Tropescilloscope: Chekhov's Gunman

Earlier-introduced minor character is actually very important. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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