Tropescilloscope: Chekhov's Gunman

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

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