Tropescilloscope: Chekhov's Gun

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

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