History Main / EntertaininglyWrong

** Katarina actually ''does'' have a reason for wanting to know how to farm "just in case" and other weird things like her constant practice at making toy snakes and so on. It's just that these are really silly solutions to problems that don't even exist anymore. She also tends to make similarly wacky interpretations of why her friends do what they do. They make sense in the context of her knowing that she's living in an otome game, but being utterly blind to the fact that everything has gone ''way'' off the rails by this point.

* Ucchi, of ''Manga/NoMatterHowILookAtItItsYouGuysFaultImNotPopular'', turns this into something of a RunningGag. She's completely convinced that Tomoko is a PsychoLesbian StalkerWithACrush, based on the many instances of Tomoko saying or doing something pervy, violating her personal space, or peeping at her in a private manner. In reality, Tomoko just has NoSocialSkills and barely even knows Ucchi's name -- she stumbles into sexual situations mostly by accident, and doesn't clear it up with Ucchi because she doesn't care enough to and Ucchi's too neurotic to ask. It doesn't occur to Ucchi that someone would be peeking up her skirt out of curiosity for whether cheerleader outfits include spats, and then leave the room when other people show up out of social anxiety rather than fear of being caught. Funnily, she's ''is'' right that Tomoko is at least AmbiguouslyBi and a perv; it's just that none of that energy is directed at ''her''.

** Katarina actually ''does'' have a reason for wanting to know how to farm "just in case" and other weird things like her constant practice at making toy snakes and so on. It's just that these are really silly solutions to problems that don't even exist anymore. She also tends to make similarly wacky interpretations of why her friends do what they do. They make sense in the context of her feeling that she's living in an otome game, but ''that's'' gone way off the rails by this point.

* Ucchi, of ''Manga/NoMatterHowILookAtItItsYouGuysFaultImNotPopular'', turns this into something of a RunningGag. She's completely convinced that Tomoko is a PsychoLesbian StalkerWithACrush, based on the many instances of Tomoko saying or doing something pervy, violating her personal space, or peeping at her in a private manner. In reality, Tomoko just has NoSocialSkills and barely even knows Ucchi's name -- she stumbles into sexual situations mostly by accident, and doesn't clear it up with Ucchi because she doesn't care enough to and Ucchi's too neurotic to ask. It doesn't occur to Ucchi that someone would be peeking up her skirt out of curiosity for whether cheerleader outfits include spats, and then leave the room when other people show up out of social anxiety rather than fear of being caught. And funnily, she's basically right that Tomoko is at least AmbiguouslyBi and a perv; it's just that none of that energy is directed at ''her''.

** Satils Francois mocks Milkit for wearing a maid outfit, believing that her current master only bought her to fulfill some kind of fetish. She also believes Flum doesn't actually care about her, and will not bother saving her. She is wrong on all accounts. Flum bought her those clothes because Milkit liked them, and is already in a rescue operation to save her. In fact, Flum breaks through the wall a few minutes later to save Milkit.

* ''Manga/UzakiChanWantsToHangOut'': Hana's mother Tsuki Uzaki is all about this. When Hana brings her senpai Shinichi to visit her house and meets him, at one point Shinichi stares at her, and she assumes he's [[BuxomBeautyStandard ogling her large chest]], while he's just [[KindheartedCatLover looking at the cat]] she has on her lap. Later when she visits Hana at work, a few misunderstandings leave her assuming that Shinichi is a [[LikesOlderWomen cougar chaser,]] but after ''that'' is cleared up, she overhears Hana and Shinichi talking in a way that makes her believe they're having sex in a storage room (she just accidentally ripped a bag of coffee and spilled the grains). Bottom line, she's somehow convinced herself that Shinichi desires both her ''and'' her daughter sexually.

*** Iris has a secret involving Phoenix which she doesn't want him to find out. During the final case Phoenix comes to Hazakura where Iris lives and on the same day she receives a letter telling her to come to a certain place at certain time "unless she wants her secret to be exposed". Iris of course thought she was being blackmailed and the blackmailer threatens to tell the aforementioned secret to Phoenix. As it turned out [[spoiler:it was actually a ''love letter''.]]

* In the fifth trial of ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'' the students realize that [[spoiler:Nagito Komaeda arranged it so that one of them would accidentally throw a bottle filled with deadly poison at him]] and guess that the reason for this was because [[spoiler:he was trusting [[BornLucky his luck]] to have it be the traitor so that they could be unmasked at the trial and executed]]. After the trial, Monokuma reveals that [[spoiler:while Nagito ''did'' want the traitor to be the one to kill him, he never wanted them to be unmasked. He wanted the traitor to ''win'' the trial and have everyone ''else'' executed]].

* Early paleontology can be quite amusing, looking back on what even the best scientists of the era thought dinosaurs looked and acted like compared to even a layperson's knowledge today. The best example are the Crystal Palace dinosaurs, state-of-the-art reconstructions of "antediluvian reptiles" such as ''Megalosaurus'' and ''Iguanodon'' which reconstruct them as if they were wolf/monitor lizard and iguanodon/rhino hybrids, respectively. The supposed nose horn on the iguanodon is particularly notable--we now know that it belongs on their ''thumb!''

* AI chatbots such as ChatGPT are good at this. If asked, they can produce a convincing-sounding short essay with appropriate-looking citations. The facts will frequently be inaccurate, and in many cases the works cited won't exist at all.

!!Example Subpages:

!!Other Examples:

* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'': The first season of ''Unlimited'' involves rising tensions between the League the the government agency Cadmus, which partially stems from knowledge of the Justice Lords AlternateReality, where the League went KnightTemplar after killing PresidentEvil Lex Luthor. [[ConspiracyTheorist The Question]] notices that there's a suspicious amount of HistoryRepeats going on, and comes to the conclusion that the Justice Lords timeline is really a BadFuture / StableTimeLoop rooted in the present conflict. He decides the best way to avoid this is to kill Luthor, currently a popular presidential candidate. Unfortunately, Question turns out to be completely wrong; Luthor himself was delibrately engineering all the similarities to keep the League and Cadmus at each others' throats, and thus distracted from his own evil schemes. He even gloats that pouring 75 million dollars into a fake presidential campaign was solely "to tick Superman off".

*** "[[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS2E1HolocronHeist Holocron Heist]]": Master Yoda has a premonition that there are going to be intruders in the Jedi Temple. The Jedi, logically, assume that the intruders are after sensative information on military deployments and strategies, stored on the computers in the Temple's communication centres. As the audience knows, however, bounty hunter Cad Bane and accomplices have ''actually'' been hired by Sith Lord [[BigBad Darth Sidious]] to steal a holocron — a Force-powered data storage device that can only be opened by a Jedi, and thus usually useless to anyone who isn't one. This misconception allows Bane to escape with a holocron, especially as he also had his personal droid engage in some misdirection to fool Anakin and Obi-Wan, in pursuit, into thinking the intruders were headed for the communications centre.

** A private eye makes a big deal of coming into "the payday of a lifetime." He talks to himself on how Spider-Man is seen at the ''Daily Bugle'' all the time and they publish his photos a lot. He thinks of how the guy is in good shape but puts on a show of looking worse in public so no-one connects him and must be passionate to be a hero. The issue ends with the smirking P.I. at the ''Bugle'' confronting the man he is convinced is Spider-Man... ''J. Jonah Jameson.''

** ''[[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanDeadMansChest Dead Man's Chest]]'': When Cutler Beckett asks Will to steal Jack's compass, Elizabeth recalls that it had been used to navigate to the Isla de Muerta, and assumes that Beckett is after the Aztec gold. She sneaks into his office at night to dissuade him, whereupon Beckett explains that the compass doesn't ''only'' point to the Isla. Immediately after, he himself makes the mistake of assuming she has no further reason to be there.

** In ''Literature/{{Jingo}}'', both Vimes and 71-Hour Achmed come to the same conclusion regarding a plot to kill a Klatchian prince: That it's deliberately designed to be an act of war. They each even figure it's their side (Klatch for Achmed, Ankh-Morpork for Vimes). The difference is that [[spoiler:Achmed]] is the one who's right.

*** Before he escaped, Sirius Black was heard muttering "He's at Hogwarts" over and over again, with everyone assuming he wanted to kill Harry for being imprisoned for betraying Harry's parents to Voldemort. [[spoiler:However, Sirius was innocent and the "he" Sirius was talking about was the real traitor, Peter Pettigrew, who transformed into Ron's pet rat Scabbers, who would be at Hogwarts when Harry attends the school.]]

* Johnny Lawrence from ''Series/CobraKai'' often engages in this, often due to still mentally living in the '80s:

*** "[[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS2E1HolocronHeist Holocron Heist]]": Master Yoda has a premonition that there are going to be intruders in the Jedi Temple. The Jedi, therefore, assume that the intruders are after information on military deployments and strategies, stored on the computers in the Temple's communication centres. As the audience knows, however, bounty hunter Cad Bane and accomplices have ''actually'' been hired by Sith Lord [[BigBad Darth Sidious]] to steal a holocron — a Force-powered data storage device that can only be opened by a Jedi, and thus usually useless to anyone who isn't one. This misconception allows Bane to escape with a holocron, especially as he also had his personal droid engage in some misdirection to fool Anakin and Obi-Wan, in pursuit, into thinking the intruders were headed for the communications centre.

** The Guildmaster of E-Rantel's branch of the [[AdventureGuild Adventurer's Guild]] deduces that "Dark Hero" Momon is [[RoyalBlood royalty]] hailing from some fallen country and that his companion, the "Beautiful Princess" Nabe, is a noble from the same country and his lover. These assumptions come from Momon's ''very'' expensive equipment (which he also deduces must be some form of royal treasures), his story of pursuing an immensely powerful vampire ([[{{revenge}} which he deduces razed his homeland]]) and Momon not understanding how the Adventurer's Guild worked when he first arrived to E-Rantel ([[FishOutOfWater which virtually every commoner knows]]). He then immediately drops his plans to have Momon conceive a child with prostitutes from the city (with the original goal being to preserve his immense strength through his descendants), fearing that it could cause a SuccessionCrisis. While his original assumption would usually be a reasonable one to make, in truth "Momon" is simply a fake name used by Ainz ([[OurLichesAreDifferent an immensely powerful lich]]) while posing as an adventurer, while "Nabe" is the alias of Narberal Gamma, one of the [[NinjaMaid Pleiades Battle Maids]], who would be quick to correct people that Ainz already has a lover in Albedo [[CannotKeepASecret if Ainz didn't stop her from blowing their cover.]]\\\

* In ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'', the magic side [[TheDreaded hates and fears Touma Kamijou]] because of his [[AntiMagic Imagine Breaker]]. After finding that Touma has made "alliances" with several powerful people from both the science and magic sides, they conclude that Touma is building an army to take over both sides, calling this army the "Kamijou Faction" ("Kamijou Forces" in the English dub). They couldn't be more wrong, Touma has no interest in taking over anything and only wants to help and protect people. These powerful people are mostly members of his UnwantedHarem, and most of them are unaware of magic and Touma's adventures.
* ''LightNovel/TheCreationAlchemistEnjoysFreedom'' has many such events, but the most consistent and justifiable is the fact that when Thor reads the [Mail Order Catalog] he found among the various items in the laboratory he was provided by Rukia, the Demon Lord, he presumes the advertisements are statements of fact, not hyperbole, because all the otherworld heroes summoned by Humanity have super-powers far beyond the norm, therefore, they must come from a world where everyone, or almost everyone, has super-powers, and there's no way for him to confirm or deny this hypothesis.

* ''LightNovel/MyNextLifeAsAVillainessAllRoutesLeadToDoom'':

* ''LightNovel/{{Overlord|2012}}'':

** A similar instance happens in ''Chase'', when federal agent Cameron Chase is sent to Gotham to determine who Batman is (if he's even real). She deduces that Batman must be someone wealthy with a history of supporting social causes, probably has old family ties to Gotham and is a known associate of other superheroes and the Gordon family. At a party, she notices Gotham Broadcasting manager [[Characters/GreenLantern1941 Alan Scott]] standing around confidently and realizes he fits all the criteria, noting that he "can't help but stand out amidst the group of [[RichIdiotWithNoDayJob useless schmoozers]] like Wayne."

* ''Manga/UzakiChanWantsToHangOut'': Hana's mother Tsuki Uzaki is all about this. When Hana brings her senpai Shinichi to visit her house and meets him, at one point Shinichi stares at her, and she assumes he's ogling at her (''[[GagBoobs very]]'' [[BuxomIsBetter large]]) chest, while he's just [[KindheartedCatLover looking at the cat]] she has on her lap. Later when she visits Hana at work, a few misunderstandings leave her assuming that Shinichi is a [[LikesOlderWomen cougar chaser,]] but after ''that'' is cleared up, she overhears Hana and Shinichi talking in a way that makes her believe they're having sex in a storage room (she just accidentally ripped a bag of coffee and spilled the grains). Bottom line, she's somehow convinced herself that Shinichi desires both her ''and'' her daughter sexually.

* In ''Manga/DragonBall'':
** In the second arc, upon being brought to the Kame House, Launch assumes that Goku and Krillin are Master Roshi's grandsons. At the same time, Krillin assumed that since Launch had a lot of money and was being harassed by armed men, she was an heiress about to be kidnapped. As Launch herself reveals, it's because she has a violent, sociopathic split personality who probably just robbed a bank, and her pursuers were police trying to arrest her.
** In the Red Ribbon Army arc, when the Red Ribbon leaders observe Goku apparently leaving the site of the next Dragon Ball, Adjudant Black, on the (very accurate) theory that Goku must have gotten his Dragon Radar from someone else, suggests that he's going back to that someone for help. A scout is sent to follow Goku, and sees him talking to an old man. The Red Ribbon then makes the very ''inaccurate'' conclusion that the genius behind the Dragon Radar is the [[DirtyOldMan Muten Roshi]].
* ''Literature/TheStrongestSageWithTheWeakestCrest'': The whole concept of the Crest System in the current day. There are strengths and weaknesses to each Crest, but everyone is taught that the First Crest is the strongest and the Fourth Crest, the one best suited for combat, is the weakest. It later turns out this was part of a LongGame plan by the Demons to weaken humanity's magic superiority and make them easy to conquer. Matthias made himself reincarnate for the express purpose of getting the Fourth Crest instead of the First he'd had and one of the first things he does is correct this misapprehension of which Crests are strong.
* ''Manga/FoodWars'': Erina Nakiri admires Joichiro Saiba as the ideal chef, and somehow has convinced herself that he is a perfectionist who does not admit failure, even denouncing Soma Yukihira's trial-and-error approach as "things losers make up to cover their failures". Little does she know, not only Joichiro does not believe in perfection like she does, but he's also Soma's father and ''raised'' him to be that way in his cooking. When she does eventually find out the truth, [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone she flips out as she realises that she has been belittling the son of her idol all along]].

* In ''LightNovel/IsekaiIzakayaNobu'', a spy from another country attempts to gather information about Aitheria by sampling foods from a local restaurant. He accurately (and nervously) notices how Nobu has access to many luxurious, foreign resources, thus the country they belong to must be wealthy. However, the spy naturally assumed the country is Aitheria, not realizing that Nobu is actually from modern day Japan.
* ''Manga/KaguyaSamaLoveIsWar'': Miko has a RunningGag of walking in on the other Student Council members during NotWhatItLooksLike situations (like mistaking Kaguya's attempts at giving Shirogane a perfectly innocent massage for them having sex), which leads to her believing that the the male members of the council are sexually exploiting the female members. In Chapter 80 Miko's friend Kobachi points out how wildly out of character that would be for everyone involved and encourages her to re-examine the facts. Miko heeds her advice, but instead comes to the conclusion that ''Kaguya'' is the one sexually exploiting the boys.

* In ''Manga/MonthlyGirlsNozakiKun'', there actually is a fairly reasonable train of thought-leading Kashima to try to give Hori the role of the princess in a play or to try giving him a bridal carry. There's just two problems. One, it doesn't occur to her that everyone around her has {{shoujo}} manga as reference material for their work. Two, she never doubts her conclusions, meaning once people realize what bizarre notion she's gotten into her head they can't get it back out.

** During the [[TournamentArc Sports Festival Arc]], Todoroki observes that Midoriya and All Might have very similar Quirks, and that All Might gives Midoriya more attention and mentoring than the other Class 1-A students, which leads him to the conclusion that the two are father and son. His logic is sound given what he knows, but he ''doesn't'' know that All Might's Quirk can be [[SuperEmpowering deliberately passed on to another person]] and that he's chosen Midoriya to be his successor since he's near the end of his career, all of which are closely-guarded secrets.
** Similarly, [[TheRival Bakugo]], having known Midoriya since they were both kids and having a massive InferioritySuperiorityComplex, assumes that he was hiding his power their whole lives, and [[CassandraTruth disregards]] Midoriya's [[IgnoredConfession confession]] that he was given his Quirk by someone.[[spoiler:He eventually figures out the truth after All Might is [[DePower forced to retire]] at the end of the Hideout raid Arc.]]

** Katarina actually ''does'' have a reason for wanting to know how to farm 'just in case' and other weird things like her constant practice at making toy snakes and so on. It's just that these are really silly solutions to problems that don't even exist anymore. She also tends to make similarly wacky interpretations of why her friends do what they do. They make sense in the context of her feeling that she's living in an otome game, but ''that's'' gone way off the rails by this point.

* Ucchi, of ''Manga/NoMatterHowILookAtItItsYouGuysFaultImNotPopular'', turns this into something of a RunningGag. She's completely convinced that Tomoko is a PsychoLesbian StalkerWithACrush, based on the many instances of Tomoko saying or doing something pervy, violating her personal space, or peeping at her in a private manner. In reality, Tomoko just has NoSocialSkills and barely even knows Ucchi's name -- she stumbles into sexual situations mostly by accident, and doesn't clear it up with Ucchi because she doesn't care enough to and Ucchi's too neurotic to ask. It doesn't occur to Ucchi that someone would be peeking up her skirt out of curiosity for whether cheerleader outfits include spats, and then leave the room when other people show up out of social anxiety rather than fear of being caught. And funnily, she's basically right that Tomoko is at least AmbiguouslyBi and a perv; it's just that none of that energy is directed at ''her.''

* ''LightNovel/Overlord2012'':

** The Guildmaster of E-Rantel's branch of the [[AdventureGuild Adventurer's Guild]] deduces that "Dark Hero" Momon is [[RoyalBlood royalty]] hailing from some fallen country and that his companion, the "Beautiful Princess" Nabe, is a noble from the same country and his lover. These assumptions come from Momon's ''very'' expensive equipment (which he also deduces must be some form of royal treasures), his story of pursuing an immensely powerful vampire ([[{{revenge}} which he deduces razed his homeland]]) and Momon not understanding how the Adventurer's Guild worked when he first arrived to E-Rantel ([[FishOutOfWater which virtually every commoner knows]]). He then immediately drops his plans to have Momon conceive a child with prostitutes from the city (with the original goal being to preserve his immense strength through his descendants), fearing that it could cause a SuccessionCrisis. While his original assumption would usually be a reasonable one to make, in truth "Momon" is simply a fake name used by Ainz ([[OurLichesAreDifferent an immensely powerful lich]]) while posing as an adventurer, while "Nabe" is the alias of Narberal Gamma, one of the [[NinjaMaid Pleiades Battle Maids]], who would be quick to correct people that Ainz already has a lover in Albedo [[CannotKeepASecret if Ainz didn't stop her from blowing their cover.]]
*** The adventurers escorting the workers from Volume 7 seem to share this train of thought (at least the "lovers" part, anyway), given that they assume Momon and Nabe are retreating to their tent in order to have sex. In truth, Ainz is simply switching places with [[BodyDouble Pandora's Actor]] so that he can personally face the workers, who have just entered Nazarick.
*** There was a man, however, who was so infatuated with Nabe's beauty that [[TheoryTunnelVision he convinced himself that she was Momon's slave]] and challenged Momon to a fight in the street [[UnwantedRescue while demanding that he release her]]. He hurt his hand hitting him and got himself convicted and sentenced to hard labour for his trouble.
** Emperor Jircniv of the Baharuth Empire assumes that [[BenevolentBoss Ainz]] is a DiabolicalMastermind and an [[BadBoss iron fisted tyrant]], that [[ManipulativeBastard Demiurge]] [[DidNotThinkThisThrough is not very clever]] and that [[LeeroyJenkins Shalltear]] is Ainz's concubine and secretly one of his more brilliant advisors HiddenInPlainSight. Oh, and that [[BigBrotherIsWatching Ainz is constantly watching him for signs of betrayal]]. While he does effortlessly thwart a plot to gather allies to fight against Nazarick, [[AchievementsInIgnorance Ainz mostly did that by accident]] while visiting the Empire for his own reasons.

* ''ComicBook/AntMan2022:'' In issue 2, Skrull infiltrator Criti Noll has a private freak-out over Eric O'Grady stealing the G.I.Ant-Man suit, thinking he has discovered there's Skrull tech and is ready to blow the Skrull infiltration wide open. Eric O'Grady is a bungling, selfish, cowardly moron who doesn't have the first clue how his stolen suit works to begin with.

* ''ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}'': Whenever someone suspects that Matt Murdock is Daredevil, they make the logical conclusion that [[ObfuscatingDisability he's faking being blind]] as a cover. Likewise, many a foe assumes that blinding Daredevil with bright lights is an easy way to win a fight. ComicBook/DoctorDoom once swapped bodies with him, and realized that Daredevil had SuperSenses and opaque lenses in his mask; he concluded that Daredevil was [[BlindfoldedVision blocking his own vision on purpose]] as some kind of technique to sharpen his other senses.
* ''Franchise/SpiderMan'':
** Just about every recurring member of Spider-Man's RoguesGallery is able to figure out that Spidey's usual photographer, Peter Parker, [[FriendOfMaskedSelf has a personal connection to him.]] So hey, maybe if we [[BruceWayneHeldHostage kidnap the kid]], Spidey will show up and save him!
** When Peter starts working at Horizon Labs instead, you'd think this trope would go away. Nope! Instead, he becomes known as "the guy who builds Spider-Man's equipment." Cue more [[BruceWayneHeldHostage Peter Parker Held Hostage]].
** More than once, the Chameleon has gloated that there is absolutely no way whatsoever Spider-Man will ever see through the Chameleon's perfect disguise of... Peter Parker.
** A private eye makes a big deal of coming into "the payday of a lifetime." He talks to himself on how Spider-Man is seen at the ''Daily Bugle'' all the time and they publish his photos a lot. He thinks of how the guy is in good shape but puts on a show of looking worse in public so no-one connects him and must be passionate to be a hero. The issue ends with the smirking P.I. at the ''Bugle'' confronting the man he is convinced is Spider-Man... ''J. Jonah Jameson.''

* ''ComicBook/RickAndMortyOni'': In one issue, Rick thinks that Morty's new friend Nestor is an alien. It turns out that Nestor and his father are perfectly human; it's his mom that’s the alien.
* ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo'': In "Monkey See, Scooby-Doo'' (Gold Key #24), the gang is helping an anthropologist translate a stone with the writings of an ancient civilization which is coveted by an entrepreneur. The following day, an "ape spirit" appears to have stolen the body of the anthropologist's assistant and stolen the stone. When the assistant returns to normal, everyone thinks the entrepreneur is the culprit. But he isn't. The ape spirit identified Shaggy by name and the entrepreneur was never introduced formally to the gang. The assistant gave himself away as the culprit.
* In ''ComicBook/PaperGirls'' one of the four young girls delivering newspapers in the first issue (which is set in 1988) mentions that her father thinks that newspapers don't have much of a future. Indeed, starting shortly after the turn of the millennium, newspapers in the United States did start experiencing a sharp decline in customers and circulation as they did not adapt well to competition from online news sources and the loss of ad revenue when advertisers discovered that targeted online ads performed far better than those placed in newspapers. However, the girl's father isn't a visionary or prophet who thought newspapers would go downhill for these reasons, instead he believed it was because the world had nearly run out of trees to use for paper and everyone would be getting their information from broadcast tv networks.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed,'' when Mei is freaking out in the bathroom because she's just transformed into a red panda, her mother comes to the conclusion that she's experiencing her first period.

* Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse, ''Film/AvengersEndgame'':
** Knowing that Doctor Strange was the keeper of the Time Stone before Thanos got it and Strange resided in New York, Bruce goes to the Sanctum Sanctorum in 2012 at the same time as [[Film/TheAvengers2012 The Battle of New York]] to get it. What Bruce doesn't know is that Strange had not begun his training with the Masters of the Mystic Arts until 2016, so he's actually showing up at the Sanctum four years too early. He arrives there, only to encounter the Ancient One instead of Strange. Who seems to have brought the Eye of Agamotto from Kamar-Taj just in case it's needed during the invasion.
** Looking for an escaped Loki inside Stark Tower after the Battle of New York, 2012 Captain America, upon meeting his double, comes to the natural conclusion that he is Loki under a magical disguise. The concept of a time-travelling alternate self isn't going to come to mind, especially since 2023 Cap doesn't really try to explain, aware that he wouldn't be believed.

** In ''Literature/ReaperMan'', Miss Flitworth's initial impression of Bill Door (the alias used by [[TheGrimReaper Death]] after his forced retirement) is that he's "one of them Men of Mystery" on the run from the authorities. The rest of Sheepridge think he's probably a revenuer. Bill Door's reaction on learning this is [[AC:No. [[TheThreeCertaintiesInLife Not taxes.]]]]

* In "The Adventure of the Yellow Face", ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'' deduces that a man's wife, recently immigrated from America, who has been spending money and apparently keeping a cottage for a mysterious yellow-faced figure, is being blackmailed by her first husband, someone who apparently did not die of the scarlet fever she claimed he had. In a rare case, Sherlock is absolutely wrong.

* On ''Series/{{Elementary}}'', Inspector Lestrade comes to New York as, without Sherlock to help him solve cases, his stock in Scotland Yard has fallen. Watson gives Lestrade files on some muggings in the area with Lestrade soon solving the case quickly. When he finds a feather in the culprit's apartment, Lestrade figures it was from Holmes' birds and that Sherlock set this whole thing up. It gives him encouragement to get a job for the Irish police and leaves. As soon as he's gone, Sherlock admits to Wason he had absolutely nothing to do with any of this and the irony Lestrade refuses to believe he solved a crime completely on his own.

* ''Franchise/StarWars'': In ''Series/TheBookOfBobaFett'', Boba had thought for years that his armor stayed in the Sarlacc, and thus comes back to the beast to reclaim it. The armor was in fact stolen by Jawas shortly after he emerged from the pit, but since at the time he was likely delirious from the ordeal (not to mention getting a concussion thanks to said Jawas), it is no surprise that his memories would be jumbled.

** At the beginning of ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', Shepard off-handedly wonders if they are a clone, before Jacob reassures them that they ''are'' the real Shepard; the Illusive Man wanted them back exactly like they were, not a clone. In ''Mass Effect 3'''s "Citadel" DLC, [[spoiler:the main villain is Shepard's clone, created as a backup in case the Lazarus Project failed. Shepard was right about being cloned; they just got the fact of ''who'' the clone was wrong.]]
* In ''VideoGame/Persona4'' the team comes up with multiple theories arrived at rationally, based on the information they have. They just happen to also be wrong. The killer [[spoiler:isn't targeting women or people who had some indirect connection to Mayumi Yamano]], the Midnight Channel [[spoiler:isn't some ability of the killer used to announce the next target]] and the killer isn't even [[spoiler:directly responsible for most of the people being thrown in the televisions]]!
* In ''VideoGame/Persona5'', during the Medjed arc, a mysterious hacker named Alibaba asks the Phantom Thieves to change the heart of someone named Futaba Sakura ([[spoiler:who happens to be Alibaba herself]]). The Phantom Thieves quickly and correctly guess that Futaba is related to Sojiro Sakura, owner of the café where the protagonist stays, but don't immediately understand why Futaba would need a change of heart. After asking around and finding out that no one in Sojiro's neighborhood has heard of Futaba, as well as the protagonist overhearing a conversation in which Sae threatens to revoke Sojiro's parental authority, the protagonists briefly wonder if Sojiro is abusing Futaba, and whether Futaba wants to be free of the scars of that abuse. It turns out that [[spoiler:Futaba is actually a badly traumatized shut-in who hopes the Phantom Thieves can heal her heart]].

** The PlayerCharacter is allowed to name themselves as [[spoiler:one of Alphys' crushes]] when asked about it during Mettaton's PopQuiz. He points out that you are completely wrong (the actual answer is most likely [[spoiler:Undyne]] but could be [[spoiler:any of them except you]]), but deserve credit for the answer as you are 'correct' in a metaphorical sense due to the way she acts towards you, and that he loves how conceited the answer is.

* In ''VideoGame/BioShockInfinite'', Slate's driving grudge against Comstock is how he claims credit for the massacre at Wounded Knee, specifically for things that Booker did, despite Comstock not being there. The fact that Booker is right in front of him confirms Slate's anger against Comstock. However, [[spoiler:Comstock is revealed to be an alternate Booker, though unnaturally aged, thus he can genuinely take credit for those things. Also, the Booker the player is controlling is from a different reality]], though Slate had no way of knowing any of that.
* ''VideoGame/InvestiGatorTheCaseOfTheBigCrime'': In Case 2, Investi-Gator investigates the disappearance of Mr. Crime's daughter, Grizzelda. The characters believe Grizzelda has been kidnapped, but it quickly becomes obvious to the player that Grizzelda faked her kidnapping to guilt-trip her father. After his investigation, Investi-Gator concludes that there is no evidence that anyone else kidnapped Grizzelda. This leads him to believe that [[spoiler:''he'' is the kidnapper, [[InsaneTrollLogic somehow]]]]. He even admits that he doesn't know how this can be possible, but he still believes it's true [[spoiler:and allows himself to be arrested]].
* ''Videogame/FireEmblemThreeHouses''.
** [[WideEyedIdealist Prince Dimitri]] assumes that the [[WellIntentionedExtremist Flame Emperor]] is responsible for the massacre that killed his father. He bases this on how the Emperor works with [[ANaziByAnyOtherName the men who actively caused the crisis]], uses their technology and weapons, and how he overheard them talking about Duscur. He's wrong, as the Flame Emperor had nothing to do with the event and has TeethClenchedTeamwork with the people who did at best. Unfortunately, their [[{{Pride}} unwillingness to explain their innocence]] coupled with Dimitri's own UnstoppableRage at the people who destroyed his family and effectively started a genocide [[FromBadToWorse results in the prince's]] SanitySlippage.
** On Edelgard's route, the history passed down through the Adrestian royal family leads her to some conclusions that are reasonable based on the information she has, but those who've played other routes will know are incorrect. She knows the church has lied about the reasons for Seiros and Nemesis' battle, and assumes their fight was a simple territorial dispute rather than Seiros putting down a FallenHero. She's half-right that Nemesis wasn't as bad as the Church's history says he was... [[spoiler:he was ''worse''. Instead of a fallen hero, he was a power-hungry bandit who massacred Seiros' family and made weapons out of their bones and hearts, and [[{{Revenge}} that was her motive for fighting him.]]]] Secondly, later in the route she assumes Rhea [[LegacyCharacter took the name Serios to motivate her followers.]] [[spoiler:In reality, [[Really700YearsOld Rhea actually IS Seiros.]]]]
* PlayedForDrama in ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'' with Joshua Stephenson, a death row inmate who had a HeelFaithTurn and decided that he would become an InspirationalMartyr like [[UsefulNotes/{{Christianity}} Jesus Himself]] to inspire others by [[spoiler:creating a SnuffFilm of his own crucifixion. Despite his noble intentions, nobody in his life approves of it; his friend who started him down this path tells him that he's missing the point and fixating too much on Christ's HeroicSacrifice rather than His actual message, his producer reveals herself to be the "spiritual but not religious type" if V ticks her off and chews them both out saying that a person's faith should be between them and their deity rather than a spectacle for the world to see, and on the day of his execution an angry mob of Christians forms outside the studio. Regardless, as he's being put to death anyway there's no real way to talk him out of it if befriended and [[PlayerCharacter V]] can only control how involved they are.]]

* ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyTrialsAndTribulations'':
** Iris has a secret involving Phoenix which she doesn't want him to find out. During the final case Phoenix comes to Hazakura where Iris lives and on the same day she receives a letter telling her to come to a certain place at certain time "unless she wants her secret to be exposed". Iris of course thought she was being blackmailed and the blackmailer threatens to tell the aforementioned secret to Phoenix. As it turned out [[spoiler:it was actually a ''love letter''.]]
** When Phoenix met Iris for the first time he was rather shocked. As the player knows it was because [[spoiler:she looked exacly like his ex-girlfriend who should be in prison after she tried to kill him (and as it's later revealed, had just recently been executed for said crime)]]. Maya, however, unaware of that fact, seeing Phoenix stunned after seeing such a beautiful girl, thought she just witnessed LoveAtFirstSight.
* ''VisualNovel/TheGreatAceAttorney''
** Iris Wilson was told by Herlock Sholmes that her father was an old partner of his. After finding Sholmes's memoirs and comparing their handwriting with an autopsy report signed by Dr. John Wilson, she confludes that Wilson was both Sholmes partner and her father. [[spoiler:While Wilson did perform the autopsy and signed the result, it was actually his student Yujin Mikotaba that wrote down the notes, and Yujin that was Sholmes's partner and biographer. Sholmes then admits that he lied about Iris's father to protect her from the truth: that her father is neither Wilson nor Yujin but rather Klint van Ziek, secretly the serial killer the Professor]].
** [[spoiler:In the second game, it is revealed that before the first game Sholmes intercepted a telegram reading " K. Asogi, A. Shinn, T. Gregson, J. Wilson." After Wilson's death in case 1-1 and Asa Shin's disapperance from Britain, he concludes the telegram was an assassination checklist. He tooks measures to fake Kazuma's death in 1-2 and warn Gregson to go into hiding. It's only during 2-4 that he learns that Wilson's killer, Jezaille Brett, was really Asa Shinn. The telegram wasn't a list of targets but a message for an assassination exchange program, with Asa Shinn sent to kill Wilson in Japan and Kazuma orignally sent to kill Gregson in Britain.]]
* In the fifth trial of ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'' the students realize that [[spoiler:Nagito Komaeda arranged it so that one of them would accidentally throw a bottle filled with deadly poison at him]] and guess that the reason for this was because [[spoiler:he was trusting [[BornLucky his luck]] to have it be the traitor so that they could be unmasked at the trial and executed]]. After the trial, Monokuma reveals that [[spoiler:while Nagito ''did'' want the traitor to be the one to kill him, he never wanted them to be unmasked. He wanted the traitor to ''win'' the trial and have everyone ''else'' executed]].

* [[Theatre/{{Macbeth}} Banquo]] in one ''Webcomic/HarkAVagrant'' [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=262 strip]] hears the prophecy that Macbeth will be king, but Banquo's sons will be kings after him. Banquo is happy to hear this, as he assumes it means his son Fleance will marry Macbeth's child and inherit the throne. In reality, it means that Macbeth will die childless after killing Banquo, and Fleance (or one of his descendants) will take the throne some time later.
* At one point in ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'', Terezi comes across the scene of [[spoiler:Eridan's]] recent killing spree. Having just seen [[spoiler:Tavros]] after he was impaled by [[spoiler:Vriska,]] she concocts a crazy sequence of events positing [[spoiler:Vriska]] as the killer there as well...except she immediately realizes ''it makes no sense.'' [[spoiler:[[ItMakesSenseInContext Especially since some of the evidence she saw was the result of one of the "victims" reviving as the troll equivalent of a vampire.]]]]

** Later, Tarquin [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0816.html recounts]] how his ninth wife Penelope had, when she was younger, had a child with a man who turned out to be a member of [[PrecursorHero Girard Draketooth's]] family, and that the latter had spirited the child away with him to rear her amongst his own. Penelope died soon before she had the chance to hire adventurers to help her follow up on a lead that could have reunited her with them. Upon learning this, Haley, Durkon and Elan came to the conclusion that, since Nale seemed to have knowledge about the Gate that the Draketooths were guarding, that he had Sabine discreetly kill her to prevent anyone else from learning anything more about it. A perfectly logical assumption on its own, though the truth turns out to be something they couldn't have known. [[spoiler:Vaarsuvius's then-recent DealWithTheDevil culminated in their casting of ''[[NoKillLikeOverkill familicide]]'', which they had intended to scourge the world of any Black Dragons related to the one that had attempted to take revenge on V, as well as any related to those affected. V had, at the time, failed to take into account that this would also apply to any HalfHumanHybrids (or, indeed, any other crossbreeds) that were related to any affected Black Dragons, and, as the [[MeaningfulName Draketooth]] family were [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0842.html Black Dragon-descended,]] Penelope had been [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0843.html caught in the crossfire of the spell]] by dint of mothering a child of their blood.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'':

* ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'': In the ChristmasSpecial, "Santa Claws", Ladybug finds evidence of a missing Adrien and a Cataclysm-destroyed poster board nearby. Her conclusion is that Cat Noir protected Adrien from an Akumatized supervillain. The truth is that Adrien and Cat Noir are the same person.

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'': [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-451 SCP-451]] is a former agent who ran afoul of an artifact that rendered him completely incapable of perceiving or meaningfully interacting with other people. His diary reveals that he has come up with increasingly outlandish ideas as to what has happened, all based on the assumption that the problem is with the ''rest'' of humanity and not himself. Of course, given the nature of the Foundation, he could easily be right.

* Creator/FrancisEDec's entire worldview was [[ThroughTheEyesOfMadness completely wrong]], but some things stand out. For example, he claimed that the Polish Christmas tradition of ''kolęda'' -- children going from house to house dressed up as devils and angels and singing Christmas carols -- is actually a leftover from ancient (reality note: nonexistent) religion of Astrocism. This is especially jarring to someone who took part in ''kolędas''.

* ''LightNovel/AscendanceOfABookworm'': Ferdinand knows about Myne's ReincarnateInAnotherWorld situation, but has been shown to still have trouble grasping its full implications:

* In the first volume of ''LightNovel/AccelWorld'', Kuroyukihime is trying to find out the identity of the Burst Linker who's hunting her for the point bounty. Her initial choice is Haruyuki's long-time friend Chiyuri, considering that the Burst Linker is someone with access to the Umesato school network, and that Chiyuri was fairly hostile toward Kuroyukihime in their first meeting. Of course, Haruyuki knows Chiyuri isn't a Burst Linker, since he describes her as unable to hide her feelings and terrible at video games, and the truth is that the actual culprit used a backdoor program in Chiyuri's neurolinker to access the Umesato network.

* ''LightNovel/TheStrongestSageWithTheWeakestCrest'': The whole concept of the Crest System in the current day. There are strengths and weaknesses to each Crest, but everyone is taught that the First Crest is the strongest and the Fourth Crest, the one best suited for combat, is the weakest. It later turns out this was part of a LongGame plan by the Demons to weaken humanity's magic superiority and make them easy to conquer. Matthias made himself reincarnate for the express purpose of getting the Fourth Crest instead of the First he'd had and one of the first things he does is correct this misapprehension of which Crests are strong.

* ''LightNovel/RollOverAndDie'': Some of the villains tend be partially characterized by this trope.

* ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnline'':

** In ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnlineAlternativeGunGaleOnline'', after playing in Gun Gale Online, Karen[=/=]LLENN makes significant progress in overcoming her HeightAngst and developing a better self-image, resulting in her [[ImportantHaircut cutting her hair,]] since the only reason she'd kept it long was in order to seem more feminine. Unfortunately, she knows her family wouldn't approve of her playing a VRMMO, so she doesn't tell them about it. As a result, the rest of her family thinks she cut her hair because of a breakup, and when she misses her older sister's calls due to being on GGO, her sister assumes Karen's depressed about not making friends (LLENN did make some friends, but only while playing GGO).

** There's a moment of this at the conclusion to ''[[ComicBook/GrantMorrisonsBatman Batman R.I.P.]]'' Batman concludes that the Joker's playing card suits were a reference to the red and black poisoned flower petals used against Batman during the climax. They weren't. There was no clue, the Joker was addressing Batman's [[BatDeduction skill at solving these kinds of things]] by providing a riddle with no answer. The Joker's crazy, you can't expect him to be honest all the time.

* ''Videogame/TheLongestJourney'' has you tricking a sea-captain into thinking ''wheat'' worms are eating through the apple supplies:

* In ''Videogame/Persona4'' the team comes up with multiple theories arrived at rationally, based on the information they have. They just happen to also be wrong. The killer [[spoiler:isn't targeting women or people who had some indirect connection to Mayumi Yamano]], the Midnight Channel [[spoiler:isn't some ability of the killer used to announce the next target]] and the killer isn't even [[spoiler:directly responsible for most of the people being thrown in the televisions]]!

** In one episode John Redcorn inadvertently helps Dale into having an honest-to-goodness [[VisionQuest spiritual vision during a camping trip]]. Dale's vision tells him, in pretty unambiguous terms, that his son Joseph was actually fathered by a Native American man. But instead of finally piecing together the many obvious hints that [[EverybodyKnewAlready John Redcorn is his son's biological father]], he becomes convinced that ''he'' is actually a Native American. Eager to throw him off, John Redcorn agrees with him, and Dale spends the rest of the episode hilariously trying to "reconnect" with his Native American roots.
** Dale does this a lot when it comes to Joseph. For instance, he once figured out that nine months before Joseph was born, he was halfway across the country chasing a UFO sighting. He comes to the only obvious conclusion, the aliens impregnated Nancy because they knew Dale was onto them and wanted to distract him! He later "remembers" that the aliens abducted him and said it was likely that they harvested his sperm to impregnate Nancy with, and therefore Joseph is biologically his son after all! However, it's implied that he made up that last part to make Joseph feel better since he was going through an identity crisis after "learning" that he was half-alien.
** For Dale being Entertainingly Wrong in the ''other'' direction on his family tree, his own father (who he believes is a real ladies man) attempted to come out to him as gay. In his awkwardness, he merely said to Dale that the rodeo he works at is a gay rodeo, and that his friend that Dale met earlier is his partner. Dale is disgusted, telling his dad to get out of his sight. After all, his dad obviously just confessed to being a ''[[DiscriminateAndSwitch government agent]]'', the natural enemy of a ConspiracyTheorist like Dale! Why ''else'' would he be working at the gay rodeo with a "partner"? They must be undercover! Of course, when it's all straightened out ([[LamePunReaction ha ha]]), Dale is perfectly accepting of his dad's sexuality. After all, [[MistakenForGay John Redcorn is gay and Dale's been friends with him for years]]!
** Peggy Hill often gets hit with a case of this as well, either due to her over-inflated ego or whenever her (in)ability to speak Spanish comes up. In one episode, she came to the conclusion that the actor who plays [[ShowWithinAShow Monsignor Martinez]], whose children she had been tutoring, was in love with her. He'd been speaking in a rather romantic tone, buying flowers and gifts, and said that his wife was "[[NoLongerWithUs with her ancestors]]". However, he was just poor with English. What he meant was that his wife went to visit her ''grandparents'' and the flowers and gifts were a surprise for her when she got back. Funnier still, she thought she wooed him with her skills in Spanish!

** Following his fight against Ainz, the [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Platinum Dragon Lord]] is left with the vague suspicion that [[AintTooProudToBeg Ainz]] could be an NPC posing as a player and that [[{{yandere}} Albedo]] is a player posing as an NPC, making her [[TheManBehindTheMan the true power behind Nazarick.]] What he's not aware of is that [[spoiler:he never even fought against Ainz in the first place: that was just [[ActuallyADoombot Pandora's Actor]] posing as Ainz [[WillfullyWeak in order to underplay his fighting strength.]] ''And it worked''.]]