History Main / DestinedBystander

* Introduced as a demon of the day; or at most, demon of the month; Spike of Buffy the Vampire fame endured as a character throughout the TV series' seven seasons [[spoiler:and the fifth season of Angel's spin-off series]]. Series creator Joss Whedon has said numerous times that he did not mean for Spike to be anything more than minor character and planned to kill him off not long after his first appearance.

* In TheBatman, Ethan Bennet is a long running crusading police officer (and analogue to Harvey Dent). At the end of the first season, the Joker kidnaps him, [[MindRape works him over]] and accidentally turns him into Clayface.

*** Eddie Brock in The Spectacular Spiderman as a fellow student to Peter, and in SpidermanTheAnimatedSeries (and the comics) he is a Rival Reporter to Parker. Several other characters appear in Spiderman The Animated Series before becoming their alter egoes, most notably Norman and Harry Osborn, and the former appears long before his transformation into Spiderman's archenemy: The Green Goblin. Other examples include Felicia Hardy, who takes several seasons to become her comics identity of [[DatingCatwoman The Black Cat]], and Michael Morbius, who has several appearances before becoming Morbius: The Living Vampire.

-->''"The thing about Spider-Man is that his enemies can't just be sociopaths who like pretty things. Some are, sure, but an astonishing number of them are his best friend from high school, or his girlfriend's father, or the cat he raised from a kitten. Something angsty. So there's the Green Goblin, who's not really that inspiring as a villain. I mean, pumpkin bombs? But in his various incarnations the Green Goblin has been practically everyone on Peter Parker's speed dial."''
-->- Lore Sjoberg, '''[[http://www.bookofratings.com/archive.html The Book of Ratings]]'''

** A few notable examples from the comics: Nearly everyone named that Peter Parker went to high-school with has had deeper involvement in his story as the years passed. Liz Allen (whose brother turns out to be the Molten Man) fell in love with Harry Osborn, who father turned out to be the Green Goblin, and who eventually went mad and took up his father's title. Flash Thompson, Peter's bully-turned-friend, is suspected of being the Hobgoblin (whom another long time Spiderman supporting character, Ned Leeds, is also suspected of being), becomes a target for the Green Goblin, loses him memory, etc. Even one or two appearance character Sally Avril decides to become a heroine named Bluebird (and subsequently dies). It's a big case of writers deciding to use known characters instead of spontaneously making new ones, but it often looks like [[DoomMagnet just being near Peter Parker is an invitation to be drawn in.]]

** Miriam in 2005 was originally just Candi's sister, and nothing special. The first time ''Ciem 2'' was tried, her Sniperbadger persona as a hobby was retconned in as an ExcusePlot so that Candi would have a personal reason to wear a centipede outfit again and fight Aard. Since then, Miriam's Sniperbadger hobbies have become more integral. [[LostInImitation All future versions]] of the story make Miriam's hobbies more narrative-important.

* In the Film/IronMan movie, Rhodes (who will eventually become War Machine) plays a large part in the plot. He even looks at the prototype Iron Man armor [[spoiler:(which he 'steals' and converts into the War Machine armor in the sequel)]] and says "Next time, baby."

* For a non-villain example, what about ''{{Smallville}}''? Even though the series has set it up for Clark/Lana, anybody who knows jack about Superman is aware that Clark/Lana is ultimately going to fail, and Lois is the one he's really meant for. I forget if in the more villainy way they did this with Lex.
** They most definitely did. Although he's more a Destined Main Character than a bystander, being involved in almost every aspect of the driving plot(s) of the show.

* Harvey Dent becoming Two-Face in The Dark Knight.

* Harvey Dent appears in both BatmanTheAnimatedSeries and the 1989 movie as a crusading character. The movies featured them as characters before his transformation and the series has him used in two episodes as Bruce's friend before he has the accident that melts his face off.
** The producers of TheDarkKnightSaga originally wanted the DA in the first movie to be Dent, but decided they couldn't give him time to properly develop so they came up with another character instead.

* In the Film/IronMan movie, Rhodes (who will eventually become War Machine) plays a large part in the plot. He even looks at the prototype Iron Man armor [[spoiler:(which he 'steals' in IM2 and it becomes the War Machine armor)]] and says "Next time."

* TruthInTelevision: This troper's father and one of her close friends honestly did not know that Harvey Dent was going to FaceHeelTurn in The Dark Knight, and her father even couldn't figure out how she knew. (or is it TroperTales?)

* [[MeaningfulName Leslie Bean]] of ''{{Shortpacked}}'' showed up as a random grocery store employee before Willis decided to reuse her character design, therefore making her a prominent character.

* Leslie Bean of ''{{Shortpacked}}'' showed up as a random grocery store employee before Willis decided to reuse her character design, therefore making her a prominent character.

*** Likewise, TheSpectacularSpiderman, as noted before, not only gives Eddie Brock an extensive role (influenced by his role in [[UltimateSpiderMan Ultimate Spider-Man]]), but also has Norman and Harry Osborn, The Sandman, The Rhino, The Shocker, Doctor Octopus, Curt Connors, and, possibly, [[spoiler: Frederick Foswell]], as supporting characters or minor villains before their inevitable darker turns, as well as, as said before, every named schoolmate Peter had in the comics, as well as (again, as noted above) Gwen Stacy, [[KilledOffForReal whose fate is well known.]]
*** The recent movies have been playing with this as well. Harry Osborn appears as one of the main supporting characters for the first two movies before moving on into a temporary villainous role as The New Goblin in the third. Curt Connors appears often throughout the second and third movies, before perhaps becoming The Lizard,
* Harvey Dent appears in both BatmanTheAnimatedSeries and the 1989 movie as a crusading character. The movies featured them as characters before his transformation and the series has him used in two episodes as Bruce's friend before he has the accident that melts his face off.
** The producers of TheDarkKnightSaga originally wanted the DA in the first movie to be Dent, but decided they couldn't give him time to properly develop so they came up with another character instead.

If the character was always intended to be important, that's a [=~Chekhov's Gunman~=] if the character was hiding their identity during their first appearance, you have a RedHerringShirt. If a character in an [[DerivativeWorks adaptation]] is introduced earlier than in the source work, that's an EarlyBirdCameo.

This is when a character who first appears as a supporting character eventually turns into something more, into a LegacyCharacter. The best friend becomes the BigBad, the old neighbor becomes the LoveInterest, etc. The person who was once on the sidelines is inevitably drawn into the main event. They have a definite place in the future of the story.

If the character was always intended to be important, that's a [=~Chekhov's Gunman~=] if the character was hiding their identity during their first appearance, you have a RedHerringShirt.

If the character was always intended to be important, that's a [=Chekhov'sGunman=], if the character was hiding their identity during their first appearance, you have a RedHerringShirt.

If the character was always intended to be important, that's a {=Chekhov'sGunman=}, if the character was hiding their identity during their first appearance, you have a RedHerringShirt.

If the character was always important, but was just hiding their identity during their first appearance, you have a RedHerringShirt.

This is, in fact, most common in adaptations, as characters are already known and [[MythologyGag can be adapted to a role before their change]], and where someone new to the series would find the transformation surprising, while anyone who has seen a previous incarnation of the series knows that Harvey Dent is not going to suddenly redeem himself. Such roles are more in depth than an EarlyBirdCameo, and they add a bit of tragedy/anticipation to it, because you know that their destinies will either happen or be, at least, alluded to. For example, Spectacular SpiderMan is the first media appearance of Gwen Stacy that wasn't as a cameo/extended homage, or at least as a main character, and knowledgeable watchers are waiting until the inevitable [[StuffedInTheFridge fatal]] [[KilledOffForReal storyline]] on somber but baited breath...Or were, 'till it was ScrewedByTheNetwork.

This is closely related to, and often runs alongside EarlyBirdCameo (EarlyBirdCameo means that this is concurrently in place, but not necessarily the other way around), which is when this is played in an adaptation as apposed to regular material, and is more of a bit role instead of being an actual supporting role as a character.

* In TheBatman, Ethan Bennet is a long running crusading police officer (and analogue to Harvey Dent), who, at the start of the second seasons, eventually becomes Clayface and recurs as a villain.

* Daniel Sterns, the character who will eventually become The Leader, appears pre-villainy turn being a secondary character in TheHulk 2008.