History Main / OnlyOnePlausibleSuspect

* In Season 3 of ''Series/TheFlash2014'', Season 3 introduces a new masked villain, "Dr." Alchemy. It also introduces one new supporting character: [[spoiler:Julian Albert, an unsympathetic crime-scene investigator who seems to be obsessed with metahumans]]. Guess who Dr. Alchemy turns out to be. However, in a twist, [[spoiler:[[TheKillerInMe he doesn't even realize he is Dr. Alchemy]], and is GoodAllAlong]].

* In ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'', Steve Rogers sets out to discover who has ordered the attacks on both him and Nick Fury. Only one plausible suspect is shown, [[spoiler:Alexander Pierce]], especially after he makes several vaguely ominous statements like "[[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans to build a better world sometimes mean tearing the old one down]]". Perhaps in awareness of this, the film makes little attempt to disguise [[spoiler:Pierce]] as the culprit and it only takes five minutes after he and Steve meet for him to become a visible antagonist.

** Case 2 of the second game plays with this. An assassin committed the murder, so you're looking for the one who hired him. Besides the assassin and the defendant, Adrian Andrews is the only non-recurring character in the case. Sure enough, when put on the stand her story has numerous holes. The twist is [[spoiler: your client is guilty as sin, Adrian is innocent. The reason she looks so suspicious is that she tried to [[FramingTheGuiltyParty frame the guilty party.]]]]

* In Wilkie Collins's "My Lady's Money," [[spoiler:Felix Sweetsir]]--he is the only person with a motive to steal the money.

* ''Anime/AttackOnTitan'': The female Titan is [[spoiler: Annie Leonhart]]. Armin figures out that she's another human-shifting Titan almost as soon as she appears, but her true identity is a mystery for most of the first season. What makes it obvious is that we know from Aaron Yeager's transformation that the Titan form shares certain features with their normal human form (such as hair color). The female Titan is blonde, and there are only two blonde women of note on the show -Krista and [[spoiler: Annie]]. Krista was shown to be elsewhere during the female Titan's attack, so that just leaves [[spoiler: Annie]].

In [[FairPlayWhodunnit Fair Play Whodunnits]] and many other types of MysteryFiction, the writers usually introduce several potential suspects to the crime, and in the end one of them is found to be guilty, while the others turn out to be mere [[RedHerring red herrings]]. However, in some pieces of fiction (typically ones where the mystery isn't the main driving force of the plot), there are no red herrings, and the audience can rather easily deduce the culprit, since he's the only possible major character who could have done it. Either there are no other significant characters among the suspects, or all the other major characters can be ruled out because they're the protagonists, series regulars (in the case of serial media), or other types of characters that aren't typically used as a culprit, such as kids or animals.

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* In the one-shot all-humor Marvel comic ''The Fantastic Four Roast'' (February, 1982) some mysterious figure is trying to off the quartet at the titular fete. After numerous attempts, Ben Grimm says that besides Reed there's only one person with enough on the ball to sabotage the celebration: Dr. Doom. But Doom steps to the dias to [[NotMeThisTime deny any such thing]].

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* This trope is used frequently in various versions of ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo''. Subverted in one episode of ''WesternAnimation/WhatsNewScoobyDoo'', though: the crook in "It's All Greek to Scooby" turns out to be [[AnticlimacticUnmasking some random person the gang has never met beforehand]]. Velma naturally is rather displeased and keeps insisting her theory about who was the monster was at least plausible.

* Literature/TheScarletLetter has two major male characters -- Hester Prynne's long-lost husband who only recently returned, and the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. The reveal of whom she committed adultery with is not terribly shocking.

* In ''Film/DieAnotherDay'', we find out there's a [[TheMole mole]] inside the [=MI6=] who has, among other things, informed the bad guys who JamesBond is. Now, obviously the mole can't be Bond himself, nor M or Q or Moneypenny, as they are all mainstays of the [[JamesBond franchise]]. Besides them, there is only one other major [=MI6=] character in the movie, who -- surprise, surprise! -- does turn out to be the mole.

The story involves a mystery where someone has committed a crime or misdemeanor of some sort, but neither the protagonists nor the audience are supposed to know who the guilty party is. However, TheLawOfConservationOfDetail and the rules of FairPlayWhodunnit state that the culprit must be a character who appears in the story before TheReveal. It can't be someone the audience has never seen before, and if the mystery is a big part of the plot, it can't really be a minor background character either. It has to be someone important.

* In ''Film/DieAnotherDay'', we find out there's a [[TheMole mole]] inside the [=MI6=] who has, among other things, informed the bad guys who JamesBond is. Now, obviously the mole can't be Bond himself, nor M or Q or Moneypenny, as they are all mainstays of the [[JamesBond franchise]]. Besides them, there is only one other major [=MI6=] character in the movie, who - surprise, surprise! - does turn out to be the mole.

The story involves a mystery where someone has committed a crime or misdemeanor of some sort, but neither the protagonists nor the audience is supposed to know who the guilty party is. However, TheLawOfConservationOfDetail and the rules of FairPlayWhodunnit state that the culprit must be a character who appears in the story before TheReveal. It can't be someone the audience has never seen before, and if the mystery is a big part of the plot, it can't really be a minor background character either. It has to be someone important.

* Subverted in ''Theatre/{{Sleuth}}'' (as well as its movie adaptations): the first half of the story features only two characters, and when one of them disappears under suspicious circumstances, it would seem the other one has killed him. [[spoiler:But it turns out he never disappeared at all, and the policeman investigating the case is actually the "disappeared" character in disguise.]]

* In ''Film/DieAnotherDay'', we find out there's a [[TheMole mole]] inside the [=MI6=] who has, among other things, informed the bad guys who JamesBond is. Now, obviously the mole can't be Bond himself, nor M or Q or Moneypenny, as they are all mainstays of the [[JamesBond franchise]]. Besides them, there is only one other major [=MI6=] character in the movie, who − surprise, surprise! − does turn out to be the mole.

This trope can overlap with ChekhovsGunman, if the guilty character doesn't seem to have any proper function in the story before TheReveal.

The story involves a mystery where someone has committed a crime or misdemeanor of some sort, but neither the protagonist(s) nor the audience is supposed to know who the guilty party is. However, TheLawOfConservationOfDetail and the rules of FairPlayWhodunnit state that the culprit must be a character who appears in the story before TheReveal. It can't be someone the audience has never seen before, and if the mystery is a big part of the plot, it can't really be a minor background character either. It has to be someone important.