeters on [[UsefulNotes/ColdWar the brink of nuclear annihilation]], Ozymandias drops [[AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever a giant, genetically-engineered squid]] with [[MindRape psychic bombardment powers]] onto New York, then have it explode, decimating the city. From such a horrifying, inexplicable disaster of its scope, the powers that be will think they're in the midst of an AlienInvasion and will unite in preparation for their mutual, extraterrestrial threat. When several character realize Ozy's plan, some actually burst out laughing at its sheer absurdity... [[MyGodYouAreSerious which transitions harshly into horror]] since ''[[CrazyEnoughToWork that's exactly why it's going to work]]''. Once [[TheBadGuyWins the plan ends up playing through with nary a hitch]] (leaving half of New York dead in the process), [[YouAreTooLate the supers who failed to stop it]] ultimately [[InternalRetcon have to play along with it lest they end up making it even worse]].
26
27	!!Marvel:
28	* ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}: That time in ''ComicBook/DaredevilMarkWaid'', when Matt Murdock showed up in a Christmas party, with devil horns and a red sweater which said "I AM NOT DAREDEVIL".
29	* ''ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}'': Deadpool ''is'' this. Like when he made 372,844 pancakes just so he could pull a joke on Domino and teach her a lesson. Or when he kicked ComicBook/CaptainAmerica in the balls just so he could save the world instead of Cap. Or how he shrank the Rhino down with Pym Particles and kept him as a pet/key chain. He doesn't hide in audacity--he eats, sleeps, and breathes it.
30	* ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'': Exploiting this trope is one way you can get into ComicBook/DoctorDoom[='s=] good books. Examples:
31	** Doom once gave Luke Cage a false commission as part of a bigger gambit, then skipped town before Cage got his fee. So Cage convinces the Thing to loan him one of the FF's vehicles, flies to Latveria, teams up with a group of insurgents, ''storms Castle Doom'', beats up a bunch of guards... and politely requests his $200 fee. Doom [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/200_bucks.png bursts into laughter]], pays, and asks Cage if he'd consider working for him again.
32	** Doom treats villain Arcade like a court jester; he's apparently decided that Arcade is amusing enough not to be punished for addressing him as "Doc" or "Vic".
33	* ''ComicBook/{{Loki}}'': In ''ComicBook/LokiAgentOfAsgard'' #1, surrounded by the Avengers and looking decidedly guilty of ''something'', Loki takes their only remaining option. They tell them the absolute truth as to why they're there, namely that they're working for the All-Mother as part of a secret plan to protect Asgard.
34	* ''ComicBook/ThePunisher'': ''ComicBook/ThePunisherMAX'' villain Barracuda, in his spinoff miniseries, uses this to escape death by volcano. He and his group of mercenaries are working for Luna, a homophobic dictator who falls for Barracuda's {{Crossdresser}} second-in-command Fifty. Luna's sudden but inevitable betrayal lands 'Cuda and Fifty in a helicopter over a volcano with Luna about to make them jump in at gunpoint, leading Barracuda to make Fifty [[WeNeedADistraction buy them some time]]...
35	-->'''Barracuda:''' Yo, Fifty! It's time to show this motherfucker your dick!
36	* ''ComicBook/TalesOfTheJedi': How does Sith Lord Exar Kun rescue his apprentice, Ulic Qel-Droma? Barge into his trial, paralyze the Senate with the Force, mind-control the Supreme Chancellor into giving a pro-Sith speech, [[MoodWhiplash murder his old master]], then walk out, Ulic in tow.
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38	!!Other:
39	* ''ComicBook/AstroCity'': A lawyer defends a client who murdered someone in front of a large group of witnesses by citing incidents where an apparently guilty superhero had been framed by an EvilTwin from an AlternateUniverse, an apparently dead superhero had awakened none the worse for wear, etc. It helped that a public mood of guilt and unease following the recent execution of the Silver Agent for a crime he hadn't committed affected the jury and allowed these arguments to carry the day as "reasonable doubt".
40	* ''ComicBook/{{Diabolik}}'': Over the years, Diabolik has pulled out quite the shit. We'll now report something he did early on:
41	** Eva had been arrested, and between the prison being in a swamp with a train as the only way in or out and [[SympatheticInspectorAntagonist Ginko]]'s surveillance, he had no idea how to break her out before she was sentenced to death and executed. So, what did he do? First, he ''kidnapped a top model'' leaving a wounded witness to make everyone think he had dumped Eva with the goal of getting Ginko to drop the surveillance or, at least, pity judge and jury into giving her a lesser sentence. As Ginko [[ProperlyParanoid still kept up the surveillance]] but Eva had been sentenced to thirty years of jail, Diabolik went for his plan B: distract away Ginko while he caused a ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoid_fever typhoid fever]] outbreak'' in the prison (Eva had recently been inoculated so she was immune) to force the evacuation, knowing that they would put the healthy prisoners in the back and reserved the forward side (that jerked less), and thus Eva would be safe when he ''derailed the train''. That's not the most outrageous thing he did.
42	** Neither Diabolik was the one pulling the most outrageous plan, that was Ginko. In "Mocking Diabolik" Ginko needed to escort ten ancient golden statues to the police station for safekeeping while the museum prepared a Diabolik-proof room to expose them, without Diabolik getting them. And Diabolik was spying on him, and he had no idea where the bug was (and, in another example of this trope, Diabolik had bugged ''the last round of Ginko's gun'') So, what did he do? First, he and his men [[spoiler: planted fake hints to indicate a certain mob boss was interested to those statues, then they stole ''those Diabolik's gadgets that had been confiscated after past heists, and '''used them to steal the statues'''.'' After which Ginko 'discovered' the fake hints and started putting pressure on the mob boss, getting Diabolik to surveil him while the Diabolik-proof room was completed and the statues then revealed]]. As you can see, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin the title of that story was quite justified]].
43	** Other stunts pulled by Diabolik include calling the police on smugglers that could have given him trouble ([[ActuallyPrettyFunny the leader of the smugglers had a good laugh when she realized why Ginko had suddenly turned up]]), taking advantage of Ginko being away on vacation to infiltrate a police investigation by pretending he's Ginko and the Minister of Justice ordered him there in secret (something the Minister would do in an emergency), and the entirety of "Challenge to the Police", in which he pulled a complicated series of pranks on Ginko's replacement just to insure he'd end up leaving a gold transport without escort (this one failed because Ginko, being used to Diabolik's stunts, saw through it and left his TenMinuteRetirement with a few cops of his old team to ambush him).
44	* ''ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse'':
45	** One of the reasons nobody can tell that Paperinik is actually WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck [[ClarkKenting in spite of the only camouflage being a]] DominoMask is that Paperinik is a well-known MasterOfDisguise who has disguised himself as ''Donald Duck'' on multiple occasions.
46	*** A variant of the above is the second story where he faced a villain called ''the'' [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Master of Disguise]]. In revenge for being unmasked at the end of the first story, the Master of Disguise captured Paperinik, unmasked him on live television... And then, ''two other Paperiniks entered the room and took off the masks, revealing themselves as Gladstone and Fethry, as Donald asked them before before being captured''. End result: the villain got distracted long enough for Donald to free himself and lead his cousins into delivering a righteous beat-up, and everyone was convinced it was a bait from the actual Paperinik who enjoyed the show on TV from his lair.
47	*** Sometimes Donald is caught in possession of Paperinik's gadgets. How does he get away with it? Easy: as early as the fifth story, the entire city knows that Paperinik and Donald are friends (Paperinik declared such publicily, at least in written form), so it's not strange that the superhero forgot something at Donald's house, or the latter borrowed it. Even the cars, that, after all, are practically identical...
48	** Daisy has a superhero alter ego too, Paperinika. How does she justify the fact she's apparently her spokeswoman? Easy: she told everyone they're friends, [[StrangeMindsThinkAlike just like Donald did with Paperinik]]. Also, she gets away with her disguise (not as minimalistic as Paperinik's, but [[ClarkKenting not really that disguising]] after all) because in her first story she acted so differently from usual she convinced Donald they merely looked alike, and Donald's poor opinion of the superheroine did the rest.
49	** Why people think the Red Bat (alias [[TheKlutz Fethry]]) is competent and awesome? Easy: no matter what, [[IMeantToDoThat he acts as if everything was part of the plan]], ever since his first story saw him accidentally foil the Beagle Boys with the help of Donald disguised as a headless gorilla (they were at a masked party as journalists, with Fethry wearing what would become Red Bat's costume and Donald a gorilla costume that was too tall for him), and when the journalists asked him if he had terrified and arrested the criminals alone he just quipped "No, this headless gorilla helped me" and left. And given this guy patrols Duckburg on a ''pogo stick'' yet he's still effective, people tend to buy it.
50	** Magica is incredibly creative with her plans, so of course some end up being this trope:
51	*** The spell to obtain the Midas' Touch requires coins touched by multiple billionaires. With every single one of them, Magica booked an appointment, walked in, explained her entire plan (also showing off the coins already collected), and [[PragmaticVillain offered money or services for one such coin]], perfectly aware they'll take her for a lunatic they can get rid of by basically selling her a coin for ten times its value or more. While some refused, leading her to start slinging spells and steal the coin every time, this approach actually worked at least twice: an Icelander billionaire sarcastically demanded she planted dozens of trees in the infertile ground near his home, and gave her the coin after Magica planted a ''forest'' in that land (that she also made fertile because she's a perfectionist); and ''Scrooge actually sold her a dime for a dollar'', only to realize he had actually given her the NumberOneDime and start their rivalry because that one coin would work much better than any coin Scrooge had ever owned.
52	*** The main source of Scrooge's willingness to defend his money is his sheer and immense greed... So two different plans involved banishing it and just requesting her objective, the Number One Dime.
53	*** At one point she managed to complete a potion with incredibly rare ingredients that made anything irresistible... So she used it on an old slipper and exchanged it for everything Scrooge owns.
54	*** She went and wrote Santa to request the Number One Dime. For ''six years in a row''. And that was ''before'' finding out that requesting the same gift for seven years in a row would ''force'' Santa to deliver it...
55	* ''ComicBook/MickeyMouseComicUniverse'':
56	** Pete was twice forcibly enrolled in the police, the second time due the mayor decreeing that any traffic violation over a certain limit would see the perp serve as a motorcycle cop for a week right as Pete caused a massive car crash as he chased two criminals that hired him to commit a heist and then refused to pay him. O'Hara, [[GenreSavvy knowing how dangerous Pete is]], partnered him with Goofy (whose antique car caused hundred of violations simply by getting on the road) and Mickey (who had volunteered to keep an eye on Goofy) to make sure he couldn't pull some stunt while he had a badge. During a patrol, the trio was called in because a locked car was blocking traffic and the tow truck would take a while to come, so Pete used his thieving skills to break in the car and move it out of the way, and then used this incident to make a convincing case he'd do a better job by removing illegally parked cars - a case convincing enough Mickey supported him, with O'Hara agreeing and reasoning that putting him on a tow truck would be safer. The very next day Pete's traitorous accomplices struck, using a fake armored car and uniforms to steal a precious cargo... And Pete ''used the police tow truck to steal their armored car''. He didn't even want to complete the heist, just to get back at them - so he had no issue going to jail when Mickey and the cops realized what was happening just in time to arrest him ''and'' the other thieves.
57	** After being jailed one time too many, Pete pretended to have decided to reform, even writing down the plan for his newest heist and giving it to Mickey as proof... Or rather to have him point out any weakness before he broke out and enacted it. The only reason the plan failed is that [[ProperlyParanoid Mickey's paranoia kicked in and he had the police surround any possible escape route from the jail just in case]], so they caught Pete as he was breaking out... And Mickey told him the plan was full of weakness, only to admit as soon as he was out of range that the plan was so good that even knowing it the only way to stop Pete was to catch him before he broke out and convince him it wouldn't work.
58	* ''ComicBook/{{Fables}}'': Prince Charming kills Bluebeard, walks out of the house carrying the body in a carpet--and cheerily admitting as much when people ask what he's got--and calls in the mayor to watch him dispose of the body. He correctly judges that he can get away with this, because a) nobody especially liked Bluebeard and b) all his money will now go to the Fabletown coffers.
59	* ''Magazine/HeavyMetal'': In "Axiom of Implausibility", a firm is contracted to kill a witness who's holed up in the middle of suburbia. The first 3 attempts on his life fail after the hitmen, attempting to be inconspicuous and avoid witnesses, keep getting their covers blown by observant neighbors. So on the 4th try, they send in a {{Stripperific}}, DualWielding, bizarre OneLiner[=-spouting=] ActionGirl to kick down the front door and make a total spectacle. The hit succeeds, and the eyewitness reports are so outlandish that the cops don't believe them.
60	* ''ComicBook/ScoobyDooTeamUp'': Daphne starts suspecting the superheroes known as [[WesternAnimation/TheImpossibles the Impossibles]] and the singing trio Impossibles are the same people but Fred dismisses her theory because "those would be the '''worst''' secret identities ever".
61	* ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'': During the "Secret Freedom" arc in ''Sonic Universe'', Prince Elias goes by the codename "King" while working with the Secret Freedom Fighters. Geoffrey St. John even lampshades it when he discovers his true identity.
62	-->'''Geoffrey''': Agent "King", huh? Going for "so obvious it's overlooked?"
63	* ''ComicBook/TexWiller'':
64	** Once in a while Tex and his pards have pulled this. Such as the time they needed to go in a town controlled by a gang of criminals who were preparing an ambush just for them... So they went there with a ''stagecoach'', disguised as a Mexican who didn't understand English (Tex), a preacher (Carson, who ''does'' look the part with the right clothes), a businessman (Tiger Jack. A Navajo Indian), and a ''woman'' (Kit Willer, Tex's son), and when the criminals stopped the coach the only reason they were discovered was that one of them tried to kiss Kit (the sheer surreality of the situation still left the criminals too stunned to stop them).
65	** Once in a while it's them who fall victim to this. Such as the time Tex' archenemy Mefisto needed help with his overturned coach... And when Tex passed by, ''he asked him for help'' (Tex did not expect Mefisto to do such a thing and failed to check his disguise. It helped Mefisto was disguised as a leper, so Tex wasn't all that willing to come too close anyway).
66	* ''ComicBook/{{Wanted}}'': There is a back story in which the supposed first supervillains of the world were a bunch of ass-naked bank thieves who get away with it for the longest time since the cops don't want to get into shoot-outs with a gang of naked men and superheroes don't want to be seen getting into a brawl with a bunch of big, burly men with their peckers hanging out in the open.

Context RefugeInAudacity / ComicBooks