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{{trope}}
{{quote|"''I'm not deficient. I'm SUPERIOR! Humans. Are. '''Superior.'''''"
|'''John Crichton''', ''[[Farscape]]'', [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v{{=}}JdNk0OMJPCg#t{{=}}1m35s "Crackers Don't Matter"]}}
Humanity, despite all our [[Puny Earthlings|weaknesses]] in comparison to most of the other alien races, have managed to [[Humans Are the Real Monsters|carve out]] or create an [[The Empire|interstellar empire]] usually with [[Earth Is the Center of
Often the ''Homo sapiens'' race is [[Super Soldier|genetically, technologically]], and [[Mighty Whitey|racially]] [[Badass|enhanced]] or turned into a trained [[Tyke Bomb]] force in the attempt to ensure Humankind always comes out on top against the [[Scary Dogmatic Aliens]]. This usually works, with the resultant super soldiers and the navy turning the tide of the wars in humankind's favor. Eventually after the war is finished the super soldiers end up as a sort of [[Space Police]], and with the [[The Evil Army|Imperial Forces]] in the case of an evil humanity. Sometimes the ruling agencies lead by a [[Hidden Agenda Villain]] has the intent of upgrading the human race genetically.
If [[Evil Is Cool]] is noted, this can occur with Humanity's subjugation of alien races along the way as well as aiding them in their ultimate goal of having Humans on the top of the [[Humans Are the Real Monsters|food chain constantly]]. However, if there is a [[La Résistance|resistance]] with alien sympathizers, usually this will take momentum and can lead to the Empire being overthrown to become [[The Federation]]. If a bunch of aliens ally themselves together to defeat the Human [[Big Bad]] (often with renegade humans [[Mighty Whitey|leading the revolution]]) then [[Humanity
[[Sarcasm Mode|It has nothing to do with]] [[Most Writers Are Human|the writers being humans themselves]].
[[Sub
{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* Human(oids) are explicitly stated to be superior in ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'' due to their ability to access Spiral Energy, because their physical shape is the most efficient form for using it.
* [[Lampshaded]] in an early [[Mad Magazine]] parody of ''[[Flash Gordon (Comic Strip)|Flash Gordon]]'' called "Flesh Garden", in which the evil alien emperor pits Flesh Garden against the great enemy of all - a man in boxing gloves.▼
== [[Film]] ==
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** Whilst they aren't all force-sensitive like some species they do have a very high number of these compared to other species and have produced the strongest of force users the galaxy has ever witnessed.
** Slightly inverted in the EU novel ''[[Star Wars]]: [[The Old Republic]]: Revan'', where it's revealed that the old Sith Empire, while didn't discriminate against humans (those who weren't slaves), had the True Sith holdings all the power (the Emperor and several members of the Dark Council are shown to be True Sith). The humans are still the majority even in the Empire, though. In fact, the True Sith discriminate against other True Sith who aren't Force-sensitive.
== [[Literature]] ==
* In Nick Pollotta and [[Phil Foglio]]'s novel ''illegal aliens'', though initially technologically inferior to the alien races they encounter, Humans catch up very
* In the novel ''Pandora's Planet'', Humans are, on average, smarter than the aliens who invade Earth, only being beaten because half the time the Humans were fighting each other.
* Humans in ''The Damned Trilogy'' by [[Alan Dean Foster]] are faster, stronger, tougher, and fiercer than every other sentient species, bar none. They're also the only species with the ability to resist the [[Psychic Powers]] of the Amplitur, who have brainwashed entire species into being happy slaves. So, the discovery of humanity by the Weave of free species at the beginning of the first book marks a critical turning point in their war to remain free. Unfortunately, humans are feared by the other sympathetic alien species precisely for those qualities and the uncomfortable question comes up that if they win the war, what will happen to human/alien relations then?
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* In [[Anne McCaffrey]]'s ''Rowan'' series, Humans are the only ones with [[Psychic Powers]], which not only give them [[Casual Interstellar Travel]], they allow them to handily defeat the hostile [[Bug War|insectile aliens swarms]]. The Mrdini, who have been restricted to slow [[Generation Ships]] and which have to kill off (and it's implied, ''eat'') excess population to finish the trip, and use [[Heroic Sacrifice|mass kamikaze tactics]] to fight the Hivers, are both grateful and pissed when they meet this [[Mary Sue]] species.
* [[John Ringo]]'s ''[[Posleen War Series|Legacy of the Aldenata]]'' series has humans as one of only two (out of six) races physiologically capable of killing. Naturally, we're better at it than the other one.
** Although the other races were all genetically modified by their [[Neglectful Precursors]] to be either pacifists (for four of them) or [[Proud Warrior Race Guy
** There's also an element of religion as well. The Aldenata learned to Ascend on a philosophy that is similar to Buddhism combined with psychic powers. They convinced everyone the only way to do it was that path. The revelation that less enlightened races are conquering the galaxy using ascended powers is causing some problems with those ideas...
* In [[Fred Saberhagen]]'s ''[[Berserker (Literature)|Berserker]]'' novels, the [[Technical Pacifist|technically pacifistic]] Carmpan race (they are literally pained by even indirect performance of a violent act against any species, but have no trouble giving humans militarily useful intel) found in humanity the potential "[[
** They were certainly deeply indebted to humanity for suffering the scourge of war through its history until the point where nothing less would serve. But where did the Carmpans train and equip Humanity? What follows suggests that the humans had all the goods:
{{quote|
* The Colonial Union in [[John Scalzi]]'s ''[[Old
** At least until you start to get a wider view of the 'verse in ''The Last Colony.'' Turns out that, despite humanity's quick expansion immediately after venturing out into the universe, in the last century or two humans have settled into the same [[Status Quo Is God]] back-and-forth as the rest of the local races. The [[Plot Armor|necessity]] of allowing the viewpoint characters to survive gives a very distorted view, one [[Orwellian Editor|encouraged]] by the government.
* [[Strugatsky Brothers]]' [[Noon Universe]] series depict the humanity as
** Subverted in that many alien species are [[Human Aliens|humans in anything but name]], and are only written as aliens as an excuse to write dystopian settings (dystopian Earth humans would not be accepted by Soviet censorship).
* Turtledove's ''[[Worldwar
** It's not just the Race either. Apparently, the Race has already conquered two other races, who were exactly like them ([[Lizard Folk]] with a set mating season and a slow, measurable approach to innovation).
* Another one by Turtledove, short story "The road not taken". Due to some weird twists of fate, humanity suddenly finds out the universe is full of spacefaring alien races. It also finds out everyone else has a technological level several hundred years behind its own, with very rudimentary knowledge of space travel and warfare. The result is a (implied) [[Curb Stomp Battle|curb-stomping]] of intergalactic proportions.
** The sequel inverts this. After humanity starts conquering the galaxy, its own progress pretty much stops. Then they encounter a race who also doesn't have the FTL technology but are way more advanced than humans in other areas. Guess what's implied here.
* Birthright: The Book of Man by Mike Resnick
* Name-dropped briefly in [[
{{quote|
'''Adam Reith''':""I am no sub-man. I am a man and quarry to no one. If a wild beast attacks me I will kill it." }}
* Eric Flint's novel ''[[Mother of Demons]]'' both plays this trope straight and subverts it, at the same time. On the planet Ishtar, humans encounter a species of mollusk-like sophonts called gukuy. Humans are far speedier than gukuy (in fact, the gukuy are not even able to properly see the running motion of humans until they become used to it because it's so much different than they expect), and are capable of using spears, which gukuy cannot use and which can exploit a weak point on the gukuy (namely, it can hit an area unprotected by the hard mantle which results in impaling a gukuy's brain). In fact, gukuy widely consider humans to be demons because of those two factors. Yet, gukuy bodily fluids are so poisonous to humans that they will die within minutes from a ''bite wound'', and humans are only capable of digesting regurgitated "childfood" (partially digested vegetation) produced by the maia (a larger, less-evolved sophont than the gukuy).
* A recurring theme across the ''[[Discworld]]'' novels is that, white [[The Fair Folk|the Elves]] are prettier, more graceful, and have stronger magic than humans, they lack wisdom, intuition, and the ability to create new
=== Periodicals ===
▲* [[Lampshaded]] in an early ''[[Mad Magazine]]'' parody of ''[[Flash Gordon (
== [[Live
* In ''[[Babylon 5]]'', the human power [[The Federation|(Earth Alliance)]] likes to give off the ''impression'' of punching well above the weight of such a young power with their militaristic bluster and gigantic ships), but considering their humiliatingly poor performance against the Minbari, Babylon 5 being taking nearly as much damage from a Centauri cruiser's ''warning shots'' in "Acts of Sacrifice" as it took from a massive Earthforce assault in "Severed Dreams", Sheridan describing Centauri fighters and pilots as decisively superior to Earthforce's own in the same episode, and the [[Bad Future]] in ''[[Babylon Five The Lost Tales]]'' where Galen shows Sheridan a possible timeline where the Centauri easily stomp the Earth Alliance and bomb Earth's cities to dust, they're nowhere near the top of the Younger Races, let alone the Middle Children such as the Minbari and Streib or the First Ones. [[J. Michael Straczynski]] himself describes the Earth Alliance as being in the "lower third" of the ''Babylon 5'' food chain, and they helped win the Dilgar War by tipping the balance in an alliance with several other races, not because they were as powerful as the Dilgar. Also note that the Narns are near or at parity with the EA despite being around a century newer to the galactic scene. The Earth Alliance is a
** [[Let Me Get This Straight...]]: Humanity is a lower tier power that regularly has a seat at the table with the most powerful races in known space. In fact, they usually provide the table, too. While the Earth Alliance may not be superior in a strictly military sense, it's a little harder to make the broader point about humanity.
* ''[[Blake's
** The [
* ''[[
** Sebaceans are eventually revealed to be an engineered offshoot of early humanity (with generally enhanced lifespans, physiology, and healing) that were used as a peace-keeping force in an ancient interstellar U.N.. The do have one major flaw; they don't sweat efficiently and at high temperatures they shut down. Essentially anything near body heat temperatures causes them to fall into a coma- giving Crichton a serious advantage when Moya is invaded by a team of Peacekeeper commandos.
** In the [http://farscape.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Wars,_Battles_%26_Skirmishes Scarran-Peacekeeper War] the Peacekeepers suffered many defeats, which just goes to show that there's [[Always a Bigger Fish]].
* ''[[Stargate SG
▲* ''[[Stargate SG 1]]'' and ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'' has Humanity surviving against near-impossible odds against the [[Scary Dogmatic Aliens]] who've annihilated many other species who attempted resistance. This is mostly limited to humans from Earth since the Goa'uld has enslaved humans and the Wraith cull entire civilizations. Even with humans from Earth this is occasionally subverted with an [[Alternate Universe]] where [[All the Myriad Ways|the good guys lose]].
** Let's review: in 1994, the Tau'ri used the stargate to go to Abydos; on this trip, they confronted the Supreme System Lord Ra and killed him. Three years later Apophis paid a visit to us using the Stargate and pissed off a few people. We just declared war to an interstellar empire while only having limited resources due to keeping the Stargate a secret. Twelve years later the Goa'uld are gone, the Ori are gone, the replicators are gone, the Wraith are in the middle of a civil war and the Tau'ri are a major intergalactic superpower while no one on Earth has any clue about what's going on out there. In a span of ten years, we progressed from petty civil wars on our planet to bearing the legacy of two of the greatest races which have ever lived with ourselves becoming the Fifth Race(actually, the sixth if we count the Ori). All in secrecy and with limited resources. If we would have the whole planet's support, we could crush the Wraith and thus surpass the Ancients themselves.
*** Of course, considering that all of the [[Alternate Universe|alternate universes]] seen in the show are in some degree worse off than the main universe, it is implied that we're seeing the best possible outcome, where everything goes right for Earth.
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* [[The Upright Citizens Brigade]] eloquently stated, "Humans RULE, dolphins can SUCK IT!"
** "No way dolphins! You'll never get our jeans!
* In the ''[[
** Not only that, but humanity is also a ''very'' successful species throughout its history, building at least four "Great And Bountiful Human Empires" (the third of which spanned ''three galaxies''). Even in the 21st century, UNIT forces take it to the Tenth [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|Sontaran]] Battle Fleet, cleaning their clocks in ground warfare, and by the 41st century they are going toe-to-toe with the resurrected ''[[Sufficiently Advanced Alien|Dalek Empire]]''.
** And wiping the floor with the Cybermen in the Cyberwars.
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* Generally, humans are the dominant race in ''[[Dungeons
** It's
** Bonus feat, bonus skill point per level, no attribute penalty (often more problematic than the bonus), no permanent crippling of level competence and spellcasting ability (in a game where spellcasting progression is [[Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards|essentially quadratic to a nonspellcaster's linear progression]])... ''[[Dungeons
* In the ''[[Fading Suns]]'' RPG setting, humans have been expanding onto other planets and [[Humans Are the Real Monsters|conquering alien races]] for thousands of years with little trouble- until they meet [[Scary Dogmatic Aliens|the Vau]]. Not so much expanding now, as the Vau aren't expanding or aggressive, but they could be called ultra-defensive.
* ''[[Warhammer
** Be that as it may, the Space Marines and the [[Badass Normal|Imperial Guard]] [[The Determinator|aren't going to give up without a fight]].
** In the Warhammer 40,000 universe, humans have come to power over the galaxy once in history, when the "Emperor" led a Great Crusade with his primarchs and their super human space marines. One million planets are conquered (out of countless billions in the galaxy, granted, but still, a million is a lot), yay humans, and of course the Emperor's favored son starts a civil war. So once again, with the emperor out of commission the Imperium is slowly falling apart again (Go humans). However it is speculated that the emperor will rise one way or another in the near future.
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***** Incorrect. Warhammer 40,000 5th Edition Rulebook, page 122 "DARK AGE OF TECHNOLOGY: Mankind realises its destiny amongst the stars, colonising world after world at a rapacious pace. Warp space is tamed and the first alien races subjugated." All and all, humanity was at its peak. We even created new life (The Iron Men), a feat only the great old ones could match. The Eldar were an empire, but certainly not the sole power (Think the 40k empire of the Tau). Mankind didn't "merely" take the eldar scraps, they formed a federation of stars that was only toppled by our own creations. (Other sources used are the battlefleet gothic rulebook, Space Hulk, White Dwarf, and Galaxy in flames)
* ''Web and Starship'' is a 2–3 player board game where the players compete to form the largest empire. One species travels faster than light by using the Web, which allows near instantaneous travel between planets that are part of the Web, but to get to a new planet takes years. The second uses Starships, which get to new planets much quicker, but results in slower internal communication. In a three player game, the third species is humanity, who starts off with no means of traveling faster than light. But each of the first two races will be negotiating with the humans to get an advantage over the other race, and humans are capable of developing both Web ''and'' Starship, which makes it pretty easy for the humans to win if they do.
* Humans are the biggest and the baddest in the ''[[Traveller]]'' universe.
== [[Video Games]] ==
* It's shown in ''[[Halo]]'''s fluff that the Covenant tend not to be very inventive or innovative when it comes to their own superior technology, as the vast majority of it had been scavenged from the remains of the Forerunner civilization. Humans, on the other hand, had to pretty much build everything on their own, and was predicted that had the war gone on longer, the humans would have eventually managed to surpass the technology barrier.
** The Covenant never improved on their technology because it was scavenged from Forerunner ruins. To improve upon it, or even suggest the idea is heresy. And the UNSC was already ahead in AI and computer technology, again because of the Covenant religion. In ''[[Halo: Reach]]'' it's revealed that {{spoiler|1=the human AIs have actually been secretly guiding humanity for centuries, making sure they develop in the right way. None of this is malevolent; they see it as necessary, both to their survival and as service to their "Creators".}}
** Lampshaded in the Halo Graphic Novel, which had two Elites talking about the humans. One talks about how brave and persistent the humans are (wondering why they hadn't asked the Humans to join the Covenant yet) while the other just claims they're puny (and that the "Demon" is really just a bunch of people made to look like only one).
** This trope as a whole is slightly subverted in that humanity would have lost the war had the Covenant not splintered in two, with the Separatists deciding to ally with the humans; in fact, the Flood might have taken all of Earth had the Separatist fleet not sterilized a good chunk of Africa. Additionally, the Elites and Prophets had already reached roughly the same technological level as 26th century humanity ''before'' they began messing around with Forerunner technology (which happened well before the Roman Empire ''even existed''). {{spoiler|[[Double Subversion|And then we find out that in the distant past, humanity had already established an interstellar empire capable of defeating the Flood and putting up a good fight against the Forerunners, before the latter basically nuked them back to the Stone Age]]}}.
*** {{spoiler|[[Zig
* Played with in ''[[Mass Effect]]'', where this ''can'' be the ultimate fate of humanity if Shepard chooses to destroy the Council.
** It's a pretty straight example when you consider that, within 30 years of appearing on the galactic stage, humans gave the [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|Turians]] a run for their money, made peace, joined the Council Space races, infiltrated ''every aspect'' of galactic society, won a ''massive'' colonization argument against the [[The Empire|Batarian Hegemony]], ''defeated [[Eldritch Abomination|Sovereign]]'', became a Council Race (which other species haven't managed to do even after 2000 years), and pretty much orchestrate the saving of the Galaxy in ''[[Mass Effect 3]]''.
** This trope is twisted heavily in ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'' in which superiority is probably undesirable, where the [[Cosmic Horror|Reapers]] ''agree'' that
** There are also a number of human organizations who use this as their core belief. Of note are Terra Firma, a political organization that constantly lobbies the Systems Alliance government, and Cerberus, a secret black ops group with many government connections and wealthy financial backers whose goal is to ensure human superiority in the galaxy. These two are closely linked, with Terra Firma serving as Cerberus' political mouthpiece.
* The Black Lance organization, in ''[[Wing Commander (
* ''[[
** Humans invented pokeballs, giving them a bit of an advantage. On the other hand, however, as anyone who's played the games can tell you, those things only work two, maybe four times out of ten once you get to that level of play.
{{quote|
Player: FUUUUUCK! }}
* ''[[X-COM]]'' in the titular series of games goes from a clandestine U.N.-backed organization (''UFO Defense'') to a self-sufficient paramilitary entity dedicated to preserving Earth's interests in space (''Interceptor'' and ''Apocalypse'') thanks to a tenacious penchant for reverse-engineering alien technology. Organizations outside X-COM, however, exhibit some [[Humans Are the Real Monsters]] with their wanton discrimination against androids and [[Half-Human Hybrid|alien-human hybrids]].
** [[Spiritual Successor]] series ''[[UFO: After Blank]]'' has humanity recovering from being almost completely wiped out to successfully scaring the beejesus out of a superior alien species (in the first game), successfully destroying not one, but ''two'' alien invasion forces (in the second game), and successfully [[
* The extremely racist Lord Garithos of ''[[
** The rest of the universe definitely disagrees with him since the humans needed their alliance with the high elves and dwarves to beat back the Horde. It's very clear that currently, no singular race would ever be able to rule over the rest of Azeroth.
* {{spoiler|The Fal'Cie}} in ''[[Final Fantasy XIII]]'' believe that [[Humans Are the Real Monsters]] ''and'' that
== [[Web Original]] ==
* ''[[The Salvation War]]'': [http://bbs.stardestroyer.net/viewtopic.php?t=118771 Armageddon]: in response to [[Satan]] declaring dominion over humanity and "[[God]]" (or rather, Yahweh) closing the pearly gates... humanity fights back, and eventually, the U.S. military {{spoiler|''kills [[Satan]] with a pair of anti-ship missiles''}}. As a defecting general turned newly-installed-by-the-U.S.-government ruler of Hell puts it:
{{quote|
* The story of [http://www.orionsarm.com/xcms.php?r=oaeg-view-article&egart_uid=483ae5827604f Glarion: The Glorious Conquerer] from ''[[
== [[Real Life]] ==
* It's not overly arrogant to make this claim about humans compared to other species on Earth (at least compared to other complex animals). We have the unique [[Game Breaker]] combination of sentience, dexterity, and language that's allowed us to invent ways to overcome our weaknesses in many other areas, while also making us extremely versatile.
* We also have superior endurance and bodily temperature control compared to practically every other animal in warmer climates, not to mention a more efficient means of locomotion. One of the oldest hunting techniques involves simply [
* One of the arguments about Humans
**
** The argument ignores things such as beaver dams and ghost shrimp burrows, of course. Keystone species aren't as backward as many people think.
* This is what we all think.
** At least on an individual level.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Humans Are Indexed]]▼
[[Category:Mary Sue Tropes]]
[[Category:Speculative Fiction Tropes]]
▲[[Category:Humans Are Indexed]]
[[Category:This Index Is Not an Example]]
[[Category:
▲[[Category:Trope]]
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