->"''It's ironic, you know. She likes Bruce Wayne, and she likes Superman; it's the other two guys she's not crazy about.''"
->--'''Batman''', "World's Finest" (The Batman/Superman Animated Movie)

Often, ClarkKenting leads to a TwoPersonLoveTriangle.

The main love interest of the PartTimeHero. The problem: she won't give him a second glance because she's in love with someone else. The complication: that someone else just happens to be the hero's SecretIdentity. He wouldn't dare tell her and burden her with all the risks that come with being a SecretKeeper, which, quite frankly, is moot since she automatically [[DistressedDamsel seems to be a magnet]] for MonsterOfTheWeek attacks anyway when she isn't [[GoingForTheBigScoop running towards them.]]

This trope may overlap with SecretIdentityIdentity: the love interest reacts differently to the "super" and "normal" personas of the hero. Eventually, she may even begin showing affection to the persona that she'd been disinterested in originally (wonderful wish-fulfillment fantasy fodder, this).

In the best-case scenario, she'll discover the truth by pure accident, which somehow makes it more okay than if the hero had told her (or not, expect fireworks at being LockedOutOfTheLoop). In the worst-case scenario, after the {{masquerade}}-maintaining ItsNotYouItsMe, she'll eventually hook up with some other civilian besides the hero, who [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy just wants his beloved to be happy]].

How come love can't always be as simple as DatingCatwoman?

See also YouCannotPleaseEveryone.

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!!Examples

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Anime ]]

* Anzu/Téa in the ''{{Yu-Gi-Oh}}'' manga and anime is frequently confused about whether she's in love with Yugi or "the other [Yami] Yugi."
* Kaito in ''MermaidMelodyPichiPichiPitch'' is confused between Lucia and the pink mermaid.
* Yuuki in ''MugenDensetsuTakamagahara: DreamSaga'' is actually the ''main'' character, and all over both Takaomi and "that other guy named Takaomi with the same mark on his head but a totally different personality".
* ''TokyoMewMew'' complicates things. [[spoiler:Ichigo loves Masaya, who loves Ichigo but also Mew Ichigo, and then in comes Ao no Kishi, and ''he'' loves Mew Ichigo, and she's stuck between not only this guy but also her UnwantedHarem. ''Then'' comes the traditional [[BrainwashedAndCrazy trial]] of every MagicalGirl's MysteriousProtector, and we know ''that'' can't be good.]]
* The manga / anime ''Cat's Eye'': The main characters are barmaids and part-time SpyCatsuit thieves. One of them has a boyfriend, who happens to be a police officer, and who cannot make up his mind if he likes his girlfriend or her SecretIdentity more. (This, obviously, is the cause of much frustration on the main character's part.)
* In one episode of ''FutariWaPrettyCure'', a boy asked Nagisa out, only to eventually dump her because he'd decided he preferred Cure Black. An unusual case in that Nagisa never actually liked him back, but the same idea.
* In ''KaitouSaintTail'', detective-in-training Asuka Jr. is obsessed with Saint Tail, while Saint Tail's SecretIdentity Meimi has a thing for Asuka.
* Tadase in ''ShugoChara'' likes Amulet Heart, Amu's heroic form. His feelings toward the normal Amu are "just friends". This doesn't make things any easier for Amu.
* CodeGeass has a variation. ActionGirl Kallen has a BodyguardCrush on Lelouch's masked identity, [[DarkMessiah Zero]], but has a very low opinion of Lelouch, mostly because he cultivates a reputation for being an [[RichIdiotWithNoDayJob apathetic]] [[JerkassFacade jerk]]. When Kallen dramatically learns Zero's true identity, she has a [[HeroicBlueScreenOfDeath Heroic BSOD]], but after she's had some time to get used to the idea, she comes to love both of them.
* ''DNAngel'' has a love triangle revolving around this trope. Daisuke has a crush on Risa, but she rejects him because she wants to date someone "cool". Enter [[PhantomThief Dark]]--who is actually Daisuke's alter-ego. Just to make things more complicated, Dark actually has a separate personality and is a big flirt to boot, so Daisuke and Dark sometimes end up in a fight over Risa.
** Later on in the manga, this trope is inverted when [[spoiler:Daisuke realizes that the one he ''really'' loves is actually Risa's twin sister, Riku. Riku cares for him in return, but in a twist, she ''hates'' Dark and thinks he's a pervert.]] This causes all sorts of complications, since Daisuke's [[CursedWithAwesome family curse]] won't leave him until he's completely loved for who he is--which includes the part of him that's like Dark.
* In ''PrincessTutu'', Mytho is enamored with the titular MagicalGirl, but only considers Ahiru a good friend. (One that he can "tell everything to", but a friend nonetheless.)
* A rather perculiar take on this appears in ''AiToYuukiNoPigGirlTondeBuurin'', the main character Karin has a crush on her Junior High School soccer captain Kouichi Mizuno. He is in love with her secret identity Buurin. [[InterspeciesRomance But she is a pig in that form]]! Add in the issue of Karin being stuck as Buurin if anyone finds out about her secret identity then you have yourself a very peculiar conundrum.
* A very obscure example; In a 1992 Japanese Manga Publication, Amy was the girlfriend of Nikki, but not of his superhero alter ego. The alter ego? Well, let's just say [[SonictheHedgehog Amy managed to turn up elsewhere, along with another friend called Charmy.]]
* Because [A] there's an actual anime of it and [B] there's no VideoGames section, this troper feels obliged to point out that [[MegaManStarForce Luna Platz]] has a major crush on Mega Man, but nothing of the sort for either of his halves - she tends to boss around Geo a lot and only puts up with Omega-Xis when she has to (which, to her chagrin, is often). For the latter, the feeling's mutual.
** And in the first game, after finding out that Geo ''is'' Megaman, she insists that she's only into Megaman and not Geo, outright refusing to consider them the same person.
* In {{Kampfer}}, Natsuru loves Sakura and Sakura loves Natsuru. The catch? Sakura loves [[GenderBender THE FEMALE NATSURU!]]
*How is SailorMoon not here yet? in the anime, Usagi/ SailorMoon loves Mamoru/Tuxedo Mask, while he has a mysterious need to protect Moon. Usagi can't stand Mamoru, who also seems to dislike Usagi. At the same time, he's in love with the mysterious princess of his dreams [[spoiler:who is actually Usagi's past self.]] In the second season, there's also the Tsukikage no Knight, whom Usagi loves while she also loves Mamoru/Mask, though he turns out to be [[spoiler:the astral-projected manifestation of Mamoru's love for Usagi when his memories are sealed.]] The manga is even worse, because Usagi and Mamoru actually like each other there before learning each other's identities.
** And Usagi/Serena's little brother Shingo/Sammy idolizes Sailor Moon but can't stand his sister.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

* Lois Lane in the earliest incarnations of Comicbook/{{Superman}} -- who no longer qualifies for the title, as they are now (at last) HappilyMarried. We'll have to wait and see if they last longer than Peter Parker and Mary Jane.
* Mary Jane, at least for awhile, in some incarnations of Comicbook/{{Spider-Man}}. A later RetCon has it that she always knew, but didn't say anything.
** Spidey also had the Black Cat/Felicia Hardy. In the comics, this was an inversion: Felicia loved Spidey, and was uninterested in the man beneath the mask. In the cartoon Felicia was in love with Peter, but Black Cat was in love with Spidey. Eventually, Felicia decided not to pursue a relationship with Peter Parker so that her Black Cat persona would be free to be with Spider-Man. In the end, she left with a vampire, and he went with Mary Jane anyway, but it was all very dramatic at the time.
*** In the comics, the Black Cat was repulsed and disgusted when Spider-Man revealed his identity to her, begging him to put his mask back on. ''Damn.'' Worse still, in the Ultimate version of that occurrence, she was so grossed out she ''vomited on him''. (She'd been expecting someone a little older...)
** The AlternateContinuity title ''{{Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane}}'' explores this from Mary Jane's perspective.
** Also, in just about every continuity, JerkJock Eugene "Flash" Thompson is a huge fan of Spider-Man and thinks he's the coolest guy on the planet while usually doing whatever he can to make Peter Parker's life miserable.
* In SilverAge ''GreenLantern'', one of the obstacles to Hal Jordan's relationship to Carol Ferris was that she couldn't decide whether she was interested in him or in his alter ego. Eventually she found out that they were the same person, and they moved on to problems like ''her'' [[SuperpoweredEvilSide alter ego]].
* ''WonderWoman'''s Steve Trevor is a classic example; for decades he ignored bespectacled coworker [[ClarkKenting Diana Prince]] in favor of her Amazonian alter ego. (After the book's [[CrisisOnInfiniteEarths Crisis]] reboot, this dynamic was disposed of; Diana no longer had a secret identity and her relationship with Steve was non-romantic.)
** Currently, Wondy has her Diana Prince identity again, and Tom Tressler (the BadassNormal formerly known as Nemesis) is [[LovesMyAlterEgo in love with someones alter ego]].
* This is repeatedly inverted with the comic book character {{Daredevil}}. Almost all of his female love interests have been looking to date Matt Murdock, not his alter ego. This applies even when the interested party is also a superhero.
* Vicki Vale was Comicbook/{{Batman}}'s Lois Lane (in fact she was a pretty blatant ripoff, being a nosy reporter with an alliterative name and all) throughout the '40s and '50s, but eventually the writers got tired of her and she quietly slipped away into comic-book limbo. She's still turns up in TheDCU from time to time as a TV reporter, but after [[Film/{{Batman}} the Tim Burton film]], she didn't properly turn up again until ''TheBatman versus {{Dracula}}'' (See RuleOfCool).
** She's now back at the Gotham Gazette and [[spoiler: knows Batman's secret]]. Which means she also knows [[spoiler: he's dead]]. What she's going to do about this remains to be seen.
* Daisy Duck frequently plays this role in Disney comics stories involving Paperinik. However, in the stories where she has her ''own'' superhero identity (Paperinika, making her Paperinik's DistaffCounterpart) and has to work with the latter, they outright ''hate'' each other...
* In ''Flare'' backup series ''Sparkplug'', this situation is inverted; the superheroine Sparkplug is adored by a local male reporter in both her superhero identity and her civilian identity... because he can tell that they're the same person; He sees Olga ''and'' Sparkplug practically every day, [[ClarkKenting a wig isn't going to fool him]].
* Inverted in AlphaFlight; Aurora is dating teammate Sasquatch, but her alter ego, Jeanne Marie, is horrified by the relationship. (She's a split personality, obviously.)
* Several variations of this occur with SheHulk - originally in Savage She-Hulk, she was dating two guys... one as Jennifer Walters and one as She-Hulk, although that was mutual. Later the trope was inverted when she was married John Jameson who repeatedly expressed a dislike of Jennifer's powered She-Hulk form - much to her chagrin.
* Ironiclly averted in ThePhantom the frist superhero in comics
** Proving that Lee Falk was a genius.
* WordOfGod says this is the case for Thundermind of TheDCU's Great Ten; in his secret identity (him being the only member of the team to really have one) as the nebbish, bespectacled schoolteacher Zou Kang, his affections for coworker Ms. Wu are ignored because she only has eyes for Thundermind.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Fairy Tales ]]

* In some versions of ''Beauty and the Beast'', Beauty is haunted by [[TalkingInYourDreams dreams of a handsome prince who begs her to find him]], and this is why she rejects the beast's advances. It isn't until she leaves the castle and stops having the dreams that she realizes that she loves the beast, who of course turns into the prince from her dreams when she agrees to marry him.
* In ''[[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/eastsunwestmoon/stories/enchsnake.html The Enchanted Snake]]'', the king promises the heroine she [[EngagementChallenge can marry the prince if only she saves him]]. Recovered, the prince nevertheless refuses because he has promised himself elsewhere; the heroine, delighted, reveals that she is that woman.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Leterature ]]

* Even though she knows who he really is, ActionGirl/{{Lancer}} Ellie Quinn from LoisMcMasterBujold's Vorkosigan Saga is deeply in love with her commander, Admiral Miles Naismith--but not so enamored of his real identity Lt. Miles Vorkosigan. ("I've heard you do his accent, love." is as close as she can come to acknowleging it.) Her refusal to come to terms with this exasperates Miles ("But I don't do his accent; he does mine.") and eventually scuttles the relationship.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Theater ]]

* This is OlderThanRadio: in the play ''{{Cyrano de Bergerac}}'', both WarriorPoet Cyrano and BookDumb but so very handsome Christian are in love with Roxanne. Since Cyrano thinks he doesn't stand a chance with her anyway because of that big nose issue, he uses his gift for poetry to [[TheCyrano help Christian woo her]] so at least he can know [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy they'll both be happy together]], which backfires because it tears them both up for years to know Roxanne's really in love with Cyrano but thinks she's in love with Christian. [[spoiler: There's also the fact that Christian is ''killed'' later and Cyrano ''still'' CanNotSpitItOut to not break Roxanne's heart... and keeps denying that the letters are his' until his death, even when Roxanne realizes the truth and attempts to face him. ]]
* Margot Bonvalet in the operetta ''The Desert Song''.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Webcomics ]]

* Jack in ''The Green Avenger'': http://www.green-avenger.com/d/20051205.html
* Micki in ''Smithson''. Despite her interest in Scooter, she's definitely intrigued by and possibly attracted to Chumucka Man, the SecretIdentity of Scooter's roommate, Chuck. [[ClarkKenting She still hasn't figured it out]], despite the [[StevenUlyssesPerhero similar name]] and seeing Chuck [[TheGlassesComeOff without his glasses]]. Since both Chuck and Micki are {{comic book}} fans, copious [[LampshadeHanging lampshades are hung]] on this.
* [[http://boymeetsboy.keenspot.com/d/20031124.html This strip]] in ''Boy Meets Boy''.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* Paulina on the comic book-esque ''DannyPhantom''
** An AlternateCharacterInterpretation goes that Sam is this as well, as an odd variant that also knows his secret identity.
* Daisy on ''StaticShock''; Static [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] this once.
* In ''MyLifeAsATeenageRobot'', Jenny falls for the Silver Shell, a robot suit piloted by her crush Sheldon who originally designed it to disuade her attraction towards robot boys.
* In ''{{Freakazoid}}'', Dexter Douglas can't catch a break from the ladies, but they're all over his alter ego Freakazoid. Hell, Freakazoid's girlfriend, Steff, won't even talk to Dex.
** Technically, Freakazoid is more of a separate personality than an alter ego, which occasionally caused him to actively mock Dexter over this trope. It also meant that when Steff found out the truth, she was at first incredulous, then thought it was funny more than anything else, and never brought it up thereafter.
* Rio from ''{{Jem}}'' is torn between Jerrica and her secret identity Jem--and he has a bad temper concerning those who deceive him.
* Sweet Polly Purebred (practically a Lois Lane {{Expy}} anyway) from ''{{Underdog}}''.
* Similarly, Rosemary the police dispatcher is smitten with HongKongPhooey, but couldn't care less about Penrod Pooch.
* Playfully inverted in an episode of ''HouseOfMouse'': Clarabelle accepts a date from Goofy, but in his cluelessness, Goofy believes she turned him down. He later becomes Super Goof and does various heroic acts around the House of Mouse. After he saves Clarabelle from a meteor, he asks her out, but Clarabelle refuses -- because she has a date with Goofy.
* Parodied in a special [[SuperDeformed chibi]] style short of ''AvatarTheLastAirbender''. Aang, Jet, Haru and Prince Zuko all battle it out for Katara's affection... only to find out she's already chosen The Blue Spirit, Zuko's alter-ego. Zuko faints saying "I did ''not'' see that one coming."
* As the page quote indicates, the {{DCAU}}'s version of Lois Lane gets a twofer in the original "World's Finest" crossover between SupermanTheAnimatedSeries and BatmanTheAnimatedSeries.
**Similarly, Catwoman loves Batman, but only considers Bruce a friend. He knows both her identities and seems to love her somewhat.
*''WordGirl'': TJ, Becky's younger brother, has a crush on Word Girl...but Word Girl is Becky's alter ego.
* ''{{Cybersix}}'': Subverted, Cybersix's civilain alter ego is her [[SweetPollyOliver crossdressing]] as Lucas' best friend Adrian. Lucas is in love with Cybersix and vice versa... but then Lucas sees Cybersix go into Adrian's apartment and assumes they're lovers.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* In ''MegaManStarForce'', Luna loves Geo's super hero form, Mega Man, but not Geo himself; after learning that they're the same person, she ''still'' claims she only likes Megaman and couldn't care less about Geo. However, she warms up to Geo over time.
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