History Main / GrowingWings

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* ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'': Atcthe end of "I'm Just Wild About Jerry," Tom is about to get run over by a train for a third time...then this time the train passes him. Jerry pulled a switch to divert the train. Clasping his hands solemnly, a halo forms over Jerry's head then he sprouts angel wings. He flies off in the iris out.
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* ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'': Atcthe end of "I'm Just Wild AboutJerry," Tom is about to get run over by a train for a third time...then this time the train passes him. Jerry pulled a switch to divert the train. Clasping his hands solemnly, a halo forms over Jerry's head then he sprouts angel wings. He flies off in the iris out.

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* ''ComicBook/{{Flight}}'': The Volume 1 short comic "I wish..." by Vera Brosgol is about a teenage girl that grows angel wings one day. It's mostly her talking with a friend about growing up wishing she could fly.

* ''ComicBook/UncannyXMen'': The ''Uncanny X-Men Vol. 1'' story arc "Quarantine" (issues 530-534) introduces an experimental drug that gives a specific mutant's power to ordinary humans. One of the volunteers, Penny Newsom, chooses Angel. Shortly after taking it, she sprouts wings.

* Shows up in [[''FanficRecs/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower'' She-Ra and the Princesses of Power]] fan fic:

* ''Fanfic/SheRaInTheWake'': The tiny wings on Glimmer's shoulders grew to full size by the start of the story, the sudden metamorphosis apparently how that works with her mother's species.

* In ''Anime/CardcaptorSakura'', Sakura gains wings when she uses the Fly card in the second season. In the first, her staff sprouted the wings and she rode it like a [[FlyingBroomstick witch's broom]]. There's also Yue and Ruby Moon who have wings in their true forms but not their false ones.
* In ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' Sasuke sprouts wings during his fight with Naruto. The transformation sequence looks a bit painful and they burst through his clothing.
* Manga/PrincessAi sprouts a pair, on account of her unconventional heritage.
* In the final episodes of ''Anime/EurekaSeven'', [[spoiler:Eureka is distressed when she undergoes a mysterious transformation that includes the sprouting of bright green butterfly wings.]]
* In ''Anime/AngelBeats'', Kanade programs angel wings on herself after Otonashi suggests it.
* In ''Manga/BattleAngelAlita: Last Order'', Alita sprouts wings with damascus metal blades for feathers after her second resurrection. She's not impressed with them, since they impede her fighting style.
* ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'':
** [[spoiler:Madoka sprouts a pair upon her ascension as a goddess.]]
** [[spoiler:Homura grows wings in ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheMovieRebellion''.]]

* In the climax of ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureBattleTendency'', [[BigBad Kars]], having just become the ultimate life-form, gains VoluntaryShapeshifting. He uses it to grow wings and fly after Joseph's plane.

* ''[[ComicBook/UncannyXMen The Uncanny X-Men Vol. 1]]'' story arc "Quarantine" (issues 530-534) introduces an experimental drug that gives a specific mutant's power to ordinary humans. One of the volunteers, Penny Newsom, chooses Angel. Shortly after taking it, she sprouts wings.
* The ''ComicBook/{{Flight}}'' Volume 1 short comic "I wish..." by Vera Brosgol is about a teenage girl that grows angel wings one day. It's mostly her talking with a friend about growing up wishing she could fly.
* In his 3rd solo series, ComicBook/{{Morbius}} grows bat wings after an attempt to cure himself of his [[ArtificialHybrid scientific]] [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampirism]] goes wrong and the bat [=DNA=] starts taking over the human [=DNA=]. They grow bigger as he becomes [[BatPeople less human]].

* The tiny wings on Glimmer's shoulders grew to full size by the start of ''Fanfic/SheRaInTheWake'', the sudden metamorphosis apparently how that works with her mother's species.
* In ''Fanfic/ThisBites'', as a result of feeding on the strength increasing drugs found in Mereville, [[AscendedExtra Conis's]] wings end up tripling in size. However, according to Chopper, it would take her at least two years for her to figure out how to fly[[note]]Which she ends up getting when the Straw Hat Pirates are inevitably scattered by Kuma[[/note]].

* At the end of ''WesternAnimation/{{Thumbelina|1994}}'' the titular heroine sprouts a pair of fairy wings when she marries fairy prince Cornelius.

* In ''Film/XMenTheLastStand'', Angel is shown to have something growing out of his back as a child. Fast forward ten years: he has wings.

* An interesting variation occurs in the novel ''Mail-Order Wings'' by Beatrice Gormley. The protagonist Andrea builds a set of artificial wings from a kit and drinks a potion that causes them to gradually become real. Unfortunately for her, the potion also causes her to slowly metamorphose into a bird.
* The Icarii race in ''Literature/TheWayfarerRedemption'' series are born wingless, and develop wings in infancy. Dormant wing-buds of half-Icarii, half-human adults can still be encouraged to sprout, using magic.
* In ''Literature/TheMagiciansNephew'', [[Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia Aslan]] gives Strawberry wings and [[MeaningfulRename renames him Fledge]]. Instant CoolHorse.
* Mervyn Peake's ''Mr Pye'' is such a saintly character that he begins to sprout angel wings. He finds them an embarrassing nuisance and eventually decides to try not being saintly any more to try and get them to go away again. It works... but he then begins to sprout horns instead. Reverting his character to get rid of the horns again works, but the wings come back...
* Laurel Winter has a book called "Growing Wings", where it's a kind of PubertySuperpower. The wings are too large to really be hidden, but there aren't any other physical adaptations for flight, so no one with wings can really use them to fly on their own.
* It happens to Miranda in ''Literature/DrFranklinsIsland'' in a horrifying way - she loses her hands and her breastbone [[PainfulTransformation bursts through her skin]] as she turns into a bird. As it happens she tries to stay positive about it, saying that she'd love to be able to fly.
* ''Rapture'' by David Sosnowski is about a virus that causes people to grow wings and how society adjusts and reacts to this new subset of the human race (i.e. [[FantasticRacism not very well]]).
* ''When We Have Wings'' by Claire Corbett is a dystopian novel where the extremely wealthy opt to get a combination of surgery, genetic modification, and drugs to grow and maintain flight-capable wings. These people live in floating paradises in the sky, making it kind of similar to ''Film/{{Elysium}}'' (although predating it by a few years).
* ''Self Portrait with Wings'' by Susan Kohn Green is about an eleven year old girl that magically gains mostly-invisible dragonfly wings after drawing a picture of herself with them.
* This is a central plot point in the children's book ''The Little Rabbit Who Wanted Red Wings''. The rabbit wishes for the traits other animals have, and his wish is granted when he grows red wings to match a cardinal's. However, the rabbit's mother and friends fail to recognize him with wings, and send him away. The next day the rabbit wishes the wings away and is once again accepted by society. The {{Aesop}} in this story is that you should be happy with who you are and not be envious of others.
* In the fantasy novel ''Black And Blue Magic'' set in the time of the Great Depression the young boy protagonist is gifted a bottle from a mysterious man who for a short while rents a room from his mother (and is implied to both be of fantastic age and his large bag to contain many magical items from ancient stories including Aladdin's Lamp), by rubbing a drop of the pearlescent liquid inside on each of his shoulderblades and reciting a magical chant he grows large wings that remain until he recites the counter-spell.

* In ''Literature/DragonsOfEther'' book three, an elf named Peter sprouts dragon wings.
* In ''[[Literature/RealmOfTheElderlings The Rain Wild Chronicles]]'' Thymara eventually develops wings, due to influence from her dragon. They are not strong enough to allow her to fly, however.
* In ''Literature/{{Tithe}}'', as Kaye begins showing her pixie heritage, she sprouts gossamer buglike wings from two bumps on her shoulder blades. As with insects, they take a bit to dry off after emerging, and Kaye is large enough that they aren't capable of actual flight.

* In the season 2 finale of ''Series/Lucifer2016'', Lucifer is knocked out and wakes up in the middle of the desert, his wings having grown back after having cut them off before the series began. The following episode, he has had his wings cut off multiple times, only for them to grow back in an instant.

* ''Fallen'', the 2006 miniseries starring Paul Wesley, involves various angelic and half-angelic characters sprouting wings, with their size and color being marginally plot-relevant. This is particularly climactic for the protagonist, who does not know his is not human, or (once he learns the truth) whether he can claim his true nature.
* A plot point for Paul, the protagonist in ''Series/TheFades'', signaling his role in the apocalyptic crisis developing around him.

* Ascending to Daevahood in ''VideoGame/{{Aion}}'' lets a player character summon a pair of wings at will.
* Getting certain upgrades in tandem with Transcendence in ''VideoGame/TheBindingOfIsaac'' will cause Isaac to grow a pair of wings.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Darksiders}}'', War obtains demon wings after completing a quest for one of the hellish archlords stranded on earth. Although these don't give flight, they will allow War to float to new areas and jump higher.

* Jarred experienced this early in ''Webcomic/BoomerExpress''. It was [[http://www.boomerexpress.com/2002/09/05/40-that-must-sting/ quite the painful episode.]]
* Beret Guy in ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'' has "endless wings", as seen in [[https://xkcd.com/1099 1099.]]
* In ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' any troll characters who die on their questbed or [[EmergencyTransformation die and are placed there]] ascend to [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence god tier]] and grow a pair of wings the [[BizarreAlienBiology same color as their blood]].

* If this happens in ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', expect the episode to be a WhamEpisode:
** In the Season 3 finale "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS3E13MagicalMysteryCure Magical Mystery Cure]]", [[spoiler:Twilight Sparkle gains wings, becoming [[WingedUnicorn an alicorn]], when she manages to finish an incomplete spell created by Star Swirl the Bearded.]]
** In the Season 8 episode "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS8E11MoltDown Molt Down]]", [[spoiler:Spike acquires wings after dealing with a magical symptom called "the molt", which is essentially dragon puberty, and a ''very'' uncomfortable one at that.]]

Note that this trope is for permanent or semi-permanent wings. Wings that appear and disappear go into the category of PowerGivesYouWings.

* Jarred experienced this early in ''Webcomic/BoomerExpress''. It was [[http://www.boomerexpress.com/2002/09/05/40-that-must-sting/ quite the painful episode]].
* Beret Guy in ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'' has "endless wings", as seen in 1099.

** [[spoiler:Madoka sprouts a pair upon her ascension as a goddess]].

* In ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' any troll characters who die on their questbed or [[EmergencyTransformation die and are placed there]] ascend to [[AscendedToAHigherPlaneOfExistence god tier]] and grow a pair of wings the [[BizarreAlienBiology same color as their blood]].

* In ''Manga/{{Gunnm}}: Last Order'', Alita sprouts wings with damascus metal blades for feathers after her second resurrection. She's not impressed with them, since they impede her fighting style.

In case of a person or animal, the character could also go through {{Metamorphosis}}. They can [[JustWokeUpThatWay wake up one morning]] to discover tiny wings on their back, which [[SlowTransformation grow over time]] until they are functional. The initial sprouts can be ridges, feathery tufts, or tiny, articulated wings. The more realistic the story is, the more slow and painful the change will be. If the transformation is slow and large flight muscles also develop, it can be a case of TransformationHorror.

In case of a person or animal, the character could also go through {{Metamorphosis}}. They can [[JustWokeUpThatWay wake up one morning]] to discover tiny wings on their back, which [[SlowTransformation grow over time]] until they are functional. The initial sprouts can be ridges, feathery tufts, or tiny, articulated wings. The more realistic the story is, the more slow and painful the change will be. If the transformation and large flight muscles also develop, it can be a case of TransformationHorror.

* This is a central plot point in the children's book ''The Little Rabbit Who Wanted Red Wings''. The rabbit wishes for the traits other animals have, and his wish is granted when he grows red wings to match a cardinal's. However, the rabbit's mother and friends fail to recognize him with wings, and send him away. The next day the rabbit wishes the wings away and is once again accepted by society. The {{Aesop}} in this story is supposed to be that you should be happy with who you are and not be envious of others, but it also gets into FamilyUnfriendlyAesop territory: don't dare to be too different or everyone you love will reject you.
* In the fantasy novel ''Black And Blue Magic'' set in the time of the Great Depression the young boy protagonist is gifted a bottle from a mysterious man who for a short while rents a room from his mother (and is implied to both be of fantastic age and his large bag to contain many magical items from ancient stories including Aladdin's Lamp), by rubbing a drop of the pearlescent liquid inside on each of his shoulderblades and reciting a magical chant he grows large wings that remain until he recites the counter-spell (which he's genre savvy enough to commit to heart).

* In ''Anime/CardcaptorSakura'', Sakura gains wings when she uses the Fly card in the second season. In the first, her staff sprouted the wings and she rode it like a witch's broom. There's also Yue and Ruby Moon who have wings in their true forms but not their false ones.

* ''Anime/HaibaneRenmei'': The Haibane grow small, non-functional wings within a few hours of their "birth". The wing-growing is shown to be extraordinarily painful, as the wings tear through the skin on the back and come out covered in blood.

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* In the climax of ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureBattleTendency'', [[BigBad Kars]], having just become the ultimate life-form, gains VoluntaryShapeshifting. He uses it to grow wings and fly after Joseph's plane.