History Main / CharlieBrownFromOuttaTown

** In ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}} 4'', along with many other changes, Lee Chaolan is nowhere to be found. [[note]]Though he never showed up in ''Tekken 3'' either.[[/note]] There is, however, a guy named Violet who looks almost exactly like him, only with [[YouGottaHaveBlueHair dark purple hair]]. He also wears sunglasses that can be knocked off during a fight. And he has Lee as an unlockable alternate costume. Lee wasn't fooling anybody and dropped the act for ''Tekken 5''.
*** This particular case is justified in that Lee had been exiled from the Mishima Zaibatsu on the threat of death in ''2'' after being defeated by Heihachi. His curiosity piqued by a recent attack on G Corporation by the Zaibatsu, Lee decides to investigate, leading to the creation of his Violet alias to protect his identity. It's ''still'' a pretty terrible "disguise", and Lee decided to say "screw it" for all games after.

*** The Raw after he left WWE, the real John Cena showed up instead of Juan. Eventually, after Wrestling/WadeBarrett re-hired him, the character was completely scrapped.

This trope is something of [[TheArtifact an artifact]]. Throughout the territorial days of professional wrestling, there were a great number of masked wrestlers up and down the card, to where announcing the debut of a "new masked wrestler" on television was not an uncommon occurrence. Nowadays, not many non-Mexican wrestlers (most ''luchadores'' wear masks, and the mask has an entirely different meaning in Mexico) wear masks, making a "masked wrestler" stick out like a sore thumb.

* After Jennifer Cruz cheated to send half of the Fly Girls, Niya, out of Wrestling/{{WSU}} at ''Breaking Barriers II'', Niya got a chance to get her job back against CHIKARA wrestler Saturyne. But she lost. ''Then'' Ezavuel Suarez showed up...([[InvertedTrope ironically]] Saturyne declined further work with WSU but Wrestling/HaniaTheHowlingHuntress, who was just like her sans mask, popped up.) While the fans supported Suarez, Niya turned heel after unmasking, as she mistaken believed she had everyone fooled, when they were really just spiting Cruz.

->''"I'm not Wrestling/HulkHogan, BROTHER!"''

** After Hitler is presumed dead, a man named "Señor Hitler" can show up as a Fascist leader [[ArgentinaIsNaziland in Argentina]], without any facial hair but featuring CoolShades and a NiceHat.
** Alternatively, if the United States enters [[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar a second Civil War]] with the Confederacy as the victors, then a German architect named "Adam Hilt" will offer himself as UsefulNotes/DouglasMacArthur's replacement.

* In ''[[VideoGame/HeartsOfIron Hearts of Iron IV]]'', this can happen to UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler if a few specific conditions are met. If Germany enters a civil war which the Nazi Party loses, Hitler will be presumed dead. Shortly afterwards, a man named "Señor Hitler" will show up as a Fascist leader [[ArgentinaIsNaziland in Argentina]], without any facial hair but featuring CoolShades and a NiceHat. Alternatively, if the Nazis lose their civil war, then the United States enter [[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar a second Civil War]] with the Confederacy as the victors, then a German architect named "Adam Hilt" will offer himself as a presidential candidate.

* After Josephus was suspended from the [[Wrestling/National Wrestling Alliance NWA]] for throwing powder in Wrestling/ColtCabana's eyes during an episode of ''NWA Powerrr'', vignettes narrated by Josephus' spiritual advisor began airing for a mysterious masked wrestler known as the Question Mark. As the Question Mark proved an immediate hit upon debuting and continues to be far more popular than his unmasked identity, it fairly quickly averted the trope and turned into ActingForTwo.

** Wrestling/JunkyardDog actually did the exact same gimmick (and the same name) just a year or so before in the Mid-South wrestling scene.

** This also allows 47 to beat the target to death in the ring, in front of a cheering crowd, and simply walk out of there.

The TropeNamer is presumably ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'', but no relation otherwise. Compare TheRealRemingtonSteele.

The TropeNamer is presumably ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'', but no relation otherwise.

** A more recent, heel example happened when Paul Burchill feuded with [[Wrestling/GregoryHelms the Hurricane]]; Burchill was trying to prove that Hurricane was really Gregory Helms (which isn't this trope, Hurricane is a superhero gimmick with a secret identity), so they had a match with the stipulation that if Burchill won, Hurricane would unmask, if Hurricane won, Burchill would retire. Hurricane won, and a week later he was assaulted by a masked villain known as The Ripper (as in GeneralRipper, or maybe [[UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper Jack]], because he's British). A week after that, The Ripper returned with a valet known as "The Beautiful Nightmare" (his "sister" [[Wrestling/KatarinaWaters Katie Lea]] in an [[DominoMask even less convincing mask]]) but Hurricane won again, de-masking Burchill and sending him home. Sort of a lost opportunity, really; Burchill was an outstanding performer, and the angle was so ridiculous that it couldn't help but be funny.

* Seven years after her defeat at Wrestling/{{WCW}}'s ''Bash at the Beach 2001'' and sentencing to a mental hospital, {{Wrestling/Daffney|Unger}} resurfaced on ''Wrestling/{{TNA}}'' as "The Governor", a UsefulNotes/SarahPalin impersonator hired to punk Wrestling/TheBeautifulPeople. (TBP, as vapid narcissists, were stumping for Palin to become U.S. President.) In Daffney's case, this was a combination of subterfuge and a mental illness, as she flits back and forth between personalities (she had appeared once before that in TNA as the happy go lucky "Shannon" but wasn't outed).

* After Jennifer Cruz cheated to send half of the Fly Girls, Niya, out of Wrestling/{{WSU}} at ''Breaking Barriers II'', Niya got a chance to get her job back against CHIKARA wrestler Saturyne. But she lost. ''Then'' Ezavuel Suarez showed up...([[InvertedTrope ironically]] Saturyne declined further work with WSU but someone who was just like her, sans mask, popped up.)

* After Billy Boy foolishly agreed to and then lost a [[HumiliatingWager wager match]] to Gran Apache that resulted in Billy being unable to come near Gran Apache's daughter Fabi or the son Billy Boy had with her, a new MaskedLuchador debuted known as Alfa debuted for Wrestling/{{AAA}}. He was quite talented for a "rookie" and credited his skill to instruction given to him by Gran Apache. This worked on his ego better than even Alfa could have anticipated, as he was soon invited to meet the Apache family and seeing how well he got along with Gran Apache's grandson Marvin, was deemed "good enough" for Fabi...

* The Mysterious and Handsome Stranger was really Wrestling/ArchibaldPeck (or rather, a time-displaced version of him) in Wrestling/{{CHIKARA}}. Also, Ricochet returned as Helios, fooling nobody.

* With S.C.U.M. forced to disband in Wrestling/RingOfHonor following a [[GimmickMatches Steel Cage Warfare match]], Rhett Titus didn't have the initial luck to return to active competition to the promotion as other members of the stable did. However, months later, a suave masked man entered a tournament for newcomers and achieved enough success in it to find a place on the roster despite losing. Despite a majority of the heels in Ring of Honor such as Truth Martini and R.D. Evans (who looks suspiciously like Archibald Peck...) believing him to be Titus, none of them have been able to conclusively prove it. Perhaps the only person to know with any proof is Matt Taven, who appeared under the mask in the guise of Romantic Touch in an attempt to play mind games with Martini and his client Wrestling/JayLethal.

* In the original ''VideoGame/TalesOfDestiny'', [[spoiler:Leon Magnus]] died after betraying the party, and his Swordian [[spoiler:Chaltier]] seemed to be [[PermanentlyMissableContent lost forever]]. In the second game, a mysterious swordsman fitting [[spoiler: Leon's]] description wearing an [[PaperThinDisguise odd and thin mask]] and wielding a talking sword shows up out of nowhere, following and protecting Kyle [[spoiler: (Leon's nephew)]] on a few occasions before being offered to join the party. Kyle names him "Judas".
* King of Dinosaurs, the "new" MaskedLuchador in ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters The King of Fighters XIV]]'' is quite obviously Tizoc in a new costume trying to be a Heel (he's pretty prone to slipping into Face thinking during his attacks). Terry, for one, isn't remotely fooled by the getup and complements him on his new outfit and gimmick. Tizoc is basically doing this due to an off-screen loss to newcomer Nelson: he wants a grudge match, but that's not [[{{Kayfabe}} appropriate behavior]] for a Face.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{SpongeBob SquarePants}}'' did a similar subversion, where [=SpongeBob=] is trying to get into a tough guy bar. Shortly after someone tells him that only people with cool haircuts get in, somebody looking just like [=SpongeBob=] shows up with a pompadour and a leather jacket. After the bouncer tries to pull his wig off, the real [=SpongeBob=] shows up wearing a rainbow-colored clown wig.

* In ''Anime/SpeedRacer'', the mysterious Masked Racer (Racer X[[note]]Although the dub did call him "The Masked Racer" at first.[[/note]] first appears on the racing scene shortly after Kenichi Mifune's (Rex Racer's) supposed untimely death, has a similar build, and drives exactly like him. The narrator (at least in the dub) feels obliged to remind the viewer of these facts at every possible interval.

** The Pre-Crisis versions of Star Boy and Dream Girl (from the ''Comicbook/LegionOfSuperHeroes'') both left the Legion (Star Boy was expelled for violating ThouShaltNotKill in self-defense, while Dream Girl had joined under false pretenses and resigned.) A few months later, when Comicbook/{{Superboy}} and Comicbook/{{Supergirl}} temporarily [[BroughtDownToNormal lost their powers]], they nominated two ''new'' superheroes, Sir Prize and Miss Terious, to take their places. Guess who they were!

* Towards the end of ''ComicBook/YoungJustice'', Superboy signed the team to a contract for a reality-TV show. Robin wasn't keen on the idea of appearing on TV, so he temporarily abandoned his "Robin" identity in favor of a new identity as "Mister Sarcastic".

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* In ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear'', the first game has an insane, 12 ft tall, skinny as a rail, evil doctor named Dr. Baldhead. The sequel and all subsequent games have an insane, 12 ft tall, skinny as a rail, and good doctor named Dr. Faust, with a paper bag on his head. Characters who know about Dr. Baldhead make the connection, though.
* In ''VideoGame/HitmanAbsolution'', one of the targets moonlights as a pit fighter who is scheduled to face an out-of-state challenger, "The Patriot". The Patriot can be subdued as he's taking a powder, allowing 47 to don his luchador mask and tights. No one will be the wiser.

* PlayedForLaughs in ''VideoGame/{{Metal Gear Solid 2|SonsOfLiberty}}''. After the Tanker chapter, Snake is presumed dead, with his body fished from the bottom of the ocean. [[spoiler: Raiden runs into Iroquois Pliskin, Lieutenant Junior Grade Navy SEAL, who happens to look exactly like Snake, and is played by the same guy. The game makes it as obvious as possible that this guy is Snake, while having several characters aggressively claim that Snake is definitely dead. When Pliskin reveals that yes, he is Snake, you can practically hear Creator/HideoKojima laughing at you for believing Snake really was dead. The name he used for his alias was an even an obvious ShoutOut to [[Film/EscapeFromNewYork S.D.]] "''[[Film/EscapeFromNewYork Snake]]''" [[Film/EscapeFromNewYork Plissken]], not to mention that [[GeniusBonus Iroquois literally means Snake.]]]]

* ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIV'''s [[CapcomSequelStagnation third current revision]], ''Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition'' features a new character, name of Oni... who bears a large resemblance to recurring character Akuma. Many have believed that Oni is merely a new super mode for Akuma, though so far [[ShrugOfGod Capcom haven't said much on the subject]].

* In ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}} 4'', along with many other changes, Lee Chaolan is nowhere to be found.[[note]]Though he never showed up in ''Tekken 3'' either.[[/note]] There is, however, a guy named Violet who looks almost exactly like him, only with [[YouGottaHaveBlueHair dark purple hair]]. He also wears sunglasses that can be knocked off during a fight. And he has Lee as an unlockable alternate costume. Lee wasn't fooling anybody and dropped the act for ''Tekken 5''.
** This particular case is justified in that Lee had been exiled from the Mishima Zaibatsu on the threat of death in ''2'' after being defeated by Heihachi. His curiosity piqued by a recent attack on G Corporation by the Zaibatsu, Lee decides to investigate, leading to the creation of his Violet alias to protect his identity. It's ''still'' a pretty terrible "disguise", and Lee decided to say "screw it" for all games after.
** ''Tekken Tag Tournament 2'' brings us the female wrestler Jaycee. [[spoiler:J.C. would be Julia Chang's initials.]]
** In-story Jaycee is a LegacyCharacter, so within the story it's a reasonable disguise. The character, however, never appeared in-game before that point, so it's not much of a disguise to the players.

* ''3 Count Bout'' has two of these. One is [[VideoGame/FatalFury Raiden[=/=]Big Bear's]] rival Big Bomberder, a brutish heel who tried to turn face by wearing a mask and calling himself Gochack Bigbomb. The other is the sadistic [[KnifeNut knife-wielding]] Blubber Man, whose face persona is the masked Blues Hablam (who is still not above pulling out a knife).

* King of Dinosaurs, the "new" MaskedLuchador in ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters The King of Fighters XIV]]'' is quite obviously Tizoc in a new costume trying to be a Heel (he's pretty prone to slipping into Face thinking during his attacks). Terry, for one, isn't remotely fooled by the getup and complements him on his new outfit and gimmick. Tizoc is basically doing this due to an off-screen loss to newcomer Nelson: he wants a grudge match, but that's not appropriate behavior for a Face.

* In the state of Florida (reprised in Jim Crockett's WTBS-based Wrestling/{{N|ational Wrestling Alliance}}WA territory from a suspension), Wrestling/DustyRhodes lost a "LoserLeavesTown" match to Wrestling/KevinSullivan. Just as Rhodes had left, a mysterious new superstar, The Midnight Rider, came onto the scene, looking awfully similar to Rhodes. Sullivan and heel manager J. J. Dillon were not impressed, and tried to get Bob Geigel (the NWA president} to suspend Rhodes, using a promo as videotaped evidence. Sadly for them, Geigel told them to get better proof, and the Rider would team with good friend Wrestling/{{MagnumTA}} to win the tag team titles, only losing them after the Rider had to unmask. The Rider even won the [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/nwa/world/nwa-h.html NWA World Heavyweight Title]] (at a time when that meant something) from Wrestling/RicFlair, but had to forfeit it after Geigel informed Rider that he would have to choose the mask or the title. Eventually, Rhodes was reinstated after the stipulation had expired, and brought several Midnight Riders to ringside for one of his many matches with Flair.

* Around February of 2016, a new rookie masked luchadora billed as "Maria Maria" was given a shot on a Sparkle Showcase, which eventually led to a three matches in SHINE wrestling but not much else. The next year, [[EveryYearTheyFizzleOut perennial]] title contender Allysin Kay was flat out denied a title shot from singles champion [=LuFisto=], who requested a rookie get it instead, and Kay in turn rejected an offer to participate in the Nova tournament to crown a second singles champion, stating ''that'' should have gone to a rookie. So Kay sat out the Nova Tournament, and suspiciously, so did Maria Maria, who gave her spot to Dynamite Didi Cruz and won a three way featuring three other rookies eligible for a shot at [=LuFisto=] with a very uncharacteristic discus lariat... although after Kay revealed that yes, she was posing as Maria Maria, [=LuFisto=] was saved from Kay by ''another'' Maria Maria, an equally uncharacteristic Maria Maria, who had the crowd chanting "[[ObviousJudas Who’s that ginger]]?" (it was Brandi Lauren, who really wanted that title shot Kay got).

* Played with in ''Wrestling/DramaticDreamTeam'' spinoff promotion Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling. In a somewhat (by DDT standards anyway) straight example, Yuka Sakazaki took a sabbatical from the promotion in order to get stronger after a string of poor performances in the tail end of 2016. However, taking her place would be her previously unknown "twin sister", the masked luchadora Mil Clown. After around six months, Mil Clown announced that her sister would be coming back, but she would be leaving to go back to their home of Magic Country.

* As this section shows, this trope has a long and proud history in kayfabe...but it's even happened in real life, as in 2019, Wrestling/CMPunk revealed after doing so in one show that he had been making appearances under a mask in indie promotions for years, even after claiming to be done with professional wrestling for good.

* Who can forget the 1980s ComicBook/CaptainAmerica storyline under Mark Gruenwald where he was stripped of the Captain America identity by the US government and forbidden to act as a superhero by [[spoiler: a commission whose acts were an EvilPlan by the Red Skull]]. His reaction? Create a new costume and identity which was dubbed "The Captain" after he stopped himself awkwardly from calling himself Captain America. The government also appointed a new [[AntiheroSubstitute Captain America]], who later went on to wear the new costume as U.S. Agent.

** In the 1998 Royal Rumble, Mr. Foley showed up as Cactus Jack, got eliminated, showed up again as Mankind, got eliminated, and showed up [[RunningGag YET]] [[RuleOfThree AGAIN]] as Dude Love! The trope was partially averted by explaining that Foley had multiple personalities and that each, apparently, counted as a separate entity -- the "Three Faces of Foley".

* Played straight AND subverted with "El Gran Luchadore." When the late Wrestling/EddieGuerrero was fighting Wrestling/JohnBradshawLayfield for the [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwe/wwe-h.html WWE Championship Title]], the supposed "champion of Mexico" was making guest appearances on Smackdown. Then El Gran Luchadore attacked JBL in the ring, pulling off all of Guerrero's moves and then declaring (in a voice that sounded a lot like Eddie) that he and Eddie were very close. The next week, Eddie and JBL were fighting for the title in a cage match - until Luchadore came out... and helped ''JBL'' win the match! Luchadore was then unmasked and revealed to be - Wrestling/KurtAngle, who was supposed to be permanently confined to a wheelchair due to an assault by Wrestling/TheBigShow weeks earlier.

* The Mysterious and Handsome Stranger was really Archibald Peck (or rather, a time-displaced version of him) in Wrestling/{{CHIKARA}}. Also, Ricochet returned as Helios, fooling nobody.

* In the state of Florida (reprised in Jim Crockett's WTBS-based Wrestling/{{N|ational Wrestling Alliance}}WA territory from a suspension), Wrestling/DustyRhodes lost a "LoserLeavesTown" match to Wrestling/KevinSullivan. Just as Rhodes had left, a mysterious new superstar, The Midnight Rider, came onto the scene, looking awfully similar to Rhodes. Sullivan and heel manager J. J. Dillon were not impressed, and tried to get Bob Geigel (the NWA president} to suspend Rhodes, using a promo as videotaped evidence. Sadly for them, Geigel told them to get better proof, and the Rider would team with good friend Magnum T.A. to win the tag team titles, only losing them after the Rider had to unmask. The Rider even won the [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/nwa/world/nwa-h.html NWA World Heavyweight Title]] (at a time when that meant something) from Wrestling/RicFlair, but had to forfeit it after Geigel informed Rider that he would have to choose the mask or the title. Eventually, Rhodes was reinstated after the stipulation had expired, and brought several Midnight Riders to ringside for one of his many matches with Flair.

* ''VideoGame/SNKGalsFighters'' has Miss X, the organizer of the Queen of Fighters tournament who is very clearly a crossdressing [[VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters Iori Yagami]]. ''VideoGame/SNKHeroinesTagTeamFrenzy'' brings back Miss X as a DLC character, but because other male characters have been [[AttractiveBentGender gender-bent to fit in the roster]], Miss X now appears in both crossdressing and gender-bent forms.

* ''VideoGame/SNKGalsFighters'' has Miss X, the organizer of the Queen of Fighters tournament who is very clearly a crossdressing [[VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters Iori Yagami]]. ''VideoGame/SNKHeroines'' brings back Miss X as a DLC character, but because other male characters have been [[AttractiveBentGender gender-bent to fit in the roster]], Miss X now appears in both crossdressing and gender-bent forms.