History Main / BatmanInMyBasement

The TropeNamer is the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "I've Got Batman In My Basement", which revolved around a group of local children hiding Batman from the Penguin as he recuperated from a heavy dose of poison. The production team [[CreatorBacklash does not think too highly of the episode]], citing their distaste for excessively kid-friendly plots as well as the [[TheFamilyForTheWholeFamily bumbling antics]] of the villains.

Subtrope of SentIntoHiding. May overlap with SupportingTheMonsterLovedOne and WoundedHeroWeakerHelper. Compare SecretPetPlot, a similar storyline but with non-sentient animal companions instead.

* Aladdin did this with Iago in ''WesternAnimation/AladdinTheReturnOfJafar'', although it was because he wanted to break Iago's HeelFaceTurn gently to the Sultan and Jasmine.

--> '''Torg''' : YOU '''ATE''' [[RunningGag ANOTHER]] CLIENT!?!
--> '''Aylee''' : I'm sorry!

* The [[TropeNamer name of the trope]] comes from an episode of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', in which a boy hid an injured Batman in his mother's basement. The kid's friend [[CassandraTruth frankly tells the mother what they're doing]], but [[IgnoredConfession she assumes he's playing with his friends]].
* In ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'', Stan and his family hide Roger - an alien avoiding government capture - in their attic.
** Another Episode, ''AT: The Abusive Terrestrial'', has Roger, after a short series of circumstances, starts living with another kid temporarily, similar to ET. However, the plot doesn't focus on the kid hiding him, rather on the fact the kid starts abusing Roger and Steve tries to get him to leave the little punk.
* ''WesternAnimation/InsideJob2021'': In "[[Recap/InsideJobS1E5TheBrettfastClub The Brettfast Club]]", [[MushroomMan Myc]] is found in the woods by some kids and taken back to their home, like in ''ET''. They eventually kick him out for being a {{Jerkass}}.
* ''WesternAnimation/JamiesGotTentacles'': Erwin brings Jamie, an exiled AlienPrince, into his family home; telling his parents Jamie was his foreign pen pal.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In separate episodes, Bart takes in Otto (kicked out of his apartment) and Chester Lampwick, a hobo who invented Itchy & Scratchy. He keeps them both in the basement, but his parents find out fairly quickly.
--->'''Lisa''': Mom, there's a funny smell and a lot of bad language coming from the basement, [[NotMeThisTime and dad's upstairs]].
** In "The Fool Monty", Bart finds a brain-damaged Mr. Burns in the woods and takes him home, attempting to hide him in his bedroom.
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan2012'', Peter has to hide, of all people, the frickin' '''''[[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk Hulk]]''''' in his bedroom, in a situation similar to that of the TropeNamer. With the Hulk being the Hulk, he has a ''really'' hard time keeping Aunt May (who is right downstairs) from noticing.

* In Pixar's ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc1'', Sully and Mike are forced to keep a human child in their apartment and later take her to work with them. They end up having an argument over her in full view of their coworkers, and take the above-mentioned play excuse up a notch by ''spontaneously breaking out in song''. Their deception is made even harder by the fact that if the girl screams [[spoiler: or laughs]], the circuits overload and fuses get blown.
** The play excuse goes beyond eleven in [[CreativeClosingCredits the credits]], where [[{{Defictionalization}} they actually put the show on]].

* In Pixar's ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc'', Sully and Mike are forced to keep a human child in their apartment and later take her to work with them. They end up having an argument over her in full view of their coworkers, and take the above-mentioned play excuse up a notch by ''spontaneously breaking out in song''. Their deception is made even harder by the fact that if the girl screams [[spoiler: or laughs]], the circuits overload and fuses get blown.

-->'''George Michael:''' I have Pop Pop in the attic.\\

* In ''ComicBook/UltimateSpiderMan'', Peter once had to hide Wolverine.
** Jean switched their minds in ''Ultimate Spider-Man'' issues 66-71[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Ultimate_Spider-Man_story_arcs#Superstars_.28.2366-71.29]] and Peter hid Wolverine in his basement in issues 34-39 of Ultimate X-Men[[http://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-X-Men-Vol-7-Blockbuster/dp/0785112197]].

* In ''[[Literature/RiversOfLondon The Farthest Station]]'', while interviewing locals in an unrelated investigation, Peter discovers that an elderly couple have been raising the recently-incarnated spirit of the river Chess. The couple had found "Chester" naked on the riverbank two years earlier, became too attached to the boy to report their discovery to the police, and had concealed his origins by passing him off as the son of unsuitable-parent relatives.

The rescuer, whether [[JumpedAtTheCall enthusiastic]] or [[RefusalOfTheCall reluctant]], quickly runs into a big problem. Because they are not a victim of ParentalAbandonment, they have to keep up a [[{{Masquerade}} charade]] of hiding the character from said parents. Family members start to notice that the character's spending a lot of time in their room, acting rather snippy about people going in there, stashing food, and apparently talking to themselves. They will make some quick excuses about practicing lines for a school play.

* The entire plot of the 1980s classic ''Film/HidingOut'', starring ''Series/TwoAndAHalfMen'''s Jon Cryer as an accountant who has to go on the run from the mob, or some crooked police, or something.

HilarityEnsues.