%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1325787190044987600
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[[quoteright:307:[[Series/SamuraiSentaiShinkenger https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/samurai-sentai-shinkenger-01_9950.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:307:You'll never guess which one’s which!]]

->'''Tommy:''' Well, I'd better get going.\\
'''Hayley:''' Going? Where are you going?\\
'''Tommy:''' Shopping. I checked my closet this morning, and there's a serious shortage of black in there.
-->-- ''Series/PowerRangersDinoThunder'', "Back in Black", after Tommy Oliver becomes the Black Dino Ranger

Everyone recognises CaptainSuperhero! He wears [[SuperheroesWearCapes a blue cape]], [[SpandexLatexOrLeather a red tunic, and green tights]]! And no-one suspects he's the mild mannered StevenUlyssesPerhero...who [[LimitedWardrobe always]] seems to wear a blue jacket, red shirt, and green pants. Hmm...

This is where a superhero's SecretIdentity wears clothes that somehow match his superhero costume, in order to make him easier for the audience to identify.

Compare AstonishinglyAppropriateAppearance, especially if he ''always'' dressed like that, but didn't choose their costume colours. If a {{shapeshifting}} superhero wears the same colours in his superhero identity ''because'' of the clothes he's wearing, that's MorphicResonance.

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!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* In the 2012 ''Franchise/BlackRockShooter'' anime, Black★Rock Shooter/Mato is blue, Dead Master/Yomi is green, and Black★Gold Saw is Red. Meanwhile, Strength is [[{{Foreshadowing}} grey]]/orange, and Chariot/Kagari is yellow. [[spoiler:Insane Black★Rock Shooter is purple.]]
* The kids from ''Anime/DigimonFrontier''. Except for Koji and Koichi, they mainly wear colors very similar to their Legendary Warrior Digimon forms (Takuya wears red and yellow like Agunimon, Zoe wears pink like Kazemon, etc).
* ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'':
** Justified with Nanoha. Her [[InstantArmor Barrier Jacket]] is based off her school uniform in-universe (it was the first thing to pop into her head when she was asked to come up with a design). This continues in ''[=StrikerS=]'', where her uniform as an Air Force instructor is also white. That said, her choice of casual outfits tend to be more varied.
** [[DarkIsNotEvil Fate]] also tends to prefer black clothing (according to supplementary material, it's her favorite color). And just like with Nanoha post-TimeSkip, her [[SpacePolice Enforcer]] uniform is black.
* The ''Anime/PrettyCure'' franchise takes this to ridiculous lengths since ''Anime/YesPrettyCure5'' as they not only wear color-coded civilian clothes, most of them have color-coded ''hair''. The only one who defies this trope is [[spoiler:Ako/Cure Muse]] of ''Anime/SuitePrettyCure'', who wears pink and blue despite wearing [[spoiler:black at first then going into yellow.]]
** In general, the Cures tend to use color-coded objects as well that correspond to their Cure theme color (which is implied [[AstonishinglyAppropriateAppearance to be their favorite color even before they get their powers]]), such as mugs, umbrellas, bowling balls, and even toothbrushes.
* ''Franchise/SailorMoon'':
** Sailor Moon's costume as a magical girl looks almost ''exactly like'' the sailor-style school uniform she wears as Usagi Tsukino: a white SailorFuku with a blue collar and pleated skirt and a red bow on the chest. The difference is mostly that Sailor Moon's outfit is a snug-fitting bodysuit rather than a loose middy blouse, the skirt is shorter, and the ensemble includes elbow-length gloves and red knee boots. (The resemblance becomes increasingly less pronounced as her transformation upgrades in later story arcs, adding more colors and FrillsOfJustice in the process.)
** The school uniforms of the other girls mostly don't bear so close a resemblance to their magical girl outfits beyond the general sailor style (notably, Minako's uniform has the same color scheme as Usagi's and Ami's, despite studying at another school whose uniform uses the traditional sailor neckerchief instead of the bow), and adaptations vary on how strongly the color-coding is in effect where it comes to their street clothes. In ''Anime/SailorMoonCrystal'' they almost uniformly dress in their signature colors, while in the '90s anime adaptation everyone wears a range of clothes in different colors from one day to the next and any color-coding is mostly coincidental.
* The ''Anime/SamuraiPizzaCats''' civilian outfits were so similar to their mission gear (and they always wore the same helmets!) that it was often hard for the viewer to tell which they were in, yet the villains of the show couldn't even identify the heroes when in their civvies. Lampshaded at least once.
* In ''Anime/TigerAndBunny'', Kotetsu's PoweredArmor is black, green, and white. His casual clothes? Black slacks, green shirt, black and white vest with matching hat. Barnaby also has similar color coding, but he has the excuse of not actually ''having'' a secret identity.
** The casual clothes of the heroes tend to be similar in colour to their costumes (Pao Lin in yellow, Nathan in red/pink, Keith and Ivan get blue/purple-ish shades). Karina is an exception, wearing warmer/darker colours than her skimpy blue outfit as Blue Rose. Possibly intentional, given how uncomfortable she is with her hero persona. Even Lunatic gets in on this, as [[spoiler: when we see Petrov at the end of episode 9, he's wearing a grey suit with a blue-and-green patterned tie, similar to the colours of his costume.]]
* ''Manga/TokyoMewMew'': The heroes' MagicalGirl outfit has the same colour as the uniform they wear to work part-time in the cafe.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'':
** [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] Bruce Wayne frequently wore blue and grey outfits, and Dick Grayson wore red and green. They actually tried to avert this in the first season of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' and have Bruce Wayne not wear clothes the color of Batman's outfit. Due to color palette limitations, that means he spends a lot of time wearing a rather ugly brown suit. In later episodes, Bruce usually wears a dark suit and Dick wears a red sweater vest. Barbara Gordon favoured purple, perhaps reflecting Batgirl's costume in the 1960s TV series.
** Like his predecessor, [[ComicBook/Robin1993 Tim Drake]] almost exclusively wears red or green shirts in his civilian life.
* ''ComicBook/{{Shazam}}'': In the current Creator/DCComics and dating at least from the ''Series/Shazam1974'' TV series, Billy Batson always wears a red shirt with a yellow collar.
* ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'':
** [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] and [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] Clark Kent always wore a blue suit with a red tie. (Also seen in ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries''.) LampshadeHanging in ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' -- Clark favors wearing a blue shirt and red jacket... and that's ''why'' he became known as the Red-Blue Blur ''[[NotWearingTights before]]'' he started wearing a costume.
** [[AudienceAlienatingEra When Electro-Superman was split into Superman-Red and Superman-Blue]], the businesslike Clark-Blue wore a grey suit with a blue tie, while the more relaxed Clark-Red wore an open-necked red shirt.
* In ''ComicBook/TheSuperiorFoesOfSpiderMan'' and its SpiritualSuccessor ''ComicBook/AstonishingAntMan'' (both written by Creator/NickSpencer), Janice Lincoln, [[AffirmativeActionLegacy the new Beetle]], wears some shade of purple whenever shown in civilian attire, whether in flashbacks or the present (i.e., her valedictorian graduation robes, her business dress as an AmoralAttorney, and a swimsuit), evoking the color of the Beetle costume. The former series also parodies this trope with the Shocker having a couch with the same eye-watering red and yellow check as his costume.
* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman'': While her normal outfit back in the Golden Age when she spent a lot of time maintaining her secret identity was a USAAF uniform Diana has always had a propensity for wearing red shirts, red dresses and blue skirts with star patterns on them while she's not acting as Wonder Woman, though she generally only wore the later out in public after her identity was public.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* ''Literature/AccelWorld'': In [[{{Cyberspace}} the Accelerated World]], each duel avatar is themed after a unique colour based on the user's personality. The majority of Burst Linkers wear a similarly-coloured [[BrainComputerInterface Neurolinker]] around their neck in real life, and some take it further with clothing or even [[AstonishinglyAppropriateAppearance their hair and eyes]]. {{Lampshaded}} when Chiyu notes that she's been unconsciously adding more green to her wardrobe since becoming Lime Bell, and Haru cautions her not to get a green case for her Neurolinker unless she wants to make their group's identity too obvious. He's quick to defend his own silver Neurolinker by pointing out that he had it long before he became Silver Crow.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
%%* ''WebVideo/FranceFive'' and ''Series/KanpaiSenshiAfterV'' play this trope straight as both are homages to ''Super Sentai''.
* Pretty much every ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' season fulfills this trope in some way, a fact occasionally lampshaded. This also extends to its trans-Pacific counterpart ''Franchise/SuperSentai''.
** In the early seasons, the characters seemed to own ''nothing'' that wasn't in their ranger color. Some actors have said they couldn't stand the color anymore after their time on the show. Getting to keep their secret identities was a major point of FridgeLogic, as the five teenagers who ''obsessively'' wore nothing but the colors of the Rangers and were all skilled martial artists kept disappearing just before the Rangers showed up. At least Tommy, as the Green and White MMPR Rangers, the Red Zeo and Turbo Ranger, and the Black Dino Ranger, got to change his every so often.
** The best example of that comes from ''Series/PowerRangersDinoThunder'' when Tommy, returning to action as the Black Dino Ranger, approaches Conner, Kira and Ethan and tells them he has to run to the mall - he checked his closet and realized he had a complete lack of black.
** The current page image comes from ''Series/SamuraiSentaiShinkenger.'' Ironically, they're much less obsessively colorcoded than some series [[SecretPublicIdentity and don't care if people know who they are]].
** Even the villains get in on it. In ''Series/PowerRangersInSpace'', the surviving (Red, Black, and Yellow) PsychoRangers take on human form. [[EvilWearsBlack To emphasize that they're evil]], they are all wearing black pants and black leather jackets and have colored undershirts so we know which one is which. Unfortunately for Psycho Black, this meant he was wearing nothing but black. Justified in this case, as we had never seen them as humans before.
** ''Series/PowerRangersCosmicFury'' deserves special mention because it features a color-based RankUp. Once Amelia is [[RankUp promoted from Pink to Red Ranger]], she mysteriously acquires a red leather jacket despite the fact that she's stranded halfway across space and the Rangers didn't exactly pack for a multi-day trip when they made their BlindJump from Earth to Erridus.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/EXTRAPOWERAttackOfDarkforce'': The HenshinHero and MagicalGirl team have mundane appearances that match their super powered forms. Kojiro Mido has brown hair and red leather jacket, and becomes the red-armoured Guren Tiger. Ryo has stark black hair and dresses in blue tones, and becomes the blue-armoued Gecko Wolf. Blue-haired Rurine with her blue school uniform transforms into Ruritia, the Blue Hikari Warrior, whereas Mashura and Bashura are red-heads with red school uniforms who together become the Crimson Hikari Warriors Shura Soshu. The other Hikari Warriors are only lesser examples - while they wear the same blue or red school uniforms in the ending epilogue, they do have hair colours to match their colour.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* ''WebComic/BatmanWayneFamilyAdventures'': Most of the Bat-family wear colors relating to their costumes while outside of them. Jason is always wearing some red, Stephanie is decked out in all purple or at least a purple shirt, Bruce and Cass wear black and grey. Tim often wears red somewhere in his outfit and the same for Damian with green and Dick with blue. The only family member who doesn't wear costume colors as civilian wear is Duke who is never seen in yellow outside his costume.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* In ''Recap/TheFiveishDoctorsReboot'', as part of its running entirely on AdamWesting, all of the ex-[[Series/DoctorWho Doctors]] (apart from Creator/TomBaker, who [[TheVoice never appears]] outside of [[StockFootageFailure deliberately bad stock footage]]) dress in toned-down versions of their characters' taste when out-of-character. Creator/PeterDavison favours lots of beige and BrainySpecs, Creator/ColinBaker wears seriously eye-searing [[PrimaryColorChampion red, blue and yellow]] checked shirts, Creator/SylvesterMcCoy wears printed scarves, dark clothes and little hats (as well as a FunTShirt with the logo for ''Film/TheHobbit'' on it), Creator/PaulMcGann favours a bottle green jacket, and Creator/DavidTennant sticks to suits.
** This is a takeoff of something former Doctors tend to do: for an example, [[http://i.imgur.com/go5MWCk.jpg this photograph from the 1980s]] shows only the then-incumbent (Davison) in costume, while all the former Doctors are wearing outfits that resemble their Doctors' - from right to left, Creator/JonPertwee in a velvet jacket and frilly shirt, Creator/PatrickTroughton in a bowtie and braces, and Tom Baker in a shabby frock coat with elbow patches, a silk scarf as a tie and a colourful stripy scarf. As seen in ''Doctor Who'' documentaries and DVD extras, Sylvester [=McCoy=] not only wears Doctorish clothes, but also has a distinctive walking stick with a silver crook-handle, which he gestures with in a similar manner to Seventh's umbrella.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'': Bruce Wayne usually averts this with his civilian attire. In most episodes, Bruce wears a brown and yellow suit, distancing himself from Batman's trademark black and gray. The only similarity the two outfits have to each other is that Bruce's yellow shirt is the same shade of yellow as Batman's utility belt.
* ''WesternAnimation/DCSuperHeroGirls2019'': Everyone, both heroes and villains, all wear clothes in the same color scheme that sometimes have even more traits that evoque their ater egos.
* Most of the characters in ''Franchise/MarvelRising'' not only wear the same colors in their civillian identity, but generally sport some kind of accessory with their insignia on it. The most blatant is Comicbook/GhostSpider, who wears a white top with a neon pink spider over black as Gwen Stacy.
* In ''WesternAnimation/MarvelsSpiderMan'', Peter Parker wears a red hoodie over a blue shirt, and Miles Morales wears a black hoodie. Subverted with Harry Osborn, who wears a purple sweater that [[MythologyGag references]] the Green Goblin's costume in other realities, but doesn't take that identity.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSpectacularSpiderMan'', prior to becoming ''ComicBook/{{Venom}}'', Eddie Brock always wears a black leather jacket and a white t-shirt, foreshadowing the color-scheme of his living "[[ClingyCostume costume]]". Of course, once bonded to the costume, he naturally has it shapeshift to look like his civilian clothing.
* Justified with the titular characters and their human friends in any [[Franchise/TheTransformers Transformers series]]. Whenever a Cybertronian transforms, they maintain the same color scheme (Prime is always red, blue, and silver, Bumblebee is always yellow and black, Ratchet always has some medical imagery somewhere on him, etc). Their human friends can usually identify them quickly in vehicle mode because of this (and also the fact that they're sentient cars), while humans who ''don't'' know about the Cybertronians don't give them a second glance.
* In ''WesternAnimation/VoltronLegendaryDefender'' outside of their lions and armor, their casual costumes still fit their color scheme. Shiro wears a black body suit, Keith has a bright red jacket, Lance wears a blue shirt and jeans, Pidge has a green shirt, and Hunk wears a yellow shirt and bandanna. However, the "secret identity" part does not apply currently.
* ''WesternAnimation/WinxClub'': Although this setting has no need for secret identities, everyone's civilian clothes --i.e., when not transformed into fairies or witches or in military uniform-- feature prominently as the main color of their magical suits. This has varied across seasons, however. The first season plays it straight for everyone except two of the Specialists. Bloom's pants and shirt are light blue. Stella wears an orange skirt and orange-laced sandals. Likewise, Flora has a pink skirt. Tecna's outfit is almost all-purple. Musa wears a red sleeveless top. Icy, Darcy, and Stormy's outfits are essentially lighter-colored, casual versions of their witch forms.
[[/folder]]


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