History Main / PunyEarthlings

[[folder:Film]]

** The most commonly seen alien races would probably be the Vulcans, Klingons, Romulans, Cardassians, and Ferengi. Of that list, Cardassians and Klingons are about as strong/tough/long-lived as humans (though Klingons have redundant organs so they're somewhat more resilient), Vulcans and Romulans are roughly thrice as strong as an equivalently-sized human and live twice as long, and the Ferengi are smaller and weaker, though that wasn't true in their first appearance.[[note]]Although they may only ''appear'' weak thanks to their general cowardice, as [[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Quark]] ''did'' break (depleted latinum suspending) gold bars ''with his bare hands.''[[/note]] Occasionally, Klingons will be stated to be stronger than humans, but this is purely an InformedAttribute and they generally get whupped in fistfights. Various other HumanAliens and RubberForeheadAliens are also consistently treated as equivalent to humans.

** In fact, the Creator/DCComics CrisisCrossover ''ComicBook/{{Invasion}}'' was precisely about this fact: The alien Dominators wanted to exploit human superbeings to conquer the universe, but had to trick other alien races into helping capture them first, on the excuse that humans are troublesome, genetic freaks.

** During the initial skirmishes of the war, Elites initially mistook the PoweredArmor of human forces for the thick natural carapace of a race of resilient InsectoidAliens. When they cracked open the armour of fallen marines, they were unimpressed by the squishy, slight creatures inside and made comparisons of humans to intestinal parasites. [[FantasticSlur The Sanghieli translation for parasite, "nishum", stuck]].

* The basic premise of the [[https://theyaresmol.com/ Smolverse]] is that humanity is the smallest, weakest species around, with the corollary that every other species views us as [[CutenessProximity incredibly adorable]]. After an accidental invasion by one of the galactic powers, Earth is more-or-less cut off from alien visitation, making direct human-alien interaction rare; most of the stories involve a [[TokenHuman token human]] being placed on an alien ship, with the crew having to consciously restrain themselves from [[AndCallHimGeorge inadvertently harming]] the human.

** It is also worth noting that the few humans who fight alongside the Saiyans (Tien, Krillin, Yamcha, Master Roshi and even Chiaotzu) are some of the strongest fighters in the universe, magnitudes more powerful than the old Saiyans or Frieza's Elite but unfortunately the series [[OvershadowedByAwesome focuses on the small pool of warriors that are many times stronger than even that.]] During the Saiyan invasion, ''Krillin'' oneshotted several Saibamen (each of them as strong as a standard Saiyan Warrior). During ''Resurrection F'' Roshi, Krillin and Tien are no less effective in plowing through an army of Alien warriors than their more powerful peers.

-->'''Wrex:''' Now, Shepard. What brings you here? How's the Normandy?
-->'''Shepard:''' Destroyed in a Collector surprise attack. I ended up spaced.
-->'''Wrex:''' Well, you look good. Ah, the benefits of a [[BizarreAlienBiology redundant nervous system]]!
-->'''Shepard:''' Yeah... humans don't have that.
-->'''Wrex:''' Oh. It must have been painful, then.

--> '''[[spoiler: Leviathan]]''': None have possessed the strength in [[YouCantFightFate previous Cycles]]. Your own species could be destroyed with a single thought. But ''[[TheChosenOne you]]'' are different. I have witnessed your actions in this Cycle: the [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu destruction of Sovereign]]; the [[AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs fall of the Collectors]]. The Reapers perceive [[WorthyOpponent you]] as [[TheDreaded a threat]]. And I ''must'' understand '''[[WhatTheHellAreYou why?!]]'''

--> '''Artanis:''' "Have faith, Zeratul! You speak as if you fear these humans! Was it not we who slew the dreaded Overmind?"
--> '''Zeratul:''' "That we did, young one, but we did so with the help of the humans. Do not be so quick to underestimate them."

* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague''

** And then there's Comicbook/MartianManhunter and his ComboPlatterPowers...
** And freakin' Franchise/{{Superman}}...
** But Franchise/{{Batman}} has the greatest superpower of all: [[{{Determinator}} he never gives up]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' has Starfire (and her sister Blackfire) who are super strong, can fly, can throw fireballs, learn languages by kissing and have inordinately high pain thresholds (including a tolerance for extreme temperatures). All of these powers are just... characteristics of Tamaranians, apparently.

** This trope is indeed justified and explored quite a bit; most of the stronger and more powerful species are artificial, such as Shlock himself and the uplifted [[EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys apes]] and elephants.

[[caption-width-right:350:For a superior race, they really rub it in.]]

[[caption-width-right:350:[[EvilLaugh "Hahahahahaha!"]]]]

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** In fact, the Creator/DCComics CrisisCrossover "ComicBook/{{Invasion}}" was precisely about this fact: The alien Dominators wanted to exploit human superbeings to conquer the universe, but had to trick other alien races into helping capture them first, on the excuse that humans are troublesome, genetic freaks.

* Each race in VideoGame/FTLFasterThanLight has some advantage and sometimes two, including being fireproof, immune to suffocation, able to use telepathy, repair quickly, provide power to rooms and so on. Humans have the ability to learn quicker, which only arrived with advanced edition.

* ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' features Gilgamesh, the most powerful heroic spirit in existence and the first and greatest king of history, who happens to be 2/3s God. His ego is so gigantic it might just suffocate you if you are in proximity of Gil, if he even allows you to look at him. Ultimately his pride serves as his downfall in all 3 routes, but if he was actually willing to go all out, he could take on every creature in the world´s powers combined. He is so arrogant that he rarely even wields his endless array of weapons, he SHOOTS them at you, and only wields his actual weapon Ea against worthy opponents (the ones we have seen so far are Saber, Shirou after Gil got put on the defensive, Fate/Zero´s Rider and a town´s worth of evil spirits).

* In ''Film/AlienNation'', Sam "George" Francisco strongly implied that [[RubberForeheadAliens Tenctonese]] ''penises'' were bigger than the human variety. Not to mention their [[SuperStrength great strength]], stamina, [[MadeOfIron durability]], ability to survive in environments humans can't, [[BizarreAlienBiology extra hearts]], and if they overdose on an [[FantasticDrug extraterrestrial]] [[PsychoSerum narcotic]], they [[BodyHorror transform]] into [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity murderous]], [[SuperpoweredEvilSide supercharged]] [[AxCrazy berserker]] versions of themselves. But they do have a [[WeaksauceWeakness strange weakness]] or two: [[KillItWithWater Water with high salinity burns them like sulphuric acid burns naked mole rats]] and they get [[AlienLunch stinking drunk from sour milk]].

-->'''Nyah:''' It amuses me to watch your puny efforts!

* ''Film/DevilGirlFromMars'':

* ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}''. Even the Autobots do it sometimes.
** Soundwave makes many good points on human inferiority to Transformers in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6klaUw997Qo this]] debate in case your still have any doubts.
** The ultimate result of this is that in ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'' [[spoiler:Sari, who is easily the most likeable (read:least [[TheScrappy hated]]) human, turns out to be at least partially mechanical]].
*** However, most Autobots are so freaked out by organic contamination that captain Fanzone actually managed to intimidate an informant into getting them what they needed just by threatening to drool on him.
** [[Film/TransformersFilmSeries The live-action movie verse]] on the other hand, the humans are effective fighting Transformers ''because'' they're puny; their small size allows them to hide in cover and pop up to fire a few Sabot rounds at a Decepticon.
** It's possible that the Autobots, Optimus Prime in particular, like and protect humanity because they're so small and weak.

* ''Webcomic/{{Outsider}}'': Because humans only became spacefaring in very recent times -- the setting's major species were already in space during Earth's medieval period -- humans lag far behind everyone else in everything, from their highly outdated armed forces and technology to simply lacking the other cultures' sheer numbers.

* The Nemesite Empire in ''Webcomic/TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob'' has legally owned Earth for eons. They consider humans part of the local wildlife (because humans don't have interstellar space travel yet) and have designated Earth as a nature preserve. While Voluptua clearly [[IntriguedByHumanity rather likes humans,]] she's never above [[YourLittleDismissiveDiminutive patronizing humans a little.]]
* Lampshaded in ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'', when Schlock's unit is trying to come up with a way to use Schlock's various powers NighInvulnerability, [[BlobMonster reforming if destroyed]], [[VoluntaryShapeShifting shape-shifting]], and a couple of other things) to get past a military checkpoint. Schlock complains "Why does it have to be MY powers? To me, YOU guys are the aliens. Can't you use your 'Special human powers' to get us past it?"
** And the only reason he has unusual abilities is that Carbosilicate Amorphs are descended from swarms of {{Nanomachines}}. The other naturally-evolved species have little or no physical advantage over humans, or if they do, it's minor, roughly [[CompetitiveBalance balanced]], and treated realistically (i.e. a four-armed alien who can only see in one direction ain't gonna [[MultiArmedAndDangerous aim weapons everywhich way at once]]).

* The ComicBook/{{Legion of Super-Heroes}} had multitudes of HumanAliens, each race with a specific power, but later {{Retcon}} and ContinuityReboot gave them a MetaOrigin as PhlebotinumRebel TransplantedHumans. Subverted by the one BadassNormal Earthling on the team, Karate Kid, who can trounce more powerful beings using martial arts and knowledge of pressure points.

* Similarly to the ComicBook/{{Legion Of Super-Heroes}}, on ''Series/{{Smallville}}'', every single [[HumanAliens familiar-looking]] alien race shown had ''some'' kind of superpowers, and most are also much stronger and tougher than humans.

* ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' had an interesting variation - though the aliens were far more advanced, it seemed to have only been because of a head start. The Andalites took three times as long as humans to go from heavier-than-air flight to landing on the moon. (One wonders what things would've been like a few decades after the end of the series, considering that by then, humanity's first faster-than-light spacecraft was under construction.) Another thing that scared the wits out of some aliens was sheer numbers. ("You mean five ''million'', Sub-Visser?")
** Speaking of the Andalites, they have insanly weak arms so much that one is ''shocked'' that a human child can ''throw a rock''
** Indeed, of all the major alien species in ''Animorphs'', only the Ellimist has any claim to being ''entirely'' superior to humanity: Yeerks are useless without a host; Gedds are barely sentient, weak and clumsy; Hork-Bajir aren't terribly bright on average (seers being the exception) and appear to age faster (though they're no joke in physical matters); and Taxxons can't control their own hunger.

In comics, nearly every alien is outright [[StockSuperpowers superpowered]]. Of course, almost all major characters in mainstream comics are {{super|Hero}}, so that's not so illustrative.

* Chatoyance's interpretation of the ponies from her ''[[Fanfic/TheConversionBureau Conversion Bureau]]'' has them with StockSuperpowers (Earth ponies get SuperStrength, pegasi get flight and unicorns get magic), a [[WeAreAsMayflies lifespan of centuries]], [[MadeOfIron extremely durable bodies]], {{reincarnation}} and a "CantArgueWithElves" attitude.

This makes sense in the case of aliens landing on Earth; you have to be pretty self-assured in your own abilities to risk landing on a rock dominated by near-hairless apes with nuclear weapons and [[HumansAreWarriors a history of murdering each other for any number of reasons]]. One would assume that a weaker alien - at least one without massively compensatory technology - would just keep right on flying, and go land on a planet full of [[Franchise/TheSmurfs Smurfs]].

Even in SpaceOpera, where humans do most of the landing, it's rare to encounter a species that is inferior to humanity in all ways; the CargoCult are usually not advanced technologically or mentally, but they may very well be stronger and tougher than their [[GodGuise so-called god.]]