History Main / HumansAreLeaders

* Likewise in the ''GalacticCivilizations'' games, the Terran Alliance has an edge in diplomacy over most other races.

* ''DungeonsAndDragons'': In early editions, only humans were allowed to be Paladins, the natural party leader class. This was {{Justified|Trope}} by the D&D universe being "humanocentric", with humans as the most dominant race. Later explanations fleshed the concept out more, in that humans make up for their short lifespans and lack of specialized ability in any given area (elves for magic, dwarves for blacksmithing, etc.) with an ambition and drive longer-lived races lack and a knack for being able to become skilled in almost ''any'' profession, in essence becoming an entire race of [[JackOfAllTrades Jacks Of All Trades]]. By comparison, dwarves tended to not be very skilled at magic, halflings weren't the most skilled fighters, etc.

* In one of GordonRDickson's stories, the aliens of a far distant planet are ''extremely'' glad to see humans jetting around again, taking charge of things--because none of them really ''want'' all that trouble.

* ''VideoGame/TheReconstruction'' justifies it through a lack of competition. Of the other two sentient species in the setting, the [[LizardFolk shra]] have a tendency to follow whoever seems strongest, the [[RubberForeheadAliens fortians]] don't care much about outside affairs, and the [[CatGirl fih'jik]] are traditionalistic to a fault, leaving humans as the primary explorers and leaders.
** It's also subverted, since TheHero is a shra. Could be DoubleSubverted, though, since he's an extreme subversion of most fantasy heroes and doesn't actually do much leading.

[[folder: Comic Books]]
* Captain America is generally recognised as TheLeader in the MarvelUniverse, as displayed in ''ComicBook/Infinity'', when he leads the combined Shiar/Kree/Skrull fleet, spearheaded by the Imperial Guard and the Avengers.
** It even goes beyond the Marvel Universe to the DC universe, when Superman nominates him to command the combined Avengers and Justice League team against Krona, something Batman concurs with.

[[/folder]]

* ''Series/StargateSG1'' in spades. Let's face it the Tok'ra and Asgard have been spinning their wheels for milennia - and the Nox, the Tollan and the Ancients aren't even trying. But when four man teams of Earthpeople get in the mix we get solutions for problems like the Goa'uld, the Replicators, the Ori, the Wraith...! Sure, we cause a lot of new problems too, but hell, we get things done! Defenders of three galaxies people; At least the Ancients, Nox, Furlings and Asgard supposedly had each other to lean on for active help.
** The Nox and the Tollan are understandable candidates for the "not trying," award, but to lump the Ancients in with them? The ancients have been extinct for about ten thousand years, as of the current time. The very threat of Asgard intervention put a massive damper on Goa'uld expansion and kept them in check, while the Tok'ra kept the System Lords in a state of semi-constant war for most of their history. Were it not for these factors, Earth might have been conquered long ago. Still, the humans of Earth managed to take down the Ori, Goa'uld, and Replicators less than twelve years after their first off-world mission.

** In ''Film/StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry'', the daughter of the Klingon chancellor calls this out explicitly.

** In the third game, Paragon Shepard is shown to be capable of [[spoiler: ending the Krogan genophage, allying the [[EnemyMine Krogan with the Turians]], get the help of the Rachni, end the 300-year-long war between the Geth and the Quarians, make most of the Salarian STG defect in order to help them... oh, and berating ''Balak'' to lend the Batarian fleet to the cause, whilst he has a gun pointed at Shepard's head.]] Most of the characters react with utter bewilderment that Shepard, in the matter of a few months, manages to solve problems that the Council has failed at fixing for over 1000 years.

* Turned into a game mechanic in ''VideoGame/StarTrekOnline'', where humans are the only playable race to get the "Leadership" trait. This provides bonuses to space repair rates, justified as your motivational effect on your crew.

* In ''Series/{{Andromeda}}'' while the Systems Commonwealth was founded by the Vedrans humans quickly made themselves into the "backbone" of the Commonwealth. In addition many governments established during the Long Night after the fall of the Commonwealth were led by humans, for better or for worse, and of course Captain Hunt with his mission to restore the Commonwealth is human (well, half-human).

** JustifiedTrope since Robin is a strategic genius.
*** No, JustifiedTrope because he was taught by ''Franchise/{{Batman}}''.

** Vulcans in Series/StarTrekEnterprise label this as one of the Human's [[PlanetOfHats Hats]]. Humans are brash and more prone to throw caution to the wind when making decisions, but their curiosity to explore the unknown allows them to adapt so easily to different situations and environments that they excel as diplomats and mediators.

* Things essentially end up this way in ''VideoGame/MassEffect'' whether or not you [[spoiler:kill off the council]]. Humanity shakes up most of Citadel Space's politics, military defense, and home security, both by its flaws and strengths. In a sense, humanity is the ultimate anti-complacency factor, as complacency is probably the Council's greatest flaw: they love putting [[PlanetOfHats hats on everything]] and each species eventually settles into one. However, humanity's role as a JackOfAllStats makes their only hat a refusal to ''have'' a hat.

*** No, JustifiedTrope because he was taught by ''{{Batman}}''.

** The exact process depends on the player character, but the end result is the entire galaxy acknowledging that humans - specifically this MemeticBadass they've given the galaxy - get results. Paragon Shepard is the more understanding, "we need to earn respect" type, while Renegade Shepard is...[[[SociopathicHero quoted above]].

** Starfleet is to the Federation roughly what the U.S. Navy is to the N.A.T.O. The reason Starfleet is heavily human is that it's the humans' military. The Vulcans have a fleet as well, and in the later series/movies, the Klingon fleet was also part of the Federation but not part of Starfleet. Starfleet is diverse but it stands to reason that humans would play a central role.

In general, wherever humans coexist with other races, the humans tend to be the dominant or driving force in whatever effort they're involved in. They're the ones who tend to be the guys behind creating TheAlliance and holding it together, the ones coming up with most of the plans on how to thwart TheEmpire, or--in somewhat darker settings--the ones able to manipulate other races into doing their bidding for them. If a FiveManBand is made of [[FiveRaces five different species]], then the human will be TheLeader.

In general, wherever humans coexist with other races, the humans tend to be the dominant or driving force in whatever effort they're involved in. They're the ones who tend to be the guys behind creating TheAlliance and holding it together, the ones coming up with most of the plans on how to thwart TheEmpire, or--in somewhat darker settings--the ones able to manipulate other races into doing their bidding for them. If a FiveManBand is made of five different species, then the human will be TheLeader.

Compare ''and'' contrast HumansAreWarriors; both may be in play at the same time, but usually it's either one or the other. ''Definitely ''contrast with HumansAreMorons. MightyWhitey is an earthbound sister trope. It goes hand in hand with HumansAreDiplomats. Probably influenced by MostWritersAreHuman as well.

* ''Series/{{Babylon 5}}'' has this but less blatantly. Humanity's hat is that they build communities wherever they go; any other species would have built the Babylon 5 for their own use only.
** More blatantly, the card game has a human-only agenda (a victory condition) called "Leading the Races", which allows you to win by playing a human faction with lots of different alien species in it.

* Although there are several different human species in the ''ElderScrolls'' series, the Empire that controls the continent of Tamriel is run through all four games in the main series by an Imperial, a human, and all past Emperors in the Empire's history have been Imperial bar one.

->''"Look, little girl. When you [[ViolenceReallyIsTheAnswer want a problem shot]], ask a [[SpaceRomans turian]]. When you [[ObstructiveBureaucrat want a problem talked to death]], ask an [[GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe asari]]. When you [[NiceJobBreakingItHero want a new problem]], ask a [[TheGreys salarian]]. [[HumanityIsSuperior When you want a problem fixed, ask a human.]]"''

[[AC:{{Film}}]]

** The EU actually does make a point, in the XWingSeries while handling FantasticRacism, that in the beginning, and around the battle of [[ANewHope Yavin]], humans were the ones who were putting themselves on the line, especially considering that the Death Star was functioning. There were nonhumans at various levels contributing, but at the time it was predominantly a human effort, and only after the success at Yavin did others start to support the movement more openly.

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]

* In one of GordonRDickson's stories, the aliens of a far distant planet are ''extremely'' glad to see humans jetting around again, taking charge of things--because none of them really ''want'' all that trouble.

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]

[[AC:TabletopGames]]
* ''DungeonsAndDragons'': In early editions, only humans were allowed to be Paladins, the natural party leader class. This was {{Justified|Trope}} by the D&D universe being "humanocentric", with humans as the most dominant race. Later explanations fleshed the concept out more, in that humans make up for their short lifespans and lack of specialized ability in any given area (elves for magic, dwarves for blacksmithing, etc.) with an ambition and drive longer-lived races lack and a knack for being able to become skilled in almost ''any'' profession, in essence becoming an entire race of [[JackOfAllTrades Jacks Of All Trades]]. By comparison, dwarves tended to not be very skilled at magic, halflings weren't the most skilled fighters, etc.

[[AC:VideoGames]]

** The exact process depends on the player character, but the end result is the entire galaxy acknowledging that humans - specifically this MemeticBadass they've given the galaxy - get results. Paragon Shepard is the more understanding, "we need to earn respect" type, while Renegade Shepard is...[[[SociopathicHero quoted above]].

* ''VideoGame/TheReconstruction'' justifies it through a lack of competition. Of the other two sentient species in the setting, the [[LizardFolk shra]] have a tendency to follow whoever seems strongest, the [[RubberForeheadAliens fortians]] don't care much about outside affairs, and the [[CatGirl fih'jik]] are traditionalistic to a fault, leaving humans as the primary explorers and leaders.

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]

----

->''"Look, little girl. When you [[IDidWhatIHadToDo want a problem shot]], ask a [[SpaceRomans turian]]. When you [[ObstructiveBureaucrat want a problem talked to death]], ask an [[GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe asari]]. When you [[NiceJobBreakingItHero want a new problem]], ask a [[TheGreys salarian]]. [[HumanityIsSuperior When you want a problem fixed, ask a human.]]"''

* ''DungeonsAndDragons'': In early editions, only humans were allowed to be Paladins, the natural party leader class. This was {{Justified}} by the D&D universe being "humanocentric", with humans as the most dominant race. Later explanations fleshed the concept out more, in that humans make up for their short lifespans and lack of specialized ability in any given area (elves for magic, dwarves for blacksmithing, etc.) with an ambition and drive longer-lived races lack and a knack for being able to become skilled in almost ''any'' profession, in essence becoming an entire race of [[JackOfAllTrades Jacks Of All Trades]]. By comparison, dwarves tended to not be very skilled at magic, halflings weren't the most skilled fighters, etc.