History Main / SuperDickery

** Can be done on-panel: In the "Torn" StoryArc of Creator/JossWhedon's ''ComicBook/AstonishingXMen'', a depowered [[Characters/MarvelComicsCyclops Cyclops]] was casually gunning down villains and talking about it as if completely unconcerned. (This after the previous issue's WhamEpisode ending of him shooting [[Characters/EmmaFrostWhiteQueen Emma Frost]].) Turns out [[spoiler:he's not crazy: he's the only one who's figured out that they're psychic projections created by a villain to move her EvilPlan along.]]
** ''ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}'': {{Inverted|trope}} in #70. The cover shows Wolverine fighting with his RoguesGallery and losing, but [[spoiler:in the comic he handles them quite easily because they are his friends and he was fooled by Mysterio]].
** [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/marveldatabase/images/1/1d/Uncanny_X-Men_Vol_1_177.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20190524021301 One issue]] features Wolvie standing over the dead body of Kitty Pryde. Wolverine is actually [[spoiler:[[Characters/MarvelComicsMystique Mystique]] in disguise]], and Kitty is [[spoiler:an android; Mystique was just practicing]]. There's a similar moment on the cover of ''Uncanny X-Men'' #276 where Wolverine is standing over a downed Professor X with his claws popped out, or rather [[spoiler:a Skrull in disguise as Professor X]].
** One has [[Characters/MarvelComicsProfessorX Professor X]] piloting a "Psi-ber Sentinel", gleefully laughing as he tries to mow down the X-Men. In the actual story, it's revealed to be even more [[BlatantLies blatant of a lie]] than this trope usually sees -- he's not a clone, he's not being brainwashed, he's been imprisoned and is draining his psychic energy to wrest control of the robot from the bad guys. What's interesting is that if they had ''really'' wanted to sell this particular comic, all they had to do was point out on the cover that Characters/{{Deadpool|WadeWilson}} was [[WolverinePublicity in the issue]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Siren}}: Blood Curse'' - Chapter 3 ends with a scene where Saiga, the only armed, living person seen thus far, shoots Sam, one of the other playable characters, for what appears to be no reason. Then cut to the recap of the chapter at the start of the next one, and it suddenly turns out Saiga's target was a shibito sneaking up on Sam that clearly wasn't there the first time around.

** Trailers for ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidGroundZeroes'' drew attention to the scene where Snake strangles Chico, a thirteen-year-old boy who was an ally in the previous game. In context, Chico freaks out about Snake trying to rescue him, begins screaming at the top of his voice, and Snake is forced to render him unconscious to stop him from blowing his cover.

** One comic opens with Spider-man robbing a bank. He's [[spoiler:robbing it of a bomb, which was intended to destroy a safe.]] Too bad John Jameson (with temporary superpoweers) didn't know that last bit and was too busy attacking Spidey for the webslinger to explain himself...

** ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilVillage'' begins with Chris Redfield and his soldiers raiding Ethan and Mia's new home to kidnap their baby. Chris Redfield then apologizes to Ethan, and shoots a prone Mia. ''Repeatedly''. [[spoiler:The real Mia is fine; Chris shot the main villain, who had transformed to look like Mia, replaced her, and lured Ethan to the village. Chris, who was actually there to ''rescue'' the baby from the main villain, doesn't clarify this immediately due to assuming Ethan was already under her control.]]

* ''ComicBook/Champions2016'': The cover of Issue #2 is a direct homage to the style of comic book covers where the hero is shown doing something morally dubious or outright evil, often with speech balloons included to emphasize this -- in this case, Nova viciously attacking kid Cyclops while yelling "You think you're joining the Champions, Cyclops? ''Over my dead body!''"

* ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'': The [[{{Shapeshifting}} Skrulls]] are first introduced by depicting the Fantastic Four committing criminal acts, only later to reveal them as shapeshifters.

* ''Comicbook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'':

* ''Comicbook/{{Sleepwalker}}'' did this in-story at the end of one issue. A mob of bizarre alien "mindspawn" who all strongly resemble Sleepwalker are invading New York City and killing the innocent bystanders. The issue ends with Sleepwalker seemingly destroying and absorbing Rick Sheridan's mind, with the final caption asking if Sleepwalker is a {{Supervillain}}. It's later revealed that [[spoiler:Sleepwalker actually absorbed Rick's mind in a special weapon to protect him from being killed by the mindspawn, who really ''were'' going to kill him. Sleepwalker knew that if he tried to fight the mindspawn, Rick could have gotten hurt in the crossfire. This way, he could both keep Rick's mind safe and ingratiate himself with the mindspawn, which allows him to free their human prisoners.]]

* A ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica'' storyline had Comicbook/AdamStrange kidnapping the League and putting them to work as slaves for the aliens rebuilding his planet, apparently driven insane by the death of his wife. At the end of the first half, [[ComicBook/MartianManhunter J'onn J'onzz]] joins forces with him. [[spoiler:It's all a ruse to confuse the invaders.]]
* One [[https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/S/cmx-images-prod/Item/668841/copyOfFirstPage._SX360_QL80_TTD_.jpg cover]] of ''Comicbook/TheBraveAndTheBold'' features the original ComicBook/TeenTitans beating the living crap out of Batman. In the actual story, only two of the Titans "beat up" Batman, and that's because they're undercover with a group of criminals and Batman is intentionally letting them "work him over" so they can maintain their cover.

%%Image kept on page per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1662348008085887700
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[[quoteright:344:[[ComicBook/SupermansPalJimmyOlsen https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jimmyolsen_jacket_2.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:344:*{{GASP}}* How can this be?!]]

* Gray's behavior in the anime original Daphne Arc of ''Manga/FairyTail'' is pretty much this, for the first half Gray apparently joins up with the BigBad Daphne and captures Natsu so she can use him as a power source for her Dragonoid, taunting Erza and Lucy for good measure. It then turns out he set the whole thing up to remind Natsu of a promise he'd forgotten, to help the people the villain had trapped years ago, so he could stop Daphne and free them. Why he felt the need to beat up Natsu in the process is not explained. To his credit, Gray admits the situation got out of hand with the Dragonoid attacking Magnolia and apologizes afterwards.

* ''Franchise/SpiderMan'':
** The cover of the first ''Spider-Man'' comic, in much the same vein as the first ever ''Superman'', is ambiguous about whether the title character is really a good guy -- he's shown swinging through the air with a person under his arm (while monologuing about how people bullied him as Peter Parker but will respect him as Spider-Man), but is he saving the man or kidnapping him? In the modern day, with Spider-man's heroic persona well-established, this original ambiguity is largely lost.

* In ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles3'', [[spoiler:the first half of the game, along with promotional material, push the the idea that the Queens of Keves and Agnus are [[VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles1 Melia]] and [[VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2 Nia]], who were part of the main playable cast in their respective games, and the heroes have [[RogueProtagonist to oppose them]] for enabling the ForeverWar. But then midway through the game it turns out the Queens leading the war are {{fake|King}}, and the real ones have been hidden away. Melia was captured by Moebius to gain access to Origin, while Nia went into hiding, but not before creating the Ourobouros powers to oppose them]].

* The opening scene of Season 4 of ''Series/StrangerThings'' shows Eleven seemingly massacring the other children in the lab. [[spoiler: Unsurprisingly, it's later revealed to be NotWhatItLooksLike]].

** The first cover of the storyline ''ComicBook/KryptonNoMore'' depicts ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} smashing the Bottle City of Kandor, apparently killing several million Kryptonians. In context, Superman is having a nervous breakdown, and the Kandorians try to snap him out of it by convincing Supergirl to convince her cousin that his entire life is a lie, so the city she's shown destroying is a fake. It still doesn't make much sense and suggests that Superman's entire race consists of dicks.

** On the cover of ''ComicBook/ActionComics'' #258, Superman banishes ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} off the planet and tells her, "I'm sorry to end your career, but you're a failure as Supergirl! I must exile you to another world!" But in the actual story, he only banishes her for a year, and for a far pettier reason -- she revealed her existence to Krypto. The exile was really a SecretTestOfCharacter concerning the security of her SecretIdentity, but it's still pretty dickish.

** The [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/marvel_dc/images/f/f5/World%27s_Finest_Vol_1_169.jpg cover]] of ''ComicBook/WorldsFinest1941 #169: ComicBook/TheSupergirlBatgirlPlot'' features ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} and ComicBook/{{Batgirl}} gloating about ruining both Superman and Batman's lives. The scene happens in the inside, but both "women" turn out to be Mr. Mxyzptlk and Bat-mite, who are posing as Kara and Babs.

** The various incarnations of the Legion, particularly in their [[SecretTestOfCharacter secret character tests]] for ComicBook/{{Superboy}} and ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}, and in their periodic tryouts for new members, fall into this trap.

** ''ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}'': {{Inverted|trope}} in #70. The cover shows Wolverine fighting with his RoguesGallery and losing, but [[spoiler:in the comic he handles them quite easily because they are his friends and he was fooled by Mysterio.]]
** [[https://www.cloudninecomics.com/media/x/uncanny_x_men_177_9.4.jpg One issue]] features Wolvie standing over the dead body of Kitty Pryde. Wolverine is actually [[spoiler:[[Characters/MarvelComicsMystique Mystique]] in disguise]], and Kitty is [[spoiler:an android; Mystique was just practicing]]. There's a similar moment on the cover of ''Uncanny X-Men'' #276 where Wolverine is standing over a downed Professor X with his claws popped out, or rather [[spoiler:a Skrull in disguise as Professor X.]]

* The cover of an issue of ''ComicBook/{{Excalibur}}'' showed guest-star [[Characters/MarvelComicsPsylocke Psylocke]] kicking her brother ComicBook/CaptainBritain in the face. In the comic itself, this is just them sparring, and coming to the conclusion that their powers -- his physical prowess and her telepathy -- were evenly matched. It was actually a rather touching scene, since the twins were catching up after not having seen each other for several months.

* A frequent gag in ''Blog/TheBraveAndTheBoldTheLostIssues'' with such things as Doctor Strange turning Batman into a bat or Death from ''ComicBook/TheSandman'' watching Batman drown and not doing anything to help him.

* In ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles3'', [[spoiler:the first half of the game, along with promotional material, push the the idea that the Queens of Keves and Agnus are [[VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles1 Melia]] and [[VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2 Nia]], who were part of the main playable cast in their respective games, and the heroes have [[RogueProtagonist to oppose them]] for enabling the ForeverWar. But then midway through the game it turns out the Queens leading the war are {{fake|King}}, and the real ones have been hidden away. Melia was captured by Moebius to gain access to Origin, while Nia went into hiding, but not before creating the Ourobouros powers to oppose them.]]

** ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} herself demonstrates supreme Superdickery in the cold open for "[[Recap/JusticeLeagueUnlimitedS1E6FearfulSymmetry Fearful Symmetry]]", gleefully destroying everything in her path, and proving that EvilIsCool, in her pursuit of a terrified civilian. [[spoiler:It's actually a dream triggered by psychic echoes of memories of her EvilTwin clone Galatea.]]

* Not to break with tradition, the opening for the GrandFinale of ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'' shows the conquest of an alien planet by Superman, in the name of Darkseid. [[spoiler:He's not doing it ''willingly,'' but it's exactly what it looks like after a little {{brainwash|ed}}ing. Humanity's trust in Superman, and superheroes in general after this lesson in what would happen if one went rogue, is ''not'' rebuilt in a day, as we will see in WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague.]]

** The story "Shining Armor" was a {{Deconstruction}} of Lois Lane's own brand of dickery. An {{Expy}} Lois Lane (Irene Merriweather) tries to prove herself worthy of an expy Superman (Atomicus) by exposing his secret identity. Others start to get wind of her investigations, and the guy's house is blown up by the local mafia, but she [[LethallyStupid doesn't see the connection]] and keeps trying. When she finally succeeds, Atomicus is so pissed that he leaves the planet forever to go wandering aimlessly through space. Earth lost the greatest hero of the Atomic age because his biggest fangirl was just ''that'' irritating. Atomicus, meanwhile, engaged in questionable behavior of his own to stop Irene, including making her think she had almost killed her coworkers, but Irene rationalizes in the present day as Atomicus having been [[BornAsAnAdult recently created]] and lacking the life experience to understand that what ''he'' was doing was harmful.
** In another story, Supersonic has an adventure that temporarily gave him sixteen [[{{Doppelganger}} exact doubles]]. He uses the opportunity to take his girlfriend Caroleen to a dance as Supersonic and have one of his doubles appear as his secret identity Dale Enright. But he doesn't do this as a means of ClarkKenting; he just wanted [[ItAmusedMe to mess with her]].

** One ''ComicBook/GreenLantern'' issue in Kyle Rayner's run lampshades this, with the cover showing Kyle fighting Wonder Woman as he desperately assures the reader that it isn't what it looks like. [[spoiler:They were faking the fight to trick a villain.]]

* In episode 43 of the 1990s ''Anime/SailorMoon'' anime, Usagi and the rest of the Sailor Senshi apparently have a big falling-out, with them attacking her and refusing to help her fight a monster, and even the "episode preview" speaks of Usagi striking out on her own as revenge for Rei's abrasive behavior. [[spoiler:It's an act; actually, Usagi came up with a plan for everyone to ''pretend'' they were fighting each other so that once Usagi "left" them, the Dark Kingdom would offer to bring Usagi to their side so Usagi could find out where Tuxedo Mask is. The plan almost works and Usagi is about to "join" the Dark Kingdom, until the youma Bonbon spots the other Sailor Senshi hiding in the bushes, which causes Kunzite to figure out that Usagi and the other Senshi are still on the same side.]]

** [[https://www.cloudninecomics.com/media/x/uncanny_x_men_177_9.4.jpg One issue]] features Wolvie standing over the dead body of Kitty Pryde. Wolverine is actually [[spoiler:Characters/{{Mystique}} in disguise]], and Kitty is [[spoiler:an android; Mystique was just practicing]]. There's a similar moment on the cover of ''Uncanny X-Men'' #276 where Wolverine is standing over a downed Professor X with his claws popped out, or rather [[spoiler:a Skrull in disguise as Professor X.]]

[[foldeR:Web Animation]]

* Website/{{Cracked}}:

* The ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' episode "Root Beer Guy" has heroes Finn and Jake kidnapping Princess Bubblegum, with Root Beer Guy as the only witness. He's been working on a [[DetectiveDrama detective novel]] for years and [[MysteryWriterDetective decides to solve the crime]] himself. [[PoliceAreUseless The Banana Guards don't believe him]] when he reports seeing Finn and Jake [[DisposingOfABody about to dump PB's body]] and only come when he tells them he has gone [[LawfulStupid out boating after 8 pm.]] It turns out that Princess Bubblegum enlisted Finn and Jake's help to test the new security system, intentionally leaving evidence for the guards to find.
* The ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' episode "The Runaway" opens with Katara apparently turning Toph in to the authorities, self-righteously claiming that "You brought this on yourself". Then the episode flashes back a few days to show the two characters at odds, with Katara becoming increasingly annoyed with Toph's use of scams and con tricks to make money... [[spoiler:until ultimately Katara decides to take part in a scam herself in an attempt to prove that she isn't purely a goody-goody, and pretends to turn Toph in -- as we saw -- for the reward.]] However, [[spoiler:the scam [[GoneHorriblyWrong goes horribly wrong]] and Toph and Katara end up captured for real, although they break out before the episode ends.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'':
** The series pulled one off and made it absolutely ''terrifying''; Commissioner Gordon goes into ''all-out war'' against Batman for the death of Barbara Gordon. [[spoiler:[[AllJustADream It's all Barbara's nightmare.]]]]
** Another episode has Batman under the influence of a toxin made by Scarecrow that removes all sense of fear, which naturally includes his fear of taking a life. It makes him a lot more reckless and aggressive and he nearly crosses the line before Robin stops him.
** An episode of the related webseries ''WebAnimation/GothamGirls'' ended with Batgirl kicking (an admittedly dickish) Commissioner Gordon off a roof and into the Bat-Signal. [[spoiler:Turns out it was a robot Gordon and she knew it.]]

** There's the opening where Superman kills Lex Luthor, who is the president of the United States, and proclaims he doesn't want to be a hero anymore. It was the JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope moment of an ''AlternateUniverse Superman'' who became a tyrant as a consequence.
** ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} herself demonstrates supreme Superdickery in the cold open for "Fearful Symmetry", gleefully destroying everything in her path, and proving that EvilIsCool, in her pursuit of a terrified civilian. [[spoiler:It's actually a dream triggered by psychic echoes of memories of her EvilTwin clone Galatea.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSpectacularSpiderMan'' episode "Opening Night" has a particularly bizarre "usually ReasonableAuthorityFigure-to-hero" example: The opening shows Norman Osborn, Captain Stacy, and J. Jonah Jameson locking Spidey in a high-security jail cell. The very first scene of the actual episode shows... he's there willingly, and this is just to test the security as a favor (of course, Jonah's still a dick about it).
* Not to break with tradition, for the GrandFinale of ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'', the opening shows the conquest of an alien planet by Superman, in the name of [[Characters/NewGodsDarkseid Darkseid]]. [[spoiler:He's not doing it ''willingly,'' but it's exactly what it looks like after a little {{brainwash|ed}}ing. Humanity's trust in Superman, and superheroes in general after this lesson in what would happen if one went rogue, is ''not'' rebuilt in a day, as we will see in WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Young Justice|2010}}'':
** The episode "Image" opens with Batman, ComicBook/GreenArrow and ComicBook/BlackCanary watching a recording of Black Canary and Superboy sparring and starting [[TeacherStudentRomance to kiss passionately]]. [[spoiler:After the title credits it turns out it's actually [[PowerPerversionPotential Miss Martian taking on Black Canary's image]], [[KinkyRolePlaying with Superboy fully aware of it too.]] The real Black Canary wasn't happy to learn about it, while an initially shocked Green Arrow finds the whole thing [[ActuallyPrettyFunny hysterical]].]]

* ''VideoGame/KirbysAdventure'' (NES) has King Dedede stealing the Star Rod and breaking it into seven pieces to hide all over Dreamland. Kirby tracks down the pieces of the MacGuffin, only to learn that [[spoiler:Dedede stole the Rod to keep it from Nightmare who corrupted the Fountain of Dreams and to protect Dreamland. [[PoorCommunicationKills But he doesn't explain this to Kirby very well]] though it doesn't help that Dedede was bathing in the Fountain of Dreams when Kirby arrived making him look especially guilty.]]

->'''Innocent Bystander:''' Superman — don't just sit there! Stop that thing before it wrecks Metropolis!\\

** The episode "Exile" (and part of the next episode, "Phoenix") deserves a special mention. It is a full episode of Clark doing everything ever linked to the word "superdickery", including but not limited to [[BankRobbery robbing banks]] ([[KickTheSonOfABitch beating up the would-be robbers on the way]]), [[KickTheMoralityPet roughing up Chloe]] after [[IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight she spent two months trying to convince him to go home]], making a [[DealWithTheDevil deal with a crime boss to break into a high-security vault]] and [[CallingTheOldManOut coming to actual blows with Jonathan]]. Oh, he [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking stole and destroyed Chloe's class ring too]]. [[spoiler:He is actually affected by the red kryptonite in Chloe's ring, and breaking it finally frees him from his SuperpoweredEvilSide.]]

* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' did this with the episode called "The Enterprise Incident". Kirk, seemingly against Starfleet orders, invades Romulan space and gets the Enterprise captured. Spock then betrays the ship by siding with the Romulans and testifies that Kirk has gone insane from the pressures of command, before killing Kirk in self-defense. [[spoiler:This all turns out to be a plan set up by Starfleet to allow Kirk and Spock to steal a Romulan cloaking device while providing Starfleet with plausible deniability should the deal go south.]]

** The episode "Image" opens with Batman, ComicBook/GreenArrow and ComicBook/BlackCanary watching a recording of Black Canary and Superboy sparring and starting [[TeacherStudentRomance to kiss passionately]]. [[spoiler:After the title credits it turns out it's actually Miss Martian taking on Black Canary's image, with Superboy fully aware of it too. The real Black Canary wasn't happy to learn about it, while an initially shocked Green Arrow finds the whole thing [[ActuallyPrettyFunny hysterical]].]]

** The episode "Image" opens with Batman, ComicBook/GreenArrow and ComicBook/BlackCanary watching a recording of Black Canary and Superboy sparring and starting [[TeacherStudentRomance to kiss passionately]]. [[spoiler:After the title credits it turns out it's actually Miss Martian taking on Black Canary's image, with Superboy fully aware of it too. The real Black Canary wasn't happy to learn about it, while an initially shocked Green Arrow finds the whole thing [[ACtuallyPrettyFunny hysterical]].]]

** The episode "Image" opens with Batman, ComicBook/GreenArrow and ComicBook/BlackCanary watching a recording of Black Canary and Superboy sparring and starting [[TeacherStudentRomance to kiss passionately]]. [[spoiler:After the title credits it turns out it's actually Miss Martian taking on Black Canary's image, with Superboy fully aware of it too. The real Black Canary wasn't happy to learn about it.]]

** The series pulled one off and made it absolutely ''terrifying''; Commissioner Gordon goes into ''all-out war'' against Batman for the death of Barbara Gordon. [[spoiler:It's all Barbara's nightmare.]]

* ''ComicBook/RichieRich'', usually a nice kid, doesn't always behave this way on the covers; he sometimes flaunts his ludicrous fortune in search of a [[IncrediblyLamePun bad money-related pun]] of the apparent envy of passersby. He shapes everything in the shape of a dollar sign, [[JobStealingRobot replaces workers with robots]], or genetically modifies animals to be made out of gems, gold, [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs gem-encrusted gold]], money, or at the very least speckled with dollar signs. ''Blog/OccupyRichieRich'' portrays him as bullying the working class with his sheer fortune.