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