Doppelganger - Television Tropes & Idioms

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Doppelganger

Literally.

Twin. Doppelgänger, with an umlaut, is the German word for a ghostly double of a living person or more commonly simply a word for someone looking exactly like someone else, i.e. an impostor or double. It means "double (walker)", in the original.

Traditionally, Doppelgängers have strange, supernatural origins, unlike twins which usually have more natural explanations. A Mirror Universe, Cloning, alien intervention, and magic are all possible sources of a Doppelgänger. For purposes of clarity, this this index includes both mundane and supernatural impersonators of a character.

For twins related by blood, see Twin Tropes. See also Disguise Tropes.

Specific types of doppelgangers include:

Body Snatcher — Doppelgangers created by bodily possession.
Cloning Blues — Clones are one common way of making duplicates.
- Opposite Sex Clone
Costume Copycat — When a hero is impersonated by someone in a nearly identical costume.
Dead Person Impersonation — When one person takes over another's identity.
Easy Impersonation — When a hero is impersonated by someone in a not-even-similar costume.
Evil Counterpart - A character (not related to the hero) who is very similar, but For Want Of A Nail turned evil.
Evil Knockoff - when a robotic duplicate or clone is made of a hero with the purpose of destroying them.
- Mobile Suit Human — When the robot duplicate is piloted by a tiny alien.
Evil Twin — When a character has an evil sibling or alternate reality duplicate.
Freaky Friday Flip — When two people switch bodies, the result is remarkably doppelganger-like.
Identical Stranger — For some reason, the gene sequencing fairy took the day off and you have an unrelated twin.
Jekyll And Hyde — When the person is their own doppelganger.
Literal Split Personality
Replicant Snatching — Or when a robot/alien peels off the original's skin and wears it.
Shape Shifting — Some doppelgangers can do it by shape shifting.
Split At Birth

Related tropes:

Ambiguous Clone Ending — Did the original kill the clone, or is the clone the survivor?
Antagonists Assimilate — Most villainous doppelgangers easily impersonate their target.
Becoming The Mask — What happens to many doppelgangers.
Body Double
Doppelganger Replacement Love Interest — That Love Interest that just died? S/he has a duplicate in the real world that wants to shack up with you.
Glamour Failure — Not all doppelgangers can hide their tells.
Guise Will Be Guise — An impersonator tries to fill in for someone else and Hilarity Ensues.
I Say What I Say — Doppelgangers speaking in unison.
Identity Impersonator — A ploy heroes use to throw off people are snooping their Secret Identity.
Mes A Crowd— when someone tries to clone themselves to do their chores.
Mirror Match — When a character fights themselves in a video game... or a reasonably close match.
Mirror Morality Machine — A character is made into his or her moral opposite thanks to Phlebotinum.
Mirror Universe — Home to many morality opposite versions of a cast.
Mistaken For An Imposter
Opening A Can Of Clones — A story with clones, especially when used to revive dead characters or undo plot, makes the events lose punch.
Prince And Pauper — Two people switch lives.
The Psycho Rangers — An entire team of doppelgangers to the Five Man Band.
Screw Yourself
Spot The Imposter — When the friends of the impersonated have to figure out who the spy is.
Teleporter Accident — One surefire way to create an duplicate, evil or otherwise.
What Measure Is A Me — The tendency to see these doubles as highly expendable, if not abominations to be killed.