History Main / TheSwarm

* In ''Comicbook/KryptoniteNevermore'', Franchise/{{Superman}} has to save Comicbook/LoisLane and several other persons from a horde of ants. This would usually not be a problem, but he is gradually getting weaker and he cannot come near the group because he is afraid of infecting Lois with some strange illness.

* This is essentially how Ultimate Galactus works, though [[SquareCubeLaw scale is a bit off]] as every member of the swarm is the size of Taipei 101 and their victim is a planet.

* Literature/TheBible:
** Remember the 10 plagues of Egypt? Plague #2 was frogs, plague #3 was gnats/lice/fleas, plague #4 was flies or wild animals (depending on the interpretation), and plague #8 was locusts.
** And in the book of Revelation, one of the Trumpet Judgments is a swarm of demon locusts that infect people without the seal of God on their foreheads with a maddening delirium that lasts for five months.

** In the Literature/BookOfExodus, all-consuming locusts were one of the plagues sent by God upon Egypt, to persuade an intractable Pharaoh to let His people go.
** The Literature/BookOfRevelation forecasts a mighty swarm of locust-like creatures in the Last Days, who will herald not only famine but also searing agony to anyone they bite and transmit their venom to. And nothing except the merciful word of the Lord will be able to stop them.

* Shino Aburame from ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' is an example similar to the Lutecia one above. His (and most, if not all of his clan's for that matter) abilities consist of manipulating a swarm of chakra-eating parasitic insects that he houses within his own body. Needless to say, it's never pretty when they find their next meal.

* In ''Literature/TheWayToProtectTheFemaleLeadsOlderBrother'' Roxana Agriche commands swarms of rare magical butterflies, one carnivorous swarm devouring everything in its way, [[spoiler:the other inducing powerful hallucinations]]. The drawback is, to keep them bound to her, she has to feed them her own blood infused with very specific [[spoiler:and ultimately fatal to her]] poison.
** Same butterflies were controlled in the original story by Oruca Pherion, who didn't have to resort to such drastic measures due to his natural [[TheBeastmaster affinity]].

* In ''TabletopGame/{{Traveller}}'' there is a small planet called Nifhleim that is completely covered with mysterious microscopic creatures(either biological or robotic). Anything that comes to the surface is devoured in hours.
* A particularly horrifying subsect of the [[ReligionOfEvil Baali]] in ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade'' is known as the Avatars of the Swarm. They believe that their purpose in life is to breed ghouled [[FliesEqualsEvil swarms of flies]]... [[BodyHorror inside their bodies]]. And [[NightmareFuel their vicitms]]. And they're not even the worst of the Baali!

Sometimes overlaps with HiveMind if all the swarm share one mind. Alternately a MindHive controlled swarm serve as AnimalEyeSpies to one external controller. If they take a humanoid form, they could be TheWormThatWalks. Tactics typically take the form of the ZergRush. Often found in a HornetHole. When they are aliens then its also a HordeOfAlienLocusts. When a swarm's sudden appearance frightens characters and audience, yet turns out to be harmless, it's a BatScare. If the horde consists of {{Nanomachines}}, then it's GreyGoo.

** Franchise/MonsterVerse: Two of the prequel tie-in graphic novels feature [[Characters/MonsterVerseKaiju Kaiju/Kaiju based Swarms]]: there's Shinomura in ''Godzilla: Awakening'' (a Kaiju [[TheWormThatWalks Worm That Walks]] which can disperse into a flying, voracious and murderous cloud), and there's Camazotz' minions in ''Kingdom Kong'' (a swarm of smaller bat-monsters which accompamny Camazotz and ZergRush jet squadrons on his behalf, effectively so).

* Creator/IrwinAllen's ''Film/TheSwarm'' has a swarm African killer bees terrorizing Texas.

Not to be confused with ''Film/TheSwarm1978'', which does feature a swarm of killer bees. Or with the Creator/PrimeVideo series ''Series/Swarm2020''.

Not to be confused with ''Film/TheSwarm'', which does feature a swarm of killer bees. Or with the Creator/PrimeVideo series ''Series/{{Swarm}}''.

Some variants of this trope (ScaryStingingSwarm, SpiderSwarm, SwarmOfRats, BarrageOfBats) have their own pages.

Some variants of this trope (ScaryStingingSwarm, SpiderSwarm, SwarmOfRats) have their own pages.

* ''WebOriginal/{{Serina}}'': This happens twice in Serina's natural history.

* ''Film/{{Shivers}}'' aka ''They Came from Within'': The residents of a suburban high-rise apartment building are being infected by a strain of parasites that turn them into mindless, sex-crazed fiends out to infect others by the slightest sexual contact.

* In ''WesternAnimation/Epic2013'', there's one composed of bats that Mandrake summons to [[spoiler:block out the moon]].

--> "I send the Swarm! I send the Horde! Thus saith the Lord!"

* In the Literature/LastHeraldMageTrilogy Vanyel recalls his time fighting on the Karsite border, and how small, flying, ravenously hungry demi-demonic creatures called "gretshke" could be used to wipe out a fort. Any normal fighter could easily kill one or two but a Swarm of hundreds or thousands summoned into a place sealed by a spell would overwhelm anyone. In ''Magic's Promise'' a swarm of slightly different creatures was used, ones less hungry and more evil, interested not in eating any available flesh but just tearing people apart.

Not to be confused with ''Film/TheSwarm'', which does feature a swarm of killer bees. Or with the Prime Video series ''Series/{{Swarm}}''.

Not to be confused with ''Film/TheSwarm'', which does feature a swarm of killer bees. Or with the Prime Video series ''Series/{{Swarm}}''

* In ''Lightnovel/TheWayToProtectTheFemaleLeadsOlderBrother'' Roxana Agriche commands swarms of rare magical butterflies, one carnivorous swarm devouring everything in its way, [[spoiler:the other inducing powerful hallucinations]]. The drawback is, to keep them bound to her, she has to feed them her own blood infused with very specific [[spoiler:and ultimately fatal to her]] poison.

Not to be confused with ''Film/TheSwarm'', which does feature a swarm of killer bees.