History ClarkKenting / WesternAnimation

** Parodied in reverse in one episode. The Tooth Fairy makes Timmy a dental themed Franchise/WonderWoman parody in order to stop an evil dentist. His only disguise is a tiara that inexplicably [[JediMindTrick prevents anyone from discovering his "secret identity"]]. It's implied that the reason no one can recognize him is because the Tiara replaces his trademark pink hat.

* Parodied in the SuperheroEpisode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' where Fry, Leela, and Bender become superheroes. Somehow the public does not realise that the only one-eyed woman with purple hair in the entire city of New New York is, in fact, the one-eyed purple-haired superheroine Clobberella. Even her own ''parents'' are fooled.
** This is made even more blatant by the fact that Leela and her mother are the only purple-haired female cyclopes ''in the entire universe.''

* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/ElTigre'', where Rodolfo's civilian guise is the outfit worn by Clark Kent in the Fleisher Brothers Superman cartoons. And worn over his costume, including his mask.

** The trope is somewhat justified when it's revealed there were several platypuses, platypi, platypeople, well, you get it, in Danville and Phineas had to take a closer look at each one of them before telling if Perry was among them.

** Lana Lang outright averts this trope in the DCAU; one of her questions to Superman at their "first meeting" is whether Martha made his costume. Lois plays it straight as an arrow, though. (Lana had an extra clue Lois didn't; she knew Clark had superpowers because he demonstrated them to her in the pilot.)

* Played straight in ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' along with a good dose of DramaticIrony as main heroes Ladybug/Marinette and Cat Noir/Adrien are classmates who sit back and front of one another in school, but all they have to "hide" their identities are {{Domino Mask}}s. It's especially glaring since when she transforms Marinette's hairstyle remains the same, and her borderline obsessive crush on Adrien - which in turn leads to an infuriating case of LovesMyAlterEgo ''and'' UnrequitedLoveSwitcheroo (infuriating both in and out-of-universe).
** This is later partially justified by a time-traveling akuma whom Ladybug follows to the past, which shows Marinette and Ladybug in the same place interacting. In season three Marinette takes on a SecondSuperIdentity as Multimouse and "accidentally" reveals herself as Multimouse to Cat Noir so that he won't suspect that she's actually Ladybug. This thanks to using a Mirage (courtesy of the Fox Miraculous) so that both can appear at once.
** Adrien is a more justified case - not only do his hair and eyes change, but he completely changes his demeanor from a reserved LonelyRichKid to a flamboyant PungeonMaster. Alya once brings up the possibility of Adrien being Cat to Marinette, but she rejects the idea because Cat and Adrien act so differently.
*** The demeanor is different for Marinette as well... at least when speaking to Adrien, since she often comes dangerously close to GibberishOfLove in such cases.
** The other superheroes zigzag this. Alya gains significant hair growth and a little dye to make it somewhat feasible that nobody would recognize her as Rena Rouge. Chloé gets the same as Queen Bee, but it's a moot point since she openly admits she is a superhero. Nino has the best disguise of the lot, wearing a hood and goggles as Carapace, yet he is ironically the only one to be recognized in costume; his distinctive VerbalTic does him in when he interacts with Alya.
** There's an episode where a visiting musician is doing a Ladybug and Cat Noir themed video and has to cast lookalikes. Adrien is cast by his father (as publicity, since he's a model), and Marinette is instantly ID'd as a match for Ladybug (with even [[spoiler: Hawk Moth, of all people]] agreeing, but not making the connection). Neither seems overly concerned about appearing in costume, only in wearing the domino masks. We never get to find out if they'd be recognized, because they never do put on the masks. At the end of the episode, both of them are in the music video, but in street clothes and the opposite mask (Marinette wears a black domino mask, and Adrien wears a red-and-black-spotted one), which apparently sidesteps the issue further.
** There's also something of an inversion, since not only do Parisians not recognize their heroes out of costume, they also fail to recognize that someone ''in'' costume is ''not'' their hero. Chloé has repeatedly been misidentified as Ladybug just by dressing up as her, despite being taller, having a different hairstyle and color, and acting ''absolutely nothing'' like Ladybug. Even ''Cat Noir'' is fooled, and when Jagged Stone sees Chloé-in-costume up close, after having close interactions with Ladybug, Chloé, and Marinette separately, all he has to say is "Did you dye your hair?" (which puts his powers of perception above the rest, but doesn't speak too highly of his critical thinking skills), and it takes Sabrina announcing her real identity before ''a trained reporter and Ladybug expert'' realizes that she's a fake. At this point, we probably have to chalk it up to AWizardDidIt (Marinette ''did'' once admit her mask was magic, though in the "it literally cannot come off my face" sense, not in the "it lowers the IQ of people around me" sense).

** All this does have an understandable [[JustifiedTrope justification]] though; no one thinks its even possible for Danny Phantom to have a human form, since he's a ghost and... well, dead ([[OurGhostsAreDifferent supposedly]]). There's only one other being in existence that is also a "halfa", and only other ghosts are aware that such a state between life and death is possible. Plus, thanks to duplication machines and shapeshifters, Danny Fenton and his ghost form have been seen together.

** The New York special eventually explains that the Miraculous magic includes "[[PerceptionFilter quantum masking]]", which protects Ladybug and Cat Noir's secret identities (and presumably all other Miraculous wielders, although [[spoiler:thanks to Chloé's FaceHeelTurn, Hawk Moth already knows all of them]]).

** Superboy may get a pass because the Team's activities are supposed to be on the down-low and not public knowledge. He's seen helping Superman in public at least once, but that's in the middle of a crisis and far from where Conner attends public school. Speaking of school, on his first day of high school a lot of the students were wearing various superhero shirts themselves, including Superman's shield. If Conner hadn't reversed his shirt he still would have fit in.

* ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010'' has Superboy...turn his shirt inside out for his civilian identity. Not only does this hide him perfectly, but no one even wonders why Conner always has his shirt turned inside out. Since the show averts it otherwise (most of the kids don't have civilian identities, and those who do wear masks), this is probably an homage to the trope namer.

** As of Season 2, he doesn't even bother to turn the shirt inside out anymore. One of his friends teases him for wearing "Superman" shirts. So at this point he is [[UpToEleven walking around in his superhero outfit without a single person questioning it]].

** Oddly enough, he can't recognize Perry if he were wearing anything else. Like when he showed up dressed as a [[PaperThinDisguise plumber:]]
--->'''Doofenshmirtz:''' (Perry removes his mustache) "A platypus plumber?" (Perry puts on his hat) "''Perry'' the Platypus Plumber?" (Perry removes his tool belt) "*gasp!* ''PERRY'' THE PLATYPUS?!"

** {{Lampshaded}} in the TV movie ''[[WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerbTheMovieAcrossThe2ndDimension Across the 2nd Dimension]]'', when [[AlternateUniverse Doof-2]] actually points out, and attempts to teach his counterpart the fact that even when the hat is removed, it's still the same platypus.

* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'': Doofenshmirtz cannot recognize Perry the Platypus without his NiceHat.

* Played straight in ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' along with a good dose of DramaticIrony as main heroes Ladybug/Marinette and Chat Noir/Adrien are classmates who sit back and front of one another in school, but all they have to "hide" their identities are {{Domino Mask}}s. It's especially glaring since when she transforms Marinette's hairstyle remains the same, and her borderline obsessive crush on Adrien - which in turn leads to an infuriating case of LovesMyAlterEgo ''and'' UnrequitedLoveSwitcheroo (infuriating both in and out-of-universe).

** Adrien is a more justified case - not only do his hair and eyes change, but he completely changes his demeanor from a reserved LonelyRichKid to a flamboyant PungeonMaster. Alya once brings up the possibility of Adrien being Chat to Marinette, but she rejects the idea because Chat and Adrien act so differently.

** The other superheroes zigzag this. Alya gains significant hair growth and a little dye to make it somewhat feasible that nobody would recognize her as Rena Rouge. Chloe gets the same as Queen Bee, but it's a moot point since she openly admits she is a superhero. Nino has the best disguise of the lot, wearing a hood and goggles as Carapace, yet he is ironically the only one to be recognized in costume; his distinctive VerbalTic does him in when he interacts with Alya.
** There's an episode where a visiting musician is doing a Ladybug and Chat Noir themed video and has to cast lookalikes. Adrien is cast by his father (as publicity, since he's a model), and Marinette is instantly ID'd as a match for Ladybug (with even [[spoiler: Hawk Moth, of all people]] agreeing, but not making the connection). Neither seems overly concerned about appearing in costume, only in wearing the domino masks. We never get to find out if they'd be recognized, because they never do put on the masks. At the end of the episode, both of them are in the music video, but in street clothes and the opposite mask (Marinette wears a black domino mask, and Adrien wears a red-and-black-spotted one), which apparently sidesteps the issue further.
** There's also something of an inversion, since not only do Parisians not recognize their heroes out of costume, they also fail to recognize that someone ''in'' costume is ''not'' their hero. Chloe has repeatedly been misidentified as Ladybug just by dressing up as her, despite being taller, having a different hairstyle and color, and acting ''absolutely nothing'' like Ladybug. Even ''Chat Noir'' is fooled, and when Jagged Stone sees Chloe-in-costume up close, after having close interactions with Ladybug, Chloe, and Marinette separately, all he has to say is "Did you dye your hair?" (which puts his powers of perception above the rest, but doesn't speak too highly of his critical thinking skills), and it takes Sabrina announcing her real identity before ''a trained reporter and Ladybug expert'' realizes that she's a fake. At this point, we probably have to chalk it up to AWizardDidIt (Marinette ''did'' once admit her mask was magic, though in the "it literally cannot come off my face" sense, not in the "it lowers the IQ of people around me" sense).
** The New York special eventually explains that the Miraculous magic includes "[[PerceptionFilter quantum masking]]", which protects Ladybug and Chat Noir's secret identities (and presumably all other Miraculous wielders, although [[spoiler:thanks to Chloé's FaceHeelTurn, Hawk Moth already knows all of them]]).

* This is taken in an interesting direction by ''WesternAnimation/{{Zeroman}}''; the title character wears glasses in his costumed identity, and goes without them as a civillian.