History Main / FakingTheDead

** The script was then flipped years later during Creator/MattFraction's run on ''ComicBook/TheInvincibleIronMan2008''. The Mandarin's machinations had made it virtually impossible for Tony to be Iron Man without government interference, so Rhodey faked his own death as ComicBook/WarMachine so that he could take over as the new Iron Man. Once the whole situation was sorted out, Rhodey went back to the War Machine armor.

* Subverted in ''Film/TheArtOfWar'' (2000). At the end of the movie, the protagonists fake their deaths and meet up in a French village. As they walk off arm in arm, [[TheEndOrIsIt an unknown man takes their photograph]].

* In ''Film/BlackRat'', Akane--wearing the rat mask--pretends to kill Kengo at the start of the massacre, allowing him to disappear and don the same costume as Akane to become a second Black Rat.

* Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse:

* ''Film/PainkillerJane'': At the end, Jane's death is faked by Watts, giving her a completely new identity, with even a gravestone he visits to show her supposed resting place.

* ''Film/{{Raw Deal|1986}}'' (1986). Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger (playing an ex-FBI agent turned sheriff) fakes his own death before going undercover as a mob hitman. He drives his squad car into an oil refinery, opens a few valves then blows it up with a flare pistol.
* Early on in ''Film/{{RED 2}}'', Marvin stages his death in a car explosion, then plays his corpse at his own funeral. According to Frank, this isn't the first time he's done something like this.
* In ''Film/RedDragon'', [[spoiler: Dolarhyde fakes his own death using the body of a man he shot to make his blind girlfriend think he shot himself]].

* ''ComicBook/KidEternity'': In the second story of the fifth issue of the 1946 series, Kid Eternity is baffled when he tries to summon the spirit of a man named Joe after he was recently shot dead, being confused further when what appears to be Joe's ghost strolling around the mortal plane refuses to go to the afterlife. It turns out in the end that Joe is [[UndercoverCopReveal a detective infiltrating the gang who shot him]] and that he faked getting fatally shot to make it easier to catch the criminals by surprise.

* ''ComicBook/{{Kobalt}}'': The Creator/MilestoneComics series ends with Kobalt faking his death so he can lie low and form a better strategy in defeating his enemy St. Cloud.

* In October 2023, the DokiDokiLiteratureClub fan artist [=SunBall=] was revealed to have been creating her shipping art of MC and Sayori by tracing unrelated artworks. She apologised and closed her X account, only for her sister to announce a few days later she had died from presumably suicide, and the DDLC subreddit mourned. However in mid-March 2024 she abruptly announced that the death had been staged, before apologising and promising to do better in the future, to mixed reception. The situation ultimately zigzagged this trope, for shortly after the announcement was made it was revealed the SunBall doing the apologising was an imposter, leaving the real SunBall's fate unknown.

* In October 2023, the DokiDokiLiteratureClub fan artist [=SunBall=] was revealed to have been creating her shipping art of MC and Sayori by tracing unrelated artworks. She apologised and closed her X account, only for her sister to announce a few days later she had died from presumably suicide, and the DDLC subreddit mourned. However in mid-March 2024 she abruptly announced that the death had been staged, before apologising and promising to do better in the future, to mixed reception.

* ''[[https://www.fimfiction.net/story/502612/mother-im-sorry Mother, I'm Sorry]]'' is told from the point of view of Aurora, princess Celestia's daughter, as she watches her own funeral procession, a yearly event in memoriam of her supposed death in a campaign centuries ago. She does nothing to dissuade the belief that she's death because Equestria seems a lot more comfortable believing the [[BloodKnight Alicorn of War]] is dead, though a young filly she runs into named Twilight tells her that she should return to her mother and not care what the people think. Years later, Twilight recounts this encounter to Rainbow Dash [[spoiler:who says she's [[ActuallyIAmHim grown into a fine young mare since they first met all those years ago]]]].

* In October 2023, the DokiDokiLiteratureClub fan artist SunBall was revealed to have been creating her shipping art of MC and Sayori by tracing unrelated artworks. She apologised and closed her X account, only for her sister to announce a few days later she had died from presumably suicide, and the DDLC subreddit mourned. However in mid-March 2024 she abruptly announced that the death had been staged, before apologising and promising to do better in the future, to mixed reception.

* In September, 2020, Creator/SusanMeachen's daughter (or Meachen pretending to be her daughter) posted on Facebook that she, Susan, had committed suicide in response to online bullying, which devastated the tight-knit group of fans and friends she had made. Come early 2023, [[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-64179548 she reemerged and admitted her suicide was staged.]] Needless to say, her fans were pissed.

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[[caption-width-right:300:Shhh. Don't blow his cover!]]

->'''Sevarius:''' I was particularly proud of my death scene.\\
'''Xanatos:''' Frankly, Sevarius, I thought you overplayed the part.
-->-- ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}''

%% One quote, please. Extras go on the quotes tab.

* When you wait forever for the cable guy, you get bored. When you get bored, you start staring out windows. When you start staring out windows, [[HeKnowsTooMuch you see things you shouldn't see]]. When you see things you shouldn't see, you need to vanish. When you need to vanish, you fake your own death. When you fake your own death, you dye your eyebrows. And when you dye your eyebrows, you [[AttendingYourOwnFuneral attend your own funeral]] as a guy named Phil Schiffly. Don't attend your own funeral as a guy named Phil Schiffly. Advertising/{{Get rid of cable}} [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Op5uAxIkIko and upgrade to DirecTV.]] Call 1-800-DIRECTV.

* ''ComicBook/FantasticFour:'' In their first appearance, Alicia recognizes the Enclave as a group of famous scientists, who'd all supposedly died. Their leader admits they faked their death so they could commit mad science without being bothered.

** Even earlier, Matt faked the death of Mike, an identity he created ([[PretendingToBeOnesOwnRelative and played]]), as part of a FakeTwinGambit to throw Foggy and Karen off the trail of him being Daredevil, to end the gambit, claiming "Mike" fell in battle and had trained a new Daredevil. Then Creator/CharlesSoule [[ComicBook/DaredevilCharlesSoule and]] Creator/ChipZdarsky [[ComicBook/DaredevilChipZdarsky decided]] to have some {{Cosmic Retcon}}s that made Mike a real, separate, and still-living person.

* ''ComicBook/IronMan'': Iron Man once faked his death when he was suffering from nerve disintegration. It was a ploy to get healed. Unfortunately, Rhodey didn't know about it and was pissed off.

* ''ComicBook/TheFlash'' has a field day with this with the infamous ''ComicBook/HeroesInCrisis''. Within the series itself, there's Booster Gold's idea of cloning a dead body of Wally West to fulfill a StableTimeLoop involving the Trinity seeing Wally's corpse. As part of ''ComicBook/TheFlashInfiniteFrontier''[='=]s ''many'' attempts at undoing the damage done by ''[=HiC=]'' (with the first order of business being revealing that the Sanctuary massacre wasn't Wally's fault, by Savitar's attempts to take control of the Speed Force after Reverse Flash put him there and the Speed Force trying to kick him out) was revealing that Gold Beetle did what Booster, Blue Beetle, Batgirl, and Harley ''should've'' done, and did it to most everyone else too (barring Wally, who was already taken care of; Roy, who came during the events of ''ComicBook/DCInfiniteFrontier'' itself back, anyway; and Poison Ivy, who came back during ''[=HiC=]'' itself).
* In the ''ComicBook/New52'' ''ComicBook/GreenArrow'', it turns out that Henry Queen faked his death, and then became the masked figure that tortured Ollie on the island, to force his son to become the Arrow. Ollie's reaction is that his dad is a lunatic, and the Henry Queen he remembers is still dead.

* In the "Injustice League" arc of Creator/GeoffJohns' run on ''ComicBook/{{Justice League|2011}}'', Lex Luthor reveals to Niles Caulder that the ComicBook/DoomPatrol members Arani Desai/Celsius and Joshua Clay/Tempest, initially believed killed with the rest of the original Doom Patrol in the New 52 continuity by the Crime Syndicate in the ''ComicBook/{{Forever Evil|2013}}'' event, actually faked their deaths to get away from Caulder. When ''Comicbook/DCRebirth'' restored the DCU to how it was prior to the New 52, Arani faking her death was one of the few elements of the New 52 canon that was retained, as ''ComicBook/DoomsdayClock'' shows her leading a new superhero team in India known as The Doomed. Joshua Clay's feigned demise, however, did not stick in the post-Rebirth canon, as ''DC's Ghouls Just Wanna Have Fun'' confirms he's still dead by showing him among the ghosts of deceased Doom Patrol members haunting Robotman.
* The Creator/MilestoneComics series ''Kobalt'' ends with Kobalt faking his death so he can lie low and form a better strategy in defeating his enemy St. Cloud.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Legends|DCComics}}'', Doctor Bedlam fakes his own death while posing as Magno-Man in order to disgrace Captain Marvel for killing him by using his magic lightning bolt to transform back into Billy Batson. It's still rather traumatic for him to go through, though.
* ''ComicBook/{{Outsiders|2003}}'': The Outsiders fake their death to be able to work undercover. The stratagem is blown in the One Year Later storyline, and the team then [[HeroWithBadPublicity has to deal]] with the various consequences for [[NiceJobBreakingItHero their actions]].

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': Dr. Psycho makes one of his semi-illusionary puppets of himself, which he then controls through his own execution while he escapes. As this is not the first time he's faked his own death to escape from the prison where it happened, Diana and ComicBook/SteveTrevor are quite unimpressed with the warden.

* In ''ComicBook/FearItself'', ComicBook/BuckyBarnes, the current ComicBook/CaptainAmerica had apparently been killed off while fighting Sin, the Red Skull's daughter. However, as revealed in a post-series epilogue, Bucky did survive the brutal attack and his death was faked by both ComicBook/BlackWidow and ComicBook/NickFury in order to convince Steve Rogers to become Captain America once more, as well as to allow Bucky to deal with remaining Winter Soldier-esque sleeper agents without any trouble. How? A well-placed Life Model Decoy and the Infinity Formula did the trick.
* At the end of ''ComicBook/TheInfinityGauntlet'' Thanos does this when everyone believes that he died due to a thermonuclear bomb on his belt. He used the opportunity to... [[CallToAgriculture become a farmer.]]
* ComicBook/IronMan once faked his death when he was suffering from nerve disintegration. It was a ploy to get healed. Unfortunately, Rhodey didn't know about it and was pissed off.
** The script was then flipped years later during Creator/MattFraction's run. The Mandarin's machinations had made it virtually impossible for Tony to be Iron Man without government interference, so Rhodey faked his own death as ComicBook/WarMachine so that he could take over as the new Iron Man. Once the whole situation was sorted out, Rhodey went back to the War Machine armor.

* ''ComicBook/StarWarsDarthVader''. A bounty hunter brings Darth Vader a charred corpse which he's told is Dr Aphra, but Vader is not fooled for a second [[YouHaveFailedMe and kills him]]. Aphra later says that Vader will never stop hunting her because [[YouKnowTooMuch she knows too much about him]], but the only way to convince Vader that she's dead is if he personally executes her. So she lets Vader [[ThrownOutTheAirlock throw her out an airlock into space]], [[BriarPatching which she told him before is the one thing she was really scared of]], and has her colleagues hidden nearby in a spacecraft to rescue her. When it's pointed out that Vader could have simply killed her with a lightsaber, Aphra replies that [[KickTheDog Vader was always going to go for the worst option]].

* ComicBook/{{Diabolik}} does it once in a while, starting with the third issue (Eva had a man executed while wearing [[LatexPerfection a mask with his face]]). While they work with most people, [[SympatheticInspectorAntagonist Ginko]] tends to see through these schemes with ease (indeed, he saw through the very first ''a single instant before the victim died''), and it takes a lot to fool him (such as fooling a ''DNA test'').

* In ''ComicBook/MisfitCity'', it's revealed that [[spoiler:Captain Denby faked his own death to hide from people who wanted him dead]].

* In a ''ComicBook/RadioactiveMan'' story in which Madame Eczema reveals RM's secret identity, RM apparently dies (fooling even Fallout Boy), and then Claude Kane appears in public to counter the revelation. Upon learning the truth, Plasmo the Mystic points out that the whole deception will be rendered pointless when he has to reappear as Radioactive Man.

* In ''ComicBook/SonicTheComic'', Amy, Tails, Johnny, and the Kintobor Computer use this to stop [[SuperpoweredEvilSide Super Sonic]] trying to kill them: Amy had the Kintobor Computer remotely fly their plane. Sonic doesn't realize this and goes into a HeroicBSOD [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone thinking he killed his friends]].
* In ''ComicBook/{{Swordquest}}'', Lady Wyla throws the BigBad off the trail of her infant children by jumping into the ocean with two jars wrapped in swaddling clothes in full view of his guards.
* ''Franchise/{{Tintin}}'' does this a few times. Once, he goes into a nose-dive while flying so his pursuers think he's been hit.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Wanted}}'', Wesley's father faked his own death so he could set his son on the path to succeeding him and becoming one of the most powerful supervillains in the world.

* ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/44151004/chapters/111021049 Witch Eraser]]'': A DeathOfPersonality variant with [[Magna/EdensZero Witch Regrent]]. Officially to the Interestelar Army, Witch's personality was erased after she volunteered to have Eraser's Ether downloaded into her body to save his life. However, their mutual union allowed [[SharingABody both of their personalities to survive the process]] as Witch Eraser. [[SecretKeepr The only other people to know]] are Witch's old crewmates on the ''Edens Zero''.

* ''Film/TheWhiteOrchid'': The White Orchid made it look like she'd been murdered, but actually used another woman who'd had surgery to appear like her.

** Part of the origin of the villain Film Freak; he was a struggling actor who faked his own broad daylight murder in a scene inspired by ''Film/TheSting'', hoping to use the publicity to revive his career when he miraculously returned. He failed to consider that nobody would notice or care -- it's noted that Batman didn't even remember this story. He laid low for three years before re-emerging and going on a movie-themed crime spree.

** ''ComicBook/BatmanAndTheOutsiders'': The Outsiders led by ComicBook/{{Nightwing}} fake their death to be able to work undercover. The stratagem is blown in the One Year Later storyline, and the team then [[HeroWithBadPublicity has to deal]] with the various consequences for [[NiceJobBreakingItHero their actions]].

* The Australian movie ''The Empty Beach'' (1985) has PrivateDetective Cliff Hardy hired by the wife of a businessman who's disappeared, apparently after some criminal associates gave him CementShoes. However Hardy's investigation makes the criminals believe this trope is in play, and they start to turn on each other, [[FemmeFatale which was her intention all along]]. At the end of the movie, she reveals that her husband really is alive and living overseas, and offers to hire Hardy to find him for real. Annoyed over how he's been manipulated, Hardy just walks off.

* FakingTheDead: Before his real death in ''ComicBook/GuardianDevil'', faking it was something of a favorite tactic of ComicBook/{{Mysterio}}'s.