History Main / AdaptationalLateAppearance

* The first season of ''Anime/AceAttorney2016'' is an adaptation of ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'' and the sequel ''[[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyJusticeForAll Justice for All]]''. However, one of the cases it skips over is "The Lost Turnabout" [[TutorialLevel the tutorial case of Justice for All]]. "The Lost Turnabout" is later adapted as the first episode of the second season, which otherwise is an adaptation of the third game, ''[[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyTrialsAndTribulations Trials and Tribulations]]''. It works because the defendant of "The Lost Turnabout" returns as the defendant of "Recipe for Turnabout", the third case of ''Trials and Tribulations''. And on the subject third game, the second and third cases of the game are adapted first, followed by the first case, "Turnabout Memories", due to it being a flashback and heavily connected to the last two cases.

** Sometimes this happens to entire Pokemon species: for example, Togetic, a Generation II Pokemon does not makes its anime debut until ''Anime/PokemonTheSeriesRubyAndSapphire'', where [[spoiler: Misty's Togepi evolves into one before leaving her and [[IChoosetoStay continuing to remain in the Mirage Kingdom]] to protect the other Togepi there.]]

** Barry is TheRival of ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl''. He was given an {{expy}} in Dawn's {{Childhood Friend|s}} Kenny. Kenny has a similar design to Barry and has his same basic role as him. However, Barry himself eventually turned up later in ''[[Anime/PokemonTheSeriesDiamondAndPearl Diamond & Pearl]]'' to serve as another rival for Ash, making Kenny [[ExpyCoexistence redundant]], as they both use the same starter Pokemon, though unlike the games where the rival has the starter super effective on the player's starter, Kenny and Barry both use members of the same evolutionary family as Piplup, the Pokémon Dawn chose, with Barry's being Empoleon, and Kenny's being a Prinplup until the Grand Festival.

* In ''Manga/{{Trigun}}'' manga, Vash meets Legato before he meets Wolfwood. In the anime, he meets Wolfwood first, and Legato is introduced several episodes later.

* In the ''ComicBook/New52'' continuity, the classic ComicBook/DoomPatrol roster of Robotman, Negative Man and Elasti-Girl are the second formation of the team and show up in the "Injustice League" arc of Creator/GeoffJohns' ''ComicBook/{{Justice League|2011}}'' run, with the majority of the Paul Kupperberg era's roster [[AdaptationalEarlyAppearance being the first roster in this continuity]] and being introduced earlier during the ''ComicBook/{{Forever Evil|2013}}'' event.

* ''Fanfic/CodePrime'': While Unicron has appeared in C.C.'s code-induced visions, the Terrorcons have yet to make an appearance in the story. [[spoiler: They later appear in Chapter 25 of ''R1'' as a bunch of broken Knightmares that are accidentally exposed to Dark Energon in a cave, killing several Vehicons and turning them into Terrorcons.]]

* In the original ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' anime, Radical Edward joins the Bebop crew in the ninth episode (and appears in the opening credits from the start). In Creator/{{Netflix}}'s ''Series/CowboyBebop2021'', she doesn't appear in person until the last minutes of the finale of the first ([[CutShort and ultimately only]]) season. The Dr. Londes storyline, in which she originally played an especially prominent part, sidelines her to more distant role as an unseen tipster who involves the crew.
* ''Series/Daredevil2015'':

* ''Series/DoomPatrol2019'':

* ''Series/{{Stargirl 2020}}'':

* ''Series/TheWalkingDead2010'':

** Morgan toyed with this trope after his initial appearance. Canonically, Morgan was PutOnABus earlier and then gets reintroduced after the prison arc. In the show, Rick, Carl and Michonne revisited their old town during the series' Prison Arc and encounters him there. Then during the arc of his supposed reappearance, he didn't show up until three-four arcs (including one [[FillerArc filler]]) later.
* ''Series/WarAndPeace1972'': Andrei, who is introduced in the first chapter of the book, has his appearance delayed until Episode 2.
* ComicBook/WonderMan first appeared in the comics way back in ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'' #9 back in 1964, and his brain patterns were subsequently used to create ComicBook/TheVision. Wonder Man doesn't appear in the ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'' until his own self-titled Creator/DisneyPlus series, long after the Vision's 2015 debut in ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron''.

** [[spoiler: [[Characters/MarvelComicsOttoOctavius Doctor Octopus]]]] shows up [[VideoGame/SpiderManPS4 a good eight years]] into the Webslinger's career despite usually being one of the first villains he faces both in the comics and many other adaptations. Likewise for [[Characters/MarvelComicsNormanOsborn Norman Osborn]], who still isn't the Green Goblin, and is only implied to be finally going there in TheStinger [[VideoGame/MarvelsSpiderMan2 of the third game]].
** In the comics [[Characters/MarvelComicsPeterParker Peter Parker]] has a long and complicated history with [[Characters/MarvelComicsVenom Venom]] and its chosen host, [[Characters/MarvelComicsEddieBrock Eddie Brock]] (who has been relegated to TheGhost here), stretching long before [[Characters/MarvelComicsMilesMorales Miles Morales]] was introduced and before he was moved to the mainstream universe. In the games it showed up after Peter started mentoring Miles, [[spoiler: and [[VideoGame/MarvelsSpiderMan2 is first encountered in battle]] when Miles is already donning the Spider-Man mantle]].

* [[Characters/SonicTheHedgehogShadowTheHedgehog Shadow the Hedgehog]], in our world, debuted in 2001's ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2''. In the world of ''Literature/PlayerTwoStart'' however, his first appearance in the ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' franchise is in 2012's ''Sonic the Hedgehog 6''.

** ComicBook/{{Robin}} doesn't make his debut until season four (of five), with ComicBook/{{Batgirl}} becoming ComicBook/{{Batman}}'s first sidekick in season three (In the comics and most other adaptations, Dick Grayson became the first Robin before Barbara Gordon became Batgirl). This was due to a "[[ExiledFromContinuity Bat-Embargo]]" that DC had put in place at the time which prevented many Batman characters from appearing in multiple shows airing at the same time, and Robin was a main character in ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003'' for most of ''The Batman's '' run.
** ComicBook/HarleyQuinn was introduced in an early episode of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' called [[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesE22JokersFavor "Joker's Favor"]], but also wasn't introduced until season 4 of ''The Batman''. It is uncertain if the Bat-Embargo was responsible for this one since Harley's last appearance in the ''Franchise/DCAnimatedUniverse'' was in 2003, a full year before ''The Batman'' premiered.

* WesternAnimation/DaisyDuck usually is depicted as the primary love interest of WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck with the two of them being usually portrayed as OfficialCouple since before the continuity of the WesternAnimation/ClassicDisneyShorts and the ''ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse''. In ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'' she's introduced in season 3 as a new character Donald just meets after his core personality as known from other works is already established.

* ''WesternAnimation/MuppetBabies2018'':

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003'':

* ''WesternAnimation/WabbitALooneyTunesProduction'''s first season generally focused more on Bugs interacting with new characters created for episode plots, with the classic Looney Tunes characters getting introduced later on in the series. A particularly notable late appearance is Daffy Duck, who didn't appear until the Season 1 finale.
* ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010''

* In the original 1991 version of ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'', Fluffy, Angelica's pet cat first cameoed in "[[Recap/RugratsS1E11TouchdownTommyTheTrial Touchdown Tommy]]", the first half of the eleventh episode of the first season, before getting her own ADayInTheLimelight episode in "[[Recap/RugratsS1E12FluffyVsSpikeReptarsRevenge Fluffy Vs. Spike]]" one episode later. In [[WesternAnimation/Rugrats2021 the 2021 reboot]], Fluffy makes her debut in "Fluffy Moves In", the second half of the twenty-third episode of the first season.

** Sometimes this happens to entire Pokemon species: for example, Togetic, a Generation II Pokemon does not makes its anime debut until ''Anime/PokemontheSeriesRubyandSapphire'', where [[spoiler: Misty's Togepi evolves into one before leaving her and [[IChoosetoStay continuing to remain in the Mirage Kingdom]] to protect the other Togepi there.]]