Automoderated users, Autopatrolled users, Bureaucrats, Comment administrators, Confirmed users, Forum administrators, Interface administrators, Moderators, Rollbackers, Administrators
116,603
edits
(Import from TV Tropes TVT:Main.DeepCoverAgent 2012-07-01, editor history TVTH:Main.DeepCoverAgent, CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported license) |
Looney Toons (talk | contribs) (moved new "real life" section and example to end of page per standard guidelines) |
||
(9 intermediate revisions by 5 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{trope}}{{Needs Image}}
She seems to be the all-American woman. She's married to a nice man, she helps out at the PTA, bakes cookies for charity and drives a car with the US flag on it. She speaks like she's lived in the US all her life, and every Memorial Day lays flowers on her war-hero [[Conveniently Unverifiable Cover Story|parent's graves]].
Line 8:
This is [[Truth in Television]], even [http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/29/world/europe/29spy.html?ref=global-home in] a post-[[Cold War]] world.
{{examples
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* In ''[[
* Mitsuko's mother in [[Kikaider]], who was hired to spy on Dr. Komiyoji, and only gave birth to her as a means to appear like a normal happy family.
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* Appears frequently in ''[[Nth Man:
* [[Bucky Barnes]], during his time as the [[Captain America (comics)|The Winter Soldier]] often served this role during the [[Cold War]], given that he was an American [[Brainwashed and Crazy|brainwashed]] into serving as a Soviet assassin.
== [[Film]] ==
* Ur-
* ''[[The Long Kiss Goodnight]]'' had a case of this, but Charlie's Deep Cover situation (which fractured at inopportune moments) was more a case of amnesia (which resulted in [[Beware the Nice Ones|sweet, cute housewife displaying mad skills]]) based on a sudden betrayal.
* In ''[[
* In ''[[Salt]]'', the main character is accused of being this. {{spoiler|It's true. But then she turns out to be a [[Double Agent]]... Sort of.}}
* ''[[
* In ''[[No Way Out]]'', a Pentagon [[Witch Hunt]] for a [[Red Herring Mole|supposed Soviet mole]] is used as a cover story to frame someone for a murder committed by the Secretary of Defense. Of course, it turns out that [[Framing the Guilty Party|there really is a mole]], who was inserted into the country as a child and managed to work himself up through the military until he was in a position of absolute trust.
* In ''[[Inglourious Basterds]]'', {{spoiler|Hans Landa}} demands to be [[
== [[Literature]] ==
* ''[[The Bourne Ultimatum]]'' novel features another such facility, where Carlos the Jackal was trained (until he got thrown out). There's also a character who's trained to be an American. His mother (another
* Protagonist Trystin Desoll of L.E. Modesitt, Jr.'s ''[[The Parafaith War]]'', though his infiltration didn't actually last that long. Because he looks a lot like the vaguely-Aryan "revs," he gets put through heavy training to learn how to infiltrate their home planet. His training would've allowed him to stay indefinitely, but he carried out his assassination mission in about a week.
* In the BattleTech novel ''Bred for War'', it's a DNA test performed by a (mostly unwitting) deep cover agent that leads to the discovery that the son of Thomas Marik, Captain-General of the Free Worlds League, has died of his leukemia and been replaced by a double while undergoing treatment in the Federated Commonwealth. This does not go over well (it starts a war, in fact), but in the end also clues the Commonwealth's ruler in to the fact that {{spoiler|'Thomas Marik' is ''himself'' a deep-cover agent -- his son was in fact his son, but 'his' older daughter's DNA doesn't match his at all}}.
Line 35 ⟶ 34:
* In [[Tom Clancy]]'s novel ''Executive Orders'', the Iranian religious leader placed deep cover agents in several countries with orders to become part of their respective leaders' security details. The first use of one of these agents is to assassinate the president of Iraq, starting the book's major conflict. Naturally, there's another agent, in {{spoiler|the U.S. Secret Service}}.
* In the [[X Wing Series]] Gara Petothel, after being disgusted by her superior's [[We Have Reserves|willingness to sacrifice the crew of a Star Destroyer]], arranges for his death to come a little sooner and sends out the evacuation order that he had been unwilling to make. Then she implements her backup plan, taking an identity as her superior's drugged-up unwilling mistress, and gets into an escape capsule. The New Republic gets her over an addiction to various drugs and sets her up with a modest job and apartment on Coruscant, where she secretly sends a message to Warlord Zsinj, her boss's boss, saying that she's in position and will keep doing what she's been ordered to do. She's a professional [[The Mole|mole]] and has joined, served for long periods, and betrayed the New Republic before. This time, Wraith Squadron recruits her in a complicated scheme, and although she joins the squadron with the intent to betray it and bring down the Rebel hero Wedge Antilles, she gets sucked in by [[The Power of Trust]] and how [[Good Feels Good]], and [[Becoming the Mask|becomes the mask]]. Unfortunately, the Wraiths eventually find out about the [[Awful Truth]].
* ''[[
* {{spoiler|Jacob Kelling}} from Emma Bull's ''Falcon'', who was planted years ago to bring down a whole planet's government.
== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* Irina Derevko/Laura Bristow from ''[[Alias (TV series)|Alias]]'', a KGB agent tasked to marry an American CIA agent. The show also features a training facility in Russia where people are trained to blend in in American [[Suburbia]].
** A minor character in the second season and {{spoiler|Lauren Reed}} from the third season also turn out to be examples of this trope.
* In the ''[[Lois and Clark]]'' episode "Super Mann", a star quarterback, country singer, and model are revealed to be deep cover agents from ''Nazi Germany''.
* Ingrid Bannister in the ''[[MacGyver]]'' episode "The Enemy Within". She hypnotises her husband into telling her secrets on a frequent basis. Played by Lynn Holly Johnson, in case you're interested.
* Rather common on ''[[Mission: Impossible]]'' when they faced foreign agents. A first season episode even showed the training facility.
* The 1991 [[The BBC|BBC]] series ''[[
* ''[[
* ''[[The New Avengers]]'' episode "House of Cards" features a rogue Russian agent activating an old cold war project of deep, deep cover agents, {{spoiler|two of whom are old friends of Steed}}.
* In ''[[Kamen Rider Dragon Knight]]'', the reporter Michelle Walsh turns out to have been working for the No Men all along, helping them squash the rumours that other reporters were stirring up.
* In one episode of ''[[
== [[Poetry]] ==
Line 57 ⟶ 56:
** The manual to ''[[Metal Gear]] 2'' reveals that Snake used to be one of these in the CIA. Nothing is revealed about what he actually did (leading a lot of fangirls to jump to [[Honey Trap|the sexiest possible conclusion]]), but at one point Campbell threatens to blackmail him with records of the things he did, so it was probably extremely dubious.
* ''[[Need for Speed]] Undercover'' features the player, as a cop, going into deep cover as quickly as possible. This means, basically, that he becomes a reckless criminal, doing crazy stuff like street racing, car thefts and high speed police pursuits just to get in good with the criminals.
* {{spoiler|Hobbes}}, in ''[[Wing Commander (
* ''[[Modern Warfare]] 2'' has the infamous airport level where the player has to take part in a massacre to maintain their cover.
** {{spoiler|[[Xanatos Gambit|It doesn't work]].}}
Line 68 ⟶ 67:
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* Hawkgirl in the ''[[Justice League]]'' animated series, who in the "Starcrossed" story arc at the end of the second season was revealed to have been a spy for the planet Thanagar, in preparation of its invasion of Earth. {{spoiler|She justified her actions because she thought she was helping Earth, but defected when she learned that Earth would be destroyed in the process.}}
* Shockwave, of ''[[Transformers
== [[Real Life]] ==
* Subversion. According to ''Spycraft Secrets: An Espionage A-Z'' (by Nigel West and David Petraeus), this has varied meanings from country to country. But in the British service it means a bait-and-switch done in places where the Chief of Station is likely to be identified (usually that is the case anyway but sometimes it is more of a hindrance to operations than others). Aside from the Chief of Station, a second agent is put in to do the important jobs in a role where he hopefully won't be noticed, such as a [[Almighty Janitor|janitor]] or a [[The Butler Did It|butler]] or whatever covers are preferred in that regard.
{{reflist}}
Line 75 ⟶ 77:
[[Category:Action Adventure Tropes]]
[[Category:Dirty Communists]]
[[Category:
|