History Main / BatOutOfHell

Not to be confused with [[BatterUp the baseball kind of bat]] or the album by Music/MeatLoaf (though the cover art does contain an example).

* ''WebOriginal/{{Mortasheen}}'' has three, created by vampires to protect their larder of humans. There's [[http://www.bogleech.com/mortasheen/bullysnag.htm Bullysnag]], a gorilla-like bat that is trained to always go for the kneecaps when hunting, [[http://www.bogleech.com/mortasheen/clawsimon.htm Clawsimon]], a spotlight-like bat designed to stop escaping humans, and [[http://www.bogleech.com/mortasheen/chiraptor.htm Chiraptor]], who is the vampire equivalent of a hunting falcon. The actual bat vampire, [[http://www.bogleech.com/mortasheen/sinister.htm Sinister]], as it prefers to be left alone amongst its hordes of mind-controlled bats.

* ''WebOriginal/{{Serina}}'': The tribbats -- a lineage of flying tribbets, mammal analogues descended from ray-finned fish -- include a few species of this sort. Some, like the flightless shadowstalker and steppestalker are a ShoutOut to After Man, see above.

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* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil'':

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS24E1TimeAndTheRani Time and the Rani]]: The Rani's Tetrap {{Mooks}} are large vampire bat-like creatures.

* ''Series/TheFutureIsWild'': In the ice age five million years in the future, a group of American bats has evolved into predators name deathgleaners that grow to the size of birds of prey.

* ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'':

** ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryReturns'' gives us the Squeeklies, which combine this trope with GoddamnedBats and {{exaggerate|dTrope}} them both. They are one of the major reasons the cave world is so reviled, particularly [[ThatOneLevel Crowded Cavern]], which is chock full of 'em. There's even a giant Squeekly that's ''as tall as the screen'' (DK is only about an 8th as tall by comparison), whose [[MakeMeWannaShout sonic beams]] are one reason why the "Crowded Cavern" level is maligned by players for its [[NintendoHard intense difficulty]]. Fans were extremely amused when they played ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryTropicalFreeze'' and saw [[TakeThatScrappy the giant Squeekly trapped in a block of ice]].

** Subverted by ''D&D'' 3E's desmodu, bat-like subterranean humanoids which are actually among the few good-aligned races in the Underdark. Their smaller cousins, the nycters, are generally neutral-aligned -

# Normal bats: Frequently depicted as TheSwarm; a [[BatScare shrieking mass of menacing wings]], regardless of whether or not they pose any actual danger to the cast. May be controlled or conjured by someone in a BarrageOfBats.

Not to be confused with evil characters [[BatterUp the baseball kind of bat]] or the album by Music/MeatLoaf (though the cover art does contain an example).

Not to be confused with the album by Music/MeatLoaf (though the cover art does contain an example).

* The "Moon-Hoax", a series of fake articles published in the New York ''Sun'' in the mid-19th century, convinced gullible readers that a new kind of telescope had revealed life forms on the moon's surface. At the climax of the series, a race of intelligent bat-people were "sighted", and subverted this trope by being peaceful vegetarians.

** While the [[WelcomeToTheCaribbeanMon Jamaican fruit bats]] from "Battle of the Bulge" may work for Fat Cat, they are more like some quite messy comic relief with their emphasis on "Jamaican".

Bats are creepy for many people. They often seem like [[YouDirtyRat rats]] with wings to us, they are thought to spread rabies, and apparently like to hang out in all sorts of dark, foreboding places (caves, bell towers, abandoned houses, castles, crypts, etc). Three species (out of over 1,000!) are infamous for [[BloodsuckingBats drinking blood]], and have led to a strong association between bats and vampires. As such, bats frequently show up as antagonists in horror themed media. Can be roughly divided into a few types:

# Normal bats: Frequently depicted as TheSwarm; a [[BatScare shrieking mass of menacing wings]], regardless of whether or not they pose any actual danger to the cast.

* ''VideoGame/SagaFrontier'' has a BonusBoss in the form of the Abyss Bat.

** ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil0'' has Billy and Rebbecca fight a giant bat, for bonus points in a church graveyard.

** There's also the bat swarm boss in ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaChroniclesOfSorrow Dawn of Sorrow]]''.

** For another heroic subversion in the same series, ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaChroniclesOfSorrow Chronicles of Sorrow]]'' protagonist Soma Cruz also gains the power to turn into a bat. Which makes sense, [[TomatoInTheMirror considering]]...

In RealLife bats aren't actually all that bad, and probably among the most unfairly maligned animals. Most bat species only eat insects or fruit, and many species are very useful to mankind as pest-eaters, pollinators and so on. The "shrieking" is often closer to benign chirping/clicking. [[http://www.flickr.com/photos/urbanmenagerie/3219755204/ Sometimes,]] they're even {{Ridiculously Cute Critter}}s. Due to WhatMeasureIsANonCute and HerbivoresAreFriendly, fruit bats and flying foxes are rarely played for horror and more likely to be portrayed positively in fiction compared to their "uglier" microbat cousins.

In RealLife bats aren't actually all that bad, and probably among the most unfairly maligned animals. Most bat species only eat insects or fruit, and many species are very useful to mankind as pest-eaters, pollinators and so on. The "shrieking" is often closer to benign chirping/clicking. [[http://www.flickr.com/photos/urbanmenagerie/3219755204/ Sometimes,]] they're even {{Ridiculously Cute Critter}}s. Due to WhatMeasureIsANonCute and HerbivoresAreFriendly, fruit bats and flying foxes are more likely to be portrayed positively in fiction compared to their "uglier" microbat cousins.

In RealLife bats aren't actually all that bad, and probably among the most unfairly maligned animals. Most bat species only eat insects or fruit, and many species are very useful to mankind as pest-eaters, pollinators and so on. The "shrieking" is often closer to benign chirping/clicking. [[http://www.flickr.com/photos/urbanmenagerie/3219755204/ Sometimes,]] they're even {{Ridiculously Cute Critter}}s. Due to WhatMeasureIsANonCute and HerbivoresAreFriendly, fruit bats and flying foxes are more likely to be portrayed positively in fiction compared to their "uglier" insect eating microbat cousins.

In RealLife bats aren't actually all that bad, and probably among the most unfairly maligned animals. Most bat species only eat insects or fruit, and many species are very useful to mankind as pest-eaters, pollinators and so on. The "shrieking" is often closer to benign chirping/clicking. [[http://www.flickr.com/photos/urbanmenagerie/3219755204/ Sometimes,]] they're even {{Ridiculously Cute Critter}}s.

The part about them spreading rabies is sort of true, though; the species is a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_reservoir natural reservoir]] for the virus (and also for a large variety of coronaviruses, including the species responsible for SARS and [[UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic COVID-19]]), and if a bat's found in somebody's living space it's standard protocol to treat them for rabies just in case, especially since it's possible for a bat to bite you without you noticing, particularly if you're intoxicated or asleep. Only about 0.5% of bats in the United States actually have the rabies virus, but the small yearly number of human cases in the country can mostly be divided into people who got bitten by mad dogs and people who got bitten by infected bats.

* In ''WebOriginal/MultituberculateEarth'' most flying multituberculates are consciously not modelled after bats. Insulonycteriids (derived kogaionids), however, are a different matter, having bat-like wings with a few differnces. They are mostly carnivorous and some attain wingspans of six meters.