It has been said that everyone has a lookalike in this world. And fiction has a tendency to have them meet.
It could be a historical photo, a face-to-face meeting, a statue, but whatever the case, someone will note the resemblance between the two characters, to which one will say either in genuine confusion or being extremely offended and angry at the comparison, deny that the similarities exist. In some cases, they might be telling the truth, as the comparison was either made to offend, or came from a Cloudcuckoolander.
This can also occur when someone makes the comparison themselves, and a third party denies the similarities.
This has frequent overlap with Acting for Two, be it live-action or voicework.
Usually Played for Laughs, but in some types of horror fiction, it can be Played for Drama or horror.
Compare and contrast Prince and Pauper, Strong Family Resemblance, You Don't Look Like You, The Other Darrin, and Generation Xerox. May overlap Celebrity Paradox.
Contrast Alleged Lookalikes.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- Fruits Basket: Motoko Minagawa comments that Saki Hanajima and her brother Megumi look alike, and they deny it, despite obviously looking very similar to each other.
- Kengan Ashura: Rin and Kaneda are identical strangers, to the point that Lihito once took a picture of them together and captions it as "Clones". When they see the published picture, both remarks that "we look nothing alike."
- Lucky Star: At one point, Konata does a crude drawing of Kagami who, of course, is offended by both its crudeness and the fact that she's depicted as breathing fire. Konata does an affected voice to sound like a character from Maria Watches Over Us, saying, "My, it's the spitting image of you. What a terrifying little girl." Kagami angrily tells her to shut up in response, and at that point she does start breathing fire as a visual gag.
- Slayers: While on the run with numerous Wanted posters for her arrest, Lina is hiding with an acting troupe. The play is about a hero rising up to defeat the vile sorceress, Lina Inverse! Lina is infuriated to find that she was being represented by an actor in a giant, unflattering suit, wondering, "In what world does that look like me!?"
- Tamagotchi!: A running gag in the season Tamagotchi! Miracle Friends. It's easy to tell from their white hair, similar-looking ponytails, and body shapes that Miraitchi and Clulutchi are twins, and other Tamagotchis agree they look like each other, yet Miraitchi and Clulutchi insist that they're not anything alike at all, always doing a specific motion where they wave both their hands whenever they deny those claims.
- Yo-kai Watch: When Nate and Whisper come across Dandoodle, the white poodle with a human face, they notice that he looks a lot like Manjimutt, another poodle with a human face (only the latter has brown fur). Dandoodle insists that he looks nothing like him, though, even though as the episode goes on, it becomes more obvious that they have a lot in common.
Film — Live-Action
- Adventures in Babysitting: The film has numerous characters draw frequent comparisons between the heroine of the story, Chris, and the centerfold of a recent Playboy magazine. Only two people deny the comparison: a car thief who was trying to help keep his bosses off of the kids' backs and a young college man who becomes Chris's Love Interest by the end of the film.
Joe Gipp: [looking at the centerfold, then Chris] Nah, she don't even compare to you.
- Dad & Step-Dad: The eponymous dad and step-dad look comedically similar, and are quite alike in disposition as well. At minimum, the mom Has a Type, and at most, they're as close to Inexplicably Identical Individuals as unrelated actors can be. They don't like each other and consider themselves polar opposites.
- Mom and Dad Save the World: Upon realizing that the world they're in is composed almost entirely of idiots, Dad, to rescue his wife, decides to infiltrate Emperor Tod Spango's castle by having a giant statue of him built for him and his allies to hide in. Tod claims the statue, which is an exact likeness, looks nothing like him. He then demands they bring it into the castle so the people can see how much like him it doesn't look, getting Dad into the castle anyway.
- The Parent Trap (1998): When Annie and Hallie, who are long-separated identical twins, meet at the camp, everybody sees that they're twins, although Hallie humorously acts as though they aren't.
Hallie: Well, your eyes are much closer together than mine. Your ears, well, don't worry, you'll grow into them. Your teeth are a little crooked. Oh, and that nose. Well, don't worry, dear. Those things can be fixed.
- Les Visiteurs: When Béatrice points out the resemblance between Jacquouille and Jacquart, the latter protests that he has nothing in common with that guy. Both are played by Christian Clavier, the former being a medieval ancestor of the latter who's travelled in time to The '90s.
Literature
- Adrian Mole: In Cappuccino Years, several people remark that Glenn, the son of Adrian's former girlfriend Sharon, looks very much like Adrian. Adrian is not pleased about this, especially as Glenn cannot read and only likes football. Adrian asks his mother for a photo of himself aged twelve, and is shocked to see that his twelve-year-old self looked exactly like Glenn does now. A Daddy DNA Test confirms that Glenn is indeed Adrian's son.
Live-Action TV
- Blackadder: In "Duel and Duality" in the third series, Blackadder's mad cousin MacAdder drops by. Baldrick and Mrs Miggins remark how similar he looks to Blackadder, who irritably says "we're about as similar as two completely dissimilar things in a pod". Their similarity is emphasised by Blackadder and MacAdder both being played by Rowan Atkinson when they appear together, using Double Vision.
- Bones: Temperance's second cousin shows up in one episode, and the two look so much alike that all the other characters keep commenting on it. Both women repeatedly protest with variations of "I don't see it." note
- Friends: In "The One with Russ", after she breaks up with Ross, Rachel starts dating a guy named Russ, who looks and acts almost exactly like Ross. (Both are played by David Schwimmer, who wears a different outfit and hairstyle as Russ) Everyone else can see the resemblance, except for Ross, who makes fun of Russ for his various quirks, unaware that he's making fun of his own quirks. Rachel only realizes the similarities when he sees the two of them arguing, and all she can say is "Ew! Ew-ew-ew!"
- Home Improvement: When Al's younger brother Cal, who looks almost identical to him, makes his first appearance on the series during an episode of Tool Time, Tim jokingly tells the audience he doesn't see any resemblance between them. Al, missing the sarcasm, explains that he takes after their father, while Cal more closely resembles their mother.
Tim: ... And what a fine woman she is.
- Kamen Rider Den-O: The Owner of the DenLiner and the Time Station Master are portrayed by the same actor, and when people see the two of them together for the first time they both say (in unison) that the resemblance between them is only their imagination.
- In Mock the Week, there is a Running Gag of host Dara Ó Briain resembling images seen on the news, from Dr Peter Higgs to the Megabus Man. Dara always indignantly refuses to acknowledge the resemblance.
- Pair of Kings: The episode, "Heart and Troll", features Boz’s Jerkass ex-girlfriend, Sasha. Before starting a video chat with her, Boz tells Boomer that she looks, sounds, and smells exactly like Mikayla. However, they look nothing alike, and their voices sound different, too. Boomer snarks "The resemblance is uncanny." In the end, when Mikayla and Sasha are together, Boz makes another comment that he can’t tell them apart, and Mikayla angrily says "We look nothing alike!" Boomer then says that when Mikayla whines like Sasha, he can kind of see the resemblance.
- Red Dwarf: In "Psirens", one of the eponymous creatures disguises itself as Lister. Lister is incredulous that his crewmates can't tell the difference, as he believes the imposter is "podgy".
- The Rookie: Whenever Jake and Sava, aka Tim and Lucy´s criminal lookalikes, appear, Tim is quick to deny any similarity he has with Jake, despite both being played by the same actor.
- Seinfeld: In the episode "The Doll", George notices that one of Susan's dolls looks eerily like his mother, to the point he hears her voice every time he looks at it. Susan doesn't believe him, but everyone else George shows it immediately agrees with him.
- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: In "Little Green Men", Nog comments that a historical photo of Gabriel Bell resembles Benjamin Sisko. Quark doesn't exactly deny the resemblance, but dismisses it on the grounds that all humans look alike. This is a call-back to a time travel incident in which Sisko assumed the role of Bell in 2024.
- The Suite Life of Zack & Cody: In one episode, the students put on High School Musical for their School Play. Maddie auditions for Sharpay, insisting that she looks just like Sharpay's actress, Ashley Tisdale, but nobody else sees the resemblance.note
- That's So Raven: In "Mismatch Maker", Corey adopts a lost dog that followed him home, and it turns out the dog mistook him for his real owner, a rich boy named Chauncey who is also played by Kyle Massey. When Victor says that the two look alike, they take a good look at each other before admitting they don't see the resemblance.
Video Games
- Final Fantasy XIV: In the "Inconceivably Further Adventures of Hildibrand" storyline, the Warrior of Light and Nashu comes across Hardiboiled in Solution 9, a man with a striking resemblance to the missing Hildibrand but harder, gruffer, and a detective. While Nashu fears that Hardiboiled is an amnesiac Hildi, the Warrior of Light suggests that it isn't Hildi, but Hildi's shard from the Ninth, where Solution 9 and the rest of Alexandria came from. When Hildibrand is found and the two come face to face, they both reject the idea that they look like each other.
- Onirism: Shezara, the princess of Al Hibdae, bears a strong resemblance to protagonist Carol. But they both insist they look nothing alike, even though the sultan mistook Carol for his daughter!
Webcomics
- El Goonish Shive: When Grace and Ellen first meet Diane, they are so surprised at her similarity to Susan that they wonder whether she's a magical duplicate of the latter. Justin and Nanase, who have known Diane for years don't see the resemblance, though after it is pointed out to her, Nanase slowly starts to accept the similarity as well. Later on, when Rhoda shows Diane a review video with Susan, she also remarks that the two of them look alike, and this time it's Diane herself who denies the resemblance.
- Pixie and Brutus has Brutus and Dexter protest indignantly when Lola remarks upon their resemblance ("Minus the scars, obviously.") Then Randal sees both dogs and echoes Lola's remarks. Brutus and Dexter respond with a furious "I LOOK NOTHING LIKE HIM!" and exchange a Death Glare.
Web Videos
- In "We Are Not The Same Person", Danny Gonzalez and Drew Gooden deny that they look alike... while pointing out how similar they look to the audience. They call their hair colors "brown" and "hazel", zoom in on their similar noses, and then call their eye colors "baby blue" and "a different shade of baby blue". All in the process of insisting they're nothing alike.
- Julie Nolke: "Buying a Sex Doll
" has Julie's roommate (played by Christian Smith) getting interested in a sex doll that is obviously identical to Julie, but he keeps denying that they look similar in spite of Julie pointing it out. This leads to an argument between them on whether he is secretly interested in Julie that culminates in Julie deciding to buy it for him to make a point... only to get sidetracked by a sex doll that looks like Christian.
Western Animation
- Bluey: In "Onesies", when Brandy tells her niece Bluey that she looks just like her father Bandit, she's confused and offended.
- Courage the Cowardly Dog: In "The Sand Whale Strikes", the titular whale mistakes Eustace for his father, Ickett, whom he holds a grudge against. Eustace insists they looked nothing alike, but an old photograph of Ickett shows he looked exactly like Eustace, but with a long white beard.
- Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?: In "The Hot Dog Dog", the hot dog factory hosting the hot dog eating contest has a mascot in the form of a talking dog in a hot dog bun who looks just like Scooby Doo. Scooby is genuinely confused by the comparison, saying, "I don't see it."
- Star Trek: Lower Decks: In "Old Friends, New Planets", when the Cerritos crew encounters Nick Locarno, Rutherford thinks he looks like Tom Paris (both were originally played in live-action, and are voiced on LD, by Robert Duncan McNeill, though they're drawn as having diverged slightly with age). A bewildered Boimler insists he doesn't see the resemblance.
Rutherford: They have, like, the same face. They're identical.
Boimler: No, I just don't see it. - Stripperella: Erotica Jones occasionally claims that people tell her that she looks like Pamela Anderson. However, nobody sees the resemblance, not even Pam herself, when she and Kid Rock visited the Strip Club where Erotica worked, in order to pick up their Monkey. Though Kid Rock believes that Pamela looks like Stripperella and that she should play her in a TV series.note
