History Main / IconicSequelCharacter

* DennisTheMenaceUK did not appear until almost thirteen years into the run of the ''{{Beano}}'' comic. Other mainstream strips such as Minnie The Minx and The Bash Street Kids appeared even later.

* While several of the more notable characters of the ''MassEffect'' series debut in the first game, ''MassEffect2'' brings us a number of important ones as well. Perhaps the biggest are the Illusive Man, Miranda, Mordin, Jack, Grunt, and Thane.

* Gollum for ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' (if you don't count the creeping-in-the-back cameo since that wasn't even his final rendition).

* Nemesis first appeared in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil3Nemesis'' and has gone on to make a appearance as a main antagonist in ''Film/ResidentEvilApocalypse'' and as a playable character in ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom3''.

''Note: in order for a character in a serialized television show to count, they must have appeared as early as season two, and no sooner. Examples that appeared in late season one go under BreakOutCharacter.''

* ''VideoGame/KingOfFighters 95'' introduced Iori Yagami, TheRival to the game's protagonist, Kyo. His popularity, which was spurred by his appearance and personality, managed to make him so popular that he not only kept being used as an icon for the series in later iterations, but also became a major BreakoutCharacter.
* In another SNK series, Genjuro Kibagami debuts in ''VideoGame/SamuraiShodown 2'' as a more directly involved rival to Haohmaru compared to historically-inspired rival Ukyo Tachibana, since then they have been the series' traditional fighting game {{Shotoclone}}-rivals.

* In ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' games, Sonic and Dr Eggman were the only characters introduced in [[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog the first game]]. Sonic's most well-known friends Tails, Knuckles and Amy Rose were introduced respectively in ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2'', ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog3'' and ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehogCD''.

* Nemesis first appeared in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil3'' and has gone on to make a appearance as a main antagonist in ''Film/ResidentEvilApocalypse'' and as a playable character in ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom3''.
* Ripto was the BigBad of the second ''VideoGame/SpyroTheDragon'' game. He later became the main antagonist for the original series.

* ''Franchise/StreetFighter'''s Chun-Li wasn't introduced until ''VideoGame/StreetFighterII''. Due to SequelDisplacement, the entire SFII cast is better known than the non-holdovers from the first game.

''Note''': in order for a character in a serialized television show to count, they must have appeared as early as season two, and no sooner. Examples that appeared in late season one go under BreakOutCharacter.''

'''NOTE''': In order for a character in a serialized television show to count, they must have ''appeared as early as season two, and no sooner''. Examples that appeared in late season one go under BreakOutCharacter.

* Even though he's now considered to be one of the most iconic villains of the series, TheMaster didn't appear in ''DoctorWho'' until Season 8 during [[JonPertwee Jon Pertwee's]] tenure as The Doctor.

* [[DennisTheMenaceUK Dennis The Menace]] did not appear until almost thirteen years into the run of the ''{{Beano}}'' comic. Other mainstream strips such as Minnie The Minx and The Bash Street Kids appeared even later.

Compare SecondEpisodeIntroduction, which is this on a much smaller scale and AscendedExtra, for when the character is there the whole time, just in a greatly reduced rule.

* WesternAnimation/BugsBunny and WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck didn't appear until almost a decade into the ''LooneyTunes'' series run. Several other main stars were also {{Breakout Character}}s from later shorts.

* ComicBook/{{Robin}}, doesn't make his first appearance in ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' until Detective Comics #38, 11 issues and a year of publication after Batman's first appearance in Detective Comics #27.

* Yoda, who first appears in ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack''; to a lesser extent, from the same film, Lando Calrissian. For those who watch the series in order of events (ie, prequels first), Yoda would seem to mysteriously drop out for the fourth installment!!

!Examples

* In another SNK's series, Genjuro Kibagami debuts in ''VideoGame/SamuraiShodown 2'' as a more directly involved rival to Haohmaru compared to historically-inspired rival Ukyo Tachibana, since then they have been the series' traditional fighting game {{Shotoclone}}-rivals.
* Many, [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters MANY characters]] from ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'', especially since most of the characters from the first five games have [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome disappeared without a trace]], and the very first game barely have any story at all. Among the popular protagonists, [[CuteWitch Marisa]] debuts in the second game, and [[NinjaMaid Sakuya]] in the sixth. [[RealityWarper Yukari]], who many fans believed to have created Gensokyo itself, doesn't even appear until the seventh game.

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* ''Thimble Theater'' ran for ten years before ComicStrip/{{Popeye}} made his debut.

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* WesternAnimation/BugsBunny and WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck didn't appear until almost a decade into the ''LooneyTunes'' series run. Several other main stars were also {{Breakout Character}}s from later shorts.