History Main / AlienInvasion

* The ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998'' episode "Beat Your Greens" featured the Broccoloids, alien invaders who happen to be broccoli. [[spoiler: The Girls and the kids of Townsville unite to stop the Broccoloids... by EATING them.]]

-->-- '''The Artilleryman''', ''[[Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds1898 The War of the Worlds (1898)]]''

This trope, in its modern form, was created by Creator/HGWells's novel ''[[Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds1898 The War of the Worlds]]''. It was actually a variation on another theme popular at the time, the "[[DayOfTheJackboot invasion story]]", where another country's army, usually France or Germany (depending on [[RippedFromTheHeadlines who relations were worse with at the time]]), would try to conquer Britain. Xenophobia would often play up the foreigness of said foreign empires with the aliens in ''The War of the Worlds'' themselves being an allegory for imperialist powers invading and exploting supposedly "inferior people", the narrator noting that the [[NotSoDifferentRemark Martian invasion wasn't so different from what Britain was doing around the world itself]]. [[DistancedFromCurrentEvents Then]] UsefulNotes/WorldWarI [[HarsherInHindsight happened.]] Today, similar themes are found in techno-thrillers, and crop up in works like ''[[Film/RedDawn1984 Red Dawn]]'' and ''Literature/TheTomorrowSeries'', where similar feelings of dread at being dominated by a foreign and advanced enemy proliferate.

* ''Animation/WarOfTheWorldsGoliath'' is a sequel to ''Literature/WarOfTheWorlds'' and has both the original invasion (as seen in the opening) and the one the movie focuses on.

* ''Film/SpacedInvaders'' is a comedy about a crew of inept Martians who intercept a rebroadcast of Creator/OrsonWelles's ''Radio/TheWarOfTheWorlds'' radio drama and assume their fleet is attacking Earth (in fact, their fleet is in the process of being obliterated by their enemy the Arcturians). They crash-land in a small American town and begin their "invasion".

* Creator/OrsonWelles' famous dramatization of ''Radio/TheWarOfTheWorlds'' as a 1938 HalloweenEpisode of ''Radio/TheMercuryTheatreOnTheAir'', which changed the setting to contemporary New Jersey and incorporated a PhonyNewscast for the first portion of the story.

* ''VideoGame/{{Achron}}'': The game starts immediately after the greatest space fleet humanity has ever assembled has been all but completely destroyed by the alien invaders. They did this despite actually being outnumbered and outgunned by the human forces. It turns out that TimeTravel actually gives you a hell of an advantage.

* ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'': Takes place in the aftermath of an extra dimensional alien invasion, which was hard-won and remnants of the Rikti forces still infest the world. [[spoiler: And of course, it turns out that the Rikti are mutated humans. BUT, that leads into another possible future invasion by different aliens.]] The Rikti's weakness? ''Magic''. The Shiva in Bloody Bay are the remains of a [[PlanetEater planet-devouring entity]] that was destroyed in deep space but is now trying to rebuild itself by conquering Earth for its resources.

* ''VideoGame/CoffeeCrisis'' have the players assuming the role of two nerdy baristas who found themselves in the center of an alien invasion plot, and must stop the aliens from conquering earth for humanity's rock music, wi-fi, and ''coffee''.

* ''VideoGame/MetalSlug 2'': The Mars People arrive ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds'' style aliens who attack using flying saucers. When they're driven off, one of them impersonates Morden and tries to use the Rebellion Army as a weapon in ''Metal Slug 3''. Once that's uncovered, the heroes attack their mothership and destroy their leader, Rootmars. Properly chastised, the Mars People become a bit more peaceful, and serve as allies in the sixth game to fight an invasion from BeneathTheEarth that considers them snack food.

* One of the main threats for the mankind and player in ''VideoGame/DieReiseInsAll'' is one from martians. [[spoiler: No big surprise, if you know [[Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds is what it is influenced by]].]]
* [[spoiler:The Pigmen's invasion of the hometown]] in ''VideoGame/TheReturn'' is reminiscent of this.
* In the ''TabletopGame/{{Monopoly}}'' based video game ''[[VideoGame/{{Richman}} Richman 4]]'', there's a News (which functions like Chance spots) about an alien invasion that destroys random properties in the process.
* In ''VideoGame/SaintsRowIV'', the plot revolves around the Zin invading Earth, and it's up to the Saints to kill them and save Steelport and Earth altogether.
* ''VideoGame/TheSimpsonsBartVsTheSpaceMutants'': The premise of the game is Bart trying to thwart an alien invasion.

* In his opening paragraph to ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds'', Creator/HGWells cited the British treatment of the Aborigines of Tasmania as morally akin to the Martians' invasion. Raphael Lemkin, coiner of the term "genocide", cited the extermination of the Tasmanians as an example of the concept. Thanks in large part to a deliberate campaign of extermination, which included bounties for dead children, between 1820 and 1840, the native population of Tasmania fell from about 1500 to just 47.

-->-- '''The Artilleryman''', ''[[Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds1898 The War of the Worlds]]'' (1898)

* ''VideoGame/AlgeBlaster3'' features an alien-on-alien example, with the friendly planet Quadratica getting invaded by the evil Red Nasties. You plays as the Quadraticans.

* ''VideoGame/PortalRunner'': In the last few stages of the game, the Martians usurp Bridgette as the villain and start attacking the other worlds.

* ''VideoGame/SpaceInvaders'', of course. The Invaders use the all-out attack approach. [[FridgeLogic And they always win.]]

* ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds1898'': The {{Trope Maker|s}}. One of the most iconic depictions of an alien invasion in fiction, as well as one of the earliest sci-fi novels. The story follows an unnamed narrator as he attempts to survive a military invasion of the Earth by Mars, who proceed to decimate much of South East England with their fighting machines. Would eventually go on to spawn a multimedia franchise, including several film adaptations and unofficial sequels, a radio drama, videogames and a musical.

* ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds1898'': The {{Trope Maker|s}}. One of the most iconic depictions of an alien invasion in fiction, as well as one of the earliest sci-fi novels. The story follows an unnamed narrator trying to survive during a military invasion of Earth by Mars. The Martians are attempting to colonise the planet, and proceed to decimate much of South East England with their Tripod fighting machines and convert it into a more suitable environment for them. Would eventually go on to spawn a multimedia franchise, including several film adaptations and unofficial sequels, a radio drama, videogames and a musical.

* ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds1898'': The {{Trope Maker|s}}. One of the most iconic examples of an alien invasion in fiction, as well as one of the earliest sci-fi novels. The story follows an unnamed narrator trying to survive during a military invasion of Earth by Mars. The Martians are attempting to colonise the planet, and proceed to decimate much of South East England with their Tripod fighting machines and convert it into a more suitable environment for them. Would eventually go on to spawn a multimedia franchise, including several film adaptations and unofficial sequels, a radio drama, videogames and a musical.

* ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds1898'': The {{Trope Maker|s}}. One of the most iconic examples of an alien invasion in fiction, as well as one of the earliest sci-fi novels. The story follows an unnamed narrator trying to survive during a military invasion of Earth by Mars. The Martians are attempting to colonise the planet, and proceed to decimate much of South East England with their Tripod fighting machines and convert it into a more suitable environment for them. Would go on to spawn a multimedia franchise, including several film adaptations.

* ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds1898'': The {{Trope Maker|s}} and one of the earliest sci-fi novels. The alien tripods attack earth in a military invasion.

* ''Film/NoOneWillSaveYou'' follows a young outcast named Brynn as she attempts to survive an invasion of her home town by a race of grey aliens. The film is notable for having almost no spoken dialogue, with only five words being spoken during its 93 minute runtime.