History Main / PestController

* ''Fanfic/MiraculousNinja''has Professor Arthur Camson be akumatized into the bug-themed supervillain, King Arthurpod, who controls all insects and has the power to evolve them into giant, humanoid creatures.

Subtrope of TheMinionMaster and AttackAnimal. SuperTrope to BeeBeeGun; bees are indeed among the most popular choice of insect, for [[BeeAfraid many good reasons]]. Can also overlap with MassHypnosis, since mind-controlling entire populations of tiny creatures is often the most common way to preform this power.

** Shino and the Aburame clan allow chakra bugs to live inside their bodies while giving them control over said bugs. They mainly used the bugs to subdue their opponent quickly by sucking their chakra off their body.

** ''ComicBook/WonderWoman2011'': Milan controls large swarms of flies, most of which live inside his body and are expelled through his mouth and empty eye sockets.

Sometimes the controller doesn't only control insects but is also ''made of them'', in which case this overlaps with TheWormThatWalks. They may also be FriendToBugs (especially for the insects version), but not always. It can also overlap with SpeaksFluentAnimal, if the controller is capable of not only commanding the animals but also communicating with them in their own language. If the pest controller is a pest itself, NiceMice is the most-common variation.

* ''Animation/BalalaTheFairies'': One of her abilities from researching dark magic, Luna used swarms of insects to break the seals protecting the PowerCrystal.

[[folder:Card Games]]
* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'':
** The Golgari Swarm of Ravnica can use their Green Mana powers to act as a more conventional form of TheBeastmaster, but because they meld Green Mana with Black Mana, they are more associated with controlling BigCreepyCrawlies and rats, due to those animals' associations with death and decay.
** The nezumi RatMen of Kamigawa have shamans who can control swarms of biting insects.
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* Creator/MarvelComics:
** At one point in his superhero career, Henry Pym went by the name ComicBook/AntMan and wore a helmet that could control ants. In the [[Film/AntMan1 movie]] the helmet itself only facilitates breathing when shrunken. Ant commands are issued via a small device worn over the ear that translates thought waves into an olfactory signal the ants can act on.
** There's also a minor villain Swarm, who is [[TheWormThatWalks made entirely out of bees]] that he can direct and control at will.
** ''ComicBook/MarvelAdventures'': Played with in one issue, where ComicBook/SpiderMan bluffs a criminal who is holding a hostage at gunpoint by declaring that he's "summoning the spiders". The criminal freaks out and surrenders.
** Another Spider-Man villain with this gimmick was Buck Mitty aka Humbug. Originally, [[MakeSomeNoise he used audio tapes and amplifiers to broadcast the noises of various insect species, which can incapacitate others or damage materials]]. Following his appearances in ''ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}'', he began to display the ability to communicate with insects which he [[HeartIsAnAwesomePower used rather creatively]] in ''ComicBook/HeroesForHire''.
** {{Parodied|Trope}} with ''ComicBook/SquirrelGirl'': she has the uncanny ability to control squirrels. It is actually rather [[HeartIsAnAwesomePower powerful]] since she has defeated many super powered beings with it, most notably Doctor Doom.
* ''ComicBook/TheMovement'': Jayden Revell aka the Mouse showed a closeness with rodents even as a baby, his parents were once horrified to find him sleeping soundly in his crib with rats. As he grew older, his learned to talk and control rats and mice.

* In ''Comicbook/RedRobin'' the Council of Spiders member "Sac" is covered in spiders which he can effortlessly control by the thousands to bite people or ''lay eggs inside of them'' to use for [[PuppeteerParasite control of their host]]. Eggs which he can control to hatch at any time before having the resulting spiders [[EatenAlive eat]] their way [[ChestBurster out of their host en mass]].

* PlayedWith in ''WesternAnimation/{{Encanto}}:'' training rats isn't [[spoiler:Bruno]]'s power, it's his hobby. Ironically, a different character has the SpeaksFluentAnimal gift.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'', the BigBad -- Oogie Boogie -- is [[ExaggeratedTrope an insect that controls other insects]]. His origin story reveals that he's the AnthropomorphicPersonification of a forgotten holiday devoted to insects, meaning he's the ''[[ExaggeratedTrope embodiment]]'' of this trope.

* The Amazon priestess in ''Film/FrankensteinIsland'' is able to control spiders and snakes. She uses a pair of spiders to destroy a zombie during the final battle. Exactly how a pair of tarantulas could harm a zombie that -- according to its creator -- could only be stopped by being cut in half with a machine gun is not explained.

* Film/{{Willard}}: The eponymous hero trains a colony of rats to do his bidding.

* ''Literature/RatmansNotebooks'': The protagonist, known only as The Ratman (he is given the name Willard in the film adaptations), has a deep affinity for rats that he is able to command them to do his bidding. However, it is not total control as the rats tend to outright turn on him when they have a falling out with him.
* In ''Literature/{{Renegades}}'' Honey/Queen Bee has the ability to command various species of bees, wasps and hornets.
* In Creator/ThomasMDisch's short "The Roaches," the main character discovered that she possessed the ability to telepathically communicate with and command cockroaches. Let's just say that it turned out to be not so good of a thing in the end...
* In ''La Saga de los Confines'', by the argentine Liliana Bodoc, Kupuka is a magician of The Fertile Lands who can control insects on a small scale, for example, making red ants attack the bare legs of an undesirable spy. But he later helps win an important battle by attacking the enemy army with - among other animals - swarms of wasps, bees and mosquitoes, although it is implied that this required days of effort.
* In ''Literature/TheSpiralLabyrinth'', by Creator/MatthewHughes, the BigBad has an army of insects at its command. Under its control, they can even take down attacking dragons.
* ''Literature/VillainsCode'': The aptly-named Pest Control, who can summon and control any species of insect, whether normal or meta, as long as he has studied them in at least some way. He has found some creative uses for regular insects, but with meta ones, he can do some real damage.

* ''Literature/{{Worm}}'' is a WebSerialNovel centered around Taylor, a teenager who can psychically command all invertebrates, such as insects, arachnids, and crustaceans, within a range of several blocks. She has such a fine control over them that she can summon them unconsciously to aid her when under stress. Uses for the power include making a costume out of spider silk [[BewareTheNiceOnes and threatening people with brown recluse spiders]].
** [[Literature/{{Ward}} The sequel]] has Ratcatcher, who has well-trained rats. She doesn't have a superpower that lets her control them, but she may have had her psychology altered to make it easier to work with them (similar to Bitch in Worm).

* ''Animation/BalalaTheFairies'': Luna, the first BigBad of the Chinese Pretty Cure, has the power to use insects, which come in handy in many tough problems.

* ''Series/{{Smallville}}'': One of the [[MonsterOfTheWeek meteor-empowered metahumans]] from season one was a girl named Sasha Woodman who gained the ability to control bees after being stung by bees that had been infected with [[GreenRocks kryptonite]].

* ''Franchise/TheWorldOfDarkness'': In the both the [[TabletopGame/OldWorldOfDarkness Old]] and TabletopGame/NewWorldOfDarkness game lines, many of the splats have powers that can allow them to control vermin. Vampires have the Animalism Discipline, werewolves and other shifters have Gifts, mages can use the Life Sphere, etc. Some of the splats even have a more intimate relationship with vermin, like the Nosferatu and Baali vampires, Ratkin wererats, Black Spiral Dancers werewolves, Fomors and Nephandi mages.

* ''TabletopGame/VampireTheRequiem'': Vampires of the Melissidae Bloodline can bend swarms of bees and wasps to their will, sometimes hosting them within their own bodies.

* ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'' has Arakune, a black blob that WasOnceAMan. Since he's mostly TheWormThatWalks, his attacks usually involve a lot of bugs, even including a mechanic that fills up a gauge with certian attacks, and once it's full, he can temporarily summon ''even more bugs'' with his normal attacks.

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' has Patrick Poundstone aka [[http://dcanimated.wikia.com/wiki/Ratboy Ratboy]] from the episode, "[[Recap/BatmanBeyondS2E9Rats Rats]]", who can control the giant rats that live below Gotham. He is a StalkerWithACrush to Dana Tan, Terry's love interest, and kidnaps her. When she rebuffs him, he orders his rats [[IfICantHaveYou to kill her]] but Batman manages to save her. [[spoiler:Other people were not so lucky.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/Ben10'' "Side Effects": While redeveloping a dilapidated residential area, the workers run afoul of Clancy, a homeless man who can control bugs who taken up residence in one of the buildings to be demolished. When the building is destroyed in a fight with Ben, he vows revenge. He then tries to causie a nuclear meltdown, planning to survive the blast with an armor made of cockroaches.[[spoiler: He is eventually defeated after being frozen by Heatblast (who was turned AnIcePerson due to a cold) and his control over insects was disrupted by Max's homemade medicine. He later shows up as part of the Negative 10, somehow becoming an insect-human hybrid.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/ChipAndDaleRescueRangers'': In in "Chocolate Chips", the confectioner Heinrich von Sugarbottom uses mind control juice injected via intelligent mosquitos to compel the local wildlife, including the visiting Rangers, to transplant cacao trees closer to his Incan temple hideout.
* ''WesternAnimation/CodeLyoko'': In "Swarming Attack", XANA possesses a swarm of hornets to attack humanity.
* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'': In "The Golden Armory of Cornelius Coot!", after being disowned by Ma Beagle Bigtime decides to prove himself by following Webby and the triplets in their quest to find the eponymous armory. He somehow bonds with and tames the spiders that infest the caves beneath Fort Duckberg, and briefly starts calling himself "Bugtime Beagle".

* ''WesternAnimation/GrowingUpCreepie'' had a [[BadPowersGoodPeople rare heroic example]] with the titular character, a PerkyGoth who could [[SpeaksFluentAnimal talk to bugs]] after [[RaisedByWolves being raised by them]]. Rather than controlling them per see, she was a FriendToBugs and good at convincing them to cooperate with her.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998'' episode "Insect Inside". The villain Roach Coach can control an army of cockroaches. Played with since Roach Coach is revealed [[spoiler: to be a roach himself, controlling a [[MobileSuitHuman robotic suit made to look like a man]] ([[SpoilerTitle the episode title is a bit of a give-away]]). His ability to control roaches has less to do with being a superpower, and more to do with being a charismatic leader.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated'': The fake monster in "[[Recap/ScoobyDooMysteryIncS1E13WhenTheCicadaCalls When The Cicada Calls]]" is able to control cicadas and is covered in a swarm as their disguise.

* ''WesternAnimation/XiaolinShowdown'' has two Sheng Gong Wu capable of facilitating this ability: the Tongue of Saiping, which allows the user to talk to animals and somewhat control them; and the Ju-Ju Flytrap, which allows the user to sic a swarm of flies or bees upon their opponent.
** Three if you count the Moonstone Locust which summons a swarm of locusts; perfect for eviscerating plant-life.

* "Film/{{Willard}}": The eponymous hero trains a colony of rats to do his bidding.

* ''Literature/RatmansNotebooks'': Willard has a deep affinity for rats that he is able to command them to do his bidding. However, it is not total control as the rats tend to outright turn on him when they have a falling out with him.

* Court members in ''Creature Court'', in addition to transforming into TheSwarm, have a level of attraction and control for their animal which sometimes overlaps with this, most notably with Velody (whose mice run messages), and Dhynar, who attracts a retinue of urban foxes.

* [[ClassicalMythology Arachne]] of ''The Ashtown Burials'' has command over spiders, mostly ordering them to create magical fabric from their silk and occasionally knock someone unconscious with venom. [[spoiler:She almost kills Phoenix by having her spiders unpick the coat he's bonded to, disintegrating him.]]

* ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikerS'': Lutecia Alpine can control insects on multiple levels, and even summon one as large as Kaiju monsters.