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{{trope}}
[[File:
Where [[The Faceless]] meets [[Chekhov's Gunman]]. It comes in several different flavors, with a common theme. It is an abstract (i.e. not an actual scene) shot of one or more characters, who will eventually be revealed, with said character(s) shown as silhouettes. The background can be anything from bland to suitably ominous, but either way, the
This shot is frequently used to either show that the hidden characters are the kind that you wouldn't want to mess with unless you were [[The Hero]] or [[Too Dumb to Live]], or to depict them as [[Shrouded in Myth]]. May be subverted in that the silhouetted person [[Feet of Clay|turns out to be not as badass as had been implied]]. Typically a trope associated with villainous characters, though it being of [[The Rival]] is not uncommon. May have rare heroic cases.
The delivery can go about in a few ways, but most frequently, Alice could just casually mention the name of the [[Quirky Miniboss Squad]]. Bob, however, has never heard of them before, and so Alice goes through the trouble of quickly summarizing what she knows about them. As she does, it cuts to a [[Team Shot]] of them as
Other methods of presentation include it being shown as part of the [[Title Sequence]] or ending credits. Maybe even in an [["On the Next..."]] or [[Pastel-Chalked Freeze-Frame]].
Compare [[The Omniscient Council of Vagueness]], which is a group of
{{examples}}
▲== Anime & Manga ==
* ''[[JoJo's Bizarre Adventure|Jojo's Bizarre Adventure]]'' introduces many of its villains this way.
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* The legendary Digidestined from ''[[Digimon Adventure]]'' is another heroic case, although they don't show up later on.
** In the first OP for ''[[Digimon Tamers]]'', the evolutionary stages of the Tamers' [[Mons]] are shown, but their top levels are shown only as silhouettes.
* The ''[[Gun X Sword]]'' [[Evolving Credits]] shows
* ''Many'' characters in ''[[One Piece]]'', at least in the manga (Zoro, Arlong, the Seven Warlords of the Sea, the Four Emperors, just to name a few).
** The Seven Warlords in their silhouettes look nothing like they really do. Except for Mihawk maybe. They were also shown to be sword wielders, which doesn't help.
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** The [[The Four Gods|Saint Beasts]] and [[Breakfast Club|Sensui's Seven]] were depicted in this manner.
* ''[[Best Student Council]]'''s OP sequence has a part where each special division of the eponymous [[Absurdly Powerful Student Council]] are shown together. While Assault Division has its members performing their signature attacks one after the other, the Vice President for Covert and the Covert commander are shown standing between two silhouettes, the other members of Covert Division. Their faces are revealed after the episodes where they are introduced.
** The entire [[Student Council]] is shown in a
* Parodied in episode 2 of ''[[Haruhi-chan]]''. After being defeated by Nagato, Asakura proclaims that though she has been defeated, it's not over yet. She goes on to add that ''[[Sorting Algorithm of Evil|above]]'' [[Sorting Algorithm of Evil|the Radical Big Four]] [[Sorting Algorithm of Evil|are three leaders]], also shown as silhouettes. Kyon proceeds to [[Deadpan Snarker|call her story cheesy]].
* Every suspect gets one of these in ''[[Case Closed]]'' if the [[Cold Open]] decides to show the crime in progress.
* ''[[Samurai Deeper Kyo]]'' is the ''embodiment'' of
* The [[Four Is Death|Four Kings]] from ''[[GetBackers]]''
* The Suzaku Seishi in ''[[Fushigi Yuugi]]'' (with the exception of Tamahome and Hotohori) are first depicted as silhouettes with their body symbols when Hotohori explains the legend of Suzaku.
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* In ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' our heroes run into a Sinister Silhouette in the forest. It {{spoiler|turns out to be Gandalf, though}}.
== Live
* The 'Final Five' in the re-imagined ''[[Battlestar Galactica
== Video Games ==
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* The X-Hunters are introduced in ''[[Mega Man X]] 2'' as silhouettes observing a [[Palantir Ploy|hologram recording]] of X.
** Also, arguably invoked in ''X4'' by {{spoiler|Dr. Wily appearing to his "son"}} Zero. Invoked as in it's a nightmare the latter was having, yet {{spoiler|Dr. Wily}} looked like he was standing behind a spotlight. And then the "mysterious man" does it ''again'' in ''X5'', {{spoiler|in a [[Montage]] of Zero's previously unknown past life, just as he was dying.}}
* The original ''[[Super Smash Bros.]]'' plays with this for the opening cinematic. It shows off all the normal playable characters, but the four [[Secret Character
* [[General Ripper|Ishijima Kaigen]] from the [[Nitroplus|Nitro+]] [[Visual Novel]] ''Hanachirasu'' is only ''mostly'' silhouetted, but she makes up for it with [[Glowing Eyes of Doom]]. See [http://img37.imageshack.us/img37/8836/kaig02.jpg here]
* Even though it doesn't happen in the context of the game itself, in the manga for ''[[The World Ends With You]]'', Kariya and Yoshiro say "Since we appeared in silhouette earlier, you probably thought we were up to something ''dastardly''. We're totally not."
** Although early in the game, the Reapers ''do'' appear, with some slight drak shading over them, so...
* Although they aren't silhouettes, Organization XIII from ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' invoke this by wearing a hood that obscures their face, revealing their appearance only when Sora meets the individual members properly.
* In ''[[Ace Attorney]]'', the profiles of unknown/unintroduced characters are shown as dark silhouettes, with question marks for their age and profession. A larger version is seen in the first case of ''[[Ace Attorney Investigations]]'' when a mysterious figure catches Edgeworth at gunpoint in his darkened
== Web Comics ==
* About half the cast of ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'' were introduced with silhouettes. The comic seems to have retired the practice, however, in recent years, [[Trope Overdosed|likely to make room for other tropes]].
* The Creature Counsil in ''[[Dan and Mab's Furry Adventures|DMFA]]'' meet as a cabal of
* Loki in ''[[The KAMics]]'' likes to appear as a shadowy figure.
* The Speaker in ''[[Harkovast]]'' spent the first part of the comic appearing only as a silhouette, while making ominous statements.
* The Feline Emperor in the ''[[Blade of Toshubi]]'' has only been seen in silhouette.
* [http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/010303c "What do you expect? I'm just a mysterious shadowy villain"]
* In this [[Smack Jeeves]] comic [https://web.archive.org/web/20100817092506/http://randomchaos.smackjeeves.com/comics/750327/the-start-of-chaos/
* Jack Noir often does this in ''[[Homestuck]]''. Granted, it's not hard to do, since he has a shiny black carapace. {{spoiler|But then he leaps over the [[Moral Event Horizon]]. After that, the sight of his shadow flying overhead is enough to elicit a mass [[Oh Crap]].}}
** This is the most we ever see of the troll [[Famous Ancestor
* This is how Williams's face is kept hidden in ''[[Remus]]'' once he pulls off his mask. We see eyes, teeth, and knives - that's it.
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