History Main / AntAssault

** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS4E12MargeVsTheMonorail Marge Vs. The Monorail]]", Springfield's public treasury is $3 million richer after Mr. Burns is fined for dumping nuclear waste in a public park. Lisa begins fantasizing about virtual reality helmets for Springfield Elementary, while Bart says there's only one sane use for the money: a horde of giant mechanical ants that will destroy the school and chomp Skinner in half.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS4E19TheFront The Front]]", in response to a mediocre episode of ''The Itchy & Scratchy Show'', Bart and Lisa decide to write their own episode of the show called "Little Barbershop of Horrors", where Itchy gives Scratchy a haircut. Bart writes that instead of shampoo, Itchy covers Scratchy's head with barbecue sauce, then opens up a box of flesh-eating ants. The ants eat Scratchy's flesh, and Scratchy screams in pain as his head is reduced to a skull.

Combined with the stereotype that [[StrongAnts ants can carry stuff much larger than them with ease]], it's no surprise that ants featured in fiction end up being the source of trouble. More often than not, they will be portrayed as an aggressive swarm focused solely on expanding their colony or protecting it from intruders at any cost. They may also show up as food thieves, with a particular penchant for stealing food from picnics. In more anthropomorphic settings, you may expect to see them as militaristic expansionists. Sometimes, they may come in [[BigCreepyCrawlies massive sizes]]. Either way, there ants exist solely to cause trouble.

Among humans, ants are often known as the source of trouble. They are common pests, showing up whenever there is food to be found and appearing uninvited in the hapless person's house or picnic [[TheSwarm in large numbers]]. Some ant species build their nests inside the walls and foundations, damaging their structure. And lastly, ants, much like [[BeeAfraid bees]] and [[WickedWasps wasps]], can [[ScaryStingingSwarm sting]]. Depending on species, these stings may hurt ''a lot'', especially when they sting en masse, with [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_ant fire ant]] stings being the most infamous.

* ''Manga/{{Arachnid}}'' and ''Manga/{{Blattodea}}'': A LivingAphrodisiac girl secretes the Queen substance found in ants to brainwash people into zombie-like sex slaves. Once she is killed, a "Rape ZombieApocalypse'' tears Japan apart as a DepopulationBomb that was planned by the BigBad but actually went [[GoneHorriblyRight out of control]].

* ''Manga/OnePiece'': In ''[[Anime/OnePieceFilmStrongWorld Strong World]]'', some of the first monsters we see are a horde of literal soldier ants, capable of reducing a sea monster to a skeleton in two seconds flat. They completely ignore [[DemBones Brook]] due to him having no meat on his bones...[[YouAreAlreadyDead and pay dearly for it]].

* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'':
** In the Issue 296 of ''ComicBook/ActionComics'', [[BigCreepyCrawlies giant ants]] invade the Earth and raid it for resources. They are also impenetrable to bullets and are smart enough to use the green kryptonite to ward off Superman. [[spoiler:{{Subverted|Trope}} as it turns out they were [[NotEvilJustMisundersood non-hostile]] and were simply trying to rebuild their rocket (which also uses green kryptonite as the fuel) to continue traveling the stars and warning people of many planets about the dangers of the nuclear war so they won't meet [[AfterTheEnd the same fate]] as the former inhabitants of their own homeworld.]]
** ''ComicBook/KryptoniteNevermore'' has Superman saving ComicBook/LoisLane and her pilot from a swarm of flesh-eating ants.

* ''Ants!'', aka "It Happened at Lakewood Manor", is a 1977 TV movie about construction workers working next to a hotel who discover colonies of poisonous ants in the ground that proceed to attack the workers and later the nearby hotel and its guests.

* The ''Literature/{{Goosebumps}}'' book ''Literature/HowIGotMyShrunkenHead'' has Mark, the protagonist, exploring through the jungle during the night on a quest to search for his aunt until he gets exhausted and falls asleep. Once he wakes up the next day, he discovers that his entire body is inundated with red ants crawling everywhere on him! Thankfully, he uses the "Jungle Magic" (his own catchphrase) to get them all to fall off of him before he is suffocated.

--> '''Jynx''': The Knights of Byzantium are like ants. First you see one, then another and another. Before you know it, the picnic's ruined.
* The 1986 ''Franchise/SuperSentai'' series, ''Series/ChoushinseiFlashman'', featured ant-like [[{{Mook}} footsoldiers]] in the form of the Zolors. They could even spit acid from their mouths. This generally fit in with the "1950s B-movie" theming the show had, likely referencing ''Film/{{Them}}'' and other such movies.

-->And the army ants, they leave [[StrippedToTheBone nothing but the bones]].

-->It is commonly known that ants keep slaves. Certain species, the so-called Sanguinary Ants in particular, [[AntWar will raid the nests of other ant tribes]], and kill the queen, and then kidnap many of the workers. The workers are brought back to the captors' hive where they are coerced into performing menial tasks. And as we discussed last semester, the army ants will leave nothing but your bones.

* ''Podcast/{{The Magnus Archives}}'': In episode 184 "Like Ants," the statement-givers are trapped in tunnels filled with ants, afraid of crushing them, of being bitten, or even of screaming out of fear the ants will fill their mouths.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'': Swarms of voracious ants and [[BigCreepyCrawlies giant ants]] have both appeared in almost every edition of D&D as potential enemies to face.

* ''VideoGame/BeeSwarmSimulator'' in ''Platform/{{Roblox}}'' features the Ant Challenge, a mini-game in which your bees must fight against a MultiMookMelee of enemy ants ranging from the normal type to giant ants, flying ants, fire ants [[VisualPun that leave a trail of flames]] and army ants [[VisualPun complete with army helmets]]. Taking out as many ants as you can in five minutes increases your score and rewards.
* ''VideoGame/{{Bug|1995}}'':

* ''VideoGame/RedAlert'': The secret campaign features giant mutant ants (as in, bigger than tanks) that have taken over an underground base.

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* ''WebVideo/MittenSquad'': Mentioned in the video, titled [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cznE5bc0dg "Halo MCC: Part 12 - Attack of the Alien Ants (Halo Combat Evolved)"]].

* ''WesternAnimation/Rugrats1991'': Near the end of "[[Recap/RugratsS4E8FairePlayTheSmellOfSuccess The Smell of Success]]", Tommy and Chuckie get chased by a bully. Chuckie [[NasalWeapon sneezes the bully into an anthill]], and the ants inside it crawl into the bully's pants and bite his butt.
* WesternAnimation/SecretSquirrel: The episode "Greg" had a Gingerbread man who trained sugar ants to steal candy for him in order to make a giant monster gingerbread man. After Secret Squirrel and Morocco Mole defeat/eat the giant, the ants turn on their master and eat the gingerbread man.

* ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'': In three shorts (''Cat Napping'', ''Pup on a Picnic'' and ''Barbecue Brawl''), a marching swarm of ants (whose synchronized marching may cause dangerous vibrations) shows up to cause bother. In the first cartoon, they were used by Jerry to ruin Tom's nap by breaking the hammock with their vibrations, while in the latter two cartoons they show up to collect food from Spike and Tyke's picnics.

* ''VideoGame/BeeSwarmSimulator'' in ''VideoGame/{{Roblox}}'' features the Ant Challenge, a mini-game in which your bees must fight against a MultiMookMelee of enemy ants ranging from the normal type to giant ants, flying ants, fire ants [[VisualPun that leave a trail of flames]] and army ants [[VisualPun complete with army helmets]]. Taking out as many ants as you can in five minutes increases your score and rewards.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' features several different classes of ant enemies, most of which congregate either around caves which hold their queen/colony or, in one case in ''VideoGame/Fallout3'', their leader the Ant-agonist.

-->-- '''The Ants''', WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends, "The Picnic Panic"