Loves My Alter Ego / Live-Action TV

Somebody who loves another's alter ego while disliking their civilian identity in Live-Action TV series.

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• Unlike all other adaptations, in Smallville, Lois might be a Hero-Worshipper of The Blur (not yet "Superman"), but she is with Clark all the time.
• Hannah Montana has Oliver in love with Miley's alter ego, the rockstar Hannah Montana, but when he finds out the truth, he initially faints and subsequently gets over his crush as he genuinely doesn't see Miley that way. Later, Jake undergoes this, only this time, he didn't faint.
  Jake: "Jake Ryan doesn't faint, but Leslie, on the other hand, is a little woozy."/
  • For the most part, Miley can mostly avoid this issue as Hannah and Miley don't run in the same social circles, but at least once she dated a boy who explicitly didn't like Hannah Montana's music. However, she was able to use this to her advantage in "My Best Friend's Boyfriend" after she learns that Lilly's boyfriend Lucas is cheating on her; she and Oliver set up a scenario where Lucas will be out for dinner at the same restaurant as Hannah and Lola (Lilly in disguise), allowing Miley to flirt with Lucas as Hannah (since he obviously wouldn't do anything with Lilly's best friend) so that he will admit his cheating in front of 'Lola'.
• In Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, Bulk and Skull have a deep respect and admiration for the Power Rangers, but have nothing but contempt for the Rangers' civilian identities. This gradually changed in later seasons.
• Super Sentai / Power Rangers
  • Zonette in Gekisou Sentai Carranger loves the hero Red Racer, but not his civilian identity Kyousuke. He loves her back, but wants to do so as himself, leading to this.
  • In Mahou Sentai Magiranger, Kai's crush Yuka goes gaga over Magired, but the trope is subverted when she figures out his identity during the movie that takes place halfway through the series. Notably, she hints but never outright tells him that she's aware of his identity.
  • In Power Rangers Dino Charge, Chase starts going out with a Girl of the Week, only for her to break things off when she develops a crush on the Black Ranger, much to his frustration.
  "I went behind my own back! I stole her right out from under my own nose!"
• A running theme in Lois & Clark was Clark's frustration that Lois never noticed him but swooned over Superman. Much later (after Lois had known for a while and the two of them were married), there was an episode that played with this trope from a different angle: there's a scandal when a tabloid reporter catches Superman in bed with Clark Kent's wife.
  • In a twist, the show departs from the comics by having Lois deduce Clark's identity before he can propose to her, leaving that uncertainty about what Lois loved about Clark. She does not reveal that she knows until he proposes. This was somewhat settled when he became normal and she got his superpowers for a little while. In the comics, Lois finally fell for Clark then found out about the secret after they were engaged.
  • Furthermore throughout the first season and first half of the second (that is: before Lois and Clark start actually dating) Lois is depicted as being very attracted to Clark, but very deeply in denial.
  • Mayson Drake comes at the issue from the opposite angle. She definitely has the hots for Clark Kent, but views Superman as dangerously close to being a vigilante.
• Kamen Rider Den-O has an odd variation that relates to Time Travel rather than secret identities. Airi Nogami was engaged to Yuuto Sakurai when he vanished, and interacts with a time-displaced teenage version of him without realizing who he is except she does know, the ignorance is just a front. Airi and the younger Yuuto are never really treated as a potential romance until the end of the series, where the elder Sakurai vanishes into the timestream. The first film of the Chou Den-O Trilogy addresses this further: Yuuto's Battle Butler Deneb ineptly tries to set them up together, before he (and Airi) realize that Yuuto and Sakurai are different people, but the roots of his kind-hearted future self are there and slowly developing, with the ending teasing at what might happen.
  • In Kamen Rider Fourze, Tomoko Nozama appears to have some sort of feelings for Kamen Rider Meteor, while becoming closer to Ryusei Sakuta who, unknown to her, is Meteor. They pretty much end up together after she finds out.
• On Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel is prone to going through a Heel–Face Revolving Door between himself and his evil, soulless identity, Angelus. Interestingly, Drusilla—who's not exactly sane—seems to blame Angel for Angelus' evil actions toward her (torturing him as she recounts them in one episode) even though she loves Angelus. (And of course, this trope also applies to Buffy and Darla, but they don't seem to make the same odd disconnect between the two halves that Drusilla does. Though Dru's crazy, so do with that as you will.)
• Community:
  • Annie gets smitten with Abed whenever he's pretending to be Don Draper / Batman / Han Solo / etc. For bonus points, Abed lampshades that these roles match Jeff's archetype, who is Annie's actual love interest. Annie has a very clear type.
  • In season 4, the Dean pretends to have switched bodies with Jeff (though Jeff refuses to acknowledge it) and does a spot-on impression of Jeff. Annie spends the entire episode getting hot and bothered around the Dean and having absolutely no idea why.
    Shirley: What is happening with you?
    Annie: I don't know.
• In Taxi, Latka's girlfriend Simka returns to New York, but when he tries to declare his love for her, he suddenly turns into Vic Ferrari.
• In Help! I'm A Teenage Outlaw. Swiftnick the teenage highwayman's confederates include a girl called Deedee, who he sees as just a friend, if not a total pain who keeps undermining his authority. Meanwhile, he has a hopeless infatuation for Rebellious Princess Lady Devereaux. He has never realised that Deedee is Lady Devereaux in a peasant smock.
• As shown in Henry Danger. Piper adores Kid Danger and even thinks he's hot, which of course completely contrasts her usual behavior towards Henry. Charlotte immediately tells Piper that she really shouldn't be saying that.
• Played with in Misfits, the gang is followed by a man in a mask (AKA Superhoodie) who turns out to be a future version of Simon. Future!Simon and Alisha hook up and he tells her that they are together in the future. In the present, they enter into a relationship and he can't help be a little jealous of himself.
• The Mighty Carson Art Players lampshade the hell out of this in a Tonight Show skit that had Johnny as Clark Kent/Superman. Kent and Lois get married as, in their honeymoon suite, Lois wishes she had married Superman. Kent reveals he's Superman, much to Lois' joy. The lights go out when they're in bed, and their consummation lasts all but five seconds. The lights go on as they each light up a cigarette. Opines Lois: "They're right about you, Superman. You are faster than a speeding bullet!"
• The Doctor Who episode "The Return of Doctor Mysterio". Grant is the mild-mannered nanny to Lucy, whom he's been pining over for 24 years. His alter-ego is a masked superhero called the Ghost. Naturally, when the Ghost saves her life, Lucy is interested in him, while largely ignoring Grant (who starts feeling jealous towards his other self). During her interview/date with the Ghost, the latter starts to make fun of her male nanny, causing Lucy to get defensive and have a Love Epiphany about Grant. Everything gets resolved by the end, when Grant is forced to reveal his powers to her, although she says she prefers his superhero costume... before putting the glasses he dropped back on him (i.e. his supernanny costume).
• An interesting case exists in Mr. Robot: Elliot and his evil split personality Mr. Robot share a body but, due to their drastically different personalities and knowledge bases, can for all intents and purposes be considered two different people. Tyrell is in love with Mr. Robot, not Elliot, but doesn't realize that the two aren't one and the same until the beginning of season 3.
• On Knight Squad, the Princess uses a magical ring to take on the persona of Ciara so she can train to become a knight. At first, only friend Arc knows the truth although teammate Prudence later finds out. In season 2, teammate Warwick surprises them by talking of how "the princess is so into me," having mistaken Ciara's words of encouragement as the Princess as professions of love. When he finds out they're the same person, Warwick is jarred as he feels nothing for Ciara yet still attracted to her when she turns into the Princess.
• Daredevil (2015) does this with Matt and Karen, with Matt actually smirking when Karen vouches for the Devil of Hell's Kitchen in his presence:
  Karen Page: He didn't hurt Ben and he didn't hurt me. I'll take the Devil of Hell's Kitchen over Fisk any day. Plus, he kicks ass! [Matt smiles, Foggy scoffs] No, you should've seen the way that he was flipping around in the rain.
• A Breather Episode of Ultraman 80 had Takeshi Yamato (Ultraman 80's human form) being convinced to go on a date by his students, only for the date to be interrupted by a kaiju attack. After Takeshi transforms into Ultraman 80 and defeats the kaiju (without anyone noticing, as usual), though? Takeshi's date is no longer interested in him, because she now had a crush on Ultraman 80!
• In Help! I'm a Teenage Outlaw, Tom is in love with Lady Devereux, never realising that she is also the 'peasant' girl Deedee who is a member of his gang.
• Moon Knight gives an unorthodox example with Layla and Marc Spector, as they're already married and she's well aware of his superhero identity. But after he leaves her to protect her (not that she needed it), he settles in London and takes the identity Steven Grant, which becomes a Split Personality for him. When Layla tracks down her estranged husband and meets Steven for the first time, she starts liking him for their shared interests, even as she comes to despise Marc for keeping secrets from her...such as having a mental illness in the first place.
• A flashback in Superman & Lois has Lois preparing to interview Superman, utterly oblivious to Superman's visible infatuation with her until her producer points it out — because she is already completely in love with Clark Kent.
• She-Hulk: Attorney at Law: When Jen is convinced to try dating as She-Hulk, she ends up sleeping with an Amazon Chaser who is smitten with the 6'7 Statuesque Stunner. But when he sees Jen as her normal 5'4 self for the first time while she's making breakfast the morning after, he's completely turned off and leaves without eating or taking back his tshirt she was wearing.
• A rare non-superhero example happens in Married... with Children. When Peggy is angry that Al is spending so much time at the strip club with his friends in NO MAAM, she goes there on amateur night (which NO MAAM is judging) as "Jasmine," wearing a veil and black wig, and does a belly dancer routine. Al, none the wiser, becomes obsessed with her, and imagines Jasmine while having sex with Peg. The episode ends when Peg, feeling this has gone on long enough, reveals that the woman Al's been fantasizing about has been his wife this entire time.
• Black Lightning (2009): Nastya tells Dima that the Black Lightning feels romantic, as she'd like to feel protected. She doesn't realize Dima is the hero.