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