History Main / ChekhovsGag

* In, ''WesternAnimation/Incredibles2'', Bob is initially very impressed with the "water feature" when Dash plays around with the house's decorative indoor ponds just after they arrive. A few days later, when Bob is rushing to search through his old belongings he falls into one of the decorative indoor ponds. After getting out, he mumbles, "Stupid water feature!"

* ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon'': Earlier in the film, there's a one-off gag about how dragons aren't fireproof on the inside. This comes back in the climax, where the Red Death is finally done in by Hiccup shooting a fireball into her mouth as she's preparing to breathe fire, igniting her inner gas as burning her alive from the inside.

* in ''WesternAnimation/Elemental2023'', Wade and his family play a game in which they see who cries first, Wade says "Butterfly. Windshield Wiper. Half a butterfly," and also tells a story of a man who lost his love over the summer to try making Ember cry. In the climax of the movie, Amber uses the same words to [[spoiler: restore Wade after he evaporated from her heat.]]

* In ''Series/TeenageBountyHunters'', Sterling and Blair's TwinTelepathy is mostly PlayedForLaughs, but when Sterling is kidnapped in the finale, she uses it to warn Blair who came to her rescue along with Bowser.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePatrickStarShow'': "[[Recap/ThePatrickStarShowS1E19HomeEcchFunAndDone Home ECCH!]]" has a montage of Squidina's failed projects, where one is her knitting a giant sheet while Slappy runs away from it. It feels like a throwaway gag at first, but during the next segment, it turns out Slappy is still knitted to the ceiling, and he actually helps her get through the project.

* ''Series/{{Friends}}'' is full of minor examples of these, but there have been a few very significant ones. In season 5, Chandler goes away to Jersey for the weekend claiming it's for a work convention. Monica goes away to Jersey the same weekend claiming it's for a culinary fair. Afterwards, Chandler told Joey he saw Donald Drumpf while waiting for a lift and Joey also fields a call from Chandler's hotel regarding a forgotten eyelash curler. These appear to be nothing more than normal jokes about Joey knowing obscure trivia or thinking Chandler's gay. However, at the end of the episode, Joey overhears Monica telling Phoebe she saw Donald Drumpf while waiting for a lift and asking Rachel if she can borrow an eyelash curler because she's lost her own. Joey therefore becomes the first Friend to uncover the truth about Chandler and Monica's SecretRelationship, setting him up for a mini story arc whereby he learns the hard way that KeepingSecretsSucks.