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Scary Scorpions

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A scorpion this big you won't find curled up in your boot. Maybe around your boot, but not in it.
—Flavor text for Dakmor Scorpion, Magic: The Gathering

In Real Life, scorpions are mostly shy, retiring arachnids, preferring to stay out of trouble and only using their pincers and stinging tails to subdue prey (or potential mates) or defend themselves.

In fictionland, scorpions often make appearances as deadly foes. This is probably a combination of Rule of Cool and their distinctively badass appearance, but it does tend to get them a fair bit of demonization due to Animal Stereotypes. Scorpions, being of the arachnid class, are closely related to spiders, and as with spiders and their fangs, scorpions are pretty much universally known for their tails, and are, admittedly, pretty scary things to come across, large or small.

In popular culture, scorpions are often depicted as scary even by arachnid standards. While there are a number of examples of heroic or at least benign spiders in fiction, scorpions are almost invariably portrayed as evil to the point of being made out as an Unpleasant Animal Counterpart to spiders. For a given value of evil that is, as they rarely have developed enough personalities to amount to anything more than dangerous, mindless animals and often no more than tools of murder for wannabe killers: because of their venom, they are used as Animal Assassins, although where Spiders might be associated with the thief or rogue in a Fantasy setting, Scorpions tend to be associated with hunters or warriors due to their heavy armor. You can often expect scorpions in Shifting Sand Land, possibly alongside Scorpion People. Spider Tanks may have the appearance of a scorpion. May be stabbed.

However, the majority of scorpion stings are not dangerous to humans, being on average only about as dangerous as a bee sting. The Emperor Scorpion, probably the largest and most iconic scorpion species, is frequently seen, despite being one of the least venomous species and are even popular as pets or even as food (popular as far as arachnid fans go, anyway).

Compare Spiders Are Scary and Creepy Camel Spider, for other arachnids that tend to be portrayed as much more dangerous and aggressive than they are in real life. Also see here for how real-life scorpions are different from many fictional ones.

Examples:

    open/close all folders 

    Anime and Manga 
  • Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai: the debut of Leona has her attacked out of the blue by a titanic scorpion monster who's much bigger and more menacing than any other monster dwelling on the island: the beast poisons the princess and takes a well-aimed strike to the back of its shell to be defeated. Turns out, Bishop Temujin and his associate brought the monster to the island specifically to get rid of Leona.
  • The Tachikomas of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex are what happens when you get a Spider Tank to follow Rule of Cute, but a much more menacing scorpion-shaped Super Prototype appears in one episode.
  • Kekkaishi: The Ayakashi species of Sasorigama have the body like a big brown spider with sickle-like limbs. They also smell so horrible that Madarao and Hakubi cannot take it.
  • Mobile Suit Gundam Wing: The Scorpio is one of the largest and most powerful mobile suits in its universe. Naturally, its alternate form resembles a giant red scorpion (though like the ReGZ, it starts off in its flight form and must jettison parts to transform).
  • Sasori the puppetmaster from Naruto. Granted, only his "outer form" looks vaguely like one (complete with bladed tail.) He also puts a red scorpion logo on the puppets he makes.
  • The Puzzle Scorpions in Impel Down in One Piece. They can "merge" together and form a giant centipede.
  • Pokémon: The Series has a subversion in Ash Ketchum's Gligar (later Gliscor) during the Sinnoh arc. Not that Gligar generally look too menacing to begin with, but this one has such a tendency towards Tender Tears and The Glomp with its trainer that it's borderline impossible to be the slightest bit intimidated, even when it evolves into its more threatening-looking final form. On the other hand, Ash's Rival during the same arc, Paul, has a Gliscor who is more threatening, and a Drapion who can be downright terrifying. The trope is played even straighter with the Drapion who is owned by Pokémon Hunter J, which is just as ruthless and sociopathic as its trainer.
  • Shaula Gorgon the Big Bad of Soul Eater Not! is a clear example. Though she's also the youngest and not nearly as dangerous nor underhanded as her elder sisters in comparison.
  • In Tegami Bachi: Letter Bee, which has Gaichuu resemble giant armored insects and arachnids, Laphroiag, a plot-important Gaichuu that was responsible for Zazie's parents' deaths, looks like a scorpion.
  • Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: Adiane, the scorpion-tailed Ms. Fanservice Supreme General of the Spiral King She wears an Eyepatch of Power over her left eye and is intensely hot and impulsive, often letting her anger get the better of her and land her in sticky situations or taking out her frustrations on Viral.
  • Zoids: Chaotic Century: The Death Stinger is a hyper-aggressive scorpion-type Zoid with a Wave-Motion Gun for a stinger.

    Comic Books 
  • In The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones #13, one of Indy's students on a field trip is paralyzed with fear by a scorpion on her arm. Dr. Jones picks the arachnid off her arm with his bullwhip.
  • Subverted by Sammy Stingtail of the Joey Fly series. While reckless and clumsy, he is also unarguably one of the good guys and loyal to the title Detective Animal.
  • Spider-Man: Mac Gargan/The Scorpion from Marvel Comics, of course. He was created — with funding from J Jonah Jameson, no less — to take out Spider-Man, and actually trounced Spidey in their first fight. He's been mostly B-list since then, however, eventually ditching the Scorpion suit entirely to become the new Venom, but then when the symbiote was given to Flash Thompson, he took up his old identity again. He had a female sort-of-Legacy Character, Carmilla Black, but she's been rarely seen since he retook the Scorpion mantle.
  • In Star Wars (Marvel 1977), in order to get information out of someone, Luke Skywalker once has to prove his bravery by using chopsticks in his left hand to fish something out of the same bowl as an alien scorpion creature. Though to be fair, the alien creature could be far more venomous than the normal Earthling variety.

    Fan Works 
  • Adopted Displaced: The main villain in "Dressed To Steal" is a malicious anthropomorphic scorpion called Seft, who bears an enmity towards Sly Cooper.
  • The Palaververse: Gigantic wind scorpions are one of the many species of monster native to Saddle Arabia, and have the added bonus of being able to turn into wind to elude both prey and pursuit.
  • Prehistoric Earth: While not portrayed as explicitly evil or any more aggressive than any modern animal, both the pulmonoscorpius and multiple species of 'sea scorpion' come the closest to coming across as monstrous by virtue of just how sinister their descriptions in the narrative make them sound.
  • Prehistoric Park Reimagined: Pulmonoscorpius are amongst the animals rescued for the titular park. And while not evil or any more aggressive than any modern scorpion, they are noticeably played for suspense in their introductory scene and noticeably prove a source of great trepidation for Leon (who admittedly does at that point feel generally unnerved around many invertebrates).
  • Sunshine and Fire: Soon after arriving in Sunshine!Equestria, Twilight is attacked by a group of enormous scorpions. She assumes them to be Mutants, as, besides their size, they only have two eyes each instead of eight and more legs than they should, including atrophied ones and ones extending from their sides at useless angles.

    Films — Animated 

    Films — Live-Action 
  • 3000 Miles to Graceland: The opening credits feature two cartoonishly CG scorpions duking it out.
  • The Black Scorpion involves a volcanic eruption in Mexico unleashing gigantic scorpions upon the land.
  • The Cave: Jack encounters a cavern full of them, upon which they try to chase him off.
  • In Clash of the Titans (1981), Medusa's blood causes normal scorpions to become giants. In Clash of the Titans (2010), there are still massive killer scorpions, but it's caused by the blood of Calibos, who has been given godly powers by Hades. The scorpions seem to be better at the job than Calibos was. The scorpions kill two Argosian soldiers (as opposed to Calibos's four), but they tend to make more of an impression, being, you know, giant scorpions. They also make good mounts, once they are tamed.

    Gamebooks 

    Literature 
  • Council Wars: East of the Sun, West of the Moon features giant, genetically engineered scorpions being dispatched after our heroes multiple times. During the story's climax, it is revealed that the scorpions can function in space and that they shoot acid from their tails. Worth noting, their first attack happens off-screen, and the heroes investigating after the fact only find a partial remnant, sans tail, leading them to initially assume they were giant solifugaenote  instead, in defiance of Small Reference Pools.
  • The Descendants: In "Little Girl Lost", the team encounters dog-sized scorpions, only to discover that killing them makes them combine into even bigger scorpions.
  • Dragon Jousters: In the fourth novel, Aerie, the heroes are investigating a town whose entire population abruptly disappeared when they are attacked by a mass of black desert scorpions.
  • Godspeaker Trilogy: The violent and hostile Mijaki civilization worships a god symbolized by a scorpion, and one the rituals its priests (called godspeakers) perform involves being stung by hundreds of scorpions (If they survive, the god has judged them to be worthy.).
  • Journey to the West: When Sun Wukong and his companions are traversing through a Lady Land, Xuanzang is kidnapped by a female scorpion demon who desires to marry him. Her stinger tail manages to incapacitate Wukong during their battles, eventually forcing him to consult the gods for help.
  • The Mummy Monster Game: In book 1, during the quest for the body of Osiris, the characters encounter scorpions whose stinging tails can kill a character in one move unless they're jumped over. Josh later runs into them in the real life area when he goes to rescue Amy, Harry and Spy, but uses his skateboard to evade them.
  • The Pearl: The plot is set of by Kino's infant son Coyotito being stung by a scorpion. A normal-sized one, but in Kino's mind it's depicted as an evil song playing overtop of and drowning out the happy song of his family.
  • Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The very last chapters of The Lightning Thief have Luke summoning a special Tartarus scorpion, with venom that can kill even demigods in sixty seconds. Percy just barely manages to survive its sting by crawling into a nearby creek, where Poseidon's blessing manages to heal him.
  • Redwall: Mariel of Redwall has Skrabblag, a giant black scorpion found by searat Gabool the Wild, who keeps him as a pet. Eventually, Gabool, having lost his sanity throughout the book, starts siccing Skrabblag on any rat he deems a mutineer or a spy. Skrabblag nearly takes out a Badger Lord before his would-be victim flings him into the face of Gabool, and the scorpion wastes no time in stinging him to death. Dandin finishes off Skrabblag mere moments later, commenting that "evil destroyed evil, and good triumphed."
  • Scorpion (1980) involves people being threatened by hordes of normal-sized scorpions (Arachnophobia-style). Its sequel, Scorpion: Second Generation, ups the ante by having them grow gigantic.
  • Scorpions (2016) revolves around giant scorpions being unleashed from beneath the earth by an earthquake. They menace the Nevada town of Laughlin.
  • Storm Front (Dresden Files): A scorpion is considered dangerous only because it has been engorged to massive size. Despite receiving a huge dose of venom, one character makes a full recovery because the treatment is so basic.
  • The War Gods: Sharnā, the Dark God of demons and patron of assassins, uses a scorpion as his symbol. His priests all wear a scorpion amulet as a necklace; the more elaborate the amulet, the higher the priest's rank.
  • The Witch of Knightcharm: One of the evil witches in Lily's clique, Natalya Monkhbat, is able to summon these with magic. They are apparently very deadly, though they dissolve into goo if Natalya's magic is broken.

    Live-Action TV 
  • B-Fighter Kabuto: Descorpion is a ruthless, scorpion-themed warrior who leads the B-Crushers, the Elite Four of the Melzard Tribe
  • Beetleborgs Metallix has Scorpix. He's the leader of the Mantrons, The Psycho Rangers of the show.
  • Emergency!: One rescue call was for a young woman who had passed out while getting dressed. The doctors at Rampart Hospital found a wound like an insect bite or sting under her armpit, but what could have stung her there? Gage connected the wound with what she had been doing: getting dressed using clothes from her recent trip to Mexico. A scorpion had somehow gotten into her suitcase and hid in a dress; when she put the dress on, the scorpion stung her.
  • Fort Boyard: One of the ordeals is to search for pieces of paper attached to the bodies of tarantulas and scorpions.
  • Kamen Rider V3: The logo of the terrorist organization Destron is a graphic of a scorpion.
  • Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger / Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: Lami/Scorpina. Her normal form is that of a beautiful woman, but when she grows to giant size, she changes a lot more than most villains....
  • Merlin (2008) has two episodes in which the heroes are attacked by giant scorpions.
  • Odd Squad:
    • Ancient Agent Orla keeps a box of scorpions hidden in her Hammerspace spine that she usually intends to release whenever there is a conflict that needs to be solved. Naturally, her teammates all object to her opening the box before she has a chance to.
    • In "Sunny Sides Add Up", Olando's Ancient Headquarters, situated in the middle of the Sahara Desert, has a large scorpion as a booby trap. It sits at the bottom of the chasm and tries to capture those who swing over the chasm by using its tail as pincers.
  • Primeval: The heroes are attacked by huge scorpions, which come from the prehistoric times. The spinoff series Primeval: New World also has huge scorpions from prehistoric times.
  • Uchu Sentai Kyuranger zig-zags this with Stinger/Sasori Orange, a Human Alien from the Scorpio system, who is reclusive like scorpions are in Real Life, albeit for different reasons. He's certainly a fearsome opponent, but also one of the Kyurangers out to free space from the Jark Matter Shogunate and a Friend to All Children. On the other hand, he started out opposing the team and Champ/Oushi Black believes that Stinger killed his creator and mistrusts him for this reason. note  Played straighter with Stinger's older brother, Scorpio, who's top assassin of Jark Matter.

    Multimedia Franchises 

    Music 
  • Acrassicauda, an Iraqi thrash metal band, derives its name from the Latin name for the Arabian fat-tailed scorpion, Androctonus crassicauda.
  • The Wall: During the Trial sequence, the grotesque of Pink's wife starts out as a scorpion before metamorphosing into her praying mantis-like form.

    Mythology and Religion 
  • There's a very old story called "The Scorpion and the Frog." The scorpion wants the frog to get him across a river. The frog initially refuses, afraid the scorpion will sting him if he lets him on his back. But the scorpion assures him he won't, since then they'd both drown. So the frog relents and lets the scorpion hop on board. Midway across the river, the frog feels a sharp pain in his back and realizes the scorpion's stung him. He demands to know why he did it, since now they'll both drown. The scorpion replies "It's in my nature."
    • Or depending on the Aesop, "Scorpions can swim."
    • In another version, the final line is "Because this is the Middle East."
    • Chakotay tells a version with a fox instead of a frog to make a point about an unwise alliance with the Borg.
    • In another version, it is turtle instead (which are natural enemies of scorpions). The scorpion says Better we both perish than my enemy should live!, expressing the self-destructive nature of spite.
  • In Classical Mythology, when Artemis fell for the great hunter Orion, her brother, Apollo, didn't approve, so he sent a giant scorpion to kill him. Orion and the scorpion killed each other, but Zeus was so impressed with their battle he put the two as constellations — Orion and Scorpius.
  • The girtablilu of Mesopotamian Mythology are a fearsome race of scorpion-centaur monsters.
  • Averted with the scorpion goddess Serket from Egyptian Mythology, who was a benevolent protector whom the Egyptians credited with protecting them from venomous animals. But get on her bad side, and they could expect a deadly scorpion sting.
  • In Islam, the scorpion is perceived both as a symbol of evil and protection from evil.
  • Scorpio of the Western Zodiac is the only Arachnid sign, however it's partially subverted here, due to having some positive traits at least.

    Pinball 
  • Balls of Steel: The "Devil's Island" table depicts a giant scorpion interrupting a human sacrifice ritual.

    Tabletop Games 
  • Chaosium's supplement All the Worlds' Monsters:
    • Volume I:
      • The giant scorpion is 10 feet long and has a sting that injects a lethal poison.
      • The whip scorpion is 6 feet long. Its nine foot long tail can shoot an acid spray that does 5-40 Hit Points of damage up to 60 feet away.
    • Volume III:
  • Arduin:
    • The Compleat Arduin Book 2: Resources describes Great Black Scorpions, which can grow larger than a Sherman tank. They have dangerous Power Pincers and a deadly poisonous sting.
    • The Arduin Grimoire Volume 3: The Runes of Doom. The Sky Scorpion is a 10-18 feet long scorpion that can kill an ordinary human being in seconds with its deadly Power Pincers.
  • Ares magazine #6 game "Voyage of the BSM Pandora": One possible monster an expedition can encounter is a large scorpion-like monster with a deadly tail (that is capable of killing a human in one blow), strong armor and razor-sharp talons.
  • Atlantis The Lost World: The Kanawalla desert of Mu has scorpions that are only three inches long but have venom so virulent it can kill a mule in seconds.
  • Car Wars: Autoduel Quarterly magazine Vol. 7 #2 adventure "Mutant Zone". Hanger A in the Air Force base is home to a giant mutant scorpion, the victim of a biotoxin spill.
  • Deadlands has Vinegaroons which are scorpions about the size of a pony. (Vinegaroons aren't actually true scorpions, but when you're about be eaten by something the size of a pony, your average cowpoke ain't inclined to quibble.)
  • Dungeons & Dragons had large, huge and giant scorpions.
    • Trobriand's and Scaladar Automatons are sometimes made in the shape of giant scorpions.
    • Dark Sun has several examples.
      • The Mastyrial comes in two versions. The Desert variety is six feet long with a sonar sense that can detect invisible enemies, pincers and tail that can inflict lethal damage, a tough shell that gives immunity to blunt weapons and the ability to quickly regenerate damage. The Black version is smaller (three feet long) and does less damage, but hunts in packs and has psionic abilities that allow them to lure their victims closer and attack them.
      • The Scorpian also has two versions. The Barbed type is 8-12 feet long, covered with barbs that damage anyone that attacks it from close range, and its attacks do massive damage. The Gold is much smaller (1-2 feet long) but still does tremendous damage with its sting.
    • In 3rd Edition scorpions can grow up to 80 feet long.
  • Dying Earth RPG: The Silver Desert has large scorpions (among other hazards).
  • Exalted: Gunstar Autocthonia has Ishiika, the Cosmic Scorpion, a massive space-borne terror in the shape of a whirling nebula of teeth, clicking mandibles and pincers capable of shattering worlds, surmounted by a tail the length of solar systems. It is the most powerful and feared of all the alien monsters the Gunstar has encountered.
  • GURPS
    • GURPS Bestiary: The Giant Scorpion is two yards long. If its claws and bite don't kill you, its sting definitely will.
    • GURPS Space Atlas and GURPS Space Bestiary: On the desert planet called Quentin, Pressure-Scorps are huge scorpion-like alien creatures more than twelve yards long and weighing up to six tons. Their stings don't inject poison — appropriate to the planet, they suck the bodily fluids out of their victims, thus providing much-needed liquid.
  • Hollow Earth Expedition supplement Mysteries of the Hollow Earth:
    • Giant scorpions are the size of a horse and have a paralyzing sting that can take down a Brontotherium.
    • The Pterygotus is a six-foot-long aquatic scorpion with large spiked claws and a flipper tail instead of a sting.
  • It Came From The Late Late Show: The Giant Scorpion Monster is 8 feet long and is created by man's mistreatment of the environment. It can crush its favorite prey (human beings) in its Power Pincers.
  • Legend of the Five Rings: The Scorpion Clan is known for being equal parts Guile Hero, Lawful Evil, and I Did What I Had to Do. (Amusingly, one of the Clan's major families subverts the Folklore entry above — in their version of the tale, the scorpion reveals at the end that he can swim. Hence that family's motto: "I can swim.")
  • Lejendary Adventures. The Black Scorpion's poisonous sting can inflict lethal damage.
  • Magic: The Gathering: Unlike most "regular" animals, which tend to be Green (the color of the natural world), scorpions are almost exclusively Black (the color of rot, decay and amorality). They usually get deathtouch (meaning they destroy any creature they deal any damage to) or some way to weaken enemy creatures or players by means such as poison counters.
  • The Morrow Project: One of the mutant monsters walking the Earth 150 years after a nuclear holocaust is a scorpion 1.5 meters long with a poison that has about a 50% chance of killing the average human.
  • Mutant Future: Giant mutant scorpions are around six feet long and have a sting that injects a lethal poison.
  • Pathfinder:
    • The game has several varieties of giant scorpions, with some getting dangerous enough to go toe-to-toe with 15th level characters. There are also Skullrippers, scorpion-like constructs that have a tendency to decapitate people and add their skulls to their bodies.
    • The herald of Norgorber, the Neutral Evil god of thieves, poisoners and murderers, is a giant metallic scorpion known as the Stabbing Beast. It's a ferocious predator and enjoys tracking and killing targets — as, like all planar creatures, it has no need to eat, this is apparently just for the sake of killing — and is primarily called to the material plane to spread death and mayhem.
    • The demon queen Aldinach is associated with scorpions and takes on the form of a gigantic human-headed scorpion. She inhabits a layer of the Abyss resembling a vast desert and is able to command ordinary and monstrous scorpions.
    • Pathfinder's second edition now has magma scorpions, which are Exactly What It Says On The Tin.
  • Rolemaster:
    • Space Master supplement Aliens & Artifacts: Ice Scorpions, which are found in Arctic ecosystems and are 3 meters long.
    • Shadow World:
      • Master Atlas: The Gemsting scorpion is 4-6 feet long and injects a respiratory poison.
      • Kingdom of the Desert Jewel: Giant scorpions in Gethrya inject a poison that causes delirium for 1-20 hours.
  • RuneQuest:
    • Heroes magazine Volume I #3 article "Creepy Critters: Insects for RuneQuest'': Scorpions can grow up to nine meters long, including the tail. If the pincers grab the opponent, the scorpion's sting automatically hits.
    • Supplement Trollpak, "Book of Uz" part 2: Giant scorpions used by the trolls can weigh as much as 480 lbs.
  • Shadowrun:
    • Paranormal Animals of Europe: The Scorpyrine is a scorpion about forty centimeters (sixteen inches) long which is immune to fire and has a acidic venom that can kill a victim in five minutes.
    • California Free State: The Nova Scorpion is a meter long and its stinger has one of the deadliest animal poisons known to metahumanity — it can kill in one hour.
  • The Unofficial Hollow Knight RPG: The scorpion tribes inhabit the desert wasteland to the northeast of the Great Oak. As a culture, they're described as a horde of brutal, merciless barbarians who take from the weak, worship the Sandwyrm, regard ruthlessness as the highest virtue, and practice Dust magic. Unlike the Lord of Dust's other Battle Thralls, the scorpions serve him willingly.
  • Warhammer: The Tomb kings can summon giant scorpion-shaped stone constructs from underground.
  • Warhammer 40,000:
    • The Dark Eldar's Talos is a giant-scorpion-like skimmer, with huge claws and a weaponized tail.
    • The Apocalypse expansion also has a mechanized scorpion for Khornate Chaos Space Marines.

    Toys 
  • Plenty in BIONICLE. Among the different rahi species, there are Nui-Jaga (giant, ill-tempered scorpions capable of smashing through solid rock), Kofo-Jaga (fist-sized scorpions that travel in swarms and have fiery stings), Catapult Scorpions (enormous, highly aggressive scorpions with tails that materialize stone to sling at enemies), and Skopios (massive scorpion-like predators that ambush prey from beneath the sand). There are also the Zesk and the Vorox (the former Agori and Glatorian of the Sand Tribe now reduced to mindless beasts), as well as the Skopio XV-1, which was built with Skopios in mind.
  • In LEGO's Knights' Kingdom line, each knight has an Animal Motif. Vladek, the Big Bad, is the Scorpion Lord.

    Video Games 
  • Eris' car and especially the Nidhogg in Agent Intercept. While the connection with Eris' car is limited to the stinger-like laser cannon on the back, Nidhogg has a laser stinger and propeller-assisted claws.
  • Animal Crossing: Beginning with Animal Crossing: Wild World, scorpions appear as collectible bugs. Unlike most bugs, they're aggressive and will attack you if you move rapidly around them, but you can catch them if you're quick or sneaky. If you're not quick, fortunately, they just knock you out and cause you to wake up in front of your house. Villagers will panic on seeing them and will sweat nervously until either the scorpion is caught or it despawns.
  • ARK: Survival Evolved: Pulmonoscorpius is a scorpion the size of a pony. It is a highly aggressive predator with a paralyzing venom, which makes it the bane of every starting player. Fortunately, you are also able to tame this creature and, with the right saddle, even ride it, making it a valuable ally.
  • Battle for Wesnoth: giant blue scorpions are commonly used as neutral critters, unavailable for hire. They can be pretty dangerous in combat, attacking with either several strikes of their pincers or a single, venomous stinger strike, but lack any form of ranged combat. During the campaign "Son of Black Eye", the Troll in the party tries to cook and eat a desert scorpion, only to find out they taste like crap.
  • Breathless has robotic scorpions as uncommon, occasional enemies you can fight.
  • Bug! (1995) has loads of these in the desert stage. Some just walk back and forth, others try to attack with extendable claws, and a few try to sting Bug with their tail. Thankfully, they all take one hit to die, making them not too big of a threat.
  • Bug Fables: Psicorps are common enemies in the Lost Sands, though they are actually pseudoscorpions. Actual scorpions also make an appearance, as the Dune Scorpion appears as a Mini-Boss, also in the Lost Sands. Not only it's a vicious, violent predator, but it manages to nearly kill Leif just when the team presumed it to be dead. In the Giant's Lair, the Roaches who live there also managed to tame scorpions as pets, even noting they are very tame when compared to the Dead Landers, much to the heroes' disturbance.
  • Cave In: Scorpions are a type of enemy you can face in the game. Like all enemies, they are dealt with by being shot.
  • The Brotherhood of Nod in the Command & Conquer: Tiberian Series follows this psychology and uses a scorpion tail as its emblem, staying hidden when they are incapable of waging war with the GDI and striking at them when their prey is vulnerable.
  • In Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped, scorpions appear as enemies in the Arabian town levels (Hang Em' High, Hang Time, Flaming Passion) crawling upside down on the overhead grates the player has to climb through.
  • Dark Souls II has Scorpioness Nakja, an Expy of Quelaag from the first game. Nakja has the upper body of a woman, but it's attached at the waist to the head of a giant, two-tailed scorpion. There is also Manscorpion Tark, a similar blend of man and scorpion, but despite his intimidating appearance, he's completely friendly and you can hold a conversation with him. In fact, it's even possible to summon him to help you against Nakja (he's her ex-husband, and he considers her to have gone insane and wishes to prevent her from harming anyone else).
  • The scorpion in Deadly Creatures is one of two playable arachnids, the other being a spider... thing is, this particular scorpion appears to be channeling Kratos, as it has some unusually complex and brutal kill moves for what is supposed to be a wild animal.
  • Demon Skin has giant scorpions as enemies in the forest and caverns, whose stingers can inflict a poisoned status on you if you're hit by it's projectiles. There are even bright orange King Mook scorpions every now and then.
  • Diablo III has Tormented Stingers, which look and sting like scorpions but are actually tortured human sacrifices with their body sliced open to form the legs and its legs mutilated to make the tail.
  • Dogyuun has many scorpion mechas in stage 4. The boss of that stage is a giant robot scorpion that shoots homing balls from its tail, and tries to massacre you with its claws.
  • Dominions: Scorpions are part of the unit list of Xibalba, tames by their ultrasonic voices. The oldest and largest of them are considered sacred.
  • Crixalis, the Sand King, from Dota 2, was meant to be an Anthropomorphic Personification of the desert, but he took the form of a scorpion because scorpions are found in the desert commonly and his old model was a scorpion-ish Nerubian from Warcraft III. He's more about burrowing, but his stinger tail contains venom that will make those infected by it explode messily when they die as shown in his skill Caustic Finale. It's the least of your worries when it comes to Sand King.
  • Dragon's Crown has cat-sized Scorpions as a common enemy encounter. They're small enough that several attacks whiff over them, but their poison still packs a punch. In fact, the art book mentions that Elves harvest their poison for their poisoned arrows and daggers. They're also large enough to be common source of nutrition for adventurers and are cooked like crabs during camp.
  • The Big Bad in Drone Tactics operates a giant mechanical scorpion.
  • Giant Desert Scorpions from Dwarf Fortress, who in addition to being very, very large and lethally venomousnote  have prehensile claws and a penchant for snatching weapons off attackers and using them in addition to their claws and sting.
  • EarthBound (1994) has a creature called a Skelpion that appears in the Dusty Dunes Desert, which is basically a scorpion skeleton, which is weird because scorpions are invertebrates. Stronger versions called Dread Skelpions appear later in the deserts of Scaraba.
  • EarthBound Beginnings has your regular scorpions, as well as the more dangerous Bionic Scorps.
  • Averted or inverted in Eastern Exorcist, a game where most of the demons are animal-human hybrids. There's only one scorpion character, and he's a doctor. Who tries to cure your brother after he was poisoned by a snake-demon.
  • Eternal Evil has a mutant scorpion monster stalking you for most of the game's first half, before you face it as a boss where it's roughly as large as the room you fight it in. You could collect notes regarding the scorpion's origins - supposedly, it's a rare animal breed from China who grows in size through contact with human blood.
  • Eternity: The Last Unicorn have gigantic scorpions as enemies around the Reno Lake ruins. Beware the stingers!
  • Etrian Odyssey V: Beyond the Myth: There's a species of FOE in the second stratum (Jagged Reach) called Glaring Stinger, which is modeled like a purple-colored scorpions with golden stinging tails. However, their front limbs are shaped like crustacean pincers instead of arachnid ones.
  • Evil Genome is set after an apocalypse turns the earth into a desert-covered wasteland, whose surface is filled with gigantic scorpions. They're the first monsters that attacks you the moment you stepped off your crashed ship.
  • EXTRAPOWER: Giant Fist: Scorpions populate the desert stage surrounding Blackberry's pyramid and within it, one of which is the size of a tank.
  • Fable had Arachanox, the huge scorpion that serves as the final boss of the Arena. Unless you consider Whisper.
  • Fallout: Gigantic, radiation-mutated scorpions are a mainstay of the games.
    • In the first two games, they essentially make for an early game nuisance/slight challenge. In the third game as well as New Vegas, the regular variety is still a nuisance, though the giant ones may serve as a legitimate threat, having no head to target for additional damage and being faster then the player, hardly slowed down at all by crippled legs. Then the Broken Steel DLC gave us the albino radscorpion, every bit as big and fast as a regular giant radscorpion, but harder to see from a distance, having a much higher damage potential, and being durable enough to take a nuke on the chin and keep on going as if nothing happened (and this is not an exaggeration), regenerating all the while, being one of the DLC's three bosses in mook's clothing.
    • Fallout: New Vegas:
      • There's a radscorpion queen who is extraordinarily difficult. Tough, fast, lots of damage, and fought in extremely close quarters so that escaping damage is impossible. You fight her along with a couple of her kids, too, just for extra hurt.
      • The Old World Blues DLC has Dr. Mobius' Robo-Scorpions that can shoot Frickin' Laser Beams, with a Giant version as a boss. And by Giant, we mean Giant.
    • Fallout 4 radscorpions are not your old radscorpions. These radscorpions have no small variants, and the weakest of them is at LEAST the size of a bear, and armored to boot. They can also now burrow and pop up right in melee range. And then you get a horrifying close-up of their high-def character models as they sting you in the face for a huge amount of poison damage.
  • Final Fantasy:
  • Frogger's Journey: The Forgotten Relic: Scorpions appear as enemies patrolling the Pyramid. They move in particularly difficult patterns in the rooms Frogger can fall into.
  • A mechanical version exists in Funk Unplugged. They're robotic hats that move around on spider-like legs, and fire lasers from a blaster on a tail on their backside.
  • Geneforge has giant scorpion monsters called clawbugs which are available to the player as Mons and commonly show up as early mid-game enemies, usually inhabiting areas of desert and blasted wasteland. Since the premise of the series includes mage-scientists tinkering with life forms, they show up in several varieties; normal clawbugs, venomous stinging clawbugs, extra-fast plated bugs, and Boss in Mook Clothing clawbug queens.
  • Kratos fights a giant one of these in God of War III. He also fights several who are merely large before and during the aforementioned fight.
  • Golden Sun has the King Scorpion boss and giant scorpions later on.
  • Gryphon Knight Epic: Zafira Faris, one of the bosses, rides a gigantic scorpion.
  • Indiana Jones and His Desktop Adventures has giant, Scary Scorpions alongside giant spiders as the weakest enemies in the game. They are found in both the Amazon jungle and the caverns beneath.
  • Hero of Sparta have massive scorpions as recurring enemies, from puppy-sized (which dies in one hit) to Giant Mook (which soaks up plenty of blows, with a stinger tail large enough to skewer you before shaking you like a maraca before throwing you aside).
  • Intrepid Izzy: Scorpions serve as an enemy in the game. They'll sting Izzy if she gets too close.
  • King's Quest:
    • Graham encounters a scorpion in King's Quest V: Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder!. Despite being significantly smaller than the one Valanice comes across, it's also far more deadly, resulting in an instant death as soon as you reach the screen it shows up on (whereas Valanice's giant scorpion rather courteously gives you some time to deal with it before attacking).
    • In King's Quest VII: The Princeless Bride, Valanice is attacked by a giant scorpion.
  • In Kolibri, the scorpions are normal-sized, but the player character is a normal-sized hummingbird, so they're proportionately gigantic, and they've been given projectiles and sent berserk by a corrupting alien crystal. That said, they aren't very mobile, acting more as level hazards than true enemies.
  • The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning: Buffalo beetles are, name notwithstanding, scorpions much larger than Spyro found in the Munitions Forge, who attack with their claws and with fiery beams shot from their stingers.
  • The Legend of Zelda:
    • Zelda II: The Adventure of Link: Arurodas are blue-colored scorpions with cyclopean eyes that shoot fireballs at Link from their tails. The eye is the weak point, but Link has to wait until it opens to hit it, or else his sword attacks will ricochet. These enemies are found exclusively on East Hyrule, specifically the southeast region of the map housing the last two towns (both named Kasuto), as well as the last two dungeons, in the game.
    • The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword: Moldarach is a positively humongous scorpion that dwells in the sands of the Lanayru Mining Facility's rotunda. Its most notable features are the eyes that are within its pincers. Another is fought as a Degraded Boss in the Lanayru Shipyard later in the game.
  • League of Legends: Skarner takes form of a scorpion, and his pincers really pack a punch. He's not a venomous scorpion, but his stinger tail can inflict another breed of 'poison', in this case, encase his victim in crystal for a few seconds and he can drag them anywhere he moves.
  • Little Red Hood: Scorpions appear as enemies.
  • Looney Tunes games:
  • In The Lucky Dime Caper Starring Donald Duck, the pyramid level is filled with scorpions. They're quite fast and drop by the dozens from baskets hanging from the ceiling.
  • Mega Man X: Mega Scorpio from Mega Man X7 and Mega Scorpia from Mega Man Zero 2. Downplayed- although they are large and imposing, they are only Warm Up Bosses.
  • Mega Man X: Corrupted, a fan-made game, uses a scorpion called Sparkling Scorpio as a proper Maverick Boss.
  • Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater has an Emperor Scorpion as an edible animal during the mountainside section of the game, though it provides little stamina and in any case Snake hates the flavour. Sadly, they're also depicted as being capable of killing Snake when they sting him, despite the fact that Emperor Scorpion venom isn't fatal to humans. That said, this makes them a pretty decent (if lethal — remember the Pacifist Run option) Improvised Weapon if you capture one alive and throw it at an enemy.
  • Miitopia: The Neksdor Desert is populated with big scorpion enemies, one of them sharing its name with this very trope.
  • Mo' Creatures: This Minecraft mod includes scorpions as a tamable neutral mob. They’re huge, about the size of the player, and come in four variants, with will deliver different status effects if they sting you: common dirt scorpions will poison you, cave scorpions will give you nausea, ice scorpions will slow you down, and Nether scorpions will set you on fire. You can also turn them into undead scorpions with an essence of undead.
  • Monster Eye have giant insects as a recurring enemy, including scorpions in multiple levels. The Chinatown stage ends with a kaiju scorpion boss fight that you can only defeat by blasting it's pincers and tails to a stump.
  • Mortal Kombat: Surprisingly, even if he's named after the creature, Scorpion isn't really heavily based on the trope, although his signature kunai on a rope can be considered as his equivalent of the namesake's stinger tail in form and works like a scorpion's pincer claws (holding his victims in the most preferred place). However, he CAN turn into a literal giant scorpion for a Fatality.
  • Musashi Samurai Legend: the second boss is Gorpus, a giant monster who was sealed by the Earth Maiden Burrini inside a gigantic stone urn, using the Sword of Earth as a linchpin to keep the monster asleep. Gorpus resembles a gigantic purple scorpion with a mechanical cannon for a stinger and a helmet-like head which must be cut apart to reveal its real weakness: a giant orange eyeball.
  • One of the cyborg enemies in NanoBreaker is a mechanical scorpion capable of blasting energy bolts from it's tail.
  • No More Heroes:
    • The first game has a minigame where Travis has to scoop up scorpions while avoiding stings. Their speed and agility will be determined by their color, with the blue ones being the hardest (but also the most valuable score-wise). It's recommended to only play this minigame if you've unlocked the sprint skill.
    • No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle brings back the scorpion hunt minigame from the first game; scorpions are also enemies in some of the 8-bit retro minigames, serving as mooks.
    • No More Heroes III: There's an overworld-wide Collection Sidequest where Travis has to capture scorpions and take them to a sushi kiosk close to his motel room. These scorpions are dangerous, because a sting will cause Travis to faint and respawn in his motel, very far from the place where he found the scorpion (and said scorpion will also change its location, so geting back to where Travis first found it will be a waste of time).
  • Nuclear Throne has scorpions in the starting area, the Desert. They have a decent amount of health and shoot acid, and will stab you with their stingers if you touch them. There are also golden scorpions, which have more health and shoot more acid — at two different speeds! And they shoot out even more acid when they die.
  • Parasite Eve: The Museum of Natural History features a particularly large, tough scorpion enemy with a stretchable tail that can reach almost across the room.
  • The true form of the final boss of P.N.03 is a giant mecha-scorpion, although it rarely uses its "stinger".
  • Pokémon:
    • Gligar and Gliscor cross this trope with Bat Out of Hell. Gligar, at least, has a tendency to fly straight at its targets' faces and clamping on tight before injecting them full of poison.
    • Skorupi is a fairly straight example, ambushing prey while hiding below the sand with its poison sting at the ready, but its evolution Drapion is an interesting subversion. It's stated to have a very bad reputation due to its aggressive nature, but according to some of its Pokedex entries it actively avoids using poison in combat, preferring to fight with its claws and great physical strength. Which, incidentally, is how larger scorpion species tend to hunt in real life.
    • Kincaid, The Dragon of the local villain team in Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia, uses the Gligar and Scorupi lines exclusively, even both at the same time in one downloadable mission.
  • Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones: when the Vizier stabs himself with the Dagger of Time, a body horrorific transformation takes place and he seenmingly grows scorpion parts through his body. His Zurvan form resembles an impossibly bright floating humanoid with carapace-covered legs and tails like a scorpion.
  • Putrefaction has huge scorpion monsters in the sequel's Putrid World, capable of spitting acid streams from a distance. Get too close and they'll swing their stinging barbs instead.
  • Giant Scorpions exist in Puzzle Quest, where their major abilities are (a) hiding (letting them do double damage until you damage them out of hiding) and (b) poisoning you. However, once you've clocked three of them, you can capture and tame one to act as your steed (no access to the poison, but you do get their Hide ability).
  • Gigantic black scorpions are also a common foe is the desert setting of Quest for Glory II, and have a powerful venom that makes them one of the more dangerous foes in the game.
  • Quest for the Shaven Yak: Starring Ren Hoëk & Stimpy: In The Stinking Dry Desert, there are scorpion enemies that act as mirages of glasses of lemonade.
  • In the original Rayman, one of the bosses is Mr. Skops, a giant red scorpion who can throw his claws at you and fire lasers from the stinger on his tail.
  • The Stinger, the Giant Space Flea from Nowhere boss from Resident Evil 0 and Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles who smashes through the roof of the train to cause some trouble. Despite its intimidating size, it goes down effortlessly if you feed a few rounds from the Hunting Gun into its face from point-blank range. Apparently they were carrying it on the train to study it, but it got free when the Leech Zombies appeared.
  • There are a large variety of scorpions in RuneScape.
  • Serious Sam 3 has an anti-piracy feature that presents the unlicensed player with a red scorpion centaur that has limitless hit points. It can follow the player anywhere he can go, and always homes in on him anywhere on the playfield. Specialized threads on game forums are dedicated to queries on "How do I kill Red Scorpion?" The answer is always the same: "Buy a legit copy of the game, cheapskate!"
  • Sonic the Hedgehog:
    • Sonic CD has Sasori, a robotic scorpion that inhabits Quartz Quadrant Zone and attacks by shooting lasers from its tail.
    • In Sonic Spinball, the boss of the first level, Toxic Caves, is Scorpius, a giant robotic scorpion with Robotnik's face and a tail that sprays poisonous goop to attack with.
    • Sonic and Knuckles has Skorp, a robotic scorpion that inhabits Sandopolis Zone.
    • Sonic 3D Blast has Scorpy, a robotic scorpion that inhabits Volcano Valley Zone.
    • A non-robotic example in Sonic Adventure; Chaos 6 takes on the form of a bloated scorpion who stings Sonic, Knuckles, and Big with his tail.
    • Sonic Chronicles: Another non-robotic example. One of the missions to collect the devices in Chapter 3 has the player save a young boy from two giant scorpions. They have poison attacks, cannot be fleed from, and are generally tough opponents for how early they appear in game.
  • The third boss of Space Debris is a giant alien scorpion the size of a building, whose tail can spam energy blasts on the player.
  • Space Quest 3: "OH NO! A venomous scorpazoid. Watch out."
  • A puzzle in episode 5 of Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People involves getting a chunk of scorpion food away from a horde of 8-bit scorpions.
  • Super Mario Bros.:
    • In Donkey Kong '94, Mario encounters indestructible scorpion enemies called Scorpy in the desert stage, which will cause him to lose a life should he touch them.
    • Mario's doppelganger Wario has faced scorpion enemies on occasion, typically found in desert areas.
      • Wario Land: Shake It! features Flipstings, who keep their stingers arched over their backs and are thus immune to jump attacks.
      • Wario World has Big Scorpers, which attack by lashing with their stingers.
  • The Wind Road has giant scorpion enemies in the caverns, who ambushes you by tunneling from underground.
  • The Sand Scorpio enemy in Sword of Mana is the sole scorpion enemy in the game, with a stinging attack that can inflict poison and the ability to buff its attack power in addition to standard attacks. As a rare enemy, it also deals Scratch Damage and causes you to fall over on contact.
  • Tales of Symphonia had a desert that featured these.
  • The second act of Titan Quest, set in Egypt, is full of large scorpions (black ones as large as a men and yellow ones big as grown elephants.) as well as the Scorpos, a hybrid of man and scorpion. Their king is the boss that protects one of the artifacts necessary to continue the story.
  • Terraria has giant Sand Poachers that appear in the Underground Desert during Hardmode, which are capable of climbing walls at very fast speeds and are capable of inflicting the Acid Venom debuff whenever they hit the player. Regular non-giant scorpions appear as well, but they're a subversion since they just wander around and are completely incapable of harming the player.
  • In ULTRAKILL, the Hideous Mass is a Greater Demon that can be best described as a grotesque, scorpion-shaped amalgamation of meat and statues. According to its Terminal Data, these rare demons are the result of a single shell filled with an excessive amount of Hell mass, causing the mass to burst open the shell and flow through the seams. It's also a formidable foe, thanks to its massive health, damage-proof stone carapace, the ability to fire rains of Hell energy, and the ability to fire its stinger tail like a harpoon. Thankfully, it only stays in one spot, and attacking its weak spots (such as the underbelly and tail) deals extra damage.
  • In Unemployment Quest, you play as a young man named Chris who's trying to get a job, and fights monsters that take the form of his negative emotions. The one representing Laziness looks like a scorpion.
  • Vectorman 2 has giant scorpion enemies that inhabit Stage 5, "Fired". When Vectorman defeats them, they leave behind power-ups that briefly give him a scorpion tail to attack with, also making him temporarily immune to lava.
  • Venture Kid: Scorpions are an enemy encountered in the pyramid level. They go down in about 1-to-2 shots.
  • Warcraft's conjurers had the ability to summon scorpions.
    • They make a reappearance in Warcraft 3 under the name of Arachnathid and covered in fur, in the polar regions for some reason.
    • Giant scorpions also make a reappearance in World of Warcraft, this time called Scorpids. Hunters can tame them as pets. There are also regular sized scorpions as critters in some areas, and one scorpion non-combat pet, and now a scorpion mount. The arachnathids have inexplicably disappeared.
    • Fire scorpions appear in the Firelands, and Druids of the Flame can transform into them.
    • The Iron Juggernaut in the Siege of Orgrimmar resembles a scorpion. Its claws have a drill and buzzsaw on them, and there is a laser mounted on its tail.
    • Skorpyron, the first boss of the Nighthold, is a massive arcane scorpion with magical powers.
  • The Endegras from The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings are a mix of this trope and Giant Spider; they all have pincers but only Warriro Endegras also have stingers.

    Web Animation 
  • RWBY:
    • The Deathstalker, an armored scorpion the size of several vans. The first one we see takes the combined efforts of four main characters to bring it down.
      • RWBY: Amity Arena makes for a different kind of "Scary": the Baby Deathstalker is much smaller than the one in the show, but it's a whole swarm with really quick attack, and thus can destroy what's on their path in the blink of an eye.
    • Tyrian Callows, a Scorpion Faunus with a poisonous stinger that serves as Salem's primary enforcer and assassin. A Serial Killer that terrorized multiple kingdoms, he worships Salem as a literal goddess and takes great pleasure in serving her in whatever way she desires. Even the other members of Salem's group consider him disturbing, with Tyrian just as eager to torment his "allies" as his enemies when given the opportunity. Insane and melodramatic as he is, Tyrian is far more cunning and intelligent than he seems — able to manipulate his victims and psychologically torment them before ending their lives. Inspired by the fable, "The Scorpion and the Frog", Tyrian is a sadist capable of turning the tables on the unwary, even when seemingly captured and helpless.

    Webcomics 

    Western Animation 
  • Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog:
    • In "Attack on Pinball Fortress", Robotnik attacks Sonic, Sergeant Doberman, and Wes Weasely with Boss Scorpion, a giant robot scorpion who serves a stand-in for Scorpius, the boss of Toxic Caves from Sonic Spinball.
    • In "The Mobius 5000", one of Robotnik's Race-Bots is Scorpion, a robot who stings his enemies with his scorpion tail.
  • In The Fairly OddParents! episode "Mr. Right", Timmy wishes he was always right and comes across Francis to state that a scorpion is behind his back. The scorpion appears out of nowhere and stings Francis in the palm, causing his hand to swell up in size. Francis eventually gets back at Timmy in the end with a jar full of scorpions, as well as a wasp nest and a female wrestler (the former two Timmy has wished to use against Francis prior to the scene).
  • The Fangface episode "Snow Job Jitters" features a criminal mastermind called the Scorpion as its villain of the week. He has a lot of scorpion-themed gadgets and even a helicopter that looks like a scorpion.
  • Six and Bobo encounter a nest of giant scorpions in the Generator Rex episode "Breach".
  • One episode of Godzilla: The Series had Zilla battle giant mutant scorpions being bred by a top-secret US military facility to kill him. The same episode also featured a disturbing vision from one of the characters foreshadowing the scorpions' origins, where he sees a giant human-headed scorpion and faceless soldiers with scorpions' tails attacking him.
  • In one episode of The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, Grim and Dracula find themselves stranded in the desert and are attacked by scorpions, which they end up eating. It's shortly revealed that the scorpions were babies belonging to a horrified giant mother scorpion, who attacked them in retaliation.
    Giant Scorpion: My babies!''
    Dracula: Well, maybe if you didn't make your babies so delicious, Dracula wouldn't have had to eat 'em!
  • In the Hercules: The Animated Series/Aladdin: The Series crossover "Hercules and the Arabian Night", Jafar conjures up a giant scorpion to take on Hercules. Jafar says it is the perfect counter to Hercules, because of its incredible speed. Fortunately, Hercules anticipated this and he and Aladdin had disguised themselves as each other. Aladdin easily evades the scorpion's attacks with his agility, then he and Hercules destroy Jafar's staff of power, making the scorpion disappear.
  • In the Jonny Quest episode "The Curse of Anubis", a desert scorpion menaces the Quest team, but Race Bannon kills it with a whip.
  • KaBlam!: Averted and then played straight in the Sniz & Fondue cartoon "A Toxic Tail". Fondue buys a Madagascar Scorpion to keep Sniz out of his room. Sniz tells him that he's not scared since the scorpion is in a tank. Once it gets loose though, everyone freaks out since "one sting and it kills."
  • Kulipari: An Army of Frogs has Lord Marmoo, an Evil Overlord who desires to destroy the Amphibilands so he can create his own empire, the Arachnilands.
  • A scorpion serves as a recurring enemy in Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness. In her backstory she was actually a subversion of this, being a kind healer before she accidentally stung herself with a hypnotic potion.
  • In The Lion Guard, Simba gets stung by a scorpion assassin sent by Scar's spirit on his tail. As a result, he becomes deathly ill. Kion and his friends go on a quest to find the cure.
  • A giant scorpion (actually a robot) shows up in an Ancient Egypt episode of Scooby-Doo.
  • Scorpia from She-Ra and the Princesses of Power is a subversion: she's a big, muscular scorpion-woman with pincers and a stinger tail, working for the evil Horde, but she has such a nice, affable personality that she barely qualifies as a villain. (She even defects to the side of good!) She can still put up a fight, though. Played straight when Scorpia is chipped by Horde Prime—turns out that with her free will and personality being overridden by a narcissistic maniac, her strength and lightning powers make her actually kind of scary. It's still downplayed, though—she doesn't speak or change facial expressions while chipped (unlike Micah and Spinnerella, who seem to display much more sadism and/or creepiness when under Prime's control), and she manages to subtly resist Prime's control more often than other chip victims.
  • Teen Titans (2003) introduces Terra by having her running from/fighting a giant scorpion.
  • Xiaolin Showdown:
    • One episode was actually about Kimiko accidentally setting an evil scorpion demon named Sibini free after accidentally smashing a Shen Gon Wu called the "Mosaic Scale" (also Sibini's supposed prison) to pieces, and as a result, she and her partners had to put it back together again before Sibini wreaked havoc upon the entire world.
    • Another episode featured a Shen Gon Wu called the "Emperor Scorpion", which actually served as some sort of mind-control device.

    Real Life 
  • A discovery in 2020 determined that some of the first animals to venture from water onto land were probably primordial scorpions, evolved to crawl on the sea floor like modern crustaceans. This adaptation made it easy for them to venture onto land, and at the time, there would have been no animal competition on land to counter them. That's ignoring the fact that scorpions are the longest lived predators on Earth, having been around for over 435 million years, nearly triple the time non-avian dinosaurs have lived and having (so far) never once switched their diets to herbivory or the fact that they're most likely ancestors of the spiders the same way dinosaurs are ancestors to the birds.
  • Smaller scorpion species, such as the desert scorpion, are pretty dangerous. Should you come across one, the best thing to do is not to give it an excuse to attack you. But even then, it'd be no worse than a bee sting. Yes it would hurt, but it probably won't kill you unless you're allergic.
  • The Emperor Scorpion, probably the largest and most iconic scorpion species, is often used as the model for this trope, but fall for the Reality Is Unrealistic trap. They're one of the friendliest and least venomous species of scorpions. In general, the biggest scorpions, like the Emperor and the few others kept in the pet trade, are minimally venomous. This is because their claws are so big they can kill their prey with brute force and don't need venom, whereas the smaller scorpions do. This video demonstrates how docile this species is, showing a keeper handle a very curious, adventuring emperor scorpion, without once being grabbed, stung, or bitten.
  • A lot of scorpion species actually avoid using their venom in self defense, relying instead on their powerful claws and protective exoskeletons to protect themselves. This is because they want to conserve their venom for when they need it (like killing prey).
  • Make no mistake, though — there are a few scorpions whose venom is potentially deadly, especially to less healthy individuals and children. Those include some fattail scorpions (the genus' Latin name is Androctonus, which translates to "man killer"), the equally appropriately named Deathstalker scorpion (whose venom is by far the most potent of any species in the world), the Indian red scorpion, and the Arizona bark scorpion (the latter of which being the most venomous species of scorpion found in North America).
  • The aforementioned Deathstalker is one of the most dangerous species with an extremely painful venom. While very painful, though, it probably won't kill you. The venom of the Deathstalker, known as Chlorotoxin, is a heavy target of medical research. It does two, remarkable things. One, it can actually help the body regulate insulin, which can help fight diabetes. Two, a synthetic version of the toxin can be used to target brain tumors. When lined with fluorescent molecules, the venom highlights cancer cells, which makes removing them significantly easier. The venom has been known to highlight instances of cancer only 200 cells strong. 200 seems like a big number, but when you talk about brain cells, it's probably not enough to see with the naked eye.
  • While modern scorpions are strongly associated with arid environments like deserts, savannahs and scrublands, the Eurypterids, a group of ancient arthropods informally known as Sea Scorpions, lived, as the name suggests, in the ocean and other aquatic habitats. These grew to be much larger then any living scorpion, the biggest of them being 8 ft 2 in. They went extinct during the Permian-Triassic extinction event. Despite the name, they weren't actually scorpions — although their closest living relatives would be arachnids — and only resembled them in their elongated body plan and their front limbs ending in large claws. They didn't have a sting (their bodies ended in flat paddles for swimming) and would have used their claws as their primary weapons.
  • Several actual species of giant scorpions have been found in the Paleozoic fossil record.
    • Pulmonoscorpius, from the Carboniferous, grew to be a solid 70 cm (28 in) long, in large part thanks to the atmosphere's higher oxygen content at the timenote .
    • Brontoscorpio was even bigger, reaching nearly a meter in length. One of the earliest scorpions known, it is also though to have been a strictly marine animal. Unfortunately, it’s only known from a single claw, thus making exact measurements impossible.
  • There's a scorpion in the sky too: the zodiacal constellation of Scorpius, that in the past was even bigger — the neighboring constellation of Libra was once its claws.
  • The scorpio was a giant crossbow-like Roman Siege Engines used to kill enemies at hundreds of meters.
  • The Whip Scorpion is a subversion. They look like really creepy scorpion-like creatures, but are biologically closer to spiders due to being tetrapulmonates, making them more of a Spiders Are Scary case instead.

 
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Video Example(s):

Dune Scorpion

A scorpion monster lurking in the desert.

Rhi-No Ya Don't!

Chased by Scorp...

Alternative Title(s): Scary Scorpion

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Dune Scorpion

A scorpion monster lurking in the desert.

How well does it match the trope?

5 (4 votes)

Example of:

Main / ScaryScorpions

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Dune Scorpion

Rhi-No Ya Don't!

Chased by Scorp...