History Main / NotEvenHuman

* In ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', when Naruto powers his way into the 4th Ninja War, he's told that the enemy army consists of plant-monsters and undead ninja. His response is basically, "Good! Now I don't have to hold back!" In this case, it's more a matter of "The enemy won't die so I can beat on them with impunity."

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' ostensibly-human enemy Roach Coach was dropped from a massive height, provoking a scared response about how it's not okay for them to kill humans. Then he's revealed to be an intelligent roach manning a human robot. He survived the fall, so they decide to keep him a jar.

* In Manga/{{Naruto}}, when Naruto powers his way into the 4th Ninja War, he's told that the enemy army consists of plant-monsters and undead ninja. His response is basically, "Good! Now I don't have to hold back!" In this case, it's more a matter of "The enemy won't die so I can beat on them with impunity."

This specific trope tends to fall into {{camp}} territory, because usually this revelation is made without any kind of {{foreshadowing}} or even any particular relevance to the plot- you can remove the plot twist and the rest of the story will still make sense. Like KickTheDog, the main purpose here is to remove any doubt about whether the bad guys were [[AlwaysChaoticEvil really evil]] and killable.

This phrase actually shows up in comics a fair amount used by villains against heroes who are not technically human. Of course, from the reader's perspective they always fall on our side of WhatMeasureIsANonHuman, so it just makes it seem like sadism for being willing to torture a sapient being. If your hero is the one shocked by their ''own'' non-human status, they might have just seen the TomatoInTheMirror.

Compare JustAMachine, which deals with this trope specifically for robots. Contrast TheManBehindTheMonsters, where everyone ''but'' the leader is a non-human, and HumanAllAlong, when what initially being thought as a monster turns out to be a human.

* In ''Manga/{{Hellsing}}'', [[spoiler:it turns out that the Major is a full-conversion cyborg. However, he still claims humanity on account of both still having a human brain and never engaging in [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampirism]]. Besides, his enemies would be perfectly willing to kill him anyway even if he were human since he's still a Nazi nutjob leading an army of artificial vampires against London itself.]]

* Played straight AND inverted in an episode of the 2002 ''[[Series/TheTwilightZone Twilight Zone]]'' series. A team of commandos is hunting a monster called the "Creetur" in the forest. Said monster is very cunning and manages to kill all but one of the commandos, who is captured and taken to its lair. Turns out the monster is really a disheveled human. The reason why he's hunting people? The commandos, the people in the city, ''everyone'' is really an android. They overthrew humans long ago and copied their society. "Creetur" isn't derived from "creature" but "creator."

* In ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansTroubleInTokyo'', Robin apparently kills one of Brushogun's {{mook}}s. When he gets arrested for the act, he tries to play this angle without success.
-->Robin: But he wasn't even human!
-->Cop: Neither are [[HumanoidAliens most]] [[HalfHumanHybrid of]] [[{{Cyborg}} your]] [[VoluntaryShapeShifting friends]].

* In the 90s ''WesternAnimation/XMen'' animated series, there were a few instances of MechaMooks looking human at first, and the heroes having to [[ThouShaltNotKill pull their punches]]... until one got hit a little too hard, [[RoboticReveal showed circuitry]]... and the heroes realized they could smash and bash at will. (Animated {{ComicBook/Wolverine}} ''loved'' discovering MechaMooks, it let him act more like his comic-book self who got to slice up ''real'' Mooks.)

* ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'': The revelation that [[Characters/MonsterVerseKingGhidorah Ghidorah]] [[spoiler:is actually an alien in origin]] certainly has shades of this. This movie portrays the {{Kaiju}} as ultimately being essential to the maintenance of Earth's ecology and by extension humanity's long-term survival despite the damage they can cause to humans, but since Ghidorah [[spoiler:has no place in Earth's natural order as an invasive extraterrestrial]], his continued presence on Earth causes the complete opposite of ecological restoration, nevermind the fact that he's genuinely malicious and [[KillAllHumans wants the human race to die screaming]]. This makes the cast's subsequent efforts to save the world by helping Godzilla to kill Ghidorah completely justifiable according to the movie's aesop.

* ''Fanfic/AbraxasHrodvitnon'': {{Subverted}} in this ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019''. When Nadezhda finds out that the baby she's carrying isn't exactly a human offspring and is related to Ghidorah (see [[Characters/AbraxasHrodvitnonTitansAndOtherCreatures the spoiler folder]]), that doesn't make her view it any less as her child, and she's determined to carry the pregnancy to term.

* Said word-for-word by Detective Mike Cellucci in ''Series/BloodTies'' to [[FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire Henry Fitzroy]] after figuring out what he is. He says it with such disdain that Henry performs a NeckLift on him in anger.

* The sadly bungled movie ''Film/{{Ultraviolet}}'': [[spoiler:in the final fight, Daxus turns out to be a "vampire" like Violet herself. Except that in the book, he just had night-vision goggles.]]

* In ''Manga/{{Hellsing}}'', [[spoiler:it turns out that the Major is a full-conversion cyborg. However, he still claims humanity on account of both still having human brain and never engaging in [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampirism]]. Besides, his enemies would be perfectly willing to kill him anyway even if he were human since he's still a Nazi nutjob leading an army of artificial vampires against London itself.]]

* In WebOriginal/ProtectorsOfThePlotContinuum, [[MarySue Mary Sues]] are this, and often show signs of being [[HumanoidAbomination Humanoid Abominations]].

In video games, this overlaps with OneWingedAngel, but only if the boss yells "Behold my true form!" beforehand.

When someone denies the humanity of genuinely human enemies in order to justify violence or mistreatment against them, it's {{dehumanization}} instead.

* In ''Manga/{{Hellsing}}'', [[spoiler:it turns out that the Major is a full-conversion cyborg. However, he still claims humanity on account of both still having human brain and never engaging in [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampirism]]. Besides, his enemies would be perfectly willing to kill him anyway even if he were human since he's still a Nazi nutjob leading an army of artificial vampires against London itself.]]
* Inverted in ''Anime/{{Vandread}}''. The idea of ''harvesting body parts from humans'' is so repulsive to the main characters that they assume their foes cannot be human. [[spoiler:They ''are'' human, and from ''Earth'' to boot.]]
* The final episode of ''Anime/BurstAngel''. Turns out that an AncientConspiracy is behind everything. Yeah, that's quite an AssPull.

* In the second movie of ''Manga/ArpeggioOfBlueSteel Cadenza DC'', one of {{The Reveal}}s is that [[spoiler:the "Shouzou Chihaya" with Musashi is not actually the real Shouzou, who had been killed a long time ago, but merely a nanomaterial-made puppet with no will of its own.]]

* ''Film/{{Stargate}}''. While Ra was a long-lived alien in a human body, his {{Mooks}} were humans, and it never stops anyone, in the movie or shows. (Not that it isn't justified in these cases: they shoot back when shot at. It's just that Ra didn't become more killable by proving non-human: ThouShaltNotKill was never in effect.)

* The sadly bungled movie ''Film/{{Ultraviolet}}'': [[spoiler:in the final fight, Daxus turns out to be a "vampire" like Violet herself. Except that in the book, he just had night-vision goggles.]]
* The ''Film/LostInSpace'' movie - actually, it's a case of the villain ''becoming'' a monster, but it has the same basic results, very baldly stated.
* ''Film/TheLawnmowerMan'' brings up the trope by name near the end (though not as a surprise, just underlining how far he's gone).
* At the end of ''Film/ThePresidentsAnalyst'' the good guys storm [[spoiler: The Phone Company]] headquarters to rescue Dr. Schaefer. When the backup power comes on, they realize the TPC president is sitting nearby as he starts to politely admonish them for breaking in. After a few uncertain moments they realize, to their amusement, that he's an automaton.
-->'''Don''': He's a ''recording!''
-->'''Kropotkin''': It's like a visit with Abe Lincoln at Disneyland!

** Later, in ''Planeswalker'', Urza is trying to eliminate Sleepers, Phyrexian [[ArtificialHuman artificial humans]] secretly infiltrating the population of his home world of Dominaria. Heck, ''Planeswalker'' proved that Yawgmoth was most definitely asleep at the helm, er, hub, of Phyrexia when the first batch of Newts were made. The kicker -- somehow, despite having once been fully physical and human himself, a few millenia ago, Gix managed to forget that humans have different genders and reproductive, as well as waste, systems. The entire first batch of Newts (the Sleepers) looked human, but mostly teenaged boyish, with no genitals whatsoever -- and glistening oil for blood. Way to go there, Gix, you schlep. This was improved on in later batches, of course, but this mistake proved costly for Gix...
* It is emphasized in ''Literature/HarryPotter'' that Voldemort, while born a human, has ''made'' himself less than human in some ways. Namely, by splitting his soul into multiple pieces, and to a lesser extent, by drinking unicorn blood.
* Inverted in an early Creator/HPLovecraft story, "The Beast in the Cave", in which a man lost in a pitch-black cave hears something large and mysterious shuffling nearby and kills it with a rock. When his guide returns with a lantern to find him, they realize that the dying creature is a human being who'd been wandering in the cave for years, degenerating into an ape-like state.
* The White Witch from ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'' is actually [[OurGeniesAreDifferent half Jinn]] and [[OurGiantsAreBigger half Giant]].
** In ''Literature/TheSilverChair'', the Green Witch turns into a giant snake, at which point Rilian believes it's all right to kill her. Though this isn't just because she's no longer human, but because she's no longer a human woman; Rilian WouldntHitAGirl.

* It appears rather often on ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}'', and in one case the whole episode ("Mr. and Mrs. Witch") plays itself out without the Charmed Sisters ever becoming aware of it. The MonsterOfTheWeek is in fact a demon, but he appears to be a human CorruptCorporateExecutive. The demon is quite aware that the Charmed Ones won't kill him as long as they think he's human, and in fact the Charmed Ones never do find out. The demon is still vanquished by his superiors for [[YouHaveFailedMe failing to accomplish their evil plan,]] and, in fact, the Charmed Sisters read about this evil executive's "suicide" in the newspaper, without ever being the wiser that this was a demon who they could have dealt with by vanquishing him.
* Said word-for-word by Detective Mike Cellucci in ''Series/BloodTies'' to [[FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire Henry Fitzroy]] after figuring out what he is. He says it with such disdain that Henry performs a NeckLift on him in anger.
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': Downplayed in "Fresh Blood". [[spoiler:Gordon Walker]] ''was'' human when we first saw him, but he had to be turned into a vampire to make it okay for Sam to chop his head off.

* ''VideoGame/SnakesRevenge'', the [[CanonDiscontinuity non-canonical]] NES sequel to the original ''VideoGame/MetalGear'', has Big Boss revealing at the end that he was forced to undergo a transformation into a cyborg in order to survive the injuries he sustained in the first game.
** ''Metal Gear 2'' for the [=MSX2=], the canonical sequel, parodies this by having a character gossiping that Big Boss may had become a cyborg and then subverts it by having Big Boss killed with a mere makeshift flamethrower.
* Nearly every antagonist human being in the second ''VideoGame/ArcTheLad'' game turns into a monster of some sort before fighting the main characters: [[TheEmpire Romalia]] turned most if not all of its troops into monstrous super-soldiers (granted, this was the only way to give them a shot against [[PersonOfMassDestruction Arc, Gogen, Elc]] and their [[BadassCrew merry band]] of [[MadeOfIron nearly unkillable]] [[OneManArmy warriors]]). Then [[PlayerPunch the player]] realize that, thanks to its very liberal use of {{Mind Control Device}}s and other [[PoliceState coercive tricks]], [[FridgeHorror most of the enemies the heroes killed]] were either drafted or had [[BrainwashedAndCrazy their free will destroyed]], including [[spoiler: the orphans turned monsters [[WhatTheHellHero slaughtered by Elc & co]] in the White House laboratories]]. Twilight of the Spirits, the fourth game in the series twists the knife even more by showing that without Romalia's {{Mind Control Device}}s, the human turned monsters regained their full sentience and even [[spoiler: were still biologically fully human and able to procreate with normal humans]]: in other words, the monsters were actually [[SubvertedTrope still completely human under their monstrous appearance]], most of them were either drafted soldiers or [[spoiler: helpless, terrified, and completelly blameless children used as guinea pigs by [[EvilutionaryBiologist Romalia's scientists]] ]].

** In ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'', if you side against him, [[spoiler: Mr. House]] qualifies, as the game classifies him as an Abomination rather than a human when you [[spoiler: open up his isolation chamber and encounter his 200 year old shriveled up body, which you have to destroy to kill him]].
* Subverted in ''VideoGame/MegaMan2''. In the final battle, Dr. Wily reveals himself to be an alien of some sort, but after defeating him you find that the alien was really just a hologram that Wily controlled from a machine in the corner of the room.

* Almost all of the human(oid) villains in ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireII'' reveal themselves to be some kinda of monster before they're fought. For example a Crooked arena organizer turns into a two headed humanoid wolf when challenged.
* ''VideoGame/EpicMickey'': Mickey and [[ExpositionFairy Gus]] get quite a shock when they find out [[spoiler: the Mad Doctor has turned himself into a [[ClockworkCreature Beetleworx]]. He claims to have done this so that, when the Blot [[EndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt absorbs all of Wasteland's paint]] he will survive.]]
* The first ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' has the leader of the mostly human Dolhr be a huge monstrous Earth Dragon. He has a humanoid form but even that has a [[LooksLikeOrlok somewhat inhuman appearance]].
* Quoted by [[PlayerCharacter Shepard]] in ''Franchise/MassEffect'' to Sovereign. (Full quote: "You're not even alive. Not really. You're JustAMachine and ''machines can be broken''!") Sovereign, being [[spoiler: the vanguard of an entire species of [[EldritchAbomination MechaCthulhus]]]], is unimpressed.
** In ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', it's revealed that [[spoiler:all the Cerberus troops you fight in the game have been given Reaper implants that make them resemble [[NightOfTheLivingMooks Husks]], just to set the tone for all the {{Mook Horror Show}}s you'll be inflicting upon them in the rest of the game]].
* Any doubt Heather had about killing Leonard Wolf in ''VideoGame/SilentHill3'' is dispelled when it turns out he was not only an [[FreudianExcuse abusive father to the]] BigBad, but also a giant fish person. Of course, it is later hinted that [[spoiler:''every'' creature Heather killed was human, no matter how monstrous, and that she had only convinced herself otherwise.]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Drakengard 3}}'' puts this trope to disturbing effect in Four's DLC story. She sets out on her dragon mount Gabriella to shoot down some pirate ships, [[spoiler:only for it to become clear that the ships are full of elves desperately trying to flee. Gabriella calls out Four on this but Four replies cheerfully that they're not human so they have to be evil, and it's fine - necessary, ''laudable'' even - to kill evil people. Which she does. All this ends up making it perfectly clear how [[TautologicalTemplar twisted Four's moral code]] really is.]]

* ''[[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'': "Robots? Let's rock!"
** [[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003 The newer incarnation]] has an even bigger shock than that when it was revealed [[spoiler: that the Shredder was actually an alien squid inside a robot body.]]
** In the [[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012 Nickelodeon]] series the Turtles have a lot of difficulty taking down a bunch of surprisingly tough guys in suits. Mikey only finds that they're robots when he's cornered by one and lashes out with his hidden blade in self defense. Once all the turtle s are aware that they're robots they're much easier to defeat. Inverted with the Footbots, the ordinary human members start quitting after being beaten by the turtles so often so they're replaced with robots, who conceal lots of saw blades and are tougher to defeat in general.
* The climax of the '94 animated ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' series is a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown between Major Adam Steiner and Star Colonel Nicolai Malthus. Malthus [[CurbStompBattle curbstomps]] Steiner's mech, Steiner fakes Malthus out with an empty escape pod, then [[ColossusClimb Colossus Climbs]] Malthus's mech and sabotages it. During the ensuing replay with GoodOldFisticuffs, [[TalkingIsAFreeAction Malthus informs Steiner as to the meaning of the epithet he's been spitting for twelve episodes.]] Steiner is a "freebirth": born of a random match between individuals, where Malthus is a "truebirth": cultivated from [[DesignerBabies carefully selected genetic material]] and gestated in a [[PeopleJars controlled environment.]] Steiner's response is to name the trope with disgust. He suckers the Designer Baby into grabbing a live wire and stands there watching him fry, then [[SaveTheVillain spares him]] and claims victory.
* This was the main topic of the penultimate episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSecretSaturdays'' 2nd season when [[spoiler: it turned out that the Saturday's ArchEnemy V.V. Argost was actually a cryptid in disguise. Not just any cryptid either. He was in fact the same Yeti who slaughtered Drew and Doyle's parents and made them orphans.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' ostensibly-human enemy Roach Coach was dropped from a massive height, provoking a scared response about how it's not okay for them to kill humans. Then he's revealed to be an intelligent roach manning a human robot. He survived the fall, so they decide to keep him a jar.
* Oogie Boogie from ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'' dies shortly after TheReveal that he's only a big colony of bugs ''pretending'' to be a person. With slight WhatMeasureIsANonHuman issues, though, since those seem to be talking bugs anyway.

* Played straight AND inverted in an episode of the most recent ''[[Series/TheTwilightZone Twilight Zone]]'' series. A team of commandos is hunting a monster in the forest. Said monster is very cunning and manages to kill all but one of the commandos, who is captured and taken to its lair. Turns out the monster is really a disheveled human. The reason why he's hunting people? The commandos, the people in the city, ''everyone'' is really an android. They overthrew humans long ago and copied their society.

* In ''Manga/{{Hellsing}}'', [[spoiler:it turns out that the Major is a full-conversion cyborg. Subverted in that he still claims humanity because he has a human brain, and that his enemies would be perfectly willing to kill him if he were human anyway due to him being a Nazi nutjob leading an army of artificial vampires against London itself.]]

[[folder:Live Action Television]]

** The homicidal inbreds from ''Series/TheXFiles'' episode "Home" weren't supernatural or robots or anything else non-fictional; they just had a whole lot of genetic defects that exist in real life.

** Averted with [[spoiler: Doomsday. Everybody else is trying to convince Clark that his true form is a mindless killing machine, but Clark refuses to give up on the fact that there's a perfectly ordinary human/kryptonian/something that would be killed in the process.]]
* Played straight AND inverted in an episode of the most recent ''[[Series/TheTwilightZone Twilight Zone]]'' series. A team of commandos is hunting a monster in the forest; said monster is very cunning and manages to kill all but one of the commandos, who is captured and taken to its lair. Turns out the monster is really a disheveled human. The reason why he's hunting people? The commandos, the people in the city, ''everyone'' is really an android; they overthrew humans long ago and copied their society.
* It appears rather often on ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}'', and in one case the whole episode ("Mr. and Mrs. Witch") plays itself out without the Charmed Sisters ever becoming aware of it. The MonsterOfTheWeek is in fact a demon, but he appears to be a human CorruptCorporateExecutive. The demon is quite aware that the Charmed Ones won't kill him as long as they think he's human, and in fact the Charmed Ones never do find out. The demon is still vanquished by his superiors for [[YouHaveFailedMe failing to accomplish their evil plan]]; and in fact, the Charmed Sisters read about this evil executive's "suicide" in the newspaper, without ever being the wiser that this was a demon who they could have dealt with by vanquishing him.

** However, Robin's guilt is gone once it's discovered the creature was nothing but an animated drawing. Later, they are fighting the BigBad's apparently human army of mooks... once a hit reveals them to be drawings as well, the Titans say "no need to hold back", and don't.

*** This references an incident early in the ''New ComicBook/TeenTitans'' comic book. Starfire, newly arrived on earth and before learning the language, is involved in the Titans' action against some apparent drug smugglers: she blasts them to pieces. Tackled to the ground by Robin, she kisses him and learns the language. The point was that she casually killed several minor villains, who providentially turned out to be robots.

* The climax of the 94' animated ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' series is a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown between Major Adam Steiner and Star Colonel Nicolai Malthus; Malthus [[CurbStompBattle curbstomps]] Steiner's mech, Steiner fakes Malthus out with an empty escape pod, then [[ColossusClimb Colossus Climbs]] Malthus's mech and sabotages it. During the ensuing replay with GoodOldFisticuffs, [[TalkingIsAFreeAction Malthus informs Steiner as to the meaning of the epithet he's been spitting for twelve episodes]]; Steiner is a "freebirth": born of a random match between individuals, where Malthus is a "truebirth": cultivated from [[DesignerBabies carefully selected genetic material]] and gestated in a [[PeopleJars controlled environment]]. Steiner's response is to name the trope with disgust. He suckers the Designer Baby into grabbing a live wire and stands there watching him fry; then [[SaveTheVillain spares him]] and claims victory.
* This was the main topic of the penultimate episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSecretSaturdays'' 2nd season when [[spoiler: it turned out that the Saturday's ArchEnemy V.V Argost was actually a cryptid in disguise. Not just any cryptid either. He was in fact the same Yeti who slaughtered Drew and Doyle's parents and made them orphans]].

* Shortly after [[ComicBook/Marvel2099 Doom 2099]] has taken over the US, he learns that Avatarr, CEO of Alchemax and one of the main {{Big Bad}}s of the 2099 universe, is in fact an alien trying to rule the world via {{Mega Corp}}s. Of course, Doom only learned this after he [[EyeScream shot the guy's eye out.]]

* Played with in ''VideoGame/{{Prototype}}'', where it's revealed that [[spoiler:the Alex Mercer you play as is just [[TomatoInTheMirror viral biomass that inhabited Mercer's corpse and thus believed itself to be him]]; the real Mercer is dead]]. So the [[spoiler:''hero'', or at least [[SociopathicHero the lesser evil]] was NotEvenHuman]].

* Happens with individuals often enough on ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' that people eventually stop being surprised by it. It plays an important part in the episode "Ted", specifically.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' ostensibly-human enemy Roach Coach was dropped from a massive height, provoking a scared response about how it;s not okay for them to kill humans, then he's revealed to be an intelligent roach manning a human robot, whom they decide to keep in a jar.

* [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed Warren T. Rat]] of ''WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTail'' is the MouseWorld variant of this. [[spoiler: He''s not even a slightly-iffy rat, but an AlwaysChaoticEvil [[CatsAreMean cat]].]]
** [[spoiler:Though cats are not quite ''always'' ChaoticEvil in this series, and also he doesn't get killed.]]

* Quoted by [[PlayerCharacter Shepard]] in ''Franchise/MassEffect'' to Sovereign. (Full quote: "You're not even alive. Not really. You're JustAMachine and ''machines can be broken''!"). Sovereign, being [[spoiler: the vanguard of an entire species of [[EldritchAbomination MechaCthulhus]]]], is unimpressed.
** In ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', it's revealed that [[spoiler:All the Cerberus troops you fight in the game have been given Reaper implants that make them resemble [[NightOfTheLivingMooks Husks]], just to set the tone for all the {{Mook Horror Show}}s you'll be inflicting upon them in the rest of the game]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Drakengard 3}}'' puts this trope to disturbing effect in Four's DLC story. She sets out on her dragon mount Gabriella to shoot down some pirate ships, [[spoiler:only for it becoming clear that the ships are full of elves desperately trying to flee. Gabriella calls out Four on this but Four replies heerfully that they're not human so they have to be evil, and it's fine - necessary, ''laudable'' even - to kill evil people. Which she does. All this ends up serving to make it perfectly clear just how [[TautologicalTemplar twisted Four's moral code]] really is.]]

* Played with in ''VideoGame/{{Prototype}}'', where it's revealed that [[spoiler: [[TomatoInTheMirror the Alex Mercer you play as is just a pile of viral biomass that thinks it's Mercer; the real Mercer is long dead]]]]. So the [[spoiler:[[SociopathicHero hero, or at least the lesser evil]] was NotEvenHuman]].
-->[[spoiler: Alex Mercer: I'm not human. The revelation...it freed me. It killed me. I'm not human. *uneasy chuckle* Alex is just the role I play. Part of me was relieved...and part of me died. Just another disguise, right? So ingrained...so real...even I believe it.]]
** [[spoiler: Of course, this is somewhat subverted by the real Alex Mercer being an even worse monster than the Blacklight virus despite being human.]]

* In ''VideoGame/{{Wolfenstein 2009}}'', the evil General Zetta appears to have the ability to shoot magical balls of energy out of his hands and blocks bullets with his mind. Turn on your spectral vision, though, and you see he's really a giant slug monster; apparently being exposed to the Black Sun dimension turned him into a monster.

* Any doubt Heather had about killing Leonard Wolf in VideoGame/SilentHill3 is dispelled when it turns out he was not only an [[FreudianExcuse abusive father to the]] BigBad, but also a giant fish person. Of course, it is later hinted that [[spoiler:''every'' creature Heather killed was human, no matter how monstrous, and that she had only convinced herself otherwise.]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Drakengard 3}}'' puts this trope to disturbing effect in Four's DLC story. She set's out on Gabriella to shot down some pirate ships, [[spoiler:only for it becoming clear upon arriving that it's ships full of elves who are desperately trying to flee. Gabriella calls out Four on this but simply get's the answer that since they are not human then all the more reason to shoot them down, since if they are not human then they have to be evil, and it is fine to kill evil people. All this ends up serving to make it perfectly clear just how [[TautologicalTemplar twisted Four's moral code]] really is.]]

* Inversion: ''Film/TheThirteenthWarrior''. The fact that the ImAHumanitarian monstrous attackers are human prompts the hero (and by extension, the audience) to be more horrified than when we thought they were monsters. After all, people have a choice.