In September 2013 we were treated to an expose of the "... very mysterious..., very powerful..." commander of Iran's Quds Force, General Qassem Suleimani. The Shadow Commander ostensibly stripped the mask off this shadowy figure involved in acts of terrorism around the world, many targeting Americans.
However, there had already been plenty of coverage of this "shadow commander" characterized as being the "... single most powerful operative in the Middle East today, and no one’s ever heard of him.", including for example:
An exhaustively sourced and foot-noted three-part report on Suleimani, from January, March, and July of 2011:
And now, almost a year later, we get Iran’s Top Spy Is the Modern-Day Karla, John Le Carré’s Villainous Mastermind, which recycles the "... single most powerful operative in the Middle East today, and no one’s ever heard of him" quote/meme while also throwing in film and literary allusions ("Keyser Soze", John le Carré’s characters...)