History Main / GodGuise

* ''Literature/{{Ringworld}}'' by Creator/LarryNiven:

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'' episode, "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E93TheLittlePeople The Little People]]". Two astronauts repairing their ship on an alien world find a civilization of people the size of ants. One of them, Peter Craig, decides ''he'' is meant to be their god, to the point of forcing these tiny people to build a Terran life-sized statue of him. His partner, William Fletcher, is disgusted, and eventually leaves without him when Craig refuses to go; Craig points out there's no room for two gods. [[spoiler:Then bigger aliens land to fix ''their'' ship.]]

* In the ''Manga/GunslingerGirl'' fanfic ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/13853493 Ghosts]]'', Triela does some AccidentalTimeTravel to UsefulNotes/WorldWarI and is seen by a soldier whom she draws her pistol on; his only response is to stumble away in disbelief. Later journalists ''made much of the claim that an angel had been seen on the mountainside--a young maiden with beautiful hair wielding a sword, calling for the liberation of South Tyrol from the Hapsburg oppressor.''

* The short story [[https://web.archive.org/web/20110128163700/http://theopinionguy.com/OG25.pdf "Assumption" (scroll down)]] by Desmond Warzel features a ''literal'' CargoCult (in that they worship an actual piece of cargo), but eventually becomes more like this trope -- a person becomes an object of religious awe because of her advanced technology (she descends from the sky).

* The Hawaiian tribespeople in ''[[WesternAnimation/GarfieldSpecials Garfield in Paradise]]''. They worship a [[HellBentForLeather greaser]] who [[HeroicSacrifice drove his Chevy into an erupting volcano]] in the 1950s, in order to prevent it from destroying the tribe's village. Their ritual chant even sounds a lot like a doo-wop song.

* The Archai originally suffered from being inadvertently treated as gods by modosophonts, in ''WebOriginal/OrionsArm'', as a result of their attainment of {{Sufficiently Advanced|Alien}} technology after having crossed several [[TheSingularity singularities]]. For a while the archai tried to convince people that they were not actually divine, but then later gave up and let the modosophs believe whatever they wanted. Thus, they're now often referred to as "[=AI=] Gods".

* An unusual variant appears in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/DinoBoyInTheLostValley''; in the episode "The Fire God", the Sabertooth People use the titular Fire God to intimidate the local cave people into surrendering to them and becoming their slave miners, but said Fire God is just an armored wagon made up to look like a dragon, with its interior containing a pushcart (for motive force), a hollowed out mammoth tusk used as a wind instrument (for "roaring"), and a bellow-and-brazier apparatus (to simulate a fiery breath). Weirdly, despite the fact that the slaves it rounds up are carried off ''inside'' the Fire God, they never seem to realize it's a fake. Furthermore, even the Sabertooth People themselves don't seem to be in on the trick, [[ScamReligion except for the high priest]]. In the end, Dino Boy and Ugh destroy the Fire God, ending its reign of terror.

** It's later revealed that two other elves, Yolde and Haira, are also worshiped as goddesses at other shrines after being summoned to Japan centuries ago (by UsefulNotes/ToyotomiHideyoshi and Maeda Toshiie, respectively). Like Elda, they don't do anything to correct people's assumptions that they're deities.

* ''TheOrville'' Two crewmembers are taken hostage on a world whose [[FantasticCasteSystem religion and social structure]] revolves around astrology, as their birthdays fall within a cycle associated with violence and criminality. The Orville crew devise a plan to create a false star with a solar sail that will alter their astrological charts and give a "blessing" to the given cycle.

** One episode has Katara disguising herself as a local deity, The Painted Lady, so she can heal sick villagers without them knowing she's a waterbender. Though she's eventually exposed, the villagers ultimately forgive her.

** Elda is worshiped as a goddess at Takamimi Shrine, but she's really an elf who was summoned from another world to Japan 400 years ago by UsefulNotes/YokugawaIeyasu and has since become an {{otaku}} shut-in. The only abilities she actually has are {{telepathy}} and [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld being very long-lived]]. Despite this, she's still very well-regarded in the neighborhood since she gives people a sense of comforting stability due to her ageless, unchanging nature and the fact that she remembers everyone who's ever lived in the area.

** Elda is worshiped as a goddess at Takamimi Shrine, but she's really an elf who was summoned from another world to Japan 400 years ago and has since become an {{otaku}} shut-in. The only abilities she actually has are {{telepathy}} and [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld being very long-lived]]. Despite this, she's still very well-regarded in the neighborhood since she gives people a sense of comforting stability due to her ageless, unchanging nature and the fact that she remembers everyone who's ever lived in the area.

* Elda from ''Manga/OtakuElf'' is worshiped as a goddess at Takamimi Shrine, but she's really an elf who was summoned from another world to Japan 400 years ago and has since become an {{otaku}} shut-in. The only abilities she actually has are {{telepathy}} and [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld being very long-lived]]. Despite this, she's still very well-regarded in the neighborhood since her ageless nature gives people a sense of comforting stability.

* At the end of ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'', the resident [[TheChewToy Chew Toy]] Waspinator is shown being worshiped as a God by the protohumans.
** Even earlier in the Franchise/{{Transformers}} mythos, the G1 second-season episode 'The God Gambit' has a tribe of RubberForeheadAliens on the moon Titan [[CargoCult worshiping a statue]] that looked vaguely Transformer-like, before actual Transformers crash-landed there and made Astrotrain their new god.
* An unusual variant appears in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/DinoBoyInTheLostValley''; in the episode "The Fire God", the Sabertooth People use the titular Fire God to intimidate the local cave people into surrendering to them and becoming their slave miners, but said Fire God is just an armored wagon made up to look like a dragon, with its interior containing a pushcart (for motive force), a hollowed out mammoth tusk used as a wind instrument (for "roaring"), and a bellow-and-brazier apparatus (to simulate a fiery breath). Weirdly, despite the fact that the slaves it rounds up are carried off ''inside'' the Fire God, they never seem to realize it's a fake. Furthermore, even the Sabertooth People themselves don't seem to be in on the trick, [[ShamReligion except for the high priest]]. In the end, Dino Boy and Ugh destroy the Fire God, ending its reign of terror.

** In the episode "Godfellas", Bender ends up drifting in space, where he becomes God to the Shrimpkins, a race of miniature people who end up settling on his body. [[spoiler: His bad advice results in the Shrimpkins wiping themselves out through a nuclear holocaust.]]
** In "A Tale of Two Santas", Bender gets mistaken for Robot Santa and wrongfully imprisoned, so Fry and Leela [[IAmSpartacus try to save him by also dressing up as Robot Santa]]. Zoidberg, ComicallyMissingThePoint, joins in by dressing up as "Santa's best friend, UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}}!" Amusingly, the jailer doesn't fall for Fry or Leela's disguises for a second, but he immediately believes that Zoidberg is actually Jesus.

* There's an episode of ''WesternAnimation/JosieAndThePussycats'' [[JustForFun/RecycledInSpace In Space]] where Melody is mistaken for a God.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited'' episode "The Balance", Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl face off against demons while searching for Felix Faust. The demons notice that Hawkgirl has wings and back off. Hawkgirl [[LargeHam milks this development for all it's worth]]:
-->'''Hawkgirl:''' That's right! I'm an angel! You can mess with me if you want to but I don't think you want to mess with the boss! ''[Hawkgirl points upward, the demons disperse and Hawkgirl rejoins Wonder Woman]'' If we're lucky they'll all be that dumb.

** In the episode "The Two Mrs. Nahasapeemapetilons" Apu is dreading his ArrangedMarriage and tries to get out of it. When he is resigned to go through with it, he remarks that only the gods could stop it now. Homer hatches a ZanyScheme and tries to put a stop to the wedding by dressing as Ganesha. No one is fooled (indeed, anyone with a passing familiarity with Myth/HinduMythology would know he got the characterisation all wrong). As an angry guest put it: "You are not Ganesh! Ganesh is ''graceful''!"
** In another episode, Bart plays with his Mr. Microphone by telling Rod and Todd next door (who were listening to the radio) that he's God, and tells Rod to walk through a wall which he will make vanish. When Rod walks into the wall, Bart says he will make it vanish later.
** Lisa, in the ''WesternAnimation/TreehouseOfHorror'' segment "The Genesis Tub". An accident with her science fair project creates a race of miniature people, who think she is God for stopping Bart destroying them.
** A later ''Treehouse of Horror'' episode had Homer convince Ned that he is the voice of god and instructs Ned to murder anyone he dislikes. Ned does not appreciate it when he learns the truth.
** {{Subverted|trope}} in Season 17's "Kiss Kiss Bang Bangalore," the episode where Mr. Burns outsources the nuclear plant to India and Homer acts like a god. The Indians are well aware he's just a man, but they still worship him because he tells them about such secrets as 'overtime' and 'holidays'.
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', [[JerkAss Cartman]] creates a civilization of "sea people" in his aquarium. When their culture reaches the Classical Age, he discovers that they know of his existence and are worshiping him as a God. Later, the "sea people" on the other side of the aquarium start worshiping Tweek. In the end, they suicide-bomb each other, followed by a nuclear exchange that destroys the aquarium.

** Episode "The Infinite Vulcan". The Phylosians are very reverent toward Keniclius 5, despite his predecessor having caused all their problems in the first place.
** Episode "How Sharper Than A Serpent's Tooth". In the BackStory, an alien named Kukulkan was considered a god by the ancient Mayans.

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Teen Titans|2003}}'', Raven crash-lands on a planet inhabited by tiny aliens, and is worshiped as a God simply for being more than three inches tall.
* ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'': WordOfGod confirms this happens to Heather when they go to the Amazon.
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Wakfu}}'' Yugo tapping into the power of the Eliatrope Dofuses in the OVA screws up time, allowing some humans in the ''Dofus'' era to see him. These people understandably believe the incredibly powerful being manipulating space and time before their eyes is some previously unknown god-king and begin to worship him. Due to the way souls and races work in the setting, this retroactively introduces a new race to the World of Twelve, the Eliotropes. This new race wields powers similar to the Eliatropes and worship Yugo as their god. Yugo meanwhile is blissfully unaware that he has worshipers.

* ''Film/HoneyWeShrunkOurselves'': Gordon, at three-quarters of an inch tall, rigs up the stereo to become a loudspeaker and chews out the {{Hormone Addled Teenager}}s [[OverprotectiveDad hitting on his daughter]], telling them "This is the voice of... GOD.", scaring them out of the house.

* ''Literature/HowNotToSummonADemonLord'': Lumachina Weselia is being attacked, so she prays to God to save her. By coincidence, Diablo shows up and makes quick work of her attackers. She believes that Diablo is God and answered her prayers. He is appalled (he's an egotistical demon lord, but he never claimed to be a deity) and attempts to correct her, but nothing can convince her that he isn't God.
* ''Literature/ImTheEvilLordOfAnIntergalacticEmpire'': In the WebSerialNovel version of the story, a primitive world Liam impresses by being a OneManArmy after [[SummonEverymanHero having been summoned there by a ritual]], ends up deciding to start a new religion. Not based on him, but based on his RobotMaid Amagi, because such a powerful man as Liam was so deferential to her. And thus, the official priestly garb of the new religion is a [[{{Meido}} maid outfit.]]

* ''Literature/ThatTimeIGotReincarnatedAsASlime'': The God Luminous of the Western Saints Church worshipped throughout the western human nations [[spoiler:is actually the [[MaouTheDemonKing True Demon Lord]] [[VampireMonarch Luminous Valentine]], who founded the Church with the intent of creating a stable, safe, and happy populace of humans whom the vampire race could feed off of from the shadows without fear of their food supply getting wiped out by some monster rampage. While she came up with the basic idea, it was her vampire subordinates and human co-conspirators that ironed out the various specifics and structure the Church would use as doctrine.]] This knowledge is only known to the highest members of the Church and the Holy Empire of Ruberios, [[spoiler:Luminous's fellow True Demon Lords, and later still to the highest authorities of Tempest and Church paladins]], who have all agreed to keep this a secret for their own reasons, mainly that Luminous ''is'' benevolent (if selfishly so). Part of the reason the ruse worked for so long, in addition to the supposed god's incredible power and the actions of said god's servants both openly and covert, is due to the fact invoking Luminous' name [[HolyHandGrenade is a potent source of Holy Magic that itself is incredibly effective against monsters]], which many (humans ''and'' monsters) do not realize is because monsters are naturally more vulnerable to Holy Magic's effects due to being MadeOfMagic and that [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve you only "need" faith in a powerful being to cast it]] while said source doesn't necessarily need to be divine.

*** In the episode "[[Recap/StarTrekS3E3TheParadiseSyndrome The Paradise Syndrome]]", an amnesiac Kirk is mistaken for a deity by transplanted American Indians on a distant planet.

-->'''Mitch:''' And from now on, [[ADateWithRosiePalms stop playing with yourself]].\\

* ''LightNovel/HowNotToSummonADemonLord'': Lumachina Weselia is being attacked, so she prays to God to save her. By coincidence, Diablo shows up and makes quick work of her attackers. She believes that Diablo is God and answered her prayers. He is appalled (he's an egotistical demon lord, but he never claimed to be a deity) and attempts to correct her, but nothing can convince her that he isn't God.

* ''LightNovel/ThatTimeIGotReincarnatedAsASlime'': The God Luminous of the Western Saints Church worshipped throughout the western human nations [[spoiler:is actually the [[MaouTheDemonKing True Demon Lord]] [[VampireMonarch Luminous Valentine]], who founded the Church with the intent of creating a stable, safe, and happy populace of humans whom the vampire race could feed off of from the shadows without fear of their food supply getting wiped out by some monster rampage. While she came up with the basic idea, it was her vampire subordinates and human co-conspirators that ironed out the various specifics and structure the Church would use as doctrine.]] This knowledge is only known to the highest members of the Church and the Holy Empire of Ruberios, [[spoiler:Luminous's fellow True Demon Lords, and later still to the highest authorities of Tempest and Church paladins]], who have all agreed to keep this a secret for their own reasons, mainly that Luminous ''is'' benevolent (if selfishly so). Part of the reason the ruse worked for so long, in addition to the supposed god's incredible power and the actions of said god's servants both openly and covert, is due to the fact invoking Luminous' name [[HolyHandGrenade is a potent source of Holy Magic that itself is incredibly effective against monsters]], which many (humans ''and'' monsters) do not realize is because monsters are naturally more vulnerable to Holy Magic's effects due to being MadeOfMagic and that [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve you only "need" faith in a powerful being to cast it]] while said source doesn't necessarily need to be divine.

* In the ''Series/{{Angel}}'' episode "Over the Rainbow", Cordelia is made a goddess by the people of Pylea, as the result of her visions. Unfortunately, the power behind the throne is a ReligionOfEvil; when she tries to assert her authority, it's quickly demonstrated to Cordelia that she's actually a PuppetKing.

** In "Games", the VillainOfTheWeek relates how he convinced the locals to mine their {{Power Crystal}}s for him. Knowing of a local legend where the gods struck down someone with a BoltOfDivineRetribution, he claimed the gods had sent him to collect their crystals, then gunned down the priests who objected with a remote-controlled laser rifle.
** In "Deliverance", the descendants of an AfterTheEnd society await a god from the skies with the knowledge to launch the [[TheArk rocket with genetic bank]] to [[FlingALightIntoTheFuture start their race on another world]]. Avon is [[AwesomeEgo entirely willing to take on the role]].

* In the ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' episode "Jeremiah Crichton", John Crichton gets marooned on a planet which turns out to have religious iconography drawn from contact with the Rygel's race, the Hynerians. Surprisingly for the usually shallow ex-monarch, while Rygel ''expects'' to be treated like royalty, he is actually profoundly offended that his ancestors would allow themselves to be taken for ''divinity''. He's even more shocked when he discovers that the ancient Hynerians actually intended this: the natives of the planet were the loyal subjects of one of Rygel's ancestors, marooned on the planet with no way of escaping, advancing technologically, or even contacting other cultures -- [[MoralEventHorizon all so they could act as eternal worshippers of the Hynerian empire.]]

* ''Series/{{Leverage}}'': In "The Miracle Job", Parker gets mistaken for an angel while she is stealing a statue of Saint Nicholas (ItMakesSenseInContext).

* Subverted by ''Series/RedDwarf'': Through a twist of fate, Rimmer ends up on a world where, somehow, he spawns a new civilization from clones of himself and installs himself as their God-leader. He defines perfection in looking and acting exactly as he does (being a sniveling coward, for example). His followers are so fanatical, however, that he himself is deposed for being "imperfect" and gets thrown in a dungeon.

** In the Season 10 episode "Harvest", a village of murderous religious fanatics have this reaction when a depowered Clark Kent survives being stabbed and set on fire (he was depowered by exposure to blue kryptonite, but his powers came back, allowing him to heal).
* ''Series/Space1999''. In "Mission of the Darians", a GenerationShip suffered a radiation overload, and only fourteen crewmembers survived uncontaminated while the others eventually formed a primitive society that forgot its origins. The former use the primitives as [[OrganTheft raw]] [[ImAHumanitarian material]] by convincing them they are spirits, appearing in silver spacesuits to take human sacrifices. Carter demonstrates otherwise by [[DramaticUnmask twisting the helmet off]] one of them.

** ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries''.
*** In the episode "The Paradise Syndrome", an amnesiac Kirk is mistaken for a deity by transplanted American Indians on a distant planet.
*** In "Who Mourns for Adonais", an actual surviving [[PhysicalGod Greek God]] reveals he's just a powerful alien who had become too used to being worshiped by mortals.
*** In "The Omega Glory", Spock is mistaken for the Devil due to his resemblance to a picture of {{Satan}} in a book. That and [[BizarreAlienBiology his ability to survive a gunshot to the chest.]]
---->'''Dr. [=McCoy=]''': "Once, just once, I'd like to be able to land someplace and say, 'Behold! I am the archangel Gabriel!'" ''(He points out ''Spock'' could never claim to be Gabriel.)'' "But say you landed someplace with a pitchfork... "

*** "Who Watches The Watchers?" features a specific discussion of this trope: that is, how do you talk a race out of this without destroying them? At the climax Picard is only able to convince them that he is not a God by daring the religious zealot to shoot him with the bow and arrow he was threatening someone else with. [[spoiler: He takes the shot and is shocked to see Picard lying on the ground and bleeding.]] This only really works because this species tends to adopt mostly rational ideas. They voluntarily gave up religion in favor of pragmatism even before reaching their equivalent of the UsefulNotes/IndustrialRevolution.
*** The episode "Devil's Due" had the crew tangling with an alien con-woman who took advantage of a civilization's legend of a past DealWithTheDevil to pose as said "devil" (she claims to be several others as well, including Satan) and thus literally claim ownership to the entire planet.
*** "Tapestry" begins with Picard on the brink of death after an energy blast stops his artificial heart. He finds himself [[GoIntoTheLight in a white void]] facing a robed figure who turns out to be Q, who tells him, "You're dead. This is the afterlife, and I'm God." Picard rejects the statement in a tone that suggests he finds it both outrageous and ridiculous.

*** In "False Profits", a couple of Ferengi are mistaken for Gods thanks to their magical replicator.
*** The far better "Muse" has B'Elanna crashing on a planet and being mistaken for an 'eternal' (a powerful being of legend) by a local poet, who uses her logs to write a [[FanFiction play]]. There's a certain amount of give-and-take (the poet needs inspiration for his play which he hopes will turn his fickle warlord patron away from war; B'Elanna needs help repairing her shuttle) before the two gain a mutual respect, with B'Elanna even providing a literal DeusExMachina at the end.

* ''Series/{{Supergirl|2015}}'': In "The Faithful", Thomas Coville was an Average Joe with a shitty life until one day when he was rescued by Supergirl. After studying several Kryptonian artifacts and documents, he concludes that the Kryptonian god Rao is the TopGod and that beings like Superman and Supergirl are members of his pantheon. He starts a cult that regularly worships and prays to Supergirl. The cult takes things too far by setting up disasters like fires and bombings so that Supergirl can save the day and the survivors will have been "baptized" by Supergirl and be recruited. Supergirl puts an end to it by cutting her palm with a metal shard after being exposed to kryptonite. Thomas' followers leave once they see Supergirl is just as mortal as them. Despite being arrested, Thomas continues to believe in and worship Supergirl. In "Reign", Thomas calls Supergirl from prison and warns her of the arrival of Reign, the Worldkiller, whom he believes is the Devil. [[spoiler:In "Legion of Super Heroes", Thomas loses faith in Supergirl due to her losing a fight to Reign and decides to worship Reign instead. She frees him from prison and he becomes her servant.]]

* Nobby of ''WesternAnimation/DoctorSnuggles'' used super powers to impersonate an Egyptian god.

** BonusBoss Nemnok is worshiped by a cult who are unaware that [[spoiler:he is actually an imp who has increased his power and knowledge by consuming magical grimoires]].