History Main / DoppelgangerAttack

Compare DoppelgangerSpin, MesACrowd, and WeaponizedOffspring. [[TwinThreesomeFantasy Expect lots of]] PowerPerversionPotential. If the Doppelganger attacking is of the player, it's a MirrorBoss.

* Makuta Bitil from ''Toys/{{Bionicle}}'' wears a Mohtrek; or in layman's terms: A {{Mask|OfPower}} of Time Duplication. When mentally triggered it summons different versions of the user from different points in time into the present. These duplicates are just as strong as the original was or will be at that point in time. When dismissed, the duplicates will return to the very same moment they left, meaning that no one will have seen them suddenly vanish and reappear. They also lose their memory of what happened while summoned to avoid any whacky [[TemporalParadox time paradoxes]]. The downside? The summoned duplicates will return to their time with all the physical evidence of the summoning intact, meaning that if you get wounded, that wound will seem to have suddenly appeared on you somewhere in time. And if one gets killed... all versions past that one [[RetGone gets erased from time, as if they were never there]]. So if a past version of you gets killed, you cease to exist; even in the memories of those you were fighting, and all the people you have ever met. [[OhCrap Whoops.]]

* It seems like every wizard miniboss in ''VideoGame/BaldursGate'' fights with the mirror image spell, meaning you need to do at least one attack on him per image he creates before you can touch him again. All while he's launching off his own spells. The quickest way to strip this off of him is with a magic missile spell or two, but it's still massively annoying, especially if they use fear or charms on your party (which most do). Worse is the ''simulacrum'' spell, where only one image is produced, but it's got hit points and can wander away from the caster.

** ComicBook/{{Superman}} can also do this in a weak form, once playing ping-pong against himself to entertain some kids.
** The standard tactic of Silent Majority, a member of the Force of July who fought ''ComicBook/BatmanAndTheOutsiders'' and other heroes in the DCU.
** ComicBook/{{Superman}} foe Riot has the ability to clone himself at will or when attacked. One of Riot's most significant advantages in a fight is that the force of a blow delivered to one duplicate is dispersed across all of his currently-active duplicates; as a result, while Superman could theoretically knock Riot out if he hit a single Riot with a sufficiently powerful punch, with a dozen or more Riots active at once Superman's blows fail to cause sufficient damage to render any of the Riots unconscious.
** ComicBook/{{Nightwing}} was once attacked by a Jokerized Riot but was able to spot the original and knock him out almost immediately causing the clones to disappear.
--->''"Only one of you had the riot gun, ''Riot''. [--Moron--]."''
** ''ComicBook/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]]: Ever since her earliest appearances, Di has been able to move fast enough to seem to interact with at least two of herself, which she normally used to help maintain her secret identity.

** The ''ComicBook/AlphaFlight'' character Flashback can conjure up versions of himself from seconds away in time, allowing him to swarm an opponent all by himself. He's not so good at picking foes he can actually beat this way, though, and the downside is, if one of his phase-forms dies, he gets to worry if it's the one from ''his'' future.
** The mercenary Timeshadow, a former pawn of Apocalypse, has a similar power.
** Quantum, a foe of ComicBook/TheAvengers, can teleport back and forth so fast that he's effectively two (or more) places at once, allowing him to hit heroes from several directions.
** Multiple Man from ''ComicBook/XFactor''. Especially recently as his clones tend to reflect part of the typical human personality. His libido manifested with a clone and much sex (not with clones) ensued.

* Nico Robin of ''Manga/OnePiece'' has worked out how to use her Flower-Flower Fruit powers, which enable her to sprout any part of herself from any surface, to create a full body double.

* Sigdis Gaulderson, a FlunkyBoss in ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'', combines this with a teleport ability to create a ShellGame for the player. Unlike a DoppelgangerSpin, though, all three draugr are capable of attacking you with bows and [[SuperScream Shouts]]. The spectral copies will go down in one hit, while hitting the true boss a few times will cause him to teleport again and summon new copies.

* Sigdis Gaulderson, a FlunkyBoss in ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'', combines this with a teleport ability to create a ShellGame for the player. Unlike a DoppelgangerSpin, though, all three draugr are capable of attacking you with bows and [[MakeMeWannaShout Shouts]]. The spectral copies will go down in one hit, while hitting the true boss a few times will cause him to teleport again and summon new copies.

* Franchise/TheDCU:
** Franchise/{{Superman}} can also do this in a weak form, once playing ping-pong against himself to entertain some kids.
** The standard tactic of Silent Majority, a member of the Force of July who fought ''ComicBook/BatmanAndTheOutsiders'' and other heroes in Franchise/TheDCU.
** Franchise/{{Superman}} foe Riot has the ability to clone himself at will or when attacked. One of Riot's most significant advantages in a fight is that the force of a blow delivered to one duplicate is dispersed across all of his currently-active duplicates; as a result, while Superman could theoretically knock Riot out if he hit a single Riot with a sufficiently powerful punch, with a dozen or more Riots active at once Superman's blows fail to cause sufficient damage to render any of the Riots unconscious.

** ''Franchise/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]]: Ever since her earliest appearances Di has been able to move fast enough to seem to interact with at least two of herself, which she normally used to help maintain her secret identity.

** ComicBook/MultipleMan from ''ComicBook/XFactor''. Especially recently as his clones tend to reflect part of the typical human personality. His libido manifested with a clone and much sex (not with clones) ensued.

* ''Film/BlackAdam'': ComicBook/DoctorFate pulls this off twice, first when fighting to restrain the title character and second [[spoiler:when facing off against [[BigBad Sabbac]]]].
* Film/{{Doctor Strange|2016}} [[spoiler:when he [[https://78.media.tumblr.com/77509ca1bd70e181961428628f19ca16/tumblr_p7yv67gXGb1usfzn8o8_400.gif pulls this]] against Thanos in the ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'']].
* In the film ''Film/SkyHigh2005'', an African American cheerleader named Penny Lent has the ability to duplicate multiple copies of herself. In the final act of the movie, she and the other antagonists [[spoiler:help Royal Pain (who is revealed to be Gwen) turns everyone at homecoming into babies and are only stopped when the sidekicks defeat them. Penny herself is defeated after her, since she is ignorant of Layla's power and becomes trapped in vines. She and the rest of the villains are placed into jail at the end of the movie.]]

* ''Literature/PostSelf'': In the virtual reality of the System [[BrainUploading uploaded]] individuals can copy themselves and merge their "forks" practically at will. When May fights an assassin in ''Mitzot'' she forks into his space to knock him back and prevent him from injecting her root instance with his virus, which would kill her.

* One of the bosses in ''VideoGame/Persona2'' uses a Doppelganger attack as her gimmick. You have to hit the real one, or else any attempts to use magic will result in a nasty counterattack (her copies reflects magic). The solution: [[spoiler:fight her on a full moon -- the fakes have no shadows. Or watch carefully when she taunts you afterwards.]]

Similar to DoppelgangerSpin, Doppelganger Attack involves making multiple copies of oneself, during combat. Unlike the former, however, the "copies" are actual physical copies, be they [[HardLight manifestations of energy]], [[SelfDuplication split off]] from the original, or copies [[{{Golem}} made of stone, clay, or another material]]. As they are solid copies, there is no "which one is the real one" game to be played here: They're essentially ''all'' "real", and ''all'' dangerous. They can be used to attack, train, or defend the original. If the copies are unable to rejoin with the original after being created or summoned, they may suffer CloneAngst.

** Pain also has the ability to make copies of other Akatsuki members out of living people, which are essentially the same except with only the percentage of chakra put into it. Once again, the advantage is that they are much hardier than normal clones and function in mind identical to the originals. The weakness is that they're limited in scope by the amount of chakra given to them (Itachi's clone outright states he can't use the Mangekyou Sharingan despite possessing 30% of the original's reserves).

Similar to DoppelgangerSpin, Doppelganger Attack involves making multiple copies of oneself, during combat. Unlike the former, however, the "copies" are actual physical copies, be they [[HardLight manifestations of energy]], [[SelfDuplication split off]] from the original, or copies [[{{Golem}} made of stone, clay, or another material]]. As they are solid copies, there is no "which one is the real one" game to be played here: They're essentially ''all'' "real", and ''all'' dangerous. They can be used to attack, train, or defend the original. If the copies are unable to rejoin with the original after being created or summoned, they may have the CloningBlues.

* In the first story of the ''Fanfic/FacingTheFutureSeries'', while Danny and Sam are fighting Vlad, Plasmius uses his go-to move of duplicating himself. Danny counters by using his own duplication powers to create four himself who all then use his Ghostly Wail to create a wall of sound that traps Vlad. It works, but the manuver wears Danny out a bit.

* In the film ''Film/SkyHigh2005'', an African American cheerleader named Penny Lent has the ability to duplicate multiple copies of herself. In the final act of the movie her and the other antagonists [[spoiler:help Royal Pain (who is revealed to be Gwen) turns everyone at homecoming into babies and are only stopped when the sidekicks defeat them. Penny herself is defeated after her, since she is ignorant of Layla's power and becomes trapped in vines. She and the rest of the villains are placed into jail at the end of the movie.]]

* Mysterio does this when confronted in ''VideoGame/MarvelUltimateAlliance''.

* During his first guest appearance on ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManTheAnimatedSeries'', Dr. Strange magically generates numerous copies of himself to confuse and attack Baron Mordo's brainwashed cultists.