"In the right environment, a man of your dangerous reputation could still get a lot of respect."
— Batman, Batman: The Animated Series, "The Man Who Killed Batman"
Someone has a bad reputation, sometimes deserved due to past misdeeds, though sometimes unwarranted. There are rumors of crimes, murders, or strange happenings all around them.
The narrative finds them suspected or even outright accused of the latest crime or suspicious doing. The thing is, they're innocent (this time at least). However, rather than engage in Clear My Name for the things they aren't guilty of, they allow the rumors to swirl and suspicions to build. It could be that clearing their name could prove their guilt in other areas. It could simply be that having a dangerous reputation is something they bank on for success in their other ventures, or at least as a guarantor of privacy from prying eyes, as people aren't likely to turn to a person perceived as dangerous for a favor.
This can, of course, backfire. People believing someone's dangerous reputation can suspect them of a very serious crime they didn't actually commit, which could, in turn, get the authorities poking into their business. A Well-Intentioned Extremist might even plant evidence on them, believing they're Framing the Guilty Party.
Can be a direct result of Taking the Heat. Someone who never did anything wrong but is suspected could be Mistaken for Badass. In fact, that might be another reason for them not to refute false accusations.
Compare and contrast No Such Thing as Bad Publicity and Controversy-Proof Image for instances when someone did do what they're accused of, but weather the trouble with ease. See also Insists on Being Suspected, where someone goes a step further than this trope and actively tries to draw attention to themselves (which may or may not be believed). Also see Zero-Approval Gambit.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- One Piece:
- In the Kuro Arc, Usopp would rile Syrup Village by telling them that pirates are attacking, only for an actual band of pirates to arrive to the village and unsurprisingly, no one believes him. Luffy, Usopp and the rest of the Straw Hat Pirates manage to beat them and chase them away before most of the village found out, but Usopp insists on not telling the rest of the village since he knows he's a natural liar and there's no point in getting the town worked up over a threat that's already over.
- During the Arlong Arc, it's revealed that Nami deliberately encourages her entire village into thinking she'd joined the Arlong Pirates (which not only tyrannizes said village but killed her mother in cold blood) solely out of greed, when she'd actually struck a deal with Arlong to eventually buy their freedom. However, this is eventually subverted (inverted?) when it turns out her sister Nojiko told the rest of the village, and they kept up the ruse of hating her so she wouldn't feel guilty about running away if the going ever got too tough.
- Sabo is blamed by the World Government for King Cobra's death, which was actually at the hands of Imu and the Five Elders, who he in actuality tried to save. He doesn't bother attempting to clear his name, however, because King Cobra's negative reputation outside of Alabasta (due to being descended from one of the twenty families who formed the World Government) inspires more people to join the Revolutionary Army.
- In the Elpbaph arc, we meet Loki, one of the princes of the land who is chained up in the primordial realm and is said to have kill his father and mother, along with a slew of other rumors. The real truth is that his birth mother, who rejected him because of his eyes and tried to kill him, died from stress induced illness. And, while he did kill his father, Harald, it was due to him being controlled by Imu and Harald personally asking Loki do it to keep him from turning Elabaph into a military power for the World Government. Despite Harald requesting Loki tell the citizens what happened, Loki reframed from doing so since he didn't want his father's name besmirch after all his attempts to foster relationships with the rest of the world and took the blame himself.
- Naruto reveals that Itachi Uchiha's stated reason for killing most of his clan was a lie. The clan was planning a Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal (Thanks a lot, Tobirama!) of Konoha which would spark a civil war resulting in even more deaths than just everyone else in the clan, which would likely happen anyway. The only way to avert it without also staining the clan's honor would be for Itachi to kill them all himself and allow himself to be branded a rogue ninja as a result. What makes it this trope is, Itachi tells Naruto that the truth needs to stay buried, to preserve the Uchihas' honor.
Comic Books
- Batman: In Bruce Wayne: Fugitive, Bruce Wayne is falsely accused of murdering Vesper Fairchild and arrested. He quickly escapes prison and decides to resume work as Batman, but tells the rest of the Bat-Family that he has no intention on clearing his name and decides to work as Batman full time as he believes being Bruce Wayne is a hindrance and this is the perfect opportunity to ditch his alter ego. He makes it look like Bruce escaped somewhere that the US couldn't try to extradite him. The story then splits between the Bat-Family playing Clear Their Name while Batman has to learn that Bruce Wayne isn't the mask — he is Bruce Wayne.
- Goblin's: The town crier announces the dastardly crimes of one goblin, who's then revealed to be paying the crier to do that (and the crier doesn't want to do it anymore — for the goblin's sake).
- Leo Loden: One story has Leo blow up a corrupt developer's half-built apartment complex. His Friend in the Black Market says he'll contact the Corsicans who sold him the explosives so they can take the credit.
"You know Corsicans, as soon as they can get someone else to do the work for them..."
Fan Works
- Another Way: Marquis is publicly believed to have killed Allfather's daughter, Iron Rain, and Allfather swore revenge on him. However, in private, Marquis informs those whom he trusts that she was actually killed by the Teeth, and Marquis avenged her. He and Allfather quietly agreed to credit him with the death in order to enhance his reputation, as repayment.
- Far From the Tree (youweremycrown): Itachi posthumously refuses to let anyone divulge the real reason behind his massacre of his clan, since doing so may possibly cause the villagers' trust in Konoha to be utterly destroyed. While Naruto is against it and remains optimistic about the outcome, his teammates and sensei agree with the deceased Uchiha prodigy. They warn him and their kids to keep them from publicly revealing the truth, no matter how much it hurts for them (especially Sarada) to see Itachi's undeserved reputation among the populace.
Films — Animated
- Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July: Rudolph is tricked by Scratcher into losing the circus' money to Sam Spangles, but Winterbolt insists that Rudolph take the blame for stealing it, or he would make Frosty and his family melt. Only Frosty knows the truth, but Rudolph won't let him tell anyone.
Films — Live-Action
- The Dark Knight: The end of the movie has Batman taking the blame for Harvey's death (he didn't directly, but Harvey died in the fall when Batman tackled him to keep him from killing Jim's son) rather than let it be known he went crazy and killed several people to preserve Dent's image as a white knight of Gotham and keep the spirits of its citizens up. This lasts until Bane revealed the truth in The Dark Knight Rises.
- In The Green Hornet, after a night of Alcohol-Induced Idiocy results in the defacement of his late dad's statue and the foiling of a robbery and rape attempt, spoiled idiot Britt Reid decides to pose as a new supervillain, the Green Hornet, to gain access to the local criminal element and take it down from the inside.
- Wicked: For Good: As in the stage musical, Elphaba makes Glinda promise not to try to clear her name, because no one would believe her, and the people of Oz would only turn against her too.
Literature
- The Eminence in Shadow: Cid, as "Shadow", welcomes the Cult of Diabolos's Frame-Up of Shadow Garden for the terrorist attack on the Dark Knight Academy, because it doesn't actually affect his plans (the security forces were after him already) and feeds his Power Fantasy.
- Force Of Temptation: After very publicly pleading guilty to the brutal murders of anti-shifter extremists who murdered his son, Clive Vincent is strongly suspected of being the leader of The Movement, a vigilante group of shifters who retaliate against perpetrators of anti-shifter crimes. Harley, Clive's surviving daughter, doesn't believe Clive heads the group, but he lets the rumor persist because he likes the inherent respect the assumption grants him from his fellow shifters. Additionally, with Clive locked up for life, the actual leaders are free to operate and coordinate without suspicion from the authorities, something Clive wholeheartedly supports.
- In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Sirius Black is innocent of betraying Harry's parents, having been framed by the true culprit, Peter Pettigrew. Although Sirius wants to kill Pettigrew for his treachery, he doesn't seem to be particularly interested in clearing his own name. In fact, when Harry accuses him of being responsible for the death of his parents, Sirius replies, "I don't deny it." It turns out Sirius blames himself because he recommended that Pettigrew be the Potters' Secret Keeper.
- A Song of Ice and Fire: Downplayed with Jaime Lannister, The Kingslayer. While he did forsake his vows and betray the Mad King Aerys Targaryen at the end of Robert's Rebellion, it was not done at the orders of his father Tywin, and he was not trying to be The Starscream; he did it to prevent Aerys from burning down King's Landing and killing thousands with his last breath. Despite his actual noble intentions, however, Jaime refuses to tell the truth to anyone besides Brienne out of both pride and to lean into his newfound infamy.
Live-Action TV
- Agatha All Along: For years, rumors have been swirling about Agatha having traded her only child to obtain the Darkhold, a very powerful but very evil magical spellbook. Agatha has never tried to quash these rumors, even telling Rio that she lets the other witches believe it "Because the truth is too awful". The truth is that he died of an ordinary illness — which was sadly common in the mid-1700s when he was alive — that she was powerless to heal him from.
- Breaking Bad: Jesse is said to have killed a man by crushing his head with an ATM. It's not true, but he leverages it for a while to boost his street cred and make him seem intimidating. By the episode "Mandala", however, it becomes well known that the man's wife did the deed, not Jesse, leading to his reputation crumbling overnight.
- In an early Criminal Minds episode titled "Riding the Lightning", the BAU suspects that the wife of a husband-and-wife serial-killing team is actually innocent, particularly of the crime of murdering their young son. They eventually discover that she had the child sent away, and that he was eventually adopted and raised by loving parents. Despite the fact that it would save her from her imminent execution, his mother begs Gideon not to expose the truth, fearing that it would ruin her son's life. In the end, the BAU keeps her secret, and she dies knowing that her son is happy and living a better life than she could ever give him.
- House of the Dragon: In "Driftmark", Rhaenyra helps her gay husband fake his death and run away so she can remarry her Old Flame Daemon. Contextually, it looks more than a little bit like they killed him à la Divorce Requires Death. They lean into this.
Rhaenyra: The realm will whisper that I was somehow responsible.
Daemon: Let them whisper. We will know the truth of it, and our enemies won't.
Rhaenyra: They will fear what else we might be capable of. - The Mentalist: In the pilot episode, someone commits a crime in the name of notorious serial killer Red John, and Red John never makes any effort to keep people from believing he was involved. That doesn't stop Patrick Jane from seeing through the ruse, however.
- Ohsama Sentai King-Ohger: After it's revealed that Racules was only acting like a vicious tyrant all these years to appease the Eldritch Abomination Dagded while attempting to subvert the alien's plans for Tikyu in-secret, he asks the monarchs not to reveal that to the populace and let him be a target of shame; going as far as to request all records of him being Good All Along be erased. Even if it was part of The Con, he admits to somewhat Becoming the Mask and that's not something he should be forgiven for.
- Star Trek:
- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: During the election for Kai, Vedek Bareil was accused of giving the location of a resistance cell to the Cardassians. He could have cleared himself at any time, but instead he gave vague Non-Answers that only made him seem more suspicious to protect the real culprit, the previous Kai.
- Star Trek: The Next Generation: In "Sins of the Father" Worf's father is accused of high treason for selling secrets to the Romulans, but some detective work by Picard reveals that it was Duras' father Ja'rod who was the traitor. Worf's father was a convenient scapegoat because Worf was now a Federation officer and the Klingons didn't think he would bother to challenge as Worf's life in the Federation would be unaffected. But to reveal Ja'rod's treason to the Klingons would almost certainly induce a civil war, as well as reveal that Kurn is Worf's brother. Realizing that he has no realistic chance of winning his challenge, Worf withdraws the challenge. He does this on the condition that his brother Kurn is allowed to continue to hide his true parentage and in turn agrees to being discommodated (shunned) by the Klingons.
- Wiseguy: Justice Department investigator Vincent Terranova willingly gets sent to prison for a bogus crime, to establish himself as a cold-blooded thug. With this bad rep, he's able to infiltrate the criminal underworld, even becoming a trusted henchman to mob kingpin Sonny Steelgrave. The downside is Vinnie doesn't dare reveal the truth to anyone, not even his parents, which causes his father to disown him, and makes his mother cry.
Theatre
- Wicked: In Elphaba and Glinda's last meeting, Glinda wants to clear Elphaba's name, but Elphaba makes her promise not to, because the people of Oz are too brainwashed into believing she's a wicked witch: they wouldn't believe Glinda and would only turn against her too.
Video Games
- Infinity Nikki: Queen Philomia was historically believed to be a cruel tyrant, even to her own family, which is why she was exiled to the Queen's Palace and later was poisoned. It's later revealed during Encore Season that she was actually a benevolent queen who wanted to equalize society — something the nobility severely resented, which led to her poisoning. As Queen Philomia was dying, she asked the loyal Ms. Glove—whose real name was Rosanisse and who had once tried to kill the queen but turned against Duke Price to become loyal to her—not to let anyone clear her name, not even her sister, and they should instead let Philomia be believed historically as a tyrant. This was so her younger sister Olivia could take the throne unchallenged by the angry nobles who despised Philomia's desire for an equal world, and Olivia and Ms. Glove together could bring about the ideals Philomia wanted. It took Nikki, centuries later, to clear her name in the history books and prove that Philomia was not the tyrant she'd been slandered as.
- Mass Effect 2: Tali's loyalty mission has her be accused of treason by the quarian Admiralty Board (her species's leadership). Over the course of investigating the events that lead to this accusation, you find out that it was actually her father conducting illegal experiments behind her back. She tells Shepard that she'd rather be regarded as a traitor for the rest of her life than allow this information to be made public, but fortunately Shepard has a few other options to clear her without releasing the information.
Visual Novels
- Ace Attorney:
- Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies: Seven years before the start of the game, Simon Blackquill took the fall for the murder of his mentor Metis Cykes as to avoid incriminating her young daughter Athena. Athena subsequently devoted herself to clearing his name and solving her mother's murder. By the present day, Simon still has done nothing to defend himself, even when he's mere hours from being executed for the crime, and even when his sister Aura — who is heavily implied to have been in love with Metis — takes hostages to demand a retrial because she knows Simon is innocent. And it's all to protect Athena, for Metis' sake. It's only once Phoenix is able to introduce The Phantom as a valid suspect that Simon begins to cooperate, and helps expose the mercenary and their crimes. In the end, he is a free man, becoming The Rival for Athena in Spirit of Justice.
- The Great Ace Attorney: Prosecutor Barok van Zieks is known as "The Reaper of the Bailey" due to every defendant he fails to prove guilty dying in mysterious circumstances soon after their acquittal. While Van Zieks has an ironclad alibi for each death, he does nothing to defend his public image as he sees it as an effective deterrent to violent crime. This backfires on him when it is revealed these deaths were orchestrated by an organization whose leader didn't kill anyone themselves, making Van Zieks the prime suspect.
- Chaos;Child: In the climax of the true route, Takuru decides to take the framing he was set up in and fully take the blame for the New New Gen Murders. This done to protect the actual culprit and the one who framed him, Serika, and allow her to live a normal life. All cause she is at the end of the day his imaginary friend made real and was only trying to fulfill his own wishes and fantasies, not fully understanding their implications and consequences. In Takuru's mind, he might as well have killed all those people himself and that Serika is as much a victim of his selfishness as the others.
- Higurashi: When They Cry: Oryou Sonozaki believes it aids her cause to allow people to believe she is responsible for such things as the abduction of a local minister's child, or the murders and disappearances associated with "Oyashiro's Curse". In fact, though it keeps Hinamizawa from being flooded by the dam project, it's ultimately harmful, as Detective Ooishi is convinced of the involvement of the Sonozaki Family, and therefore misses the involvement of Miyo Takano.
Web Original
- The Evil Overlord List advises against trying to clear one's name when falsely accused. "No one would believe me anyway, and I'm not accountable to my enemies."
Western Animation
- Avatar: The Last Airbender: In "Avatar Day", Aang is arrested by Chin Village due to them believing that Avatar Kyoshi had killed their leader, Chin the Great, and wanting to have Aang take the consequences due to being the Avatar. After some sleuthing by Sokka, the evidence points to Kyoshi killing Chin being an impossibility, but when Aang tries to defend himself in trial, Kyoshi briefly takes control of his body to plead guilty of killing Chin the Conqueror. However, Chin's death was accidental, as Kyoshi had spirited a section of the Earth Kingdom away to become Kyoshi Island after all attempts at reasoning with Chin proved fruitless, and as the peninsula was separating, Chin fell to his death. Even though Kyoshi didn't murder Chin and is innocent of the charges, she still pleads guilty on the grounds that her actions resulted in Chin's death, and she doesn't see a difference between it and murdering Chin.
- Beavis and Butt-Head: In "Million Dollar Reward," Old Beavis confesses to committing vandalism and sabotages his subsequent trial despite his defense attorney's every attempt to prove his innocence purely because he thinks he and Old Butt-Head will be paid for turning the former in, even though he by all accounts never committed the crime. It's only after the lawyer and judge point out that being found guilty won't get him a monetary reward that Beavis changes his tune.
- DC Animated Universe:
- Batman: The Animated Series: "The Man Who Killed Batman" gives us Sidney "Sid the Squid" Debris, who is initially believed to have killed Batman. He quickly finds, however, that this reputation makes him the target not only of the Gotham PD, but also the freakin' Joker, and others who want to make a name for themselves by taking him down as well. Fortunately for him, Batman himself was banking on Sid's reputation, using it to get to Rupert Thorne. Sid does end up going to prison, where he finds that his new rep as "the man who almost killed Batman, and made a fool of the Joker" earns him the respect he's always wanted.
- Justice League: The episode "In Blackest Night" has Green Lantern John Stewart arrested and stand trial in intergalactic court for the crime of accidentally destroying an entire planet, Ajuris 4. His teammates want to prove his innocence, but John insists that he really is guilty. The League exposes the whole thing as a Frame-Up anyway, and that Ajuris 4 was never even destroyed.
- Dragons: Riders of Berk: Initially, Arc Villain Dagur the Deranged, an Ax-Crazy Berserker chieftain, claims that his father Oswald the Agreeable, "lost his taste for blood" and "retired", which seems to be a Deadly Euphemism suggesting Dagur is a Self-Made Orphan. He later mentions "disposing" of his father when offering to help Hiccup do the same to his own father. Eventually, though, it's revealed that Dagur never actually killed his father, Oswald just went missing, and Dagur decided to pretend he'd killed him so that he wouldn't look like a weak leader to his murderous people. Dagur actually spends most of Race to the Edge Season 4 searching for Oswald, alongside his recently discovered half-sister Heather, and finds out that he died defending dragons after being marooned.
- The Simpsons: In "Pranksta Rap", Bart Simpson fakes his own kidnapping, and Kirk Van Houten ends up getting blamed and arrested. When Bart tells the truth to his family and Chief Wiggum, they decide he's better off keeping it a secret because their lives have improved because of the lie; even Kirk is scoring dates from women because of his new criminal record.