History Main / CockroachesWillRuleTheEarth

See also: IntelligentGerbil, BigCreepyCrawlies, FourLeggedInsect and PettingZooPeople, contrast with HumansAreSpecial.

* Most major extinction events end up as this; the smallest life forms tend to survive easier and in some cases became dominant later. This is what happened to Mammals after the extinction of Dinosaurs for example.

* In the backstory of ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon}}'', humans rendered themselves extinct via global warming, and so eventually the ancestors of the Inklings (squid), Octolings, and other sea creatures came on land and went through a new process of evolution before eventually starting their own civilization.

* In the backstory of ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon}}'', humans rendered themselves extinct via global warming, and so eventually the ancestors of the Inklings (squid), Octolings, and other sea creatures came on land and started their own civilization.

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'': In the episode "Wanda's Day Off!", Timmy wishes he knew what a cockroach was thinking about. When Cosmo grants the cockroach intelligence and the ability to speak, it immediately stands up on its hind legs and yells "WORLD DOMINATION!" Throughout the rest of the episode, the cockroaches organize, gather weapons, and proceed to TakeOverTheWorld, until Wanda comes back and un-wishes the whole mess.

This trope was frequent during the Cold War, when people feared that TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt was near, and it was also discovered that cockroaches have much higher radiation resistance than human beings. Unfortunately for popular culture, it turns out that cockroaches have higher resistance to a sudden lethal burst, but are as subject to long-term fallout as most life. Further, the documentary ''Series/LifeAfterPeople'' pointed out that cockroaches are a tropical to semi-tropical genus: their current extensive range is a consequence of humans heating their homes and businesses. Cockroaches crawling from the ashes can thus be considered a DiscreditedTrope, but don't expect that to stop them. Nothing does!

* The Earth is depicted, in a ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}'' scenario, as ruled by cockroaches after presumably a nuclear war.

* One of the character cards from ''TabletopGame/{{Chrononauts}}'' is an intelligent cockroach from a timeline like this. In order to get "home", they have to [[SetWrongWhatOnceWentRight make sure the Cuban Missile Crisis escalates into]] WorldWarIII.

Very common in [[AfterTheEnd post-apocalyptic]] fiction or in events happening in the distant future, when no more humans are around and a new species has taken over the world. This species generally is or has evolved from a small, humble life form, often the cockroach.

[[quoteright:286:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fairly_oddparents_cockroaches_9.png]]
[[caption-width-right:286: They're just waiting...]]

* Creator/{{Marvel}}'s ''ComicBook/{{Cable}}'' have a storyline in Earth-80521 with a race of humanoid roaches; the Roach Soldiers, and they have their own president.

* ''{{Literature/Animorphs}}'': The Ellimist finds the planet that will one day be called Earth, and sees the future not in the lumbering dinosaurs but the small hairy creatures. the planet's destiny is further changed when the Animorphs go back in time to discover two alien species warring over Earth, the Nesk and Mercora. After getting the Nesk to leave the planet, Tobias takes the responsibility of making sure the Mercora don't keep it either, as humans would likely not have evolved if a sentient species was already present on the planet.

* One of the episodes of ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain'' has them travel in time to the far future when anthropomorphic cockroaches rule the world under a cockroach queen.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'': In the episode "Wanda's Day Off!", Timmy wishes he knew what a cockroach was thinking about. When Cosmo grants the cockroach intelligence and the ability to speak, it immediately stands up on its hind legs and yells "WORLD DOMINATION!" Throughout the rest of the episode, the cockroaches organize, gather weapons, and proceed to TakeOverTheWorld, until Wanda comes back and un-wishes the whole mess.

* Creator/Marvel's ''ComicBook/Cable'' have a storyline in Earth-80521 with a race of humanoid roaches; the Roach Soldiers, and they have their own president.

* A similar concept used in ''Film/Mimic'', a race of insects evolve in record time and became not only huge, but also a real treat for humanity.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'': In the episode "Wanda's Day Off!", Timmy wishes he knew what a cockroach was thinking about. When Cosmo grants the cockroach intelligence and the ability to speak, it immediately stands up on its hind legs and yells "WORLD DOMINATION!" Throughout the rest of the episode, the cockroaches organize, gather weapons, and proceed to Take Over The World, until Wanda comes back and un-wishes the whole mess.

This trope was frequent during the Cold War, when people feared that TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt was near, and it was also discovered that cockroaches have much higher radiation resistance than human beings. But, despite the shock of the initial discovery, they may have higher resistance to a brief radiation burst, but not to the lingering permanent radiation that would follow a nuclear war. Besides, the documentary ''Series/LifeAfterPeople'' pointed that cockroaches need warm places, and they are currently so extended in the world because humans keep artificial heat sources in the cities. If humanity disappeared, and those heat sources get shut down, cockroaches would become once again a species of tropical areas. This, and the end of the nuclear fear after the end of the cold war, turned this into a DiscreditedTrope.

->''Give up? Give up? What are you saying to me? How come us roaches have been able to outlast the dinosaurs? How do we survive poison and persecution? How do we keep on crawling, in the face of overwhelming odds? I'll tell you how: because WE NEVER GIVE UP! A true cockroach never gives up. They can stomp us, they can pop us, but they'll never ever stop us. Someday the great H-bomb is gonna drop, and we'll have the whole planet to ourselves.''

The idea probably came from the concept that cockroaches can survive a nuclear war; though this idea is more of an UrbanLegend, the cockroach is a very resistant life form and predates the Dinosaurs.

* ''{{Literature/Animorphs}}'': The Ellimist finds the planet that will one day be called Earth, and sees the future not in the lumbering dinosaurs but the small hairy creatures. the planet's destiny is further changed when the Animorphs go back in time to discover two alien species warring over Earth, the Nesk and Mercora. After getting the Nesk to leave the planet, Tobias takes the responsibility of making sure the Mercora don't escape either, as humans would likely not have evolved if a sentient species was already present on the planet.

->Give up? Give up? What are you saying to me? How come us roaches have been able to outlast the dinosaurs? How do we survive poison and persecution? How do we keep on crawling, in the face of overwhelming odds? I'll tell you how: because WE NEVER GIVE UP! A true cockroach never gives up. They can stomp us, they can pop us, but they'll never ever stop us. Someday the great H-bomb is gonna drop, and we'll have the whole planet to ourselves.
-->''Film/JoesApartment''

* One of the episodes of ''Series/PinkyAndTheBrain'' has them travel in time to the far future when anthropomorphic cockroaches rule the world under a cockroach queen.
* In one episode of ''Series/JusticeLeagueUnlimited'', Superman finds himself on Earth AfterTheEnd thousands of years after an apocalyptic event caused by Vandal Savage (the only other person alive) and with a race of intelligent giant cockroaches as their enemies.
* ''Series/TheFairlyOddParents'': In the episode "Wanda's Day Off!", Timmy wishes he knew what a cockroach was thinking about. When Cosmo grants the cockroach intelligence and the ability to speak, it immediately stands up on its hind legs and yells "WORLD DOMINATION!" Throughout the rest of the episode, the cockroaches organize, gather weapons, and proceed to Take Over The World, until Wanda comes back and un-wishes the whole mess.