History Main / SpiderSwarm

* In ''Literature/TheHobbit'', one area of Mirkwood forest was full of giant intelligent talking spiders who all lived together in the trees and cooperatively hunted prey. justified by the fact that they are not normal arachnids, but rather demonic spiders. probably the [[UrExample Ur-Example]] though.

** Acromantulas were bred by wizards spiders to guard treasure troves, which explains their size, their sociality (Acromantulas, while acting otherwise like spiders, can communicate with humans through speech), their preference for human flesh, and why they tend to favor humans they hatch under the care of.

* In ''Uncharted3DrakesDeception'', there are tons of massive spider swarms that appear out of nowhere to crawl all over Nate and co. and can actually kill Nate (or the RedShirt Mooks who get ditched by Talbot once they have [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness outlived their usefulness.]]

[[caption-width-right:278:[[SpidersAreScary Nope!]]]]

--> '''Crook''': YOU! QUIT! LEAVE! RIGHT NOW! This weapon has a hundred thousand volts and I'll tag this girl with every last one of them unless you...
--> '''Spider-Man''': The spiders.
--> '''Crook''': Uh, what?
--> '''Spider-Man''': I'm summoning the spiders.
--> '''Crook''': What are you...?
--> '''Spider-Man''': I'm Spider-Man. And you're me making mad. I'm summoning the spiders. They will come to my call. Hundreds of them. Thousands. And [[PestController all of them at my command]].
--> {{Beat}}
--> '''Spider-Man''': Because I'm Spider-Man!
--> '''Crook''': I GIVE, DUDE! I GIVE!

* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'' villain Miss Arrow is composed of thousands of spiders that possess a hive mind.

* ''FanFic/GameOfTouhou'': Ser Yamame is skilled in warging spiders and other tiny creatures to point of making huge swarms. [[spoiler:And that's how she ends Yukari Yakumo's life]].
* In the [[WebAnimation/{{RWBY}} RWBY]] fanfic [[FanFic/VariousVytalVentures Various Vytal Ventures]] chapter 'Bark and Bite' this becomes the case when ''someone'' lets a number of Aggromantulas out of their cages... in the middle of a White Fang faunus rally.

* The Spiders in ''Film/LostInSpace'' appear to be collective, or at least attack in large number.
* Played UpToEleven in ''Film/{{Arachnophobia}}''. The Venezuelan spider species presented in the film consists mostly of drones that lack sex organs, and they have a hive with a queen similarily to bees or ants. It is implied that if left to breed freely, the spiders would eventually give birth to a new queen capable of birthing fertile offspring, eventually leading to [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt the whole world being overrun]] by the extremely aggressive and venomous strain of spiders.

* Par for the course in ''Film/EightLeggedFreaks''. The entire town ends up getting overrun by giant-ass spiders.
* The entire premise of ''Film/KingdomOfTheSpiders'' is the fact that [[GreenAesop the use of DDT]] has caused spiders to do this and swarm a town.
* The first ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}}'' live-action movie, ''Asterix & Obelik Takes on Caesar'', has a swarm of spiders in a pit used by the Romans as obstacle for their games. Asterix gets swarmed from head to toes, while Obelix get rid of them by [[SuperBreath blowing very hard]].

* One of the final hazards unleashed by ''{{Film/Jumanji}}'' is a horde of oversized spiders that attack the players.

* In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets'', the giant spiders (also known as Acromantulas) appear to be social, although instead of a queen, they are led by an elderly male spider named Aragog. It's explicitly stated that Aragog had a bride, so apparently, Acromantulas females don't feed on their male.

** Acromantula from Literature/HarryPotter were wizard-bred spiders, created to guard treasure troves, which explains their size, their social grouping (Acromantula, while acting exactly like spiders, were capable of communicating with humans through speech), their preference for human flesh, and why they tend to favor humans they hatch under the care of.

* The Bugs from ''Literature/StarshipTroopers'' qualify, being human-sized spiders with Worker, Warrior, Brain, and Queen castes.
* In ''Literature/{{Worm}}'' the SpiderSwarm is one of Skitter's main tricks, used for both poisonous bites and (more often) their webs. Usually she carries them with swarms of flying insects.

* The Visorak horde from ''Toys/{{Bionicle}}''. While there were giant-sized Visorak specimens called Kahgarak, all of them were soldiers who answered to the Brotherhood of Makuta and whoever they assigned to be their king. Their objective was to run over entire islands, trap, kill or mutate the locals, and claim the universe for the Brotherhood.

* In ''[[Film/ArthurAndTheInvisibles Arthur, the 4D Adventure]]'', a ride from the Ride/{{Futuroscope}}, Betameche flies you straight into a spiderweb, bothering a whole colony of spiders. These wouldn't count as {{Giant Spider}}s, except for the fact that you're reduced to [[{{Lilliputians}} Minimoy size]]...
* A swarm of spiders is included as a part of Hopper's army in ''It's Tough to be a Bug'' at the Ride/DisneyThemeParks, where they drop down from the ceiling towards the audience, only for them to pull back up per Hopper's demands.
* Occurs in ''WesternAnimation/ShrekFourD'' at Ride/UniversalStudios, where after Donkey and Shrek disturb a lone spider, a whole horde of them come down on webs and drop to the ground, with the illusion then being given off of them crawling over the audience's legs.

** Talking about the Witch-Doctor, one of his/her spells actually involve summoning swarms of spiders. At higher levels, it can summon a Spider Queen that spawns armies of smaller spiders.

* ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess Twilight Princess]]'': The Temple of Time dungeon is infested with tiny baby spiders watched over by four-legged spiders. After defeating the GiantSpider Armoghoma, it drops to the floor, surrounded by a swarm of the tiny spiders.
* One of the levels in ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryReturns'' involves the Kongs having to outrun a gigantic swarm of invincible spiders after disturbing their nest.
* Much like in ''Skyrim'', ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' features {{Giant Spider}}s that are apparently social, since you usually meet them as packs. The number you usually met by group can range from three of five to an entire swarm of them.
* The games are called '''Dragon''' Age. Right? Well one ''[[VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition Inquisition]]'' mission has you locate missing scouts in the Hissing Wastes, already considered the worst place in the world. You find the missing scouts alright, along with far more spiders in this one small camp alone than there are dragons ''across the entire franchise.'' The Forbidden Oasis has a sidequest where you fight roughly twice that number of the corrupted version in close quarters.
* The spider mini-boss in ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong64'' will send groups of smaller spiders [[WeaponizedOffspring (possibly its children)]] after Tiny Kong.
* [[GiantSpider The Duke's Dear Freja]] in ''Videogame/DarkSoulsII'' commands an army of relatively smaller giant spiders. Interestingly enough, if you manage to chop off one of Freja's heads, the spiders will run away from it. This implies that the spiders are being driven by their fear of Freja.

* The Ananasi werespiders, a periphery were-race from ''TabletopGame/WerewolfTheApocalypse'', have this as one of their forms. A single werespider can transform into an equivalent mass of regular-sized spiders with the human-level mind guiding the swarm as a sort of HiveMind semi-distributed among the arachnids.

[[caption-width-right:278:[[SpidersAreScary Nope!]]

[[caption-width-right:278:Nope!]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}'' features the Nightmare Apostles, GiantSpider hordes which chases you throughout their home once they spotted you. The [[DemonicSpider red variant]] summoned by [[EnemySummoner Chime Maiden]] are far worse, they can detect you ''without'' seeing you, catching most people off guard when they are idling.

* Played UpToEleven in ''Film/{{Arachnophobia}}''. The Venezuelan spider species presented in the film consists mostly of drones that lack sex organs, and they have a hive with a queen similarily to bees or ants. It is implied that if let to breed freely, the spiders would eventually give birth to a new queen capable of birthing fertile offspring, eventually leading to [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt the whole world being overrun]] by the extremely aggressive and venomous strain of spiders.

--> '''Spider-Man''': I'm Spider-Man. And you're me making mad. I'm summoning the spiders. They will come to my call. Hundreds of them. Thousands. And all of them at my command.

* While not actually used, SpiderMan invokes this trope when dealing with a bank robber who takes a woman hostage.

* In ''Literature/TheHobbit'', one area of Mirkwood forest was full of intelligent talking spiders who all lived together in the trees and cooperatively hunted prey. justified by the fact that they are not just giant varieties of normal spiders, but rather demonic spiders. probably the Ur-Example though.

* In ''Literature/TheHobbit'', one area of Mirkwood forest was full of intelligent talking spiders who all lived together in the trees and cooperatively hunted prey.

** "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS8E22WhatLiesBeneath What Lies Beneath]]": Yona's trial involves facing an enormous swarm of spiders that comes boiling out from the walls of the cave, and which in several shots appears as a single, solid mass dotted with [[RedEyesTakeWarning glowing red eyes]].

* ''Webcomic/WildeLife'' is unusual in that the spider swarm thus far appears to be entirely benevolent. They protected the main characters against werewolves, sacrificing one of their number as a distraction and scaring them off as a swarm, warn them away from danger, and covered someone with their bodies to serve as a [[GoThroughMe shield]], albeit a highly unsettling one.

* In ''Franchise/TheFutureIsWild'', one of the speculative future creatures is the Silver Spider, which has a similar eusocial caste system to ants or bees.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': In "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS7E16CampfireTales Campfire Tales]]", a camping trip is interrupted by the arrival of a huge swarm fly-ders, [[MixAndMatchCritters spiders with insect wings]], that came there seeking food. This kind of swarming behavior seems natural for the fly-ders, which are able to force the characters to flee through through sheer numbers and multidirectional attacks. Applejack implies the fly-ders would have tried to eat them if they had managed to overwhelm them.

--> '''Spider-Man''': I'm Spider-Man. And you're me making mad. I'm summoning the spiders. They will come to my call. Hundreds of them. Thousands. And all of them at my command. {{Beat}} Because I'm Spider-Man!

--> '''Spider-Man''': I'm Spider-Man. And you're making mad. I'm summoning the spiders. They will come to my call. Hundreds of them. Thousands. And all of them at my command. >>{{Beat}}<< Because I'm Spider-Man!
--> '''Crook''': I GIVE DUDE! I GIVE!

** Acromantula were wizard-bred spiders, created to guard treasure troves, which explains their size, their social grouping (Acromantula, while acting exactly like spiders, were capable of communicating with humans through speech), their preference for human flesh, and why they tend to favor humans they hatch under the care of.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': In "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS7E16CampfireTales Campfire Tales]]", a camping trip is interrupted by the arrival of a huge swarm fly-ders, [[MixAndMatchCritters spiders with insect wings]], that came there seeking food. This kind of swarming behavior seems natural for the fly-ders, which are able to force the characters to flee through through sheer numbers and multidirectional attacks.

** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-1006 SCP-1006]] is a huge colony of [[IntellectualAnimal English-writting]] Marxist spiders.

* Episode 5 of ''Podcast/TheLostCat'', ironically entitled "They're Only Spiders," features an absolutely ''massive'' swarm of spiders that pours out of toilets and sinks and sends the townsfolk fleeing. They take shelter around the Hole of the Leviathan - due to its strange vibrations - and end up surrounded by a wall of spiders so thick it ''blots out the sky''. [[spoiler: By the next day, they're all dead and everyone eats them]].