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{{trope}}
[[File:WWII Nazi Dalek by Promus Kaa.jpg|link=Doctor Who|frame|[[Gratuitous German|EXTERMINIEREN! EXTERMINIEREN!]]<ref>technically that should be AUSROTTEN! AUSROTTEN!</ref>]]
Aliens come from another planet. Their entire culture, history, and even biology could be radically different from that of us Earth-folk. It should not be surprising if they are ''so'' different that we [[Starfish Aliens|can't comprehend them at all]].
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{{quote|"''All inferior creatures are to be considered the enemy of the Daleks, and destroyed!''"|A Dalek, ''[[Doctor Who]]''}}
:Among the oldest forms of the trope, and the third most frequently used. The aliens are regimented, efficient, and full of xenophobic hate that won't be sated until they've wiped every single one of us from existence. Their leader is a [[Cult of Personality|charismatic psychopath]] who rules with an iron fist. Often obsessed with genetic purity, with the cute little hypocrisy that their leader isn't genetically pure.
* '''[[Dirty Communists|Aliens as Communists]]'''
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{{quote|"''Your destruction is the will of the gods... and we are their instrument.''"|'''Covenant Elite''', ''[[Halo: Combat Evolved]]'' trailer<ref>[[Older Than They Think|and later]], [[Mythology Gag|the Prophet of Truth in]] ''[[Halo 3]]'' (with "I am" replacing "we are").</ref>}}
:The most recent evolution of the trope, pound-for-pound the most frequently used and the second most used overall. It's a step forward that [[Speculative Fiction]] can now depict alien religion as extending beyond "advanced = [[Outgrown Such Silly Superstitions|atheistic]]; primitive = [[Belief Makes You Stupid|being religious or believing anything supernatural is real]] (especially if [[God Guise|
:For maximum points, it should be possible, even likely, that if the alien god does exist, it really isn't averse to humans at all, but is being misrepresented by the alien leadership. To really stick a fork in it, it occasionally turns out that humans and aliens share the same gods or ''humans'' are supposed to be the aliens' "true" gods, according to the correct interpretation of their religion (what
* '''[[Planet Looters|Aliens as Conquistadores]]'''
{{quote|"''We are Klingons, Worf! We do not embrace other cultures, we conquer them!''"|'''Martok, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'''}}
:The oldest form of this trope (dating back to [[H. G. Wells]]' ''[[War of the Worlds]]''), but generally quite similar to aliens as Nazis, roaming the cosmos in search of new lands to subjugate and new prizes to claim in the name of the Empire or for their own personal glory. Your subjugation will occasionally be in order to civilize you, but more often will be because [[Might Makes Right]], and those too weak to make a stand don't deserve a say in their own fates. An Alien as Conquistador is likely to be a [[Proud Warrior Race Guy]]. Can mix easily with other types. The key difference are how expansionist the aliens are and whether they want to wipe out everyone besides themselves ("Yes" usually means "Aliens as Nazis", "No" usually means "Aliens as Conquistadors").
:The entire "suddenly, vastly technologically superior anthropomorphic aliens landed and life as we knew it forever went to hell in a handbasket" seems to be so everlastingly popular in America due to its own history being just that, except that the invading aliens, not the unfortunate current residents, carried the day. For much the same reason, Japanese anime's aliens have a army of [[Monsters of the Week]] and practice gunboat diplomacy by packing the power to flatten entire cities in one go, while Russian
* '''Other'''
:Aliens with an obvious dogma that don't quite fit into any of the above categories, or fit into more than one. Regarding the latter, the most common combination is "Aliens as Nazis" and "Aliens as Religious Fundamentalists".
{{examples}}
== Aliens as Nazis ==
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* [[Kenichi Sonoda]] (of ''[[Gunsmith Cats]]'' fame)'s ''[[Cannon God Exaxxion]]'''s main antagonists, the Riofaldians, have many similarities to the Nazis, especially the sinister Major Rya'am & Lt. Za'ire, who are basically alien versions of Josef Mengele & [[Ilsa The She Wolf Of The SS]]. Interestingly, they're actually a lot closer overall to another of the Axis Powers, namely [[Imperial Japan]], which is probably why the series was never made into an anime...
** They also fit the trope as alien Conquistadores, first arriving under the guise of peace and friendly trade relations, before utterly conquering the human military and declaring Earth as their new colony. However it's how they treat the humans afterwards that fits them straight back into Nazi territory.
* The Gamilas / Gamilons from ''[[Space Battleship Yamato]] / [[Star Blazers]].'' Desslok's title is "Leader" (that is, Fuhrer) and he commands an extremely loyal
=== [[Comic Books]] ===
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*** With the colorful Daleks obliterating the old ones, who agree to be obliterated because they agree that they are inferior. This is much like when the Cult of Skaro killed Dalek Sec after making him part human. One of the most Nazi-like things about the Daleks might be that not only do they want to wipe out all non-Dalek life, they'll also kill fellow Daleks for not being genetically "pure" enough.
*** In the same episode ("Victory Of The Daleks"), the trope is played with when the older Daleks pose as helpful servants of the Allied War effort. This gives rise to the amusing yet menacing request "Would you care for some tea?"
* The "[[I'm a Humanitarian|humanitarian]]" aliens from ''[[V (TV series)|V]]''. This shouldn't be surprising, seeing as the movie was initially going to be a miniseries based on ''[[wikipedia:It Can't Happen Here|It Can't Happen Here]]'', a novel based on the idea of a fascist American dictatorship. The lizards with odd dietary needs were the result of [[Executive Meddling]].
* The Morthran from ''[[War of the Worlds]]'' season 2, also with uniforms.
* Possibly the cleverest use was on ''[[Babylon 5]]'', where the Nazi-stand-ins were ''humans'' in a [[Flash Forward]], down to SS uniforms.
** President Clark's administration has some fascist overtones, with uprisings violently put down, dissent eliminated, free speech all but gone, anti-alien sentiment once again on the rise, Night Watch doing rounds on the station in black uniforms with armbands.
* The Sebaceans in ''[[Farscape]]'', who even used the same red-white-black color scheme. Their enemies, the Scarrans, are even worse. They view the Peacekeepers as inferior, making them the Nazis to other Nazis!
** {{spoiler|Sebaceans are genetically engineered descendants of [[Ancient Astronauts]] thus [[Humans Are the Real Monsters|Humans Are Bastards]]}}
* Vosk's race from the ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise]]'' episodes "Storm Front Parts 1 & 2" were not only alien Nazis, but were explicitly allied with the actual Nazis.
* ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series]]'' has a [[Planet of Hats]] whose hat is that they actually are Nazis (but they were deliberately engineered into their "hat" by an interfering Earth historian).
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=== [[Tabletop Games]] ===
* ''[[Humans Are
=== [[Video Games]] ===
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=== [[Comic Books]] ===
* An exception is ''[[Green Lantern]]'''s Kilowog of Bolovax VIX, whose race was so social as to be nearly hive-minded, and eventually chose to work for the Chinese government because China came closest to his race's psychology, in which socialist government and communist economics were the optimal course for society. He never tried to push his ideals on anyone; his role was basically [[The Big Guy]] / [[Genius Bruiser]], and he was (and still is) a close friend to all the main-character GLs.
** He later stopped communicating with Earth Communist governments because he discovered the corruption caused by [[Humans Are
* This was the original characterization of the shape-shifting Skrulls of the [[Marvel Universe]], but they now have been re-invented into the fundamentalists (see entry below).
* In the post-[[Zero Hour]] version of the [[Legion of Super-Heroes]], the insectoid teleporter Gates is a ''sympathetic'' communist character. Although a hero, he is also a frequent source of [[Plucky Comic Relief|comic relief]] as a [[Deadpan Snarker]] at the LSH's capitalist society. Could also be considered a clever Lampshade Hanging, in the implication that ''only'' a race of [[Bee People|hive insects]] could ever make communism really work. Later his snarking was to a more racist bent, emphasizing his bias against vertebrates, though by then he had generally mellowed and the snarking came across more as teasing than as serious insults.
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*** And yet it's the Federation whose economy most closely mirrors Marx's idea of a classless society where everyone's needs are satisfied equally (not necessarily the Soviet implementation of that idea). The episode where a 20th century capitalist is [[Human Popsicle|defrosted]], Picard is disgusted that he is concerned with accumulating wealth. Then again, clean, cheap energy and replicators may do that to a society.
* The Taelons from ''[[Earth: Final Conflict]]'' were a minor subversion, in that they were only minimally evil.
* The Peacekeepers from ''[[Farscape]]''. [[wikipedia:File:PKsymbol.svg|Their symbol]] is a version of the Soviet artwork [https://web.archive.org/web/20130116180022/http://www.usc.edu/schools/annenberg/asc/projects/comm544/library/images/706bg.jpg ''Beat The Whites With The Red Wedge'']. If Peacekeepers are captured, they are regarded as being "irreversibly contaminated" - in [[WW 2]], captured Soviet soldiers were regarded as traitors to the Motherland, and those who survived German captivity were punished when they came home.
=== [[Tabletop Games]] ===
* The Tau from ''[[Warhammer
** The Tau are relatively benevolent, by the setting's standards. Their society is actually far less oppressive than that of humans, and their brand of assimilation consists of converting surrendered enemies to their ideology (which may feature brainwashing if they do not convert willingly) and giving them a place in their society. Of course in any other setting they'd be at best [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|Well Intentioned Extremists]], but this is [[Crapsack World|40k]] we're talking about, so the fact they give you an option of joining them or dying makes them seem like saintly paragons of virtue in comparison to everybody else.
*** And then come the implications of mind control, forced sterilisation, death camps...
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=== [[Tabletop Games]] ===
* ''Everyone'' in ''[[Warhammer
** First up, the Imperium of Man, fighting in the name of the immortal God-Emperor. Scary Dogmatic ''Humans''. Xenocidal and imperialist, as happy to wipe out billions of its own people as it is to exterminate entire alien races.
** Chaos. [[Cosmic Horror|Extra-dimensional malevolent gods and daemons]] that are capable of crossing into the physical realm and [[The Corruption|corrupting the minds and bodies of sentient species.]] Four principal Chaos Gods and countless lesser deities and daemon princes, served by billions of cultists and thousands of ancient daemon-corrupted [[Super Soldier]]s who rebelled against the Imperium during a galaxy-splitting civil war ten thousand years before the setting. [[Card-Carrying Villain|Unquestionably evil]], delighting in murder and depravity. The four main gods are born from the emotions of hope, love, bravery and acceptance; this should tell you most of what you need to know about 40k's place on the [[Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism]].
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** The Covenant in ''[[Halo]]'' worship the ancient Forerunners and their artifacts and are centered around a race of "Prophets". The above subtrope quote originated when the first game was in development for the Macintosh, but it's established in the [[Expanded Universe]] as [[Oh Crap|the single message the Covenant send the sole remaining human ship after an early battle]]. Of course, it turns out that the Covenant's xenophobia is a direct result of {{spoiler|jealousy and denial by the Prophets themselves, who had discovered that the Forerunners thought [[Humans Are Special|we were special enough to inherit their civilization]].}}
* The Ilwrath from ''[[Star Control]] II'', who worship twin gods of cruelty and pain; their worship rituals take the form of killing and maiming en masse. Did we mention you can drive them into a religious civil war by impersonating these gods? The Kohr-Ah also talk about a religious belief that sterilizing other races will increase the chances of you reincarnating as a Kohr-Ah, so they might count too.
* The Protoss in ''[[
** It helps that humans are prime targets for infestation.
** They also hate the Dark Templar for rejecting their faith, choosing to embrace individuality.
* Some alien empires in the space age of ''[[Spore]]'' conquer others in the name of Spode.
* The Vasudans from ''[[Free Space|Descent: Freespace]]'' are initially depicted as a bunch of religious fundamentalists. The Terrans come across to the Vasudans as a bunch of [[Fantastic Racism|racist]] [[Humans Are
* The Rigelatins from [[Duke Nukem|Duke Nukem II]] game are rather nasty. Their leader presents himself as the [[Card-Carrying Villain|"evil conqueror"]] and their method to achieve victory is to kidnap Duke and [[Mind Rape|steal his brain patterns]]. This process would leave Duke in a [[And I Must Scream|paralyzed state of constant pain]]. "We'd kill you, you see, but our [[Religion of Evil|religion]] prevents the interruption of suffering."
* The Manifold Caretakers of ''[[Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri|Sid Meier's Alien Crossfire]]'' (the expansion to ''[[Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri]]'') have a quasi-fundamentalist devotion to preserving the ecology of Planet, and specifically to preventing [[Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence|Transcendence]]. They're actually rather like the various Scary Dogmatic Aliens of [[David Brin]]'s ''[[Startide Rising]]'' and ''[[The Uplift War]]''; even the name of their species (the Progenitors) is a [[Shout-Out]] to Brin. Of course, the Caretakers' mortal enemies (as in, in-game, you are not ''allowed'' to make peace with them) are ''also'' Progenitors, and they want to rape the planet and initiate Transcendence.
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** The qunari also refuse to explain their reasoning or their philosophy to any ''bas'', claiming these explanations are a waste of time. If you're not already of the Qun, then you won't understand it. In ''Origins'', it took the whole game to get Sten to admit that the reason he went ballistic and slaughtered a family of farmers was because his sword was missing, a great shame for a qunari.
** Interestingly, the qunari make no distinction between themselves and members of any other race that choose to follow the Qun. The second game has two fugitives willingly convert to the Qun, thus gaining the Arishok's protection, who doesn't recognize human crimes. As far as he's concerned, they're now his brethren, and he has no intention of handing them over to human authorities.
* The Wargots from ''[[UFO:
* The Krynn in ''[[Galactic Civilizations]] 2''. The Altairians would also be an example if their religion wasn't built entirely from sunshine, kittens and rainbows.
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=== [[Tabletop Games]] ===
* The Imperium from ''[[Warhammer
** The [[Our Orcs Are Different|Orks]] are an even better example, though they mainly fight not to conquer, not to subjugate, not even always to win, but [[Blood Knight|because they love it]]. They're considered ''the comic relief'', and that should tell you everything else you need to know about the setting.
* The githyanki of ''[[Dungeons
* ''[[Monsterpocalypse]]'' has the Martian Menace who want to conquer earth for its resources.
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=== [[Film]] ===
* The
* The villainous [[Energy Being]] aliens the Drej from ''[[Titan A.E.]]'', combine "Aliens as Nazis" and "Aliens as Conquistadors". The Drej believe it is their [[Does This Remind You of Anything|destiny to spread across the stars]] and wipe out anyone else they encounter (at least [[All There in the Manual|according to supplementary material for the film and the script]]).
* The 2008 remake of ''[[The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951 film)|The Day the Earth Stood Still]]'' features aliens as ecoterrorists, who want to wipe out human civilization and infrastructure to preserve the biosphere.
** You can appreciate the ideological update: the 1951 original had the aliens trying to warn humanity about [[Science Marches On|the hazards of the atom bomb]].
=== [[Literature]] ===
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