Why doesn't the temporal agent recognize himself?

Question

I have two very related questions about the movie Predestination and the way in which the main character was unable to recognize himself:

1. As Jane undergoes surgery and becomes John, John looks into the mirror - why then is he not able to see that he looks like the same person that seduced Jane?

2. When Hawke fights with fizzle bomber, why is he not able to see that the fizzle bomber's face resembles that of himself (Hawke), pony tail being the only differrence?

Answer 1

1. In John's monologue of growing up as Jane he says,

I was different. A freak. A goddamn loser. I stopped looking in the mirror. I hated what I saw. I have no photos of myself as a young girl. I don't even remember what I looked like.

So it's clear that Jane didn't recognise herself when she was herself. According to the timeline below, it was seven years between Jane losing John and John becoming Jane, add to the fact they had been together for only 3 months and it becomes entirely possible that John wouldn't recognise himself as Jane.

2. When John sees the Fizzle Bomber in 1970 in the basement, many factors contribute to John not recognising the Fizzle Bomber:
   • It's dark
   • He's moving quickly
   • He's older
   • He has a beard and long hair
   • He has glasses

As you can see there are a lot of reasons why John might not recognise himself.

Answer 2

Reff : Predestination Timeline

Regards to question 2:

Hawke is quite aware that the Fizzle bomber is actually an older version of himself. There is no confusion there. Hawke (temporal agent) is in disbelief that he can grow old to become the Fizzle bomber. The very person he's been trying to catch and bring to justice. Hawke is in altercation with the Fizzle bomber simply because of his disbelief and disgust in his future self. This causes him to shoot the Fizzle bomber.