History EstablishingCharacterMoment / LiveActionFilms

* ''Film/{{Gremlins}}'': Stripe proves himself to be thoroughly bad news mere moments after being born, when he tries to bite Pete for trying to pet him.

* ''Film/NotOkay'': Danni's article "Why Am I So Sad" has her complain about living in Bushwick (because she can't get a good matcha in that neighborhood), not having her own office (even though as a photo editor, she doesn't merit getting one), and lamenting that she missed 9/11 (she was on a cruise when it happened, and was disappointed she couldn't share the experience with others who went through it). To sum up, she's an attention seeker who doesn't understand how awful certain things are. It also neatly explains why she's hated and widely mocked prior to her fake survivorship.

* The first half-hour of ''Film/BackToTheFuture'' is all about this. The opening scene tells us about a mad scientist with his Rube Goldberg machines, a dog, stolen plutonium, Libyan terrorists and a fascination with clocks. Then we see a young friend with his skateboard who plays guitar, has a girlfriend, and is regularly late for school. Then the young friend skateboards through town, shows a desire to be a rock star, and has a miserable home life. Then we see how George is bullied by Biff, Lorraine takes comfort in alcohol, Dave and Linda live lives of quiet desperation, and Uncle Joey has no hope of parole. Eventually we meet Doc, who deals with terrorists and can tell us we're going to see some serious shit...

* ''Film/{{Superman}}'' establishes the famed Man of Steel three separate times; each time is awesome.

* Buddy cop films often begin with a comparison between the by the book cop and the CowboyCop.

** Merry and Pippin's mischief at Bilbo's birthday and subsequent punishment at the hands of Gandalf sets them up as the quick-witted ComicRelief [[ThoseTwoGuys duo]] prone to getting themselves (and possibly others) into danger.

** [[TheDragon Karl's]] first significant action is losing patience with the slow progress on the phone lines and simply [[CutTheKnot severing them with a chainsaw]], forcing his brother to work faster so it doesn't trigger any alarms.

*** The film packs a whole bunch into the first few minutes after the flashback. We have [[TheRemnant Ronan]] ranting about how he will "rain Kree justice" upon his enemies, showing his zealotry, followed by crushing the skull of a captured Nova Corpsman with his hammer. Shortly afterward, we have Rocket snarking at the people of Xandar and their stupid haircuts, showing off his antisocial attitude, then he berates Groot for drinking fountain water, showing his care for Groot and Groot's own GentleGiant nature. Of course, this all pales in comparison to Star-Lord, who gets two. First, we learn he cares so deeply that he'd tries to stop other boys from torturing a frog, and can't bring himself to accept that his mother is dying, running away. When he's grown up, after a lengthy PowerWalk through rainy, deserted ruins, finally gets indoors; takes off his helmet, puts on a Walkman, and starts dancing to "Come and Get Your Love", as well as kicking and throwing small animals around, firmly establishing him as a BunnyEarsLawyer and rather crueler than the boy we were told about before--showing what his life as a galactic outlaw has done to the sweet kid. This is also qualifies as an establishing moment for the [[EstablishingSeriesMoment series itself.]]

* ''Film/{{Paddington}}'' introduces the Brown family disembarking from a train after a family outing, and instantly introduces us to their main characteristics:

* ''Film/{{Nope}}'': OJ struggles through introducing the family business to a film crew, trying and failing to get them to take animal safety seriously. He’s a ShrinkingViolet who is NotGoodWithPeople but is very good at working with animals and understands how they think. Emerald shortly shows up late and gives a speech that charms the pants off of everyone, demonstrating her BlitheSpirit and natural charisma.

* The first half-hour of ''Film/BackToTheFuture'' is all about this. The opening scene tells us about a mad scientist with his Rube Goldberg machines, a dog, stolen plutonium, Libyan terrorists and a fascination with clocks. Then we see a young friend with his skateboard who plays guitar, has a girlfriend, and is regularly late for school. Then the young friend skateboards through town, shows a desire to be a rock star, and has a miserable home life. Then we see how George is bullied by Biff, Lorraine takes comfort in alcohol, Dave and Linda live lives of quiet desperation, and Uncle Joey has no hope of parole. Eventually we meet Doc, who deals with terrorists and can tell us we're going to see some serious shit, and the plot of the movie is finally started.

* ''Film/{{Avatar}}'': Creator/SigourneyWeaver's character barks, "Where's my goddamn cigarette?" showing that she's tough even though she's a scientist.
** The extended version has a great scene (sadly deleted from the theatrical cut) added to the opening monologue that really fleshes out Jake Sully's character, in addition to showing quite clearly [[CrapsackWorld what a shithole Earth has become.]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39s72VIDXtk We see Jake]] intently watching a program on TV about cloned tigers in a cramped apartment, establishing the love of nature that will come to define his character. When he sees a big dude in a bar [[DomesticAbuse smacking his girlfriend around]], Jake's the only person [[BystanderSyndrome who seems upset by this]], and even though he can't even ''stand'' on his own legs, yanks the guy's stool out from under him and then attacks him. Jake Sully: [[HandicappedBadass Paraplegic, yes, pushover, Hell no.]]

** John's Uncle Luther is introduced testing his new animation serum on a dead rat, and stating that he's made the find of the 21st century. This establishes that he's a MadScientist [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom who inadvertently causes the events of the movie]].

** The iconic scene where Bishop reluctantly [[FiveFingerFillet "does the thing with the knife"]] after being persuaded by the marines, quickly establishes three things: 1) That Bishop's a [[RoboticReveal robot]], 2) He has NervesOfSteel, and 3) he's an incredibly modest NiceGuy who wants nothing more than to help out in any way he can. During the same scene, we get a sneak-peek of Hudson's character in microcosm when his bravado turns to terror as soon as Bishop uses ''his'' hand for "the thing with the knife."

** Peter Parker's first scene after a flashback to his childhood shows him as a skater at his school. The real establishing moment comes when he stands up to [[JerkJock Flash]] when he's bullying another student and refusing to take part even when getting beaten up.

** Peter Parker's first scene after a flashback to his childhood shows him as a loner at his school. The real establishing moment comes when he stands up to [[JerkJock Flash]] when he's bullying another student and refusing to take part even when getting beaten up.

** Merry & Pippin's mischief at Bilbo's birthday.
** Saruman chastising Gandalf for consorting with Hobbits.
** Aragorn gets ''[[TropeCodifier the]]''' "archetypical lone fantasy badass introduction" for all cinematic history - all we have to do is see this guy in a dark cloak, FaceFramedInShadow, smoking menacingly, and staring straight at Frodo, to know that this dude means business.
** Arwen waking the aforementioned Aragorn up with [[ActionGirl a sword to his throat.]]
** Gimli impulsively attempts to break the ring with his axe.

*** Tobias Beckett appears on a chaotic Imperial battlefield, gunning down enemies left and right with his [[DualWielding dual pistols]] while everyone else is [[WarIsHell running around in screaming terror.]] The moment Han catches up to him and points out that Beckett is wearing a stolen Imperial uniform and is clearly not an actual officer, Beckett doesn't hesitate to use his "officer" credentials to have Han arrested as a deserter and thrown into a pit to be FedToTheBeast.