| 1 | ->''"You can tell Max is really important because he's not even on the poster."'' |
| 2 | -->-- ''WebVideo/{{Diamondbolt}}'', ''[[Film/TheAdventuresOfSharkboyAndLavagirl SHARKBOY & LAVAGIRL]]: A Cinematic Masterpiece'' |
| 3 | |
| 4 | So, you're watching a new movie and you instantly recognize the guy playing [[TheLancer the hero's best friend]] -- he's Bob Smith from your favorite TV show! Wait just a second, you think, you've heard a lot about this movie and you had no idea that he was in it. Why not? It's not like he's appearing in a bit part. |
| 5 | |
| 6 | Well, it may be because he was effectively {{unperson}}ed by the marketing campaign. He wasn't in the trailer, he doesn't have his own action figure and he's not on the poster. But everyone else from the movie is. For some reason, the marketing department has apparently decided that he's Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer. |
| 7 | |
| 8 | Usually used purposely to [[AvertedTrope prevent]] [[TrailersAlwaysSpoil spoilers]]. Sometimes occurs due to a legal issue with the actor. The typical result is that anyone who absorbs the movie through PopCulturalOsmosis will not know the character exists. |
| 9 | |
| 10 | This trope is named after the aptly named "Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Film" [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin who failed to appear]] in ''Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail'', making him actually the opposite of this trope. Contrast LadyNotAppearingInThisGame, as video games tend to have the exact opposite problem. Compare DeadStarWalking, where an apparently major character is quickly killed for [[AnyoneCanDie dramatic effect]]. Contrast AdvertisedExtra, where a heavily-promoted character barely appears. |
| 11 | ---- |
| 12 | !!Examples: |
| 13 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 14 | |
| 15 | [[folder:Anime & Manga]] |
| 16 | * ''Manga/The100GirlfriendsWhoReallyReallyReallyReallyReallyLoveYou'': One particular antagonistic character doesn't show up in the anime's promotional visual or trailer.. [[spoiler:Hahari Hanazono starts antagonistic, but is eventually one of Rentarou's soulmates. A promotional image showing all of the girlfriends up to Momoha in the background conspicuously leaves her out]]. |
| 17 | * Kiryuu Michiru and Kiryuu Kaoru of ''Anime/FutariWaPrettyCureSplashStar'' are the DarkMagicalGirl {{Evil Counterpart}}s of Saki and Mai, the original owners of the FrillsOfJustice, and eventually part of the TrueCompanions. Despite other non-Cure allies [[Anime/FutariWaPrettyCure Shiny Luminous]] and [[Anime/YesPrettyCure5 Milky Rose]] getting ''tons'' of merchandise and appearing prominently in ads, Michiru and Kaoru do not get this same treatment, possibly due to their Cure forms appearing so late in the series (Shiny Luminous and Milky Rose appear much earlier on in their respective series, and due to retroactive changes to Cure criteria are now considered full Cures). |
| 18 | * ''Literature/{{Baccano}}'': |
| 19 | ** While introducing most of the characters in the series, the TitleSequence deliberately leaves everyone's favorite AxCrazy PsychoForHire, Claire Stanfield, unmentioned. [[spoiler: Not to say that he doesn't a make a visual appearance in it -- just look for the redheaded conductor.]] |
| 20 | ** The same thing happens in the PostEpisodeTrailer of episode 8. Episode nine is titled "Claire Stanfield Successfully Completes the Mission", but most of the clips in the trailer focus on Rachel, which helps to hide Claire's identity again. [[spoiler: And once again, he does make a small appearance in the trailer -- his is the face shown right at the start of it covered in shadows and blood. Yeah, he's like that.]] |
| 21 | * The opening credits of ''Literature/{{Tytania}}'' leave out the [[DesignatedHero ostensible]] protagonist Admiral Fan Hyulick, his entire band of supporting characters, and his love interest entirely. |
| 22 | * ADV Films' trailer for ''Anime/CyberTeamInAkihabara'' almost completely leaves out the Divas (arguably one of the more [[FanService memorable]] elements of the series): the main character's Diva form only appears briefly, and the character's voiceover doesn't make note of it at all. |
| 23 | * Close to this is the opening sequence for ''Anime/SuperDimensionFortressMacross'', which shows all the major human characters, except for Lynn Minmay. |
| 24 | * Rei Ryugazaki from ''Anime/{{Free}}'' is initially not as well-known as the other four main leads due to being added onto the character roster after the original commercial had aired, effectively missing out on the pre-release hype. This is due to [[CanonForeigner him not being in]] the ''[[Literature/HighSpeed2013 High☆Speed!]]'' LightNovel the series is a successor to. [[SubvertedTrope After season 1, though,]] he is one of the most beloved characters due to his likable and unique personality. |
| 25 | * Kyoko Sakura of ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica.'' A good way to determine if a piece of artwork came out before or after the series is if it features four girls or five - [[BreakoutCharacter she eases out of this considerably afterward.]] Until the end of the fourth episode, the only thing she appeared in was a single second of the opening. |
| 26 | * The trailer for ''Anime/PokemonTheSeriesXY'' ignores the Team Rocket trio, among others; it was probably in favor of previewing the new stuff (i.e. new region, friends, and Pokémon), Ash, Pikachu, and his mother. |
| 27 | ** An OnTheNext preview for a ''Anime/PokemonJourneysTheSeries'' episode hid the fact that Serena, a main character from ''XY'', [[TheBusCameBack would appear for that one episode]]. It would have been a surprise for the audience, [[ContentLeak had not some other marketing material leaked her return]]. |
| 28 | * The opening and the trailers of ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'' do not feature Precia Testarossa, the BigBad and Fate's mother. She does appear in the movie trailer. |
| 29 | ** The opening and trailers of ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAs'' do not feature Reinforce, despite her being an important member of the Yagami family, making her appearance completely unexpected. She appears in the movie trailer. |
| 30 | ** The second opening of ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikers'' features the BigBad, the [[QuirkyMinibossSquad Numbers]], and the other villains... with the sole exception of Due, who hadn't appeared at that point. |
| 31 | * It's almost like the marketing of ''Manga/MonsterMusume'' is carrying over to real life the gag of Lala being unnoticed by everyone. She is absent from the trailers, the opening, the official site, almost every piece of promotional material, and her voice actress did not release an ImageSong. |
| 32 | * ''Manga/MissKobayashisDragonMaid'' has Fafnir. Despite being one of the earliest dragons introduced in-series, he doesn't appear on any of the manga covers (until about 6 volumes after his debut), nor does he get any character art in the anime to himself. The most he gets is a signed ''shikishi'' that comes [[https://twitter.com/kyoanishop/status/864681611698225152 as a bonus]] with volume 4 of the anime's Blu-Ray release, and even that is shared with Takiya. |
| 33 | * In ''Anime/Danganronpa3TheEndOfHopesPeakHighSchool'', Chiaki Nanami is absent from promotional materials and even silhouetted out in the first episode's intro. This was because ''VisualNovel/{{Danganronpa 2|Goodbye Despair}}'' had revealed her as [[spoiler:an ArtificialIntelligence]], so seeing her as [[spoiler:a real living person]] would be a massive shock to the audience. |
| 34 | * The trailers and all promotional material for the movie of ''Anime/TomicaHyperRescueDriveHeadKidouKyuukyuuKeisatsu'' did a good job hiding the existence of Karigari, allowing him to appear only in a scene of old footage from the anime. Karigari actually has a major role in the movie. This was seemingly done to hide [[spoiler: the extent of his injuries, leading him to wear a mask over half his face and have one prosthetic hand]]. |
| 35 | * ''Anime/AzurLane: The Animation'': The Ironblood nation is one of the four major nations. In the trailers, only one of their members is briefly shown and they get some mentions, but in the actual opening, we get to see more of them. |
| 36 | * To conceal the FirstEpisodeTwist of ''Manga/AyakashiTriangle'', initial promotional material and the cover of the first volume only shows Matsuri in his male form, not the [[GenderBender female]] one he has from the end of the first chapter onward. Promos tended to recycle the same images even months later, and it wasn't until the second publishing year that ''Weekly Shonen Jump'' used female Matsuri as the icon in the table of contents. |
| 37 | * Due to the large cast, a ton of ''Literature/{{Anpanman}}'' characters who despite appearing a lot in the show never appear in the title cards. |
| 38 | ** Datemakiman never appeared in any of the show's openings after appearing in over 20 episodes by the time the show had its eleveth opening. He does appear in the first episode's title card once the show trasitioned to widescreen. |
| 39 | ** Shiratama-san never appeared in the show's ninth and tenth openings despite eight episodes and a major player in the 2006 Christmas special after her initial appearance in the show. She does appear later in the show's eleventh opening. |
| 40 | ** Poppo-chan never appeared in the show's ninth and tenth openings. Compare to Kokin-chan, who despite only appeared in episode episode prior to the show's revamp of the ninth opening appeared, was promoted as a billing character in the show. Poppo-chan would later appear in the first episode's title card once the show trasitioned to widescreen and would be seen on the show's eleventh opening. |
| 41 | * The 3-minute mini animation series ''Anime/BangDreamGirlsBandPartyPico'' during the second season (''OHMORI'') has the two newer bands, Morfonica and RAISE A SUILEN, appear later in the series. However, they are not present at all in the early promotional images of ''OHMORI'' and do not appear at all in the ending credits in each episode. The third season (''FEVER!'') however averts this and directly presents them from the get-go from the promotional artwork and the end-of-episode credits. |
| 42 | [[/folder]] |
| 43 | |
| 44 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 45 | * ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': Advertising for ''ComicBook/TheAmazingSpiderMan2018'' (as a part of Marvel's 2018 [[ComicBook/MarvelAFreshStart "Fresh Start"]] initiative) included a wrap-around cover for the first issue, featuring several important people in [[Characters/MarvelComicsPeterParker Peter Parker]]'s life. [[Characters/MarvelComicsMaryJaneWatson Mary Jane]] was noticeably absent, despite her relationship with Peter being a huge focus of the first issue. The closest thing was the editor hinting that Peter might get a new girlfriend. All the secrecy was most likely to preserve the surprise of the long-awaited reunion between Peter and MJ. |
| 46 | [[/folder]] |
| 47 | |
| 48 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 49 | * ''[[WebVideo/YuGiOhTheAbridgedSeries Yu-Gi-Oh: The Abridged Movie]]'': |
| 50 | ** Inverted and parodied in the trailer. Bakura is credited as "Sir not appearing in this film." Sure enough, he is not in the movie explained as he is making ''Zorc and Pals: The Movie'', however he still makes a cameo and is credited at the end. |
| 51 | ** This is played with further using Mokuba, as despite having numerous appearances no one is willing to acknowledge he appears in the movie, with everyone saying "[[PhraseCatcher Shut up Mokuba]]" whenever he asks to be in the film. |
| 52 | [[/folder]] |
| 53 | |
| 54 | [[folder:Films -- Animation]] |
| 55 | * Creator/RobinWilliams ''wanted'' his animated character Genie to be under-emphasized in promotions for ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'', because he had done the voicework for less money than usual for someone of his stature, and didn't want them to disproportionately profit from it. However, Disney only followed their contract in word and not spirit,[[note]]Williams assumed the movie poster would have the characters featured prominently and required Genie to not take more than 10% of the space. They instead [[LoopholeAbuse made all of the other characters much smaller, leaving Genie to take up the space allowed but everyone else floating against a scenic backdrop]].[[/note]] and the use of celebrity voices in animated films became an industry staple from about that point onward. |
| 56 | * The trailers for ''WesternAnimation/TheAngryBirdsMovie'' have The Blues be completely absent from any scenes, even being edited out of one scene in which they would appear. This is justified as in the movie, [[spoiler: they were only hatched in the finale and shown later in TheStinger]]. |
| 57 | * The trailers for ''WesternAnimation/AtlantisTheLostEmpire'' focus mostly on the journey to Atlantis and very little on the Atlanteans. Most notably, the King, played by Creator/LeonardNimoy, never appears. |
| 58 | * The trailers for ''WesternAnimation/TheBadGuys2022'' feature Diane Foxington only briefly, and she's absent from the majority of the commercials and marketing, creating the impression that she's only a minor character. This is largely to keep her major role in the film -- [[spoiler:especially her identity as the Crimson Paw]] -- from getting spoiled. |
| 59 | * The "woodcarver" lady in ''WesternAnimation/{{Brave}}'' does not appear in any trailer and is hardly featured on any posters, except a Japanese one. Kind of funny considering she sets off the entire plot in the first place. (In fact, the plot itself is notably absent from the trailers, since [[spoiler:Queen Elinor only appears as a human]]. The trailers suggest the film is ''just'' about Merida not wanting to be betrothed.) |
| 60 | * Radio does not appear on [[https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/517WY6KMCDL._SY445_.jpg the German VHS cover]] of ''WesternAnimation/TheBraveLittleToaster'', despite it featuring a few more characters, compared to other foreign releases. |
| 61 | * Sitka, Denahi, and Tanana do not appear in any of the trailers for ''WesternAnimation/BrotherBear'', [[spoiler: although Sitka ''does'' appear as an eagle.]] |
| 62 | * Edith does not appear in the trailer or any TV commercials for ''WesternAnimation/CaptainUnderpantsTheFirstEpicMovie''. She isn’t even mentioned in the tie-in guidebook for the film! |
| 63 | * ''WesternAnimation/CaptureTheFlag'': The trailer makes no mention of [[BigBad Richard Carson]] and his plans to mine the Moon for Helium-3, nor that this is the real reason NASA suddenly wants to go back to the Moon after all these years. |
| 64 | * The trailers for ''WesternAnimation/Cars2'' for some reason actually do not show Miles Axlerod anywhere at all, despite him being the creator of allinol and sponsor of the race the plot centers around. [[spoiler:Probably because Axlerod is the BigBad, and Professor Z is TheDragon.]] |
| 65 | * The DVD cover of ''WesternAnimation/ChickenLittle'' is missing Ugly Duckling. But apparently [[RecurringExtra Morcubine Porcupine]] was good enough to take her place, despite playing very little part in the movie. Abby is displayed on the back cover, though. |
| 66 | * Chester V doesn't appear in any of the trailers or promos for ''WesternAnimation/CloudyWithAChanceOfMeatballs2'', despite the fact that he's drives the plot of the film and is the reason why Flint Lockwood and his friends returned to Swallow Falls to see the food animals. |
| 67 | * Vidia in ''Franchise/DisneyFairies'', especially in regards to the ''Tinker Bell'' movie. Although she is the main antagonist in the movie and an antisocial {{antihero}} in the novels, she hasn't appeared in any of the trailers for the movie, had a briefer-than-brief scene in a sneak peek on ABC, and has very little merchandise, all of which appeared at the launch of the line, leaving her none whatsoever for the movie. |
| 68 | * Early trailers for ''WesternAnimation/TheEmojiMovie'' tend to focus on side characters like Mel and Poop rather than the main characters. Gene and Hi-5 got character posters, but Jailbreak didn't. |
| 69 | * The cover for ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstonesStoneAgeSmackDown'' does not show the main villain of the movie, ''Wrestling/CMPunk''. Punk had quit the ''Wrestling/{{WWE}}'' and been [[UnPerson unpersoned]] as a result, but the animation and voice over work was already complete and the producers refused to remake the movie based on WWE's pettiness. The best they could do was to remove him from the advertising as much as possible. The cover instead features Wrestling/TheUndertaker and [[Wrestling/BryanDanielson Daniel Bryan]], despite Bryan only having a brief cameo and neither of the men having a significant number of lines. |
| 70 | * The earliest trailers for ''WesternAnimation/Frozen2013'' focused exclusively on the comic relief side characters Olaf and Sven and barely showed the human leads. The later trailers did focus more on the actual main characters, however. |
| 71 | ** After the film's release, any promotions, whether for merchandise, re-releases, or their appearance in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'', tend to leave out [[WalkingSpoiler Hans]], one of the two main human male characters featured in pre-release advertisements, [[spoiler:because of his role as [[TheSociopath a sociopathic]] [[AmbitionIsEvil villain]]]]. |
| 72 | ** Similar to the Hans example, advertising for ''WesternAnimation/FrozenII'' omitted [[spoiler: the outfit Elsa wears during "Show Yourself]], with the toyline instead using [[spoiler: the nightgown she wears while singing "Into The Unknown"]]. This would be averted a week after the film's release, via an ad for the soundtrack, of all things. |
| 73 | * According to a theatrical trailer of ''WesternAnimation/AGoofyMovie'', Bobby is more important to the plot than Pete, and PJ doesn't appear at all. In reality, Pete and PJ play a somewhat prominent (though less than on the show, ''WesternAnimation/GoofTroop'') role in the plot, meeting up with the Goofs before the trip, at the first campground, and at the hotel. Bobby is only at the beginning and the very end, and is there mainly for comic relief, with only one real contribution to the plot (that PJ helped with). The trailer for the sequel, ''WesternAnimation/AnExtremelyGoofyMovie'' shows a decent amount of all of the protagonists, but is lacking in Bradley, the main antagonist of the movie, although this was probably done to prevent spoiling that he was actually ''a bad guy'' and not just a rival. |
| 74 | * Frollo from ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDameDisney'' doesn't appear on the DVD cover and is not mentioned in the plot synopsis on the back, yet he has the most screentime of any villain in the Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon. He used to be displayed on the VHS cover, though. |
| 75 | * Bing Bong, Riley's imaginary friend in Pixar's ''WesternAnimation/InsideOut'', was only seen in one or two trailers and was only sporadically featured in promotional materials (such as the tie-in fruit snacks by Kellogg's), despite playing a major role in the film. The director explained that the filmmakers chose to leave him out of promotional materials to prevent confusion; most of the promotion was about introducing the concept of the five main characters being the emotions of Joy, Sadness, Fear, Anger, and Disgust, and featuring Bing Bong alongside them would inevitably invite the question of what emotion he is supposed to be. |
| 76 | * ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda1'': In the trailers, Academy-Award winner Dustin Hoffman received billing for his role as 2nd lead Master Shifu. |
| 77 | * Oddly enough, Tamatoa does not appear in any of the trailers for ''WesternAnimation/{{Moana}}'', except for a short cameo in the form of one of Maui's tattoos, and a few TV spots. |
| 78 | * Promotional materials for ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsRainbowRocks'' downplayed Sunset Shimmer's role on the rare occasions she wasn't omitted entirely, focusing on Twilight and the Humane Six instead. The final film would have the plot centered on Sunset's status as ReformedButRejected just as much as any other element of the story, setting her up as one of the main protagonists of the ''Equestria Girls'' series going forward. |
| 79 | * The original British title of ''The Pirates! Band of Misfits'' was ''WesternAnimation/ThePiratesInAnAdventureWithScientists'', and the British trailer prominently features UsefulNotes/CharlesDarwin, who is one of the main characters. Not only does Darwin disappear entirely from the American trailer, but the word "scientists" is excised from the title entirely. Apparently, science just isn't a box office draw in the United States. |
| 80 | * None of the trailers for ''WesternAnimation/PussInBootsTheLastWish'' feature one of the main antagonists of the film, Big Jack Horner. |
| 81 | * The first trailer for ''WesternAnimation/RiseOfTheGuardians'' is missing Jack Frost, intended as the film's viewpoint character, to the point where Jack has been edited out of shots he appears in the actual film. Given a lot of Jack's angst comes from nobody acknowledging he exists, it's very appropriate. |
| 82 | * With the exception of a brief cameo in a TV spot, ''WesternAnimation/SausageParty'''s trailers and commercials do not contain Douche in them. |
| 83 | * Moriarty from ''WesternAnimation/SherlockGnomes'', only appeared in two TV spots for the film, and Reggie and Ronnie also only appeared on one of the film's posters. |
| 84 | * ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManIntoTheSpiderVerse'' kept a tight lid on its version of [[Characters/MarvelComicsOttoOctavius Doctor Octopus]] in its marketing. In the LateArrivalSpoiler territory, it had many fans unfamiliar with the comics convinced that [[spoiler:the blond Peter Parker voiced by Creator/ChrisPine and the older, dark-haired version voiced by Creator/JakeJohnson]] were the same person. Jake Johnson recorded some of the other actor's lines [[FoilerFootage exclusively for the trailers]] to avoid giving this away. |
| 85 | * One Japanese TV spot for ''WesternAnimation/TheSpongeBobMovieSpongeOutOfWater'' did not feature Squidward in it. This was because his voice actor, [[Creator/RokuroNaya Rokurou Naya]], had died and they had not yet found a replacement. |
| 86 | * ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverseTheMovie'': The trailers carefully avoided showing any shots of the [[IdentityAmnesia rejuvenated]] Gems, ''especially'' [[AmnesiacVillainJoinsTheHeroes Spinel]], to avoid giving away the plot twist involving such in the first act. |
| 87 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheSuperMarioBrosMovie'' never featured an appearance from [[VideoGame/WreckingCrew Spike]] in its promotional materials, despite Creator/SebastianManiscalco, his actor, being announced alongside the rest of the cast[[note]]Maniscalco was, ironically, ''the'' first actor revealed for the film, far before the main Nintendo Direct casting reveal[[/note]]. Creator/CharlesMartinet was also announced, but in his case, his [[TheCameo cameo roles]] were intentionally kept secret as a surprise. |
| 88 | * In the trailers for ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}'', BigBad Mother Gothel isn't featured in any of the trailers except for a split second in the second official one. Early trailers also extensively tried to make it look like Flynn Rider was the lead, with much made of how smarmy and how well he could say a one-liner. Rapunzel, by contrast, gets one line (of three words) in most of the trailers and ads. This was because Disney didn't like how much money ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'' made (it did well, but not the stratospheric levels they wanted), and blamed it on how "{{girl|Show Ghetto}}y" it was; therefore, while acknowledging that Rapunzel was in it, they pushed Rider to appeal to boys. |
| 89 | * None of the ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory3'' trailers include Bonnie, the little girl whose mother works at the daycare, despite [[spoiler: Andy giving Woody and his friends to Bonnie in the final scene]]. As a result, the third trailer could make some people believe that her triceratops, Trixie, and Totoro dolls live at the daycare. |
| 90 | * ''WesternAnimation/TransformersTheMovie'' doesn't even have Optimus Prime in the trailer or on the poster! To compare, Blurr is on both (and his voice actor, John Moschitta, "co-stars" in the film) and [[BillingDisplacement he probably has no more than seven lines and an extremely minor role]]. The characters featured on the poster and in the trailer are almost entirely the ''new'' characters introduced in this film -- i.e., [[MerchandiseDriven the newest toys, now available on store shelves]]. |
| 91 | * The teaser trailer for ''WesternAnimation/{{Trolls}}'' didn't feature the main characters, Branch and Poppy, instead focusing more on a bunch of side characters dancing. |
| 92 | * The teaser trailer for ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'' does not feature two of the major characters, Priya and Abby, and none of the trailers contain Grandma Wu or any of Mei's aunties who are crucial in the climax. |
| 93 | * The trailers for ''WesternAnimation/WallE'' were full of cute robots mooning for their girlfriends, but rather lacking in the person who spent most of his considerable screentime on getting humanity back on track -- the Captain. This was deliberate, of course. The [[spoiler:morbidly obese appearance of what's left of Humanity was meant to be shocking to the audience, so spoiling it in the trailers would have made very little sense]]. |
| 94 | * [[WalkingSpoiler King Candy]] from ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'' gets shockingly little screentime in the trailers. Okay, you don't want to give away the twist but throughout the entire movie, he is a crucial figure, which can be rather shocking. ''Really'' crucial. |
| 95 | [[/folder]] |
| 96 | |
| 97 | [[folder:Films -- Live-Action]] |
| 98 | * Creator/AnthonyMackie in ''Film/TheAdjustmentBureau'' has third billing, but you wouldn't know he's in the film from its advertising. They were likely banking on audience recognition of [[Series/MadMen John Slattery]]. This was also before Mackie's StarMakingRole in ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'', so the marketers might not have thought of him as a recognizable face yet. |
| 99 | * ''Film/TheAdventuresOfBaronMunchausen'': Creator/RobinWilliams was called in as a last minute replacement due to ExecutiveMeddling and TroubledProduction. Robin's agent wouldn't let Creator/TerryGilliam credit him or promote the film using his name, so that the studio wouldn't credit him as the star and try to mismarket it as a Robin Williams-type comedy. Williams did the same on ''Film/DeadAgain'' and ''The Secret Agent''. |
| 100 | * Creator/TimBurton's ''Film/AliceInWonderland2010'': More a case of 'Sir Not Appearing In This Poster'; anyone who only saw the advertising campaign would think that it was basically 'Creator/JohnnyDepp Plays a Weird Guy in a Hat: The Movie'. |
| 101 | * Creator/NicholasSmith, Creator/ArthurEnglish, Creator/AndrewSachs, and Karan David all appear in ''Film/AreYouBeingServed'''s trailer but aren't listed with the film's other stars. Furthermore, Creator/HaroldBennett and Glyn Houston don't appear at all! |
| 102 | * Probably because she's played by not-a-name actress Creator/GretaGerwig, the trailer for the Creator/RussellBrand-led ''Film/Arthur2011'' barely includes her character -- even though she's the ManChild title character's {{Love Interest|s}}. Instead, the trailer gives priority to his relationships with the woman he ''doesn't'' want to marry (Creator/JenniferGarner) and his nanny (Creator/HelenMirren), both of whom also appear on the poster and get higher billing. |
| 103 | * Dr. Evil was completely omitted from the marketing for the first ''Film/AustinPowers'' movie. |
| 104 | * For some reason, the ads for ''Film/BadTeacher'' focus on just Creator/CameronDiaz and Creator/JasonSegel and leave out Music/JustinTimberlake entirely. |
| 105 | * [[CanonForeigner Max Shreck]] (Creator/ChristopherWalken) does not appear at all in the trailer for ''Film/BatmanReturns'', even though he is directly responsible for Selina Kyle becoming Characters/{{Catwoman|SelinaKyle}} and [[Characters/BatmanThePenguin The Penguin]]'s main scheme for a good portion of the movie was originally his idea. This undoubtedly left many moviegoers confused when they actually saw the film and saw Shreck being set up as almost the main antagonist in the earliest scenes. Not that it was all that difficult for the trailers to ignore his existence, since Shreck really does disappear during the movie's entire second act as the Penguin takes center stage and is only very elliptically referred to by the other characters, only to abruptly reappear for the third act and once again assume a prominent role. |
| 106 | * Despite Creator/BarryKeoghan being said to be playing GCPD cop Stanley Merkel, he's a complete no-show in ''Film/TheBatman2022'''s promotional material. Why? [[spoiler:Surprise! He's actually playing [[Characters/BatmanTheJoker The Joker]].]] |
| 107 | * Alex, the character in ''Film/TheBigChill'' who commits suicide, is only seen with slit wrists. All of his scenes in the movie that were performed by Creator/KevinCostner, were dropped from the film. |
| 108 | * Creator/JonStewart (of ''Series/TheDailyShow'' fame) doesn't appear in the theatrical trailer for ''Film/BigDaddy'', even though his character is TheLancer, the movie's plot hinges on Creator/AdamSandler impersonating him, and he even serves as [[spoiler: TheCavalry during the courtroom climax]]. |
| 109 | * There was surely more than one viewer who was astonished to discover that Creator/WinonaRyder was in ''Film/BlackSwan''. |
| 110 | * ''Film/BladesOfGlory'' tended to overlook the Van Waldenbergs in advertisements. This was despite them being the main villains and {{Love Interest|s}} of the movie and all three being played by relatively well-known and funny actors. In an even stranger case, some TV and online ads left out Creator/JonHeder despite him being the film's second billed actor. |
| 111 | * In the sequel to ''Film/TheBoondockSaints'', [[spoiler: Willem Dafoe's character is mentioned early on as having died recently. As it turned out, he [[FakingTheDead faked his own death]], but we don't find this out until nearly the very end of the movie. Not only did they avoid putting Dafoe in any promotional material, but they made a big deal of how they had wanted him to return for the sequel but he had declined, making the quick early reference to his death look like [[ActorLeavesCharacterDies their cheap way out of not having his character in the movie]]]]. |
| 112 | * ''Film/{{Bridesmaids}}'' is a pretty extreme case of NeverTrustATrailer anyway, but almost all of the ads leave out Creator/ChrisODowd as the main {{Love Interest|s}} in the film. |
| 113 | * Creator/JackNicholson had a prominent role in ''Film/BroadcastNews'', but he didn't want to be credited because he didn't want to divert the attention from the eventual Academy Award nominated trio of Creator/HollyHunter, Creator/WilliamHurt and Creator/AlbertBrooks. |
| 114 | * Ninja and Yolandi (the husband and wife duo who form Music/DieAntwoord) were originally supposed to be featured on the posters for ''Film/{{Chappie}}'', but due to a falling out between the duo and director Creator/NeillBlomkamp, the finalized posters ended up omitting them completely (with the trailers even downplaying their presence in the film). The DVD/[=Blu-ray=] cover art only features Chappie alongside Creator/DevPatel and Creator/HughJackman -- while both played key characters (Chappie's creator and arch-nemesis respectively), they are not as prominent in the movie as Ninja and Yolandi, who are the ones who spend the majority of the screen-time with Chappie as his adoptive parents. |
| 115 | * Weirdly, Creator/ChristopherWalken was left out of the trailer for ''Film/TheCountryBears'' despite playing the main antagonist. |
| 116 | * Creator/BryanCranston is nowhere to be seen in the trailers for ''Film/LarryCrowne'', ''Film/Contagion2011'', ''Film/Drive2011'' and ''Film/RedTails'', despite playing major roles in all four films. |
| 117 | * Many trailers of ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' went to great lengths to avoid mentioning that Harvey Dent became Two-Face in that movie, leading many fans to assume he was being set up as the BigBad of the next one. |
| 118 | * Every ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'' fan who saw ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'' was shocked to see Burn Gorman in a pretty big role as Stryver, a corrupt corporate rich guy. |
| 119 | * [[spoiler: The Juggernaut]] was omitted from almost all of the marketing for ''Film/{{Deadpool 2}}'', likely to make his appearance a surprise for audiences. |
| 120 | * Chris Messina is in none of the trailers for ''Film/{{Devil}}'', despite being the star of the film, and the only name as of its release. Instead, the main focus is placed on the action in the elevator and its cast of unknowns and character actors. |
| 121 | * Another case of 'Sir Not Appearing On This Poster' is ''Film/TheDilemma''. One would not even know that it is an ensemble film with Creator/JenniferConnelly, Creator/WinonaRyder, Music/QueenLatifah and Creator/ChanningTatum in the cast (instead, the poster just shows Creator/VinceVaughn and Creator/KevinJames grinning). |
| 122 | * ''Film/DoctorSeries'': |
| 123 | ** Creator/MichaelMedwin and Hubert Gregg make brief appearances in ''Film/DoctorAtSea'''s trailer but aren't listed with the film's other stars. |
| 124 | ** Derek Farr is nowhere to be found in ''Film/DoctorAtLarge'''s trailer. |
| 125 | ** Creator/DonaldHouston and Creator/BarbaraMurray appear in ''Film/DoctorInDistress1963'''s trailer, but aren't listed with the other stars, while Dennis Price isn't included at all! |
| 126 | ** Jeremy Lloyd and Creator/TerryScott make brief appearances in ''Film/DoctorInClover'''s trailer but aren't listed with the other stars, while Creator/NoelPurcell, Robert Hutton, Creator/EricBarker, and Norman Vaughan are nowhere to be seen. |
| 127 | * In ''Film/{{Earthquake}}'', there is a scene in a bar where a drunk is talking, and it turns out to be Creator/WalterMatthau, but because of contractual obligations, they can't refer to him directly, so in the credits he's called Walter Matuschanskayasky, supposedly his real name, but in fact it wasn't and this spawned its own [[http://www.snopes.com/movies/actors/matthau.asp urban legend]]. |
| 128 | * Executive Producer Creator/MelBrooks deliberately kept his name away from the ads for Creator/DavidLynch's ''Film/TheElephantMan'' and Creator/DavidCronenberg's ''Film/{{The Fly|1986}}'', out of fear that people would get the wrong idea about the movies in question. When his involvement in ''The Fly'' became public knowledge, he made the most of it and attended the premiere passing out plastic antennae. Boy, was that audience in for a surprise. |
| 129 | * Nathaniel in ''Film/{{Enchanted}}''. The trailer shows Giselle, Prince Edward and Queen Narissa come out of the manhole and then goes on to show several FishOutOfWater scenes with ''only'' them. This despite the fact that Nathaniel is pursuing Giselle through New York for most of the movie and Narissa herself comes through only at the end. Possibly because if the audience did see him, they'd shout out "Hey, what's [[Film/HarryPotter Peter Pettigrew]] doing there?" |
| 130 | * Although Creator/HaydenPanettiere is actually ''billed'' in the trailer (and on the posters) for the 2011 US release of ''Fireflies in the Garden'' - along with Creator/RyanReynolds (the film's star), Creator/WillemDafoe, Creator/CarrieAnneMoss, Creator/EmilyWatson and Creator/JuliaRoberts - and does have a fairly large supporting role in the film itself. This may have something to do with the film having been made when she was somewhat younger than she is now (the movie was filmed in 2007). |
| 131 | * Despite being the ''actual'' main character of ''Film/TheForbiddenKingdom'', Jason Tripitikas is almost entirely excised from the trailers, instead choosing to focus on being the first movie to feature Creator/JetLi and Creator/JackieChan together, and their characters' animosity towards each other. The actual plot of the movie and the fact that it involves a white kid from Boston in a fantasy version of Ancient China is brushed aside. |
| 132 | * ''Film/GlassOnion'' has an interesting example. [[spoiler: Creator/JanelleMonae is prominently featured in the marketing and her character is one of, if not the most important in the film, but ''which'' character she played is hidden. The marketing features Monáe as business executive Cassandra "Andi" Brand, which hides the fact that the "Andi" seen in all the promotion is actually [[PlayingTheirOwnTwin Andi's twin]] [[TwinSwitch sister Helen]]. The ''real'' Andi died shortly before the film's events and only appears in flashbacks.]] |
| 133 | * Creator/CharlizeTheron's character in ''Film/{{Hancock}}'' was completely absent from the original trailers, as was any indication that Hancock was not a [[spoiler:one of a kind superhero]]. Thus, when the ads for the DVD came out showing her and her role, many people who hadn't seen the movie thought it looked like a completely different movie. |
| 134 | * Creator/PaulGiamatti wasn't shown in the trailers for ''Film/TheHangover Part II'' despite being the biggest name in the film. |
| 135 | * While Dileep Rao appeared in the group poster, had one line in the trailer, most people didn't know he was in ''Film/{{Inception}}'', because his name failed to appear in the billing. This was despite the fact that he was the Chemist, without which the entire heist that Cobb planned would have been impossible. More than one fan felt that he got shafted. |
| 136 | * Creator/OliviaWilde isn't in the trailer for ''Film/{{her|2013}}'', although she plays a fairly minor role. |
| 137 | * ''Film/TheHobbitAnUnexpectedJourney'': Azog is completely absent from any promotional material for the first film despite being the main antagonist of Film/TheHobbit film trilogy. The reason for this is that he went through several redesigns during the production and his look was finalized only two months before the premiere, after main trailers have been already released. |
| 138 | * Both viable candidates for the role of protagonist in ''Film/InglouriousBasterds'' -- Shosanna Dreyfus (Creator/MelanieLaurent) and [[VillainProtagonist Hans Landa]] (Creator/ChristophWaltz) -- are entirely eclipsed in trailers by Creator/BradPitt's Aldo Raine, who has both less screentime and a less important role in the plot of the movie than either of them. The only other important characters, Bridget von Hammersmark (Creator/DianeKruger) and the English agent Archie Hicox (Creator/MichaelFassbender), also fail to appear. However, this might not be because of Pitt’s star power but because of the fact that about 30% of the film is in English and he’s the most prominent character who speaks it exclusively. |
| 139 | * The real villain (played by Michael Luckett) doesn't even appear in trailers for ''Film/TheIntruders''. |
| 140 | * ''Jack the Bear'' hides the main antagonist, Neo-Nazi neighbor Norman Strick (Creator/GarySinise), making it seem like it's just a Creator/DannyDeVito SliceOfLife drama. |
| 141 | * ''{{Series/Jackass}}: Number Two'' inverts this trope, though not intentionally. Vincent "Don Vito" Margera is shown in the trailers for the film, but following a court order in the wake of a [[PaedoHunt child sex offense conviction]] that mandated he not portray the character in public, [[RoleEndingMisdemeanor he was removed from the movie]] (though the trailers remained unaffected). In particular, the Lamborghini Tooth Pull was originally done by Don Vito for this movie, but was later redone with Danger Ehren in ''Jackass 3D'' (while Don Vito was still on probation). Unfortunately, Don Vito passed away the year before his probation would have ended, and thus, a year before he could have safely taken up the role again (and the footage would probably have been released). |
| 142 | * Creator/AmandaSeyfried ''is'' billed prominently in the ads for ''Film/JennifersBody'', but the entire focus of the advertising campaign was put on Creator/MeganFox (she was the only person who appeared in the posters), making it look as though Seyfried's character was only a supporting role, as opposed to the film's protagonist. Although slasher movie promotion traditionally focuses its marketing on the monster (which Fox's Jennifer ''is''), and not on the victims that are technically the protagonists. |
| 143 | * Creator/NicoleKidman was left off of all marketing on ''Film/JustGoWithIt'' due to her status as box office poison. Rather, more of the focus was placed on newcomer Creator/BrooklynDecker. |
| 144 | * ''Film/KickAss'' seems to be an interesting case. From the trailer you'd think [[spoiler: Red Mist]] was a fairly minor character, as he was in the comic. However, the movie actually fleshed him out far more, and gave him a lot of screentime. |
| 145 | * Did anyone know Creator/EdwardNorton's in ''Film/KingdomOfHeaven''? He plays a near-unrecognizable victim of leprosy who spends most of the movie wearing a large metal mask. |
| 146 | * ''Film/{{Logan}}'' has a [[spoiler: surprise villain in X-24, who was kept completely out of trailers, TV spots and online advertising]]. |
| 147 | * Elmer Fudd in ''Film/LooneyTunesBackInAction''. He is a fairly prominent character in the film, but instead of showing him on the cover or any promotional material, apparently the artists felt Tweety and the Road Runner, both of whom barely appear in the film, had to be in it. |
| 148 | * Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse: |
| 149 | ** ''Film/{{Thor}}'': |
| 150 | *** All of the promotional material left out major supporting characters like Lady Sif (except for one brief shot) and two-thirds of the Warriors Three (except for Hogun, who did and said the least). Even Asgard itself may qualify because almost all of the trailers [[NeverTrustATrailer made it look like]] [[BlatantLies very little of the plot]] took place there. |
| 151 | *** [[Characters/MarvelComicsLoki Loki]] appeared in only one or two shots in just about all of the trailers and TV spots for Thor, even though he became the film's main villain. This may have contributed to how Loki became this movie's (and the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse's) EnsembleDarkhorse--people simply had very few (or very low) expectations for him and were therefore surprised by the results. |
| 152 | ** ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'': |
| 153 | *** Despite appearing in the teaser that played after ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'', Cobie Smulders' Maria Hill did not appear at all in the full trailer. Clark Gregg's Agent Coulson was also only seen very briefly (from the back), although you can hear his voice. |
| 154 | *** Speaking of the teaser, while every other member of the Avengers were shown, the [[Characters/MCUBruceBanner Hulk]] was absent. Bruce Banner appeared in a few shots, though. This is likely due to the fact that the movie wasn't finished filming by that point and the special effects were not ready. |
| 155 | *** In both the teaser and the first full trailer, Loki's mystery-army is absent, although there are several shots of people reacting to it coming to Earth, making it all the more mysterious. This was likely done on purpose to continue the speculation surrounding it. |
| 156 | *** The cover of the Blu-Ray/DVD combo pack does not have Nick Fury, Black Widow, or Hawkeye on it, even though they do appear on the theatrical poster (recycled for the 3-D Blu-Ray cover and the thumbnail of the digital copies) and the VanillaEdition DVD cover. |
| 157 | ** ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'': |
| 158 | *** [[Characters/MCUUltron Ultron]] did not appear on the main one-sheet (though he did receive his own poster) aside from his sentries in the air, requiring Marvel to Photoshop him into the picture when they recycled it for home video releases. |
| 159 | *** In North America, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and Nick Fury do not appear on the DVD cover. However, the 2-D and 3-D Blu-Ray cases do show them, as does the thumbnail for the Disney Movies Anywhere digital copy (which resembles the 2-D Blu-Ray cover). In some other countries, Widow, Hawkeye, and Fury appear on the 2-D Blu-Ray cover, but not that of the 3-D version. |
| 160 | ** Probably due to the truly insane amount of characters, the marketing for ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'' is rife with this: |
| 161 | *** The first trailer completely omits ComicBook/[[Characters/MCUScottLang Ant-Man]], [[Characters/MCUVision the Vision]], Crossbones, [[Characters/MCUPeterParker Spider-Man]], and [[Characters/MCUBaronZemo Baron Zemo]], the BigBad of the film. |
| 162 | *** [[Characters/MCUWandaMaximoff Scarlet Witch]] does appear in the trailer, but was absent from many of the early promotional and merchandising images. |
| 163 | *** The poster designed for use in theaters and concession products has all of the heroes but Spider-Man and Ant-Man. |
| 164 | *** Due to contractual issues between Marvel Studios and Sony, Spider-Man was absent from pretty much all of the promotional material for the film, which includes toy lines and promotional images (in addition to the above mentioned trailers and posters) and even the official home releases' covers. |
| 165 | *** Spider-Man was actually edited out of several shots in the trailer that he appears in the film proper, notably the two sides running at each other scene. |
| 166 | ** ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'': |
| 167 | *** [[spoiler:[[Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger Red Skull]]]]’s appearance in this film was a closely guarded secret, catching every fan by surprise. |
| 168 | *** [[spoiler:Eitri]]’s appearance was kept a secret as well, with even his casting not being announced before release. |
| 169 | *** Inverted, as well. ComicBook/{{Hawkeye}} appeared in the first poster, but didn’t appear in the film. |
| 170 | *** Loki had about the same screentime in the film as Black Panther, Groot, Nebula, Okoye and War Machine (3:00-3:30) and more than Wong, Falcon or Bucky, but unlike all of them he never got a character poster nor made it to any of the "group" posters, and was mostly absent from trailers and other promotional material, [[spoiler:likely because he dies in TheTeaser]]. |
| 171 | ** ''Film/AvengersEndgame:'' |
| 172 | *** Most of the dead characters (with the exclusion of [[spoiler:Peter Parker and Shuri]] whose photos were shown) were not featured in the first official trailer, though many of them are known to be in it in some capacity. Even some of the characters who survived ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' were missing, such as [[spoiler:Rocket and War Machine]]. |
| 173 | *** [[Characters/MCUCarolDanvers Captain Marvel]] doesn't appear in the first trailer, or the Super Bowl commercial. It took until a sneak preview of the film during the credits of [[Film/CaptainMarvel2019 her solo film]] for her to be shown to part of ''Endgame'' at all. |
| 174 | *** While Bruce Banner in his Professor Hulk form was prominent in promotional artwork, he was not featured in promotional movie footage at all, [[NeverTrustATrailer to the point where he's even edited out of the ones he does appear in]]. |
| 175 | *** To keep [[spoiler:Pepper Potts]] survival from The Snap a secret, promotional materials had digitally erased the character from at least one of scenes. This led fans to notice the erased effect, but they incorrectly guessed that the deleted character was Captain Marvel. |
| 176 | ** ''Series/TheFalconAndTheWinterSoldier'' secretly introduced one of the major castings in the MCU with [[spoiler:Creator/JuliaLouisDreyfus as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine]]. Despite the character also set to appear in Film/BlackWidow2021 (which was supposed to introduce the character), the casting itself was kept secret until [[spoiler:Valentina]] appeared in Episode 5 of the series. |
| 177 | *** ''The Falcon and the Winter Soldier'' also kept [[spoiler:Creator/FlorenceKasumba return as Ayo]] a secret from marketing materials, despite [[spoiler:Ayo]] having a significant supporting role in the series. |
| 178 | ** ''Film/ShangChiAndTheLegendOfTheTenRings'' introduces the Mandarin, which had previously been faked in ''Film/IronMan3''. [[spoiler:And the guy who played the fake Mandarin, Trevor Slattery, shows up in the movie, continuing what had been alluded in the short ''Film/AllHailTheKing''. Not only did the trailer hide that, but his actor, Creator/BenKingsley, is not on the poster's billing block, while the actual credits give him an AndStarring position.]] |
| 179 | ** Series/Hawkeye2021 kept the identity of the real BigBad a secret for most of the 6 episode run. In the penultimate episode, it's finally revealed (after much speculation) that [[spoiler:Creator/VincentDOnofrio had returned to play Kingpin!]] |
| 180 | ** ''Film/SpiderManNoWayHome'' has an unadvertised appearance by [[Series/Daredevil2015 Matt Murdock]], but the big surprise of the film is [[spoiler: the grand return of Creator/TobeyMaguire and Creator/AndrewGarfield as their respective Spider-Men in the third act.]] |
| 181 | * Sort of happens in ''Film/NewYearsEve''. Depending on the commercial, Creator/SarahJessicaParker's part was downplayed. Also, there are so many characters and cameos in the movie (because of the AllStarCast) that quite a few of them never make it into the commercials. |
| 182 | * Inverted in Creator/AlainResnais' ''Pas Sur La Bouche'' (''Not on the lips''). The trailer features André Dussolier, a regular Resnais cast, ranting about not being in this particular Resnais movie, and making snide remarks on the featured actors. |
| 183 | * The trailers for ''Film/PainAndGain'' do not show Michael Rispoli's character, who is a major part of the film's third act. In fact, the magazine that covered the original story (The Miami New Times) the film is based on actually thought that the film reduced the two crimes into one based on the trailers. |
| 184 | * Norrington from ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean''. After all, who wants to see a stuffy British officer in a movie about {{pirates}}? Other than the fangirls, that is. He was downplayed in the first three films, yet served as a secondary/important villain in the first two, and had a HeelFaceTurn in the [[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanAtWorldsEnd third]]. |
| 185 | * ''Film/PuppySwapLoveUnleashed'': The trailer does not include Powers, aside from his voice announcing Jessica's publicity tour being heard, nor does it include Sally Ann or Powers' assistant who accompanies Jessica on her tour. |
| 186 | * Creator/GarySinise appears in just one shot in the trailers for ''Film/{{Ransom}}''. Like many above, he's the main villain. |
| 187 | * Creator/BrianCox in ''Film/Red2010''. He didn't appear in any of the trailers or posters but plays a very large and significant role in the movie. Especially since he also fits the bill (i.e. Retired Extremely Dangerous), even though he's not actually retired. |
| 188 | * Mr. Blue from ''Film/ReservoirDogs'' is conspicuously absent from most posters, some of which even say 'Five men...' instead of six. Also, Joe and Nice Guy Eddie (because they don't fit the naming convention) often aren't in posters that contain much more minor characters, Mr. Brown and sometimes Blue, who do fit. |
| 189 | * Likewise, Creator/KevinBacon is also noticeably absent from the trailers and commercials for ''Film/{{RIPD}}'', despite once again being the main villain. |
| 190 | * Though Sir-Not-Appearing-In-This-Poster: [[http://www.impawards.com/2000/scary_movie.html the film poster]] for ''Film/ScaryMovie'' doesn't feature protagonist Cindy Campbell - probably because then-unknown Creator/AnnaFaris wouldn't attract as many moviegoers as co-star Creator/ShannonElizabeth. The DVD [[http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/5123WET5P4L._SS500_.jpg tries to fix it]]. |
| 191 | * In the posters for ''Film/ScottPilgrimVsTheWorld,'' they consistently show the seven evil exes -- and leave off Scott Pilgrim whenever they can. It's believed that after a few obvious flops (like ''Year One'' which was made after ''Scott Pilgrim,'' but released first) they considered Creator/MichaelCera box-office poison, and tried to hide him. |
| 192 | * A deliberate example is [[spoiler:Kevin Spacey]] as the killer in ''Film/{{Se7en}}'', who was excluded from all promotional material and even the opening credits to avoid [[NarrowedItDownToTheGuyIRecognize giving away his identity]] before he appears. [[spoiler: Spacey]] himself ''insisted'' on the anonymity prior to the film's release. He made no mention of his involvement with the film until after it was released. The producers had wanted him to have top billing. Dedication to his craft indeed. |
| 193 | * Inversion: while it may not be a person ''per se'', the USS Voyager from ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' is almost a character on its show. She appeared in several teaser trailers for ''Film/StarTrekFirstContact'' (which is based on [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration a previous Star Trek show]]), despite not appearing in the film at all. Not to mention that her trailer scenes were especially made ''just for the trailer.'' |
| 194 | * For the advertising of ''Film/StarTrek2009'': |
| 195 | ** [=McCoy=] seemed to get little attention at all despite being the third piece of the Holy Trinity of Trek. Instead, they seemed to give all his advertisement time to Creator/ZoeSaldana's Uhura. Don't worry, however -- good ol' Bones did have a substantial role in the film after all. |
| 196 | ** Creator/LeonardNimoy was also left out of the trailers and the posters. Of course, the whole point was that his appearance was supposed to be a surprise. |
| 197 | * Creator/PeterWeller was explicitly left out of trailers for the sequel, ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness'', despite having a major role in the film as Starfleet Admiral Marcus. [[spoiler: This is because he's part of the film's BigBadEnsemble, alongside John Harrison/Khan.]] |
| 198 | * ''Franchise/StarWars'': |
| 199 | ** The Emperor in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi''. He's been treated more kindly since the prequels came out, but the original promotion of ''Jedi'' in 1983 seemed to go out of its way to ignore his existence. He didn't show up on any of the posters (in fact, one poster shows his throne room ''without his chair'') and the trailers only ever showed Darth Vader or Jabba the Hutt when a word like "evil" or "villain" was mentioned. Presumably, the marketing department wanted to continue portraying Darth Vader as the BigBad and the existence of the Emperor kind of got in the way. |
| 200 | ** A weird variation occurred with ''Film/ThePhantomMenace''. The original promotional materials contain almost no reference to the film having a character named "Padmé" in it. There are, however, numerous references to a "Queen Amidala" being played by Creator/NataliePortman. Of course, the fact that Portman also plays Padmé makes her something of a WalkingSpoiler for the twist that Padmé and Queen Amidala are the same person. Apparently, they decided that the best solution was to downplay Padmé being a character in the movie. |
| 201 | ** ''Film/TheForceAwakens'': |
| 202 | *** Luke Skywalker's near-complete absence in the official trailers [[note]]There's a brief shot of him placing his artificial hand on R2-D2's "head" in one trailer but his face isn't visible[[/note]] and posters did not go unnoticed, of course, leading many to wonder just ''what'' Skywalker's role in this film is — although interestingly, Creator/MarkHamill is given second billing on the poster. The reason is Luke has disappeared and the driving force of the movie is finding him. [[spoiler:He only appears in the ''very'' last scene, and doesn't talk, so his absence in the trailers is entirely justified — it's [[BillingDisplacement the billing that's off]].]] |
| 203 | *** Maz Kanata doesn't appear in any of the trailers aside from a MissingTrailerScene where her hand can be seen passing Anakin's lightsaber to Leia. |
| 204 | * Creator/JamesWoods was notably absent from the trailer for 1992's ''Film/StraightTalk'' despite being the main male character and second only to Music/DollyParton in the credits. |
| 205 | * ''Film/SuicideSquad2016'' has Incubus, brother of Enchantress who acts as TheDragon to her. |
| 206 | * The ''Film/SupermanIII'' Deluxe Edition DVD cover shows Superman looming above the CorruptCorporateExecutive and two of his {{Mooks}}. Conspicuously absent is Gus Gorman, even though he has so much screentime, his actor (Creator/RichardPryor) receives second billing in the opening credits. |
| 207 | * Inverted with ''Takers''; Creator/ZoeSaldana ''does'' appear in the trailer but she isn't billed, despite being one of the biggest names in the film! |
| 208 | * Creator/AmyAdams in ''Film/TalladegaNightsTheBalladOfRickyBobby''. Rather, the girl shown in the trailers and posters is Leslie Bibb (who disappears midway through the film). |
| 209 | * The T-800 in ''Film/TerminatorSalvation''. Particularly that he has Schwarzenegger's face. |
| 210 | * Creator/BillMurray originally never appeared in any of the original trailers of ''Film/{{Tootsie}}''. Only when the film hit premium cable and video stores did subsequent trailers depict his character. |
| 211 | * The trailers and promotional media for ''Film/TransformersDarkOfTheMoon'' made it seem as Shockwave was the film's main villain. Then again, it must have helped [[spoiler: Sentinel Prime's FaceHeelTurn]] to become a twist (the character only appeared in the teaser trailer, with no clear indication of who he was). What's interesting about the teaser trailer is that [[spoiler: Sentinel Prime]] sports a golden body armor, but in the film his armor is red. This may have either been because they were still unsure about [[spoiler: Sentinel]]'s appearance or that they deliberately re-colored him to keep his identity ambiguous. |
| 212 | * The original trailer and promotional material for ''Film/TronLegacy'' went out of their way to avoid indicating who or what the villain of the film would be. It wasn't revealed until a few weeks before the film was released that [[spoiler:Flynn's A.I. doppelganger [=CLU=]]] would be the BigBad, and that was only after the release of the tie-in comic book ''Tron: Betrayal'' and video game ''Tron: Evolution'' which made it pretty explicit that [[spoiler:Clu]] would be the movie's villain. |
| 213 | * [[spoiler:Creator/TomCruise]] only appears in ''Film/TropicThunder'' trailers from after the film's wide release. Creator/BenStiller wanted him to be a surprise for audiences when they recognized him. He said in interviews that he was disappointed that reviewers and critics gave the game away. While this was a letdown on the filmmaking side, the giveaway that [[spoiler: Cruise]] was in the movie played a big role in its success. |
| 214 | * There is very little footage of Ozymandias in any of the trailers for ''Film/{{Watchmen}}''. This is because 90% of his scenes are after [[spoiler:he is revealed as TheChessmaster]]. |
| 215 | * The ''Film/{{Wonder Woman|2017}}'' movies are fond of this trope: |
| 216 | ** In trailers for the first film, [[spoiler: Creator/DavidThewlis is not featured in any trailers or marketing for the movie. He ends up playing Ares TheManBehindTheMan of the film; the trailers lead you to believe that General Ludendorff played by Creator/DannyHuston is the real BigBad of the film. Mind you, the film ''itself'' heavily implies that General Ludendorff is [[Characters/WonderWomanAres Ares]] in disguise; the twist isn't revealed until the final battle]]. |
| 217 | ** The trailers for ''Film/WonderWoman1984'' spend most of the time focused on Barbara Minerva, suggesting that Wonder Woman's archenemy [[Characters/WonderWomanCheetah Cheetah]] is the main villain of the film. [[spoiler: The villain turns out to be Maxwell Lord, but since he's a NonActionBigBad, Cheetah exists primarily so that Diana has someone on her level to fight.]] |
| 218 | * Creator/KevinBacon is barely in any of the promotional materials for ''Film/XMenFirstClass'' despite having a prominent role as the main villain of the film. He's hardly noticeable on the very crowded poster and doesn't seem to be in any trailers or commercials. |
| 219 | * Most everyone who has seen ''Film/ZeroDarkThirty'' has expressed surprise to see Creator/JohnBarrowman in it. |
| 220 | [[/folder]] |
| 221 | |
| 222 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 223 | * ''Series/ControlZ'': |
| 224 | ** Sofía's parents never appeared in the trailers. |
| 225 | ** Lulú and Luis's mother in the first season trailer. |
| 226 | * Beth is missing from most promos and team shots of ''Series/CriminalMindsSuspectBehavior'', and even from the PoorlyDisguisedPilot. |
| 227 | * Many Creator/DisneyChannel promotional materials will often omit members of the main cast (i.e. Hal Sparks frequently being absent from ''Series/LabRats'' promo photos). Usually this is to emphasize the young actors and/or the [[DawsonCasting actors that play teenagers]] to appeal to their primary demographic of six-to-fourteen-year-olds. Perhaps the most glaring case was Veronica Dunne (who plays the title character's mother) not being on several ''Series/KCUndercover'' material despite her getting ''second billing''. In the case of ''Series/WizardsOfWaverlyPlace'', it's somewhat justified due to Creator/JenniferStone's character not being part of the Russo family, but given that the character appeared on most material despite being in the exact same position (and she was billed ''fourth''), it's a little hypocritical. |
| 228 | * ''Series/DoctorWho'': |
| 229 | ** In the 1980s, the Master would often be disguised in his plots against the Doctor. Since the show was serialized at the time, it would often be the case that the disguise hadn't been revealed to the audience prior to the end of part one. As a result, a pseudonym would be used in the credits for actor Anthony Ainley. |
| 230 | *** While fans knew that Creator/JohnSimm would be returning in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E11WorldEnoughAndTime "World Enough and Time"]], his Master didn't appear in any promotional photos of the episode per se... [[spoiler:but his disguise did, leaving fans to be shocked when Mr. Razor taunts Missy and asks her if she still loves disguises, before ripping his mask off.]] |
| 231 | ** The same goes for Davros, whose actor Creator/TerryMolloy had his name listed in the credits under the anagram "Roy Tromelly" to avoid spoiling his big reveal in Part Four of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS25E1RemembranceOfTheDaleks "Remembrance of the Daleks"]]. |
| 232 | ** Although technically not a trailer, copies of the Series 4 opener [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E1PartnersInCrime "Partners in Crime"]] sent to media for review omitted a scene in which Rose Tyler appears; although actress Creator/BilliePiper's return to the series had already been spoiled in the press, her wordless cameo in the first episode managed to arrive spoiler-free, in part due to her scene being omitted. |
| 233 | ** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E12ThePandoricaOpens "The Pandorica Opens"]]: [[spoiler:Rory]] was omitted from the trailer and cast list [[spoiler:to keep his resurrection a secret]]. |
| 234 | ** While the audience were aware that Creator/JennaColeman was cast as Clara, the trailers for [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E1AsylumOfTheDaleks "Asylum of the Daleks"]] purposely left out any scenes of her [[spoiler:appearing as "[[IdenticalStranger Oswin]]", in order to surprise the audience and make her death even more [[ShockingMoments unexpected]]]]. |
| 235 | ** Although it had been well-reported that John Hurt would be appearing in the 50th anniversary special by the time this aired, what was not announced was that Hurt would also appear in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E13TheNameOfTheDoctor "The Name of the Doctor"]]. |
| 236 | ** [[spoiler:Tom Baker and Peter Capaldi's cameos]] in [[Recap/DoctorWho50thASTheDayOfTheDoctor "The Day of the Doctor"]]. |
| 237 | ** [[spoiler:Karen Gillan]] was not mentioned at all in the promotional material for the 2013 Christmas special [[Recap/DoctorWho2013CSTheTimeOfTheDoctor "The Time of the Doctor"]]. [[spoiler:Her character, Amy Pond,]] appeared at the very end to [[spoiler:say goodbye to the Doctor]]. |
| 238 | ** The trailer and posters for [[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E8MummyOnTheOrientExpress "Mummy on the Orient Express"]] make it seem as though Clara Oswald isn't in the episode, because the previous episode, [[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E7KillTheMoon "Kill the Moon"]], ends on [[spoiler:her and the Doctor having a massive argument and her storming out of the TARDIS]]. She's in it, and plays a major role. |
| 239 | ** Series 11 trailers and promotional materials had the TARDIS either outright absent or only in the background of some images, leading to theories that, after the cliffhanger ending of [[Recap/DoctorWho2017CSTwiceUponATime "Twice Upon a Time"]], she would be missing for most of the season. She's back at the end of the second episode, [[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E2TheGhostMonument "The Ghost Monument"]]. |
| 240 | ** Creator/SachaDhawan was completely absent from any and all Series 12 promotional material before the premiere of part one of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS38E1E2Spyfall "Spyfall"]], including trailers, promotional images and announced cast lists. This was done because his WalkingSpoiler character [[spoiler:is the latest incarnation of {{the Master}}, introduced undercover as an apparent ally of the Doctor's]]. |
| 241 | * The trailers of ''Series/GameOfThrones'' Season 6 kept emphasizing that [[spoiler:Jon Snow is dead]] and they were very careful of not showing the scenes of him in several important events at the North. In the show itself, it's only at the end of episode two [[spoiler:where he was resurrected by Melisandre and spent the rest of the season gathering forces to drive the Boltons out of Winterfell]]. |
| 242 | * The trailer for season 4 of ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' curiously leaves out any scenes of [[spoiler:Mohinder]], despite being rather long and featuring every other main character prominently (plus several new ones) and the actor confirming that he's returning. This gives the overall impression he's ''not'' part of the season. He appeared eventually, [[spoiler:dead three months before the start of the events of the new season. [[UnexplainedRecovery He got better]]]]. |
| 243 | * The promos for Season 3 of ''Series/HouseOfCardsUS'' avoided showing [[spoiler:Doug Stamper, who survived his apparent death in Season 2]]. He does technically appear once, but only as an unrecognizable silhouette. |
| 244 | * ''Series/InterviewWithTheVampire2022'': Creator/SamReid, who has second billing, is absent from [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvA4Vvdg-58 the Season 2 SDCC trailer;]] there's only a painting of his character Lestat de Lioncourt at the end. Reid did film scenes during Season 2's principal photography, and a [[https://www.tvinsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/interview-with-the-vampire-season-2-lestat-sam-reid.jpg promotional image]] of him dressed in 18th-century finery was released, so presumably the producers didn't want to spoil too much about Lestat's role after his NotQuiteDead ending in Season 1. |
| 245 | * Grogu the Child (aka Baby Yoda) plays a major part in the plot of ''Series/TheMandalorian'', but was completely omitted from the marketing for season one, most likely to avoid spoilers. |
| 246 | * The presence of Creator/AngelCoulby (Guinevere) in ''Series/{{Merlin|2008}}'' trailers and promotional material was ''always'' played down, leading to some UnfortunateImplications considering she was the only non-white main character. However, it would seem that those in charge of this sort of thing are finally started to make an effort to include her: in 2012 she ''finally'' appeared on the cover of the [=DVD=], her character ''finally'' became an action-figure, and she was invited to Comic Con for the first time in 2012. It would seem that her upgrade in status on the show (Guinevere is [[spoiler:crowned queen at the end of series 4]]) means more attention paid to the actress. However, this may have simply been because she didn't really have much focus until she became Arthur's {{Love Interest|s}} in Series 2, but still didn't really qualify as one of the major players like Arthur, Merlin or Morgana until [[spoiler: after she becomes TheHighQueen]] in Series 5. |
| 247 | * ''Series/ObiWanKenobi'' omits the Organas (Bail, Breha and young Leia) from the trailers and all marketing, likely to keep Leia's involvement in the series a secret (though it would end up leaking out anyway). Beru Lars (whose involvement in the series was confirmed early on) was also not shown in any of the trailers, likely to avoid spoiling the ending of Part VI. |
| 248 | * The character of [[spoiler:Caliban]] was purposely left out of the trailers and promotional material for ''Series/PennyDreadful'', so as to make his first appearance all the more surprising. [[spoiler:Said appearance being when he showed up at the end of the second episode, firstly brutally killing Proteus and secondly showing us that Proteus was ''not'' the first being Frankenstein made!]] |
| 249 | * Promotional materials for ''Series/PowerRangersCosmicFury'' showed a conspicuous lack of the Blue Ranger, which tilted heads because Blue and Red are the only colors included in the starting lineup of ''every'' previous Ranger team. [[spoiler:[[BreakingOldTrends Until now]]. Blue Ranger Ollie is around, but [[BrainwashedAndCrazy he's a villain]] for most of the show. They don't break the spell until the season reaches its endgame, and thus the show has its first Blue EleventhHourRanger.]] |
| 250 | * ''Series/UltraGalaxyFightTheDestinedCrossroad'' prominently teased Super Ultras like Mebius Infinity and Ultraman Reiga, but carefully avoided revealing the presence of Series/UltramanNexus. |
| 251 | * ''Series/TheWalkingDead'' had a difficult task creating a trailer for its seventh season without including any footage of most of the main cast. The sixth season ended on a cliffhanger where [[TonightSomeoneDies one of the main characters, unknown to the viewer,]] was beaten to death with a baseball bat. Even though dialogue from the final scene of season six made it impossible for Rick or Carl to be the victim, they too were omitted from the trailer. |
| 252 | * Out of the entire main first-year cast of ''Manga/WastefulDaysOfHighSchoolGirls'', Lily was the only one who's conspicuously absent from all promotional materials and trailers of the live-action adaptation. In fact, she wasn't even included in the cast announcements up until her introductory episode, where she's revealed to be played by [[Music/Keyakizaka46 Yui Kobayashi]], leading to many viewers believing that she was AdaptedOut. |
| 253 | [[/folder]] |
| 254 | |
| 255 | [[folder:Pro Wrestling]] |
| 256 | * Justified when a pay-per-view event is supposed to have a [[TwistEnding big surprise ending]]. Take Wrestling/{{WWE}}'s 2008 ''Wrestling/RoyalRumble'', for instance: Wrestling/RandyOrton, Wrestling/JeffHardy, Wrestling/{{Edge|Wrestler}}, Wrestling/ReyMysterioJr, Wrestling/ChrisJericho, Wrestling/JohnBradshawLayfield, Wrestling/RicFlair, and Wrestling/MontelVontaviousPorter were promoted as the stars of the show. In retrospect, however, the big scene-stealer at ''that'' event proved to be [[spoiler: Wrestling/JohnCena, who won the Rumble match despite no one expecting him to even show up]]! To further explain, [[spoiler: Cena was sidelined by an injury only ''three months earlier'' and was supposed to be gone for at least six months (Wrestling/WrestleMania time). He came in, completely healed ''and'' at number 30, completely shocking everyone off of their seats]]! There's a reason every live event poster and commercial includes the phrase "Card Subject To Change". WWE tours around 300 days a year and injuries and life can get in the way. |
| 257 | * Inverted in the case of '' Wrestling/SummerSlam'' 2013: the DVD cover [[TrailersAlwaysSpoil immediately gives away the surprise ending]]! (Especially annoying because that pay-per-view technically had ''three'' surprise endings, and the cover gives them ''all'' away!) |
| 258 | [[/folder]] |
| 259 | |
| 260 | [[folder:Puppet Shows]] |
| 261 | * Many of the ''Series/FraggleRock'' DVD releases from Hit! Entertainment don't include Mokey on the covers, despite her being one of the main five Fraggles. One cover even removed Mokey from an image she was originally part of. This might be because Mokey is literally the least colorful of all the Fraggles, looking almost like an old woman with gray hair, and thus the character least likely to make kids want the video. |
| 262 | [[/folder]] |
| 263 | |
| 264 | [[folder:Theatre]] |
| 265 | * None of the advertisements for ''Theatre/TheLionKing'' show Timon, Pumbaa, or the hyenas. |
| 266 | * Creator/CirqueDuSoleil tends to downplay or leave out its shows' clowns in advertisements in favor of focusing on the glamorous and attractive acrobats/dancers, even if the clowns are key to the ExcusePlot (some are the AudienceSurrogate lead characters) and/or turn out to be audience favorites. |
| 267 | * Referenced by ''Theatre/{{Spamalot}}'', [[AllMusicalsAreAdaptations the musical adaptation]] of the {{Trope Namer|s}}. The aptly named Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Show (who resembles Literature/DonQuixote) walks onstage, realizes his mistake, and promptly exits. |
| 268 | [[/folder]] |
| 269 | |
| 270 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 271 | * Early trailers and cinematic shorts for ''VideoGame/AngryBirds'' had almost always left out one of it's original members, Matilda (then known as simply the white bird). |
| 272 | * In ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedI'', [[spoiler:Desmond Miles, the real-life protagonist]] is never shown in gameplay trailers or game footage for any installments of the series, though this is partly because his part of the game is purely exposition and that it's still technically a twist if you haven't played the first game yet. That was part of the game's mystique: the original trailers showing Altaïr would suddenly [[spoiler:distort and get static from the Animus]], hinting that there was more to the game than first appeared. And in ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIII'', [[spoiler: Haytham's portion of the game was completely ignored, leaving many fans confused for the first 3 sequences of the game, as they were expecting to be Connor]]. |
| 273 | * The only ''VideoGame/EliteBeatAgents'' seen in advertising (and ''Super Smash Bros. Brawl'') were J, Derek, Morris, and Commander Kahn. Who would have guessed that there would still be Agent Spin, Agent Chieftain, and the Elite Beat Divas squad? |
| 274 | * Japanese previews of ''VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn'' kept secret the fact that Ike and the Greil Mercenaries were going to return in the game. |
| 275 | * ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys'': In most of the promotional material and in the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ws-yd9YPfdE trailer]], [[CunningLikeAFox Foxy]] doesn't make an appearance, even when showing the other three animatronics. This may be because Foxy's existence is only revealed on Night 2, and even then he spends most of the game at Pirate Cove. However, he does appear in [[http://img4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20141007023838/freddy-fazbears-pizza/images/e/ea/New_Foxy.jpeg teaser]] [[http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20141015155925/freddy-fazbears-pizza/images/9/91/FivengtBefreddy.jpg images]] and the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVPONdZBh6s trailer]] for the sequel. [[spoiler:Two of him, to be precise.]] |
| 276 | * You'd be hard pressed to find anything related to Britz Strudel outside of his character card on the official ''VideoGame/FugaMelodiesOfSteel'' website, as he's never seen in any trailer and took nearly 5 months for him to appear in the "Comedies of Steel" subseries. [[spoiler:Turns out, Creator/CyberConnect2 has a good reason for this, as not only does he show up late into the game, but he'll also [[FaceHeelTurn betray you]] towards the end. Depending on how well you interacted with him will determine whether he rejoins the group or get KilledOffForReal]]. [[spoiler:They wound up doing this again for ''VideoGame/FugaMelodiesOfSteel2'', except it's for the true BigBad of the game, Cayenne. The problem is that he's never foreshadowed for a majority of the game, making him a GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere at worst, so this tactic didn't work as gracefully as it did with Britz in the first game]]. |
| 277 | * Jowd, a character from ''VideoGame/GhostTrick'', appears in no promotional art created for the game. He's treated much the same way as a WalkingSpoiler, despite not qualifying as one. |
| 278 | * Despite being an important character in the ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'' series and a MemeticBadass to the fandom, [[CoolOldGuy Kraden]] didn't even have official artwork until promo material for ''[[VideoGame/GoldenSunDarkDawn Dark Dawn]]'', the [[UnCanceled long-awaited]] third game. |
| 279 | * In ''VideoGame/GranblueFantasy'', most event antagonists will not appear in an event's voice trailer, or preview banners. |
| 280 | * In ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'', the Flood and their Gravemind, despite being major enemies, never appear in any of the trailers. Likewise, the Arbiter is either completely absent from the trailers for ''VideoGame/Halo2'', or appears very briefly as an unidentified Covenant Elite. There's nothing to indicate he's actually the game's {{Deuteragonist}}, leading to a similar situation to ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'' when players actually played the game. |
| 281 | * ''VideoGame/KidIcarusUprising'': [[spoiler:Hades, the true BigBad who is only revealed after a level that [[DiscOneFinalDungeon could very well be the last]]]]. |
| 282 | * Promotions for ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'' regarding [[WesternAnimation/Frozen2013 Arendelle]] do not show Hans in any of them, hiding not only [[AmbitionIsEvil his role in the film]], but also [[spoiler:that he becomes [[SavageWolves Sköll]], an OmnicidalManiac [[OlympusMons Elite]] [[AlwaysChaoticEvil Heartless]]]]. |
| 283 | ** Most of the English dub cast got some attention ahead of the game's release, even those who were serving as TheOtherDarrin to classic Disney characters. However, Creator/TJMiller was excluded from the unveiling of the ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6'' casts's return on account of his then-recent scandal involving calling in a fake bomb threat, while Creator/JamesWoods likewise went unannounced due to being a controversial figure in general. |
| 284 | * For the longest time, Garrus Vakarian was this for ''VideoGame/MassEffect2''. He wasn't shown in any videos or screenshots outside of when you meet him on Omega for the first time. [[spoiler:This to preserve the surprise that he gets half his face blown off shortly after you recruit him]]. While he's since been shown in screenshots for subsequent DLC... he still doesn't have an official biography on the official website, ''despite the game being out for several years''. |
| 285 | * Auto in ''VideoGame/MegaMan9'' does not appear in the character lists of said game in either the official [[http://megaman.capcom.com/ American]] or [[http://www.capcom.co.jp/rockman/9/ Japanese]] sites. Ironically, while Auto ''is'' featured and described in the Wii Operations Guide, Eddie and Beat are not, and no personal information on the Robot Masters was provided. As for non-appearances in an actual trailer, there's Hornet Man, whose silhouette never appears in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsgtDJmlqFc this video]]. |
| 286 | * ''VideoGame/MegaManPoweredUp'', a [[VideoGameRemake remake]] of a game that had only six Robot Masters, promoted the fact that there are two new bosses added to the game, while in reality there were actually ''three'' new bosses. Granted, the unmentioned boss was a WarmUpBoss that doesn't even show up in the BossRush challenges, but still… |
| 287 | * ''VideoGame/MetalGear'': |
| 288 | ** In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'', Raiden didn't appear in most of the promotional material prior to the game's U.S. release, and the one trailer which featured spoken dialogue by him made him look like an extra instead of a major player. The [=E3=] 2001 trailer even went as far as to replace Raiden with Snake in certain cutscenes and gameplay sequences to hide the fact that [[spoiler:Raiden is the game's true protagonist, not Snake.]] |
| 289 | ** Most of the trailers and promotional materials for ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'' featured all the characters in the game, including bosses, except for [[spoiler:Big Boss and Zero]]. |
| 290 | ** Senator Armstrong never appeared in any of the trailers for ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance'' and doesn't even have a character bio on the official website for the game and the only time the character's existence was even alluded prior to the release of the game was in a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeX55kZH9yE viral video]] uploaded on Konami's Youtube channel a year before release. [[spoiler:Senator Armstrong is the game's true antagonist and final boss.]] |
| 291 | ** Ishmael, the character who helps Big Boss escape from the hospital in the prologue portion of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'' was absent in most of the promotional videos for the game. His most prominent appearance prior to the game's release was in a gameplay demo shown in GDC 2013, which led to plenty of speculation of whether he was a real character in the final game or was made-up for the demo. [[spoiler:As it turns out, Ishmael is the real Big Boss and the character you control is his body double.]] |
| 292 | * Two of the potential love interests, Isolda and Jeanne, are not present in the January 2018 demo of ''VisualNovel/MissingStars''. |
| 293 | * The Toy-Con Development Team -- Gerry Riggs, Plaise Allatyme, and Lerna Lotte -- do not appear in the promotional material for ''VideoGame/NintendoLabo''. In fact, the player could very well be unaware of the characters' existence until they go through the "Discovery" side of the games. |
| 294 | * ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes'': Inverted completely by Helter Skelter; he only appears in the trailer for the game, where he acts as the DecoyProtagonist until [[HeroicComedicSociopath Travis Touchdown]] shows up and kills him. ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes2DesperateStruggle'' even reveals that Travis ''[[ButForMeItWasTuesday forgot about him entirely]]''. |
| 295 | * ''VideoGame/{{Onmyoji|2016}}'' has [[spoiler: [[BigBad Kuro Seimei]], being the huge-ass WalkingSpoiler he is. Creator/NoriakiSugiyama is always only credited as voicing Abe no Seimei and ''nobody else'' in all of the game's promo material and events]]. |
| 296 | * Goro Akechi from ''VideoGame/Persona5'' barely appears in pre-release trailers and promotional materials for the game's original release, to the point of not getting his own trailer unlike the rest of the thieves. The promotional material for the game's UpdatedRerelease averts this, and he appears alongside the rest of the Thieves in several trailers and even got his own character trailer. |
| 297 | * ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'': |
| 298 | ** ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'': Dewpider, Araquanid and Dhelmise are among the few non-legendary families not hinted at in pre-release trailers or materials. |
| 299 | ** Both ''Sun and Moon'' and ''VideoGame/PokemonUltraSunAndUltraMoon'' promotional material leave out one of their games' Totem Pokemon. For ''Sun and Moon'', it was Salazzle. For ''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'', it was Araquanid. |
| 300 | ** The professors in ''VideoGame/PokemonScarletAndViolet'' make no appearances in any of the promotional videos save for the very first one. [[spoiler:As it turns out, [[DeadAllAlong their current status]] is very, ''[[RoboticReveal very]]'' complicated]]. |
| 301 | * ''VideoGame/Portal2'': |
| 302 | ** Advertising focuses almost exclusively on Atlas and P-body, and Chell only gets [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wX9Sc88qreg the final released trailer]] in the spotlight. Atlas and P-body star in the co-op campaign that chronologically takes place after the main single-player game, and Chell doesn't even meet them until the end of her story. |
| 303 | ** Wheatley doesn't appear in any promotional material, despite being a major character. |
| 304 | * Yuri was left out of original trailers for ''VideoGame/ShadowHeartsCovenant'', with edited scenes showing Nicolai in his place instead. |
| 305 | * The trailers for ''VideoGame/SlyCooperThievesInTime'' don't show Penelope despite her being a major supporting character and Bentley's girlfriend. [[spoiler:It's to hide that she's [[TheSociopath a sociopathic]] [[AmbitionIsEvil villain]] on par with Hans from ''WesternAnimation/Frozen2013'', and that the ''whole game happened'' because she sold the Cooper Gang out to Le Paradox out of jealousy.]] |
| 306 | * ''VideoGame/SpiderManPS4'': None of the promotional material even hinted at the existence of [[spoiler:Dr. Otto Octavius]], mainly because [[spoiler:even a cursory knowledge of Spidey's rogue's gallery points to him becoming Doctor Octopus. Which he does.]] |
| 307 | * ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIII'': Despite the fact that Alex is the true lead character of the ''Street Fighter III'' series, both the [[http://www.eventhubs.com/images/2011/jun/07/street-fighter-3-third-strike-online-edition-artwork-5/ cover art]] and the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uPuRm9G-zA E3 trailer]] for ''3rd Strike: Online Edition'' show very little of him. |
| 308 | * ''VideoGame/StreetsOfRage'' features Axel and Blaze on the box art, but it does not show Adam, who is the third playable character. Adam does appear on the box art for the Japanese and European versions of the game. The third game's box art shows Axel, Blaze, Dr. Zan, and Roo. Roo is a strange case since he's a hidden character whose unlock conditions are not obvious. Meanwhile, Skate, who is one of the playable characters of the main four, is not featured on the cover, but he takes Roo's spot in the international versions of the game. |
| 309 | * ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'': |
| 310 | ** Traditionally, most of the unlockable characters were left out of promotional material. ''Ultimate'' is the exception, bucking the trend by revealing the entire base roster pre-release. |
| 311 | ** Back when they unveiled ''Melee'' to the public at E3 2001, they showed off the entire starting roster... except for [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime Zelda]]. Or rather Zelda in her Princess form, as the early previews only showed her Sheik disguise as being playable. It wasn't until near release that the dual-character nature was revealed. |
| 312 | ** When first revealed for ''Brawl'', the normal form of [[Franchise/{{Metroid}} Samus Aran]] from the previous two games appeared briefly to perform her Final Smash. Apart from her character artwork, no other media featuring Samus in this form was released until the Smash Bros. Dojo finally put up her profile. |
| 313 | ** Relatedly, when the Dojo was relaunched in May 2007, Snake was not featured anywhere on the site, with the exception of E3 and Nintendo World 2006 videos. This means that new media of Snake was not released until Konami decided to show off footage of Snake in ''Brawl'' in a conference. |
| 314 | ** For ''3DS/Wii U'', this fell to Yoshi. He was the only one of the original 8 characters to not appear in any of the game's trailers. Speaking of Yoshi, when the returning veterans for ''Ultimate'' were revealed (which was '''all''' of them), Yoshi was the very last one to appear. |
| 315 | ** If the trailer in question is pre-rendered CGI, [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Cloud Strife]] doesn't appear in it; odds are good that permission to include him in the series at all meant that ''Smash'''s artists were barred from recreating him, so he's only visible in gameplay capture when he shows up. Finally defied at the Game Awards of 2020, where fellow ''FFVII'' character Sephiroth's trailer showcased both in a loving recreation of their epic battle from ''Anime/FinalFantasyVIIAdventChildren''. |
| 316 | ** The trailer for ''Ultimate'''s story mode "World of Light" featured Galeem as the BigBad. Or rather one member of the BigBadEnsemble, as the trailer kept secret the existence of Galeem's rival Dharkon, who is no less antagonistic towards the Smash roster, and only appears midway through the mode following Galeem's apparent defeat. |
| 317 | ** Curiously, with the exception of Cloud and Sephiroth, every third-party character (including Hero, despite also being owned by Square Enix[[note]]though Hero’s stage Yggdrasil’s Altar is seen briefly[[/note]]) is completely absent in Sora's reveal trailer, including pre-rendered CGI and in gameplay. Likely due to unseen licensing issues (it was a massive hurdle just to get Sora in the game, despite excising almost all direct references to the Creator/{{Disney}} half of his home series bar his Mickey Mouse keychain), as well as to emphasize the Nintendo characters (as a counterpart to Disney's own lineup of [=IPs=]) and provide references to ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' through Cloud and Sephiroth. |
| 318 | * In the Mann VS Machine trailer for ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'', the Pyro, Sniper, and Spy are absent. |
| 319 | * In the old ''[[VideoGame/XMen1992 X-Men]]'' arcade game, [[Characters/MarvelComicsMystique Mystique]] does not appear in the AttractMode with the rest of the [[LegionOfDoom Brotherhood of Evil Mutants]] despite being a major villain in the game. [[spoiler: This helps conceal a minor plot twist where you appear to rescue Xavier halfway through the game, only for him to stand up in his wheelchair and turn into a laughing Mystique, setting a trap for the X-Men. At the end of the penultimate level, you fight Magneto after going through a BossRush...and you may realize he only fights with punches and kicks, and sure enough, "he" turns into Mystique upon defeat.]] |
| 320 | * ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles3'': Consul M, despite being a major character in the story, doesn't appear in any promotional trailers for it at all. [[spoiler:Likely because everything regarding her, Mio, Noah, and Consul N makes her veer completely into WalkingSpoiler territory.]] |
| 321 | [[/folder]] |
| 322 | |
| 323 | [[folder:Web Original]] |
| 324 | * Played ridiculously straight in ''Literature/ChaosFighters: Chemical Warriors-KIMIA'' when only ''2'' protagonists were mentioned in the trailer post out of the ''more than 10'' characters who exist in the web serial. |
| 325 | [[/folder]] |
| 326 | |
| 327 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 328 | * DVD covers for ''WesternAnimation/TheAvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes'', as well as promo artwork at [=iTunes=] and Netflix, almost always omit Avengers who have yet to receive solo movies in the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse. |
| 329 | * The video cover for ''WesternAnimation/CartoonAllStarsToTheRescue'' does not feature Michelangelo from ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987'', despite including all of the other famous cartoon characters who appear in the special. |
| 330 | * ''WesternAnimation/ElenaOfAvalor'' merchandise tends to leave out Esteban, despite the show emphasizing that he's also of equal importance to Elena as her cousin just as much as their grandparents and her sister matter to her, likely because as an older single man, he's not as marketable as Elena, her friends, or what most people think of when they think of family. Ironically enough, Esteban getting the short end of the stick is part of why the show's backstory happened. |
| 331 | * The promotions for the ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode "Neutopia" got a lot of mileage out of the [[GenderBender gender bent]] Planet Express crew, though what wasn't shown was their gender''less'' forms beforehand. A bunch of minor characters also get subjected to the gender changes, but their forms aren't shown either. |
| 332 | * The back covers for the ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends'' Volume 5 sets contains pictures for each episode. However, unlike episodes such as "Catch As Cats Can't", which showed an image with Ludloaf in it, none of the pictures for Kevin Meaney's episodes show his character Aloysius Pig. Instead the pictures they showed were Roy with all his feathers off and Wade asking for "a tasty mint" for "Temp Trouble", Orson as Edmond sitting in a prison cell, and Lanolin as Little Miss Muffet sitting with Orson as a spider. |
| 333 | * The week that ''WesternAnimation/LaffALympics'' premiered, ''TV Guide'''s print ad showed WesternAnimation/{{Jeannie}} and WesternAnimation/JosieAndThePussycats as members of the Franchise/{{Scooby Doo}}bies team. All of which did not appear on the show due to clearance issues with their rights holders (Columbia Pictures, Radio Comics). |
| 334 | * None of the ''WesternAnimation/{{Muppet Babies|1984}}'' video releases from 1993-1994 feature Rowlf, Scooter, or Skeeter on the video packaging. |
| 335 | * The season two finale of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' was about a sweet, charming wedding between a soon-to-be prince and a princess while the sister of the groom comes to terms with the fact that the fiancé isn't the same nice babysitter she knew when she was young. That's what the trailers advertised, right? [[spoiler:Until the princess is revealed to actually be Queen Chrysalis, a {{shapeshift|er}}ing EmotionEater who comes right the hell out of nowhere with an invading army of [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot insect zombie succubus ponies]], ''[[CurbStompBattle curb stomps Princess Celestia]]'' and lays siege to Canterlot while the ponies fight to rescue the real Princess and save the entire kingdom. What was promised to be a straightforward (and boring) wedding episode instead introduced a genuinely cool and threatening villain, complete with a kick-ass VillainSong, much to the delight of fans everywhere.]] |
| 336 | * ''Robotech II The Sentinels'': Mid 80s promotional material from Harmony Gold focused on carryover characters from the 1985 ''Anime/{{Robotech}}'' series. Promotional artwork focused on Rick and Lisa but one popular image did at least include Mirya as well as new characters such as Vince Grant and Jack Baker. Dr. Lang was often omitted despite the fact that he's the SupportingLeader, thus giving the misconception that Admiral Rick Hunter was the supreme leader to begin with. Most notably, T.R. Edwards was never depicted in promo materials despite the fact that he's also a lead supporting character and [[spoiler: becomes a main villain later in the series. This might be because Edwards has the look and personality of a character who is likely to do a heel face turn. Edwards is often absent from group shots of all the Expeditionary Force characters, so it's kind of telling that he's not too friendly with them]]. |
| 337 | * When ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo'' made it to home video by TheNineties and the TurnOfTheMillennium, Scrappy-Doo, for [[TheScrappy fairly obvious reasons]], often disappeared from promotional material like the DVD art covers. As a rule of thumb, if Scrappy's name wasn't in the title, [[http://dvdcovers.top/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/1451279342_The-13-Ghosts-of-Scooby-Doo-The-Complete-Series.jpg you didn't have to show him]]. If he ''was'' in the title, [[https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/scoobydoo/images/0/0a/SD%26SD_s1_front_cover.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/300?cb=20150205155024 it couldn't be helped]].[[note]]Read the full text of the DVD jacket for ''The 13 Ghosts''. They'll even mention ''Flim-Flam'' before they mention Scrappy.[[/note]] |
| 338 | * ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'': |
| 339 | ** Besides [[RobotBuddy Chopper]], Hera was the only member of the ''Ghost'' crew that didn't get a ''VideoGame/DisneyInfinity'' figure (or she ''would'' have, had the franchise not been cancelled before the wave she would have arrived in). She also doesn't have her own ''[[WesternAnimation/StarWarsForcesOfDestiny Forces of Destiny]]'' figure, unlike the other female protagonists at the time ''plus'' Luke and Kylo Ren! |
| 340 | ** Recurring antagonist Agent Kallus was absent in the first Season 3 trailer, despite appearing in the actual season. [[spoiler:Actually, he ''is'' in the trailer, just not in person — he's the [[HeelFaceTurn new]] [[TheMole Fulcrum]].]] |
| 341 | * None of the video releases of ''Series/TheSuperMarioBrosSuperShow'' feature images of the live-action segments on the packaging. |
| 342 | * While James the Red Engine is [[https://thomas-and-friends-all-engines-go.fandom.com/wiki/James confirmed]] to be in ''WesternAnimation/ThomasAndFriendsAllEnginesGo'', he never appears in any on-screen promos nor trailers. Nor did the other characters that aren't part of the Steam Team, except for Gordon and Emily in the leaked trailer. |
| 343 | * Despite being portrayed as being major characters in the show's plot, neither Lugnut nor Sari Sumdac appear in the Japanese opening for ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated''. |
| 344 | * ''WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan2012'' only has one of the five main characters, Spider-Man, on the cover of its first DVD released through Disney, with the rest of the space taken up by (albeit more well-known) characters that only appear in one or two episodes, such as [[Characters/MarvelComicsTonyStark Iron Man]] and [[Characters/MarvelComicsSteveRogers Captain America]]. |
| 345 | [[/folder]] |
| 346 |
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