North West, Scarlett Johansson, & Prince George Double Down With Doppelgängers

Doubling has been a recurring theme in many famous works of literature and existential crises. Now, it's invading the celebrity world. When we first read about how Joss Whedon is dealing with Scarlett Johansson's pregnancy on the set of The Avengers, we thought it was interesting, but nothing we hadn't heard before. Then, we discovered that both North West and Prince George are getting in on the double act. Three is officially a trend, folks. A double trend.

How, exactly, does one hide a burgeoning baby bump in a skintight bodysuit? With several doppelgängers, of course. "A lot of fake Scarletts walking around," fellow Avenger Captain America (a.k.a. Chris Evans) notes to Entertainment Weekly. He's referring to Johansson's three stunt doubles — which the magazine notes is triple the normal number — who step in for full-body, ass-kicking shots when needed.

Despite all of her doubles, don't expect to see ScarJo taking it easy in The Age of Ultron. "She’ll be running around, diving and jumping and doing these things and you’re like ‘She seems like she’s got this,'" Evans says in EW. Johansson also won't be doing the ol' carrying-groceries trick to hide her stomach — and not just because it's almost laughable to picture Black Widow doing something as banal as going to Trader Joe's. "There’s a lot of close-ups. It’s not too hard at all," Mark Ruffalo tells EW about the movie "magic" Whedon uses.

That's all well and good on the Scarlett front. She'd have at least one stunt double even if she wasn't seven months pregnant. What you're probably wondering about is the other two names we floated a little earlier. Do North West and Prince George really require physical replicas of themselves? Let's investigate.

Last Friday, we learned that North West is a cream-textured princess who doesn't like pink. Well, her parents don't think she likes pink...or prints. This Friday's North West rumor also concerns her parents more than any machinations by North herself: Life & Style Magazine is reporting that Kim and Kanye paid more than $800,000 for a lookalike to stand in for North and protect her from the paparazzi. Oh, and North's nanny has a double, too.

Does a one-year-old really need a doppelgänger? Perhaps Kimye should consider using a doll — a Cabbage Patch Kid, perhaps? Also, replacing North with another baby just puts her lookalike in the same dangers Kim and Kanye are trying to shield their own kid from. Same goes for the nanny body double. Even Prince George's lookalike isn't a safety precaution (but we'll get to that next). We understand wanting to protect your child, but paying an alleged $800,000 for an absurd way to do so is just...something we can definitely picture Kanye West and Kim Kardashian doing. Next!

Much like many things George-related (including major magazine profiles), the little prince's double is not officially sanctioned by the royal family. Freddie Minnis is the lucky tot who won baby-product peddler My 1st Years' Prince George lookalike contest. Hundreds of parents submitted photos of their wee ones, hoping to win the honor of being George's very first professional lookalike.

Essex-born Freddie, an 11-month-old just four days older than the once and future king, won the distinguished honor. His mum, Carly, thinks it makes perfect sense; she tells My First Years, "There are so many similarities between my family and the royals... All we need now is for Kate and William to have a daughter — Freddie would make a great real-life prince." Mmhm.

Freddie's first double responsibilities will have him modeling for My 1st Year's Crown Collection of royal-themed merchandise. It's no protecting North West from imminent paparazzi danger, but we accept the lookalike duties to which we are predestined.

Didn't Dostoyevsky say that?