History Main / DecoyBackstory

* Throughout ''ComicBook/ExitStageLeftTheSnagglepussChronicles'', Huckleberry Hound is presented as a gay, depressive author, which is considerably different from how he's usually presented in cartoons, where he's usually a plucky everyman who comes out on top. The ending of the series reveals that [[spoiler:this is actually the father of the more commonly known Huckleberry Hound, who adopted his dad's name to honor him after he died]].

* ''Franchise/MarvelUniverse'':
** In ''ComicBook/AvengersNoSurrender'', when she was first introduced, Voyager claims to be an original founding member of The Avengers, having been erased from existence because of Victory the Electromagnetic Man. Thanks to Edwin Jarvis, he exposed the truth that she had never been an Avenger in the first place, implanting fake memories regarding her personal history to make her story more believable. It's eventually revealed that she's the daughter of the Grandmaster and her real name is Va Nee Gast. She was sent to Earth to act as his ace to reclaim his title as the Grandmaster, as Earth was chosen to be the battleground for the contest.
** In ''Origin'', which is an origin story for ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}, the reader is introduced to two boys: weak, sickly James, and gruff Dog Logan. We're obviously supposed to believe that Dog grows up to be Wolverine until James develops claws and a healing factor. Dog Logan turns out to be Wolverine's half-brother, and DependingOnTheWriter hinted to be his ArchEnemy Sabertooth.
** One arc of ''ComicBook/UncannyXMen'' introduced a supposed new team of X-Men, each with their own backstory (Crux was a French figure skater, Rapture was a nun, Chaos was autistic, etc.) Absolutely none of their backstories were real; they all turned out to be nanotech constructed and created by Cerebro.
** ''ComicBook/XStatix'':
*** Surrender Monkey was initially presented as a French mutant with the supposed ability to KnowWhenToFoldEm. A later issue reveals that he's actually an American secret agent who was sent to France to pose as a stereotypical Frenchman, in order to gin up anti-French sentiment in advance of the UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror.
*** Throughout the series' run, Tike "Anarchist" Alicar was presented as a wild, womanizing bachelor. The X-Statix Special, released years after the series ended, revealed that Tike was actually married and had a son, Mike, who was conveniently old enough to join the new X-Statix alongside Edie Sawyer's now-grown daughter Katie and an OppositeSexClone of Phat.
%%*** Phat is initially presented as a kid from a white-trash background. It's later revealed that he grew up in a stable, middle-class family, and the "troubled" background was invented to UNFINISHED EXAMPLE, to be fixed by Tropers/StrixObscuro
* ''ComicBook/{{Nemesis}}'' shows the [[AntagonistTitle titular villain's]] supposed origins as Matthew Anderson, son of a disgraced billionaire who was busted by Blake Morrow. When Blake confronts him at the end, Nemesis reveals the real Matthew Anderson died squandering the inheritance. Nemesis has merely been acting the role, [[TheSpook and nothing is revealed of his real origins]] aside from being "rich and bored".

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': In "[[Recap/StevenUniverseS5E13YourMotherAndMine Your Mother and Mine]]", Garnet reveals [[Characters/StevenUniverseRoseQuartz Rose Quartz's]] backstory; she was a soldier from the Prime Kindergarten who came to realize that Earth was bustling with life of its own and that Homeworld's colonization would leave it nothing but an empty shell. She was brought before Pink Diamond after telling other Gems about the life on the planet, and Rose begged her to spare it; Pink Diamond simply laughed in her face, told her to drop these silly ideas, and get back to work. In response, Rose donned her iconic white dress and began telling her fellow Quartzes about a new idea -- rebellion. It's later revealed that this story is a complete fabrication by Rose herself, to hide her true origins and to inspire other Gems to join her cause. In reality, Rose was actually [[Characters/StevenUniversePinkDiamond Pink Diamond]], who had come to love the planet dearly, and donned the guise of a common Quartz soldier to forcefully stop Earth's destruction after the other Diamonds refused to listen to her pleas. In a similar vein, Pearl claimed to be an ownerless, renegade Pearl who ran away from her former owner and met Rose on Earth. In actuality, she was Pink Diamond's Pearl.

* ''Literature/MistbornTheOriginalTrilogy'' starts out with a plot about the rebel heroes trying to overthrow[[EvilOverlord The Lord Ruler]], and the first novel of the series has each chapter begin with excerpts from the journal of Alendi, the man believed to have become him, who is a parody/pastiche of the stock brooding fantasy novel hero. The heroes, who read the journal, believe that Alendi [[FallenHero went bad]] after absorbing great power, as the journal ends right before he journeyed into the source of the power. There's a few references to a man named Rashek, who was enlisted as Alendi's guide and [[TheResenter clearly resented him]], and doesn't seem the most pleasant guy. It is later revealed that Rashek killed Alendi and took the power himself, but then realizing he'd accidentally released the GodOfEvil, became nobler in his goals and tried to fix things (but due to the entities influence, created the hellish dystopia in which the series is set).

** {{Inverted|Trope}} in "[[Recap/FuturamaM1BendersBigScore Bender's Big Score]]". After a trip to the time he got frozen, Fry ends up creating [[TemporalDuplication a time duplicate]] of himself that lived for 12 years in the 21st century until Bender killed him. We're led to believe that he was simply a duplicate who died, only for it to eventually be revealed Bender only ''thought'' he killed him, and that he's the backstory to an already-seen character: Leela's new boyfriend Lars Fillmore. [[TomatoInTheMirror Lars didn't even know it for himself]] until his hair burned off and his voice changed.

* ''WesternAnimation/HarleyQuinn2019'':

* ''WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan2012'': Scarlet Spider claims that he is the "First Spider", created by Doctor Octopus (whom he despises) and held captive for months before escaping. This is ultimately revealed to be a lie; not only was Scarlet Spider created much sooner, but he has been working for Doc Ock from the beginning, and fed Peter a fake sob story so he would be accepted onto the team.

** Reiner and Bertolt claimed that they lost their homes during a Titan attack which explains their reason for enlistment. Turns it's a lie as Reiner admits to Eren that he and Bertolt are actually the Armored Titan and the Colossal Titan respectively who are responsible on the attack on Shinganshina. As the truth goes further, both men and Annie are Eldians from the Libero Internment Zones in Marley who infiltrated Paradis Island to obtain the Coordinate Titan Power which happens to be on Eren's possession.

* ''Manga/BungoStrayDogs'': Chuuya has no memories from before he was seven, and has worries his connection to Arahabaki means he is not a real human. His friends eventually manage to procure intel proving he was a human with a normal life prior to being experimented on, but it's quickly revealed the intel was false and he is actually a modified clone of the real Chuuya made by the military. However, Dazai points out there's no way to be one hundred percent certain Chuuya really is the clone, so it's unknown which backstory is true, but by that point, he decides it does not matter.

* In Creator/HBeamPiper's ''Four Day Planet'', Bish Ware appears to be a drunken remittance man (someone whose living expenses are paid on condition that he goes away and stays away). He's actually an undercover agent for Federation law enforcement investigating a criminal who has assumed a new identity to hide out on the backwater world where the story takes place.

* ''Series/{{Castle}}'': [[ZigZaggingTrope Zig-zagged]]. When asked where his fascination with murder came from, Castle initially tells Beckett that he found the body of a dead boy on the beach when he was a child, before she catches on that he made it up. In Season 7, he tells Beckett the truth -- he got lost in Hollander's Woods as a child and witnessed the murder of a woman. So his original "fake" backstory was MetaphoricallyTrue with a few details changed. {{Justified|Trope}} in that he was sworn to secrecy on threat of death by the murderer.