"If this was a movie, I’d gasp in shock and say: Good heavens! The butler! But this guy I never saw before! Oh, well, it won’t take the police long to find out who he is."
—Spider-Man unmasking Electro, The Amazing Spider-Man (Lee & Ditko) #9
"Knox's First Commandment: The criminal must be someone mentioned in the early part of the story, but must not be anyone whose thoughts the reader has been allowed to follow."
— Ronald Knox, attempting
to prevent this bad writing trope from being used.
to prevent this bad writing trope from being used."If nothing else, I can at least learn the Flash's secret identity." (pulls off mask; looks at face in the mirror for a moment) "...I have no idea who this is."
"And then there's the mystery itself, which is almost laughably weak. Figuring out who the killer is in a Halloween sequel is more exciting than the reveal of the murderer, who is a nothing character of no significance and delivers a motive that makes no sense at all (something Poe actually says to his face; a rare moment in the film where I was on board with the script)."
Paradox: Ha haha! Ha haha haha! Ha haha! Ha haha haha! We meet again, pwotagonists.
Yusei: Alright, Paradox, it's time you showed us who you really are. Take off that damn mask!
(dramatic music as Paradox removes his mask)
Yugi: Oh my God, it's him!
Yusei: I can't believe it!
Jaden: Damn! I totally didn't see that coming!
Yugi: ...Okay, so does anybody actually know this guy?
Yusei: Nope.
Jaden: Never met him.
Paradox: Of course you don't know who I am. I'm fwom the future.
Yusei: So why were you wearing a mask?
Paradox: What?
Yusei: You had a mask on.
Paradox: No I did not.
Yusei: Yes you did.
Paradox: Did not.
Yusei: You completely, totally did!
Paradox: Look it makes my chawacter design wook intewesting. What do you want fwom me?
Yusei: Alright, Paradox, it's time you showed us who you really are. Take off that damn mask!
(dramatic music as Paradox removes his mask)
Yugi: Oh my God, it's him!
Yusei: I can't believe it!
Jaden: Damn! I totally didn't see that coming!
Yugi: ...Okay, so does anybody actually know this guy?
Yusei: Nope.
Jaden: Never met him.
Paradox: Of course you don't know who I am. I'm fwom the future.
Yusei: So why were you wearing a mask?
Paradox: What?
Yusei: You had a mask on.
Paradox: No I did not.
Yusei: Yes you did.
Paradox: Did not.
Yusei: You completely, totally did!
Paradox: Look it makes my chawacter design wook intewesting. What do you want fwom me?
—Yu-Gi-Oh! Bonds Beyond Time Abridged
Great Pope: So, you finally reached me, Pegasus. I guess it's time to drop the mask! (cue Dramatic Unmask)
Seiya: Oh my God! You are someone we never saw before! You bastard, you hide your game well- Ee, Wait! You are someone we never saw before?!
Great Pope/Gemini Saga: Yeah, I don't get either why the writers were so obsessed with hiding my face until the finale. I mean, do I have something in my teeth, or what?
Seiya: Oh my God! You are someone we never saw before! You bastard, you hide your game well- Ee, Wait! You are someone we never saw before?!
Great Pope/Gemini Saga: Yeah, I don't get either why the writers were so obsessed with hiding my face until the finale. I mean, do I have something in my teeth, or what?
"Deep Throat is… a guy you've never heard of!!"
— Jon Stewart on The Daily Show after Deep Throat, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein's source for insider info on Watergate, was revealed to be W. Mark Felt (whom most Americans had never heard of).
"Turns out you can only make it as a supervillain in New York if you've been to at least three of Spider-Man's birthday parties; nepotism, I call it. These days, Spider-Man probably gets more thrown if supervillains don't turn out to be someone he knows; he wrestles them to the ground and the mask falls off, and he goes, '(GASP!) No, it can't be! I have no idea who you are!'"
— Zero Punctuation, review of Spider-Man: Miles Morales
