History Main / FriendOfMaskedSelf

* In the Silver Age, it was well enough known that Clark Kent was a friend of ComicBook/{{Superman}} that he had a Clark room in the Fortress of Solitude next to the Lois, Jimmy and Batman rooms, because it would look weird if he didn't. These days, it seems to be generally assumed that everyone at the Daily Planet is at least on speaking terms with Superman, and that must include Clark, but no more so than anyone else.

* Early in the plot of ''VideoGame/SpiderManPS4'', Dr. Octavius walks in on Peter Parker repairing his Spider-Man costume, and immediately concludes that Peter is...the guy who supplies Spider-Man with his gadgets. Peter is [[SureLetsGoWithThat only too happy to play along]].

Doing this is usually necessary when the character is dropping a lot of clues. If the local hero spends a ''lot'' of time protecting Joe Shmo's family and loved ones, or Joe knows a surprising amount about the local villains, or Joe is always [[ButHeSoundsHandsome talking about how great the hero is]], eventually someone will get suspicious. Short of revealing his secret, the best way for Joe to explain his special treatment and inside knowledge is to simply say: "Well, Captain Order? I know him. We hang out."

* FriendOfMaskedSelf/ComicBooks

* Those who play walk-around characters in DisneyThemeParks are encouraged to say that they are friends of the character rather than that they play them, in order to help [[{{Kayfabe}} keep the magic alive for any children who might hear them.]]

* In the Creator/SamRaimi ''Film/SpiderManTrilogy'', Peter Parker sometimes describes himself as Spider-Man's friend and unofficial photographer. This comes to bite him in the ass when Harry gets mad at Peter for being chummy with his father's apparent killer and protecting his identity for the sake of money.

* In the Creator/SamRaimi ''Film/SpiderManTrilogy'', Peter Parker sometimes describes himself as Spider-Man's friend and unofficial photographer.

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[[folder:Anime]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* Bruce Wayne often claims to have a cordial relationship with Franchise/{{Batman}} to explain why the Caped Crusader [[BruceWayneHeldHostage shows up to his rescue so often]]. Eventually, ''[[ComicBook/GrantMorrisonsBatman Batman Incorporated]]'' has Wayne publicly financing Batman's hero work and his newly-expanded organization of subordinate heroes around the world.
* Depending on the continuity, ComicBook/IronMan is officially an employee of Stark Enterprises and is Stark's bodyguard, so Stark made the suit for him.
* In early ''ComicBook/{{Marvelman}}'' strips everyone knows that in order to get a message to Marvelman you should contact Micky Moran, a copyboy at the ''Daily Bugle'' ([[Franchise/SpiderMan not that one]]).
* [[ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse Donald Duck]] and [[ComicBook/PaperinikNewAdventures Paperinik]] both claim to be very close mutual friends. This makes it possible for both to know the same things and for Donald to summon Paperinik if necessary (although the latter requires Donald to disappear first).
* ''ComicBook/PS238'': "Friend" might be going a bit far, but the kids know that if they need to contact Moon Shadow they can go through Tyler.
* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': Peter Parker makes his living off of this trope; he pretends to be Spider-Man's friend and sells interviews and photos of himself to the ''Daily Bugle''. (Although sometimes Spidey claims to ''hate'' that kid who makes money off him.) When he starts working for Horizon Labs, he claims to be the guy who makes Spidey's gadgets, and as the CEO of Parker International, Spidey's his bodyguard (an idea which everyone who knows his secret points out he blatantly stole from Tony Stark).
* In the Silver Age, it was well enough known that Clark Kent was a friend of Comicbook/{{Superman}} that he had a Clark room in the Fortress of Solitude next to the Lois, Jimmy and Batman rooms, because it would look weird if he didn't. These days, it seems to be generally assumed that everyone at the Daily Planet is at least on speaking terms with Superman, and that must include Clark, but no more so than anyone else.

[[folder:FanWorks]]

* In ''Fanfic/IronTouch,'' criminal counterfeiter Lovestrong introduces himself as Lovestrong's ''assistant'' to Michelle and Hol Horse (and therefore, the reader). It's not until Chapter 17 where it's revealed that the two of them are the same person, and only because his friend and contractor Depeche Mode refused to play along with the alias.
* ''Fanfic/AMoonAndWorldApart'': Variant in that it's a friend who's in on the secret making the claim -- in chapter 11, when Twilight, Sunset and their new friends meet Princess Cadance in her public disguise of "Love Hearts", Sunset says that "Love here and my old foalsitter Cadance are real close". Cadance reveals her true identity to all of them just two chapters later.
* In ''Fanfic/NeitherABirdNorAPlaneItsDeku'', [[spoiler:Hisashi Midoriya]] says that he works near where Firestorm operates and that he's had to deal with the New York branch of the Hasigawa Family when the topic of the Yakuza is brought up at the U.A. Culture Festival.
* Inverted in ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/5743525 Now Kiss]]'', where Chat Noir and Ladybug are pretending to be friends of Adrien and Marinette, respectively, so that they can talk with each other about themselves.
* ''Fanfic/TheSecretReturnOfAlexMack'': Downplayed; Alex doesn't claim to personally know Terawatt, but publishes the first clear video of her, and claims to have been trying to get a scoop on her for six months, so she's widely known to be ''associated'' with Terawatt. Danielle Atron joins the wrong dots, concluding that Alex saw Terawatt get her powers and knows who she is.

[[folder:Film — Animated]]
* Played for laughs in ''WesternAnimation/TheLegoBatmanMovie'', where Batman claims to be Bruce Wayne's "roommate" so that he can have an excuse for Bruce's (his) adopted son Dick Grayson finding the Batcave under Wayne Mansion. Taken to its logical extreme when he claims that he and Bruce have joint custody over Dick so that he can take Dick on a mission to the Fortress of Solitude. [[note]]Bruce Wayne '''''NEVER''''' did this in any (non-parody) continuity.[[/note]]
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[[folder:Film — Live-Action]]
* ''Film/TheMask'': Stanley Ipkiss tells Tina that he's a friend of The Mask, and agrees to arrange for her to meet him.
* ''Film/TheRocketeer'': Cliff Secord attempts to tell Patsy that the Rocketeer would help him rescue Jenny as FBI agents suddenly arrive and arrest Cliff.
* In ''Film/SpiderManHomecoming'', Ned accidentally lets spill that Peter and Spider-Man are friends in an effort to make Peter look good in front of a girl. An embarrassed Peter tries playing it off by "clarifying" he just knows him from his internship with Stark Industries. Nobody really buys it except for said girl, and even then, it's more likely that she already liked Peter and was using the Spider-Man angle to give herself an excuse to invite Peter to her party.
* In the Creator/SamRaimi ''Film/SpiderManTrilogy'', Peter Parker sometimes describes himself as Spider-Man's friend and unofficial photographer.
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-->'''Stephen Colbert:''' ...though we've never been seen together. Hmmm...''[curls hair over forehead, [[ClarkKenting takes off glasses]][=]=]''...I wonder why.

* ''Series/Daredevil2015'': Obviously Matt Murdock has to do this with his secondary identity of Daredevil. This results in very awkward conversations, like in the season 1 finale when Matt and Foggy are talking to Brett Mahoney about information Matt disclosed to Brett as Daredevil.

[[folder: FanWorks]]

-->'''Gatorboy''': Your wrestlers are amazing! How many guys do you manage?\\

* ''WesternAnimation/Ben10'': After saving Kevin as [=XLR8=], Ben tells him that he and his alien alter-ego are tight as an explanation for why he knows the alien's name.

* [[ComicBook/PaperinikNewAdventures Paperinik]] (a.k.a. Phantomias) is a very close friend of WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck.