History Main / TheManInFrontOfTheMan

* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' serial "The Pirate Planet", the stereotypically [[EvilIsHammy hammy]] BigBad is eventually revealed to be a patsy of [[spoiler:his nurse.]]

* In ''Film/BatmanBegins'' a man is introduced as Ra's al'Ghul, looking every bit the namesake, with his adjutant, Ducard. But before long it becomes clear the big man is a DecoyLeader and "Ducard" is the true Raz al'Ghul. Misdirection is, after all, one of the League of Shadows' prime tricks.

In the ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'' episode "Close Rick-counters of the Rick Kind", Evil Rick [[RoboticReveal turns out to be a robot]] created by Evil Morty.

* In ''Literature/{{Foundation}} and Empire'' the Mule, the psychic leader of a powerful army which is derailing the Foundation's plans, is in disguise as a [[TheJester Court Jester]] for one of his underlings. He gets "rescued" by Foundationers and taken to their home planet.

* In ''Manga/{{Naruto}},'' Pain is established as the leader of Akatsuki; upon his HeelFaceTurn death, the group's ButtMonkey Tobi reveals that he had been secretly pulling the group's strings all along.

* In ''Literature/TheSirensOfTitan'', the entire Army of Mars is run by underling who command their superiors via remote control.

* In ''Literature/TheSirensofTitan'', the entire Army of Mars is run by underling who command their superiors via remote control.

* Happens twice in ''Literature/TheElenium'': At first it seems that Annias is the main foe with his bid to become leader of the corrupt church, making deals with the dark god Azash and hiring the mercenary Martel to start fires throughout the continent for the Church Knights, who want to purify the corruption, to be kept busy with. But after his main gambit fails, it comes out that Martel has been pulling Annias' strings. Later it becomes apparent that Martel is taking orders from Azash, who is manipulating events to bring the [[CosmicKeystone Bhelliom]] out into the open for the taking.
** This all happens again in the sequel series ''The Tamuli'', first when Martel's lowly lackey Krager reveals he was the brains of their operation all along; then, he and various other rabble-rousers are in the employ of a new villain, a god called Cyrgon who had been thought extinct. Later, Cyrgon is actually working for the true BigBad, [[spoiler:Zalasta]], who has been manipulating the events of both series in his bid to get the Bhelliom for himself.

* ''VideoGame/{{Earthbound}}'': [[FatBastard Porky/Pokey]] has shades of this as it is implied that he's the one using Gyigas instead of the other way around.

* The first episode of ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'' gives the impression that Roman Torchwick is the main villain and that the mysterious woman who flew his airship and fought off an enemy huntress on his behalf is another one of his minions. Later on the woman is revealed Torchwick's boss, Cinder Fall.

** This all happens again in the sequel series ''Literature/TheTamuli'', first when Martel's lowly lackey Krager reveals he was the brains of their operation all along; then, he and various other rabble-rousers are in the employ of a new villain, a god called Cyrgon who had been thought extinct. Later, Cyrgon is actually working for the true BigBad, [[spoiler:Zalasta]], who has been manipulating the events of both series in his bid to get the Bhelliom for himself.

** This all happens again in the sequel series ''The Tamuli'', first when Martel's lowly lackey Krager reveals he was the brains of their operation all along; then, he and various other rabble-rousers are in the employ of a new villain, a god called Cyrgon who had been thought extinct. Later, Cyrgon is actually working for the true BigBad, [[spoiler: Zalasta]], who has been manipulating the events of both series in his bid to get the Bhelliom for himself.

Compare DecoyLeader, BastardUnderstudy, ReverseRelationshipReveal, TrickBoss, ApparentlyPowerlessPuppetmaster, and various permutations of TheDragon, particularly: TheStarscream, the DragonAscendant, the DragonInChief. See also TheDogWasTheMastermind, ChessmasterSidekick, HijackedByGanon.

* In ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'', Tarquin has set himself up as TheDragon to the Empress of Blood, who is literally a large red dragon. It soon becomes clear, however, that the Empress of Blood is not only a figurehead [[spoiler:but also a pawn in Tarquin's plot to rule the entire continent from the shadows.]]

* The first episode of ''WebOriginal/{{RWBY}}'' gives the impression that Roman Torchwick is the main villain and that the mysterious woman who flew his airship and fought off an enemy huntress on his behalf is another one of his minions. Later on the woman is revealed Torchwick's boss, Cinder Fall.

* Dimentio from ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'' poses himself as a minion of Count Bleck, but he turns out to be the main villain of the game. What makes this different from Dimentio being TheStarscream is his supposed involvement with the creation of the Dark Prognosticus, which states that a man similar to Dimentio was part of the prophecy Bleck followed. This ended up convincing Bleck to add Dimentio to his organization (which would mean that Bleck was being manipulated from the start).

Compare DecoyLeader, BastardUnderstudy, ReverseRelationshipReveal, TrickBoss, and various permutations of TheDragon, particularly: TheStarscream, the DragonAscendant, the DragonInChief. See also TheDogWasTheMastermind, ChessmasterSidekick, HijackedByGanon.

* In the ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' episode "Sympathy for the Devil", the Bebop crew tries to track down an old bounty head called Zebra, who seems to be masquerading as a paralyzed man living with a young boy. Only after searching the memories of one of Zebra's dying friends do the crew find that Zebra is really disabled and is in the clutches of the boy, who, due to a freak hyperspace gateway incident, doesn't age and is much older than he looks.

* In ''{{Anime/Naruto}},'' Pain is established as the leader of Akatsuki; upon his HeelFaceTurn death, the group's ButtMonkey Tobi reveals that he had been secretly pulling the group's strings all along.

* ''Film/{{Dragonheart}}'' has one that overlaps with mistaken blame: the prince Einon is given a heart transplant from a dragon to save his life. He then ascends the throne and becomes a tyrant. The protagonist believes that the dragon corrupted him and goes seeking for revenge, but the dragon claims, and Einon eventually confirms, that he was evil all along and used the dragon's gift for his own plans.

* ''Film/IronMan3'' is similar to Batman Begins, in which the Mandarin is just a decoy (or to be really specific, an actor), and the minor character is heavily implied to be the true Mandarin.

* Happens twice in ''Literature/TheElenium'': At first it seems that Annias is the main foe with his bid to become leader of the corrupt church, making deals with the dark god Azash and hiring the mercenary Martel to start fires throughout the continent for the Church Knights, who want to purify the corruption, to be kept busy with. But after his main gambit fails, it comes out that Martel has been leading Annias' strings. Later it becomes apparent that Martel is taking orders from Azash, who is manipulating events to bring the [[CosmicKeystone Bhelliom]] out into the open for the taking.
* This all happens again in the sequel series ''The Tamuli'', first when Martel's lowly lackey Krager reveals he was the brains of their operation all along; then, he and various other rabble-rousers are in the employ of a new villain, a god called Cyrgon who had been thought extinct. Later, Cyrgon is actually working for the true BigBad, [[spoiler: Zalasta]], who has been manipulating the events of both series in his bid to get the Bhelliom for himself.
* In ''Literature/BookOfTheNewSun'', two of the characters are ThoseTwoBadGuys, Dr. Talos and Bandanders (both cases of MeaningfulName combined with GeniusBonus). Talos, who clearly seems to be the leader, is a clever, glib conman with [[CunningLikeAFox fox-like features]]. Baldanders clearly comes off as the subordinate and appears to be a GentleGiant and rarely speaks. In actuality, [[spoiler: Baldanders is some sort of HumanoidAbomination MadScientist who turns out to be a threatening villain, and Talos is an ArtificialHuman, who is his creation- the parallels to/subversion of FrankensteinsMonster are deliberate.]].

* ''Literature/TheStainlessSteelRat'' makes this almost fatal mistake when he first confronts criminal psychotic Angelina. Bringing down an arrest, he refuses to believe the ditzy, hysterical, beautiful airhead he sees is anything more than a low-level mook and gangster's moll. He therefore ignores her and focuses on arresting her accomplice - who is brooding, intense-eyed and unshaven and ''looks'' like an Evil Genius. In the confusion, she escapes, having conned diGriz into thinking she's insignificant. While he is arresting the hired help, she slays two policemen and steals an escape pod, evading laser fire and tractor beams with some skilled stunt-flying.

* ''Series/BeingHuman'': In series two, Professor Jaggat is introduced secretly as the scientific mastermind behind the purging of the werewolves, with Kemp as her public face - her dragon. However, towards the end, we find out Jaggat is just the one Kemp goes to when he needs to find a method of killing a werewolf or vampire; Jaggat is in fact the dragon to him, and is [[DragonTheirFeet dragging her feet]] on the verge of a HeelFaceTurn. Occasionally, she [[TheStarscream tries to take over, too]].
* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'': In "Patterns of Force", a society of HumanAliens has emulated the regime of Nazi Germany, complete with atrocities committed in for racial and cultural motives. The officers of the regime carry out the orders of their Fuhrer, who they only see via television broadcast. It turns out later that the Fuhrer was drugged and under the control of his Deputy. It was the Deputy Fuhrer who was really responsible for giving orders to the Nazi forces, while the true Fuhrer had good intentions all along.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'': The Skull Kid, lonely and frustrated, found an ancient and powerful mask, using it to play cruel tricks, culminating with summoning the moon to fall toward the earth. So it seems. But somewhere along the way, the evil mask started calling the shots; in the final confrontation, Majora's Mask throws the Skull Kid away like an useless puppet, and carries on with its plan as if nothing had happened.

* Dimentio from [[VideoGame/SuperPaperMario]] poses himself as a minion of Count Bleck, but he turns out to be the main villain of the game. What makes this different from Dimentio being TheStarscream is his supposed involvement with the creation of the Dark Prognosticus, which makes him part of the prophecy Bleck followed. This ended up convincing Bleck to add Dimentio to his organization (which would mean that Bleck was being manipulated from the start).

* Dimentio from [[VideoGame/SuperPaperMario]] poses himself as a minion of Count Bleck, but he turns out to be the main villain of the game. What makes this different from him being TheStarscream is his supposed involvement with the creation of the Dark Prognosticus, which convinced Bleck to add Dimentio to his organization (meaning Bleck was being manipulated from the start).

[[AC: Anime and Manga]]

[[AC: Comic Books]]

[[AC: Film]]

[[AC: Literature]]

[[AC: Live-Action TV]]

[[AC: Video Games]]

* ''VideoGame/EscapeFromMonkeyIsland'' features the return of regular villain [=LeChuck=] in a bid to con the feckless inhabitants of Mêlée Island into voting him the new governor, plus the introduction of amoral land-grabbing entrepreneur Ozzy Mandrill. It's obvious they're working together, but only in act 3 when they have a confrontation with the Guybrushes does it come out that [=LeChuck=] is working for Ozzy and not the other way around.

[[AC: Webcomics]]

[[AC: Web Original]]
* The first episode of ''WebOriginal/{{RWBY}}'' gives the impression that Roman Torchwick is the main villain and that the mysterious woman who flew his airship and fought off an enemy huntress on his behalf is another one of his minions. Later on the woman is revealed Torchwick's boss, Cinder Fall.

In a given story there are some villains. Probably two of them, and they fit archetypes like TheChessmaster and the BlackKnight: one frail but brilliant, the other elemental and powerful. Whatever the specifics, they\'re clearly working together, and all indications are that one is subordinate to the other- he is TheDragon to the BigBad, and their respective characterisations support this.

So imagine the surprise, for both the protagonists and the audience, when the supposed guy on top is defeated, only for his second to appear and smugly announce that he\'s been pulling the strings all the while, and by disposing of his patsy the heroes have played right into his hands.

\'\'\'Beware of unmarked spoilers below.\'\'\'

* In the \'\'Anime/CowboyBebop\'\' episode \"Sympathy for the Devil\", the Bebop crew tries to track down an old bounty head called Zebra, who seems to be masquerading as a paralyzed man living with a young boy. Only after searching the memories of one of Zebra\'s dying friends do the crew find that Zebra is really disabled and is in the clutches of the boy, who, due to a freak hyperspace gateway incident, doesn\'t age and is much older than he looks.
* \'\'Manga/InuYasha\'\' is a pretty unusual case. Early on, Naraku emerges as the main villain and orchestrates most of the plot, with various minor villains serving his ends and any setbacks are AllAccordingToPlan. His goal is to attain the [[MacGuffin Jewel of Four Souls]], which will grant him a single wish, that would presumably make him invincible. Only in the final act, when he finally gets his hands on the complete Jewel, is it revealed that \'\'the MacGuffin itself\'\' was manipulating him and all others who used it towards its own ends. Even after Naraku is finally finished, the Jewel continues to be a threat until it can be destroyed.
* In \'\'{{Anime/Naruto}},\'\' Pain is established as the leader of Akatsuki; upon his HeelFaceTurn death, the group\'s ButtMonkey Tobi reveals that he had been secretly pulling the group\'s strings all along.
* In \'\'Anime/DragonBallGT\'\', the villain named Baby was first introduced as the treasured creation of the evil scientist Dr. Myuu. Then it turns out that it\'s the other way around; Myuu and his creations were just a front to gather the newly-scattered [[MacGuffin black star dragon balls]] and revive the destroyed Planet Vegeta for Baby, revealed to be the king of the Tuffles -- the extinct rival race of the Saiyan main characters -- to reign supreme.
* Prince Diamond appears to be the main villain of the second \'\'Manga/SailorMoon\'\' arc, but over time it becomes apparent that his \"advisor\" Wiseman has been using him as a pawn the entire time.

* In \'\'ComicBook/TheAvengers\'\' Issue 54, the VillainOfTheWeek is the Crimson Cowl, leader of the reformed Masters of Evil, who kidnap Edwin Jarvis (who hasn\'t undergone any CharacterDevelopment at the time). At the climax of the issue, it was revealed that the Crimson Cowl [[OrcusOnHisThrone issuing orders from his throne]] was apparently a decoy robot, and the real Crimson Cowl was Jarvis himself. The events of the next issue reveal, however, that Jarvis was actually BrainwashedAndCrazy, and the \'\'real\'\' mastermind was the robot, none other than ComicBook/{{Ultron}}, the Living Automation, in his Ultron-5 incarnation.

* \'\'Film/{{Dragonheart}}\'\' has one that overlaps with mistaken blame: the prince Einon is given a heart transplant from a dragon to save his life. He then ascends the throne and becomes a tyrant. The protagonist believes that the dragon corrupted him and goes seeking for revenge, but the dragon claims, and Einon eventually confirms, that he was evil all along and used the dragon\'s gift for his own plans.
* In \'\'Film/BatmanBegins\'\' a man is introduced as Ra\'s al\'Ghul, looking every bit the namesake, with his adjutant, Ducard. But before long it becomes clear the big man is a DecoyLeader and \"Ducard\" is the true Raz al\'Ghul. Misdirection is, after all, one of the League of Shadows\' prime tricks.
* In \'\'Film/FastAndFurious\'\', the front man for the drug running ring appears to be working for an unseen boss. The boss turns out to be a decoy and the front man is the actual boss and BigBad.
* \'\'Film/IronMan3\'\' is similar to Batman Begins, in which the Mandarin is just a decoy (or to be really specific, an actor), and the minor character is heavily implied to be the true Mandarin.

* Happens twice in \'\'Literature/TheElenium\'\': At first it seems that Annias is the main foe with his bid to become leader of the corrupt church, making deals with the dark god Azash and hiring the mercenary Martel to start fires throughout the continent for the Church Knights, who want to purify the corruption, to be kept busy with. But after his main gambit fails, it comes out that Martel has been leading Annias\' strings. Later it becomes apparent that Martel is taking orders from Azash, who is manipulating events to bring the [[CosmicKeystone Bhelliom]] out into the open for the taking.
* This all happens again in the sequel series \'\'The Tamuli\'\', first when Martel\'s lowly lackey Krager reveals he was the brains of their operation all along; then, he and various other rabble-rousers are in the employ of a new villain, a god called Cyrgon who had been thought extinct. Later, Cyrgon is actually working for the true BigBad, [[spoiler: Zalasta]], who has been manipulating the events of both series in his bid to get the Bhelliom for himself.
* In \'\'Literature/BookOfTheNewSun\'\', two of the characters are ThoseTwoBadGuys, Dr. Talos and Bandanders (both cases of MeaningfulName combined with GeniusBonus). Talos, who clearly seems to be the leader, is a clever, glib conman with [[CunningLikeAFox fox-like features]]. Baldanders clearly comes off as the subordinate and appears to be a GentleGiant and rarely speaks. In actuality, [[spoiler: Baldanders is some sort of HumanoidAbomination MadScientist who turns out to be a threatening villain, and Talos is an ArtificialHuman, who is his creation- the parallels to/subversion of FrankensteinsMonster are deliberate.]].
* In \'\'Literature/{{Foundation}} and Empire\'\' the Mule, the psychic leader of a powerful army which is derailing the Foundation\'s plans, is in disguise as a [[TheJester Court Jester]] for one of his underlings. He gets \"rescued\" by Foundationers and taken to their home planet.
* \'\'Literature/TheStainlessSteelRat\'\' makes this almost fatal mistake when he first confronts criminal psychotic Angelina. Bringing down an arrest, he refuses to believe the ditzy, hysterical, beautiful airhead he sees is anything more than a low-level mook and gangster\'s moll. He therefore ignores her and focuses on arresting her accomplice - who is brooding, intense-eyed and unshaven and \'\'looks\'\' like an Evil Genius. In the confusion, she escapes, having conned diGriz into thinking she\'s insignificant. While he is arresting the hired help, she slays two policemen and steals an escape pod, evading laser fire and tractor beams with some skilled stunt-flying.
* In \'\'Literature/{{Worm}}\'\', Doctor Mother appears to be in control of Cauldron and does all of the talking, with Contessa being her bodyguard. It is later revealed that Doctor Mother is nothing more than a manager and of rather little importance, while Contessa is the one who makes decisions based on her power to know the way to victory.

* \'\'Series/BeingHuman\'\': In series two, Professor Jaggat is introduced secretly as the scientific mastermind behind the purging of the werewolves, with Kemp as her public face - her dragon. However, towards the end, we find out Jaggat is just the one Kemp goes to when he needs to find a method of killing a werewolf or vampire; Jaggat is in fact the dragon to him, and is [[DragonTheirFeet dragging her feet]] on the verge of a HeelFaceTurn. Occasionally, she [[TheStarscream tries to take over, too]].
* \'\'Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries\'\': In \"Patterns of Force\", a society of HumanAliens has emulated the regime of Nazi Germany, complete with atrocities committed in for racial and cultural motives. The officers of the regime carry out the orders of their Fuhrer, who they only see via television broadcast. It turns out later that the Fuhrer was drugged and under the control of his Deputy. It was the Deputy Fuhrer who was really responsible for giving orders to the Nazi forces, while the true Fuhrer had good intentions all along.

* In the original \'\'VideoGame/BaldursGate\'\', you are led to believe that Sarevok is TheDragon to the leaders of the Iron Throne company (specifically, to his father--the \"CEO\" of Iron Throne), but in reality, he has been the real mastermind all along and they are actually his pawns.
* \'\'VideoGame/EscapeFromMonkeyIsland\'\' features the return of regular villain [=LeChuck=] in a bid to con the feckless inhabitants of Mêlée Island into voting him the new governor, plus the introduction of amoral land-grabbing entrepreneur Ozzy Mandrill. It\'s obvious they\'re working together, but only in act 3 when they have a confrontation with the Guybrushes does it come out that [=LeChuck=] is working for Ozzy and not the other way around.
* \'\'VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask\'\': The Skull Kid, lonely and frustrated, found an ancient and powerful mask, using it to play cruel tricks, culminating with summoning the moon to fall toward the earth. So it seems. But somewhere along the way, the evil mask started calling the shots; in the final confrontation, Majora\'s Mask throws the Skull Kid away like an useless puppet, and carries on with its plan as if nothing had happened.
* \'\'VideoGame/FireEmblemElibe\'\' While the player has already been informed [[DramaticIrony while the lords have not]], Marquess Laus seems to be the enemy in charge of it all. Once the party learns of Nergal and Ephidel, however, the surprise quickly turns on Marquess Laus himself, the only person who didn\'t know he was the victim of the trope.
* In \'\'VideoGame/JadeEmpire\'\', it is widely believed that [[EvilChancellor Deaths Hand]] is corrupting TheEmperor. Eventually it is revealed that the latter has bound the former\'s soul and was controlling him all along.
* Halfway through \'\'VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite\'\', N tells the player that he is the king of Team Plasma, meaning that the Seven Sages all defer to him. However, at the end pf the game it\'s revealed that one of the sages, Ghetsis, has been orchestrating everything and had been manipulating N all along and only let him believe he was in charge.

* In \'\'Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick\'\', Tarquin has set himself up as TheDragon to the Empress of Blood, who is literally a large red dragon. It soon becomes clear, however, that the Empress of Blood is not only a figurehead [[spoiler:but also a pawn in Tarquin\'s plot to rule the entire continent from the shadows.]]
* In \'\'Webcomic/{{Spacetrawler}}\'\', Kuu-Drahc is initially presented as the big bad, as he\'s the highest official authority in the known galaxy. In the senate scenes, an unnamed character stands just behind Kuu-Drahc, looking for all the world like a secretary or advisor. Turns out he\'s actually Qwahntoo, the real power behind the galactic government and the true big bad of the comic.

* The first episode of \'\'WebOriginal/{{RWBY}}\'\' gives the impression that Roman Torchwick is the main villain and that the mysterious woman who flew his airship and fought off an enemy huntress on his behalf is another one of his minions. Later on the woman is revealed Torchwick\'s boss, Cinder Fall.

\'\'\'(Formerly BigBadBaitAndSwitch. Accepting title input)\'\'\'

[[redirect:TheManBehindTheMan]]