History TheGhost / Film

* In ''Film/DoctorInTheHouse1954'', Sir Lancelot mentions a Sir James Willoughby, who once chased him out of an operating theatre with a muscle scalpel.

%%* The title character of ''Film/{{Oscar}}'' appears only for a moment in the very last scene.

%%* The title character of ''Theatre/{{Oscar}}'' appears only for a moment in the very last scene.

* ''Yield to the Night'', a British crime drama, was about Mary Hilton (played by Diana Dors), a woman sentenced to die for murdering her boyfriend's other lover. The victim shows up in the opening scene, when the murder is shown, and a few other times in flashback, but her face is never completely visible to the camera. (The movie was loosely based on the case of Ruth Ellis, and in an odd coincidence Ellis had actually been in another Diana Dors movie, ''Lady Godiva Rides Again'', as a beauty pageant contestant.)

* The infamous ''Man'' in '' WesternAnimation/{{Bambi}}'' is only represented by ominous music, but his actions lead to the on of the most traumatic deaths in cinema history.

* The infamous ''Man'' in WesternAnimation/{{Bambi}} is only represented by ominous music, but his actions lead to the on of the most traumatic deaths in cinema history.

%% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order.

* ''WesternAnimation/Frozen2013'': The [[BigBrotherBully brothers]] of Prince Hans are only mentioned, but never appear in person due to him visiting Arendelle alone. They technically "appear" in ''Literature/AFrozenHeart'' where four of them are named and both their mother and [[GreaterScopeVillain their father]] are introduced, but the book has no illustrations. Their only official appearance is artwork for a video for ''Frozen - Live at the Hyperion'' that reuses concept art that's been tweaked for each brother, though it's unknown if this would be their official appearance or just placeholders. To date, the main characters have not met them.

** ''Film/ANewHope'' had two Ghosts: the Emperor and Jabba the Hutt. Jabba was originally supposed to appear in the film, but his scene was cut, and his character was reimagined as a giant, slug-like alien. His scene was restored in the [[ReCut Special Edition]] with a CGI version of Jabba inserted over the original actor and his dialogue dubbed over with Huttese. Though Emperor Palpatine briefly appeared in [[Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack the following film]], it wasn't until ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' that Jabba finally appeared onscreen. A variant for Palpatine is that Darth Sidious only appears to the Trade Federation he's commanding in ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'' as a {{hologram}} - a [[VirtualGhost Phantom]] [[AntagonistTitle Menace]].

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanAndHarleyQuinn'' has a brief voice cameo by ComicBook/BoosterGold, where he reveals that Black Condor, Bloodwynd, and Triumph do exist in the DCAU. Another conversation between Batman and Sarge Steel confirmed ComicBook/LadyShiva exists in this universe, too. Nightwing's visit to the Superbabes restaurant suggests that ComicBook/{{Starfire}} and ComicBook/PowerGirl (despite Galatea being an AdaptationalVillainy {{expy}} of her already existing) are also in the DCAU.

* This was the general idea for the Mandarin in ''Film/IronMan''. He's alluded to as the leader of the Ten Rings terrorist cell, and through them has a hand in the plots of the first two movies before appearing in the third. [[spoiler:Except that ''that'' Mandarin is just an actor hired by Aldrich Killian, who claims to be the real Mandarin. However, according to the One-Shot ''Film/AllHailTheKing'', the real Mandarin is still out there, unhappy that someone pretended to be him, so this trope is still in effect. That said, the real Mandarin is slated to finally appear in person in the 2021 ''ComicBook/ShangChi'' film.]]

* ''Film/{{Downfall}}'': In Adolf Hitler's final days, many historic characters are mentioned but never seen due to being outside of Berlin, which is under siege by the Soviet Union. The most prominent are the generals tasked to launch a counterattack against the Red Army and relieve Berlin: Felix Steiner and Walther Wenck. Hitler hopes that their intervention would turn the tide of the war, only to suffer a VillainousBreakdown when he's informed by his staff that Steiner had refused to intervene because he had no army left.