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| 6 | EstablishingCharacterMoment in live-action films. |
| 7 | ---- |
| 8 | * ''Film/TenThingsIHateAboutYou'': |
| 9 | ** The movie opens with perky pop song playing over fun, bouncing credits, as four perky pretty girls roll up to a stop sign in a brightly-coloured sports car... then the pop music is rapidly drowned out by Music/JoanJett's "Bad Reputation", as a lone, sour-faced young woman rolls up next to them in a beat-up Ford, ''glaring''. Six minutes before we learn her name, five minutes before she ever ''speaks'', and we already know Kat's basic character. |
| 10 | ** Also captured in that wonderful exchange with Miss Perky: |
| 11 | ---> '''Ms. Perky:''' People perceive you as somewhat...\ |
| 12 | '''Kat:''' Tempestuous?\ |
| 13 | '''Ms. Perky:''' "[[PrecisionFStrike Heinous bitch]]" is the term used most often. |
| 14 | * ''Film/ThreeHundred'': Xerxes meets Leonidas while he rides on a mobile throne [[AGodAmI pulled by dozens of slaves]]. |
| 15 | * ''Film/FifteenMinutes'': |
| 16 | ** At the passport-stamping office, Oleg shows off both his obsession with cameras and movies and his ditziness when he thinks that saying he and Emil are friends counts as a legal relationship. |
| 17 | ** Hawkins is introduced complaining about poor ratings, saying that violence is the key to good television, and being fairly insensitive toward his associates. |
| 18 | ** Eddie is introduced dunking his head in a sink full of ice water and then meticulously combing his hair and putting in eye drops to look good for the cameras, only to then do a good job on the bust. |
| 19 | * ''Film/ActOfValor'': Shabal's willingness to let children be collateral damage in his assassination of the US ambassador firmly shows that he's a nasty piece of work, while Christo's PsychoticSmirk when he hears Morales get punched by the torturer earns him no sympathy, either. |
| 20 | * The very first thing you see [[CampGay Felicia]] doing in ''Film/TheAdventuresOfPriscillaQueenOfTheDesert'' is singing this song: |
| 21 | -->A desert holiday\ |
| 22 | Let's pack the drag away\ |
| 23 | You pack the lunch and tea\ |
| 24 | I'll pack the ecstasy\ |
| 25 | Fuck off you silly queer\ |
| 26 | I'm getting out of here\ |
| 27 | A desert holiday\ |
| 28 | Hip hip hip ''hip'' hooray. |
| 29 | * ''Film/{{Airplane}}'': |
| 30 | ** Captain Oveur grabbing a copy of [[StraightGay Modern Sperm]] magazine. |
| 31 | ** Johnny telling [=McCrosky=] "No, thanks" [[CloudCuckoolander when he was asked to get him coffee]]. |
| 32 | ** Rex Kramer beating up religious solicitors. |
| 33 | * ''Film/{{Alaska}}'': [[DesignatedHero Sean]] refusing a compass as a gift from his father and proclaiming to his face that [[YouShouldHaveDiedInstead wishes that he had died instead of his mother]] firmly cements Sean as an unsympathetic {{jerkass}}. |
| 34 | * Part of what makes ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' so good is how incredibly efficient it is at DevelopingDoomedCharacters with only a single quick scene or line of dialogue. |
| 35 | ** [[SergeantRock Apone]] waking up from hypersleep and instantly sticking a cigar in his mouth. |
| 36 | ** [[ArmchairMilitary Gorman]] confuses two of the marines under his command and is clearly nervous during the descent to LV-426. During that same scene, Hicks gets his when he's shown to have ''[[NervesOfSteel fallen asleep]]'' during the turbulence. |
| 37 | ** While the rest of the marines are still waking up from hypersleep, Vasquez is already doing pullups with Drake, and [[InsultBackfire instantly demolishes]] Hudson when he tries to make a smartass comment. |
| 38 | ** 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 development to come in microcosm when his bravado gives way to terror as Bishop uses ''his'' hand under his own for "the thing with the knife." |
| 39 | * ''Film/TheAmazingSpiderMan'': |
| 40 | ** 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 back down even when getting beaten up. |
| 41 | ** Speaking of Flash, one of the scenes following the death of Uncle Ben shows him trying to talk to Peter and when he slams him against the locker Flash expresses his sympathies, showing he isn't a completely heartless bully like we initially believed. |
| 42 | * ''Film/{{Angst}}'': The opening scene features [[VillainProtagonist the main character]] walking down a street, disoriented, then knocking on a random door and shooting to death the old woman that answers. |
| 43 | * ''Film/ApocalypseNow'': |
| 44 | ** Col. Kurtz gets one via audio only via a recording of his descent into insanity being played for Willard as his "termination" mission is assigned to him. |
| 45 | --->'''Col. Kurtz:''' I have seen... a snail... crawl along the edge... of a straight razor. I have seen... a snail crawl along the edge of a straight razor... and survive. That's my dream. That's my nightmare. |
| 46 | ** Willard going crazy in his hotel room shows the inner turmoil he tries to suppress for the rest of the film. As with ''Film/TheGodfather'' above, this was pretty much a ThrowItIn moment: Creator/MartinSheen was [[MethodActing legitimately drunk]], and Francis Ford Coppola was taunting him from off-screen about what a total failure he was as an actor and a human being. Breaking the mirror, and his hands bleeding, wasn't special effects. |
| 47 | * ''Film/AttackOfTheKillerDonuts'': |
| 48 | ** [[TheProtagonist John]]'s girlfriend Veronica's first scene plays out thusly. When John sees her and tries to kiss her, she avoids his lips and just pecks him on the cheek. She also just asks John for money, and even shows up with another guy who calls her "babe". This is meant to establish that she's just using John for money. |
| 49 | ** 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 scientific genius [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom who inadvertently causes the events of the movie]]. |
| 50 | * ''Film/{{Audition}}'': A grieving widower has met a beautiful woman named Asami through the ruse of a movie audition. Over the objections of his friend, he calls her back, and we see her sitting on the floor in a largely unfurnished apartment, near the only two other things there: the ringing phone, and a lump burlap sack whose contents lurch over with an incoherent groan. ''And she's staring at the phone.'' |
| 51 | * ''Film/{{Avatar}}'': 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.]] |
| 52 | * While his siblings are suckling on a milking machine, Film/{{Babe}} is the only one who shows sadness that his mother was taken away. |
| 53 | * The first half-hour of ''Film/BackToTheFuture1'' 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... |
| 54 | * ''Film/BadGenius'''s four main characters. |
| 55 | ** Lynn's is rattling off the total expenses her father will end up paying the school if she moves there, showing her analytical mind and intelligence, as well as her pride in her abilities. |
| 56 | -->'''Vit''': Gold medal in maths. |
| 57 | ** Grace's is smoothing back Lynn's hair at her ID shoot, indicating that she's friendly and cares about keeping up appearances. |
| 58 | ** Pat's is carelessly jumping into a pool owned by his family and complaining about the water that gets in his ears, establishing that he's rich, careless, and doesn't think too much about the consequences. |
| 59 | ** Bank gets two: the first is rattling off [[MouthfulOfPi digits of pi]] on a game show (showing that he's intelligent like Lynn) and refusing a classmate's offer to pay him for his exam scores, showing he's the most morally upright of the four. |
| 60 | * ''Film/BatmanFilmSeries'': |
| 61 | ** ''Film/Batman1989'': In [[Characters/BatmanTheJoker Jack Napier]]'s introduction scene, he establishes that he's part of the criminal element plaguing Gotham City by his first line (in response to Harvey Dent's speech about making the city safe for decent people), "Decent people shouldn't live here. They'd be happier someplace else." His next line, "If this clown could touch Grissom, I'd have handed him his lungs by now," establishes that he is a psycho. Next, he comments on how his boss is a "tired old man" and how he "can't run the city without me," suggesting that he wants to run the show himself someday (which is expanded upon later in the "think about the future" scene with Eckhardt). He then admires himself in the mirror, and when the attractive woman he's been talking to (his girlfriend, who is also his boss's mistress) approaches him and compliments his looks ("You look fine"), he is insulting ("I didn't ask"), revealing that he is an arrogant jerk with a focus on his looks, which foreshadows his later transformation and the psychological effect it will have on him. |
| 62 | ** The films used different techniques to introduce Bruce Wayne: |
| 63 | *** ''Film/Batman1989'': He is fumbling about during a party showing his eccentricity. The fact that he also pretends not to know who Bruce Wayne is to Vicki Vale, only to introduce himself to her and Alexander Knox in a more low-key fashion, also indicates his willingness to and ease at keeping a low profile and slipping into the background when it suits him. |
| 64 | *** ''Film/BatmanForever'': He is on the cover of ''TIME'' magazine in Ed Nygma's cubicle, showing him as TheAce. [[BrokenAce That's not entirely true.]] |
| 65 | *** ''Film/BatmanAndRobin'': He responds to Robin's quip with a wry "This is why Franchise/{{Superman}} works alone," indicating the LighterAndSofter direction of the movie. |
| 66 | * ''Film/Beast2017'': The opening scene of Moll's birthday party is this for a number of characters; Moll's sister Polly uses her congratulatory speech to Moll to [[ItsAllAboutMe publicly announce she's pregnant with twins]], her mother [[MyBelovedSmother Hilary]] orders Moll about and [[ParentalFavoritism seems unperturbed]] by Polly's actions, even calling it a cause for celebration, and Moll is seen [[StepfordSmiler practicing smiling]] in front of her bedroom mirror prior to the party. |
| 67 | * ''Film/BeyondTheLights'': |
| 68 | ** It begins with ten-year-old Noni proudly winning second place in a talent competition...only for her mother to drag her off the stage and force her to throw out her trophy because she thinks SecondPlaceIsForLosers. Certainly says [[StageMom A LOT]] about Macy Jean- not to mention the troubled mother/daughter relationship between her and Noni. |
| 69 | ** When we first see the adult Noni, she does not speak a word until she [[spoiler: returns to her hotel after the Billboard Awards, at which point she instructs Kaz not to let anyone follow her into her room]]- showing how she essentially has lost her voice and become a puppet to her mother and record label. |
| 70 | ** When Kaz finally gets to go home after [[DrivenToSuicide rescuing]] Noni, the camera pans around to show [[spoiler: inspirational quotes tacked up all over the place and TONS of books, most of which are justice-themed and/or about/by powerful black figures such as President Obama, among other things]]. |
| 71 | * ''Film/BigBusiness1988'': All four of the main characters. |
| 72 | ** When a secretary yells that Sadie is arriving at the office, all of the employees panic and try to look busy. Sadie then marches in, being a MeanBoss and CorruptCorporateExecutive (she resents spending so much money on making sure products are safe) while mentioning that she was buying stock before she turned 13. |
| 73 | ** Rose Shelton arrives at the office with a stray dog she just adopted, politely greets the receptionist, forgets where a meeting is being held, and talks about how nice a simple life would be. |
| 74 | ** Rose Ratliff makes a fiery speech at a county fair denouncing the Sheltons' company. |
| 75 | ** Sadie Ratliff sings a song at a fundraiser and loves being the center of attention. |
| 76 | * In ''Film/BigGame'', first two things Herbert does upon his arrival are: (1) [[TheSnackIsMoreInteresting calmly eating a sandwitch]] as he's briefed on the situation and (2) performing a correct SherlockScan on the terrorists. |
| 77 | * In ''Film/TheBigLebowski'', the first thing we see The Dude doing is shopping for half-and-half in his robe, tasting it in the store, then paying for it by writing a post-dated check for 69 cents. If that's not TheSlacker, then nothing is. |
| 78 | * ''Film/BladeRunner2049'' has several: |
| 79 | ** We first find Officer K tracking down a fugitive Replicant, enters the man's house and calmly waits for him to come inside. He expresses his respect for the Replicant's military service, [[ApologeticAttacker apologizes for having to take him in]] and repeatedly states that he'd prefer to bring him in quietly, without violence. When the man refuses and attacks K, K shrugs off his attacks and quickly beats him into submission despite being repeatedly slammed into the walls and floor by his ''much'' bigger and more muscular opponent. It's also here where we learn that K is [[HunterOfHisOwnKind also a Replicant]], and feels heavily conflicted about his job. |
| 80 | ** When K returns home with an expensive emitter, Joi is shown watching the raindrops falling on her "skin" and laughing in childlike wonder. When she tells K how happy he makes her, and he responds, slightly unnerved, that she doesn't ''have'' to say that to him, she smiles and tells him "I know." |
| 81 | ** Luv first appears to be just Wallace's SexySecretary, making idle chitchat and flirting with him, until she comes to a massive jammed metal door in the vaults and ''[[SuperStrength shoves it open]]'' on her own. |
| 82 | ** Niander Wallace gives an incredibly ominous monologue about how human beings should [[AGodAmI "own all]] [[VisionaryVillain the stars"]], then inspects one of his "newborn" Replicants. Wallace talks quietly to the "newborn", kissing her and stroking the clay from her body before [[KickTheDog slicing her belly open]] and leaving her there to bleed to death just to make a point to Luv about the flaws in Replicant design. |
| 83 | ** After two hours of the movie has already gone by, Rick Deckard makes his return to the cinema screen after 35 years by quoting ''Literature/TreasureIsland'' while holding K at gunpoint. After punching the crap out of K in the showroom to [[NoSell no effect]], Deckard tells him they could either keep fighting, or they could go get drinks, showing us that Deckard is older and wiser but if anything ''more'' badass than he was in the first film. |
| 84 | * The first scene of Bart in ''Film/BlazingSaddles'' has him start out in a subordinate position to racist thug Lyle, but run rings around him with cunning and [[AnachronismStew anachronistic references]], getting his GuileHero credentials set up bright and early. |
| 85 | * In the first ''Film/BloodRayne'' film, Vladimir and Sebastian walk into a bar and approach the counter. A drunk-looking man also approaches. Sebastian pulls up a small mirror standing on the counter and notices that the man next to him has no reflection. Without a word, he pulls out a stake and plunges it into the man's heart. The other guy turns into ash. The bartender just shrugs and tells the two guys that he's happy that at least Brimstone agents don't leave much to clean up. |
| 86 | * ''Film/BlueVelvet'''s villain, Frank Booth, introduces himself in horrifying fashion by brutalizing and raping Dorothy, including such sexual perversions as erotic asphyxiation, fisting, dry humping, and sadomasochism, and then taunting her about her mutilated (by him no less) husband. It should be pretty obvious to the audience just what [[AxCrazy kind]] [[DepravedBisexual of]] [[TheSociopath character]] he is by that point. |
| 87 | * Missy of ''Film/BringItOn'' is introduced as basically a {{Expy}} of [[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer Faith]] replete with tattoo, athletic prowess, attitude and [[Creator/ElizaDushku actress.]] |
| 88 | * ''Film/TheCabinInTheWoods'' both sets up the character archetypes and subverts them: Dana (the virgin) is shown packing in her underwear and pining over a professor she had a relationship with while Jules shows concern over the relationship while pushing for Dana to let loose and have fun. Kurt demonstrates physical prowess (as does Holden) and jokes with Jules while suggesting that Dana bring a different book to impress Holden with her intellect. Finally, Marty drives in while smoking a bong, brushes off concerns about the cops, and folds up the bong into a coffee mug. |
| 89 | * ''Film/CashOnDemand'': Within moments of entering the bank, Harry Fordyce is established as the MeanBoss when he he tells elderly secretary Miss Pringle to take the Christmas cards off her desk, as the bank is a place of business and not a place for her to flaunt her popularity. |
| 90 | * In ''Film/AClockworkOrange'', the very first shot is Alex leering into the camera while a synthetic funeral march blares on the soundtrack, establishing Alex's strong, hypnotic and thoroughly evil personality before the voice-over even mentions "the old ultraviolence." |
| 91 | * The first quarter-hour of ''Film/{{Cloverfield}}'' establishes the character who will be holding the camera for most of the movie as the kind of person who's just enough of an obsessive nerd to do that. This doubles as {{justifi|edTrope}}cation, since the first question anyone asks is "Who would actually keep the camera running at a time like this?" |
| 92 | * ''Film/ConAir'': |
| 93 | ** Larkin mocking one of his superiors behind his back. |
| 94 | ** [[WickedCultured Cyrus speaking to Johnny-23 in Spanish]]. |
| 95 | ** Malloy parking his car in a handicap space. |
| 96 | ** Garland Greene's entrance offset by his gentle manner of speaking. |
| 97 | * ''Film/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory'' establishes each of the [[EnfantTerrible "naughty children"]] during the montage of the Golden Tickets race: |
| 98 | ** [[FatBastard Augustus]] brags about eating more candy that anybody else, and proudly reveals that he bit off a chunk of his Golden Ticket. |
| 99 | ** [[TheProudElite Violet]] wipes the floor with her karate instructors, casually walks out chewing some bubblegum, and then shows off her wall of trophies and medals alongside her StageMom. |
| 100 | ** [[SpoiledBrat Veruca]] is shown to have ordered her family's workers to look for a Golden Ticket, and after successfully earning one [[LudicrousGiftRequest asks her father for a pony]]. |
| 101 | ** [[BloodKnight Mike]] casually plays a [[UltraSuperDeathGoreFestChainsawer3000 violent video game]] as the MediaScrum focuses on his parents, repeatedly screaming for his in-game enemies to die. |
| 102 | * ''Film/Chevalier2022'': Joseph's prodigious skill at music and confidence are both established in his first scene, where he challenges Mozart himself to a violin-off and holds his own. |
| 103 | * In the film version of ''Film/CrazyRichAsians'': |
| 104 | ** The prologue consists of a scene where Eleanor and her children arrive at an upscale hotel and a racist manager refuses to accommodate them. Eleanor is [[TranquilFury obviously pissed but retains her composure]], and when the manager refuses to budge, she makes a phone call and buys the hotel. (Note that the hotel's ''owner'' is an old friend, she could have simply asked him to intervene, but decides to buy the place instead). This establishes the Young family's ridiculous level of wealth and connections, as well as Eleanor's simultaneously imperturbable and ruthless nature. And the smirk that an eight-year-old Nick gives to the manager shows how accustomed he is to his family demonstrating their power. |
| 105 | ** Alistair is introduced directing his (bad) actress girlfriend Kitty in a movie before pausing the filming in order to passionately (and inappropriately) make out with her. |
| 106 | ** Eddie and his family are posing for ''Vogue''. Once it ends, he berates his wife for her outfit and ignores his children. |
| 107 | ** Astrid stylishly walks through a posh establishment, pauses to be kind to a young girl and nonchalantly purchases a pair of earrings for 1.2 million dollars. |
| 108 | * ''Film/CruzDiablo'' begins with the titular character, in succession, flynning and marking somebody's forehead, taking from the rich and giving to the poor. |
| 109 | * In ''Film/{{Daredevil}}'', Bullseye is first seen landing a series of bulls-eyes into a dartboard without looking and while downing a beer, establishing his superhuman accuracy. He then murders a man in front of a bar full of witnesses over a muttered insult, ''with a paperclip'', establishing that he is AxCrazy. |
| 110 | * Murdoch in ''Film/DarkCity'', as one of his first actions, saves a goldfish he accidentally drops on the floor, making it clear that he isn't the kind of person to be a SerialKiller. |
| 111 | * ''Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy'': |
| 112 | ** After the very first scene in ''Film/BatmanBegins'' which has young Bruce Wayne falling into a cave and being swarmed by bats (which as a kid, he was terrified of), we're treated to a prison scene which establishes the older Bruce Wayne as a badass, which has him taking down both a huge Chinese prisoner and every other prisoner who joins the fight. And then the guards have him dragged away, not to protect Bruce from them, but to protect ''them'' from ''him''. |
| 113 | --->'''Bruce:''' You're not the Devil. You're ''practice''. |
| 114 | ** The Joker in ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' has two of these, the first being the bank robbery when he shows himself ready and willing to betray his teammates for his own ends (even getting them to betray ''each other'' by exploiting their greed), and later his "magic trick" involving a pencil and plenty of EyeScream, which shows his mental instability and viciousness, but also [[GallowsHumor his sense of humour]]. |
| 115 | *** Harvey Dent also establishes himself in his first scene: flip a coin, diss a crime boss, punch out a would-be assassin and then [[RefugeInAudacity tell the assassin that if he is going to try killing a public servant]], [[DoWrongRight he suggests buying American]]. Some of those actions simultaneously establish the character he's ''going'' to become as Two-Face. |
| 116 | ** In ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'', a maid has wandered into the quarters of Bruce Wayne, unseen in public for eight years. He startles her when he appears, and the flustered woman apologizes and insists that she'll be leaving. Then Bruce points out that ''somebody'' has cracked his supposedly uncrackable safe and stolen his mothers pearls... which look a lot like the ones on the maid's neck. The maid's demeanour instantly cools. "Oops. [[DeadpanSnarker Nobody told me it was uncrackable]]". She then kicks Bruce's cane out from under him and backflips out the window. Meet Selina Kyle, aka Catwoman. |
| 117 | *** From the same film, in the opening scene: When the unnamed CIA Agent threatens a group of blindfolded and restrained criminals on board a plane, pretending to shoot one, one of them asks: [[ArmorPiercingQuestion "Perhaps he's wondering why you would shoot a man,]] [[FridgeLogic before throwing him out of a plane."]] The CIA guy takes the hood off, Bane is revealed for the first time, and everyone [[OhCrap shits themselves]] simultaneously. Then his group of highly-trained zealots hijack the plane midflight, demonstrating very fast that Bane is both incredibly brutal and ''[[GeniusBruiser much]]'' [[TheChessmaster smarter]] than the simple brainless muscleman audiences might have expected from the likes of ''Film/BatmanAndRobin''. |
| 118 | * The very first thing you see of the titular ''Film/{{Deadpool|2016}}'' is the outline of the man's family jewels through his tights as he's tea-bagging a {{Mook}}, while wedgie-ing another mook and doing a ''[[Film/TheThreeStooges Three Stooges]]'' eye poke to ''another'' mook, and [[NoFourthWall giving the audience]] the DreamworksFace, in a paused action scene of a massive exploding car crash to the tune of ''Angel In The Morning'' and unorthodox credits like "starring God's perfect idiot" and "directed by an overpaid tool." If ''that'' doesn't tell you everything you need to know about this particular super "hero's" personality or fighting style nothing will, but don't worry because Deadpool soon [[MediumAwareness pauses and rewinds the film]] to [[NoFourthWall tell you all the details himself]]. |
| 119 | * ''Film/{{Deewaar}}'': Vijay, shining shoes as a little boy, refuses to pick up money from the ground and demands that Daavar's subordinate put the money in his hand. Daavar is impressed by Vijay's {{Pride}} and tells his man to oblige. |
| 120 | * ''Film/TheDeparted'' had the one where Dignam congratulates Colin's passing the detective test with "[[TheLancer Woop de fucking doo]]" |
| 121 | * ''Film/DieHard'': |
| 122 | ** The BigBad Hans Gruber shows his refined taste when he compliments Takagi's suit. |
| 123 | ** Gruber establishes the MagnificentBastard, SmugSnake type of criminal he is when he's directing his goons to prep before taking the Nakatomi Christmas Party hostage. And then, after they burst in and spray the place with bullets, he gently chides the screaming, terrified, hostages to please, please be quiet and allow him to speak. |
| 124 | ** Gruber actually gets a few in quick succession. After his moment with the hostages at the party and complimenting Tagaki's suit in the elevator, he sees a scale model of Nakatomi Plaza and quotes that when "Alexander saw the breadth of his domain, he wept, for there were no more worlds to conquer" (showing his ego), before nerding out over another model and commenting that he loved model as a boy for "the exactness, attention to every conceivable detail" (showing that he's a meticulous planner). |
| 125 | ** Detective [=McClane=]'s AntiHero tendencies start to peek through as he's talking to the doctor on the flight to LA. |
| 126 | ** [[TheDragon Karl's]] first significant action is losing patience with the slow progress on the phone lines and simply [[CuttingTheKnot severing them with a chainsaw]], forcing his brother to work faster so it doesn't trigger any alarms. |
| 127 | * ''Film/DirtyHarry'': "You gotta ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well do you, punk?" |
| 128 | * In ''Film/District9'': |
| 129 | ** [[TheEveryman Wikus']] [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold redeeming qualities]] are first shown [[spoiler:in the weapons test, when he is horrified at the idea of shooting a Prawn test subject and pleads with the MNU scientists.]] |
| 130 | ** [[TheBrute Koobus]] establishes himself as a hotheaded bully in his introduction by loudly swearing in Wikus' face and shoving him in response to Wikus [[ObstructiveBureaucrat pointing out that one of the mercenaries has one more clip of ammo than he is legally allowed to have on him]]. |
| 131 | ** Christopher shows his intelligence early on. The other Prawns just rudely tell the MNU to fuck off ([[HumansAreBastards quite understandably]]) or fall for their tricks chasing their [[FantasticDrug cat food addiction]]. Christopher asks them ''why'' he is being evicted, points out the eviction notice they present him requires them to give him 24 hours notice, and tells Wikus that what they are doing is illegal. He only gets angry and confrontational when the MNU goon with them [[PapaWolf threatens Little CJ]]. |
| 132 | * Major Jackson, the BigBad of the film ''Film/{{Django}}'', is introduced shooting a bunch of Mexicans for sport. |
| 133 | * ''Film/DjangoUnchained'' |
| 134 | ** Schultz speaking very politely in his first scene, treating the slaves with respect, and demonstrating his deadly marksmanship, and only after it's (somewhat) legal for him to do so. |
| 135 | ** Candie having lots of fun watching slaves fight to the death, and brashly asking Schultz questions before making introductions. |
| 136 | ** Stephen [[DragonInChief stamping checks with Candie's name]] is the first shot we see of him. Shortly afterwards, he [[BoomerangBigot takes serious offense]] at the notion of Django being welcomed as a guest. The fact that Candie shows no more than mild irritation at a slave openly challenging him in front of others speaks to Stephen's unique position on the plantation. |
| 137 | * In ''Film/DoctorInLove'', Dr. Burke is introduced to the audience as he chats up a nurse, showing that he is a notorious flirt. |
| 138 | * ''Film/DogSoldiers'': Pvt. Cooper performs commendably at the end of his SAS training, but then he balks at and refuses to obey a direct order to kill a trained dog (and when the dog is senselessly killed anyway, Cooper ''punches'' the higher-ranking officer responsible), introducing him as a tough-as-nails soldier with a conscience and a soft spot for dogs. Meanwhile in contrast, Captain Ryan (the dog-shooting officer in question) demonstrates in this scene his inability to be anything other than a condescending slimeball even when he's complimenting Cooper on his top performance, and also how utterly spiteful he is since he implicitly gave Cooper the order purely because he was annoyed by the dog barking. The use of the dog in relation to the characters in this scene is also important, as the dog represents military comradery: Cooper is fiercely loyal to and genuine friends with all his platoon-mates, whereas Ryan manipulates and sacrifices "expendable" soldiers like pawns on a chessboard and [[spoiler:later seeks DisproportionateRetribution on Cooper just for punching him]]. |
| 139 | * The start of the first film adaptation of the ''Literature/DonCamillo'' short stories serves as an establishing moment for both the titular priest and his old Communist frenemy, Peppone. Peppone has just been elected mayor and is holding a meeting on the main square with some Party big cheese; meanwhile, Don Camillo is fuming in his church. So the big cheese talks, and Don Camillo gets so incensed that he starts ringing the bells every time the guy says something too outrageous, making the crowd mutter ominously. Then someone runs up to Peppone to tell him something, and Peppone drops everything and runs off; soon the whole crowd is turning away from the square and running in the direction of the church. Don Camillo lets go of the bell ropes and grabs his rifle... But they all stop in front of Peppone's house, and Peppone gets out on the balcony with his newborn baby in his arms, proud and happy fit to burst. And Don Camillo rings the carillon to celebrate the good news with a huge smile on his face. |
| 140 | * Barton Keyes' first scene in ''Film/DoubleIndemnity'', in which he tears apart a guy trying to claim insurance on his truck by revealing that the man had set fire to it himself. The scene is completely irrelevant to the plot, but it serves to thoroughly introduce Keyes, his methods, his quirks, and his relationship to Neff. |
| 141 | * The first hint that Einon from ''Film/{{Dragonheart}}'' isn't the good prince Bowen believes him to be is the moment he callously takes his dying father's crown while his father tries to hold onto it. |
| 142 | * ''Film/DungeonsAndDragonsHonorAmongThieves'' opens on Edgin and Holga, and sequentially introduces party members new and old. |
| 143 | ** Edgin and Holga are introduced as cellmates in prison. Edgin, knitting on his bed, snarkily "shows their new cellmate around" and tells him not to bother Holga. When the new cellmate does, Holga puts aside her potato and beats him up. This firmly establishes them as a MasculineGirlFeminineBoy pair who have a deep understanding of each other. |
| 144 | ** When Holga and Edgin visit Simon's show, he's annoying the audience with elementary parlor tricks while hinting that he's more intelligent than is initially apparent. When the jig is found out, he's able to claw his way out of the situation even if he futzes some spells. This characterizes him as an IneptMage who can pull through in critical situations. |
| 145 | ** Simon takes them to meet a druid acquaintance of his, Doric. The team initially assumes Doric is a rebel being tried for crimes against Neverwinter, until Simon points out that Doric has shapeshifted into the horse before beating everybody bloody. She's quickly characterized as a powerful and serious shapeshifter who wants to defend her home. |
| 146 | ** When the party goes to meet Xenk, they watch him calmly rescue a Tabaxi cub and return it to his parent in front of a cheering crowd, establishing him as a righteous and popular individual. |
| 147 | * In ''Film/TheElephantMan'': |
| 148 | ** John's moment is the revelation that he can read, and is, therefore, intelligent. "The 23rd Psalm is beautiful. It's my favorite." |
| 149 | ** Carr Gomm doesn't get one of these for quite a while, not until just after John's. "Can you imagine the life he must have had?" |
| 150 | ** Mr. Bytes is introduced as a scummy, exploitative man ("My treasure.") and [[MoralEventHorizon just goes downhill from there]]. |
| 151 | ** The Night Porter establishes his character in his first scene. "I got friends who'd love to meet you. And they will, mate. Believe me. They will." |
| 152 | ** Mrs. Kendall is established by her line "I should very much like to meet this Mr. Merrick." Not "elephant man", but "Mr. Merrick". |
| 153 | ** Mothershead's moment would probably be the fear that John is just being stared at all over again. This is quite appropriate, as the characters have seen little of her personality up to now, either. |
| 154 | ** And Frederick Treves doesn't get one at all. This keeps his fears of being no different from Bytes all the more effective. |
| 155 | * ''Film/{{Elysium}}'': |
| 156 | ** Delacourt's first action in the film is to order the destruction of passenger ships full of people in need of medical attention. |
| 157 | ** President Patel also has one, as he immediately calls Delacourt in for a review of her actions. |
| 158 | ** This leads to Kruger's moment, in which Patel lists, as evidence of Delacourt's extremism, the dozens of crimes that he has committed, including [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil multiple rapes]] and torture. |
| 159 | ** Kruger's first appearance has him coldly shooting down the ship in question. He looks like a cool, assassin type character. [[SubvertedTrope When he's told he's fired, he's barbecuing on his roof in his boxers and throwing rocks at the neighbours]]. Just like your usual crazy neighbour, except he's using his katana for a barbecue fork. When he gets the news, he tips over the BBQ and starts swearing at Elysium. |
| 160 | * The first scene of ''Film/TheFabelmans'' establishes Burt and Mitzi's personalities when they're trying to reassure Sammy that he shouldn't be afraid of movies. Burt tries to explain the scientific process behind projectors, while Mitzi compares movies to dreams. Both of them are GoodParents to their son, but he's pragmatic and technical while she's artistic and whimsical. |
| 161 | * ''Film/FaceOff'': |
| 162 | ** Sean Archer venting his frustrations on his subordinates. |
| 163 | ** Castor Troy plants a bomb that will blow you AWAY!!, then [[EvilIsHammy dances away]] and swaggers to a choir singing "Hallelujah," and takes the time to grope a blonde choir girl. |
| 164 | * The title character in ''Film/FerrisBuellersDayOff'' fakes a stomach sickness to his parents and secretly winks at his suspicious older sister Jeanie, before looking at the camera saying "Well, they brought it", demonstrating his NoFourthWall and easy-going personalty. |
| 165 | * ''Film/TheFifthElement'': [[Creator/BruceWillis Korben Dallas]] responds to a mugger with an enormous gun at his front door by tricking him into disabling his weapon, disarming him and dumping it in a rack he has filled with half-a-dozen similar weapons, and then contemplating the quivering mugger on the hat he's wearing. Immediately we know that he's intelligent but not afraid to get his hands dirty, world-weary but not rude, and badass but not a jerk about it. |
| 166 | * ''Film/FirstKnight'' |
| 167 | ** Lancelot teaching swordsmanship establishes him as a man of action. |
| 168 | ** Guinevere playing soccer shows she's a RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething. |
| 169 | ** Arthur standing up to Malagant shows he's not to be trifled with even in his old age. |
| 170 | * ''Film/TheFlintstones'': Fred is revealed to have given his and Wilma's savings to the Rubbles so they can qualify to adopt a baby. Barney is so filled with gratitude that he vows to repay him one day, and switches tests with him after seeing him struggle on a company exam. However, this results in Fred getting promoted to an executive position, and the resulting wealth unfortunately goes to his head. |
| 171 | * The first shot we see of Corrine in ''Film/FlowersInTheAttic'' involves her looking at herself in the mirror, instead of her daughter who is right next to her. |
| 172 | * ''Film/{{Fracture|2007}}'': The very first scene shows Crawford (the movie's villain played by Creator/AnthonyHopkins) briefly examining an x-ray of a failed aircraft part, circling a particular point and telling his colleagues that was the point of failure. When asked if he wants to wait to see if he was right, he casually says "nope" and drives off. Both his hubristic confidence and his ability to quickly identify weaknesses are key parts of his character. |
| 173 | * ''{{Film/Furie}}'': Hai Phuong's first appearance has her beating the stuffing out of a poor begging man when he can't pay for his debts, immediately establishing her combat ability, career as a [[EvilDebtCollector debt collector]], and utter ruthlessness. |
| 174 | * The first time we see the titular monster in ''Film/GhidorahTheThreeHeadedMonster'', he bursts out of a meteor that has crashed onto earth in a blazing inferno before letting out his three-pitched shriek and attacking Japan. |
| 175 | * ''Film/{{Ghostbusters 1984}}''. Venkman is first shown giving an ESP test to two students in which a wrong answer is followed by an electric shock. Because one of his test subjects is an attractive female student, Venkman keeps zapping the other (male) subject regardless of who gets the right answer. This reveals Venkman as a JerkAss, a scientific fraud, and a man who thinks with his groin. |
| 176 | * ''Film/{{Girlfight}}'': Diana beats up a girl who insulted her friend, showing her as a hot-tempered, troubled girl with a chip on her shoulder from the get go. |
| 177 | * ''Film/GirlsLikeMagic'': |
| 178 | ** Jamie is disappointed by her ex having slept with her but then rebuffed getting back together, clearly wanting to have a relationship. |
| 179 | ** Maggie adopts a dog whom she finds while out walking despite her boyfriend objecting, showing that she's compassionate and caring. |
| 180 | * In ''Film/GiveMyRegardsToBroadStreet'', we first see Music/PaulMcCartney in the back seat of a limo that's stuck in traffic in the rain, dividing his time between writing lyrics and listening to the radio with an air of silent resignation. Even though this is one level of reality up from most of the film, it foreshadows his role in the film surprisingly well. |
| 181 | * The opening voiceover of his letter to his mother establishes the mindset and character of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw in ''Film/{{Glory}}''. |
| 182 | * ''Film/GoWest1940'': |
| 183 | ** S. Quentin Quale is introduced ditching a group carrying his luggage, tricking a line of people buying train-tickets into clearing by claiming that the line starts on the other side of the room and tries {{gaslighting}} the box-office attendant into giving him a 70$ ticket for 60$. |
| 184 | ---> '''Quale:''' This is highway robbery, no wonder you're behind bars. |
| 185 | ** The Panello Brothers are introduced when Quale tries to con them into buying a poorly-made hat and jacket combo, only for ''them'' to turn the tables and trick him out of all of his money and the hat he kept it in. |
| 186 | * ''Film/TheGodfather'': |
| 187 | ** The wedding sequence, in which Vito conducts nefarious business in a darkened office alongside the bright festivities of his family. |
| 188 | ** Also Vito casually playing with a cat on his lap while discussing whether or not to accept a man's request to murder someone. This was a ThrowItIn moment thanks to Creator/FrancisFordCoppola meeting a stray cat in the parking lot, and giving it to Creator/MarlonBrando (who happened to be a cat person) just before filming the scene. |
| 189 | ** Santino smashing a photographer's camera. Also a ThrowItIn moment. |
| 190 | ** Michael, in his military uniform, [[IJustWantToBeNormal assuring Kay he is different from his family]] -- right after delivering a hair-raising account of [[AnOfferYouCantRefuse how his father got a bandleader to release his godson, Johnny Fontane, from his contract]], foreshadowing his later following in his father's footsteps. |
| 191 | ** Fredo gets one some way in when [[spoiler:Vito gets shot]]; he reacts too slowly [[spoiler:to the gunshots]], then drops his gun [[spoiler:while the hitmen make their getaway]] and then he just sits down and cries pathetically rather than try to help. |
| 192 | * ''Film/TheGoodTheBadAndTheUgly'' has one for each of the title characters. |
| 193 | ** [[{{Bandito}} Tuco]]: Is eating in a bar. A group of gunmen come in to kill him and he shoots them all before crashing out of a window, still eating his dinner. "[[VillainProtagonist The Ugly]]." |
| 194 | ** [[HiredGuns Angel Eyes]]: Has been hired to get information from a man. He enters his house, talks with him, refuses the man's counteroffer of more money if Angel Eyes leaves him alone and instead kills his boss, then shoots the man dead. His son comes downstairs with a gun and [[MoralEventHorizon Angel Eyes kills him too]]. He then goes back to his boss, giving him the information, and then kills ''him''--he took the first victim's money, and [[ConsummateProfessional he always finishes the job once he's been paid]]. "[[PsychoForHire The Bad]]." |
| 195 | ** [[BountyHunter Blondie]]: Tracks down Tuco, kills several rival bounty hunters, and turns him in for a reward, then frees him so they can repeat the process several more times. When the jig is up he abandons Tuco in the desert and rides off with the money. "[[AntiHero The Good]]." |
| 196 | * In ''Film/GreenLantern2011'', Hal Jordan is first seen late to work, jumping out of bed with a woman in it, rushing to a test flight against two AI fighters and while outmatched in almost every way he manages to outwit the drones by doing a stunt that almost got him killed. As he learns how to control the ring, Hal demonstrates the tendency to act intuitively (the Racetrack) and thinking outside of the box. |
| 197 | * ''Film/{{Gremlins|1984}}'': Stripe proves himself to be thoroughly bad news mere moments after being born, when he tries to bite Pete for trying to pet him. |
| 198 | * ONI Agent Jameson Locke gets his in ''Film/HaloNightfall'' when, armed with nothing but light armor and a pistol, he fearlessly tracks, attacks, and disarms a Sangheili, an alien that is physically about as strong as a [[SuperSoldier Spartan-II]] in full PoweredArmor. |
| 199 | * ''Film/TheHangover'' |
| 200 | ** Doug being a NiceGuy to Alan. |
| 201 | ** Alan letting a dog kiss him. |
| 202 | ** Phil stealing the money meant for a class trip. |
| 203 | ** Stu getting bitched out by his girlfriend. |
| 204 | * In ''Film/AHardDaysNight'', the ECM for Music/JohnLennon, Music/GeorgeHarrison, and Music/RingoStarr has them running for their lives from the fans. They are further established, along with Paul's grandfather, in the first train scenes. |
| 205 | * ''Film/TheHobbit'': |
| 206 | ** When Thorin first enters Bilbo's home, he doesn't introduce himself, bow or offer his services to Bilbo unlike the other dwarves, showing how [[{{Pride}} proud]] and dignified he is. |
| 207 | ** Some of the dwarves show their defining characteristics when they first enter Bilbo's house and in the ensuing party. Dwalin is surly and rudely takes Bilbo's food without much of a word. Balin is rather more friendly and later guides the dwarves in organizing the table. FĂli and KĂli, as the youngest and least secure, noticeably panic when Bilbo denies the existence of a meeting. Dori, with his talk of chamomile tea and his wine enthusiast's description of the wine that he brings to Gandalf, shows that he regards himself as something of a cultural sophisticate. Ori, when he asks Bilbo what to do with his plate, asks in a tone of voice that shows him to be somewhat timid and possibly not too bright. |
| 208 | ** Younger Bilbo is first seen sitting in front of Bag End, peacefully puffing on a pipe with not a care in the world. |
| 209 | ** The first time we see Azog in flashback, he beheads ThrĂłr. When we next see Azog in the main story's timeframe, he feeds his own henchman to his Warg pack. Clearly, his title of "The Defiler" is by no means strictly honorary. |
| 210 | ** Bard's introduction establishes his knack for assessing a situation, and his both highly accurate and steady aim with a bow. The first trait makes him realise Smaug will most likely attack Laketown if the dwarves get into the mountain, the second lets us know that if any human can kill Smaug, it's this guy. |
| 211 | ** Dáin has a... subtle way to announce his motives. After arriving with an army of dwarves from the Iron Hills, he bids the elves and Lakemen besieging his cousin in the Lonely Mountain good morning, and begins to very politely propose that they consider... |
| 212 | --->"''[[SuddenlyShouting JUST SODDING OFF!]] All of you, right now''" |
| 213 | :: And then he's ''pretty happy and confident'' about knocking the elves and Men into the ground. |
| 214 | * ''Film/HocusPocus'': Sarah's first appearance after being resurrected: |
| 215 | -->'''Sarah:''' My lucky rat tail! Just where I left it! |
| 216 | * ''Film/TheHungerGames'': Katniss receives a slightly different EstablishingCharacterMoment than her book counterpart: She is first seen comforting Prim after the latter has a nightmare, then she immediately gets dressed, hops the border fence, and spends several hours tracking a deer, expressing rage when Gale scares it away. She then shoots down a bird with little effort. This establishes that not only is she a doting older sister, she's also driven, intelligent, and a highly skilled survivalist and hunter. |
| 217 | * ''Film/TheHungerGamesCatchingFire'' gives us two glorious ones for Johanna Mason, previous District 7 victor. We see her in the elevator after the chariot ride, and she spends the entire time bitching about her wood-themed dress, ''while stripping out of said dress in front of Katniss, Peeta, and Haymitch'', and is perfectly content to stand in front of them, completely naked. During the interview, when she is supposed to show herself in a positive light to attract sponsors, she completely derails her interview by venting about being forced to compete again despite winning already, and basically tells the Capital to go f*** themselves. She is brash, outspoken, and doesn't care who she offends. |
| 218 | * ''Film/IndependenceDayResurgence'': After saving the lunar base with a reckless maneuver, Jake then takes the fall for the start of the incident, when it was Charlie's mistake that caused it. |
| 219 | * ''Franchise/IndianaJones'': |
| 220 | ** In ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'': |
| 221 | *** We first learn that Indiana Jones is no man to be trifled with when he bullwhips a treacherous partner behind his back. The entire BatmanColdOpen in the ancient temple and ultimate IndyEscape also establish him as a daring adventurer who's not exactly perfect. |
| 222 | *** Marion is introduced as a tough chick by outdrinking a Sherpa twice her size, then punching our hero in the face. |
| 223 | *** "Dr. Jones. Again we see there is nothing you can possess which I cannot take away. And you thought I'd given up." Belloq's [[SmugSnake personality]], [[EvilCounterpart role]] and [[ArchEnemy shared history]] all laid out in three sentences. |
| 224 | ** Indy's father, Henry Sr., is introduced in ''[[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade The Last Crusade]]'' [[NotNowKiddo being uninterested in hearing Indy tell him how he got the Cross of Coronado]], instead wrapped up in writing his Grail diary. |
| 225 | * ''Film/InTheLoop'' opens with [[MagnificentBastard Malcolm Tucker]] sweeping into [[UsefulNotes/{{Whitehall}} Number 10]] in his [[BadassLongcoat long flowing black coat]], before a colleague engages him in some friendly banter: |
| 226 | -->'''Malcolm Tucker:''' How'd your team do at the weekend?\ |
| 227 | '''Number 10 staffer:''' Alright, we won!\ |
| 228 | '''Malcolm Tucker:''' Yeah? Hehehehe...''wanker''. |
| 229 | * ''Film/IntoTheStorm2009'': Neville Chamberlain is announcing his reisgnation to Churchill and Halifax. Churchill simply glares in the horizon without saying a word and ignoring Chamberlain like a stubborn ox until Chamberlain and Halifax catch the drift of what he means, signaling perfectly what Churchill is. |
| 230 | * In the first ''Film/IpMan'' film, the initial duel between Ip Man and Master Liu serves as one for Ip Man. Ip Man first politely declines the duel as he is currently having dinner with his family. When Master Liu insists to wait, Ip Man then invites him to join the meal. Then, during the duel itself, Ip Man completely annihilates Master Liu but holds his punches and even stops when at one point it appears Liu might have hurt himself. |
| 231 | * It isn't long into the first appearance of the Twister from ''Film/IpMan2'' before he calls Master Hung a "yellow piece of fat", and he only gets worse from there. |
| 232 | * Film/JamesBond: |
| 233 | ** Bond has a few in ''Film/DrNo''. One is the ever famous gun barrel, and the other is killing a would-be assassin in cold blood. |
| 234 | --->'''Bond:''' That's a Smith and Wesson... and you've had your six. |
| 235 | *** More iconically, when we first meet Bond at a casino, winning a card game. |
| 236 | --->'''Bond:''' I admire your courage, Miss...\ |
| 237 | '''Sylvia Trench:''' (''writing a check'') Trench, Sylvia Trench. I admire your luck, Mister...\ |
| 238 | '''Bond:''' (''lighting a cigarette'') [[TheNameIsBondJamesBond Bond, James Bond]]. |
| 239 | ** In ''Film/LiveAndLetDie'', Creator/RogerMoore's Bond establishes himself as [[GentlemanSnarker a wittier incarnation]] than his predecessors when he's introduced making love to Miss Caruso, his Italian secret agent partner from his last mission, but being woken in the early morning. As he gets out of bed, Bond asks "You're not married by any chance, are you?", before answering the door and finding it's actually M and Miss Moneypenny. |
| 240 | ** ''Film/CasinoRoyale2006'' shows us that Creator/DanielCraig would shape up to be a practical but ruthless Bond, unafraid to take the blunt and painful route to his objective. When assigned to deal with an information leak, he solves the problem by assassinating both parties involved. |
| 241 | --->'''Dryden:''' How did he die?\ |
| 242 | '''Bond:''' Your contact? (''Extended montage of Bond kicking the buyer around a bathroom, including a close up of Bond drowning him in a sink'') [[RasputinianDeath Not well]].\ |
| 243 | '''Dryden:''' Made you feel it, did he? Well, you needn't worry. [[ItGetsEasier The second]] [[KilledMidSentence is--]]\ |
| 244 | '''Bond:''' (''draws his pistol and shoots Dryden dead on the spot'') Yes. ''[[BondOneLiner Considerably]]''. |
| 245 | * ''Film/{{Jumper}}'': Roland is introduced telling a Jumper at his mercy that only God should have this power, then shanking the man in the gut[[note]]instead of, say, a relatively painless and quick bullet to the head[[/note]], establishing his religious extremism and viciousness. |
| 246 | * In ''Film/TheJungleBook2016'', Shere Khan arrived at the Peace Rock with every animal nearby immediately [[TheDreaded backing away from him]]. He expressed contempt for the wolves for harboring Mowgli, calling Mowgli "it", and soon he started threatening the wolves that once the rain returned, he ''would'' go after Mowgli and anyone else standing between him. |
| 247 | * In ''Film/JupiterAscending'', the three Abrasax siblings are introduced overlooking a Harvested planet with zero remorse and arguing (subtly) over their mother and the inheritance she left them. Jupiter has a montage of cleaning other people's houses and admiring their beautiful and expensive things. And Caine's introduced with all the bounty hunters speaking in awe of him: cue fight scene. |
| 248 | * ''Franchise/JurassicPark'': |
| 249 | ** ''Film/JurassicPark:'' Alan Grant [[ComedicSociopathy scaring the piss out of an obnoxious loudmouthed kid]] with an eloquent monologue about the hunting tactics of ''Velociraptors''. |
| 250 | ** ''Film/JurassicWorld'': |
| 251 | *** Zach doesn't show much interest in his little brother Gray and eyes several girls despite already having a girlfriend. Gray is excited about dinosaurs and is fascinated by everything at the park. |
| 252 | *** Claire doesn't greet her nephews at the airport and instead sends her assistant to get them. Even when she does meet up with them, she is completely booked off with meetings until late evening despite having promised to spend time with them and she has a hard time remembering what they look like. Also, while everyone tries to walk around the dinosaur holograms, she walks right through them, showing her initial disregard for the creatures. |
| 253 | *** Owen is shown trying to control the raptors and later rescues a coworker who had fallen into the raptor den. He is not happy when Hoskins wants to attempt to weaponize the raptors. |
| 254 | *** Hoskins starts talking about how war is the natural state of the world and that ''Velociraptors'' could be the perfect field weapon in modern warfare, in contrast to Owen and Barry who genuinely care for the raptors' well-being, who both genuinely care for the raptors' well-being and think attempting to control wild animals is insane. Hoskins, on the other hand, comes across as uncaring and obsessed with the animals' applications, not the animals themselves. |
| 255 | *** Simon Masrani arrives via helicopter. Unfortunately, he was the one flying it and is still training, so when he takes Claire to the new ''Indominus rex'' paddock, its movements are a little jerky. While impeccably dressed and clearly ''filthy''-rich, he's genuinely polite and friendly to everyone. He also references John Hammond, not worrying too much about the rising costs of the park so much as making sure the guests are entertained. He even mentions how Hammond "entrusted me with his legacy," and obviously wants to honor Hammond's original dream. |
| 256 | ** ''Film/JurassicWorldFallenKingdom'': Maisie unknowingly backs up to the ''Indoraptor'' inside his cage. He stretches a long and thin arm out menacingly after her, only to [[BaitAndSwitch tug her ponytail]]. This shows that the ''Indoraptor'', besides having a {{sadist}}ic streak and intelligence like the ''Indominus rex'' before him, is the first dinosaur in the franchise to ''[[ItCanThink have a sense of humor]]''. |
| 257 | * ''Film/KingKongVsGodzilla'': Kong and Godzilla both have one. Godzilla trashes a nuclear submarine and attacks a military base, where he melts tanks and sets the entire complex ablaze with his heat-ray. Kong battles a giant octopus that is terrorizing a native village, which sets him up as the "hero" but also shows that he is indeed powerful, but clearly outmatched by Godzilla. |
| 258 | * ''Film/KingsmanTheSecretService'': |
| 259 | ** The original Lancelot provides one for the Kingsman organization as a whole. He greets the bad guys with a gentlemanly joke, fights them all off with grace and style, then catches a glass before it falls, identifies the contents with a single sniff, and declares that spilling even a single drop would be a sin. |
| 260 | ** Eggsy has a couple of these near the start of the film. One of his first on screen acts is to comfort his crying (half) sister. He also enables his two friends to escape from the stolen car they've just crashed (after he swerved to avoid killing a fox) by ramming the police car pursuing them so only he can be arrested and refuses to give their names to the police while being questioned. |
| 261 | ** Galahad/Harry Hart goes to comfort Lee Unwin's widow and child and gives them a medal they can use to get in contact with him if they need help in the future. In the present day, he defends his choice of a candidate and rebukes Arthur's comment about said candidate "not being their kind" by suggesting that the organization needs a breath of fresh air. |
| 262 | ** Likewise, Arthur's above comment says a lot about him. |
| 263 | ** The first things you learn about Richmond Valentine are before he even enters the room when you find out 1) Professor Arnold's kidnappers were given strict instructions to not harm him and 2) Gazelle covers up all the corpses so Valentine won't get sick at the sight. |
| 264 | * Poppy Adams, the BigBad of ''Film/KingsmanTheGoldenCircle'', at first seems like quite a quirky villain (which, to be fair, she is) in her first monologue. It soon becomes clear what kind of person she is, though, when she tests her new recruit's loyalty by saying that the guy who brought him there screwed up, 'that's all you need to know', and tells the new guy to throw his friend into the mincer. They all laugh about it... and then she turns the mincer on and stands there smiling. |
| 265 | * ''Film/KungPowEnterTheFist'': Oh, we all know Master Pain/Master Betty is the BigBad, but what makes him stand out? The moment where he's struck with staves, including one directed ''[[GroinAttack at his balls]] repeatedly'' and [[NoSell he shrugs it off!]] |
| 266 | * ''Film/{{Labyrinth}}'': Jareth's first scene can be boiled down to his response when Sarah rejects his offer of a dream-viewing crystal if she'll forget about the baby brother she's just wished away: He turns the crystal into a snake and tosses it at her. The snake just as quickly turns into a harmless scarf, and then into a goblin when she drops it. "You're no match for me, Sarah" indeed! (His CirclingMonologue in the climax adds a wrinkle to this when he suggests that his intimidation of her is born what she expects someone like him will act like, so he's been acting accordingly.) |
| 267 | * In ''Film/LaLeyDeHerodes'', a Mexican film, at the beginning when the protagonist is taken to his empty boss' office, the first thing he does is sitting in his boss' desk and imagining himself in his position, showing how despite his incompetence he is [[AmbitionIsEvil very ambitious]]. |
| 268 | * ''Literature/LastOfTheMohicans'': |
| 269 | ** Hawkeye is first seen hunting a stag (while {{shirtless|Scene}}), establishing him as a frontier badass. |
| 270 | ** Duncan asking Gen. Webb why he is negotiating with colonials shows he's an arrogant imperialist. |
| 271 | ** [[{{Jerkass}} Magua insulting Duncan in Huron about being subordinate to women.]] |
| 272 | ** Alice saying how exciting the trip to Fort William Henry will be shows she's woefully unprepared for the reality of frontier life. |
| 273 | * In the opening scene of ''Film/LeapOfFaith'', Jonas gets pulled over for speeding, without insurance or a valid registration. He immediately cold-reads the cop, [[RefugeInAudacity taunts him about his failed marriage and unhappy life and ends up getting arrested.]] While handcuffed, in the back of the police car, he gets the cop to open up, convinces him to reconcile with his estranged daughter, and walks away without so much as a ticket. Not only does this display his brilliant manipulation and penchant for risk-taking, it also [[HiddenDepths shows his softer side]]. Even when manipulating things for his own good, he still does it in a way that helps others. |
| 274 | * ''Film/LegallyBlonde'' has Elle, supposedly a DumbBlonde, easily seeing through a salewoman's attempt to cheat Elle of her money and rattling off reasons why the price would have been unreasonable. See also IvyLeagueForEveryone and SubvertedTrope on the film's page. |
| 275 | -->'''Elle:''' It's impossible to use a half-loop top stitching on a low-viscosity rayon. It would snag the fabric. And you didn't just get it in. I saw it in ''Teen Vogue'' a year ago. So if you are trying to sell it to me for full price, you've picked the wrong girl. |
| 276 | * ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'': |
| 277 | ** Merry and Pippin's mischief at Bilbo's birthday and subsequent punishment at the hands of Gandalf sets them up as the quick-witted PluckyComicRelief [[ThoseTwoGuys duo]] prone to getting themselves (and possibly others) into danger. |
| 278 | ** Saruman chastising Gandalf for consorting with Hobbits. This both establishes him as Gandalf's superior, but also provides the first glimpse at his haughty elitism. |
| 279 | ** 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. |
| 280 | ** Arwen sneaking up on the aforementioned Aragorn with [[ActionGirl a sword to his throat]], only to moments later assist in saving Frodo's life, exchanging affectionate words with Aragorn she she departs. |
| 281 | ** Gimli's impulsive attempt to break the ring with his axe establishes him as someone who'll skip the pleasantries and go right for the neck when confronted with evil, but that such normally quite admirable no-nonsense behaviour may not reward him with much in the way of dignity considering what they're up against. |
| 282 | ** Lurtz the Uruk-hai in ''Film/TheFellowshipOfTheRing''. Step one, get "born." Step two, strangle the guy who delivered you. |
| 283 | ** Boromir instantly suggesting the Ring be turned over to Gondor to use against Sauron. He clearly shows his pride, his mild audacity, and his genuine concern for protecting his people -- unfortunately, the latter trait does not cancel out the first two so much as fuel them. |
| 284 | ** The first glimpse of the Lady Galadriel (other than the flash of her eyes that Frodo sees when he hears her voice in his mind) is her descending the stairs in Caras Galadhon with Celeborn in a blinding, majestic aura of white light. 'The Lady of Light', indeed! |
| 285 | ** Faramir is introduced after his men attack a troop of Haradrim, and he [[AlasPoorVillain shows empathy for one of the enemies that they killed.]] Unlike the WarIsGlorious mindset of most other characters, he then says [[WarIsHell "War will make corpses of us all."]] |
| 286 | ** Denethor gets two introductory scenes, either in the extended version of ''The Two Towers'' or his first scene in ''Return of the King'', namely; |
| 287 | *** In the first, Boromir and Faramir are celebrating a victory, only for Faramir's mood to drop when he sees Denethor has shown up to congratulate Boromir, who's no happier about their dad's presence than his brother. Denethor then proceeds to blame Faramir for the city having been attacked in the first place and just generally criticize him. |
| 288 | *** In the second, Gandalf reaches Minas Tirith and, having just advised Pippin on all the things ''not'' to do to upset him, tries offering advice. Then Pippin sees an openly distraught Denethor is holding the Horn of Gondor, one of Boromir's possessions, and knows what this means. As the conversation goes on, Denethor reveals he knows about Aragon, and believes Gandalf is planning to get rid of him, something he has no intention of going along with. The Steward of Gondor is if not out of his mind then rapidly going that way, and he won't go quietly. |
| 289 | %%** Wormtongue's introduction in Edoras shows that he is manipulative, creepy, and nevertheless a little pathetic. |
| 290 | * In ''Film/MackintoshAndTJ'', the lecherous Coley is introduced [[ThePeepingTom trying to spy on Maggie while she changes]]. |
| 291 | * ''Film/MadMaxFuryRoad'' was highly praised for its use of [[ShowDontTell visual characterization]]: |
| 292 | ** Max gives us an ominous opening monologue about his own fraying sanity while scanning the horizon next to his iconic [[CoolCar Pursuit Special]], before crushing a two-headed poisonous lizard -- without even looking at it -- and ''eating it.'' After being in a horrific car crash, captured by the War Boys and dragged for who knows how many miles to the Citadel, when one of them tries to brand him with Joe's sigil he immediately ''flips out'', breaks free and almost manages to escape the Citadel, and it takes almost twenty or so War Boys to finally capture him again. |
| 293 | ** We first see Immortan Joe as a gaggle of War Pups attend to his [[DarkLordOnLifeSupport ruined body]], putting on his breathing mask as well as armor with sculpted muscles that gives the illusion of physical strength. Shortly afterwards, he gives a dramatic speech to the people of the Citadel about he alone can save them, before turning on massive water pipes that give them enough water to fight over, but not enough to survive on. |
| 294 | ** Furiosa is first seen in a close-up of Joe's brand on the back of her neck as she passes a group of War Boys who reverently salute her. Notably, it's not until she gets into the War Rig that we see she's both female and [[HandicappedBadass one-armed.]] Secondly, when the War Rig is en route to Gas Town, she pulls a sudden detour and the rest of the War Boys in the convoy all ''immediately'' turn and follow her without hesitation. |
| 295 | ** When we learn that Furiosa has gone rogue, Nux doesn't hesitate to grab a steering wheel and prepare to follow her, even though he's panting so bad that he can barely speak while ''sitting down'', and has to ask the other War Boys what's going on because he's too weak to watch Joe's speech himself. When [[TheBully Slit]] argues that it's his turn to drive and mocks Nux for his ailing state, Nux knocks him down with a headbutt and declares the line that will define the whole film: |
| 296 | --->'''Nux:''' If I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die historic on the Fury Road! |
| 297 | * ''Film/TheMagnificentSeven1960'', a SettingUpdate of ''Film/SevenSamurai'', features alternate establishing character moments for its versions of the characters. Vin and Chris volunteer to drive a hearse containing an Indian up to Boot Hill despite the protests of the townspeople, which mirror's Kambei's socially dishonorable and morally correct actions. Britt is introduced with a duel, as with Kyuzo in ''Film/SevenSamurai'': he demonstrates non-lethally his ability to win a pistol duel with a knife, and displays complete indifference to being called a liar and a coward, only agreeing to repeat the duel in earnest when his opponent threatens to shoot him where he sits otherwise. |
| 298 | * Several of the 7 in ''Film/TheMagnificentSeven2016'' gets one to establish if there is a group of people able to take on Bogue's army, it's them. |
| 299 | ** Sam Chisolm silently rides into town and walks in a bar, ordering a drink, while everyone is glaring daggers at him and verbally insulting him. When he finds the man he is looking for, he proceeds to taunt said man and QuickDraw fast enough to not only gun the man down but also four separate people in four corners of the room. |
| 300 | ** Josh Faraday is a jokester, showing his would-be assassins a card trick to entertain them before suddenly pulling out his back-up revolver and killing one and crippling the other. |
| 301 | ** Billy Rocks is participating in a QuickDraw duel with a man and wins, but the other man is a SoreLoser and taunts Billy about his race and demands a rematch to the death. Billy casually removes his belt and knives and QuickDraw a hairpin faster than the man who pull out his revolver and kill him with deadly precision. |
| 302 | ** Red Harvest approaches the Seven one morning, having quietly tracking them for some time. All of them, many having established them as badass, are noticeably alarmed to find out a BadassNative was following them. He then agrees to join them on their quest out of the goodness of his heart. |
| 303 | * ''Film/ManOfSteel'': |
| 304 | ** Zod's very first scene is shooting an old woman in the face after declaring himself the new leader of Krypton, showing not only his unnecessary ruthlessness but also his fascism, in that he believed that he and only he knew what was best for his planet while saying it was for the good of everyone. He has another establishing moment when he and Jor-El are arguing about the genocide of humans. Jor-El tries to appeal to his empathy, and tries to get him to realize how horrible his actions are, while Zod flat out acknowledges this, and consciously chooses to ignore it. |
| 305 | ** Clark Kent's establishing moment is when he saves a school bus of his classmates, even though they thought he was a freak and a few of them bullied him. [[spoiler: It echoes the biggest conflict of the plot, saving the Earth despite not knowing if they fully trusted him or even liked him.]] The one time he chooses not to intervene because of the possible consequences, that person dies. That scene was criticized, but it also showed just what happens when Clark doesn't use his powers. [[spoiler: It was his father, the one person who always told him to keep his powers a secret.]] |
| 306 | %%* ''Film/ManosTheHandsOfFate'': [="I aM ToRgO. I taKe cAre oF tHe PlaCe wHiLe thE MasTer iS awaY."=] |
| 307 | * ''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 lacks social skills but is [[BetterWithNonHumanCompany 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. |
| 308 | * Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse: |
| 309 | ** ''Film/IronMan1'': |
| 310 | *** Tony Stark seems to get two moments several scenes apart. In the very first scene, he's drinking, flirting with a female soldier, downplaying yet at the same time bragging about his abilities to nail beautiful women, carousing with a soldier, and making morbid yet situation-appropriate jokes. Then, despite being a businessman who's never seen a real fight, he shows something approximating a cool head by asking for a gun (and, in a deleted scene, actually using one for a few moments), running when there's no other option, calling for help on his phone, and revealing himself to have been wearing a flak jacket. At the same time, his interactions with the lower enlisted personnel show that even the lowest ranking [[InsistentTerminology airmen]] are still worthy [[NiceToTheWaiter of his attention and charm]]. |
| 311 | *** Pepper Potts's first appearance when she speaks with Christine Everheart, the reporter who Tony sleeps with and then subsequently dumps. |
| 312 | ---->'''Christine:''' After all these years, Tony still has you picking up the dry cleaning?\ |
| 313 | '''Pepper:''' I do anything and everything Mr. Stark requires. Including, occasionally, [[InsultBackfire taking out the trash.]] |
| 314 | ** ''Film/IronMan2'' |
| 315 | *** While Phil Coulson had a very small part in the first Iron Man film, the establishing bit here was where he very casually informs Tony Stark that if he tries to run away or do anything to cross him, he'll taze Stark and watch {{Series/Supernanny}} while Stark "drools into the carpet." It establishes that Coulson is completely unflappable, not even the slightest bit intimidated by Iron Man, and that he is indeed the kind of dork who will put on ''Supernanny'' of all things to pass the time while having run of the Stark mansion. In hindsight, his choice of TV also factors into his TeamDad [[Series/AgentsOfShield role on his spinoff series]]. |
| 316 | ** ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'': |
| 317 | *** Steve Rogers has quite a few. His introductory scene is in an army recruiting station, obviously the smallest guy there. When fellow recruit reads about the death toll and nervously asks if he's having second thoughts, Steve replies only with casual but firm "Nope". |
| 318 | *** He has a number of other moments that make his character clear. After being rejected from the army, he calls out a guy who's being a jerk in a movie theater and ends up in a fight. It's painfully obvious Steve has no chance in the fight, but keeps on getting up and coming back for more. |
| 319 | ---->'''Steve:''' ''[swaying on his feet, but keeping his fists up]'' I can do this all day. |
| 320 | *** Heck, one of these moments occurred ''during'' his transformation. Further into the procedure, [[PainfulTransformation it becomes a lot more intense and he starts screaming in pain.]] This causes everybody to panic and Abraham Erskine and Howard Stark hastily try to shut down the machine--but are stopped by Steve: |
| 321 | ---->'''Steve:''' ''[still obviously in agony]'' NO! DON'T! I CAN DO THIS! |
| 322 | *** Peggy Carter's first scene is dealing with someone who was mocking her for being English and making several rude and sexist comments towards her. She knocks him down with one punch. |
| 323 | *** The first thing we see Bucky Barnes do is step into the aforementioned back-alley fight and rescue Steve from the bully beating him up. When Steve insists that he had it under control, Bucky is clearly amused, but tries not to embarrass his friend. |
| 324 | *** When the Red Skull shows up, he does not rebuke his soldiers for failing to do a job they clearly tried their hardest at, delivers dialogue showing he's cultured and intelligent, identifies a decoy of the artifact he's looking for, effortlessly profiles and outwits the artifact's guardian, and threatens the town outside if the guy doesn't turn it over. Then he gets the artifact and kills the town and the guardian anyway, presumably to keep the secret. |
| 325 | ** In ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'', virtually all the major characters get defining moments: |
| 326 | *** Agent Maria Hill is first shown walking quickly alongside Nick Fury, questioning one of his orders despite the ongoing emergency. Later, she hops into an armored vehicle in solo pursuit of Loki and his minions, showing that she's focused, strong-willed, and highly trained. |
| 327 | *** Loki appears out of the Tesseract in a crackle of blue energy, with a fancy new spear and a ''really'' creepy grin on his face, attacks before speaking a word, and when told by Fury that Earth has no quarrel with him, he replies that "An ''ant'' has no quarrel with a ''boot''." [[TookALevelInBadass He's changed]] since we last saw him in ''Film/{{Thor}}''. |
| 328 | *** We first see Comicbook/BlackWidow being interrogated by Russians and seemingly under duress, until Coulson calls her and she complains that she was halfway through getting everything she needed to know out of her captor, at which point she drops the WoundedGazelleGambit with a [[PreAssKickingOneLiner "Hold please,"]] and takes them all out without effort. This shows that she's calculating, multi-layered, and extremely badass. |
| 329 | *** Bruce Banner gets a quieter one--the very ''first'' thing we see of him is his inability to refuse a vulnerable child begging for his help, even when Banner (correctly) suspects he's being baited into a trap. In other words, his basic humanity is the first thing established, which sets up a tragic juxtaposition with how most of the other characters tiptoe around him as a monster. He also outwits and terrifies Black Widow, and acts remarkably nonchalant for a man with a gun pointed at his head. |
| 330 | *** Hawkeye is the only character to suspect that other people could manipulate the Tesseract from a distance, showing his incredible powers of observation and perceptiveness. |
| 331 | *** Nick Fury tries to escape with the Tesseract, and when that doesn't work he attempts to stall Loki long enough that the building collapses, showing that he's willing to do whatever it takes to protect the earth. |
| 332 | *** Steve Rogers is working off his frustration in a faded old gym, showing how he feels he has no place in this new world. When he smashes a hole in the punching bag, he simply reaches over and hangs up a new one from the pile he brought with him.\ |
| 333 | Even more so in a deleted scene (which would have extended his introduction): he is shown watching old footage of him and him comrades in the war, he looks through some files finding out that all of his friends have died of old age--except for Peggy, who is retired in the UK, as he ponders whether to call her or not. He then wanders through the streets of New York, [[FishOutOfTemporalWater surrounded by all this new technology]], and ends up at a café, [[WarriorPoet drawing a detailed sketch of the skyline on a napkin]]. This exchange follows between him and a waitress (before Creator/StanLee tells him to ask for her number): |
| 334 | ---->'''Waitress:''' Also, we have free wireless.\ |
| 335 | '''Steve:''' Radio? |
| 336 | *** Tony Stark is enjoying a moment with Pepper, showing how far he's progressed from his devil-may-care playboy personality. He then "shares" 12% of "his" recent success with her, informing us that no, for all his character development, his ego is still very much intact. |
| 337 | *** Agent Coulson interrupts and barks down a Russian mafia boss: "You're at 114 Solinski Plaza, third floor. We have an F-22 exactly eight miles out. Put the woman on the phone or I will blow up the block before you can make the lobby." |
| 338 | ** ''Film/{{Guardians of the Galaxy|2014}}'': |
| 339 | *** 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 MenacingStroll 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]]. |
| 340 | *** Drax the Destroyer's establishing moment can be found [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiAFwV2emZQ right here]], albeit without the part where he explains his quest to avenge the murder of his wife and daughter by slaying Ronan. |
| 341 | ** ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'': |
| 342 | *** The Vision gets his by [[spoiler:casually picking up [[EmpatheticWeapon Mjolnir]] and handing it to Thor.]] Before that, after being born from his creation chamber while the Avengers were ready to come to blows to stop him from being born, he ignores their squabbling and flies to the window of Tony's penthouse, calmly and serenely [[TheWorldIsJustAwesome observing the beauty of the city below.]] |
| 343 | *** Ulysses Klaue gets his by telling a customer on the phone "The next missile I send you [[DeadlyEuphemism will come much faster]]" before ''snarking'' at Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, and Ultron, and when the former tells him she can make his worst nightmare come to life, mocks her by [[CloudCuckooLander mentioning a nature documentary about cuttlefish that he found quite terrifying]] and offering her and Quicksilver candy from a bowl in his office like they're small children at the doctor's. |
| 344 | ** For a non-superhero character, Scott Lang's [[MotorMouth mile-a-minute]] best friend Luis has his [[ThePollyanna entire personality]] firmly established in one of their very first exchanges in ''Film/AntMan1'' when he picks Scott up after the latter gets out of prison: |
| 345 | --->'''Scott:''' Hey, how's your girl, man? |
| 346 | --->'''Luis:''' Oh, [[BrutalHonesty she left me.]] |
| 347 | --->'''Scott:''' [[OpenMouthInsertFoot Oh.]] |
| 348 | --->'''Luis:''' Yeah, [[FromBadToWorse my mom died too.]] |
| 349 | --->''([[{{Beat}} Awkward silence]])'' |
| 350 | --->'''Luis:''' [[CrossesTheLineTwice And my dad got deported.]] |
| 351 | --->'' ([[{{Beat}} More awkward silence]])'' |
| 352 | --->'''Luis:''' ''([[MoodWhiplash Cheerfully]])'' [[ThePollyanna But I still got]] [[TheAllegedCar the van!]] |
| 353 | ** ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'': |
| 354 | *** Tony's first scene is an apparent flashback to the night his parents died, only for him to reveal it's a super high tech brain scan therapy session that cost six hundred and thirteen million dollars. He's doing this as a presentation for MIT, and admits that no one in their right mind would have ever funded it... which is why he is donating enough money to fund every single student project in the school, no questions asked. As if his dealing with his trauma and guilt in a performative way wasn't enough, behind the stage he's still unhappy, and the reason why is soon underlined when a woman confronts him over losing her son due to Tony's actions in Sokovia. |
| 355 | *** Prince T'Challa and King T'Chaka both get theirs in the same scene, when T'Challa is talking to Natasha about his annoyances with a diplomatic meeting of a hundred and thirteen countries. |
| 356 | ---->'''T'Challa:''' Two people alone in a room can get more done than a hundred.\ |
| 357 | '''T'Chaka:''' ''[walking up]'' Unless they need to move a piano. |
| 358 | *** Ayo manages to set the tone for [[AmazonBrigade herself and the Dora Milaje]] in a single ''line'', when face to face with the world-famous Black Widow, all Ayo does is stare her down and intone "Move. Or you will ''be'' moved." |
| 359 | *** Peter Parker gets a whole scene to establish that he's going through financial troubles, is a genius who makes his own suit and webbing, and his [[WithGreatPower philosophy of responsibility]], all in such a way that it avoids being redundant to those already familiar with the character's mythology. |
| 360 | ** ''Film/SpiderManHomecoming'': |
| 361 | *** The film opens by introducing Adrien Toomes; practical, humble, working-class Joe who cares about his employees and is by no means an evil person...but also perfectly willing to jump straight to violence when his livelihood or dignity is threatened. |
| 362 | ** ''Film/BlackPanther2018'': |
| 363 | *** As the film opens, T'Challa and Okoye are heading out to a mission, knowing T'Challa's long-time crush Nakia is going to be involved. Despite the fact T'Challa is her king, before he jumps out of the plane, Okoye reminds him not to freeze up. Loyal she may be, dangerous warrior she absolutely is, but she is also not above sassing him. |
| 364 | *** Killmonger's first scene has him visiting a museum of African artifacts and asking a tour guide about their history. When she tells him where some of the artifacts are from, Killmonger ''[[WickedCultured corrects]]'' her, announces that he's going to take those artifacts off her hands, and when she protests by saying they're not for sale, asks her if the white colonizers who acquired them from Africa [[ArmorPiercingQuestion cared whether the artifacts they wanted were for sale]]. When she starts feeling sick moments later and succumbs to the poison in her coffee, Killmonger [[KickTheDog mocks her as she's falling down]], calls over security to get help, watches impassively as Ulysses Klaue and his henchman (disguised as [=EMTs=]) kill everyone in the room, and then grabs one of the masks not because it's contains valuable vibranium, but just because he thinks that it [[RuleOfCool looks cool.]] That's Killmonger in a nutshell: brash, charismatic, intelligent, arrogant and capable of raising some excellent points about [[VillainHasAPoint the treatment of black people throughout history]], but also one with ''zero'' empathy or respect for anyone he deems inferior to him. It also highlights that while Killmonger has some very legitimate grievances with the way the world has treated him and others like him, he also has a bad habit of trying to seek "revenge" on people who have [[MisplacedRetribution done nothing to personally harm him]], and doesn't hold himself [[{{Hypocrite}} to the same standards he holds others to.]] |
| 365 | ** ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'': |
| 366 | *** Thanos starts off the film by easily beating up [[spoiler: the Hulk. He then kills both Heimdall and Loki in quick succession. The lesson is simple: Thanos does not abide by the narrative rules of Marvel. Or, perhaps, he does...if one assumes he is the hero of the film, and not the villain, and this is his BatmanColdOpen.]] |
| 367 | ** ''Film/CaptainMarvel2019'': A young Nick Fury and Coulson get theirs by walking up to Carol Danvers when she's trying to call Yon-Rogg and Fury calling her Kree military uniform a "[[DeadpanSnarker laser tag costume]]". The moment a Skrull sniper fires at them with a weapon that is clearly far beyond the destructive capacity of any known human technology, Coulson and Fury don't hesitate to hop in their cruiser and pursue the enemy despite being obviously outclassed in terms of firepower. |
| 368 | *** Our first hint at Talos' [[AntiVillain complexity as a character]] comes when he, while still disguised as a human, risks blowing his cover to [[DueToTheDead pay his last respects]] to [[AFatherToHisMen one of his fallen soldiers.]] |
| 369 | * Film/MaryPoppins gets at least two. The first shows her sitting on a cloud, applying her makeup, and calmly keeping her [[BagOfHolding carpetbag]] and [[ParasolParachute parrot-handled umbrella]] from falling out. Later, after the wind blows away the other candidates for the Banks family's nanny, Mary Poppins descends on said umbrella. When getting interviewed by Mr. Banks, she reveals to him that she got ahold of the want ad the children wrote. He becomes so confused as to how she found the ad after he tore it up, he doesn't object to her confirming that she meets each qualification listed. |
| 370 | * ''Film/TheMatrix'': |
| 371 | ** Trinity and the Agents have their establishing moments one after the other. After Trinity establishes her badassitude by effortlessly defeating an entire squad of police officers, she encounters an Agent. [[TheDreaded She immediately turns and runs.]] |
| 372 | ** Morpheus's first phone call to Neo is his. Apparently all-knowing, a disembodied voice of wisdom, and bad things happen when his orders aren't followed -- but also completely dogmatic, trying to steer Neo's every action. |
| 373 | ** Neo's comes between his introductory scene and his interrogation with Smith. In the first he's a loner, living in an empty apartment surrounded by computers, looking for answers to mysterious, elusive questions. In the interrogation he demands the rights he is entitled to, shows disrespect for authority, and by all accounts he [[NiceGuy helps his landlady carry out her garbage]]. |
| 374 | * ''Film/MenaceIISociety'' has the infamous character moment of both O-Dog and Caine. When O-Dog's HairTriggerTemper causes him to kill a Korean couple running a neighborhood store and robbing them, because one of them insulted his mother, showing his AxCrazy nature. Caine's reaction previews the tragic reality of how he is an average young man stuck around bad influences and a bad environment. |
| 375 | * ''Film/MenInBlack'' contrasts Jay and Kay's ways of catching aliens. Kay tricks a disguised alien into exposing himself by calmly chatting with him in Spanish (which the alien pretends to speak), and Jay, through cunning, athleticism, and knowing the terrain, chases another disguised alien (physically superhuman) through a busy Manhattan street, ultimately getting the drop on him by jumping onto a moving bus from a bridge. |
| 376 | * ''Film/MichaelClayton'': The prologue gives us an in-depth introduction to Michael in a brief scene: he's introduced at a gambling ring dodging questions about a failed business venture (indicating he has money problems), he's suddenly called out to handle a client embroiled in a hit-and-run (telling us his job at the law firm is somewhat atypical), and when he gets there he describes himself as "the janitor" and firmly tells the client that he's probably legally screwed and can't throw money at the problem to make it go away (showing that he's got an intimate knowledge of the law and a grim attitude towards his job). |
| 377 | * ''Film/MichielDeRuyter'': when Admiral Tromp's ship is in trouble, Michiel de Ruyter doesn't hesitate to rush to his side with his own ship, despite advice to the contrary. |
| 378 | * Franchise/MonsterVerse: |
| 379 | ** ''Film/KongSkullIsland'': |
| 380 | *** While flying through the storm surrounding Skull Island, Packard relates a much-abridged tale of Icarus, before stating that their wings will ''not'' melt, thus they can fly as high as they like ... demonstrating exactly the kind of hubris the story of Icarus warns against. [[{{Pride}} Hubris]] is one of Packard's defining character traits. |
| 381 | *** James Conrad proves his combat skills to the audience in his introductory scene at the night club when he takes out two mooks with ease. |
| 382 | ** ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'': When Ghidorah is awakened and a bunch of panicking soldiers ineffectively shoot him, Ghidorah's reaction makes it clear he doesn't see them as a threat. And then he kills them anyway, showing that he doesn't attack because sees things as a threat but because he can. [[SlasherSmile With a smile on his middle head's face]]. |
| 383 | ** ''Film/GodzillaVsKong'': |
| 384 | *** When we first meet Josh Valentine showing up to Madison's house with his brother's stolen van, he's expressing nervousness about being caught for his act despite his brother being implied to be someone who wouldn't even notice, and questioning why he and Madison have to get involved in the current Titan crisis. When Maddie looks him in the eye and asks whether he's coming or staying, Josh replies with a brave face and nil hesitation that he's most certainly coming with her (and then he goofs up his dramatic attempt to open the van door). This showcases how goofy and nervous of walking into trouble Josh is, and it shows that he's a CowardlyLion who's loyal to his friends and that there's more to him than meets the eye. |
| 385 | *** As soon as Mechagodzilla [[spoiler:gains a mind of its own via Ghidorah's consciousness remnants taking it over]], the Mecha instantly zeroes in on and kills the first human it sees, levels half of Hong Kong on sight, and then [[spoiler:gives Godzilla as close to a SlasherSmile as a robot can and begins trying to beat him to death.]] |
| 386 | * ''Film/MorningForTheOsoneFamily'', a Japanese drama set DuringTheWar, opens with the Osone family singing "Silent Night" (with Japanese lyrics) at Christmas 1943. They are immediately established as less traditional and more Westernized than other Japanese. |
| 387 | * ''Film/MulhollandFalls'': The very first scene establishes Hoover and his fellow detectives as a no-nonsense group of hardasses who will resort to any means to bring criminals to justice, [[RabidCop often violently]]. |
| 388 | * The eponymous ''Film/MysteryTeam'' has two: the harassment of Old Man [=McGinty=] for absolutely no reason, and the investigation and interrogation of Eric; these two scenes set up their childlike attitude, Jason's [[PaperThinDisguise paper thin disguises]] and their tendency to overreact to the smallest thing. |
| 389 | * ''Film/TheNakedGun'' began with Frank Drebin [[AmericaSavesTheDay beating the tar out of the world's most evil men]] [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass then falling out of a window]]. |
| 390 | * During the dildo creation scheme in ''[[Film/{{Neighbors2014}} Neighbors]]'', Pete uses a scanner from one of his architecture classes to expedite the process. He mentions casually off hand that the others should go to class since the school has great resources. |
| 391 | * In ''Film/NewJackCity'', the first scene at the beginning of the film, has Nino Brown's muscle throwing a corrupt business man over a bridge feet first for failing to deliver what he promised. This shows Nino's ruthlessness and his beginning rise to power. The next scene, shows the protagonist, Scottie Appleton, going out of his way to chase down drug dealer, Pookie, after he sucker-punched and stole a bag full of money he was using to make a buy while being undercover -- showing [[TheDeterminator his dedication]] to the job. |
| 392 | * In ''Film/TheNightOfTheHunter'', SinisterMinister Harry Powell introduces himself by driving his car, talking loudly and colloquially to {{God}}, about his own sick, misogynistic views. It's strongly hinted (and confirmed, later) that Harry is a SerialKiller. |
| 393 | * ''Film/NightTrainToLisbon'': Our first introduction to Raimund is him playing chess alone. |
| 394 | * ''Film/NoKidding'': |
| 395 | ** We meet the Treadgolds as they leave their chauffeur-driven car and instantly tell Will to drop dead, showing us that they are rich brats who have no sense of respect. |
| 396 | ** Matron and Cook arrive at Chartham Place together, the latter drunk and the former scolding her. This sets up that Cook is an alcoholic, Matron is very prim and proper, and that the two of them will not get along. |
| 397 | * ''Film/TheNorthman'' has one that doubles as a MeaningfulBackgroundEvent. As Amleth is walking around the recently conquered Slavic town, we get our first look at Olga in the background, offering some silver object to one of the Viking raiders, only to be immediately shown to have only been pretending to do so to get a shot at stabbing him, establishing her cunning right off the bat. |
| 398 | * ''Film/NotOkay'': |
| 399 | ** 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. |
| 400 | ** Danni gets another one while on the subway. She notices several reminders to 'take her happy pills', goes to take one and takes three at the same time instead to catch up - something which is NOT recommended and is actually dangerous. This shows she doesn't really consider the consequences of her actions. |
| 401 | * Each of the 4 Horsemen get a scene at the beginning of ''Film/NowYouSeeMe'' showing their solo acts: |
| 402 | ** Daniel does a simple card trick on a ''large'' scale with a lot of planning ahead. |
| 403 | ** Henley does an underwater escape routine and dies... only to emerge from the crowd a few seconds later. |
| 404 | ** Merritt does a hypnotist act on a couple and uses his mentalist skills to extort some money from the husband. |
| 405 | ** Jack offers $100 to anyone who can see how he does his spoon trick, pays up... then makes off with the guy's wallet. |
| 406 | * ''Film/OnceUponATimeInTheWest'': Creator/SergioLeone sold his reluctant star by describing his first appearance: "Picture this: the camera shows a gunman from the waist down pulling his gun and shooting a running child. The camera tilts up to the gunman's face, and it's Creator/HenryFonda." The scene doesn't quite play out that way, but it still counts. |
| 407 | * ''Film/OnDangerousGround'' begins with vignettes showing the violent nature of cop, Jim Wilson. |
| 408 | * In ''Film/PacificRim'', one of the first things we see of Stacker is him ordering Gipsy Danger to guard Anchorage and ignore a fishing boat in the {{Kaiju}}'s path. When the Becketts go to save the boat anyway, and he realizes the crap's about to hit the fan, he tells them to take the boat and leave. He's ostensibly concerned with the bigger picture, but clearly doesn't like anyone being sacrificed or hurt if he can help it. |
| 409 | ** Striker Eureka [[CurbStompBattle finishes off]] a Kaiju in less than a minute, to show just how powerful this [[HumongousMecha Jaeger]] is. |
| 410 | ** Chuck Hansen is seen talking about how Striker Eureka broke the new record with 10 Kaiju kills, establishing himself as a cocky hotshot. |
| 411 | * ''Film/Paddington2014'' introduces the Brown family disembarking from a train after a family outing, and instantly introduces us to their main characteristics: |
| 412 | ** Mr. Brown enthuses about the joys of visiting the Victorian Wool Museum, chides his son for recklessly jumping on a nearby bench, tries to quash his dream of becoming an astronaut, instinctively draws his children close after seeing Paddington, and politely but firmly rebuffs Paddington's attempt at introducing himself. He's boring, a bit pompous and over-protective, but loves his children. He's also polite enough to actually acknowledge Paddington's existence (unlike everyone else in London so far), thus hinting at his HiddenHeartOfGold. |
| 413 | ** Mrs. Brown enthuses about bathing in a Victorian bathing pond ''sans'' costume, much to the irritation of her daughter, tries to encourage her son's astronaut dreams after Mr. Brown tries to stomp them down, fails to notice Paddington initially but immediately takes pity on him and is the first person to actually approach him. She's a kind-hearted and loving but AmazinglyEmbarrassingParent who [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} lives in the clouds a little bit]]. |
| 414 | ** Jonathan recklessly jumps around on the platform seating, wants to become an astronaut, and becomes the second person after Mrs. Brown to approach Paddington. He's reckless and thrill-seeking, but friendly and good-hearted. |
| 415 | ** Judy strides ahead of her entire family rather sullenly, never removes her headphones, chides her mother both for her behavior at the museum and for approaching Paddington, and like her father is reluctant to actually approach Paddington. She's your typically moody, introverted and easily embarrassed slightly BrattyTeenageDaughter. |
| 416 | ** Paddington himself is introduced in the jungles of Peru eagerly celebrating Marmalade Day, but his enthusiastic attempts to begin the process end with a tumble, an orange spill, and a substantial quantity of marmalade in Uncle Pastuzo's hat. This bear is enthusiastic, friendly but clumsy, and really ''really'' likes marmalade. |
| 417 | * ''Film/PansLabyrinth'': ''"It's the right hand."'' The villainous Captain Vidal is in the movie for ten seconds and we already have him pegged down as a cold bastard [[ClockKing obsessed with the "correct" way of doing things]]. On his face the whole time is a perpetual expression of disgust, like the man is constantly surrounded by a bad smell; Vidal is a fascist thug dripped by hatred of everyone and everything, with little compassion or humanity. Not long after, he has a scene where he [[CruelAndUnusualDeath caves in a lad's face with a bottle]] and then shoots the boy's screaming father (believing the two were captured republican rebels); searching their bag and finding dead rabbits, proving they really were just out hunting like they claimed, rather than be horrified by murdering two innocent men in cold blood, he simply reprimands his men with "Shake these fuckers down properly before bothering me." Just in case you missed it the first time. |
| 418 | * The opening scene of ''Film/{{Patton}}'' does a very good job of establishing the title character, with all his medals, and ivory handled revolvers giving a RousingSpeech to his army offscreen in front of a giant American Flag. |
| 419 | * The opening scenes from ''Film/{{Payback}}'' show that Porter is a major VillainProtagonist. Among other things, he jumps turnstiles, robs a beggar, steals the wallet of an InnocentBystander, (and subsequently runs up the guy's credit cards) ducks out on bills, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking he doesn't tip his server]]. |
| 420 | * After ''Film/ThePinkPanther1963'' establishes the jewel thieves' methods and wiliness, the scene switches to a police office. The very serious man seated at the desk gets up, dramatically spins a large standing globe, and declares to an associate "We must find that woman!" He makes to rest his hand on the framework holding the globe, but lands it on the still-spinning globe instead, [[Main/{{Slapstick}} sending him tumbling to the floor]]. He gets up and acts as if nothing happened, and so the world is introduced to Inspector Jacques Clouseau, the movie's BreakoutCharacter. |
| 421 | * ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanTheCurseOfTheBlackPearl'': Captain Jack Sparrow has ''three'' Establishing Character Moments within his first few minutes. He is introduced to the series standing proudly atop the mast of his ship staring straight ahead... before the "ship" is revealed to be nothing more than a small, flooded dinghy, that he has to bail water out of before resuming his proud staring. All this shows that Jack never loses his pride. Immediately after, he casually steps off the rapidly sinking boat just moments before it completely goes under -- which itself is capped off by bribing the harbormaster so that he doesn't have to give him his name and then quietly robbing the same man, cementing his trickster-like characteristics -- and then promptly confuses the hell out of a few officers by babbling non-stop. All of this accurately shows the kind of nonsensical character that he has become known for being. A few minutes later though, he gets another Establishing Character Moment when he jumps in to save Elizabeth from drowning without a second thought, despite not knowing her at all and the fact that doing it doesn't benefit him in the slightest (it in fact hinders his plans), showing that despite being a morally grey pirate, he is deep down a fundamentally good person. |
| 422 | ** The one thing we see Jack get serious over is a pistol he carries with him that has only one shot. The meaning behind the pistol isn't revealed until halfway through the film; when Barbossa mutinied against Jack, he abandoned him on a deserted island with no hope for rescue. As a final insult, Barbossa left behind the pistol in case Jack wanted to commit suicide. A decade later, Jack is still carrying it and intends to use it to kill Barbossa as revenge. Jack may be a screw-off, but he has a strong sense of justice (especially his own). |
| 423 | ** Will Turner's first scene after the flashback has him hiding a piece of a wall sconce he accidentally broke off, demonstrates both knowledge of smithing and skill with a sword, doesn't correct Governor Swann about who made the blade, and calls Elizabeth "Miss Swann" despite her insistence on him using her first name until no one is around. This establishes him as humble, skilled, naive, and unwillingly bound by the customs of society. |
| 424 | * ''Film/TheProfessionals'' does this via a {{montage}} during the TitleSequence. Fardan is introduced demonstrating a machine gun; Ehrengard beats up a man abusing horses; Sharp clobbers a convict he's arrested; Dolworth... jumps out his lover's window in his long johns as her husband returns. |
| 425 | * The opening scene of ''Film/TopGun''. Maverick and another Navy fighter encounters enemy [=MiGs=]. Maverick manages to fly right above and upside down one [=MiG=] so close his RIO (Radio Intercept Officer), Goose, takes a Polaroid of the surprised pilot. This establishes Maverick as a skilled flyer and he and Goose as best friends who like to clown around. When the encounter causes his fellow pilot has a HeroicBSOD in mid-air, Maverick defies orders to stay with him to help guide him back to their aircraft carrier safely. This establishes Maverick as a rebel '''and''' heroic. |
| 426 | * ''Film/Predator2'' opens with Lt. Mike Harrigan (Creator/DannyGlover) pulling off a move that's completely over-the-top awesome (even for the '80s) to save two police officers pinned down. He stuffs bullet-proof vests in the windows of one side of the car, smashes the driver's-side door off, and drives in while leaning out of the car, shooting at the gang members. He then picks up his shotgun (having dismissed the pistols as "too small"), flanks the gang members, and kills them. This immediately gives us the idea that if anyone can take on an alien hunter with superior technology through creativity and daring, it's this man. |
| 427 | * In ''Film/ThePrestige'', UsefulNotes/NikolaTesla walks casually out of a cloud of plasma arcs and shows Angier how to power a light bulb with the electrical currents in the human body, demonstrating one thing: Tesla is a goddamned ''wizard.'' |
| 428 | * ''Film/TheProfessional'': |
| 429 | ** The first scenes show Leon as a badass hitman with almost supernatural skills due to years of training. He spends the rest of his day as mundanely as possible -- going to the store, watering his plants and cleaning his guns. |
| 430 | ** [[NaughtyNarcs Norman Stansfield]] gets two establishing moments: he's introduced standing in the background, listening to classical music on his headphones and completely disconnected from the rest of the world. Then, when his [[TheDragon second-in-command]] Malky informs him of a problem (a drug holder apparently cut some of the dope he was supposed to be keeping safe), he removes the headphones, and [[TheNoseKnows sniffs the holder]] for a few seconds, before declaring him innocent. Stansfield's next scene shows him leading a gang of corrupt DEA agents and cops towards the holder's apartment: he takes a moment to down a pill and muse on how much he likes "these calm little moments before the storm," before charging into the apartment with a shotgun, killing the holder's wife, the holder's teenage daughter, then finally cornering the holder himself... so he can chat about classical music while the rest of his gang search the apartment for drugs. |
| 431 | * ''Film/TheProposition'' is really clever about this. The first character we see is Mikey Burns, who is, appropriately enough, confused, hiding, and entirely reliant on the protection of his older brother Charlie. Charlie establishes his character by saying, quietly and calmly, "Touch me brother again, and I'll kill you." Arthur Burns is established through Stanley's [[OffstageVillainy recounting]] of Arthur's MoralEventHorizon, and then introduced as [[AffablyEvil a caring older brother with a poetic soul]]. Stanley's introduced when he pistol-whips a mentally impaired man, and then turns out to actually be a decent fellow. And then there's Eden Fletcher, who spends most of his first scene looking at a badly wounded Mikey and repeatedly commenting "What a little piece of filth." |
| 432 | * Jigsaw's pre-disfigurement establishing scene in ''Film/PunisherWarZone'' has him look at himself in a mirror and makes an arrogant rebuff when his woman compliments him. |
| 433 | * When we first see Dr. Fujisaki in ''Film/TheQuietDuel'', his sitting in the doctor's office. He's sound asleep, but his hands are positioned to show that despite the fact that he's exhausted, he's ready for the next surgery. |
| 434 | * ''Film/QuigleyDownUnder'' opens on Matthew Quigley being a gentleman and letting an elderly couple disembark from the boat to Australia ahead of him. But when a rude settler tries to push in front of the old folks, Quigley casually boots him in the crotch. |
| 435 | * ''Film/RearWindow'' introduces LB Jeffries through one long, silent pan through his apartment. It shows, among other things, Jeff sleeping in a wheelchair with his leg in a cast, his shattered camera sitting on a table, a first-person view of a car crash captured in a photograph displayed near it, and photos Jeff took while visiting several other far-off places hanging on his walls. |
| 436 | ** Lisa Fremont makes her first appearance when she awakens Jeff from another nap that night, gets a few dreamy close-ups from Jeff's POV, and kisses him in slow-motion. The movie proceeds to highlight the differences between her lifestyle and Jeff's when she shows him her newest PimpedOutDress, then brings in a waiter from The 21 Club to prepare them dinner. |
| 437 | * ''Film/Red2010'': |
| 438 | ** Moses wakes up six in the morning before his alarm and does a cardiac routine even though he's retired. |
| 439 | ** Sarah works at a boring job where she has postcards of all the places she would love to travel to. |
| 440 | ** Cooper is on the phone with his wife about his children while casually moving around a room, planting evidence before hanging a guy. |
| 441 | ** Boggs has a ghille suit in his own front yard and rambles on about conspiracies. |
| 442 | ** Victoria elegantly arranges flowers while hiding a machine gun underneath the flowers as Frank meets her. |
| 443 | ** Han in the sequel is literally stripped of all his clothing and equipment and manages to assassinate his target with a folded picture (that the target had given him!) and leaves the building without anyone realizing it. |
| 444 | * ''Film/TheRedBaron'' establishes the main characters as [[OfficerAndAGentleman Officers and Gentlemen]] by them flying into the enemy territory only to drop a funeral wreath on the coffin of their WorthyOpponent. |
| 445 | * The first scene of ''Film/ReservoirDogs'' is one huge SeinfeldianConversation and is seemingly irrelevant to the plot, but gives most characters their establishing moments. Some of these are quite adequate (White is shown as levelheaded and experienced, and his friendship with Mr Orange is evident if you watch close enough; Mr Pink gives the impression of a whiny [[TheSpock powerhouse of logic]]; Mr Brown is talkative and not serious-minded), some are misleading (PsychoForHire Mr Blond as a jolly Elvis lookalike? Puh-lease!), and there is even a bit of clever {{Foreshadowing}} concerning TheMole. |
| 446 | * In the movie version of ''[[Literature/{{Ripliad}} Ripley's Game]]'', Ripley starts out by [[DissonantSerenity calmly]] beating a thug to death with a fireplace poker and tricking a couple fellow criminals out of several million dollars worth of forged paintings. That sums up his character. |
| 447 | * ''Film/RoadToPerdition:'' Creepy mob goon and crime scene photographer [[PsychoForHire Harlan Maguire]] is introduced dispassionately taking a photo of some poor schmuck with a knife in his chest. Then it turns out the victim [[NotQuiteDead isn't actually dead yet]], so Maguire casually ''finishes him off'' by holding his handkerchief over the guy's mouth until he asphyxiates, while Maguire has only a [[DissonantSerenity bored expression on his face.]] |
| 448 | * In ''Film/RobinHoodTheRebellion'', the Sheriff of Nottingham introduces himself by threatening a family for the whereabouts of Maid Marian, gutting the father and threatening the lives of the kids. |
| 449 | * ''Film/RockAndRollHighSchool'' introduces us to Riff Randall by having her steal a record player and using it to play Music/TheRamones out in the school hall. |
| 450 | * ''Film/{{Rosita}}'': |
| 451 | ** The king is first seen surrounded by women and flirting with them. |
| 452 | ** Rosita's first scene has her singing a satirical song about the king, showing off her allure and outspoken personality. |
| 453 | * ''Film/TheRunningMan'': |
| 454 | ** [[TheHero Ben Richards']] first scene is right after the text crawl explaining the BreadAndCircuses nature of this dystopian future and how when those aren't enough "more direct action" is taken, flying a military helicopter to observe a unarmed food riot. When ordered to fire upon those unarmed citizens, he [[WouldNotShootACivilian he refuses and tells his superiors to go to hell]] before attempting to abort the mission, going so far as to fight the rest of his crew when they're ordered to detain him and proceed as ordered. This serves to highlight his good nature in spite of his looks and ruder behavior, especially in contrast to how the government then painted ''him'' as the perpetrator of the act as a scrapegoat for the cover-up. |
| 455 | ** [[BigBad Damon Killian]] walks into his office building, when an elderly janitor accidentally bumps into him and frantically apologizes. Damon kindly tells him not to worry, asks his name, tells him not to worry and what a good job he's doing. Then the second he's in the elevator, he coldly tells his assistant if the man is still employed by tomorrow, she'll be mopping floors for a week, perfectly reflecting the [[BitchInSheepsClothing kind persona Killian portrays to the public and the petty sociopath he truly is underneath it]]. |
| 456 | * ''Film/SaturdayNightFever'': Tony Manero strutting down the street and stopping to admire new shoes and a possible new shirt, showed him as a poor kid who has big plans for his future even though he doesn't know it yet. |
| 457 | * Our first introduction to the title character in ''Film/SavingGrace'' is her in her greenhouse nurturing an orchid. Grace's prowess as a gardener is what drives the entire plot. |
| 458 | * Darryl Revok, the BigBad of ''Film/{{Scanners}}'', shows us all what kind of a guy he is by strolling into a seminar, tricking the audience into thinking he's just an extra, and then assassinating his target in [[YourHeadASplode the coolest possible way.]] |
| 459 | * ''Film/TheSchoolForGoodAndEvil2022'': |
| 460 | ** Sophie dreams of being the belle of a fairy tale ball, adored by all, before her stepmother's shouting pulls her back into her mundane life. |
| 461 | ** Agatha showing a sweet and gentle side to animals, a traditional princess trait. |
| 462 | ** Tedros is the star of the Good boys' entrance ceremony, and has nearly all the princesses swooning for him. |
| 463 | ** Professor Dovey is shown to be superficially light-hearted and cheery - but also clearly no pushover and somewhat hiding her fears behind her smiley façade. |
| 464 | ** Gregor's first appearance is him clumsily drop his sword during the princes' performance. |
| 465 | * ''Film/{{Se7en}}'' |
| 466 | ** Detective Mills' establishing moment arguably comes not long after the research montage: after spending most of the night working on the case, he's then sent a package of library books on the SevenDeadlySins by his partner... whereupon Mills loses his temper, refers to [[Literature/TheDivineComedy Dante]] as a "[[MenAreUncultured poetry-writing faggot piece of shit]]," and starts throwing books around the inside of his car. Then, upon being given the cliff-notes versions of the same books, he profusely thanks the officer who delivered them. All of this establishes him as a nice if somewhat uncultured guy who has difficulty controlling his temper when under pressure (which becomes much more relevant later on). |
| 467 | ** [[TheSmartGuy Detective Somerset]]'s establishing moment arrives right at the beginning of the film, in which he goes about his morning routine in a very careful, methodical manner, goes to work and asks questions about a particular crime that none of the other detectives are interested in answering, [[DeadpanSnarker makes sarcastic comments]] about the "crime of passion," wonders why his new partner (Detective Mills) would actually want a transfer to ''this'' [[WretchedHive city]], before going home and lulling himself to sleep with a metronome. All of this sums him up as both intelligent and remarkably cynical. |
| 468 | * The first appearance of the Operative in ''Film/Serenity2005'', in which he casually kills the head doctor of the Academy and praises him for his good work even as the doctor dies, impaled on the Operative's sword. This establishes him as intelligent, honorable, and completely ruthless. [[KnightTemplar He also mentions how everything he and the Alliance are doing is to create a better world.]] |
| 469 | * ''Film/SevenSamurai'': |
| 470 | ** Kambei's BatmanColdOpen, in which he shaves off his topknot, a symbol of honor for a samurai, in order to trick a kidnapper and rescue a child. Creator/RogerEbert wonders in his review if it's the origin of the practice, now common in action movies, of introducing the main hero with an undertaking unrelated to the main plot. |
| 471 | ** Good-natured Heihachi is found cutting wood in order to get by. Rather than complain about doing such lowly labor, he accepts it with good cheer and a quip about being from the "Woodcut School." |
| 472 | ** Kyuzo, the expert swordsman, is first seen engaged in a duel. His opponent refuses to be convinced that he truly lost their non-lethal exchange and insists on repeating it in earnest, whereupon Kyuzo immediately kills him. |
| 473 | ** Kikuchiyo is first seen front and center while carrying a ''really'' long sword. |
| 474 | * Professor Moriarty in ''Film/SherlockHolmesAGameOfShadows''. He confronts Irene Adler at her favorite restaurant, then just as she thinks she's safe in public, he empties the restaurant with a tap of a spoon on a teacup. [[spoiler:And then, kills her by letting her drink a cup of tea laced with an untraceable poison. The man used his substantial resources to demonstrate to Ms. Adler that at no point was she untouchable, moments before killing her anyway.]] Why? [[ItAmusedMe Be]][[ForTheEvulz cause.]] |
| 475 | * One of the opening scenes in ''Film/TheShining'' has Wendy describing an incident in which Jack came home drunk and dislocated their son's arm, but very carefully trying to minimize the event and Jack's culpability in it, then quickly pointing out that he's stopped drinking since then. This one scene establishes Jack's alcohol problems and abusive nature, Wendy's weak will and enabling tendencies, and their son's trauma and fear, even though only one of them even appears in the scene. |
| 476 | * In ''Film/{{Shipwrecked}}'', Haakon's generosity is shown in two ways: when he accepts commission as a cabin boy as a way to get an extension on his family's debts. He also, when bonding with his new shipmates, offers to buy a second round of drinks. |
| 477 | * ''Film/ShootToKill:'' When the killer finds out that the police have surrounded him, he tells them over the phone that he's releasing one of his hostages to deliver a message. [[MakeAnExampleOfThem He shoots the woman as soon as she's out the door and sardonically asking if Agent Stantin got his message.]] He then proceeds to escape while foreseeing all of their likely moves. The scene effectively establishes both his cruelty and his cleverness. |
| 478 | * ''Film/TheSilenceOfTheLambs'': As Clarice walks down the hall of the prison, she walks past a convict brooding in his cell and an obviously insane convict who yells "I can smell your [[CountryMatters cunt]]" at her, then comes to the cell of Hannibal Lecter, who is just standing there, in the exact center of the cell, with an expressionless face. It perfectly establishes Hannibal as the master of DissonantSerenity[[note]]The director deliberately did this to convey that Hannibal is ultimately more powerful and authoritative than Clarice, and that he is superior to his fellow inmates[[/note]]. |
| 479 | * In ''Film/TheSocialNetwork'' most of the main characters get one of these: |
| 480 | ** [[InsufferableGenius Mark]] has a conversation with his girlfriend where it's established that he's very intelligent but almost completely anti-social; he's arrogant, condescending and overly sensitive, which results in him getting dumped at the end of the conversation. |
| 481 | ** Eduardo shows up in Mark's apartment after reading his blog, ready to give Mark emotional support, but all Mark wants is a formula he invented. Combined with the dialogue about Eduardo in the opening conversation, it's established that Eduardo is also very intelligent but much more personable about it. Eduardo also tries to ground Mark while he creates Facemash, which foreshadows his role in Facebook later. |
| 482 | ** The Winklevoss twins get a very streamlined ECM -- we see them effortlessly winning a boat race, while talking about the lack of opposition and making reference to the laws of motion. This shows them as very good sportsmen and intelligent, but arrogant and completely unaccustomed to losing. |
| 483 | ** Sean makes witty banter with a college girl he's just slept with. |
| 484 | * ''Film/SonicTheHedgehog2020'': |
| 485 | ** Robotnik's first few moments on-screen are accompanied by him dressing down Major Bennington, whilst his sidekick "translates" everything his boss says to said-Major, greatly reflecting his condescension and arrogance. He also spares no eccentric words, indicating he's a few eggs short of a whole carton. |
| 486 | ** Rachel spells out "divorce" after a phone call between Maddie and Tom, establishing her objection to their relationship. |
| 487 | ** In TheStinger, [[spoiler:the first thing Tails does upon arriving on Earth and discovering Sonic's whereabouts is to jump off a cliff... and perform his signature Propeller Flying ability to hover back up before speeding off to find him]]. |
| 488 | * ''Film/{{Split}}'': |
| 489 | ** Casey is introduced sitting sullenly alone as two classmates gripe about being forced to invite her for politeness's sake. She's an outsider. |
| 490 | ** Claire is first heard griping about being forced to invite the weirdo Casey to her birthday party, but when Casey gives her an excuse to leave her behind, Claire encourages her to accept her father's invitation of a ride. While Claire might be a bit stuck-up, she's ultimately a good person you can sympathize with. |
| 491 | ** The first thing Dennis does when he enters a car to kidnap school girls is to take a napkin and throw away the trash on the dashboard. |
| 492 | ** Patricia, besides really alerting both the girls and the audience that the kidnapper has multiple personalities, provides "assurance" that Dennis listens to her and that he's not to touch them because they were meant for something greater. |
| 493 | ** Hedwig sits in the door frame, gleefully babbles about how the Beast will do terrible things to the girls and talks about the color of his socks. Even before he says he's 9, you can tell how immature he is. |
| 494 | * ''Film/{{Stargate}}'': |
| 495 | ** Daniel Jackson gives a lecture on the Pyramids where his (correct) conclusions on their age are mocked and everyone abandons the talk before he's done, showing that he's a brilliant, unorthodox, and unappreciated scientist. |
| 496 | ** Jack O'Neil is introduced looking moodily at a gun while sitting on his recently dead son's bed. This establishes the pain beneath his gruff exterior and explains why he would take a suicide mission to begin with. Both moments also show that neither man has a lot going for him on Earth. |
| 497 | * The scenes of the young James T. Kirk and young Spock near the beginning of ''Film/StarTrek2009''. |
| 498 | * ''Franchise/StarWars'': |
| 499 | ** ''Film/ANewHope'': |
| 500 | *** [[CombatPragmatist Han shooting first]] when threatened by Greedo. This is why the [[ReCut change to that scene]] evoked such a strong response. |
| 501 | *** Luke's Binary Sunset scene; gazing wistfully into the distance like he was looking at the future. |
| 502 | *** Vader walking emotionlessly past his dead troops and then strangling Captain Antilles ''to death'' while interrogating him. He also provides the first introduction of what the Force is capable of; an Imperial officer starts mouthing off about how his "sorcerous ways" are nothing compared to the Death Star, to which Vader casually lifts a hand and chokes the guy from across the room. |
| 503 | ---->'''Vader:''' I find your lack of faith disturbing. |
| 504 | *** Leia's first appearance is being caught in a firefight by Stormtroopers, shooting at the Stormtroopers while trying to get a message off the ship. Her first speaking scene is cool defiance in the face of Darth Vader (who, as mentioned, just strangled her captain), and her second is being brought to the deck of an Imperial vessel, just after being put through an [[InsistentTerminology enhanced interrogation session]], and happily taking the time to insult the commander to his face. She then attempts to guilt ''Darth freakin' Vader'', and lies about the location of the Rebel base to throw off the Empire and save her planet from destruction. [[spoiler: The lie fails, miserably]], but this woman is SilkHidingSteel all the way. |
| 505 | ** We know Boba Fett is a rough customer when ''Vader'' of all people [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness has to tell him to chill out]] with hunting the rebels ("[[NoodleIncident No disintegrations!]]") and he responds with "As you wish" in a tone of what sounds like either 1) anger or 2) barely repressed sarcasm. Later, him almost ''sassing'' Vader about putting Han Solo in carbonite ("[[PragmaticEvil What if he doesn't survive? He's no good to me dead.]]") cemented him forever in the fandom's eyes as an utterly fearless badass who cares about nothing and nobody except his quarry. |
| 506 | ** The Emperor gets one at the beginning of ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', when Darth Vader, TropeNamer of YouHaveFailedMe, describes him as "Not as forgiving as I am." |
| 507 | ** ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'': |
| 508 | *** The opening is this for Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon, and, by extension, the entire Jedi Order. ("Have you ever encountered a Jedi Knight before, sir?") |
| 509 | *** The entrance of the droidekas shortly after the aforementioned moment. Qui-Gon is about to successfully cut through the blast doors between him and Gunray when a couple of the destroyer droids roll down the hallway towards the Jedi. Obi-Wan immediately yells for Qui-Gon's attention when, up to now, both of them had cut through regular battledroids like paper. The droidekas uncurl into battle positions and deploy their protective forcefields, then start opening fire, creating a stalemate between them and our heroes. The Jedi, who are practically invincible against nearly anything else in a fight of such a small scale, have to retreat. From this moment onwards, ''any'' appearance by the droidekas in the franchise elicits an OhCrap reaction from the audience. |
| 510 | *** While he was already in the original trilogy, R2-D2 gets a formal introduction here when he becomes the only surviving astromech to repair the shields on the Queen's ship. |
| 511 | ** ''Film/TheForceAwakens'': |
| 512 | *** Finn's reaction to his fallen Stormtrooper comrade leaving a BloodyHandprint on his helmet. He directly disobeys Kylo Ren's orders to gun down innocent villagers. This is the first time we see a Stormtrooper express genuine inner conflict -- Finn is just a terrified young man who sees that what he is being asked to do is wrong. |
| 513 | *** Rey's introductory sequence features no dialogue until the very end. Without hearing her voice, we learn that she is a lonely scavenger whose survival depends on selling whatever she can get her hands on for rations. This makes the scene in which she refuses to hand over BB-8, despite being offered a staggering amount of rations in exchange, all the more noble. |
| 514 | ---->'''Rey:''' Actually, the droid's not for sale. |
| 515 | *** The very first words she speaks in the movie are (translated) yelling at Teedo the scavenger to let BB-8 go, rescuing the droid (a complete stranger who most people view more like an appliance than a person) and then allowing him to stay with her, showing that she's both tough and deeply compassionate. |
| 516 | *** Kylo Ren's doesn't truly come until halfway through the feature, when he is shown confessing his anxiety over Snoke sensing his lingering desire to embrace the Light side [[spoiler:from which he was born]]. What is he confessing to? The melted helmet of [[spoiler:his dead grandfather,]] Darth Vader. This scene firmly places Kylo Ren in the realm of {{Tragic Villain}}. |
| 517 | ---->'''Kylo Ren:''' I feel it again... the pull to the light... |
| 518 | *** Kylo Ren actually gets a good one earlier, when Poe fires at him and he ''freezes the blaster bolt midair.'' This is an even better one for Poe, when Kylo Ren tries to intimidate him immediately afterwards, Poe remarks that he [[DeadpanSnarker can't understand him through the evil helmet.]] |
| 519 | ** ''Film/RogueOne'' deserves its own section here: |
| 520 | *** [[BigBad Director Krennic]] has his old friend Galen Erso kidnapped and Galen's wife killed [[DownerBeginning before the title of the movie appears.]] |
| 521 | *** When Jyn attempts to escape from an Imperial troop transport, the first we see of K2-SO is him grabbing her by the [[NeckLift neck]] and slamming her down onto the ground, while [[DissonantSerenity calmly informing her]] "You are being rescued." |
| 522 | *** Cassian Andor meets with an informant of his, but the two of them are accosted by stormtroopers. Cassian kills both the stormtroopers and, when realizing his friend is injured and unable to escape, [[ShootTheDog kills him too]] so the guy can't get captured and squeal on him, very clearly demonstrating that he is a very [[BlackAndGrayMorality different kind]] of Rebel hero than we've seen thus far. |
| 523 | *** [[BlindWeaponmaster Chirrut]] calls Jyn over in Jedha City through a busy crowd and gives her a cryptic blessing about the necklace she wears. About five minutes later, he saves her and Cassian by [[CurbstompBattle trouncing]] an entire squad of Stormtroopers with nothing but a [[BadassNormal wooden staff.]] And he's ''blind''? |
| 524 | *** Baze Malbus also appears in Chirrut's first scene, silently watching over his friend while leaning against the alley wall behind him. After Chirrut beats up said squad of stormtroopers, another rushes in, points their guns at him, and are instantly gunned down in seconds by a barrage of fire from Baze's {{BFG}} that [[ImprobableAimingSkills hits every single trooper while missing Chirrut by inches.]] When Chirrut [[ComplainingAboutRescuesTheyDontLike complains]] that Baze almost shot him, Baze's response is to reply "[[DeadpanSnarker You're welcome]]", then walk over to a downed stormtrooper who's struggling to his feet and [[BewareTheQuietOnes shoots him in the head at point-blank range.]] |
| 525 | ** ''Film/TheLastJedi:'' |
| 526 | *** Rose's first scene features her 1) crying over the death of her beloved sister, 2) [[AscendedFangirl adorably gushing]] over her adoration of Finn, and 3) immediately shocking Finn into unconsciousness with a taser-like device when she realizes he's trying to desert the Resistance, cleanly establishing her loneliness, goofiness, and professionalism within the space of five minutes. |
| 527 | *** Although it's obviously not the first we've seen of him, Luke Skywalker's first action is to take his father's lightsaber and angrily toss it over his shoulder, off a cliff, showing that something [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness is very wrong]] with the Luke Skywalker we know and love. |
| 528 | ** ''Film/{{Solo}}:'' |
| 529 | *** Just in case the audience wasn't sure what Han Solo was like when he was younger, the first things Han does in the movie are 1) steal a landspeeder, 2) make out with his hot girlfriend after giving her an incredibly rare and valuable gift he stole from their merciless gangster boss Lady Proxima, 3) get chewed out by Lady Proxima, 4) beat up one of her hired guards with his own stick when the thug tries to discipline him, 4) ''threaten'' Lady Proxima with [[CrazyEnoughToWork a rock that he claims is a thermal detonator]], and 5) cause a distraction that lets him and Qi'ra escape in the landspeeder he stole early while [[BadassDriver driving like]] [[DrivesLikeCrazy a maniac]] to escape their pursuers. All in the first ten minutes of the movie. |
| 530 | *** Tobias Beckett appears on a chaotic Imperial battlefield, gunning down enemies left and right with his [[GunsAkimbo 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. |
| 531 | *** The first thing we see of Dryden Vos is one of his subordinates mentioning that he's "done negotiating" with an Imperial regional governor. And by "negotiating", we mean, ''[[AxCrazy ripping his vibro-blades]]'' out of the poor bastard's chest. |
| 532 | ** ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker:'' General Pryde establishes himself as a [[PragmaticEvil a different kind of First Order officer]] by complaining about how Starkiller Base was [[AwesomeButImpractical a huge waste of resources.]] |
| 533 | * ''Film/TheSucideTheory'': In Steve's opening scene, he is talking with a convenience store owner about his (Steve's) pregnant wife when another customer interrupts him to buy cigarettes. Steve catches up with him down the street and beats him to death with the pint of ice cream he just bought, showing that while he loves his wife, he is also a stone-cold killer. |
| 534 | * ''Film/SupermanTheMovie'' establishes the famed Man of Steel three separate times; each time is awesome. |
| 535 | ** The first time is when the baby Kal-El reaches Earth. The baby crawls up out of the wrecked spacecraft and raises his arms to the stunned Ma and Pa Kent (whose characters are established here as well). Moments later as Pa Kent is changing the tires the jack goes loose and the truck nearly crushes him. But it doesn't--because the little baby caught the thing and is holding it over his head, smiling sweetly at the awed humans. The kid can't read a nursery rhyme, and already he's starting his superhero career. |
| 536 | ** Ma Kent gushes about how she's begged and begged all her life for the Good Lord to give them a child as she looks at the infant from Krypton. As if on cue, the baby, who's never seen her a day in his life, spins around and hugs Ma Kent. Establishing Family Moment? |
| 537 | ** We flash to a teenage Clark Kent, whose acting as a waterboy for the football team. He's painfully shy around Lana Lang, his crush and can't even talk to her unless she talks to him. And rather than beat the snot out of her smug jerkass boyfriend, he grudgingly gets back to work. In a fit of rage he kicks the football when no one's looking, seemingly into orbit. Already Clark is learning how to hide his true nature, how to control the urge to simply overpower his foes, and we see his famous awkwardness around women. |
| 538 | ** Lastly, the Fortress of Solitude scene climaxes his training and his lessons from Jor-El with the first appearance of the adult Clark Kent/Kal-El, dressed in the classic blue suit and flowing red cape. As the RousingMusic blasts away in the background, he flies away from the Fortress of Solitude, the first demonstration of his greatest known ability. (This leads directly to the first appearance of adult Clark Kent in alter-ego form as he arrives for his first day of work at the Daily Planet. This establishes [[ClarkKenting the classic Kent bumbling and aloof disguise.]]) |
| 539 | * ''Film/{{Surrounded}}'': Wheeler is quickly established as one of the least racist white people in the movie when Curly, the stagecoach driver, degradingly forces Mo to give up her weapon, and Wheeler pointedly asks if he needs to do the same and shoots Mo a sympathetic glance after Curly says no. |
| 540 | * The first scene in ''Film/{{Swordfish}}'' is Creator/JohnTravolta's character {{Deconstructi|on}}ng Hollywood's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NG-Z6-nFQBo traditional portrayal of bank robberies]]. By itself, it tells a lot about the mindset of his character, but what really makes it an EstablishingCharacterMoment is what happens afterward. He walks out of the café, convince the [[spoiler:heavily armed SWAT team]] to move out of his way by [[spoiler:bringing up a detonator]] and cross the street to where he [[spoiler:has a bank robbery in progress]], revealing that the people he has been talking to are [[spoiler:hostage negotiators]]. |
| 541 | * ''Film/TheSwordOfDoom'''s very first scene has Ryunosuke quietly show up behind a Buddhist pilgrim praying for death, walk up to him, and kill him with a single blow, wearing a blank, intense stare all the while. |
| 542 | * Sarah Connor doing pull ups in ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay'' showed she TookALevelInBadass at the cost of her sanity. Said pull ups are being done on the leg of a bed she has flipped over, her options being somewhat limited as she's currently a mental patient. |
| 543 | * In his first appearance in ''Film/TheThiefOfBagdad1924'', the thief appears to be sleeping on top of a stone platform above a water fountain. When a traveler stops to drink, the thief steals his purse. |
| 544 | * In one of the first scenes of ''Film/TheThing1982'', [=MacReady=] is playing chess with a computer. When he loses, he pours his scotch into the CPU and calls the program a cheating bitch. In the long run, the outburst tells a lot about his character; [[spoiler:in the end, he'd rather burn down the whole facility than let the Thing win, just as he'd rather fry the computer than admit defeat to it]]. |
| 545 | * The first time we see Nick Charles in ''Film/TheThinMan'', he's telling a bunch of ''professional bartenders'' how to mix classic cocktails. ("The important thing is the rhythm. Always have rhythm in your shaking. Now a Manhattan, you shake to fox-trot time, a Bronx to two-step time... And a dry martini, you always shake to waltz time.") Despite him basically telling them how to do their own jobs, they're all obviously charmed and quite attentive. This shows that Nick knows his cocktails better than anyone on Earth, and that he's a charismatic, fast talker. |
| 546 | * ''Film/{{Tombstone}}'' |
| 547 | ** Doc Holliday's first appearance, where he flirts with his prostitute girlfriend Kate, wins a hand of poker with two sour card players, stabs the meaner one when he tries to make a move, and then calmly exits the tavern with his winnings. [[TheAlcoholic All while blasted drunk.]] |
| 548 | ** Johnny Ringo matching wits and gunplay with Doc establishes them as rivals. |
| 549 | ** Before that, there's also the opening scene, where, upon invading and pillaging a Mexican wedding, all the other Cowboys leave the priest alone. When the priest approaches them, swearing at them in Spanish and telling them about the [[{{Foreshadowing}} four horsemen coming for their souls]], the other Cowboys just laugh him off and try to ignore the priest, [[EvenEvilHasStandards not wanting to harm a holy man]], but Johnny pulls out his revolver and guns the priest down, then translates for the others [[WickedCultured what the priest was saying in Spanish]], showing that he's both educated and a [[AxCrazy complete psychopath.]] |
| 550 | ** Upon arriving in the titular town, Wyatt Earp sees a man abusing an unruly horse with a whip, something he [[BerserkButton takes exception to.]] Earp snatches the whip out of the guy's hand and gives him a couple thwacks, saying "Hurts, doesn't it?", establishing him as someone who will protect the innocent at all costs, and [[GoodIsNotSoft be utterly ruthless in doing so.]] |
| 551 | * ''Film/TradingPlaces'': |
| 552 | ** The Duke Brothers and Louis Winthorpe each get one in the opening scene which show the wealth they have spent their life surrounded by and how cold it has made them. However, a key distinction is shown in that Winthorpe is capable of being somewhat cordial to his butler Coleman as well as his Duke & Duke assistants while the Dukes don't say a word to any of their servants as they ritually greet them, in a manner which heavily implies they have been forced to do so, or even look any of them in the eye. This shows that Winthorpe isn't totally a bad guy, just snobby and cut off from the world, while showing how awful the Dukes are. |
| 553 | ** In his first scene, [[DirtyCop Clarence Beeks]] accidentally bumps into someone walking down the street, [[KickTheDog and forcefully throws him to the side]]. |
| 554 | * ''Film/TragedyGirls'' begins with Sadie and [=McKayla=] setting up their classmate to die, using him to capture a SerialKiller. Rather than express a whit of remorse or horror about their classmate's death or the killer's actions, they gloat about their victory, complain about the shoddy tasers they bought of Amazon, and then knock him out together. |
| 555 | * The coffee shop meeting of Detective Alonzo Harris and Officer Jake Hoyt in ''Film/TrainingDay''. |
| 556 | * In ''Film/{{Trainspotting}}'', the scene at the beginning of the film introduces the five leads acting out their Establishing Character Moments as part of a football game: [[GuileHero Sick Boy]] fouls, and shouts "What?" as if trying to look innocent; [[BloodKnight Begbie]] dropkicks one of the opposing team-members, wearing a delighted grin as he gets up; [[ButtMonkey Spud]] acts as goalie, completely misses an incoming ball and gets yelled at by his own team; Tommy gets caught in a corner and tries valiantly to escape without performing a foul; finally, Renton gets hit in the head with the ball and collapses- all the while narrating sarcastically. |
| 557 | * Will building a Faraday cage as a "private place" in his and Evelyn's garden in ''Film/{{Transcendence}}''. She said they needed a "place to be alone together", and he made sure that ''no-one'' could disturb them there. Ergo, he is ProudToBeAGeek and they are HappilyMarried -- but he is so bashful and awkward he can only really say it with odd gestures like this. Once he is uploaded, he has godlike power and is able to do far, far more for her -- so much more that she has difficulty comparing those godlike actions with his previous gestures. |
| 558 | * ''Film/{{Troy}}'': Achilles wakes up from a threesome, several hours late for a battle and after being called up to fight some gigantic champion in a duel. He runs up and just casually stabs him in the neck. |
| 559 | * ''Film/TwiceRoundTheDaffodils'': |
| 560 | ** We first see John rudely brushing off the minibus driver's offer to take his suitcase with a retort of "I don't need any help, I'm not ill", showing the viewer he isn't afraid to be forward with people and that he doesn't believe his illness is a real issue. |
| 561 | ** Ian is introduced by giving a flirtatious hello to Nurse Beamish, setting him up as TheCasanova. |
| 562 | * ''Film/{{Umma}}'': Amanda's uncle brazenly driving past the sign reading, "No motorized vehicles beyond this point", much to her displeasure. |
| 563 | * ''Film/TheUsualSuspects'' getting arrested one at a time. |
| 564 | * ''{{Film/Vamps}}'': Cisserus calling over Goody and Stacy from across town to model dresses she brought because since she can't take a picture of herself or look in a mirror, she wants to see them wearing those clothes so she can imagine how much better ''she'd'' look in them (later dialogue reveals she's been doing this for a long time and only kept Stacy alive instead of draining her to be a second model), and then summons a pizza boy who she feeds on offscreen, quickly establishing her as vain, demanding and uncaring towards human life. |
| 565 | * ''Film/WarlockIIITheEndOfInnocence'': The main cast all get one of these as the camera moves through their dorm and zooms in on each of their rooms. Kris is a shy art student, her boyfriend Michael is a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, Jerry is a musician and harbors unrequited feelings for Kris, Scott and Lisa are both into bdsm, and Robin practices magic. |
| 566 | * ''Film/TheWayWayBack'' starts off with the much-quoted-by-reviewers scene where Steve Carell's character asks the 14-year-old protagonist how he rates himself on a scale of 1 to 10; upon hearing a 6, he tells the kid he's a 3. |
| 567 | * Creator/KellyLeBrock's character immortal intro from ''Film/WeirdScience''. |
| 568 | -->'''Lisa:''' So, what do you maniacs want to do next? |
| 569 | * ''Film/WestSideStory1961'': No scene identifies the Jets better than the first few minutes where they tersely walk across the playground, snapping in rhythm, but walk around a small girl making a chalk drawing on the asphalt... [[EvenEvilHasStandards taking care not to step on her art]]! Unity! Toughness! Tension! Anger! All revealed in seconds... as well as a core sense of propriety and human decency. |
| 570 | * ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'': |
| 571 | ** Judge Doom's introduction has him demonstrating what the Dip that he created does to Toons (and his general attitude towards them) by melting an adorable toon shoe alive in it. |
| 572 | ** Eddie Valiant is firmly established as a Toon-hater and TheAlcoholic when the first things we see him do are derisively say "Toons" like an ethnic slur and take a swig from a bottle. |
| 573 | ** Jessica Rabbit's first appearence quickly establishes how different she is from the other toons through setting up the BaitAndSwitch that she's just like every other toon, only to debut in a sultry song and dance that makes the toon-hating Eddie drop his jaw. |
| 574 | ** Lt. Santino gets his when he walks disapprovingly through Eddie's place, rudely wakes him up out of his drunken sleep, and then references Eddie's photography job with "If you needed money so badly, why didn't you come to ''me''?" This sets him up as tough, no-nonsense, but ultimately a good guy who cares about his friend. |
| 575 | * In ''Film/WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory'' we finally see the titular character, leaning on a cane and slowly limping toward the crowd, then he stiffens and falls... only to gracefully roll into a somersault and stand up triumphantly. Creator/GeneWilder not only conceived this scene, but insisted on it as a condition of taking the role. He wanted to show the audience, from the very beginning, that we never know whether Wonka is telling the truth or not. |
| 576 | * ''Film/XMenFilmSeries'': |
| 577 | ** [[Film/XMen1 The original film]] has one that also serves as an EstablishingSeriesMoment. It opens with young Erik Lehnsherr arriving in a concentration camp. He's torn from his parents by the guards and in the traumatic attempt to fight his way back to them, his mutant power activates. In one scene you learn all you need to know about Magneto's motivations and drives. It also underscores [[FantasticRacism the theme]] that would drive the whole franchise |
| 578 | ** ''Film/XMenFirstClass'': |
| 579 | *** When we first see Xavier as a kid, the framed photos on his night table are of Charles Darwin, Hedy Lamarr (who was both a Hollywood sex symbol and the [[http://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/shortcuts/2011/dec/04/hedy-lamarr-wifi co-inventor of a radio-guided torpedo system]]) and Albert Einstein. He would later grow up to be a scientist with an appreciation for both brains and beauty. Charles is very brave even as a child because when he suspects that a burglar has broken into his home, instead of alerting his parents or a servant, he grabs a baseball bat and approaches the intruder by himself. The first meeting between a young Charles Xavier and Raven Darkholme established her isolation due to her appearance, and the fact that she is willing to latch on to anyone who accepts her, and it showed his kindness and delight at finding other people who were different. |
| 580 | *** The Nazi scientist, Dr. Klaus Schmidt, tries to get the young Erik to use his powers to move a coin, first by using a chocolate bar and when that doesn't work... he then shoots Erik's mother in the face. And when the kid has a BSOD and tears the place up with his metal powers, the guy laughs with satisfaction. The funny thing is, the Nazi scientist persona was a cover for his true identity, but that moment told you precisely the kind of a son of a ''bitch'' from hell you were dealing with. Schmidt actually gets a really superb visual example of this trope, the first shot of him shows him dressed in very professorial clothing and sitting at an elegant desk with [[WickedCultured books and fine furniture]], before the next camera angle shows us that the left-hand wall of his room is a glass door leading into [[FauxAffablyEvil a prison cell with a wall covered in torture tools.]] |
| 581 | *** The following scene shows an adult Erik sitting silently in a hotel room, fiddling with the same coin using his powers. He stares at a wall papered with pictures of notable Nazis, including a hand drawing of Dr. Schmidt. He looks at it for a moment before [[{{Foreshadowing}} spearing the picture of Schmidt with the coin]]. Everything we need to know about how this man becomes Magneto is right in that scene. |
| 582 | ** ''Film/TheWolverine'': Yukio walks in a bar, [[DeadpanSnarker quips on the idiocy]] of Wolverine's foes (and that they'll be dead soon, as per her seer powers), then proceeds to [[CurbStompBattle effortlessly]] puts them on their place. Yukio then walks away unfazed as if she does that on a daily basis. |
| 583 | ** ''Film/Deadpool2016'': Ajax, better known as Francis, walks in Wade's room, tells him he ''could'' speak in [[YouWontFeelAThing euphemisms]] ("This may hurt", "take a deep breath", etc.), but since he's completely insensitive (both [[TheSociopath emotionally]] and [[FeelNoPain physically]]) he doesn't really give a crap, so he just says what he'll actually do: Torture Wade mercilessly until his mutant gene activates. Then he proceeds to do exactly that. |
| 584 | ** ''Film/{{Logan}}'': The first glimpse we get from Dr. Zander Rice is from Gabriela's [[VideoWills video recording]] where he berates one of the nurses for [[PetTheDog giving a birthday party to the Transigen children]] because he doesn't view them as people, and would rather have them treated as objects and experiments. That should tell you everything you need [[TheSociopath to know]] [[MadScientist about him]]. |
| 585 | * ''Film/XXx'' has an interesting example in the form of a deleted scene. A quick cut of Xander Cage on a flight to the Czech Republic was originally part of a longer sequence in which he discusses his mission (in the guise of it being a video game) [[NiceToTheWaiter with a young boy who had wandered back to his seat]]. In the accompanying commentary, the director reveals it was cut ''because'' it was an Establishing Character Moment, and would have pegged Xander as clearly one of the good guys too early in the film. |
| 586 | * Creator/RubyRose's character in ''Film/XXxReturnOfXanderCage'' is first shown on the African savannah, looking through the scope of a sniper rifle at a lion. She calmly takes aim...[[BaitAndSwitch and then shoots the poachers who were preparing to kill the lion]], making sure to give them wounding shots so the lion can enjoy some live prey when it finds them. |
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