History Main / SecretIdentity

* J'onn J'onzz, the ComicBook/MartianManhunter, originally masqueraded as a human police detective named John Jones; a later {{Retcon}} made this an impersonation of a ''real'' detective Jones whose killing he had witnessed. Stories in UsefulNotes/{{the Modern Age|OfComicBooks}} have established the idea that, as an unlimited shapeshifter, J'onn has actually created ''dozens'' of secret identities (and at least one other heroic identity, the Bronze Wraith).

*** Amusingly subverted in "[[Recap/JusticeLeagueUnlimitedS3E8TheGreatBrainRobbery The Great Brain Robbery]]", which features [[FreakyFridayFlip Lex Luthor switching bodies with the Flash]]. In what is possibly a reference to a [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] story in which one of ComicBook/TheFlash's RoguesGallery makes a similar discovery, Lex is disappointed when he tries to discover who Flash really is:

* ''Franchise/D4DJ'', including the game ''VideoGame/D4DJGroovyMix'', features Lumina Ichihoshi, a VirtualYouTuber with a theme of being a "space idol" from outside of Earth. When she joins [=UniChØrd=], naturally her three unit-mates eventually learn who the actor is behind the Lumina persona. [[spoiler:The secret is that ''she isn't a human at all'', but an ArtificialIntelligence who was developed to be a fully autonomous VirtualIdol. Out of respect for her, her three human colleagues uphold the secret, and dodge the subject when questions are asked about her real identity, which is helped by the fact that [=VTuber=] fan culture considers it very no-no to pry into a [=VTuber=]'s identity or private life.]]

** Similarly the addresses and phone-numbers of police officers and federal agents are somewhat protected.

* Secret agents would obviously be useless without a false name or, at the very least, a code to identify themselves to their handlers. However, many agents with Non-Official Cover use their real name, they just don't say they're spies.
** In the TV series ''Series/CovertAffairs'', Anne Walker, CIA Officer, is publicly known as Anne Walker, Smithsonian Employee. [[spoiler:And it turns out the professor she went to help for in the pilot is himself a retired Officer.]]

* Any author using a PenName could be considered this, or a performer with a closely guarded StageName.
** George Orwell played it straight, never publishing his politically charged works under his real name to throw the KGB off.

* ''Fanfic/SpiderNinja'': Averted in this fic. Most versions of ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'' are very careful about maintaining their secret identity, so they can a) have civilian identities and do things like hold a job and finish high school, b) protect their families/friends from supervillains, and c) avoid any possible legal repercussions that might result from their heroics (such as [[WesternAnimation/SpiderManAcrossTheSpiderVerse the misunderstanding that led to Spider-Woman being wanted for the murder of Peter Parker]]). Spider-Ninja, however, a) is legally dead due to disappearing at age four, b) has a family of mutants who keep their existence secret from the rest of the world, and c) mostly acts in the shadows before disappearing without a trace, meaning that people have little to no idea what she looks like.

In superhero stories, these are particularly vulnerable to to the superpower TheNoseKnows.

* LikesClarkKentHatesSuperman: A hero with a secret identity knows someone who likes one identity, but can't stand the other.

** So far, along with Daredevil, Spider-Man is one of the few characters in the setting to work at keeping his identity a secret from the public, and Tony is the only one in ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'' to have traced it to nerdy high-schooler Peter Parker. Part of his reasoning is that he doesn't want his aunt May to be worried about him and "freak out". He's quick to web Tony's hand to his doorknob right in his own bedroom when the prospect of outing his exploits comes up, and it's implied by the end of ''Civil War'' that it's still his secret to keep. Then in ''Film/SpiderManHomecoming'', he ends up being outed to his friend Ned, [[spoiler:the ''villain'', and finally Aunt May herself]]. In ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'', he introduces himself to several other superheroes, but none of them are likely to run into him in his daily life (most of them are from ''other planets.'') [[spoiler:In ''Film/SpiderManFarFromHome'', he ends up getting publicly outed to the world thanks to Mysterio and J. Jonah Jameson, thus subverting this trope completely.]]

* Conan Edogawa and Ai Haibara in ''Manga/CaseClosed'' must keep secret the fact that they were [[FountainOfYouth youthened]] instead of killed by a poison used by a shadowy secret organization. The original rationale was to pretend Conan's prior identity, Shinichi Kudo, was dead, but he can't stop phoning his girlfriend using his Shinichi voice, so it seems to be a pretty open secret that is still alive. Some people are clever enough to put two and two together and figure out who he is, too.

* Several characters in ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'' have secret identities. Most play it absolutely straight, maintaining them for various reasons]]. However, one turns out to be a deconstruction: [[spoiler:Reiner Braun is unable to handle the guilt of his crimes as TheMole, and slowly loses focus of his true self. This causes him to suffer bouts of TraumaInducedAmnesia, repressing his real memories while completely submerged into his false identity]].

* Subverted in ''Manga/{{Akumetsu}}'', where the titular GuileHero doesn't really care about it as much as most of the examples on this page.
* Several characters in ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'' have secret identities. Most play it absolutely straight, maintaining them for [[TheMole various]] [[HeroicBastard reasons]]. However, one turns out to be a Deconstruction: [[spoiler: Reiner Braun is unable to handle the guilt of his crimes as TheMole, and slowly loses focus of his true self. This causes him to suffer bouts of TraumaInducedAmnesia, repressing his real memories while completely submerged into his false identity]].
* Lelouch Lamperouge, the morally gray revolutionary from ''Anime/CodeGeass'', takes on the masked LargeHam persona of [[MyHeroZero Zero]] when he founds and leads the Order of the Black Knights against the [[TheEmpire Holy Empire of Britannia]] - his normal persona is that of an OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent...which is ''also'' a false identity, since he's really Lelouch vi Britannia, an exiled son of the Britannian Emperor and therefore a prince.

* Conan Edogawa and Ai Haibara in ''Manga/CaseClosed'' must keep secret the fact that they were youthened instead of killed by a poison used by a shadowy secret organization. The original rationale was to pretend Conan's prior identity, Shinichi Kudo, was dead, but he can't stop phoning his girlfriend using his Shinichi voice, so it seems to be a pretty open secret he's is still alive. Some people are clever enough to put two and two together and figure out who he is, too.

* In ''Anime/DragonBallZ'', there is Gohan as the Great Saiyaman. As Gohan, he's a fairly nerdy high school student. As the Great Saiyaman, he's a LargeHam crimefighter who's fond of {{Sentai}}-spoofing poses. He's also quite bad at actually maintaining the secret identity.
* The ''Eldran'' series both averts and plays this straight. In the first (''Anime/ZettaiMutekiRaijinOh'') and last (''Anime/NekketsuSaikyoGosaurer'') series, the protagonists are a class of ''fifth-graders'', and their schools hide/''are'' the titular robots, so its hard to keep what they do secret anyways (that and the military tried confiscating Gosaurer in its series, but the situation turned sour when it turned out it wouldn't work for them). However the second entry in the series - ''Anime/GenkiBakuhatsuGanbaruger'' - plays this very straight, and with justification (kinda) in that if the heroes reveal their identities, they'll be turned into dogs.

* In ''Manga/FullMoon'', Mitsuki uses her shinigami's powers to turn herself into a famous singer. It's later revealed that [[spoiler:Takuto was actually a member of Mitsuki's father's band when he was still alive.]]

* Set in the same universe as ''Case Closed'' is ''Manga/MagicKaito'', which has the titular character Kaito Kuroba, who is, unknown to his friends, the PhantomThief Kaito Kid. The shared name is never remarked upon as more than coincidence, since Kid [[LegacyCharacter was inherited the identity from his father]] and Kaito's SympatheticInspectorAntagonist is a man who's known him since he ''was'' a kid.
* All Might has to keep one up in ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'' after his injury from five years ago reduced the time he could act as a hero to three hours a day to keep Japan from succumbing to chaos in his absence. Otherwise, he's working nine-to-five as his own secretary under his real name, Toshinori Yagi. After passing One for All to Izuku, All Might frequently has to push his slowly decreasing limits to keep people from seeing his [[NothingButSkinAndBones emaciated]], depowered form.
** Downplayed with Hawks: he doesn't exactly hide his identity - his bright red wings would make that kind of hard anyway - but he does hide his real name, [[spoiler: Takami Keigo]]. As far as the public and most heroes are concerned, [[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep he's just Hawks]]. He does this because [[spoiler: his father was an infamous criminal, and it would hurt his reputation for people to learn this]].
* ''Manga/NurseAngelRirikaSOS'' [[ZigZaggingTrope zigzags]] this. The MagicalGirlWarrior heroine keeps her world-saving activities secret from her friends and family. But she's not really trying to hide her identity from the villains; she even transforms in front of them. And for their part, the villains know where she lives and they try to exploit her civilian identity. They just don't do it very well.
* ''Literature/NyarukoCrawlingWithLove'' beats this trope up for its lunch money [[GagSeries like it does so many others]]. Though the alien characters will try to keep {{Muggles}} from seeing their battles with {{Cosmic Horror}}s, they do little else to maintain TheMasquerade. Nyarko will gladly introduce herself as "The Crawling Chaos who creeps up on you with a smile, [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos Nyarlathotep]]", and when joining Mahiro's high school gave a speech where she outright says she travels the stars and fights Malign Deities. And it's not even a case of being written off as a CloudCuckoolander, since people always seem to believe her BlatantLies about being pregnant with Mahiro's child.

* Most of the heroes in ''Anime/TigerAndBunny'' have secret identities, the exception being Barnaby Brooks Jr. who is open with the public and simply does his heroics under that name. Whilst the other heroes are masked to the public, most of their family members usually know (with exceptions) and, as they are all examples of {{Corporate Sponsored Superhero}}es, so do their bosses/sponsors. Also [[spoiler:Wild Tiger/Kotetsu T. Kaburagi winds up being known to the general public when it becomes the only way to clear his civilian name to is to go public given the time frame he was working under.]]

[[AC:Franchise/TheDCU :]]
* ''ComicBook/{{Aztek}}'' introduced two background characters, a married superhero couple, neither of whom knew the other's secret identity. Think about it.

** Much like his mentor, Tim Drake uses the additional secret identity of Alvin Draper for infiltration. Eventually, due to the League of Assassins interfering when he was trying to borrow evidence from a museum in Germany making "Alvin" an internationally wanted art thief and Dick blurting out that he was Robin directly in front of ComicBook/TwoFace, this id becomes rather dangerous to use.
* ''ComicBook/BlackCanary'': Despite abandoning any attempt at a disguise years ago and having a very public wedding to another superhero (whose own Secret Identity was a MillionairePlayboy and former mayor of a major city), Dinah has apparently managed to maintain one. Dinah was outed as Black Canary, as of ''ComicBook/BirdsOfPrey'' Volume 2, #2. It seemed that for the most part, it was a case of her secret identity was so unremarkable (a florist in a small shop) she didn't really ''need'' to hide who she was, and pretty much the entire hero/villain community knew 'Dinah Lance' was her name.

* ''ComicBook/CaptainAtom'': Deconstructed in Post-Crisis comics. Cap had a "secret non-identity": a government-written cover identity of "Cameron Scott" that existed only on paper, to hide his origins as the time-displaced product of a 1960s military experiment, and to hide that Cap was a government agent masquerading as a superhero. The deconstruction of the secret identity trope and its moral and ethical implications was one of the major themes of the series.

** Oliver Queen says in ''The Longbow Hunters'', "All those years of maintaining a secret identity, and the only reason nobody ever found out was that nobody cared!?"
** His successor Connor Hawke never even bothered; at one point he took over ownership of an apartment building and was refused insurance because he was a superhero.
* J'onn J'onzz, the ComicBook/MartianManhunter, originally masqueraded as a human police detective named John Jones; a later {{Retcon}} made this an impersonation of a ''real'' detective Jones whose killing he had witnessed. Stories in UsefulNotes/{{the Modern Age|of Comic Books}} have established the idea that, as an unlimited shapeshifter, J'onn has actually created ''dozens'' of secret identities (and at least one other heroic identity, the Bronze Wraith).

** The Crimson Fox of ''Justice League Europe'' was actually a pair of twin sisters sharing both a single heroic ''and'' civilian identity (after having faked the death of one sister).

** According to Creator/ElliotSMaggin's ''Literature/LastSonOfKrypton'', supergenius Lex Luthor actually maintains [[InventedIndividual dozens of identities]] as artists, scientists, and other highbrow society positions. He does it partly to influence affairs in those fields, partly as a source of income, but mostly to keep from being ''bored''.

* ''Franchise/WonderWoman''

** ''ComicBook/WonderWoman2006'': Diana tries to hide her other identity as Wonder Woman while acting as the secret agent Diana Prince. The ComicBook/PostCrisis ContinuityReboot of ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'' had wiped out her previous history of living as Diana Prince, leaving her only with the public identity of Diana of Themyscira. The 2006 reboot was actually not a {{retcon}}, but rather featured Wonder Woman adopting the Prince identity in the established present.

[[AC:MarvelUniverse :]]
* For the bulk of his career, Tony Stark presented ComicBook/IronMan to the public as an employee wearing the armor he invented, and serving as his bodyguard. This twist would actually seem to ''negate'' a great deal of the usual justifications for bothering to maintain a dual identity -- the general public knows Stark designed the armor, and any enemies of Iron Man are likely to become enemies of Stark by association. It sometimes seems the primary reason for this posture is to give Tony a measure of ''legal'' cover for Iron Man's activities -- and indeed, on at least one occasion, Tony has publicly "fired" Iron Man in response to a scandal arising from his actions.
** Eventually, Tony came out as Iron Man as part of a wave of secret identity refutations (Steve Rogers, a.k.a. Captain America, did the same thing around the same time).
*** It turns out he did have good reason for worrying about the legal cover. During the [[ComicBook/BuckyBarnes Winter Soldier]] debacle, he had to deny assistance to Captain America and ComicBook/TheFalcon, since the villain's employer was one of Stark's direct business rivals. He explained that he could lose his company and end up in jail if it looked like he was using the Iron Man armor to intimidate his competitors.

** In ''ComicBook/UltimateSpiderMan'', on the other hand, Spidey's identity is the worst kept secret in superherodom. He's been unmasked by at least as many people as he's deliberately revealed his identity to. (A trend continued in [[Film/SpiderManTrilogy the movies]] -- he couldn't make it past his second film without being unmasked in front of literally dozens of people, although none of them recognized him.) The Ultimate version in particular may be a reference to the [[MemeticMutation fan meme]] that Spider-Man was one of the last big Marvel Characters to even bother with a secret identity, as his RoguesGallery was full of people who knew him personally.
** And by now, on Earth-616, only the ComicBook/FantasticFour, his fellow Avengers and his clone Kaine know who Spider-Man is under the mask.
* [[ComicBook/{{NormanOsborn}} The Green Goblin]] and other Goblin characters are ''villainous'' but there's kind of a tradition of hiding their identity from everyone (even the readers) whenever a new one debuts. This has led to more than one instance of a new Goblin character getting passed on to another writer, who completely changes the original writer's intended identity reveal.
* The Scourge of the Underworld was an entire conspiracy collectively posing as a single vigilante killer.
* Aversion: when the Comicbook/FantasticFour were created, they intentionally avoided many genre tropes to distance themselves from their Distinguished Competition (that is, DC's ComicBook/JusticeLeague) - with the most significant of these decisions being their lack of dual identities. One popular in-story explanation implies Reed does so to not make the others, especially Ben Grimm (for whom keeping a secret identity is basically impossible), feel ashamed of their abilities.
** In one early storyline, Johnny "Human Torch" Storm attempts to pull off a secret identity. It lasts less than an issue, before he remembers that he was already a celebrity and thus it's pointless.
** The Fantastic Four also Deconstructs this lack of private identities at times, most notably with the public knowledge that Reed and Sue have had children. This attracts the attention of child services, who drop by to question whether or not they should ''remove their kids'' from the dangerous environment.

* Also averted most of the time for Comicbook/DoctorStrange. Played with somewhat in that the public rarely takes him seriously -- they tend to see him as just another bit of Greenwich Village color.
** For a time (after he had been attacked by [[ItsNotYouItsMyEnemies proxy]]), he had a different appearance as "Doctor Strange" and lived under a CosmicRetcon which gave him a civilian persona named "Stephen Sanders." He eventually stopped bothering with the double life and practiced magic openly.
* Subverted in ''ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}''. For years Matt Murdock hid his identity as Daredevil on the reasonable grounds that, as a lawyer, his vigilante lifestyle could get his cases overturned, and he suffered more than Spider-Man as a result. But then the hero was publicly outed, so the entire world knows who he is but no one could prove it.
* Bruce Banner is Comicbook/TheIncredibleHulk, which starts off as a secret but ends up as public knowledge in most continuities, in part because it's kind of a hard secret to keep under wraps. Ditto for his cousin Jennifer Walters, AKA ComicBook/SheHulk, albeit for somewhat different reasons. (Most of the time, She-Hulk is in control of whether she appears as Walters or She-Hulk; for a while, she appeared as She-Hulk pretty much all of the time, and once became locked in that form (a development that didn't bother her in the least).)
** Interestingly enough, there was a period/continuity where Hulk's identity was secret from ''himself''. Banner always knew he was the Hulk, but Hulk didn't know that ''he'' was ''Banner''. Which kind of put a damper on his plans to kill Banner.
* [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]]'s second identity for many years was protected by a TransformationSequence. When Odin removed this power, Thor merely dressed normally to construct a new identity. While he worked in construction, the boss noticed his strength and his dexterity and concluded he had to be -- Spider-Man. A rare subversion of the "guess is always right." (He invited him home, and one of his children looked in Thor's duffel bag; the hammer gave it away.)
* Spoofed in ''[[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor: The Mighty Avenger]]''. After Brian Braddock/Captain Britain pretends to go to the bathroom so he can deal with a disgruntled Thor, the following conversation occurs between his drinking buddies.
-->'''Celine''': Do you think we should check on [Brian]? He has been in the loo for a long time, no?\\
'''Alan''': Mmm? No, it's okay. He's Captain Britain.\\
'''Celine''': What?\\
'''Alan''': He's Captain Britain. He thinks his friends don't know, but he's terrible at keeping it a secret, so we pretend we don't notice. Another one?\\
'''Celine''': Uhh...Yes. A pint, thank you.
* Totally averted by Comicbook/ThePunisher, as his Frank Castle identity is public knowledge. And yet, he can still regularly just walk down the street so long as he's not openly brandishing weapons or wearing his trademark skull.
** In ''ComicBook/ThePunisherWelcomeBackFrank'', Castle once overhears a plot to assassinate The Punisher in a restaurant as he is sitting a few tables over from the plotters. His PaperThinDisguise is...a baseball cap. But he has also hired a prostitute to pretend to be his "date," which probably did much more to throw off any idea that he was The Punisher (he also sat with his back to his target).
* Subverted in [[ComicBook/TheAvengers one of the Black Knight's old spotlight issues]]. After getting arrested by some pushy and jerkass police due to a mixup (ironically he got mistaken for a supervillain that was similarly Arthurian-knightly-themed), Whitman raises a big fuss about how it's illegal for the policemen to unmask him since he's an Avenger. Later, we find out he freely tells everyone that Dane Whitman's address is where the Black Knight stays when he's in town. When Miss Bentley points out the flimsiness of this cover story compared to his fuss at the police station, he admits he doesn't actually care about his secret identity, he just "hates being pushed around".
* [[ComicBook/MsMarvel2014 Kamala Khan]] is an interesting variation in that she is ''fiercely'' protective of her secret identity, but she's more than happy to hang around with her friends in ''their'' secret identities while she's in costume. She's also told her friends that revealing their identities ''to her'' was a bad idea, and they shouldn't just assume that fellow superheroes can automatically be trusted with that information.
** When in-costume, she only identifies herself as Kamala when talking to an adult superhero she trusts, such as ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}, Medusa, Carol Danvers, and ComicBook/IronMan.
** Early in her solo comic, she freaks out that, if anyone besides Bruno learns her true identity, they'll "sell [her] to science".
** As a member of the ComicBook/AllNewAllDifferentAvengers, she takes great pride in teasing both Miles and [[ComicBook/{{Nova}} Sam]], the two other members of the team her own age, because they both revealed their real names to her while she has kept hers secret from them. When Miles (in his own book) suggests that, since he trusted her with his identity, she should do the same, Kamala tells him that that just means that she's smarter than him. Nowadays, all three of them know each others' secret identities (Miles worldlessly figures it out in ''Ms. Marvel'' #7, and Kamala reveals herself to Sam as part of a IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight when he falls under Blackheart's HatePlague spell in ''Champions Vol. 2'' #9).
[[AC:Other Comics]]
* In ''ComicBook/{{Preacher}}'' there is a villainous example where a serial killer called the Reaver Cleaver is hiding behind a civilian guise, [[spoiler:a reporter investigating the serial killer's identity]].

* One old comic had a one eyed army veteran who became a superhero. His name was Jonathan Battle. He retired as a Captain. His superhero name? Captain Battle. No one manages to figure out who this mysterious one eyed "Captain Battle" secretly is. Not even his friends.

** Some supers have their identities publicly known and are treated like celebrities, such as with the First Family.
** Others are shrouded entirely in myth and feared or shunned, like The Confessor or the Blue Knight.
** And still others have revealed their identities to the authorities while keeping them secret from the public at large, such as the Street Angel and Quarrel.

** In one story, a petty criminal stumbles upon Jack-in-the-Box's identity, then starts thinking about the ways he might exploit the information. [[spoiler:The more he thinks about it, the more he realizes that [[DeathBySecretIdentity it will all end VERY badly for him]]. He decides to forget everything and leave town instead.]]
* Jerrica from ''WesternAnimation/{{Jem}} and the Holograms'' keeps an alter ego named "Jem" due to StageFright. Only her sisters and Synergy, their supercomputer, knows otherwise. She slips up several times involving her remembering she has a secret identity, though. For example, on her bands first performance she asks Rio to get her a coffee. She goes to change into Jem but when Rio calls for Jerrica, she replies. She also ''takes Rio coffee'', which only causes Rio to think Jem is an obnoxious diva who takes others coffee and is barely around her bandmates.

* In ''ComicBook/HeroCatsOfStellarCity'', Cassie's owner Stanley and his daughter Suzie routinely don spandex as Galaxyman and Cosmic Girl, the crime-fighting superhero duo. Hilariously, while Cassie and her friends figure it out fairly quickly, it turns out Stanley and Suzie successfully keep their secrets from ''each other'' - Stanley has no idea that his sidekick is actually his daughter, and vice versa. Cassie can hardly believe it.
* ''ComicBook/TheTick'' attempted to hold down a secret identity [[InvokedTrope because he believed superheroes needed one to be superheroes]]. He did this [[ClarkKenting by putting on a tie]] and pretending to be a crossword writer for a newspaper, despite having neither a job or wearing any other clothing beyond his body (and identity)-covering blue spandex. Averted in the cartoon and live-action incarnations, in which almost none of the superheroes are shown to have secret identities, and most don't even bother covering up their faces.

* In ''Fanfic/AForceOfFour'', Franchise/WonderWoman's daughter Lyta Trevor decides to not bother with a secret identity when she starts operating as a hero.

* ''Fanfic/ForeverCaptain'': In this MCU series, Steve Rogers time travels back to the midcentury to marry Peggy Carter and completely retire from superheroics. To keep anyone from realizing who he is, he goes by his middle name and takes on Peggy’s last name, making him known to all only as Grant Carter.

* ''Fanfic/IAmRedacted'' has the titular Redacted, aka Midoriya Izuku. Since secret identities are non-existent and technically illegal in the world of ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'' (Izuku had to cut some sort of deal with the Japanese government to make it possible), it became all the more noticeable when Redacted showed up with one. In fact, Redacted isn't even Izuku's official hero name; his actual hero name is Nimbus, but he was NamedByDemocracy after researching his public records had his real name blocked out with the phrase '''[REDACTED]''', and by the start of the story, has given up correcting reporters and fans alike.
* In ''Fanfic/TheInstituteSaga'', [[Franchise/{{Superman}} Clark Kent]] relies on no-one thinking that a part-time teacher could be a superhero and it works, right until he gets publicly outed by a politician hoping to use his fame against him. The result? The Bayville High gets ''swamped'' by transfer requests from people wanting to be taught by a genuine super-hero!

* In ''Fanfic/{{Kage}}'', a crossover story between ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{WITCH}}'', Jade is banished by Drago from her universe to another. She ends up on Meridian and due to unfortunate factors is quickly labeled as [[HeroWithBadPublicity a public threat]]. To survive, she's forced to associate with villains. To leave as little information of herself as possible in case of a double-cross, she comes up for herself the alias [[TitleDrop "Kage"]].

* In the ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck'' fanfiction ''Fanfic/NegaverseChronicles'', Megavolt is the only member of the [[MirrorUniverse Friendly Four]] who actually needs one since he's the only one with any family members who might be vulnerable (and [[BigBad Negaduck]] has promised to kill anyone close to him). However, as he pointed out, "Elmo, Billy, Bud and Reginald just doesn't sound as cool as Megavolt, Quackerjack, Liquidator and Doctor Bushroot".

* Unlike the canon Franchise/MastersOfTheUniverse series and more like how things were in ''WesternAnimation/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower'', Adam averts this in ''Fanfic/YinYang'', with his true identity as He-Man being known to all of Eternia, much like how Adora's identity as She-Ra is known to all of Etheria.
* Combine the ears of a fox, nine fox tails, and being WalkingTechbane to Tinkertech, and this trope was never an option for [[Literature/{{Worm}} Taylor Hebert]] in ''Fanfic/TheTasteOfPeaches''. While she does adopt the alias of Corentine, she immediately goes public with her real name when making her debut.

** Contrasting [[Series/Supergirl2015 the series]], Supergirl averts this due to using her powers in her civilian identity in full-view of the public.

* ''[[Fanfic/UltimateSpiderWoman Ultimate Spider-Woman: Change With The Light]]'':
** Played straight by the title character of ComicBook/MaryJaneWatson. She's generally very good at hiding her secret identity as Spider-Woman from the world, although some of her closest friends and family have figured it out. She does this to have a civilian life for herself and shield her loved ones from supervillain retaliation. While both Mary Jane in her civilian identity and her loved ones have been targeted by supervillains, it's usually because of the villains' vendettas against their civilian identities, ''not'' because of Mary Jane being Spider-Woman.
** Defied by the Heroes For Hire, who are a collective HeroOfAnotherStory. The Heroes disdain codenames and costumes to build trust and remain accountable to their clients and the people of their neighborhoods.

*** Alfred, Bruce's Butler, helps Batman every step of the way.
*** Lucius Fox, the OmnidisciplinaryScientist that provides Batman with his gadgets.
---->''"If you don't want to tell me exactly what you're doing - when I'm asked, I don't have to lie. But don't think of me as an idiot."''

*** Batman reveals his secret identity to CommissionerGordon near the end of the film.

** In ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice'', both Clark and Bruce Wayne have secret identities. This film makes it clear that, as in the Post-Crisis comics, Clark is ''himself'' when he's Clark Kent, reporter for the Daily Planet, as opposed to putting on a mild-mannered, clumsy facade as Clark and being himself when he's Superman. The concept of a Secret Identity is deconstructed somewhat, as Clark and Bruce are easily able to discover who the other really is (Clark overhears Bruce talking to Alfred with his [[SuperSenses super-hearing]], and Bruce isn't called the World's Greatest Detective for nothing) and, like Lois, Lex Luthor has been able to discover Clark is Superman, and also knows the secret identities of Batman, Wonder Woman, the Flash and Cyborg.
** At the end of ''Film/ZackSnydersJusticeLeague'', a free Lex Luthor hires Deathstroke and reveals him that [[WhamLine Batman is actually Bruce Wayne]].

** ''Film/IronMan1'': S.H.I.E.L.D. forged a cover story to explain away Iron Man's identity, Stane's disappearance, and the explosion at the Stark Industries factory. What really happened is that Stane knew all along who was underneath the armor (he hired the terrorists who took Tony hostage and gave him the reason to build the first armor, after all) and [[TheStarscream took steps to eliminate him]] [[CorruptCorporateExecutive to gain control over Stark Industries]] until Tony and Pepper killed him by overloading the factory's arc reactor. At the press conference where the cover story should have been fed to the media, Tony paused then simply stated, "I am Iron Man."

** Black Panther is publicly known to be Wakandan royalty. It surprises nobody T'Challa takes up the mantle after his father's death. Although his identity was initially unknown at least the people around when he first went after Bucky, due to most people there not being familiar with Wakanda's policies. T'Challa immediately unmasks after that fight though to make use of his diplomatic immunity and to get the UN's cooperation.
** So far, along with Daredevil, Spider-Man is one of the few characters in the setting to work at keeping his identity a secret from the public, and Tony is the only one in ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'' to have traced it to nerdy high-schooler Peter Parker. Part of his reasoning is that he doesn't want his aunt May to be worried about him and "freak out". He's quick to web Tony's hand to his doorknob right in his own bedroom when the prospect of outing his exploits comes up, and it's implied by the end of ''Civil War'' that it's still his secret to keep. Then in ''Film/SpiderManHomecoming'', he ends up being outed to his friend Ned, [[spoiler:the ''villain'', and finally Aunt May herself]]. In ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'', he introduces himself to several other superheroes, but none of them are likely to run into him in his daily life ([[ComicBook/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy most of them]] are from ''other planets.'') [[spoiler:In ''Film/SpiderManFarFromHome'', he ends up getting publicly outed to the world thanks to Mysterio and J. Jonah Jameson, thus subverting this trope completely.]]

* In ''Film/MysteryMen'', famous superhero Captain Amazing has [[ClarkKenting Clark Kent glasses]] (which fool just about everyone except the protagonist), and the Mystery Men themselves. The Shoveller is open with his family though. The Blue Rajah is initially embarrassed and doesn't want his mother to think he's weird, but when he gets caught pilfering her silverware, he comes out of the closet, and she turns out to be really proud of it. The scene is treated like a gay man coming out to his mother.

* In the novel ''Literature/DeathWish'' and its sequel ''Death Sentence'' by Brian Garfield, Paul Benjamin (given the surname Kersey in [[Film/DeathWish the films]]) went to elaborate lengths to maintain his dual identity as the vigilante. He knew quite well that the police would object to his sudden justice (the same reason that the Shadow and the Spider had dual identities). In the second novel, Benjamin buys goggles, a fake mustache, and a fur cap to disguise himself.
** The film series of ''Death Wish'' somewhat muddies this, since movie producers often demand that expensive name actors make their face completely visible, since they pay so much for them. However, the makers of the films did not completely ignore that Kersey had a dual identity. In the second film Paul Kersey buys an old pea coat, gloves, longshoreman's cap, and beat up pair of pants while prowling around as a vigilante. He rents a room in a flophouse to do first aid for his injuries. In the fourth film, the LAPD did not know the vigilante's identity. Also in that film, a man blackmails Paul Kersey into a meeting by announcing to him that he knew of his activities as the vigilante and would expose him.

* In ''Literature/WearingTheCape'', secret identities are optional and a lot of superheroes don't bother with them. Some have undergone physical transformations that make secret identities impossible, but many also had public breakthroughs that "outed" them from the start. One variation on traditional secret identities is a legal second identity, established with the help of the government, much like that of witnesses in the Witness Protection Program. The in-universe charity Heroes Without Borders has a light form as part of their organizational culture. Everyone who works for them, powered or not, adopts a codename.
* In the ChivalricRomance ''Roswall and Lillian'', Roswall magically appears as an armored knight to fight in TheTourney for three days, despite working as a menial servant in between. (Having given ThePromise not to reveal his true identity, he had no other means of support.)
** Similarly in ''Gowther'' and ''Robert The Devil'' (as the jester) -- though in their cases, this was ThePenance for their diabolical behavior.
* [[spoiler: The [[ChekhovMIA missing Princess Halley]]]] of ''Literature/ABrothersPrice'' went by Cira to investigate the people who bombed a theater without drawing attention. When helping [[NonActionGuy Jerin]] she did not tell him her true identity, at first because he wouldn't believe anything she had to say. They ''were'' in sketchy circumstances.

* [[ZigzaggingTrope Zigzagged]] in ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'': Harry makes no secret of the fact that he's a wizard (he's in the phone book, under "Wizard"), but there are some things about the wizarding world that he's not supposed to share with mundanes. When he inevitably does, they become a SecretKeeper. Later in the series, he establishes [[spoiler: The Grey Council]], which is more functionally a secret society, but the principle is the same.

* Secret identities are a big deal throughout the ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse''. At the SuperheroSchool Whateley Academy, students use codenames, and for anything that might expose them (like printed campus security reports or the televised combat finals), they have to go by the codename and wear a costume. Way back when the headmistress was Ms. Might and her secret identity was blown, her husband was murdered, and her kids were terrorized. She's tough on this rule. Lots end up using their codename more than their real name. It's supposed to be to protect the kids' families.
* Most superheroes and supervillians in ''Literature/{{Worm}}'' have one, though one group, the New Wave, attempts to go without. There's an unwritten rule not to expose someone else's identity, since someone without a secret identity has no way to retire and nothing to lose.
** New Wave's decision to unmask was meant to spearhead a move for transparency amongst heroic Parahumans. Then Fleur was murdered, and her boyfriend Lightstar (the younger brother of the two sisters leading the team) left them in anger over this.
** The importance of the rule is made even more obvious when [[spoiler:Coil]] publishes the secret identities of the [[spoiler:Empire 88's capes]], which causes hundreds of deaths, [[spoiler:particularly after the PRT goes after [[PersonOfMassDestruction Purity]] to take custody of her daughter]].

* Daylen Namaran in ''Literature/ShadowOfTheConqueror,'' after [[FountainOfYouth regaining his youth]], constructs a false identity as [[MyGrandsonMyself his own son]]. As Daylen was an outright EvilOverlord twenty years earlier, it's especially dangerous for the secret to get it, as [[HatesMySecretIdentity the whole world hates him]].

* In the ''Franchise/MagicTheGathering'' novel ''Literature/TimeStreams'', Urza Planeswalker runs the [[WizardingSchool Tolarian Academy]] under the alias of 'Master Malzra', with only a handful of the staff knowing his real identity. This secrecy is one of many measures meant to keep his enemies, the Phyrexians, from learning about the school and infiltrating it with their sleeper agents. He drops the pretense after sleepers infiltrate the school and destroy it, as there's no longer any point in maintaining the charade.
* ''Literature/NowhereStars'': Main character Liadain is unique among [[MagicalGirl Keepers]] in that she tries to maintain one of these, wearing a face-concealing mask and giving a fake name to other Keepers, if for no other reason than because she wants to avoid the trouble that comes with being a CelebritySuperhero like most Keepers; she herself admits she doesn't really have much of a civilian life to protect. She also knows she can only do this temporarily, as the physical changes Keepers undergo with time (permanently ceasing to age is just the ''baseline'', and after it gets... weird) generally makes concealing one's status as one impossible, so it's only a matter of time before the few acquaintances she ''does'' have realize what's going on.

* ''Series/TheAdventuresOfSlimGoodbody'': Slim leads a strange double life, in that both his alter ego (Captain Halen Hearty) and Slim himself work for the same organization. Nevertheless, his co-workers never realize that Slim is the captain--not even his RobotBuddy B-1, who activates the machine that turns Halen into Slim!!
* ''Series/TheBoys2019'': The superheroes have them, and Starlight is outed when she's unknowingly recorded using her powers on some attempted rapists while out of costume; she's then recognized by people as the video gets posted online. Homelander on the other hand doesn't bother; [[BewareTheSuperman he's so narcissistic]] he doesn't see any need to pretend to be ordinary.
* In ''Series/BreakingBad'', high-school chemistry teacher turned meth cook, Walter White, uses the name "Heisenberg" as a secret identity. As time goes on the name "Heisenberg" becomes legendary and feared throughout the American Southwest. And as Walter loses more and more of his humanity, [[BecomingTheMask "Heisenberg" starts becoming the real personality and Walter slowly disappears]].
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''. As lampshaded below in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS2E10WhatsMyLinePart2 What's My Line, Part 2]]", Buffy has a slight problem with this concept, swiftly gathering a small circle of friends who know her identity as the Slayer and help Buffy in fighting evil. By the end of season three it becomes obvious that despite the WeirdnessCensor, the entire school has a rough idea of what Buffy does, and they give her the Class Protector Award.

* ''Series/{{Dexter}}'' Morgan carries out his slayings of fellow, but less selective serial murderers anonymously, since he knows that his lack of normal empathy alone would land him in an asylum. Morgan's daily feigning of normal human emotions represents as careful a masquerade as Don Diego Vega and Sir Percy Blakeney's role playing as fops. [[spoiler: He's so good at it, it starts to cause problems when he realizes that he ''isn't'' faking it...]]
* Not a superhero but a super''star'', Creator/DisneyChannel's ''Series/HannahMontana''. Eventually deconstructed; the stress of keeping up the lie, combined with a boatload of KeepingSecretsSucks for her friends, eventually wears down on Miley [[spoiler:to the point where she eventually decides "screw it" and throws in the wig on Leno]].
* In the British kids' series ''Series/HelpImATeenageOutlaw'', the main characters Tom, Moses and Deedee are secretly the highwayman Swiftnik and his two sidekicks. However, unknown to the other two, supposed peasant girl Deedee is actually an identity used by Lady Devereaux, a RebelliousPrincess whom Tom/Swiftnik thinks of as his true love, despite being incapable of recognising her without her [[WigDressAccent wig and dress]].

** Series/{{Daredevil|2015}} notably ''does'' have a Secret Identity, perhaps the first example in the MCU. ''Series/{{The Defenders|2017}}'' makes a point of how he's the odd man out in this regard - Series/{{Luke Cage|2016}} is well-known as Harlem's hero, Series/{{Jessica Jones|2015}} is a private detective, and Danny will tell anyone who'll listen that he's the Series/{{Iron Fist|2017}}. Matt Murdock is the only one who wants (or needs) to keep his two lives separate. ''The Defenders'' actually ends up {{Reconstruction}}ing Secret Identities: because the others never bothered with one, [[spoiler:the Hand]] [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome knows the identities of their loved ones]], forcing them to gather Claire Temple, [[ComicBook/PatsyWalker Trish Walker]], and Malcolm [=DuCasse=] and hide them, with [[spoiler:the Hand]] actually making attempts on Claire and Trish, which result in [[ComicBook/DaughtersOfTheDragon Colleen Wing]] injured and Jessica nearly killed. Matt also hides Karen Page and Foggy Nelson because he can't take the risk [[spoiler:the Hand]] have figured out who he is.
** In ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'', the only reason the whole world doesn't know Robbie Reyes is ComicBook/GhostRider is because he transforms into a flaming skeleton when he hunts criminals, and doesn't leave them alive after he's done. The only reason he isn't openly declaring it is because he doesn't want his brother Gabe to learn that he's murdering criminals out in the streets. [[spoiler:And when he does, it's a huge BrokenPedestal moment.]]
* ''Series/MightyMed:'' [[Creator/DisneyXD Disney XD's]] ''Mighty Med'' has Skylar Storm, a humanoid female alien superhero, using a secret identity as "Connie Valentine" in order to try to live secret life as a normal teen human being in high school. However, this becomes zig-zagged when she she gives up her secret identity as Connie Valentine in the spin-off show, ''Series/LabRatsEliteForce'', when she actually makes her identity as a superhero public, ''but'', joins the bionic superhero Davenport Lab Rats crew, Bree and Chase, and develops a new secret identity pretending to be a bionic super-human and superhero like the Davenports, in order to disguise the fact that she's actually an alien with superpowers. She eventually gives this up too, when she finally reveals to Bree and Chase that she is an alien from another planet and when one of her former best-friends-turned-enemies kidnaps her and tries to hold her hostage on her home planet forcing the Davenports to find a way to travel to her planet to rescue her.
* Merlin from BBC's ''Series/{{Merlin|2008}}''. He spends nearly the entirety of all five seasons keeping his magic a secret from everyone but a (very) select few. He goes to many lengths to keep it secret, including making some morally ambiguous decisions to do so.

* In the first few seasons of ''Franchise/PowerRangers'', all the heroes maintained "secret identities", even though all the villains knew full well who they were (and often attacked them as they went about their civilian lives). Since then, most seasons keep up the tradition, with several finales where the group is found out or where they deliberately morph in public. A few seasons, however, do away with this and let themselves be publicly known, due to the Rangers also functioning as [[Series/PowerRangersSPD a public law enforcement]] or [[Series/PowerRangersLightspeedRescue rescue service]].

* Maid Marian on the latest series of ''Series/RobinHood'' runs around Nottingham distributing food and medicines as the Night Watchman. No one manages to figure this out.
* ''Series/SabaDoll'' has a similar premise to Hannah Montana, except the 17-year-old IdolSinger is secretly a ''38-year-old teacher''.
* ''Series/SixFeetUnder'' has multiple minor ones. David hides that he is gay. Nate [[spoiler: hides the fact that he was diagnosed with AVM.]]

** Sentai rarely bothers with Secret Identities except when the Rangers are still in school such as [[Series/KousokuSentaiTurboranger Turboranger]] or [[Series/DenjiSentaiMegaranger Megaranger]], and this is solely to prevent alienating them from their peers at school. [[Series/GoGoSentaiBoukenger Boukenger]] plays this straight (in early episodes at least, but despite Bouken Pink's efforts her teammates often relax the secret) and [[Series/TensouSentaiGoseiger Goseiger]] plays this straight as well, with the V-Cinema special revolving around their identities becoming public knowledge. It's taken very seriously in this season, to the point that they erase memories MenInBlack style so no one knows the Goseigers and their enemies exist AT ALL. (One wonders what people think when reviewing video footage that happened to capture monster battles.) On the other hand, having the ability to do that means there's less care taken to avoid being seen suiting up, using powers unsuited, ducking out without a good excuse, etc. than most superheroes. The movie happens because their powers are being disrupted and the memory-erase cards are the first thing to stop working. Otherwise the teams are either military-sponsored with the members belonging to the military ([[Series/HimitsuSentaiGoranger Goranger]], [[Series/JAKQDengekitai JAKQ]], [[Series/DengekiSentaiChangeman Changeman]], [[Series/HikariSentaiMaskman Maskman]], [[Series/ChourikiSentaiOhranger Ohranger]], etc), the teams abandon their civilian lives after becoming Rangers and live and operate solely out of the team's base ([[Series/ChoudenshiBioman Bioman]] & [[Series/ChoujuuSentaiLiveman Liveman]]), or the teams are not from Earth and have no civilian lives at all, and operate out of their bases ([[Series/ChoushinseiFlashman Flashman]], [[Series/KyoryuSentaiZyuranger Zyuranger]] & [[Series/SeijuuSentaiGingaman Gingaman]]).
** [[Series/ZyudenSentaiKyoryuger Kyoryuger]] is worth special mention. After their first battle together, [[TheHero Daigo]] immediately de-transforms and gladly introduces himself, but the other four refuse to follow suit, making this a rare ''internal'' secret identity case. However, in short order Daigo's [[MagneticHero magnetic]] personality inspires the others to open up to each other and start working as a real team.

* The Stig from ''Series/TopGear'' is a Meta example. His identity is a closely guarded secret by the Creator/{{BBC}} to the point that The Stig's portrayer is fired if he reveals himself. As of 2017, they're on their third Stig.

** Why Ultras keep their human aliases secret has never really been explained well in most series since the kaiju don't care about them and the aliens usually already know them. ''Series/UltramanEighty'' attempted to justify this by saying that when an Ultra's human identity is exposed, they must leave Earth, but this only applies to the Showa continuity and even then, it's very loosely applied in that timeline.

** In ''Series/UltramanGaia'' and ''Series/UltramanMebius'', the attack team's captain is the only one aware of the hero's secret identity. But in the latter series' case, [[spoiler:the rest of GUYS learns Mirai is Mebius at around the 30-episode mark.]] ''Series/UltramanGeed'' does something similar with Riku's friends having full knowledge of his Ultra identity.
* On ''Series/TheVampireDiaries'', this was Stefan in the beginning. He kept his secret that he was a vampire from others and tried to pass himself off as a regular high school student.
* ''Series/{{Zorro|1957}}'' of course. Like the Scarlet Pimpernel and Superman (in his earlier incarnations), Zorro maintains an alter ego who behaves like a bumbling coward.

* Many fictionalisations of Spring-Heeled Jack, such as written by Burrage. Note that the real sightings happened in 1886.
* The legend of the {{Golem}}: In some versions, the golem roams Prague in the guise of Joseph the water carrier (in other words, a laborer who has a reason to be almost anywhere, is expected to be silent, and to whom no one pays attention). This enables him to eavesdrop on plots to harm the Jews of Prague so that his master can arrange for the golem to foil the plots.

[[folder:Podcasts]]
* ''Podcast/RedPandaAdventures''
** For much of the series, not even the ''audience'' knows the secret identity of the Red Panda. The opening monologue for every episode describes him simply as "one of the city's wealthiest men" and only his driver Kit Baxter, a.k.a. the Flying Squirrel, knows who's behind the mask. It's not until close to episode sixty, when the Red Panda and Kit are wed, that we learn his name is [[spoiler:August Fenwick]].
** In-Universe, the Red Panda and Flying Squirrel place a high priority on maintaining the secrecy of their identities. The Red Panda, being a master hypnotist, will frequenly use his powers to make anyone who might know forget, which has resulted in some high turnover in his household as he can't repeatedly hypnotize the same person the same way without causing damage, requiring him to find them a new job elsewhere. The heroes' masks are also booby-trapped in such a way as to electrocute anyone who tries to remove them, which has prevented TheUnmasking on multiple occasions.
** When World War II goes into full swing and the Red Panda decides to enlist in the military, he learns his commanding officer, Fitzroy, knows who he and the Flying Squirrel are and that the government has files on the two of them as well as other heroes of the "Home Team". The Red Panda and Flying Squirrel not only go to the trouble of tracking down every copy of these files they can find, but also replace them with multiple different versions, claiming the Red Panda is everything from a reformed gangster, a World War I ace pilot, a robot, and even Fitzroy himself, so that if a copy of the files ever turns up they can track where it came from. This has the unintended side effect of getting Fitzroy killed when the Nazis launch an attack on the Home Team's superheroes using the file that said the Red Panda was Fitz, but also keeps their identities safe years later when Canada's Prime Minister and a Nazi scientist, Friedrich von Schlitz, independently try to show they know who the Red Panda is... only to call him by the wrong name.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Pro Wrestling]]

* A feature of the Tiger Mask and Black Tiger {{legacy|character}} [[TheRival rivals]] is that Tiger Mask's identity will always be secret but will always be local national(making it ''slightly'' easier to figure out) while Black Tiger will always be a foreigner. Usually this means Tiger Mask will always be Japanese, since that's where the Manga/TigerMask originated from but in [[Wrestling/DragonGate Toryumon Mexico]] came the first Japanese Black Tiger.
* Wrestling/{{WWE}} [[ProfessionalWrestling wrestler]]/parody superhero The Hurricane, true to form, maintained a secret identity as mild-mannered backstage interviewer Wrestling/GregoryHelms. His costume as an interviewer was even more outlandish than his superhero costume, with big thick horn-rimmed glasses and a plaid fedora with a press pass sticking out of it, and he fooled absolutely nobody.
** Except for the occasional character given an IdiotBall by the writers.
*** He's since ditched the overdone getup for a simple suit and ponytail, though the IdiotBall returned in full force. Especially notable in the fact that he's billed as Hurricane '''Helms''' and sports the sleeveless BadassLongcoat Helms wore after ditching the gimmick the first time, yet has been given two ''separate'' profiles on their website!

[[folder:Tabletop Game]]

* Most of the time ''TabletopGame/SentinelsOfTheMultiverse'' averts this hard and the number of heroes with secret identities can literally be counted on one hand. To whit, the only two heroes in the multiverse era who are purposefully keeping up a secret identity are the Wraith and the Naturalist. Likewise, the only villains with a purposeful secret identity are the Chairman, the Operative, and Ambuscade (and even he drops that once he becomes the hero Stuntman).

* In ''VideoGame/MegaManStarForce'', Geo Stelar goes out of his way to avoid revealing that he's actually [[HenshinHero Mega Man]]. This conflicts with Mega Man's growing status and the fact that his friends have a bad habit of blabbing about it in public like it's no big deal.
* Rokusaki Coney in ''VideoGame/TokyoSeventhSisters'' is actually [[spoiler:Nanasaki Nicole, one of the former members of the disbanded 7th Sisters.]]

* ''VisualNovel/DoubleHomework'' has one that is ''very'' secret, in fact. [[spoiler:The name “Dr. Mosely” is an alias, and her ''real'' name is a mystery. She is mainly known by the moniker “Zeta.”]]
* ''VisualNovel/HalloweenOtome'': All the guests at the party have this, to avoid gold-diggers and keep the game from becoming political, due to their celebrity status. Emma has this so she can fit in. Especially seen with [[spoiler: The Count, who’s really Erik, the host!]]

* Subverted in the webcomic ''Webcomic/EverydayHeroes''. The main character, Mr. Mighty, wears his superhero outfit all the time, even when doing yard work and chatting with the neighbors.
* In ''Webcomic/SwordCatPrincess'', Kathryn has had not one civilian secret identity, but a long chain of them throughout her life (each a supposed progenitor of the next). Her "ancestor" Kathryn O'Brien was actually her, as was recent homicide victim Kathryn Kennedy, whose "death" prompts Kathryn's Intellexi supervisor to urge her to [[http://swordcatprincess.thecomicseries.com/comics/24/ select yet another new civilian alias]].
* ''Webcomic/{{Spinnerette}}'' wears a costume all the time. Her heroine costume is a form-fitting [[WigDressAccent leotard, mask and wig]] that depicts her as a lithe, long-haired brunette with 6 arms. Her civilian costume is a bodysuit under bulky clothes that depicts her as a [[HollywoodHomely chubby]], [[MegaNekko bookish]], short-haired blonde with 2 arms. Interestingly, [[LockedOutOfTheLoop her boss, friends, etc]] never ask about the sudden drastic weight-gain.
* ''Webcomic/SuperRivals'': Awesome Girl, under the name [[https://www.deviantart.com/artbrojohn/art/Secret-Identities-812057427 Becky Barns]] works as an editor for a trashy tabloid, that she [[InsistentTerminology insists]] on referring to as a newspaper, when she's not in costume.
* ''Webcomic/DenmaTheQuanx'': [[spoiler: Hador's identity is Dike Heubing. Ham's identity is Balack. Ferdo's identity is Korah. Eldgon's identity is Haaken. Marvin's identity is Duke Gosan. Ayn's identity is Haggler.]]
* ''Webcomic/TowerOfGod'': Because he [[spoiler: is officially dead and is supposed to stay that way]], Twenty-Fifth Bam, a shiny-eyed, short-haired, meek but adorable guy goes by the name Jue Viole Grace, a silent, strong badass who looks a lot like a woman with that long hair which also hides his face.
* In ''Webcomic/LadySpectraAndSparky'', Lady Spectra not only wears a wig and a face-concealing helmet, but her costume is also strategically padded to further alter her appearance.

* {{Parodied}} in ''WebComic/SaturdayMorningBreakfastCereal'': [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/secret-identity "Secret Identity"]], where it's revealed that Superman's Clark Kent identity was something he came up with to relax after superheroing by indulging his workplace humiliation fetish.
* {{Downplayed}} in ''Webcomic/TheNonAdventuresOfWonderella'': Wonderella has a [[ClarkKenting barely disguised]] civilian identity, but she's not hiding it from anyone who matters; superheroes and -villains probably all know and don't care, and only uninvolved civilians don't know (and probably don't care). This might be the standard for other superheroes in the comics as well.

* The webnovel [[http://www.freewebs.com/captain_gamer/ Captain Gamer: Digital Defender]] plays around with secret identity candidates for the titular protagonist relentlessly. It practically drips with LampshadeHanging, seeing as how the candidates (so far) are the local {{Jerkass}} (who may actually just hold up a jerkass act?), an IntrepidReporter, a famous actor who also has {{Jerkass}} tendencies, The MillionairePlayboy that said actor does not like, an [[ComicBook/IronMan employee of the main institute]], and an aged teacher who more fits into the MentorArchetype. If you've read the [[http://bobandgeorge.com/gamer/Gamer.html webcomic]], there's also a {{Rival}} to consider.
* Understandably the superhero guide in ''Blog/HowToHero'' is very big on maintaining secret identities. There's an entry on it [[https://howtohero.tumblr.com/post/159985229067/secret-identity here]].

** For the most part, the Plantars are worried their identities as frog people will cause them to be taken away and be experimented on, so Anne disguises them as normal citizens. The only ones who know are her parents and cat Domino.

* PlayedForLaughs in ''WesternAnimation/TheAngryBeavers'' episode [[SuperheroEpisode "Muscular Beaver"]]:
-->'''Reporter''': Who are you, masked wonder beaver?\\
'''Musuclar Beaver''': I cannot say citizen. My identity is so secret... not even ''I'' know who I am.\\
'''Reporter''': Wow.
* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'' episode 'Super Hero'.
-->'''Master Shake''': Look, we must keep my secret identity a secret. And that's what sucks about a secret identity. I will never get the credit that I deserve for the attention grabbing things that I do.
* Similarly, ''[[WesternAnimation/TheAtomAntShow Atom Ant]]'' has no secret identity. His mailbox even bears his name.

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': Prince Zuko takes up the identity of [[spoiler:The Blue Spirit]] on multiple occasions. Then Katara masquerades as [[spoiler:the pre-existing folkloric ghost known as the Painted Lady]] in one episode. Cue tons of [[spoiler:[[CrackPairing Blue Spirit/Painted Lady]]]] fanart from [[FanPreferredCouple Zutara]] shippers.
* Tasha from ''WesternAnimation/TheBackyardigans'' sang a song about having one in the episode "Front Page News".
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'' Bruce Wayne's identity as the Dark Knight is a secret to anyone not outside the Bat-Family, of course, but Batgirl gets bonus points for ''figuring it out in less than ten seconds'' after she meets Bruce Wayne for three reasons: [[HeroicBuild his muscled physique]], [[CrimeFightingWithCash his vast resources and finances]] and [[LanternJawOfJustice his distinctive chin]]. Of course, she is [[AscendedFanboy kinda obsessed with Batman in the first place]].
* Played with for Ben Tennyson from the ''Franchise/Ben10'' franchise. While he does make some effort to keep his identity under wraps, he never really needs to put in that extra effort. [[VoluntaryShapeshifting His ability to become multiple different aliens]] means that most people ultimately think said aliens creatures are either unrelated to each other or all part of a common team, especially since most sightings are spread out across the country. It took until [[WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien the third series]] of the original continuity for someone to connect-the-dots (thanks to the sightings now being far more concentrated around a single town) and [[TheUnmasking for his identity to be publicly revealed]].
** Completely averted in [[WesternAnimation/Ben102016 the 2016 series]], where Ben freely transforms in public and it's treated as an UnusuallyUninterestingSight. In fact, the {{denser and wackier}} nature of this continuity means ''all'' the strangeness that is aliens, mecha tech, superpowered beings and monsters is taken in stride (at least until they start causing havoc).
--->'''Ben''' (after transforming): [[LampshadeHanging This doesn't weird you out at all]]?
--->''(character shrugs and motions towards [[MakesSenseInContext the goblin army taking over a miniature golf course]])''
--->'''Ben''': Yeah, good point.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheCentsables'': The shows setting consists of LionsAndTigersAndHumansOhMy. However, the Centsables hide their identities from the general population; seemingly subverted, possibly because the heroes appear to be [[PaperThinDisguise six well-known bank employees]] in costumes.
* On ''WesternAnimation/ChipAndPotato'', to everyone other than Chip, Potato is Chip's snuggly toy Potato, a cute little stuffed toy she totes with her everywhere. Nobody but Chip knows that she's actually a real live mouse.
* The titular hero of ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' has this big-time. The only people who know his secret identity are his two best friends and his sister (along with every villain and ghost he's ever met). The show plays a lot with the idea of "what if ____ knew about his powers?" Although that might be because it's [[RecycledINSPACE heavily influenced by Spider-Man]]. Though one has to ask how people couldn't figure it out, as his real name sounds pretty much exactly like his secret identity name. It is given that most people didn't know his name early on, that isn't too much of an issue, although it did have the hilarious side-effect of the media making up aliases for him.
-->'''Sam''': "''[[AtrociousAlias Inviso-bill]]''?"\\
'''Tucker''': You need a publicist.
** His archenemy Vlad Plasmius is a villanious example, his civilian identity is rich and powerful businessman Vlad Masters, he was already rich, but became even richer using his ghost powers to take over other companies, invest in the stock market and commit burglaries, he uses both of his identities for his evil plans, at one point, he runs for Mayor of Amity Park, and wins by possessing the voters.
* ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck''[='s=] identity was Drake Mallard.

** Taken for a spin in the final storyline of ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' when, pursued by the conquering Thanagarians, the Justice League members decide the safest way to move is in their civilian identities (for the members who have them). The Flash balks at the idea, since it's, you know, his ''secret'' identity, and it's not like he doesn't trust the others, but... Impatient, Batman simply rattles off everyone's real name, finishing with his own.
*** Of course, by that point, "everyone" was just himself, Clark and Wally (finally confirming that ComicBook/TheFlash of this series ''was'' Wally West). None of the others had secret identities. Clark, J'onn, Shayera and Diana all knew Bruce's, and Bruce, J'onn and presumably Shayera knew Clark's.
*** Green Lantern John Stewart, didn't really see the need to hide his status as a galactic cop. Even his ''landlady'' knows about it (and, in one episode, attacks Flash with a broom when she mistakes him for part of his RoguesGallery).
*** J'onn preferred being in alien/human hybrid form, and didn't hide it. But if he wanted to, he could be ''anyone'' (and eventually used this when he took a break from the league).
*** Shayera had ''wings'', and would have trouble hiding her identity. A tie-in comic showed her using a backpack to hide her wings; how practical folding them like that was not discussed.
*** The show flip-flopped on just how established Diana was, but her identity was never a secret; it was her super-persona that was a secret from her family.
** Amusingly subverted in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited''. "[[FreakyFridayFlip The Great Brain Robbery]]" featured [[ActorAllusion Lex Luthor switching bodies with the Flash]].
--->'''Lex-in-Flash''': ''[looking in a mirror]'' At least I can discover the Flash's secret identity... ''[removes mask]'' ...I have no idea who this is.
*** Possibly a reference to a [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] story in which one of ComicBook/TheFlash's RoguesGallery makes a similar discovery.
*** "[[Recap/JusticeLeagueUnlimitedS2E4TaskForceX Task Force X]]": Here this trope is inverted because the members of the Suicide Squad are villains. However, all of them have secret identities. The point is that none of them had a RedRightHand, so they can do TheInfiltration because [[EvilMakeover without their costumes]] TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse. They are: Bette Sans Souci, AKA Plastique, Floyd Lawton, AKA Deadshot, Temple Fugate, AKA The Clock King, and George "Digger" Harkness, AKA Captain Boomerang.

** The ''[[WesternAnimation/BatmanMysteryOfTheBatwoman Mystery of the Batwoman]]'' film features three separate women taking on the Batwoman identity, one at a time, to get back at the mobsters of Gotham City (having in mind that one of these girls is the ''daughter'' of one of said mobsters).
* Parodied in one ''Justice Friends'' short from ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'' when Krunk pulls off Major Glory's mask in search of something, only to discover another mask. He pulls off a few more before Major Glory turns to Krunk and proudly boasts "When I say 'secret identity', I ''mean'' 'secret identity'!"

* ''WesternAnimation/ElTigreTheAdventuresOfMannyRivera'': None of the Rivera men bother keeping a secret identity. Everyone in Miracle City, heroes, villains, and civilians alike, know that Manny is El Tigre, Rodolfo is White Pantera, and Grandpapi is Puma Loco. It sometimes poses a problem, as their enemies know where to look for them, but they're usually wily enough to get away with it.

* On ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'', [[ShowWithinAShow The Crimson Chin]] has the secret identity [[StevenUlyssesPerhero Charles Hampton Indigo]]. It's an obvious parody of Clark Kent.

** In one episode where Timmy wishes his parents were superheroes, they adapt to these when not crime-fighting to avoid being seen. However, Timmy already knows because he was the one who made the wish.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': Leela has to keep Fry from blabbing his secret identity to a hot chick; she then turns around and tells her parents she's Clobberella. Her dad blabs, HilarityEnsues.
-->'''Leela''': We have to keep our secret identities secret!\\
'''Fry''': From everybody?!\\
'''Leela''': ''{{Especially|Zoidberg}}'' [[EspeciallyZoidberg from everybody]]!

* On ''WesternAnimation/GreenLanternTheAnimatedSeries'', it becomes clear early on that Hal Jordan is the only one who bothers to have one.
-->'''Kilowog''': ''[to Shyir Rev and Biata]'' [[DominoMask That thing on his face?]] It's a mask. He wears it in case some Earthling sneaks onto the Interceptor--''while we're in space'', mind you--and goes, "Aha! The Green Lantern on my planet is Hal Jordan! I'm telling everyone!"

** Aversion with Kim, where she [[OvertOperative does not bother]] with any Secret Identity [[WakeUpGoToSchoolSaveTheWorld while going to school and frequently saving the world]]. And yet [[DudeWheresMyRespect she does not get any respect for it]], nor [[NoGuyWantsAnAmazon has she any extra luck with the boys because of it]].
** Shego's given name is never shown. Her surname is "Go" (as shown by her grandmother and by Shego herself when she becomes a teacher) however no one even implies the first names of anyone in her family (Hego, the Wego twins, and Mego). "Shego" at least started out as a Secret Identity back when she was a superhero however it's unknown if she still keeps up the secret identity or if she just still uses the name.

* [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] In ''WesternAnimation/MeteoHeroes'', while the public in general (including their enemy Dr Makina) doesn't know the kids real identities, their families are fully aware since they witnessed their powers manifest firsthand as well as the scientists and staff that work at the research institute which is used as their base (whose location is also secret).

* Completely averted with ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls''. They have no secret identities and everyone knows where they live. They could have been de facto identities in the episode "Super Zeroes", where they assume the persona of their own pseudo-superheroes (Blossom as Liberty Belle, Bubbles as Harmony Bunny, and Buttercup as Mange).

* ''WesternAnimation/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower'': Deliberately averted, in sharp contrast with [[WesternAnimation/SheRaPrincessOfPower the original series]]. Everyone knows that Adora is She-Ra (and if they don't, she'll make sure to transform in front of them). Also averts SecretIdentityIdentity - being She-Ra doesn't change her personality in any way, and she still considers herself Adora, just taller and stronger. Her friends still often call her Adora in her She-Ra form as well. The Horde was unaware Adora was She-Ra for a while, but only because the Rebellion and the Horde don't share information. When Hordak finds out, he doesn't particularly care, and just uses it as more evidence that Shadow Weaver's obsession with recapturing Adora is a terrible idea.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', Homer Simpson was originally the secret identity of [[http://spinoff.comicbookresources.com/2013/05/01/tv-legends-revealed-was-krusty-supposed-to-be-homer-in-disguise/ Krusty The Clown]]. This was dropped simply for being "too complicated", but this is the reason for their remarkably similar appearance and was a joke that tied together Bart's utter disrespect for his father yet love of Krusty.

* ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' played with it a bit, putting what was, at the time, a new twist on it... The secret identities weren't millionaire playboys or mild-mannered reporters, but cars, jets, cameras, and other everyday vehicles and objects.
* Almost entirely averted in the ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' cartoon; the main characters all live in a giant T-shaped tower for the express purpose of doing hero work and don't have any separation between their personal identities and their heroics. Not that this would be realistic for the Titans anyway, considering that the members of the team include an alien, a cyborg, and a boy with green skin. Beast Boy apparently played this straight while he was with the Doom Patrol, but he immediately discards it once he joins the Titans.
-->'''Beast Boy:''' But what about my secret identity?
-->'''Raven:''' What secret identity? You're ''green''.

* Averted in ''WesternAnimation/WinxClub'' season 4 where they show themselves as fairies to the people of Earth, but don't have secret identities and they're known by everyone, especially to the likes of a game show host, an IntrepidReporter, and Bloom's Earth rival Mitzi.
** Played straight in the Netflix spin-off ''WesternAnimation/WorldOfWinx'', where the Winx must go undercover as talent agents while hiding their identities as fairies to the others, in order to avoid being put at risk for their kind. It results in a major ContinuitySnarl from the original.

* In ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'', almost the entire Team have secret identities for "civilian" life. The only one without one was Aqualad, who was perfectly well known as the king's protégé in Atlantis. M'gann and Conner's identities (Meghan Morse and Conner Kent) were known to the other members of the team, while Robin (Dick Grayson) and Kid Flash (Wally West) were the only one to know each other's identity. Artemis' (Artemis Crock) identity is technically unknown to her teammates, but Robin and Red Arrow (Roy Harper) both deduce it, with Robin having fun in several different episodes by toying with her story.

* LovesMyAlterEgo: Someone's LoveInterest is only attracted to their heroic identity, not their secret one.

* TheRevealPromptsRomance: The hero reveals their secret identity to their LoveInterest, which causes them to commence a relationship.

*** Selina Kyle, the new LoveInterest, discovers Batman's identity during a fight.

** Black Widow has an alias, as fitting a government spy, but there is no proper secret identity. [[MovieSuperheroesDontUseCodenames She's not even called "Black Widow" most of the time]]. At the end of ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'', however, [[spoiler:she admits that revealing all S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secrets destroyed all of her various cover identities, but she's going to work on a new one in the meantime.]]

** One ''ComicBook/JLA1997'' storyline had an alien device accidentally split the League into two beings, one for their civilian and heroic identities each. Some of the League, especially the Martian Manhunter, hoped to leave things at that. However, it turned out that the separation only made things worse for most of them: for example, Bruce Wayne was all bottled fury with no outlet, while Batman was completely directionless. Eventually, the civilian identities had to [[spoiler:fight the aliens who created the device, who turned out to have loosed it on purpose as a form of field test]].

** According to Creator/ElliotSMaggin's ''Literature/LastSonOfKrypton'', supergenius ComicBook/LexLuthor actually maintains [[InventedIndividual dozens of identities]] as artists, scientists, and other highbrow society positions. He does it partly to influence affairs in those fields, partly as a source of income, but mostly to keep from being ''bored''.

* This is PlayedWith in multiple ways across the ''Fanfic/ThereWasOnceAnAvengerFromKrypton'' series:

*** Batman reveals his identity to his LoveInterest. She becomes another SecretKeeper.
** ''Film/TheDarkKnight'':
*** Accountant Coleman Reese discovers [[WhereDoesHeGetAllThoseWonderfulToys Where He Gets All Those Wonderful Toys]] and intends to {{Blackmail}} Bruce Wayne, but is dissuaded by Lucius Fox. When he tries to sell Batman's Secret Identity, he discovers that ComicBook/TheJoker is not happy with the secret being made public. He is saved by Batman and might be ashamed enough to become a SecretKeeper.

* PlayedWith in the ''Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse'':
** In ''Film/ManOfSteel'', [[Comicbook/{{Superman}} Clark]] uses various fake identities while WalkingTheEarth before even becoming Superman, constanting having to move on after using his powers to help people. Even so, Comicbook/LoisLane is able to track him by his past rescues right to the Kent farm.
** In ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice'', both Clark and [[Comicbook/{{Batman}} Bruce Wayne]] have secret identities. This film makes it clear that, as in the Post-Crisis comics, Clark is ''himself'' when he's Clark Kent, reporter for the Daily Planet, as opposed to putting on a mild-mannered, clumsy facade as Clark and being himself when he's Superman. The concept of a Secret Identity is deconstructed somewhat, as Clark and Bruce are easily able to discover who the other really is (Clark overhears Bruce talking to Alfred with his [[SuperSenses super-hearing]], and Bruce isn't called the World's Greatest Detective for nothing) and, like Lois, Comicbook/LexLuthor has been able to discover Clark is Superman, and also knows the secret identities of Batman, Comicbook/WonderWoman, Comicbook/TheFlash and Comicbook/{{Cyborg}}.
** At the end of ''Film/ZackSnydersJusticeLeague'', a free Lex Luthor hires Characters/{{Deathstroke}} and reveals him that [[WhamLine Batman is actually Bruce Wayne]].
** In ''Film/SuicideSquad2016'', none of the Comicbook/SuicideSquad have secret identities, as they are all known criminals and [[ManipulativeBastard Amanda Waller]] makes it pretty clear that she also knows Bruce is Batman.

* Usually averted in the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse:
** ''Film/IronMan1'': ComicBook/{{SHIELD}} forged a cover story to explain away Iron Man's identity, Stane's disappearance, and the explosion at the Stark Industries factory. What really happened is that Stane knew all along who was underneath the armor (he hired the terrorists who took Tony hostage and gave him the reason to build the first armor, after all) and [[TheStarscream took steps to eliminate him]] [[CorruptCorporateExecutive to gain control over Stark Industries]] until Tony and Pepper killed him by overloading the factory's arc reactor. At the press conference where the cover story should have been fed to the media, Tony paused then simply stated, "I am Iron Man."
** In ''Film/IronMan2'', not only does everyone around the world know about Tony, but Justin Hammer loudly announces ComicBook/WarMachine's identity during the armor's showcase. Justified in that the War Machine armor is an advanced military prototype[[note]]it's really Tony's second Iron Man armor retrofitted by Hammer[[/note]] created by a civilian defense contractor and piloted by a United States Air Force officer, so keeping the operator's identity a secret isn't necessary.
** ComicBook/BlackWidow has an alias, as fitting a government spy, but there is no proper secret identity. She's not even called "Black Widow" most of the time. At the end of ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'', however, [[spoiler:she admits that revealing all S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secrets destroyed all of her various cover identities, but she's going to work on a new one in the meantime.]]
** [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]] goes by his real name and never hides who he is and where he is from, which prompts most people to simply think he is insane. His friends briefly give him an alias to fool S.H.I.E.L.D. agents... but it doesn't work. By the end of his [[Film/{{Thor}} first film]], it's no secret to anyone what his true nature is.

** ComicBook/CaptainAmerica doesn't even try to have one. While the army kept the Super Soldier Program a secret for obvious reasons, Steve was still making movies and doing USO tours. Sure, it was a cover, but Steve was still walking around without his mask backstage in full view of civilians. In fact, he was maskless in his first few adventures in ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'', going so far as to face the BigBad for the first time without hiding his identity. After all, he worked closely with both civilian scientists and drafted soldiers who would be out of the army soon and returning to civilian life. By the time ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'' rolls around, the entire public knows who he is, thanks in part to an exhibit at the Smithsonian detailing his entire [=WW2=] career.
** ComicBook/{{Hawkeye}} is in the same category as Captain America and Black Widow. As a government agent, he doesn't need a secret identity and is more often referred to as "Barton" or "Clint" than his codename.
** ComicBook/TheFalcon doesn't have a secret identity in ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'', with "Exo-7 Falcon" being the name of the winged military exoskeleton he uses. He's pretty consistently referred to by his real name, Sam Wilson, but gets called Falcon once near the end of the movie. Like the War Machine example, a secret identity is unnecessary since Sam is an ex-Air Force officer rather than a costumed vigilante.
** ComicBook/TheVision has no need for a secret identity, as his creation and existence are tied to the Avengers. Plus, he's a green and red android.
** ComicBook/BlackPanther is publicly known to be Wakandan royalty. It surprises nobody T'Challa takes up the mantle after his father's death. Although his identity was initially unknown at least the people around when he first went after Bucky, due to most people there not being familiar with Wakanda's policies. T'Challa immediately unmasks after that fight though to make use of his diplomatic immunity and to get the UN's cooperation.
** So far, along with Daredevil, ComicBook/SpiderMan is one of the few characters in the setting to work at keeping his identity a secret from the public, and Tony is the only one in ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'' to have traced it to nerdy high-schooler Peter Parker. Part of his reasoning is that he doesn't want his aunt May to be worried about him and "freak out". He's quick to web Tony's hand to his doorknob right in his own bedroom when the prospect of outing his exploits comes up, and it's implied by the end of ''Civil War'' that it's still his secret to keep. Then in ''Film/SpiderManHomecoming'', he ends up being outed to his friend Ned, [[spoiler:the ''villain'', and finally Aunt May herself.]] In ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'', he introduces himself to several other superheroes, but none of them are likely to run into him in his daily life ([[ComicBook/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy most of them]] are from ''other planets.'') [[spoiler: In ''Film/SpiderManFarFromHome'', he ends up getting publicly outed to the world thanks to Mysterio and J. Jonah Jameson, thus subverting this trope completely.]]
** The ComicBook/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy don't have any secret identities, as they operate more like freelance mercenaries when they aren't doing more traditional hero work. Secret identities would impede their ability to get work since it's important everyone across the galaxy know exactly who they are and what they've accomplished.
** ComicBook/CarolDanvers doesn't bother with a secret identity either. She spends the majority of her time off-Earth, handling galactic affairs.
* In the film version of ''Film/MysteryMen'', famous superhero Captain Amazing has [[ClarkKenting Clark Kent glasses]] (which fool just about everyone except the protagonist), and the Mystery Men themselves. The Shoveller is open with his family though. The Blue Rajah is initially embarrassed and doesn't want his mother to think he's weird, but when he gets caught pilfering her silverware, he comes out of the closet and she turns out to be really proud of it. The scene is treated like a gay man coming out to his mother.

-->'''Superhero''': I just gotta go out for a quick blow job and score some crack, OK?\\
'''Aide''': Sure thing, Senator!

* Secret identities are a big deal throughout the ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse''. At the SuperheroSchool Whateley Academy, students use codenames, and for anything that might expose them (like printed campus security reports or the televised combat finals) they have to go by the codename and wear a costume. Way back when the headmistress was Ms. Might and her secret identity was blown, her husband was murdered and her kids were terrorized. She's tough on this rule
** Lots end up using their codename more than their real name. It's supposed to be to protect the kids' families.

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''. As lampshaded below in "What's My Line", Buffy has a slight problem with this concept, swiftly gathering a small circle of friends who know her identity as the Slayer and help Buffy in fighting evil. By the end of season three it becomes obvious that despite SunnydaleSyndrome the entire school has a rough idea of what Buffy does, and they give her the Class Protector Award.
-->'''Kendra''': And dose two, dey also know you are de Slayer?\\
'''Buffy''': Yep.\\
'''Kendra''': Did anyone explain to you what 'secret identity' means?\\
'''Buffy''': Nope.

* Amanda Clarke on ''Series/{{Revenge}}'' uses the alias of Emily Thorne (which she gained from exchanging identities with her juvie cellmate) in order to infiltrate the Hamptons and take down the people who destroyed her life without them recognizing her.

* In ''Literature/{{Ivanhoe}}'', the titular Wilfred Ivanhoe makes his first appearance at a tourney as "The Disinherited Knight", and his identity is not revealed until later when some knights loyal to Prince John attack him. Also at that tourney is a mysterious archer named Locksley, who is actually RobinHood. Not to mention a mysterious black knight who turns out to be Richard the Lionhearted.

* ''Literature/VorkosiganSaga'': In ''Brothers in Arms'', Miles Vorkosigan (after being ambushed at a party) tries to distance himself from his Secret Identity Admiral Naismith by claiming Naismith is his clone. [[spoiler:Then he finds out that he really does have a clone, who tries to impersonate him and is not spotted by Miles' friends because they think the clone story is a fabrication. ''Naismith'''s friends and men, however, believe in the story.]] A few years later, in ''Mirror Dance'', [[spoiler:Mark uses the info to pretend to be Naismith, to pursue a vendetta. By the time it's all sorted out, the situation has gone all to hell. In Miles' case, [[HumanPopsicle nearly literally]].]]

* Leslie Charteris' the Saint's true name remained unknown to the public until the end of the book ''The Last Hero''. As the Saint would later reminisce on page 140 of Count on the Saint (hardcover edition), the public knew of him at first as only "an avenging wraith". When Templar attempts to stop warfare in The Last Hero, the authorities became aware of him. However, in later stories such as The Sleepless Knight, the Appalling Politician, and The Melancholy Journey of Mr. Teal, the Saint and his associates would wear masks as needed after the Saint made an understanding with Inspector Teal.

* In ''Literature/WearingTheCape'', secret identities are optional and a lot of superheroes don't bother with them. Some have undergone physical transformations that make secret identities impossible, but many also had public breakthroughs that "outed" them from the start. One variation on traditional secret identities is a legal second identity, established with the help of the government, much like that of witnesses in the Witness Protection Program.
** The in-universe charity Heroes Without Borders has a light form as part of their organizational culture. Everyone who works for them, powered or not, adopts a codename.

* The Penetrator, from a series of novels published by Pinnacle in the 1970's and 1980's, maintained a dual identity as Mark Hardin. Since he had served in the military, he quickly realized that his fingerprints remained on file and would betray. Therefore, he developed special flesh colored prosthetics to prevent them from betraying him.
* Richard Stark's thief character Parker used the alternate identity of Charles Willis to launder his gains from his heists, owning parking lots and gas stations for tax reporting purposes. (Stark, himself, had a "secret identity": he was a pseudonym used by Donald E. Westlake.)

* Played with every way possible in ''ComicBook/AstroCity''.
** Some supers have their identities publicly known and are treated like celebrities, such as with the Furst Family.

** Still others have revealed their identities to the authorities while keeping them secret from the public at large, such as the Street Angel and Quarrel.
** Roustabout has, in reality, a public identity in the CloseKnitCommunity of the carnival and the {{Arcadia}}n towns it visits, but because he is wanted by the law, the community acts as a large-scale SecretKeeper and even feigns ObfuscatingStupidity as if it were an ExtraStrengthMasquerade.

* In ''HeroCatsOfStellarCity'', Cassie's owner Stanley and his daughter Suzie routinely don spandex as Galaxyman and Cosmic Girl, the crime-fighting superhero duo. Hilariously, while Cassie and her friends figure it out fairly quickly, it turns out Stanley and Suzie successfully keep their secrets from ''each other'' - Stanley has no idea that his sidekick is actually his daughter, and vice versa. Cassie can hardly believe it.

* In the Aarne-Thompson-Uther (ATU) tale type ATU 314, known in German as ''Goldenermärchen'' and in French as ''Le Teigneux'', the hero hides its lustrous golden hair under a cap made of pig or sheepskin, which gives the impression he has some sort of hair disease.
* In ''Literature/IronHans'' and a fair number of its variants, the hero appears as a KnightInShiningArmor during the war, while working in a menial position -- first a scullion, and then demoted to a gardener's boy -- at the king's court.
* In '' [[http://www.mythfolklore.net/andrewlang/044.htm The Golden Crab]]'', the king tries to have TheTourney to substitute a bridegroom for the crab his daughter married. Three times the crab-husband shows up in human guise to fight.

* Franchise/{{Batman}}:

** Much like his mentor, [[ComicBook/RobinSeries Tim Drake]] uses the additional secret identity of Alvin Draper for infiltration. Eventually, due to the League of Assassins interfering when he was trying to borrow evidence from a museum in Germany making "Alvin" an internationally wanted art thief and Dick blurting out that he was Robin directly in front of ComicBook/TwoFace, this id becomes rather dangerous to use.

* ''ComicBook/BlueBeetle'':
** "Is it lame that I'm still excited about having a secret identity?"
** The 1960s incarnation of Blue Beetle kept a separation between his ordinary life as Ted Kord and his heroic life as Blue Beetle, but he was an exception to the usual business about keeping things secret even from the hero's loved ones: only a couple of issues in, he decides his girlfriend deserves to know, and tells her the whole thing. In subsequent issues, she helps cover for him when he needs it.
* Thoroughly deconstructed in the ComicBook/PostCrisis ''ComicBook/CaptainAtom'', in that Cap had a "secret non-identity": a government-written cover identity of "Cameron Scott" that existed only on paper, to hide his origins as the time-displaced product of a 1960s military experiment, and to hide that Cap was a government agent masquerading as a superhero. The deconstruction of the secret identity trope and its moral and ethical implications was one of the major themes of the series.

* ''Justice League'':
** One ''[[Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica JLA]]'' storyline had an alien device accidentally split the League into two beings, one for their civilian and heroic identities each. Some of the League, especially the Martian Manhunter, hoped to leave things at that. However, it turned out that the separation only made things worse for most of them: for example, Bruce Wayne was all bottled fury with no outlet, while Batman was completely directionless. Eventually, the civilian identities had to [[spoiler:fight the aliens who created the device, who turned out to have loosed it on purpose as a form of field test]].
** The Crimson Fox of [[ComicBook/JusticeLeague Justice League Europe]] was actually a pair of twin sisters sharing both a single heroic ''and'' civilian identity (after having faked the death of one sister).
* According to Creator/ElliotSMaggin's pre-ComicBook/{{Crisis|on Infinite Earths}} novel ''Literature/LastSonOfKrypton'', supergenius ComicBook/LexLuthor actually maintains [[InventedIndividual dozens of identities]] as artists, scientists, and other highbrow society positions. He does it partly to influence affairs in those fields, partly as a source of income, but mostly to keep from being ''bored''.
* Similarly to the Crimson Fox, Trident, an opponent of the [[Comicbook/TeenTitans New Teen Titans]], was actually three separate individuals masquerading as a single villain.

* The legend of the Golem is at least Older than Steam. In some versions, the golem roams Prague in the guise of Joseph the water carrier (in other words, a laborer who has a reason to be almost anywhere, is expected to be silent, and to whom no one pays attention). This enables him to eavesdrop on plots to harm the Jews of Prague so that his master can arrange for the golem to foil the plots.

* "[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/28300410/ Joyeux Noelle]]" is essentially a ''Film/{{Noelle}}''/''Film/PitchPerfect'' crossover based on the idea that Becca Mitchell is the name Noelle Kringle uses when she goes out in the world after becoming the "official" Santa Claus. As Becca explains it, she needs to act as Beca for the other eleven months of the year and is only Noelle for December when she has to use the Christmas magic to act as Santa.

* Similarly, restaurant reviewers, "secret shoppers" checking how store employees treat customers, and the like obviously need to avoid being identified, lest they receive special treatment that would distort the information they're getting.

** Spider-Man's secret identity as Peter Parker was one of the best-kept in the business for forty real-world years. At least until the ''ComicBook/CivilWar'', where Tony Stark coerced Peter (who did not want any legal trouble on his back, so he had sided with him) to reveal his secret identity on live television. Then Spidey defected to the Anti-Reg movement, Aunt May got shot in an attempt on his life, and Spidey struck a [[DealWithTheDevil deal with Mephisto]] to keep her alive, with the plus of everyone forgetting that Spider-Man and Peter Parker are one and the same.