History Main / TheManInFrontOfTheMan

* In the ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'' episode "Close Rick-counters of the Rick Kind", Evil Rick [[RoboticReveal turns out to be a cyborg]] remotely controlled by his supposed lackey, Evil Morty.
* Toffee from ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'' manages to be this and then TheManBehindTheMan in two different story arcs and towards the same guy as well. In season 1, he poses as [[BigBad Ludo]]'s HypercompetentSidekick, kicking him out of his castle and taking over the spot of main villain for the series' finale. Season 2 has him as a consciousness stuck within a "wand" found by Ludo, secretly guiding and manipulating him so that he may conquer Star's kingdom.

%% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order. Thanks!

As a PlotTwist trope, '''beware of unmarked spoilers below.'''

!! Examples:

* ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyModernWarfareII'': Valeria Garza acts as the personal sicaria (female hitman) for the elusive El Sin Nombre, leader of [[TheCartel Las Almas Cartel]], while in reality, she's El Sin Nombre herself who assume the secret identity after taking over the Cartel's leadership by killing their old boss in BodyguardBetrayal.

* ''Series/ShakespeareAndHathawayPrivateInvestigators'': In the season 2 episode "The Offered Fallacy", the titular detectives find that two CriminalDoppelganger con artists are defrauding prospective clients and framing them. After catching up with the two imposters, they discover they're actually unemployed actors, chosen for their resemblance to the detectives, who are being blackmailed into committing the crimes. The person behind it all is an unseen hacker who contacts them online. And then the final twist is that Lu Shakespeare's impersonator isn't actually a blackmail victim, unlike Hathaway's double, as she's secretly the woman behind the whole scheme...

** E.N.D. is widely presumed to have built the Tartaros guild long before getting [[SealedEvilInACan sealed within his book]]. In truth, it's his so-called DragonInChief Mard Geer who's in charge, rallying other members around E.N.D.'s book and passing his own orders off as the will of E.N.D. It makes sense, considering E.N.D. is actually Natsu, the main character, which [[LaserGuidedAmnesia neither he]] nor anyone in Tartaros knew about.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'': The Shadows of Mhach storyline revolves around various demonic entities trying to resurrect the Void Queen. However, after she is slain by the heroes, Diabolos reveals that he orchestrated these events over several thousand years so that he could eventually kill the Void Queen himself and claim her power as his own.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV'': Iedolas Aldercapt is the ruler of Niflheim, who orchestrates the invasion of Lucis and orders his forces to murder the entire Lucis lineage on sight. Chancellor Ardyn, by contrast, is far less antagonistic, as he mainly just bugs you through the first five hours of the game and even takes a selfie with you. Needless to say, ''he's'' the real BigBad.

* In ''LightNovel/LogHorizon'' Indicus is apparently the maid and representative of Nureha, the leader of guild Plant Hwyaden. In truth Indicus has used [[ManipulativeBastard psychological torment]] and [[BrokenBird Nureha's own self-loathing]] to cripple her, and now controls Nureha, the guild, and Minami as she sees fit.

* The Demon King in ''LightNovel/SoImASpiderSoWhat'' is the absolute authority of the demons due to [[AsskickingLeadsToLeadership being the most powerful by default]]. In the present of the story, Demon King Ariel is [[WorldsStrongestWoman the most powerful being who exists within the System]], and [[SheIsTheKing her]] intent is to spark the bloodiest and most terrible war to ever grace the planet between demons and humans...except, as it turns out, that there's someone even ''more'' powerful and fearsome than the Demon King, someone whom the Demon King ''takes orders from'', someone who is the true Demon King for all intents and purposes: Tenth Demon Army General Shiro, one of the Demon King's supposed loyal followers, who is actually the protagonist Kumoko, and a ''god.'' The duo's deception is so effective that the number of people outside of their inner circle who are aware of the truth can be counted in one hand until an outside force reveals the truth to the whole world in order to spark mayhem.

* ''LightNovel/UndefeatedBahamutChronicle'' has the King of Vices, who rules the Republic of Heiburg from the {{shadow|Dictator}}s. To hide her identity, she poses as Calensia Hersmice, the mistreated aide of her country's top soldier, who she brainwashed to act as her proxy.

** Dimentio from ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'' poses himself as a minion of Count Bleck in order to use the Count to bring about the Chaos Heart and the Void, after which he manipulates the heroes into defeating Bleck and solidifies himself as the main villain of the game by seizing the Chaos Heart out from under him. Dimentio may be this even more explicitly if there is anything to his rumoured involvement with the creation of the Dark Prognosticus, which states that a man similar to Dimentio is part of the prophecy Bleck is following. This ended up convincing Bleck to add Dimentio to his organization (which would mean that Bleck was being manipulated from the start).

* 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.

* The Demon King in ''LightNovel/SoImASpiderSoWhat'' is the absolute authority of the demons due to [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority being the most powerful by default]]. In the present of the story, Demon King Ariel is [[WorldsStrongestWoman the most powerful being who exists within the System]], and [[SheIsTheKing her]] intent is to spark the bloodiest and most terrible war to ever grace the planet between demons and humans...except, as it turns out, that there's someone even ''more'' powerful and fearsome than the Demon King, someone whom the Demon King ''takes orders from'', someone who is the true Demon King for all intents and purposes: Tenth Demon Army General Shiro, one of the Demon King's supposed loyal followers, who is actually the protagonist Kumoko, and a ''god.'' The duo's deception is so effective that the number of people outside of their inner circle who are aware of the truth can be counted in one hand until an outside force reveals the truth to the whole world in order to spark mayhem.

** 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 rumoured involvement with the creation of the Dark Prognosticus, which states that a man similar to Dimentio is part of the prophecy Bleck is following. This ended up convincing Bleck to add Dimentio to his organization (which would mean that Bleck was being manipulated from the start).

* Brajira of the Messiah pulls this not once, not twice, but ''three'' times in ''Series/TensouSentaiGoseiger'', offering his services to each of the antagonist organizations the Goseiger's have faced while using them for his own goals. Once they're all out of the way, Brajira reveals himself as the [[BigBad true instigator]] behind the events of the series.

** ''Anime/DoraemonNobitaAndTheRobotKingdom'' introduces it's tyrannical queen, Jeanne, as it's main antagonist, until the revelation that Jeanne's advisor, Dester, is the one pulling the strings behind Jeanne's decisions, from stripping robots of their emotions to having captives imprisoned and assorted atrocities.

* ''Series/InPlainSight'': An assassin's go-between - played by Dave Foley - gets arrested and turns on his boss, "Lola", in the titular episode. While Mary and her partner transport him, Lola's goons attack to silence the assistant. Our heroes eventually realize there ''is'' no boss. He was [[NoOneSeesTheBoss acting as the harmless, irritating front man to a woman who doesn't exist]]. He ''deliberately'' got caught so he could get to a target in jail.

->'''Vice:''' Where's your "sorry"? Look, your boss is bawling.
->'''Orteca:''' "Boss"? She was just for show. A convenient puppet for cultists to gather around.

* ''Anime/DoraemonNobitaAndTheRobotKingdom'' introduces it's tyrannical queen, Jeanne, as it's main antagonist, until the revelation that Jeanne's advisor, Dester, is the one pulling the strings behind Jeanne's decisions, from stripping robots of their emotions to having captives imprisoned and assorted atrocities.

->'''Vice''': Where's your "sorry"? Look, your boss is bawling.
->'''Orteca''': "Boss"? She was just for show. A convenient puppet for cultists to gather around.

* 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.

** Ultear presents herself as Jellal's loyal follower on the Magic Council, and is mocked by Jellal for her foolish BlindObedience. What he failed to realize is that she was the one who had been [[BrainwashedAndCrazy brainwashing]] him for eight years as TheDragon of [[TheManBehindTheMan Hades]], the master of Grimoire Heart.

* ''LightNovel/UndefeatedBahamutChronicle'' has the King of Vices, who rules the Republic of Heiburg from the [[ShadowDictator shadows]]. To hide her identity, she poses as Calensia Hersmice, the mistreated aide of her country's top soldier, who she brainwashed to act as her proxy.

* ''WesternAnimation/MuneGuardianOfTheMoon'': The main antagonist, Necross, sends out snakelike spirits called Evil Corruptors to [[BrainwashedAndCrazy brainwash]] others with dark thoughts into serving Necross, so we can assume that the Evil Corruptors are Necross' minions. But it's revealed in the climax that Necross himself has been possessed by an Evil Corruptor the whole time, making it ambiguous as to whether Necross was ever in control, or if all his evil plans were actually the snake's.

* ''Film/{{Equilibrium}}'': The dystopian state of Libria is ruled by a [[ShadowDictator mysterious figure]] known only as "Father", who delegates much of his authority to Vice Council [=DuPont=], who acts as [[MouthOfSauron "Father's Voice"]]. At the end, it's revealed that Father died several years ago and they've been using his image for propaganda purposes. The Council simply elected [=DuPont=] himself to de facto assume the responsibilies of Father's office.

* ''Film/SvahaTheSixthFinger: Father Kim Je-seok, the 116-year-old leader of the evil murderous Deer Mountain cult, is identified as an ancient man, bedridden and dying and hooked up to a bunch of monitors. TheReveal is that the old man in the bed is just a decoy, and the real evil cult leader is the henchman who spends most of his time gardening around the cult's headquarters, and who looks to be in his forties as the result of [[Really700YearsOld some sort of black magic]].

** ''Series/KamenRiderRevice'': Aguilera seems like the leader of the Deadmans at first, but it becomes apparent later on she's just a figurehead used by her supposed second-in-command and others in the cult to rally people behind. Her true purpose is to [[spoiler:be a sacrifice for the demon they worship, Giff.]]

* ''Series/StrangerThings'': As we find out at the end of Season 4, [[spoiler: Vecna isn't another minion of the [[EldritchAbomination Mind Flayer]] as everyone assumed, but in fact ''created'' the Mind Flayer as an avatar, making him the true BigBad all along]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Earthbound}}'': [[FatBastard Porky/Pokey]] has shades of this as it is implied that he's the one using Giygas instead of the other way around, if only because by the time you face him, Giygas is completely and irrevocably insane.

* A long-reaching example in the ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' series which finally comes to a head in the epilogue of ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII''. It turns out that all of [[BigBad Xehanort's]] plans for the last few decades have been manipulated by someone else: Luxu, the final apprentice of the Master of Masters and original owner of Xehanort's Keyblade, No Name. Everything Xehanort has done was part of Luxu's plan to create a new Keyblade War, which was apparently necessary to allow the other Foretellers to return. And where exactly has Luxu been all this time? [[HiddenInPlainSight He's been right here for a while.]] We just didn't recognize him because he was calling himself ''[[TheDragon Xigbar]]''.

* ''VideoGame/TheNightOfTheRabbit'' has four lizards who make [[DealWithTheDevil deals]] with innocents to put them under the BigBad's spell, and initially seem to be a QuirkyMinibossSquad to the BigBad. But it's revealed at the end that they are just four of an evil, nebulous organization called Consortium Squamata, and they came to visit the BigBad, Zaroff, at his lowest point, making a deal with Zaroff to help him get the revenge he wanted in exchange for showing them how to enter the various portal worlds so that they could corrupt those worlds.

* Toffee from ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'' manages to be this and then TheManBehindTheMan in two different story arcs and towards the same guy as well. In season 1, he poses as [[BigBad Ludo's]] HypercompetentSidekick, kicking him out of his castle and taking over the spot of main villain for the series' finale. Season 2 has him as a consciousness stuck within a "wand" found by Ludo, secretly guiding and manipulating him so that he may conquer Star's kingdom.