Tropescilloscope: Chekhov's Gun

A plot device that isn't significant until later in the story. (read more at tvtropes.org)

More Tropes Parental Abandonment Antagonist Title Redshirt Army Unresolved Sexual Tension Grey and Gray Morality Riddle for the Ages Retired Badass Credits Gag Reality Is Unrealistic Those Wacky Nazis Central Theme The Cameo Break the Haughty Genre Shift No-Holds-Barred Beatdown And I Must Scream Determinator Drowning My Sorrows Eagleland Not Even Bothering with the Accent Bound and Gagged Adaptation Distillation Implacable Man Accidental Murder The Load Be Careful What You Wish For Science Fiction Films Adorkable The Oner Sports Stories The Un-Reveal Sir Swears-a-Lot An Aesop Non-Indicative Name Ax-Crazy Kick the Son of a Bitch Failed a Spot Check Creepy Child Obfuscating Stupidity Suddenly SHOUTING! Put on a Bus Crazy-Prepared Action Survivor Hope Spot Nice Job Breaking It, Hero! Ascended Extra Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds Pyrrhic Victory Bunny-Ears Lawyer Double Entendre Laser-Guided Karma Faking the Dead Mundane Made Awesome Hoist by His Own Petard Take That! Fatal Family Photo Skewed Priorities Punctuated! For! Emphasis! Big Applesauce Only a Flesh Wound Interrupted Suicide Car Fu Only Sane Man Happily Married Super Strength Dark and Troubled Past Revenge Evil Sounds Deep Truth in Television Gainax Ending Flashback Freeze-Frame Bonus Department of Redundancy Department Destination Defenestration O.O.C. Is Serious Business No Good Deed Goes Unpunished Off-into-the-Distance Ending Evil Is Hammy Vitriolic Best Buds Fan Disservice Trailers Always Spoil Wicked Cultured An Arm and a Leg As Long as It Sounds Foreign Unusual Euphemism Fantastic Racism Police Brutality Disappeared Dad Canadian Movies Bi the Way Auto Erotica Cold-Blooded Torture The Ditz An Axe to Grind Hypocrite Show Within a Show Gory Discretion Shot All for Nothing Why Don't You Just Shoot Him? Re-Cut Determinator aka: The Determinator He Knows Too Much Award-Bait Song Lock and Load Montage Not So Different Groin Attack Stylistic Suck Suspiciously Similar Substitute Military and Warfare Films Brick Joke Exactly What It Says on the Tin Action Girl Big Eater Nothing Is Scarier Older Than They Look Suspiciously Specific Denial The Stoner Establishing Character Moment Silence Is Golden Bury Your Gays As the Good Book Says... Smoking Is Cool Eyepatch of Power Taking the Bullet Why Did It Have to Be Snakes? Paper-Thin Disguise Anachronism Stew Offscreen Teleportation Slasher Smile Foregone Conclusion Getting Crap Past the Radar Evil Cannot Comprehend Good Eiffel Tower Effect Only One Name Mad Scientist Spared by the Adaptation Arranged Marriage Lampshade Hanging Your Head A-Splode Fanservice Russian Films Index of Film Westerns Intrepid Reporter Leitmotif Documentary No Celebrities Were Harmed Easily Forgiven Dropped a Bridge on Him Red Shirt Pragmatic Adaptation Posthumous Character Politically Incorrect Villain Drugs Are Bad No Ending Brainless Beauty Extreme Doormat Famous Last Words Despair Event Horizon Serious Business Let's Get Dangerous! Sanity Slippage Leaning on the Fourth Wall The Film of the Book Never Trust a Trailer aka: Trailers Always Lie Artistic License – Biology Expository Hairstyle Change Artistic License – History Logo Joke Demonic Possession "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue The Remake Slashed Throat Hidden Depths Large Ham Scary Black Man Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking Rated M for Manly Rewatch Bonus Wounded Gazelle Gambit Eldritch Abomination Mystery and Detective Films Unspoken Plan Guarantee Self-Deprecation Shut Up, Hannibal! What Happened to the Mouse? A God Am I Agony of the Feet N-Word Privileges Psychopathic Manchild Badass Boast Hong Kong Films Artistic License – Geography Male Gaze Better to Die than Be Killed She's Got Legs The Cavalry Cool Old Guy Face Death with Dignity Recycled IN SPACE! Catapult Nightmare Overly Long Gag Enemy Mine Karmic Death Love at First Sight Stuff Blowing Up Chekhov's Gunman Film Noir Unreliable Narrator The Dragon The Faceless Nice Hat Bald of Evil The Un-Favourite aka: The Un Favorite Children Are Innocent I Want My Beloved to Be Happy Neck Lift Historical-Domain Character Evil Brit The Sociopath Does This Remind You of Anything? Even Evil Has Loved Ones Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene Dark Is Not Evil Mythology Gag Bond Villain Stupidity Badass Grandpa Driven to Suicide And Starring Betty and Veronica Spiritual Successor Taking You with Me Laughing Mad In the Back Stepford Smiler Vacation Films Aluminum Christmas Trees Facial Horror Mistaken for Gay Product Placement Chiaroscuro Exact Words Continuity Nod Shipper on Deck Setting Update Dull Surprise Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass Adapted Out Parental Incest Only in It for the Money Captain Ersatz Parental Substitute Adult Fear Screw the Money, I Have Rules! The Lost Lenore Horror Comedy Downer Ending Beta Couple Closed Circle Mercy Kill Action Prologue Author Appeal Rule of Symbolism The Vamp Death by Sex The '50s Rich Bitch Shown Their Work Big Bad How We Got Here A Father to His Men Missing Mom Adaptation Dye-Job Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping From Bad to Worse Bolivian Army Ending Neck Snap Artistic License – Law Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday Bar Brawl The Power of Love "The Reason You Suck" Speech Stalker with a Crush As Himself Properly Paranoid timeperiod Camp Gay Never Trust a Trailer Dressing as the Enemy Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold Early-Bird Cameo Heroic Sacrifice Silent Movie Those Two Guys Mugging the Monster You Have Got to Be Kidding Me! Protagonist Title Babies Ever After Pimped-Out Dress Vomit Indiscretion Shot Pre-Asskicking One-Liner World of Ham Covers Always Lie Dirty Old Man Dark Reprise Plucky Comic Relief Title Drop She Cleans Up Nicely Developing Doomed Characters Tagline Anachronic Order Ambiguous Disorder Bloodless Carnage The Dreaded Fatal Flaw Berserk Button Jerk with a Heart of Gold The Mafia Calling the Old Man Out Dramatic Irony Animal Motifs Maybe Ever After The Stoic Decoy Protagonist A Date with Rosie Palms Translation Convention Canon Foreigner Dark Action Girl Hair-Trigger Temper Scenery Porn Madness Mantra Intergenerational Friendship Air-Vent Passageway Broken Pedestal Guile Hero Hollywood Darkness Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas Alas, Poor Villain Stealth Pun Wham Shot Dissonant Serenity The Brute Every Car Is a Pinto Rousing Speech Danny Peary Cult Movies List Almost Kiss Mr. Fanservice Visual Pun Dwindling Party No Name Given Random Events Plot The Hero Dies Peek-a-Boo Corpse Bait-and-Switch Crucified Hero Shot Would Hit a Girl Our Vampires Are Different Sadistic Choice Kids Are Cruel Improbable Aiming Skills The Place Freudian Excuse Adaptational Attractiveness The Hero Daylight Horror Get Out! The Great Depression There Is No Kill Like Overkill Nice Job Fixing It, Villain! Karma Houdini Big "NO!" Soft Glass Disguised in Drag Butt-Monkey Camera Abuse Scare Chord The Lancer Married to the Job All Men Are Perverts Affably Evil Reasonable Authority Figure Ominous Latin Chanting Film Noir Index Blood from the Mouth Noodle Incident Ms. Fanservice Impaled with Extreme Prejudice La Résistance Bullying a Dragon Serial Killer Together in Death Call-Forward The Big Guy A.I. Is a Crapshoot Dies Wide Open Author Avatar Badass in a Nice Suit My God, What Have I Done? Off with His Head! Bring My Brown Pants "Shaggy Dog" Story Cain and Abel Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer Not So Above It All Abhorrent Admirer Book-Ends Heroes Want Redheads I'm a Humanitarian Frame-Up Shower Scene Slasher Movie Homage Evil Counterpart Important Haircut The Chessmaster Scenery Gorn Hero Antagonist The Smart Guy Chase Scene Based on a True Story Gratuitous English The '80s Cloudcuckoolander Historical In-Joke Dramedy Epic Fail Bowdlerise Sealed Evil in a Can May–December Romance Morality Pet Eureka Moment Death of a Child Anyone Can Die Very Loosely Based on a True Story Authority Equals Asskicking Bad Boss B-Movie The Reveal Everyone Has Standards Worthy Opponent Extremely Short Timespan Cat Scare Manipulative Bastard Arch-Enemy Red Right Hand My Greatest Failure Playing Gertrude Heel–Face Turn Cassandra Truth Meaningful Echo Anti-Villain Jump Scare Good Is Not Nice '80s Hair One-Man Army Ungrateful Bastard Totally Radical Villain Opening Scene Mexican Standoff Did Not Get the Girl Cruel and Unusual Death Ambiguously Gay Japanese Films Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique Anti-Hero Not Using the "Z" Word War Is Hell Pragmatic Villainy Aside Glance Really Gets Around Didn't Think This Through Brother–Sister Incest Amoral Attorney Too Dumb to Live Cool Guns Awesome, but Impractical Tranquil Fury No OSHA Compliance Fingore Foreshadowing Black Comedy Rape After the End Running Gag Casting Gag Red Oni, Blue Oni Big Fancy House Fate Worse than Death Arc Words Refuge in Audacity For the Evulz Oh, Crap! Evil Plan Animal Title Index Costume Porn Improbable Infant Survival aka: Infant Immortality Reckless Gun Usage The Mole Manic Pixie Dream Girl Ship Tease Motor Mouth Public Domain Feature Films Wrong Genre Savvy Redemption Equals Death Jerk Jock Token Minority I Have Your Wife Defiant to the End Earn Your Happy Ending Not What It Looks Like Sacrificial Lion Ugly Guy, Hot Wife The '90s Meaningful Background Event Ghost Fiction Loads and Loads of Characters No Antagonist 20 Minutes into the Future The Bully Smug Snake All There in the Script Real Life Writes the Plot Humans Are Bastards Cowboy Cop Bavarian Fire Drill Time Skip Unwitting Instigator of Doom Grievous Bottley Harm Adaptation Name Change Race Lift Male Frontal Nudity Ambiguous Ending Kill It with Fire As You Know Spanner in the Works Would Hurt a Child Evil vs. Evil Artistic License – Physics Yandere I Did What I Had to Do Naked People Are Funny Wretched Hive Romantic False Lead The Voiceless Contrived Coincidence Works Set in World War II Shell-Shocked Veteran "Awesome McCool" Name All There in the Manual Knight Templar Asshole Victim Jerkass Has a Point BFG Broken Bird Fanservice Extra Cluster F-Bomb Straight Gay Retcon Evil Is Petty Precision F-Strike Soundtrack Dissonance Black Dude Dies First Handicapped Badass Parental Neglect Sequel Escalation Same Language Dub Match Cut Henpecked Husband Early Installment Weirdness Star-Crossed Lovers Moment Killer Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome Undying Loyalty Retirony Deus ex Machina Bitch in Sheep's Clothing Big Damn Heroes Actually Pretty Funny Made of Iron Papa Wolf Bloody Hilarious The X of Y Curb-Stomp Battle Adaptational Badass Vampire Fiction All Girls Want Bad Boys Green-Eyed Monster Break the Cutie Kick the Dog Tap on the Head Rule of Cool Gorn Celebrity Paradox Depraved Bisexual Disproportionate Retribution Chewing the Scenery Slap-Slap-Kiss Creative Closing Credits Storming the Castle The Bad Guy Wins Reality Ensues Poor Communication Kills MacGuffin Punch-Clock Villain Anguished Declaration of Love Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane What You Are in the Dark No-Sell Word of God Villain Protagonist Back from the Dead Meet Cute Drives Like Crazy Novelization Biopic Big-Bad Ensemble Punny Name Mama Bear Bilingual Bonus Hell Is That Noise Friend to All Children Market-Based Title Darkest Hour Deliberately Monochrome Insult Backfire Bittersweet Ending Girl-on-Girl Is Hot Plot Hole Distracted by the Sexy NO INDOOR VOICE Evil-Detecting Dog Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right! Last-Name Basis Animated Credits Opening Overprotective Dad Artistic License – Military Composite Character Italian Films Humiliation Conga Narrator The Quiet One Dutch Angle Body Horror Wham Line Needs Wiki Magic Love Villain with Good Publicity Fun with Acronyms Corrupt Corporate Executive folderlabel Guns Akimbo Rape as Drama Mighty Whitey Faux Affably Evil Toplessness from the Back Adaptational Heroism Fire-Forged Friends Defrosting Ice Queen This Is Gonna Suck Gold Digger Whole Plot Reference In Name Only A Minor Kidroduction It's All About Me Spiteful Spit Combat Pragmatist The '70s Australian Movies Double-Meaning Title Light Is Not Good Conspicuous CG Expy Not So Stoic In Medias Res Chekhov's Gun Actor Allusion Coming-of-Age Story Those Two Bad Guys The Dog Bites Back Adaptation Expansion Catch-Phrase Genre Throwback Instant Death Bullet Annoying Younger Sibling Roaring Rampage of Revenge Four-Temperament Ensemble Femme Fatale Hypocritical Humor Leave the Camera Running Reality Has No Subtitles Historical Villain Upgrade Malevolent Masked Men Psychological Thriller Here We Go Again! Fake Shemp Brutal Honesty Greater-Scope Villain The Alleged Car Hooker with a Heart of Gold Genre Savvy Improvised Weapon Make It Look Like an Accident The '60s Spell My Name with an "S" Chekhov's Skill Action Genre Blonde, Brunette, Redhead Deconstruction Irony Stealth Hi/Bye Cool Shades Martial Arts Movie It Can Think Informed Ability Evil Laugh Bloodier and Gorier You Killed My Father Kubrick Stare Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other Accidental Misnaming Zombie Stories Eye Scream Killed Mid-Sentence Does Not Like Shoes And the Adventure Continues Obviously Evil Pun aka: Incredibly Lame Pun Fiery Redhead Card-Carrying Villain Dogged Nice Guy Jitter Cam More Dakka Improbable Weapon User Gilligan Cut Heroic BSoD Black Comedy Demoted to Extra Fainting Comically Missing the Point Ripped from the Headlines Ragtag Bunch of Misfits Shoot the Shaggy Dog Mr. Exposition Superhero Death Seeker Beard of Evil Television Movie Index Beauty Is Never Tarnished The End... Or Is It? Hate Sink Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism All Just a Dream Call-Back What the Hell, Hero? From Nobody to Nightmare Line-of-Sight Name Final Girl Music Stories Boom, Headshot! Breaking the Fourth Wall Bottomless Magazines Framing Device Horror Films Tempting Fate I Need a Freaking Drink Hollywood Law Funny Background Event Major Injury Underreaction Due to the Dead Manly Tears Blatant Lies Offscreen Moment of Awesome Bare Your Midriff Obstructive Bureaucrat Flipping the Bird Death by Adaptation For Want of a Nail Ass Shove You Have Outlived Your Usefulness Your Cheating Heart Fat Bastard Becoming the Mask Rule of Funny Affectionate Parody Advertised Extra Face–Heel Turn Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil Disney Villain Death Man on Fire Knife Nut Made of Explodium Rasputinian Death Video Credits Pet the Dog Dying Moment of Awesome Mood Whiplash Belligerent Sexual Tension Curse Cut Short Mind Screw The Musical Dual Wielding Colour-Coded for Your Convenience aka: Color Coded For Your Convenience Imagine Spot Fish out of Water Beware the Nice Ones Sexy Discretion Shot Creator Cameo Film Series Fantasy Films Big Brother Instinct Broken Aesop Black and Gray Morality Well-Intentioned Extremist Only Known by Their Nickname Throwing Your Sword Always Works Badass Bookworm Captain Obvious Sci-Fi Horror Sinister Minister True Companions Kill 'em All The Smurfette Principle Death by Irony Real Life Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy British Films Attempted Rape Recap / RiffTrax aka: Riff Trax Movies Age Lift Diabolus ex Machina Pre-Mortem One-Liner Crazy Jealous Guy Damsel in Distress Woman in White Alpha Bitch Villainous Breakdown Heel Realization Black Best Friend It Will Never Catch On The Alcoholic Idiot Ball Dramatic Gun Cock Ironic Echo Alliterative Name Outrun the Fireball Historical Hero Upgrade Christmas Movies Index Insane Troll Logic Deadpan Snarker You Have Failed Me Take a Third Option Pretty in Mink Armor-Piercing Question Death Glare Drill Sergeant Nasty Police are Useless German Films Adaptational Villainy Crapsack World Domestic Abuse Blackmail Five-Man Band Disney Death Race Against the Clock One-Word Title Have a Gay Old Time French Films Unusually Uninteresting Sight Darker and Edgier Once More, with Clarity! Villain Ball Epic Movie Room Full of Crazy Honor Before Reason Chuck Cunningham Syndrome Heterosexual Life-Partners Small Name, Big Ego Batman Gambit Men Are the Expendable Gender Roger Ebert: Great Movies List Cat Fight Meaningful Name Empathic Environment Dirty Coward Half the Man He Used to Be Never My Fault He Who Fights Monsters Lighter and Softer I Just Shot Marvin in the Face Cool Car Gone Horribly Right Our Zombies Are Different Say My Name Red Herring Took a Level in Badass Blood Knight Loophole Abuse Gender Flip It's Personal Foil Left the Background Music On Shout-Out Rule of Three Fourth Date Marriage Apocalypse How Naïve Newcomer Screw This, I'm Outta Here! Artistic License – Gun Safety Cool Old Lady Abusive Parents Daddy's Girl Even Evil Has Standards Character Development Monumental Damage Deal with the Devil The Ace Deliberate Values Dissonance Dumb Blonde Thriller The Casanova Jerkass Bland-Name Product Toilet Humour aka: Toilet Humor Sassy Black Woman Bond One-Liner Romantic Comedy Immune to Bullets Red Eyes, Take Warning Amusing Injuries Mooks "Well Done, Son!" Guy Twist Ending Never Found the Body Took a Level in Jerkass Names to Run Away from Really Fast Up to Eleven Training Montage The Ghost Country Matters Pay Evil unto Evil Big Bad Duumvirate The Stinger My Beloved Smother Pretty Little Headshots Nice Guy Adults Are Useless Funny Foreigner Dirty Cop Woman Scorned One Steve Limit Hero of Another Story Shirtless Scene The Atoner Sequel Hook Stock Footage Badass Normal Love Triangle Corpsing Villain Song Insistent Terminology Psycho for Hire Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep" Vomit Discretion Shot Badass Longcoat Bad "Bad Acting" Victoria's Secret Compartment Screw the Rules, I Have Money! Sole Survivor Manchild The Chick Not Quite Dead The Starscream