History Main / Fauxshadow

* In ''Series/BreakingBad'', when Hank follows Heisenberg's rolling meth lab to a garbage disposal yard, he pulls off the duct tape over the bullet holes in an attempt to gain probable cause to investigate. When he does, light shines through the holes and falls on Walter's chest, clearly indicating that Hank would shoot Walter. Hank is gunned down by a gang of Neo-{{Nazi}}s two episodes before the end.

** Ron Weasley mentions off hand that his mother has a cousin [[MuggleBornOfMages with no magical abilities]]. The cousin works as an accountant. We never get to meet this character. (WordOfGod is J K Rowling originally planned to make this cousin important, he was going to have a witch daughter named Mafalda who would cause trouble. But then Rowling rewrote Goblet Of Fire and Mafalda never made it into any of the books.

--> '''Sigma:''' Here I am. You can challenge me at anytime. I have delightful news. I've recently acquired a new partner. He has been very supportive. He seems to have created quite a few robots. And he gave me the toughest body that you will ever see. You got here sooner than I expected, so it is not yet complete... But...it is enough to defeat you... He is an excellent partner... I believe you two know each other... In fact, he used to be a comrade of yours. He was very persistent about you... and that makes him very helpful to me. You see X, there is someone other than me...who hates you... Now feel our combined rage and die! ...But not before suffering horribly, ha ha ha! ...Goodbye, X!

* The last season of ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Unlimited'' seems to be building up to the resurrection of [[spoiler:Brainiac]], with ComicBook/LexLuthor bent on that singular goal. However, this is twisted in the second-to-last episode when [[spoiler:Darkseid, who was killed with Brainiac in the second season episode of Justice League, is accidentally revived instead. The Luthor-Brainiac plot thread dies away in the last episode (although Darkseid's new appearance led to fan speculation that he had been fused with Brainiac, WordOfGod said otherwise)]].
** There's another example earlier in the series; there are hints that Batman might join forces with Project Cadmus. As it turns out, [[DebateAndSwitch Cadmus was more of an authoritarian power-grab than it first seemed]], so the foreshadowing comes to nothing: Batman stays in the League.
* Done intentionally and PlayedForLaughs in ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'''s first Christmas episode (sorry, first non-denominational holiday episode). It was the first episode in which Kenny doesn't die, despite being put in several life-threatening situations.
** However, it happens for real in Season 20, which was plagued by other problems such as dropped characters and plot points. Lennart Bedrager, the apparent BigBad of the second half of the season, was hinted to not be what he seemed; for example he dropped his Danish accent to reveal he was apparently American. So the fans speculated that he was actually one of the characters from the previous episodes that could be acting behind the scenes, such as J. J. Abrams, Hillary Clinton or even a lifeless husk being controlled from the inside by the Memberberries. The answer? He was just some random guy who wanted to cause World War III for shits and giggles.

* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'': The "Zodiac," hinted at in the end of the opening sequence, is built to be something relating to the BigBad. The fact that it has symbols that clearly represent some of the main characters (the pine tree on the hat Dipper gets at the end of the first episode, the shooting star on one of Mabel's sweaters, etc) and some that are more subtle had led to plenty of speculation throughout the series as to who the ten people involved would be. In the GrandFinale, [[spoiler:these characters ''do'' gather as Ford explains that the Zodiac is the key to defeating Bill. But the whole process is interrupted by Stan and Ford arguing long enough for Bill to trap everyone who isn't a Pines and destroy the drawing they needed. Bill is finished off by another method, and the Zodiac never actually plays a role in the show.]]

** Caesar for season five. Prior to the premiere, they ''heavily'' hyped him up with bits and pieces of information. When it airs, the hype grows as questions are asked: why is he on the plane? Why does he seem to already know about the Island? Why is hiding a gun and other items from what appears to be his lancer, Ilana (who comparatively seems boring, just some bounty hunter who escorted Sayid onto the plane)? What is his agenda? Surely he'll be a important player in the show's endgame...then he dies in the middle of an episode. He's never mentioned again, while his lancer turns out to be a important character with a personal link to Jacob and a promotion to regular for the final season

** A lot of work was put into showing that Catra and Shadow Weaver were NotSoDifferent, with parallel dialogue choices, similarly cruel and controlling treatment of Adora, even some elements of costuming such as the asymmetrical sleeve in Catra's fourth-season outfit, hinting that it might become important to her arc. The graphic novel even had Adora outright call Catra "the new Shadow Weaver". In the fifth season, it's dropped entirely, Catra never deals with those similarities or even really realises they're there, and the closest thing it gets to a resolution is that the show just cuts off her asymmetrical sleeve and gets rid of the mask.

** Episode 11 of the ''D/P'' saga has Zoey wishing Dawn luck and saying that she'll win, but come next episode, Zoey wins against Dawn.

** [[spoiler:The first half of ''Best Wishes'' has Ash's badge case have a clear slot for the Legend Badge. After getting the Icicle Badge, the Opelucid Gym is temporarily closed (much to Iris's delight), so Ash eventually wins the Toxic Badge from Roxie instead.]]
** It's practically tradition that an (obviously) AlwaysSomeoneBetter trainer would be the one to prevent Ash from getting a tournament victory, which, in the Unova arc, fans would believe to be Virgil. [[spoiler:Instead, it was Cameron, a worse IdiotHero than Ash was.]]

* In the third chapter of ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'', there is a double murder, which leads to Monokuma introducing a rule that [[spoiler:only the one who killed the first victim will be considered as the culprit]]. Throughout the trial, this rule is often brought up [[spoiler:whenever discussing the second murder, noting that the first one is more important, making it seem like the one who killed the second victim will escape execution]]. However, as it turns out, [[spoiler:[[SerialKillee Korekiyo]] had actually killed both of the victims]], and [[RedHerring the rule ends up not playing any role for the rest of the game]].

* In ''[[VideoGame/DeadRising2 Dead Rising 2: Off the Record]]'', Sullivan displays extremely suspicious behavior, for example suggesting a VigilanteExecution. [[spoiler: As it turns out, Sullivan is an admittedly jerkish SheepInSheepsClothing, while it's Stacey who is the BitchInSheepsClothing]].

* [[=SkekSil=]] the Chamberlain is set up perfectly in ''Film/TheDarkCrystal'' to pull a HeelFaceTurn, but then he just... doesn't.

* SkekSil the Chamberlain is set up perfectly in ''Film/TheDarkCrystal'' to pull a HeelFaceTurn, but then he just... doesn't.

* In the ''[[Film/AtorTheFightingEagle Ator]]'' sequel, ''Film/TheBladeMaster''[[note]]Known best to ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' fans as ''The Cave Dwelers''[[/note]] appears to set up Ator's female companion as having a ChekhovsSkill that would come into play early on [[note]]Her ability to use gunpowder / wall scrapings as explosives[[/note]]... however, that skill is never used and she becomes more of a FauxActionGirl / DamselInDistress / NeutralFemale, instead [[note]]in particular.. cowering in the giant-snake pit when she could've aided Ator with a skull-bomb or something[[/note]].

* In ''Film/FirstBlood'', Teasle asks Col. Trautman if he'd give Rambo a hug or blow his brains out, leaving Trautman to give the wish-washy asnwer "I couldn't decide until I met him face-to-face". [[spoiler:This hints at the original ending in the book, where Trautman [[BoomHeadshot goes with blowing his brains out]] (Rambo and Teasle shot each other and it was inarguably a MercyKill at this point).]]

** Ash's Charizard returns late in the ''Black and White'' saga. [[spoiler:In a case of BaitAndSwitchCredits, he doesn't have an actual role in Team Plasma, let alone face Reshiram, like the opening theme suggested.]] And then, with the revelation that Mega Evolutions, introduced in the next generation, ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'', many were thinking that since Charizard stayed on Ash's team until the end of ''Black and White'' (and never returned to the Charicific Valley), Ash would get access to the new mechanic (since Charizard is one of those confirmed to get Mega Evolutions [two, in fact]). The ''XY'' series came and went, and Ash ''never'' got to actually be a Mega user, in spite of having Charizard (and a whole LOT of other potential Mega candidates, for that matter). In fact, ''none'' of Ash's previous Pokemon appear at all in ''XY''.

** Amy and the Doctor getting together and/or being together off-screen seemed like this. In series 5, Amy was especially flirtatious with him, even attempted to [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar have sex with him]] on her wedding night. In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E7AmysChoice Amy's Choice]]" she chooses her fiancé Rory, but it's revealed that the Doctor had been battling with his attraction to her. Eventually the couple do get married, but they keep the tension up; when kidnapped Amy keeps up a constant monologue, saying she loves a man, "even though you think it should be him," without specifying which 'him' it is, only that he has a 'stupid face'. It's Rory. Later, when Amy and her child are kidnapped, she tells the baby to look out for her father, who is TheLastOfHisKind and OlderThanHeLooks. She actually means The Last Centurion, Rory's alter-ego. Later, when the two of them have been (briefly) rescued, they beg the Doctor to tell them what's going on, because this is their baby. His response is "It's mine." He actually meant the cot. And then there's the reveal that [[spoiler: the baby is part Time Lord...because Amy and Rory conceived her in the time vortex.]]

** ''Mega Man X4'' foreshadows [[spoiler:the title character's FaceHeelTurn]] for the SequelSeries ''VideoGame/MegaManZero''. (Un)fortunately, because the series [[FranchiseZombie continued on after the creator's planned ending]], that plot twist never comes to be. [[spoiler:At least it succeeds in foreshadowing the Maverick Hunters' transformation into the evil Neo Arcadian regime. (Plus said regime is ruled by an evil copy of X that Zero has to stop.)]]
** Similarly in ''Mega Man X5'', Sigma mentions during the final battle that he has a "partner" who hates X as well and provided him with a new body. Due to the story being nuked by ExecutiveMeddling, we never find out who this partner is and he [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse vanishes]] into the numerous other {{plot hole}}s in the following sequels. WordOfGod claims he meant it to be [[VideoGame/MegaManClassic Dr. Wily]] in some form or another and the game does strongly hint at Wily's presence.

* In ''WesternAnimation/BatmanSoulOfTheDragon'' , it seems like Jade is set up to potentially be a villain like her comics counterpart (Cheshire) due to the envy she has for Shiva being better than her. That's not the case as [[spoiler: she's murdered by Rip Jaggar to open the gate before this could happen]] meaning that she still has Main/AdaptationalHeroism in the movie.

* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}''

* ''LightNovel/HaiyoreNyarkoSan'' has a lot of fun with this, at the expense of OnlySaneMan Mahiro's sanity. His attempts to be GenreSavvy usually involve trying to find the {{Foreshadowing}} that would produce the stupidest possible resolution to the plot; while his logic is accurate, he's almost always wrong because an entirely ''different'' piece of Foreshadowing will crop up that produces an even dumber resolution than he thought was possible.
** Specific example: In ''Nyarko-San W'', the main cast goes to the GreatBigLibraryOfEverything because Nyarko has an overdue book; while they're there, a pair of aliens raid the library looking for a specific book. Putting two and two together, Mahiro guesses that Nyarko's book is the one they're looking for[[note]]What makes it stupid is, her book is just juvenile lit[[/note]]. However, it turns out that ''he'' had the MacGuffin, a book he picked up earlier and absently shoved in his pocket when the bad guys attacked. When this is revealed, Mahiro gets a BigNo at the idea that he's responsible for the plot twist, and Nyarko tells him how mean it was to immediately blame her for it.
** Another example gets lampshaded; two episodes of ''Nyarko-San W'' have the Cyclone vacuum cleaner [[LargeHam voiced by]] Creator/NorioWakamoto. At the end of the latter episode, both Nyarko and Mahiro remark that they thought the vacuum would end up being important to the plot, based off of how much set-up it got. But no, it was only there so they could give a ShoutOut to ''Series/KamenRiderDouble''.

* One of the biggest buildups of [[VideoGame/ModernWarfare Call Of Duty Modern Warfare 2]] was Task Force 141 gathering intel that could lead to the whereabouts of Makarov. But towards the end of the game, [[spoiler: their leader General Shepherd betrays the group and brands them as terrorists once they start to uncover his devious schemes]]. For that reason, the remainder of the crew decides to put off hunting Makarov in favor of getting their revenge on Shepherd.

* One of the biggest buildups of [[VideoGame/ModernWarfare Call Of Duty Modern Warfare 2]] was Task Force 141 gathering intel that xould lead to the whereabouts of ultranational terrorist Makarov, but towards the end [[spoiler: their leader General Shepherd betrayed the group and branded them as terrorists once they start to uncover his devious schemes]]. For that reason, the remainder of the crew decides to put off hunting Makarov in favor of getting their revenge on Shepherd.

* ''VideoGame/BraveFencerMusashi'' has the action figures of enemies and bosses, each with voices and "attack actions" that you can often buy before encountering said enemies. Typically they serve as a heads-up to what kind of enemies you'll be facing next. [[spoiler:However, you [[TheUnfought never fight Colonel Capricolla]] and it turns out [[ReverseMole he's been helping you the entire time]]. The pistol, sound effects, and [[CallingYourAttacks battle cries]] made by his action figure are only there to keep players from discovering the big twist.]]

** The "love triangle" of Luke/Leia/Han. Han and Leia end up together, but only after Luke and Leia have shared a few kisses that are never re-visited after they learn they're brother and sister.