History Main / DisguisedHostageGambit

* ''ComicBook/{{The Warlord|DC}}'': In issue #125, the Scavenger dresses Tara in in his cloak and throws her at Morgan, making it look like she is attacking him and causing Morgan to stab his own wife.

* In a story in an issue of ''[[Franchise/{{Batman}} The Batman Chronicles]]'', a killer nicknamed the Mimic tries to pull this stunt on private eye Jason Bard, using his facility at imitating voices to make it sound like Bard's client is calling for help. At the last moment, Bard realizes what is going on and shoots the correct target.
* While imprisoned by the Penguin in ''ComicBook/BatmanEternal'', ComicBook/{{Catwoman}} manages to switch places with Lark, Penguin's {{Bodyguard Babe|s}}, by taping her mouth shut and handcuffing her. When the ruse works, Catwoman feigns offense and says that Lark isn't nearly sexy enough to pass for her.
* ComicBook/TheJoker does this during ''ComicBook/BatmanNoMansLand'' to get rid of a rogue group of survivalist ex-cops. Send out prisoners painted to look like him and the admittedly-crazy leader shot them all.
* In Creator/{{Christopher Priest|Comics}}'s ''ComicBook/BlackPanther'' run, T'Challa's ex-girlfriend Monica ends up captured by a Reverend Achebe. The twist is, Achebe tapes Monica's mouth shut and dresses her up in a remote-controlled exoskeleton, making it difficult for T'Challa to stop the plot without hurting or killing her in the process. Effectively, it's this trope crossed with a HumanShield.
* In an issue of Creator/TiniHoward's ''ComicBook/{{Catwoman}}'' run, Black Mask hires Red Claw to capture Catwoman for him. After the two women instead strike a deal, they force a random jerk who had been harassing Catwoman into one of her spare costumes, duct tape his mouth shut, and deliver him to Black Mask in her place.

* In ''ComicBook/{{Flashpoint}} Franchise/{{Batman}}: Knight of Vengeance'', the Joker pulls this on Jim Gordon, causing Jim to shoot one of Harvey Dent's kids.
* In one of the ''ComicBook/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'' issues dealing with the aftermath of ''ComicBook/CivilWarII'', ComicBook/{{Gamora}} is captured by ComicBook/AlphaFlight. It's later discovered that the "Gamora" in custody is actually a female Alpha Flight agent that Gamora had gagged, switched clothes with, and painted up to resemble her.

* More than once ComicBook/JonahHex has captured an enemy, dressed the bad guy in his trademark jacket and hat, gagged him and bound him to the saddle before sending the horse galloping into the outlaw camp to draw fire.
* A variation occurs in the first issue of ''ComicBook/{{Ninjak}}''. The title character tapes a villainess' mouth shut and tapes her hand to a sword. When her mooks arrive, they see a shadowed figure holding a weapon and open fire, killing her and allowing Ninjak to escape.

* Des and the militia pull one of these in the closing scenes of ''ComicBook/{{Revival}}''. It's understated in that there's only a couple of fake targets in the field of a real firefight.
* In the ''ComicBook/ScoobyDooTeamUp'' issue "[[Recap/ScoobyDooTeamUpQuestForMystery Quest for Mystery!]]", Dr. Zin dresses up Dr. Quest as one of his genetically engineered monsters, hoping that his team would attack him, which would allow him [Dr. Zin] some satisfaction from their reactions when they found out what they had done. Luckily, Velma recognized that the "monster" wasn't a monster when she saw its shoes, and was just in time to keep Race from shooting Dr. Quest with the sonic blaster.

* The graphic novel ''ComicBook/VForVendetta'' has a slightly different scene than in the movie: Just one guy is dressed up as V, and he is pretty much one of the bad guys (a high-ranking party member with some seriously sleazy KickTheDog moments, though no outright MoralEventHorizon crossings).
* ''ComicBook/TheWarlordDC'': In #125, the Scavenger dresses Tara in in his cloak and throws her at Morgan, making it look like she is attacking him and causing Morgan to stab his own wife.

* An absolutely horrifying example in ''Series/{{Whitechapel}}'', series 4, when an escaped serial killer known for wearing a creepy mask takes a young man who is roughly the same height and weight as him, tortures him, ''sews his mouth shut so he cannot speak'' then tapes the mask to his face. He then attaches a fake but realistic-looking gun to the young man's hands with wire, and sends him out into a police fight. One of the detectives realises something is up as the "killer" is whimpering in pain, but before he can intervene the young man is shot dead by snipers, after the actual killer deliberately spooks them. Only then do the police realize what they've done.

* In an issue of Creator/TiniHoward's ''Comicbook/{{Catwoman}}'' run, Black Mask hires Red Claw to capture Catwoman for him. After the two women instead strike a deal, they force a random jerk who had been harassing Catwoman into one of her spare costumes, duct tape his mouth shut, and deliver him to Black Mask in her place.

* Done by Gypsy Moth during ''ComicBook/SpiderIsland''. She uses her silk to web ComicBook/SpiderWoman's mouth shut, and then dresses up the [[BoundAndGagged gagged]] heroine in a copy of her costume. When [[ComicBook/FantasticFour the Thing]] arrives a few minutes later, he thinks Spider-Woman is actually Gypsy Moth and immediately attacks her.
* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' foe Ruin once kidnapped Superman's friend Pete Ross (whom he tricked almost everyone into believing ''was'' Ruin) and his family (his wife Lana and their child), then dressed up Pete like Ruin and made it look like Pete was about to shoot his family when a detective whose fellow officers Ruin killed appeared on the scene. Fortunately, the detective was savvy enough to realize she was being set up.
* An issue of ''[[ComicBook/TeenTitans Teen Titans Spotlight]]'' has Two-Face kidnapping Comicbook/{{Cyborg}}'s girlfriend Sarah in order to lure him into a trap. He tapes her mouth shut and dresses her up in a convincing Two-Face costume, hoping that Cyborg will accidently kill her in a fit of rage. Fortunately, Cyborg sees through the ruse at the last second.

* In an old ''ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}'' short story by Creator/ChrisClaremont, Logan tries to rescue his girlfriend Mariko after she's kidnapped by a Yakuza boss. The Yakuza boss has a squad of thugs in [[PoweredArmor Mandroid armor]], and traps Mariko inside one of the suits so that she'll be killed by Logan. Luckily, Logan recognizes Mariko by her scent, and is able to avoid harming her.