History Main / ContinuityCameo

* [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist The 2003 anime version]] of ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' includes a cameo shot of Ling Yao, a character solely from the manga, as a state alchemist participating in the Ishvalan genocide. He also happens to be wearing sunglasses in the same style as Greed's, in reference to [[spoiler:Ling becoming the second Greed.]]

* Johnny Fontane and (especially) Lucy Mancini in ''Film/TheGodfather''. In the novel they both get big storylines nearly the equal of the main storyline with Michael. In the film Johnny has a very small part and Lucy, basically one short scene confirming her as Sonny's mistress.

** The films use Dr. Connors a.k.a. the Lizard as a minor character. He did not become a villain, and until the ContinuityReboot (where he was the main villain), never got do so. Which is a shame as the actor who originally played Doc Connors has said he'd really like to take on that role.
** John Jameson, a.k.a "Man-Wolf" is seen in ''Film/SpiderMan2''.

** In ''Film/StarTrekFirstContact'', the USS ''Bozeman'', the other ship in the GroundhogDayLoop episode of ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' "Cause and Effect", a time-displaced ship that was [[NoEnding never given any actual closure]], is a part of the Earth defense fleet. The ship's captain was played by Kelsey Grammer in the reveal at the end of "Cause and Effect", who then returns for ''First Contact'' in a brief voice over cameo as the same character, confirming it is in fact the same ''Bozeman'' from TNG.

* ''Film/LandOfTheDead'' has Blades from ''Film/DawnOfTheDead1978'' reappearing when the zombies break into Fiddler's Green. Also it retroactively includes the main character from ''Film/SurvivalOfTheDead'' as one of the military guys at the check point.

** What's more, Shaun/Sean, who was a fairly important character in the games but was ommitted from the Anime, is briefly seen in a crowd scene in the anime's movie.

* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' started a tradition in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' of having GoldfishPoopGang boss Gilgamesh (of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV'' fame) appearing in other games in the series. Because of how he arrives in the game's universe and how he departed the plot in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV'', it can be safely assumed that he is the only cameo character that is canonically the same person. He even had some retcons in remakes to place him within ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' and the original ''VideoGame/{{Final Fantasy|I}}''. In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'', he goes by the name "Alleyway Jack" but eventually reveals Gilgamesh as his true name. His other appearances in the series imply that he is aware of the other games and their heroes and in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'', he comes with a pair of boss fights and wields replicas the defining weapons of many main characters in the series. He also has a dog named Enkidu that shows up in some of his appearances, but not all of them. He is often searching for the sword Excalibur, but frequently mistakes it with Excalipoor, and his attacks will often reflect this distinction - Excalibur is extremely powerful, whereas Excalipoor does 1HP of damage. His Summon in ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy'' reflects this, in that his summon will either triple the caster's BP or reduce it to 1. Also when he makes a playable debut in ''012'', he's the only character who wasn't explicitly summoned by Chaos or Cosmos, and rather he stumbled into the world from the Rift. In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'', Gilgamesh makes a recurring appearance in a series of endgame sidequests starring Hildibrand Manderville, and is fought twice in the questline as a boss.

* In ''Webcomic/DHSComix'', in Random Encounter, various important characters in the world's history appear as portraits across Dhark's Hero School. This includes portraits of Deimi and Dyaris, Lavendar, as well as the founders of Dhark's, most notably being the painting of them in Mana's office.

* Many characters were introduced in the novel adaptation of ''Series/{{Noob}}'', but didn't show up in the webseries version before the movie was made. Some of the characters that got their first live-action appearance in the movie had been mentionned by name in the webseries beforehand.

* ''WesternAnimation/MickeyDonaldGoofyTheThreeMusketeers'' opens with the trio being saved by the [[Literature/TheThreeMusketeers original musketeers]], who gives Mickey his NiceHat and autographs it.

** Not to mention that Lion-O's father, King Claudius, was voiced by the same voice actor who voiced the original Lion-O from the '80s.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' the fifth season basically made up of these, especially towards the end with people like Argent, Jericho and even two instances of ComicBook/WonderGirl making an appearance.

* Creator/CraigGerber created ''WesternAnimation/SofiaTheFirst'' and ''WesternAnimation/ElenaOfAvalor'' . Gwen the inventor, a one shot character from the former, makes a cameo appearance in the episode "Class Act" from the latter.
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* TheStinger for Anime/GravestoneOfDaisukeJigen reveals that [[spoiler:the owner of the club is none other than [[TheMysteryOfMamo Mamo]],]] establishing that the movie is not only a prequel to Anime/LupinIIIGreenJacket, but a StealthPrequel to [[spoiler: the first animated Lupin film.]]

Compare AdaptationalEarlyAppearance (where a character who appears late in the original appears earlier in a cameo in the adaptation), RemakeCameo (where people involved with an original work make a cameo in its remake) and contrast AscendedExtra. See also LastEpisodeNewCharacter.

* Arika shows up very briefly at the very end of both the ''Anime/MyHime'' anime series and manga, and Nina can be spotted sitting in the desk in front of Tate's in the classroom in episode 2. They're the main characters in the {{Elseworld}} [[labelnote:(?)]](or maybe distant-future)[[/labelnote]] sequel ''Anime/MaiOtome''.

* Kaitou Kid starts making several appearances in ''Manga/DetectiveConan'' after Gosho's work on the earlier ''Magic Kaito'' series was halted. They're arguably in the exact same world, although ''Magic Kaitou'' contained more supernatural situations.

* ''FanFic/TheCaptainOfTheVirtualConsole'' has a Pokemon world primarily based on the games, but Yellow from ''Manga/PokemonAdventures'' appears.

Compare with the AdaptationalEarlyAppearance, where a character who appears late in the original appears earlier in a cameo in the adaptation, and RemakeCameo, where people involved with an original work make a cameo in its remake. Contrast AscendedExtra. See also LastEpisodeNewCharacter.

What happens when a MythologyGag and a {{Cameo}} decide they [[{{JustForFun/Troperithmetic}} love each other and have a baby.]]

* Arika shows up very briefly at the very end of both the ''Anime/MaiHime'' anime series and manga, and Nina can be spotted sitting in the desk in front of Tate's in the classroom in episode 2. They're the main characters in the ElseWorld [[labelnote:(?)]](or maybe distant-future)[[/labelnote]] sequel ''Anime/MaiOtome''.

* Creator/{{Clamp}} loves to do this with their works using TheMultiverse, but a few with the same characters also occur:

** Though they aren't actually seen, Yuuko also mentions Subaru and Hokuto, characters from ''Manga/TokyoBabylon'' and ''Manga/{{X1999}}'' and says that she's known them since they were children.

* In ''Manga/LoveHina'', Naru's sister was originally made for the anime adaptation, but Ken Akamatsu loved the character so much that he included her in the manga in the final chapter... and then used her ''again'' in ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'', making many fans wonder if they're not both the same girl and if the two series have a shared continuity.
** ''Negima'' has a number of cameos from ''Love Hina''. Motoko seems to appear in one of Setsuna's flashbacks, and WordOfGod confirmed that the inn the group stayed at during one of the {{Beach Episode}}s is the same as the one at which Naru and Keitaro stayed. Then there's the fact that Motoko and Setsuna are both practitioners of the same sword style...
*** In chapter 256 Motoko's family is mentioned by name, and one the techniques Motoko used in ''Love Hina'' seems to be somewhat plot-relevant in ''Negima''.

** And late in ''Brotherhood'', there's a shot of an elderly couple -- the female looks exactly like old Dante.

** [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Unity Unity]]: [[Anime/YuGiOh Yugi, Joey/Jonoichi, Tea/Anzu, Tristan/Honda and Duke]]
** [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Yu-Jo_Friendship Yu-Jo Friendship]]: [[Anime/YuGiOh Atem and Joey/Jonoichi.]]
** [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Judgment_of_the_Pharaoh Judgement of the Pharaoh]]: [[Anime/YuGiOh Atem.]]
** [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Kaibaman Kaibaman]]: [[Anime/YuGiOh Seto Kaiba.]]
** [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Gravekeeper%27s_Visionary Gravekeeper's Visionary]]: [[Anime/YuGiOh Mr. Ishtar.]]
** [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Gravekeeper%27s_Priestess Gravekeeper's Priestess]]: [[Anime/YuGiOh Ishizu.]]
** [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Gravekeeper%27s_Descendant Gravekeeper's Desendant]]: [[Anime/YuGiOh Marik.]]
** [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Gravekeeper%27s_Recruiter Gravekeeper's Recruiter]]: [[Anime/YuGiOh Odion.]]
** [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Orbital_7_(card) Orbital 7]]: [[Anime/YuGiOhZexal Orbital 7.]]
** [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Princess_Cologne_(card) Princess Cologne]]: [[Anime/YuGiOhZexal Princess Cologne.]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* In ''Series/{{DHS Comix}}'', in Random Encounter, various important characters in the world's history appear as portraits across Dhark's Hero School. This includes portraits of Deimi and Dyaris, Lavendar, as well as the founders of Dhark's, most notably being the painting of them in Mana's office.

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblem: [[VideoGame/FireEmblemElibe Blazing Sword]]'' (the first game in the series released internationally), being a direct prequel to the previous game (the Japan-only ''Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade''), features several cameos from that game, most notably Prince Zephiel, who grows up to be ''The Binding Blade'''s BigBad. In fact, ''Blazing Sword'' appears to end on a cliffhanger to players unaware that the scene depicting Zephiel's StartOfDarkness was merely filling in the time gap between the two games.
** ''Fire Emblem: [[VideoGame/FireEmblemAkaneia Shadow Dragon]]'', the DS remake of ''The Dark Dragon and the Sword of Light'', features several cameos from the original game's sequel ''Mystery of the Emblem''.

* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' started a tradition in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' of having GoldfishPoopGang boss Gilgamesh (of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV'' fame) appearing in other games in the series. Because of how he arrives in the game's universe and how he departed the plot in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV'', it can be safely assumed that he is the only cameo character that is canonically the same person. He even had some retcons in remakes to place him within ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' and the original ''VideoGame/{{Final Fantasy|I}}''. In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'', he goes by the name "Alleyway Jack" but eventually reveals Gilgamesh as his true name. His other appearances in the series imply that he is aware of the other games and their heroes and in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'', he comes with a pair of boss fights and wields replicas the defining weapons of many main characters in the series. He also has a dog named Enkidu that shows up in some of his appearances, but not all of them. He is often searching for the sword Excalibur, but frequently mistakes it with Excalipoor, and his attacks will often reflect this distinction - Excalibur is extremely powerful, whereas Excalipoor does 1HP of damage. His Summon in ''Dissidia'' reflects this, in that his summon will either triple the caster's BP or reduce it to 1. In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'', Gilgamesh makes a recurring appearance in a series of endgame sidequests starring Hildibrand Manderville, and is fought twice in the questline as a boss.

** Ranging from well-known comic characters displayed prominently, such as Morph (himself based on long-unseen comics character Changeling) changing into SelfDemonstrating/{{Deadpool}} to fight ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}, Comicbook/BlackPanther watching Comicbook/{{Magneto}}'s departure from Earth, the Juggernaut fighting a simulation of Comicbook/TheIncredibleHulk in the Danger Room, a robotic duplicate of Comicbook/ThePunisher appearing in one of Mojo's shows, Professor Xavier seeing a glimpse of Comicbook/GhostRider while reading Comicbook/{{Gambit}}'s mind or ComicBook/WarMachine and ComicBook/NickFury watching a broadcast together on the Comicbook/{{SHIELD}} Helicarrier. Others are more obscure, like Beast wearing a ComicBook/HowardTheDuck T-shirt or [[ComicBook/XForce Domino]] appearing on a TV screen in the background of an episode.

* Several characters from ''Disney/{{Aladdin}}: the Series'' could be seen as guests at Aladdin and Jasmine's wedding in ''Aladdin and the King of Thieves''.

* There are lots of tiny ones in the ''Film/LordOfTheRings'' films, some of which are blown up into full appearances in the extended versions.

* Arana and Kubira, characters from the ''VideoGame/{{Strider}}'' manga, appear as generic enemy grunts in some stages from the NES ''Strider''.
** [[AllThereInTheManual Officially]], the large automatic weapon used by a few Russian soldiers in the original Arcade ''Strider'' is meant to be a "Shadowtag Bullets", a weapon featured during the final chapters of the manga.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{ThunderCats|2011}}'' (2011), there are a few cameos from [[WesternAnimation/ThunderCats the original]].

* {{WebVideo/RockedReviews}} has been known to include several cameos of other internet reviewers in his ''Regretting The Past'' series. Most of these reviewers also contribute to channel awesome. For example, TheNostalgiaCritic makes cameos in the RTP on Nickelback's ''All The Right Reasons'' to force him to review the album's third track ''Photograph.''

** When Sully and Boo return to her room at the end of ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc'', she has a toy [[WesternAnimation/ToyStory2 Jessie]].
** The mobile home that Mike and Sully send Randall to appeared in ''WesternAnimation/ABugsLife''.

* The ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'' episode "Day of the Dark Knight" begins with a prison break at Iron Heights; among the escapees are numerous [[Series/{{Batman}} Adam West Batman]] villains including King Tut, Egghead, the Bookworm and Louie the Lilac among others. In addition, the Clock King's face is revealed in the same episode to be modeled after Walter Slezak, his actor in the 1960's series.

* ''Film/{{Troy}}'' features one that only Latin nerds are going to pick up on, in a nod to the Roman lovechild of the ''Literature/TheIliad'' and ''Literature/TheOdyssey'': ''Literature/TheAeneid'', which follows the Trojan survivors of the sack of Troy. At the end of the film, Paris hands off the sword of Troy to a young man who gives his name, when prompted, as "Aeneas". Paris tells him to find a new home for their people, which, presumably, film!Aeneas does, after seven years of gallivanting about.

** During the GreenLantern episode of ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'' featured Kyle Rayner as the Green Lantern, but Hal Jordan's name appearing on the side of an aircraft. In the same episode, Guy Gardner (the Green Lantern before John Stewart) cameos as a mugger that gets beaten up by Kyle.

* WesternAnimation/DuckDodgers did a crossover with the characters of GreenLantern once. Several GL characters have significant roles (Sinestro, Hal Jordan, Katma Tui, Ch'p, Killowog), but the initial battle between the Corps and the robots also contains quite a few Blink-And-You'll-Miss-It appearances from characters only readers of the comics would recognize. Examples include Salaak, Boodika, Tomar Re, and Guy Gardner.

* Probably the biggest one is in ''Anime/MobileFighterGGundam'', where virtually every major Mobile Suit of the Universal Century, as well as a number of non-Gundam mecha such as L Gaim and {{Zambot3}}, show up to battle the Devil Gundam at the very end. Also important as there was the first appearance of a certain [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing transforming, Buster Rifle-using Gundam]].
** The original Gundam also makes a cameo near the end of ''Anime/SpaceRunawayIdeon'', another series created by Creator/YoshiyukiTomino.

A ContinuityCameo sticks a character from another continuity (usually the manga, comic, original game, novel, etc.) in the work as a wink to the fans. Sometimes this is done as an apology to the fans for [[AdaptedOut leaving their favorite character out]] and as a way of saying that they do exist in that particular universe even if they're not focused on. Most of the time you either have to know it's there or know what to look for, as they sometimes go by so fast that you'll literally miss them if you blink.

** What's more, Shaun/Sean, who was a fairly important character in the games but was committed from the Anime, is briefly seen in a crowd scene in the anime's movie.

** ''VideoGame/MetalGearGhostBabel'' is an alternate sequel to ''VideoGame/MetalGear'', and contains at least one main character based on a rejected concept for a main character in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'', but Roy Campbell and Mei Ling both appear, and a reference is made to Raiden from ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'' ([[EarlyBirdCameo which hadn't been released at that time]]), along with Big Boss, Gray Fox, and Meryl Silverburgh.
** Teliko and Venus from ''VideoGame/MetalGearAcid'' and ''VideoGame/MetalGearAcid2'' both get small, story-irrelevant cameo roles as bonus recruitable characters in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPortableOps''. They are both explicitly identified in-game as [[CanonImmigrant aliens from another dimension]].
** ''VideoGame/MetalGearAcid'' series:

*** In ''VideoGame/MetalGearAcid2'', the BossRush mode allows the player to battle Liquid Snake, Revolver Ocelot, Vamp, Fortune, The Boss and The End in various permutations, as well as Teliko and a PaletteSwap Venus. All use adaptations of their original fighting styles using the cards from the card system and are fought in new arenas resembling Shadow Moses Island, the Big Shell and Tselionyarsk (all with the original Alert music from these games).
*** Unlockable cutscenes from ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3'' can be found in ''VideoGame/MetalGearAcid2''.

** Arthur, the British-born samurai once used to replace Mitsurugi in certain overseas versions of the ''[=SoulCalibur=]'' arcade, made a similar return to Hwang and Li Long in ''[=SoulCalibur=] III'' (although he didn't got into ''Arcade Edition''), and would also appear as a "Create-a-Character" CPU opponent in later games.

* A regular occurrence on ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' as a series after ''{{Series/Mighty Morphin|Power Rangers}}''. There is almost always an episode that involves the show's starring team, needing to team-up with the previous series' team to take down a common enemy. For example, the ''[[Series/PowerRangersInSpace In Space]]'' team had to team-up with the ''Series/PowerRangersLostGalaxy Lost Galaxy]]'' team.

* A regular occurrence on PowerRangers as a series after Mighty Morphin'. There is almost always an episode that involves the show's starring team, needing to team-up with the previous series' team to take down a common enemy. For example, the "In Space" team had to team-up with the "Lost Galaxy" team.