History Main / RatMen

* ''Literature/YakitoriSoldiersOfMisfortune'' has a sympathetic version. Even though they're fighting the protagonists, it's to free their homeworld Barka from the Trade Federation (the protagonists are human mercenaries from a VichyEarth).

[[AnimalThemedSuperbeing Ratman supervillains]] often have either "rat" or "vermin" somewhere in their names. Ratman civilizations are sometimes given a quasi-Japanese flair or called "Nezumi," which is simply the Japanese word for mouse or rat; the proper Japanese translation for Ratmen would be "Nezumi-jin."

* ''VideoGame/NiNoKuniIIRevenantKingdom'' has the mousefolk, who have both mouselike and ratlike members. The game's initial villain, Mausinger, falls heavily on the ratlike scale, as he leads a coup that exiles the game's protagonist, [[AChildShallLeadThem child king]] Evan. However, it's suggested that the mousefolk themselves are largely ordinary people just trying to live their lives.
* ''VideoGame/FantasyGeneral'': Rat Men are a Light Infantry class unit for the Evil side, appearing as hooded, sword-wielding anthropomorphic rats. The Evil hero unit Grimal the Rat Lord belongs to the same race.

* The ''WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers'' villain Verminus Skumm is a particularly anthropomorphic variation on this, resembling a man with rat-like hands, feet, and a rat tail. Apparently, he was created to represent the effects of urbanization and pollution on biodiversity. A few episodes show Skumm with Rat Men {{Mooks}}, and one episode shows that he has a disease called "rat rot" which [[TheVirus turns people into rat men]].

* ''ComicBook/{{Mampato}}'' includes, among several other mutant species, a 40th century race of ratmen, who work as spies for villains.

* Japanese folklore gives the tale of Raigo the Rat, based on a historical figure from the 11th century. The emperor broke a promise to him and he used black magic so that, when he dies, he will come back as a giant rat, with a rat army to eat valuable scrolls.
* There is an [[http://hoaxes.org/weblog/comments/cursed_by_allah urban legend]] about a girl who threw the Koran at her mother and was turned into a rat girl by Allah. This is accompanied by a picture, meant to "prove" the story as real, of the creature the girl had become, which was in fact that of a human-rat hybrid sculpture, orginally part of an art exhibit titled "Leather Landscape", by Patricia Piccinini.

** Rat King is a recurring villain who controls the vermin of New York and lives in the sewers. He seems human in at least appearance, however. In ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987'', the Rat King was convinced he was a humanoid rat despite being an ordinary human.

** Ratfolk are halfling-sized, highly social, and good at tinkering. Many of them are {{Intrepid Merchant}}s. For the most part, they are portrayed fairly sympathetically -- most of them are neutral in alignment, and they can be player characters -- but some of their racial options, like the [[PlagueMaster Plague Bringer]] alchemist, have more of a [[TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasy Skaven]] feel.

* In ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasy'', the Skaven are a race of ratmen that live in squalor and may be something of a TropeCodifier, having inspired numerous imitators in tabletop gaming. They are the most numerous race in the setting and have advanced {{Magitek}} equipment (like ratling guns and doomwheels) and would have taken it over long ago if their entire culture wasn't based on ChronicBackstabbingDisorder. One of the best known traits of the Skaven is that they don't exist. Within the Empire their existence is officially denied, though whether or not anyone believes this [[DependingOnTheAuthor varies between stories]]. The Skaven maintain the secret because although they massively outnumber humanity they are so paranoid and cowardly none want to risk it. The Empire keeps them a secret because the leadership fears that letting people know that a vast malevolent civilization lives under their feet would cause panic.

* ''VideoGame/{{Majesty}}'' and other games set in Ardania (like ''VideoGame/WarlockMasterOfTheArcane'') has Ratmen living in the sewers under pretty much every settlement. Unlike the [[TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasy Skaven]] they resemble, they're almost always PlayedForLaughs. (Their main reason for raiding the surface is an obsession with cheese, for example...)

* The ''Comicbook/DCOneMillion'' incarnation of ''Comicbook/{{Batman}}'' villain the Ratcatcher is AmbiguouslyHuman with rat-like characteristics. His followers are giant humanoid rats.
* ''Comicbook/GhostRider'': One of Ghost Rider's minor foes is the bipedal, flesh-eating rat creature Verminous Rex, the sole survivor of an entire race of such creatures Berev'Ha Dentii that lived in the spaces between dimensional walls. The Berev'Ha Dentii did have a moment of glory in the Danny Ketch era, when under Verminous Rex's command, they successfully kidnapped and killed a number of Ghost Riders so that Verminous get their power.
* In ''Comicbook/JoeTheBarbarian'', the hero, a diabetic teenager trying to stave off death, hallucinates that his pet fancy rat is a noble Rat Man warrior who aids him on his MaybeMagicMaybeMundane quest to defeat "Lord Death" and retrieve his insulin.

* The ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'' and ''Comicbook/CaptainAmerica'' villain Vermin is a human being mutated against his will into a cannibalistic, insane Rat Man.

[[folder:Fan Works ]]

Subtrope of BeastMan. Contrast RodentsOfUnusualSize (where the rodents are huge but not necessarily humanoid or intelligent).

* ''Comicbook/SevenSoldiers'': The ''Klarion'' and ''Manhattan Guardian'' miniseries briefly feature a race of sentient, bipedal rats who dwell beneath New York City's subways. Since they're still the size of ordinary rats, [[spoiler: Klarion's cat Teekl rather casually devours their king off-panel.]]

* The ''[[Comicbook/SpiderMan Spider-Man]]'' and ''Comicbook/CaptainAmerica'' villain Vermin is a human being mutated against his will into a cannibalistic, insane Rat Man.

* ''ComicBook/TombOfTerror #5'': The Rat Man is a man who was resurrected into a giant rat by a life-restoring fluid. He is intelligent and can talk and use things, but is also evil.
* ''ComicBook/{{Mampato}}'' includes, among several other mutant species, a 40th century race of ratmen, who work as spies for villains.
* In one story involving Captain Marvel of ''ComicBook/{{Shazam}}'', he has to deal with a far future where giant rats rule the world and catch humans in man-traps. But despite what you might think from the premise, the rats are the ''good'' guys in this -- the humans in this messed-up future are those who were left behind after the rest of humanity left earth for the stars, and have been trying to kill the rats so they can reclaim earth, and are very much [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters the real monsters in this]].
* The ''Comicbook/DCOneMillion'' incarnation of ''Comicbook/{{Batman}}'' villain the Ratcatcher is AmbiguouslyHuman with rat-like characteristics. His followers are giant humanoid rats.

[[folder: Fan Works ]]

* In the ''[[Literature/TheCrewOfTheCopperColoredCupids Crew of the Copper-Colored Cupids]]'' story ''[[https://thecrewofthecoppercoloredcupids.wordpress.com/2022/01/01/the-end-of-the-homeworld/ The End of the Homeworld]]'', Famine, from the HorsemenOfTheApocalypse, looks a bipedal, sapient, "hunched, mangy-looking gray rat".

** The Skaven as a whole are essentially based on [[YouDirtyRat every single negative stereotype of rats]] in British culture, [[ANaziByAnyOtherName multiplied by their fascist instincts]]. They are ruled over by a quartet of "Great Clans" who bring in more nuanced rat stereotypes. Clans Skryre and Moulder are both based on the association of rats with scientific experiments; Skryre are {{Mad Scientist}}s who produce the highly dangerous and unstable {{magitek}} that the Under-Empire runs on, whilst Moulder are {{Evilutionary Biologist}}s who use surgery, selective breeding and mutagenic compounds to breed mutant Skaven and rat subspecies for use as beasts of war. Clan Pestilens[[note]][[YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe a somewhat butchered spelling]] of [[IncrediblyLamePun "pestilence"]][[/note]] doubles down on the association of rats with disease, being a plague-worshipping cult of diseased fanatics who hold hands in prayer so they can share their diseases with each other and then stab their way into infecting anything that isn't them. Finally, Clan Eshin tap into the association of ratfolk with Asian cultures (or at least homage Master Splinter of the ''Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'') by being a clan of Skaven who migrated to Warhammer's version of China and Japan, learned martial arts, then came back as a clan of ninja-themed ratfolk mercenary-assassins. All of the above are ruled over by an angry, narcissistic, ''hungry'' minor chaos god called the Horned Rat[[note]][[FluffyTheTerrible no, really]][[/note]] who subsists entirely on the fear of his believers and will gladly devour his most fervent worshipers the instant they have outlived their usefulness. His edicts, genetically instilled in every Skaven and enforced by fear of a slow and painful death, are to [[MurderIsTheBestSolution kill anything that is not an ally or a leader]] ([[FantasticRacism especially if it is not a rat]]) and [[KlingonPromotion kill your allies and leaders once they're no longer useful]].

* ''LetsPlay/RatsSMP'': The main POV characters are rats, and qualify for this trope by virtue of their humanoid Minecraft skins, though they are all still [[{{Lilliputians}} under a block tall]]. Fan depictions vary on a sliding scale between this and depicting them as actual rats.

* The Harmsters from ''WebOriginal/HamstersParadise'' may count, though they resemble three-foot tall gerbils with a theropod-like gait. They do fill the image of Rat Men though as vicious, swarming hordes.

* ''Anime/YakitoriSoldiersOfMisfortune'' has a sympathetic version. Even though they're fighting the protagonists, it's to free their homeworld Barka from the Trade Federation (the protagonists are human mercenaries from a VichyEarth).

* ''Anime/YakitoriSoldiersOfMisfortune'' has a sympathetic version. Even though they're fighting the protagonists, it's to free their homeworld from the Trade Federation (which has [[VichyEarth also taken over Earth]]--the protagonists are human mercenaries).

* ''ComicBook/{{Bone}}'': The rat creatures, sometimes referred to as hairy men, are a race of large, vaguely rat-like beast people which live in the Valley. Their resemblance to rats is more informed than visual however, because they traditionally lop off their skinny tails and crop their rounded ears when they come of age, and have piranha-like jaws filled with huge, razor-sharp teeth, making them more resemble ape-bear monsters.

* The ''WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanet'' villain Verminus Skumm is a particularly anthropomorphic variation on this, resembling a man with ratlike hands, feet, and a rat tail. Apparently he was created to represent the effects of urbanization and pollution on biodiversity. A few episodes show Skumm with Ratmen {{Mooks}} and one episode showed he had a disease called "rat rot" [[TheVirus which turned]] people into rat men.

* Both versions of ''WesternAnimation/ThunderCats'' had Ratar-O, a leader among the Mutants. The [[WesternAnimation/ThunderCats2011 2011 version]] expanded his role as a ruler of similar mouse and rat humanoids.

--> Rat... robot. Rat... robot. I'm a robot ''and'' a rat! Yeah, I ''like'' it!

* In one episode of ''Series/RedDwarf'', Rimmer jumps into a dimension where Lister got put into stasis for bringing a pet rat. As a result, the ship is infested with the humanoid descendants of that rat, one of which (The Rat) befriends that universe’s Lister.

[[folder: Western Animation]]

* In ''VideoGame/EnterTheGungeon'', the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Resourceful Rat]] is one of these. He's largely content with scavenging any guns, ammo, and items you leave behind, and leaving behind insulting notes when he does. [[BonusBoss You can also fight him]] as of the 'Advanced Gungeons and Draguns' update, where he'll pilot [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid a giant bipedal mech]] against you, and then [[UnexpectedGameplayChange challenge you to a]] [[VideoGame/PunchOut fist fight]]. If you defeat him, he'll tell you about his past as a stowaway on a trader's ship trying to feed his family (using the correct collective noun of a 'mischief').

* In ''VideoGame/EnterTheGungeon'', the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Resourceful Rat]] is one of these.

-> '''Master Splinter''': You do not have to fear me, my friend. Rest assured I do not bite.\\
'''Casey Jones''': He's a giant t-t-talking rat?!

* The German booklet series ''Maddrax'' has creatures called taratzes. The plot takes place in a world devastated by a comet impact, [[AfterTheEnd which has mutated plants and animals into monstrous creatures]]. The taratzes are over two meters tall, can walk upright, and are almost as intelligent as humans. Taratzes are much stronger, faster and more resistant than humans, and in addition, they are also predators that sometimes hunt humans.

Note when adding examples: do not confuse ratmen with [[OurWerebeastsAreDifferent wererats]]: the latter are humans who can assume the form of a rat (or a giant rat, a human-rat hybrid, etc). Normal-sized rodents with human mannerisms do not count unless they are explicitly called out as abnormal in the fiction they appear. Refer to SlidingScaleOfAnthropomorphism for guidance.[[note]]'''Wrong''' examples would be ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'', ''WesternAnimation/TheGreatMouseDetective'', ''WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTail'', ''WesternAnimation/CapitolCritters'', WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}}'s mouse friends, all rats from ''WesternAnimation/{{Ratatouille}}'', Rizzo the Rat from ''Series/TheMuppetShow'', MickeyMouse, the Jews in ''ComicBook/{{Maus}}'', the Rat King from ''Literature/TheNutcracker''.[[/note]]

* Anime/DragonBallZ has Babidi and his late father Bibidi, as they both resemble naked mole-rats minus the overbite. Real-life mole-rats lack the long fleshy catfishesque whiskers that they both have (Bibidi's are significantly longer), but otherwise, they fit.