Tropescilloscope: Chekhov's Gun

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

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