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{{trope}}{{Needs Image}}
When an established existing medium ventures into the [[Expanded Universe]], writers will often rely heavily on familiar characters and past storylines from the official [[Canon]] to ensure that fans of the original material are happy. Unlike the original canon, however, an "expanded universe" adaptation also gives the writers freedom to introduce new, "never before seen" characters, as the production staff enjoys their newfound liberation from whatever codes and limitations ruled the original work.
Often, these new characters will be added to fill a particular need in the new story, and add some degree of novelty to attract readers/watchers. Frequently, they'll also fill some gap in the current cast, such as adding a female character to an all-male cast, or imposing some other element of diversity, be it racial, geographic, or simply personality. This can spark new conflicts and adventures that wouldn't otherwise occur under the limitations of the "conventional" cast and series format — one of the main points of "expanded universe" fiction to begin with.
Depending on how well the character fits into the adaptation or how much the fans like the character, Canon Foreigners can either be much beloved or much hated, and if popular enough, may be [[Ret Canon
[[Filler Villain]] is a [[Sub-Trope]] of this.
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See [[God-Created Canon Foreigner]] when this character comes from the original creator.
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== Anime
* All seventeen of the ''[[Dragon Ball]]'' [[Non-Serial Movie|movies]], apart from ''Mystical Adventure'' and ''The Path to Power'', featured original characters who were never seen in the original manga, although Garlic Jr. from ''Dead Zone'' did appear in an [[Filler Arc|anime-only story arc]] in the TV series, as did Gohan's pet dragon from ''The Tree of Might''.
** Bardock from the TV special: ''Bardock - The Father of Goku'' briefly cameos in the manga; several of his allies and enemies who starred in the special do not.
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** She is also in the semi canonical Mihoshi Special (Which in canon is Mihoshi telling a story which may or may not be based on real events) and the movie Daughter of Darkness which takes place in the OVA continuity.
* Kitazawa Ken, Professor Utonium's son from ''[[Demashita! Powerpuff Girls Z]]''.
* Sasuke Sarugakure, the ninja servant of the Kunō family in the ''[[Ranma ½
* Liu Kowloon, Eva Durix, Oni-Maru and Alexander the [[Non-Human Sidekick|flying squirrel]] from the ''[[Virtua Fighter]]'' anime seires.
* The ''[[Fatal Fury]]'' anime movies had Lily McGwire and Tony in the TV specials, as well Sulia Gaudeamus, Laocorn Gaudeamus, Panni, Hauer and Jamin in ''[[The Movie|The Motion Picture]]''.
* The ''[[Art of Fighting]]'' TV special only had one, Ray. Sadly Ray [[C-List Fodder|wasn't long for this world]], though [[Video Game Movies Suck|with this movie]] he probably was better off.
* Homura, the [[Big Bad]] of the second season of ''Gensoumaden [[Saiyuki]]'', and his two henchmen, Zenon and Shien. Homura didn't make it to [[Canon Immigrant]] status, but original manga-ka Minekura Kazuya did write and illustrate an [[Omake]] chapter about him.
* The characters Crys Mu, Dark Mu and Hattori Kinzo in the ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' OVA series.
* Li Mei-ling from ''[[Cardcaptor Sakura]]'', as well as piles upon piles of new cards.
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** And given the nature of the [[Pokémon (anime)|Pokémon]] anime, there are numerous recurring characters not based on any original game characters, the most notable being [[Terrible Trio|Jessie, James and Meowth]].
** Pokemon manga in general have many characters who aren't counterparts to any in the games.
* Miyu Edelfelt from ''[[Fate Kaleid Liner Prisma Ilya]]'' is, thus far, the only character who doesn't have a counterpart of some sort in normal ''[[Fate/stay night|Fate Stay Night]]'' continuity.
* ''[[The Slayers]]'' anime featured Zangulus in the first series, Martina in the second, Filia and Valgaav in the third, and Pokota in the fourth and fifth.
* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' has many, but one of the most notable would be Noah Kaiba; the character would be the actual son of Gozaburo Kaiba (Mokuba and Seto's foster father), who conveniently died right before Mokuba and Seto arrived at the Kaiba manor. He also looks a lot like Seto, even though they're not blood-related.
* ''[[Inuyasha]]'' has a few. Ayame, a wolf-demon girl and supposed bride-to-be to Koga; Akitoki Hojo, a past ancestor of one of Kagome's classmates. Kagome's friends, Eri, Ayumi, and Yuka, could also be considered as such. While they appear in the manga only one of them (Eri) is named and they hardly have any parts to play as opposed to the anime where they're used for many a filler.
* ''[[Magic Knight Rayearth]]'' has Innouva (season 1), plus Nova, Debonair and Sierra (season 2).
* ''[[Code Geass]]'' has several due to its various spinoff manga and video games, including literal [[Evil Twin
* The ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann|Gurren Lagann]]'' manga introduces Nia's eldest sister, Princess Straea, who was discarded many years ago only to have chosen to serve her father by running the all-women village for him, and now wants Nia to take her place.
* ''[[Bleach]]'' inverts this with the Mod-Souls, who are introduced in the Anime Filler and stick around as barely-noteworthy assistants in Urahara's shop. The last noteworthy thing that we see of them is them is helping Renji defeat a filler villain.
* ''[[Persona 4: The Animation|Persona 4 The Animation]]'' has the minor recurring character [[Aoi Yuki|Aika Nakamura]]. But since ''[[Persona 4]]'' is getting an [[Updated Rerelease]] she ''might'' become a [[Canon Immigrant]].
* Traditionally there are [[The Four Gods|four Saint Beasts]] as was the case in ''[[Angel Tales]]'' with Goh, Shin, Rey and Gai filling these roles. When ''[[Angel Tales]]'' spawned a rather different [[Spin-Off]], ''[[Saint Beast]]'', Judas and Luca were created to be the main characters and the Saint Beasts became six instead. Also, instead of the goddess, Zeus became the head god of heaven.
==
* While Archie Comics' ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures]]'', was originally meant to be a [[Recursive Adaptation]] of the original cartoon, it eventually featured a good dozen original characters. The most prominent were allies Ninjara, Oyuki Mamishi, and Cudley the Cowlick; and villains Armaggon, Verminator X, Null, and Maligna.
* And while we're on an Archie kick: in ''[[Archie Comics Sonic the Hedgehog]]'',
** ''[[Sonic the Comic]]'' (alternately known as ''Fleetway Sonic'') also contained many canon foreigners, supposedly based on the various critters released from Badniks in the first Sonic game, such as Johnny Lightfoot (a rabbit) and [[Punny Name|Porker Lewis]] (a pig). It also included squirrel turned invincible Badnik "Shortfuse the Cybernik", and a whole legion of [[Mecha-Mooks]] known as "Troopers".
*** The rarely seen Sonic manga released by Shogakukan in 1992 also had some canon foreigners of it's own. Aside from the three main characters of the games at that time, it also featured Nikki as an ordinary version of Sonic, Nikki's family (Anita, Brenda and Paulie), Little John, Anton, Madd, [[Canon Immigrant|Amy and Charmy]].
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* The ''[[Star Trek]]'' comics produced by DC in [[The Eighties]] featured a plethora of original characters, until they were told to cease doing so. None of them have ever been heard from again.
** The story I heard with that was that Roddenberry, basically pushed off actively supervising TNG after the first season, was given complete charge over the comics instead. Frustrated and beginning to see his final decline in health, he used his authority to x out any non-canon characters, a restriction that drove away Peter David, who was writing a memorable run on TOS comics at that point.
*** Peter David himself has managed to bring some of these characters back in his [[Expanded Universe]] novels. ''[[Star Trek: The
* As with ''Star Trek'', the ''[[Star Wars]]'' comics added dozens if not hundreds of new characters. Two of
* In the late 1980s, [[DC Comics]] did a ''[[Doc Savage]]'' series that centres around Doc being moved through time to the present day. The series included Doc's grandson and a team of new aides Doc assembled (as his original aides were now all old men). While interesting, these characters are unlikely to appear in any other version of the [[Doc Savage]] saga.
* ''[[Disney Adventures]]'' ran a one-shot comic taking place after the original ''[[Toy Story (franchise)|Toy Story]]''. The story revolved around Speck, the puppy Andy got at the end of the movie. This was written years before ''Toy Story 2'', which introduced his canon equivalent, Buster.
** In DA's ''[[Darkwing Duck]]'' comics, there was a popular recurring villain named Fluffy, a super-intelligent housecat with a [[Powered Armor|robotic suit of armor]], who never appeared in the official canon.
* The early ''[[Doctor Who]]'' comics had John and Gillian, the Doctor's ''other'' grandchildren, and other, less well-remembered companions. ''[[Doctor Who Magazine]]'' comics had Sharon (companion to the Fourth Doctor), Sir Justin and Angus "Gus" Goodman (companions to the Fifth Doctor) Frobisher (long-running companion to the Sixth, and briefly, Seventh Doctors), Izzy, Fey, Kroton (a [[Defector From Decadence|rogue Cyberman]]) and Destrii (companions to the Eighth Doctor) and the Tenth Doctor has Majenta Pryce. Other comics have featured other companions. The comic in ''Doctor Who Adventures'' has Heather McCrimmon and Wolfgang Ryter as companions to the Tenth Doctor.
** As well as companions, the DWM strip featured other recurring characters such as Max Edison and Colonel Muriel Frost. The latter ''might'' be a [[Canon Immigrant]] as "Major Frost" in "Aliens of London", in which case [[Death by Cameo|she's dead]].
* In the early 90s, ''[[Nintendo Power]]'' published a series of comic adaptations of whatever game Nintendo was hyping during the year. They published ''[[Super Mario]] Adventures'' (loosely based on ''[[Super Mario World (video game)|Super Mario World]]'') and ''[[The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past]]'' in 1992, ''[[Star Fox (series)|Star
* Marvel loved to do this in the 1980s with their adaptations from other media. They seemed to enjoy introducing relatives to certain characters; fathers, sons, and brothers, ESPECIALLY brothers! In ''[[Dino Riders]]'', Questar's brother pops up at the end of the 1st issue. In ''[[Defenders of the Earth]]'', The Phantom has to confront his evil brother. ''[[G.I. Joe]]'' has two examples: The Baroness blames Snake Eyes for killing her brother.... And oh yeah, Cobra Commander has a son.
* Various ''[[Transformers]]'' comic lines have loads of this, introducing original Transformers, like Primus, Scrounge and Jhiaxus that never were in the toylines before. And with the... eagerness Transformers fans display, many of these characters reach [[Canon Immigrant]] status, earning their own toylines.
* The ''[[Mortal Kombat]]'' comic by Malibu, in addition to featuring drastically different portrayals of canonical characters (the original Sub-Zero and Baraka were both good guys, while Kitana is romantically involved with Kung Lao instead of Liu Kang), also featured several characters exclusive to the books such as Hydro, a Lin-Kuei ally of Sub-Zero and the twins Sing and Sang. Most of them were written so that the characters could use their Fatalities without killing any of the major characters from the games.
* Ninja Turtles again: IDW's [[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IDW|Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]] book, while focusing mostly on characters brought in from other TMNT incarnations, has also introduced a handful of new characters of its own, such as cat mutant Old Hob, who was mutated at the same time as the turtles; and Alopex, a mutant artic fox.
* The DC Comics ''[[Powerpuff Girls]]'' book introduced the [[The Psycho Rangers|Powerpunk Girls]], who are popular in fan fiction.
* Agent Phil Coulson, from the [[Marvel Cinematic Universe]], has recently{{when}} been imported into the mainstream 616 comic continuity.
== Films -- Animation ==
* Lola Bunny in ''[[Space Jam]]'' would eventually become a [[Looney Tunes]] [[Canon Immigrant]], with analogues in ''[[Baby Looney Tunes]]'', ''[[Loonatics Unleashed]]'', and ''[[The Looney Tunes Show]]''.
* Wybie in the ''[[Coraline (animation)|Coraline]]'' [[The Film of the Book|movie]].
* ''[[Astro Boy (film)|Astro Boy]]'' 2009 has ''loads''
* The Doorknob in Disney's ''[[Alice in Wonderland (Disney film)|Alice in Wonderland]]'' is the only character in the entire movie who was not originally created by [[Lewis Carroll]].
* The Night Fury dragons are actually found only in the [[How to Train Your Dragon (animation)|film adaptation]] of ''[[How to Train Your Dragon (novel)|How to Train Your Dragon]]''. In the books, Toothless was much smaller and looked more like a Terrible Terror dragon than a Night Fury dragon.
* Thumper and Flower in ''[[Bambi]]''.
* Gopher in Disney's ''[[Winnie the Pooh]]'' cartoons. This gets (stealth) lampshaded:
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*** It's possible that Figwit could be one of the present, but forgotten people at the Council of Elrond, like Erestor.
*** Figwit has now been retconned into Lindir, a very minor but canonical Elf from the book, with a return (preturn?) appearance scheduled in the upcoming ''[[The Hobbit]]'' movie.
* ''[[The Hobbit (film)|The Hobbit]]'' duology is also confirmed to have a
* Yet another ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (film)|Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' example; as in the original cartoon, they outnumber the actual canon characters. Tatsu, (TMNT I and II), Tokka, Rahzar (TMNT II), all the introduced characters in TMNT III and Max Winters (TMNT IV) are the most notable.
* The ''[[Death Note]]'' movies added a female police officer named Sanami as an [[Affirmative Action Girl]]. There's also Light's girlfriend from the first movie.
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** Also the film features an Expy for the Invisible Man because they couldn't get the rights to the H. G. Wells character.
* [[God Mode Sue|Alice]], in the ''[[Resident Evil (film)|Resident Evil]]'' films, [[Spotlight-Stealing Squad|to the point of overshadowing the canon characters]].
* [[Unfazed Everyman|Agent Myers]] from ''[[Hellboy (film)|Hellboy]]'' ([[Written
* ''[[Clue (film)|Clue]]'' the movie had Wadsworth the butler. {{spoiler|Wadsworth can also be considered a result of [[Third Option Adaptation]]; that way, at least one of the endings - the last to be shown on editions that show all three in sequence, implying its canonicity - would have a culprit who wasn't one of the playable characters.}}
* Robert Hammond, a U.S. Senator and the father of Hector Hammond, in the ''[[Green Lantern (film)|Green Lantern]]'' film.
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** In the second, Blade and Whistler were essentially the only comic characters to be featured in the movie. While there was a team called the ''Blood Pack'' in the original material, the individual members featured in the movie were new.
** Like the Blood Pack, the third film featured a team of vampire hunters that were lifted from the comics called ''Night Stalkers'', but Hannibal King was the only member taken from the comic series. Whistler did not have a superhero daughter and the rest were completely new characters. Also, while [[Marvel Comics]] did have a version of [[Dracula]] that has fought Blade many times, this film featured a version that was taken in a different direction.
* Aunt Millicent in [[Peter Pan (film)|the 2003 version]] of ''[[Peter Pan]]''.
== Literature ==
* Although, like the comics, the [[Star Trek Expanded Universe]] novels were forbidden to use original recurring characters in the late '80s-early '90s, those restrictions were gone by the late '90s and the modern novels are given a lot more leeway for Canon Foreigner characters, and there are whole book ''series'' that aren't based on the shows and are populated mostly by Canon Foreigners or [[Ascended Extra]] characters (e.g. ''[[Star Trek: Titan|Titan]], [[Star Trek: Vanguard|Vanguard]], [[Starfleet Corps of Engineers|Corps of Engineers]], [[Star Trek: Klingon Empire|IKS Gorkon]]'', and even ''[[Star Trek: Department of Temporal Investigations|Department of Temporal Investigations]]'').
** In spite of their popularity and critical importance in the ''[[Star Trek]]'' [[Expanded Universe]], neither [[Star Trek: New Frontier|Captain Calhoun]] nor [[Star Trek Deep Space Nine
*** Although one major character created for the ''[[Star Trek:
* [[Virgin New Adventures|Virgin Publishing's New Adventures range of novels]] for ''[[Doctor Who]]'' created a number of new companions for the Seventh Doctor, including [[Bernice Summerfield]], Roz Forrester and Chris Cwej. [[Virgin Missing Adventures|Virgin's Missing Adventures]] had Grant Markham, a short-lived companion to the Sixth Doctor. BBC Books' [[Eighth Doctor Adventures]] range had Samantha Jones, Fitz Kreiner, Compassion, Anji Kapoor, and Trix MacMillan.
** Innumerable new villains have occurred in the [[Doctor Who Expanded Universe]]. One, [[Faction Paradox]], the [[Evil Counterpart]] to the Time Lords, spun off into its own sub-universe of audio plays, comics and novels. They began in novels.
* Hotblack Desiato and Disaster Area in ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy/The Restaurant At The End of The Universe|The Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy]]'' and subsequently the TV version of ''[[The
* ''[[Little Witch Academia: The Nonsensical Witch and the Country of the Fairies]]'' introduces three new characters not seen in the [[Little Witch Academia (2017 series)|series]]: Alan the dog, Feoras the cat, and Sifla, who is the guardian of Doras Hill.
== Live Action TV ==
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* Chloe Sullivan, of ''[[Smallville]]''. Curiously, she is the only member of the original cast other than Clark to be on the show for all ten seasons.
* Jack McGee from ''[[The Incredible Hulk (TV series)|The Incredible Hulk]]''. A really prominent example in that he's a canon foreigner who has been worked into a very well known catch phrase.
* Kivaara, a tiny Kivat for the world of ''[[Kamen Rider Kiva]]'' and Kamen Rider Abyss, a shark-themed Rider for ''[[Kamen Rider Ryuki]]'', both appear for the first time in the series' [[Crisis Crossover]], ''[[Kamen Rider Decade|Decade]]''.
* How much you consider ''[[Power Rangers]]'' an adaptation of ''[[Super Sentai]]'' is variable (depending on the season. You get some that are all their own and just borrow some fight footage, and some that are shot-for-shot remakes.) but in addition to non-sentai supporting casts, ''[[Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue]]'' has the Titanium Ranger, a [[Sixth Ranger]] that doesn't exist in any form in the original series, which it is otherwise quite similar to. The Spirit Rangers may or may not count (the characters existed; that storyline and their getting shiny suits didn't.)
** ''[[Power Rangers RPM]]'' has an attack with the wheels of the suits that didn't appear in Go-onger.
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* ''[[Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon]]'' has loads of stuff. First there was Dark Mercury and then later Luna gained a human form, Sailor Luna. Unfortunately a lot of fans bellyache about Sailor Luna when she was a massive improvement on Chibi-Usa, who we'd have got otherwise!
* Cameron Phillips and Derek Reese from ''[[The Sarah Connor Chronicles]]'' don't exist as far as the ''[[Terminator]]'' movies are concerned.
* Insofar as we can call hundreds of years of legend "canon", the 1980s series ''[[Robin of Sherwood]]'' introduced the idea of including a Saracen to Robin Hood's outlaws, a figure that was popular enough to be included in Kevin Costner's ''Prince of Thieves'' and again the BBC's 2006 ''[[Robin Hood (TV series)|Robin Hood]]''. The latter television series also introduced original characters Isabella (Guy of Gisborne's sister) and Kate (Locksley village girl) as [[Affirmative Action Girl
* [[Xena: Warrior Princess]] functions as something of a Canon Foreigner to [[Classical Mythology]]. Her story takes place as the same time as ''[[Hercules: The Legendary Journeys]]'', and featured the same Greek Gods, placing her squarely in the same area as the actual mythical Hercules.
* Ros the whore in ''[[Game of Thrones]]'', who serves equally well as [[Ms. Fanservice]] and [[The Watson]], for especially thorny bits of exposition. George RR Martin has said he intends to give her a cameo in a later book, so she may soon get promoted to [[Canon Immigrant]].
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* Cyber Spider from the ''Bucky O'Hare'' arcade game.
* The ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' video games by [[Konami]] managed to avoid this for most parts, but there have been a few exceptions:
** Aska from the SNES version of ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Tournament Fighters|Tournament Fighters]]'' is probably the most notable example. She was basically created to fill in the gap as [[The Chick|token chick]], since the other females in the game were the final boss Karai and [[
** Sisyphus the mutant beetle from the Genesis version of ''Tournament Fighters'' was never in any other ''TMNT'' media, although its easy to think otherwise due to the number of anthropomorphic characters that were introduced to the toyline in later years.
** Tora and Shogun Warrior from the NES port of ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles the Arcade Game]]'' added to serve as bosses to the two NES-exclusive [[Adaptation Expansion|extra stages]].
* The various third-party ''[[Mega Man (video game)|Mega Man]]'' productions add characters that would never be seen
* The [[Manipulative Bastard|insidious]] House Ordos from the ''[[Dune]]'' RTS games by Westwood Studios.
* Turned on its head in ''[[The King of Fighters]] 2002 Unlimited Match'': the new character Nameless was created specifically to take the place of K9999 from ''KOF 2001'', who was such a blatant [[Captain Ersatz|ripoff]] of [[Akira|Tetsuo Shima]] that SNK Playmore had trouble using him in later games.
* Reika Kirishima, one of the playable characters in ''[[Shikigami no Shiro]] III'', was originally the star of her own Laserdisc and Sega CD game called ''Time Gal''.
* Mew Ringo from the [[
* Wolfduck was a villain that only appeared in the ''[[Darkwing Duck]]'' video game.
* The ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'' canon excludes all the original characters from ''Ghost Babel'' and the ''Acid'' games. If you wish to go further, there's also Twin Shot, one of the replacement bosses from the NES version of the original ''[[Metal Gear]]'', as well as John Turner and Nick Myer, Snake's FOXHOUND comrades from ''Snake's Revenge'' (as well as the "Metal Gear 2" mecha from the same game).
** Teliko and Venus from the ''[[Metal Gear Acid]]'' games did, however, make cameo appearances as playable characters in the canon game ''[[Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops]]''. In that game, they were described by the other characters as 'aliens'.
** Definitely Vermon CaTaffy and Higharolla Kockamamie from the NES ''Metal Gear'' games. Although neither character actually existed to begin with.
* One of the more extreme examples would be Nicole-458 from ''[[Dead or Alive]] 4'', who doesn't appear in ''any'' work from the ''[[Halo]]'' universe she comes from.
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* ''[[Scarface the World Is Yours]]'' has Felix and The Sandman.
* ''[[The Godfather]]: [[The Godfather (video game)|The Game]]'' has such characters as Monk and Frances Malone, "Jaggy" Jovino and The Trojan. {{spoiler|It doesn't end well for most of them.}}
* The Oppositio Senshi in ''[[Sailor Moon: Another Story]]''. Evil counterparts to the Inner Senshi and Moon.
* [[Heroic Mime|Ezekiel Holloway]] and [[Big Bad|Atticus Thorn]] in ''[[The Haunted Mansion]]'' game.
* ''[[Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions]]'' has a few, mostly in the form of the Hammerhead from the Noir universe, the developers said that he felt like a perfect fit (he ''did'' fit quite well), 2099 Hobgoblin, as well as {{spoiler|a female Dr. Octopus from 2099}}, there's also the DS versions, which have Noir Calypso, and 2099 Silvermane.
* Mana Kirishima of the ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' game ''Girlfriend of Steel''. A [[Third Option Love Interest]] introduced to shake up the existing Shinji/Asuka/Rei [[Love Triangle]], Mana was a [[Captain Ersatz]] mish-mash of the two existing
** ''2nd Impression'', a lesser known ''Evangelion'' game for the [[Sega Saturn]], had Mayumi Yamagishi. She was the [[Meganekko]] before [[Rebuild of Evangelion|Mari]] came around.
* In her ''[[Resident Evil]]'' novelizations, S.D. Perry introduced Trent, a renegade member of the Umbrella board of directors. His role was to pull strings from behind the scenes, assisting the heroes while sabotaging Umbrella's plans.
** The two original ''Resident Evil'' novels, ''Underworld'' and ''Caliban Cove'', were written back before the release of ''[[Resident Evil 3: Nemesis]]''. Two of the characters introduced therein, John Andrews and David Trapp of the Exeter S.T.A.R.S. unit, have a small fan following and occasionally appear to this day in fanfiction.
* All the main characters in ''[[Discworld Noir]]''. Canon characters such as Gaspode and Nobby Nobbs are limited to secondary roles. There is certainly no indication in the books that Lewton, or even the profession of [[Private Detective]], exists.
* ''[[The Simpsons Arcade]]'' game gives us all the bad guys in the game except for Mr. Burns, Smithers, the wrestler boss and the drunk boss.
* Android 21, the [[Big Bad]] of ''[[Dragonball Fighter Z]]'' seems to be a [[Distaff Counterpart]] of Majin Buu from ''[[Dragonball Z]]'', but with a very different backstory and origin. Fans [[Breakout Character|have expressed a desire]] for her to be featured in the anime, but the creators have said they have no idea where she'd fit in any established canon.
== Web Original ==
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== Western Animation ==
* The King of this trope would have to be [[Sonic the Hedgehog]]. The ''[[Sonic Sat AM|Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' series, affectionately known as ''SATAM'', has the most memorable ones. Princess Sally, Bunnie Rabbot, Rotor the Walrus, Antoine, Uncle Chuck, and Snively became amazingly popular.
** It's worth noting that the Freedom Fighters were originally based roughly off the small captive animals of the original games, even retaining their western names. However the concept was revamped before production and only a redesigned Sally Acorn (aka "Ricky") remained (though Rotor and Bunnie are arguably based off of Joe Sushi and Johnny Lightfoot respectively). Interestingly some of the Freedom Fighters (including the remodelled Sally for the show) cameoed in ''[[Sonic Spinball]]'' and were intended to be playable characters in canned titles, making for a somewhat complex [[Canon Immigrant]].
** Then there are [[Loads and Loads of Characters]] from ''[[Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog]]'', such as [[Mad Scientist|Prof Von Schlemer]], [[The Ace|McHopper]], and [[Honest John's Dealership|Wes Weasley]].
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** There's also a similar character named Spike who has a minor role in the live-action film ''The Last Stand''.
* Harry Grimoire of the ill-fated ''[[Darkstalkers]]'' cartoon.
* Red Claw, Gray Ghost, Baby Doll, Roland Daggett, Kyodai Ken, and H.A.R.D.A.C. from ''[[Batman: The Animated Series|Batman the Animated Series]]'', plus Harley Quinn, Renee Montoya and Lock-Up, three successful [[Canon Immigrant
** The Gray Ghost is now a Canon Immigrant as well.
* Ethan Bennett, Chief Angel Rojas, the Kabuki Twins, Temblor, and Scorn (but ''not'' Wrath, who was just very obscure) from ''[[The Batman]]''. Seeing as Ellen Yin is inspiredBy Ellen Yindel from ''[[The Dark Knight Returns]]'' with [[Race Lift]], she doesn't count.
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* Godzookie from the 70s ''[[Godzilla]]''.
* Eugene and Amani from ''The New Archies''.
* Indira "Indy" Daimonji and any villain who wasn't Electro, the Lizard, the Kingpin, Kraven, or Silver Sable in ''[[Spider-Man: The New Animated Series]]''.
* Gopher from the [[Disney Animated Canon|Disney version]] of ''The Many Adventures of [[Winnie the Pooh]].'' He [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshades]] this
** Darby, Christopher Robin's [[Suspiciously Similar Substitute]] in ''My Friends Tigger and Pooh''.
** Kessie the bluebird. Introduced in a few episodes of ''The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh'', before becoming a regular character in ''The Book of Pooh''.
** Lumpy the Heffalump as well.
* The Geek, a female child companion to ''[[Sam and Max Freelance Police (animation)|Sam and Max Freelance Police]]'', was created for the kid-friendly cartoon series. She was, however, created by the creator of the original comic books, with a light dash of [[Executive Meddling]]: originally he created The Geek as a male character, ''intended'' to make the series more kid's-TV-friendly, but when the network suggested Max be made female, he opted to make The Geek female instead. (A much more acceptable compromise.)
* Blade's mentor, Whistler, in ''[[Spider-Man: The Animated Series]]'', where his two main functions are to [[Mr. Exposition|exposit]] about Blade and vampires and to convince Blade to trust and cooperate with the other heroes.
** In fact, Whistler was created for the animated series and reused in the movie, and is an interesting example of canon foreigner existing in two mediums without becoming a full [[Canon Immigrant]].
* Skeeter from ''[[Muppet Babies]]''.
** While Skeeter has never appeared as a Muppet proper, she did appear in the "Muppet Teens" series of books, which was basically the ''[[Muppet Babies]]'' as teenagers. {{spoiler|Oh, and as a grown-up in a recent issue of ''[[The Muppet Show Comic Book]]''}}.
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** Devil Ray is practically Black Manta, only he's a nemesis of [[Wonder Woman]] instead of [[Aquaman]] (who could not be used in the later seasons due to the unsold Aquaman pilot).
** And in a cross-company example, the Justice Lords are versions of the JLA who became corrupted by their abilities and all but conquered Earth for "the greater good", only to be betrayed by their Batman. In other words, the [[Squadron Supreme]].
* For ''[[The Fairly
* Melissa Duck, from ''[[Baby Looney Tunes]]'' (technically, she's not the same Melissa from [[The Scarlet Pumpernickel]] cartoon).
* Eva Skinner{{spoiler|/XANA}} and about ten other one-off characters are introduced in the ''[[Code Lyoko]]'' novels.
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** Artemis seems to be one of these to anyone without much knowledge of the (fairly extensive) DC Universe. She's really an adaptation of Artemis Crock, the minor comics villainess Tigress.
* ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]'' had a metric ton of these. Most of the time they were to act as supporting characters or the [[Monster of the Week]]. A small handful (Mas y Menos, Billy Numerous, Cinderblock) [[Canon Immigrant|managed to make it]] into [[Teen Titans (Comic Book)|the comics]].
* ''[[Superman: The Animated Series]]'' had quite a few with Volcana, Luminus, the Preserver, Sgt. Corey Mills, General Hardcastle, Detective Kurt Bowman, Darci Mason, Angela Chen, and Unity. Mercy Graves and Livewire started here and became [[Canon Immigrant
* ''[[Heroes On Hot Wheels]]'' was actually based on a French comic book called ''[[Michel Vaillant]]''. The characters of Frank (Michel's younger brother), Hanna (Frank's photographer girlfriend), Quincy (Team Vaillante's mechanic) and Fox (one of Team Leader's racers) were not in the original comics.
* ''[[Green Lantern:
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[[Category:Characters As Device]]
[[Category:Continuity Tropes]]
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