Tropescilloscope: Early-Bird Cameo

A character makes an appearance before being properly introduced later in the same work, in a sequel or in their own series. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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