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The Right of a Superior Species (view source)

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* It is shown that the aliens behave in a more honorable manner towards those whom they believe to be their equals or superiors. A race that treats everyone badly when they can get away with it may be simply evil.
 
Overlaps heavily with [[Social Darwinist]], type three. Contrast [[Alien Non -Interference Clause]]. See also [[Can't Argue Withwith Elves]]. A species that practices this trope is probably '''not''' a [[Superior Species]].
{{examples}}
== [[Anime and Manga]] ==
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== [[Film]] ==
* The film ''[[Avatar (Filmfilm)|Avatar]]'' runs on this trope, though it's a rare case of ''humans'' being the superior species while the "primitive" Na'vi have to deal with mankind strip-mining their planet.
* Similar to the [[Avatar]] example, there's the not-well-received animation ''[[Battle for Terra]]'', where the human race stages an invasion of an alien planet. They justify this by the right of their superior technology, their view that the aliens aren't sapient, and that Earth was destroyed and they need to repopulate the species somewhere.
* Megatron (and probably the other Decepticons) in [[Transformers]], who says that "Humans don't deserve to live."
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** Curiously, he claims that said animals are sentient, if not 'rational'. Of course only Priest-Kings are truly rational.
*** Which is actually accurate (animals being sentient, if not the rest). The word "sentient" technically and despite the way it's used by some SF writers implies nothing about a creature's ''intelligence'', merely its ''awareness''; a sentient creature is one that can experience sensations and feelings, but there's no requirement that it also be particularly bright.
* Harry Turtledove's ''[[Worldwar (Literature)]]'' series. The reptilian Race considers themselves eminently justified in conquering Earth and making humanity a subject race because of what they view as their incomparably superior culture and technology, even though said technology turns out to be not quite ''that'' advanced over humankind's. Indeed, one of the "Lizard" characters pretty much lampshades this during a conversation with a human character, when the human points out all the rights and liberties that his people yearns for and the Lizard claims, in all seriousness, that humans would enjoy those freedoms under the rule of the Race.
* The Strong Races are this to the Weak ones in ''[[The Stars Are Cold Toys]]'' duology. The galactic rules are like this: if your race is powerful enough to wipe out any other race except fellow Strong ones, you can do whatever you please. If it isn't, you better possess some unique talent useful to the Strong races, or be wiped out by them to make space for new strains of evolution.
* ''[[Out of the Dark]]'' by [[David Weber]], is about a race of aliens who usually do this successfully but get way more than they bargained for with humanity.
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** In [[Darren Shan]]'s vampire books, the Vampires avert this but the Vampaneze play it straight.
* The dragons from Robin Hobb's ''[[Realm of the Elderlings]]'' are like this. Even after a long absence and teetering on the brink of extinction, they fully expect humanity to serve them.
* [[Robert Westall (Creator)|Robert Westall]]'s ''[[Urn Burial (Literature)|Urn Burial]]'': Stated almost word for word by the Wawaka as the reasoning behind their disdain for and lack of concern over, humans. When Ralph accuses them of torturing humans, they respond that humans treat animals in exactly the same way.
 
== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* In the ''[[Stargate SG -1]]'' episode 'Pretense', a Goa'uld justifies the taking of human hosts by claiming superiority to humanity and comparing the practice to the hunting and fishing practiced by humans.
** When Daniel Jackson points out that nearly all Goa'uld technology has been stolen from other races, the Goa'uld merely shrugs and says it doesn't matter how it was acquired. The Goa'uld have the technology; the humans don't. It's as simple as that.
* ''[[V]]'' apparently sounds like it fits this trope. At one point, the original miniseries has aliens offhandedly discussing how it was inadvisable to sedate human captives before butchering them because the drug alters the taste of the flesh.
* In the ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]'' adventure ''The Mark of the Rani'', the Rani compares the exploitation of lesser series with stepping on ants.
* In the [[Dungeons and Dragons]] episode of [[Community]], Britta tries to tell a Gnome waiter that he's just as good as they are. Abed (as dungeon-master) replies that according to the game rules, no, he's actually not, and the gang are justified in treating him however they want because of this trope.
* The Minbari of [[Babylon 5]] believed that their status as the oldest Non-First One Space Faring Civilization gave them the right to exterminate the entire human race simply to avenge the death of their leader in a botched first contact that was as much their fault as it was the Humans.
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== [[Video Games]] ==
* This thought is enforced by the government schools of Alfard ("[[The Empire]] of the flame") in ''[[Baten Kaitos]]''. Lyude, the one heroic character from the country, is revealed to have been homeschooled by a nanny.
* The fal'Cie from ''[[Final Fantasy XIII (Video Game)|Final Fantasy XIII]]'' are all over this trope like flies over jam. At one point, Lightning realizes that to them, humans are nothing but pets whom they keep for amusement and some housekeeping chores they don't care to do themselves. {{spoiler|It is eventually revealed that humans and fal'Cie are related species in the sense that both were created by the same creator deity but fal'Cie were made infinitely stronger but without the capacity for free will, so when the creator has left the building, things went south for the humans as the fal'Cie hijacked that free will to turn them into weapons.}}
 
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* The High Breed in the ''[[Ben 10 (Animation)|Ben 10]]'' verse breathe this trope.
 
{{reflist}}
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