History Main / HumanAllAlong

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': Leela claims to be an alien cyclops woman who has been trying for years to find her home planet. But she's wrong. She is actually a mutant born from mutated human sewer dwellers on Earth, who gave her up and attached an adoption letter written in alien language as a way to give her a better life.

* The second season of ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' reveals that [[spoiler:[[Characters/TheOwlHouseEmperorBelos Emperor Belos]], a powerful witch who rules over the Boiling Isles with an iron fist, is actually Philip Wittebane, a human WitchHunter from 17th-century Earth. Subverted with The Golden Guard/Hunter, as he's more or less of an ArtificialHuman who was modeled after Philip's brother to resemble a typical witch]].
* With the occasional exception, pretty much every last ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo'' villain is actually a human criminal [[ScoobyDooHoax pretending to be a monster or supernatural creature]]. And they would've gotten away with it too, if it wasn't for {{you meddling kids}}.

** T9581 from "Dragon's Brew" is revealed at the end to be a former marine, who [[BigBad Agent Bishop]] turned into a monster as part of his experiments.
* Dr. Victor Falco of ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012'' says that his partner, with whom he was experimenting with mutagen and psychic powers on a chimpanzee, was captured by the Kraang. But he's lying: Falco actually forcibly experimented ''on his partner'' and mutated his partner ''into'' said chimpanzee. The poor guy took a couple of seasons to get his intelligence back, and still looks like a chimp.

* The second season of ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' reveals that [[spoiler:[[BigBad Emperor Belos]], a powerful witch who rules over the Boiling Isles with an iron fist, is actually Philip Wittebane, a human WitchHunter from 17th-century Earth. Subverted with The Golden Guard/Hunter, as he's more or less of an ArtificialHuman who was modeled after Philip's brother to resemble a typical witch]].

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'''WARNING! {{Spoiler}}s ahead!'''

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZone1959S2E15TheInvaders The Invaders]]", a woman is getting unpleasant visits from tiny alien invaders. But those people turn out to actually be human beings from Earth: the woman's world is the alien planet and she is a humanoid alien giant.

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS2E51TheInvaders The Invaders]]", a woman is getting unpleasant visits from tiny alien invaders. But those people turn out to actually be human beings from Earth: the woman's world is the alien planet and she is a humanoid alien giant.

* In the film version of ''Literature/TheThirteenthWarrior'', the protagonist gain some courage in battle when he discovers that the Vikings' monstrous foes the Wendol are just men dressed up in bearskins. Later in the film, he and the rest of the band stumble upon a cave filled with the skulls of the Wendols' many [[ImAHumanitarian victims]]. He says he was wrong earlier, and claims that the Wendols are not men.

* Near the end of the final season of ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'', it's discovered that [[spoiler:the original Mewman settlers where actually humans that came to Mewni from Earth, travelling through the Realm of Magic. Since the Realm of Magic causes amnesia, they forgot their origins, and when Glossaryck came to them and gave the MagicWand to the woman who would become the first queen of the Butterfly dynasty, he called them Mewmans]].

** T9581 from "Dragon's Brew" is revealed at the end to be a former marine, who [[BigBad Ancient Bishop]] turned into a monster as part of his experiments.

** The green creature that plays a prominent role in a BreatherEpisode from season 1 later turns out to be a human, mutated by AncientAliens known as the Y'Lyntians.

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These are cases where a strange or fantastic creature eventually turns out to actually be a member of ''Homo sapiens'' — a human being — or a {{human subspecies}}.

'''WARNING!! {{Spoiler}}s ahead!'''

* The Jovian lizards in ''Anime/MartianSuccessorNadesico'' turned out to be humans.
* [[spoiler:The UE]] from ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamAGE'' are actually members of Vagan, a human nation formed by colonists who were abandoned by the Earth Federal Forces 150 years before the start of the series.

* In ''Manga/{{Claymore}}'', the youma turn out to be humans infested with parasites born from the flesh of the Descendants of Dragons.
* ''Anime/DoraemonNobitaAndTheAnimalPlanet'' has the gang visiting a WorldOfFunnyAnimals whose animal denizens speak of legendary demons known as the Nimuge; savage demons from another planet who terrorized their ancestors until the god of animals assists an exodus from the Nimuge's world to an uninhabited new planet several millennia ago, allowing the animals to evolve and develop. [[spoiler: The Nimuge turns out to be humans, whom had destroyed their home planet with nuclear weaponry, with the "god" spoken from the animal folk being a good human scientist that believe the animals still have a chance, thereby using his gadgets to allow a mass evacuation of animals]].
* In ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'', it turns out that the demons are all former humans who reached a DespairEventHorizon and made a DealWithTheDevil. In the apocryphal "lost chapter" of the manga, it is revealed [[spoiler: that the "devil" in question is a godlike being born of humanity's collective unconscious, so we can't even blame it on demonic interference.]]
* Yoruichi of ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'', who appeared to be a TalkingAnimal but was actually a human (soul) disguised as such.
* In ''Manga/OnePiece'', it turns out that [[spoiler:the living toys in the Dressrosa Kingdom]] were actually human before [[spoiler:the Donquixote Family transformed them.]]
* In ''Anime/GargantiaOnTheVerdurousPlanet,'' [[spoiler:the Hideauze/"whale-squids" aren't aliens, they're humans who used genetic engineering to survive the coming Ice Age, with some of them traveling into space along with the proto-Galactic Alliance]]. Whether or not this still "counts" as human is an ethical debate that the characters engage in.
* Witches from ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' are [[EldritchAbomination terrible-looking surreal beings]] who rouse death and destruction... and they are [[spoiler:the final form of [[MagicalGirl Magical Girls]]]]. [[CrapsackWorld Oh shi...]]

* [[spoiler: Takeshi Hirokawa]] from ''Manga/{{Parasyte}}'', actually turns out to be a normal human that was [[spoiler: leading the parasite colony in East Fukuyama City, using his power as mayor to help them to kill and feed undetected. He was an extreme misanthrope who believed that humans needed a predator to cut them down for the harm they'd done to the environment]].
* The [[spoiler:titular Titans]] from ''Manga/AttackOnTitan''. All were members of the [[spoiler:Eldian race]], a group of humans that possess an unique trait allowing them to [[spoiler:be transformed into a Titan.]] What makes this discovery even more horrifying are the revelations that the [[spoiler:''characters'']] are themselves [[spoiler:Eldians]] and that all the [[spoiler:Titans they've been fighting]] are poor souls that were transformed as [[AFateWorseThanDeath punishment]] by an [[spoiler:[[ANaziByAnyOtherName oppressive]] enemy nation.]]

* ''Manga/Fabricant100'': Ashibi was prepared to take down [[spoiler:Roxy]] assuming she's a Fabricant. She's only an accomplice, and Mortsafe knew about it, but wanted him to experience facing human enemies and how Fabricants treat them. Her [[spoiler:not having stitches]] is an early hint.

[[folder:Comic Book]]

[[folder:Fanfiction]]
* ''{{Fanfic/Anthropology}}'': [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Lyra]]. Princess Celestia turned her into a pony to hide her true identity, which explains her obsession with humans.
* ''Fanfic/LeftBeyond'': True of both Dwarves and Angels - both come about as a mutation upon the human genome, aided by Narrative Causality (accidentally in the first case, by Yahweh's hand in the second). By the time of the Last Battle, and in the Tripocalypse continuity, allografts are common and available enough that the furry subculture has quietly died down due to having become nothing special.

* In the ''Fanfic/PonyPOVSeries'', it's revealed the Changelings aren't a separate species, but a lost tribe of ponies descended from the Flutterponies. Even the Changelings themselves were unaware of this.

* One of the twists in ''Film/{{Pandorum}}'' is that the creepy alien mutant cannibals are descended from humans who've evolved to survive in a foodless spaceship over a thousand years. It helped that their ancestors were dosed with a treatment that caused accelerated evolution.

* [[Creator/TheAsylum The Asylum's]] ''Film/AlienVsHunter'' ends with the PredatorPastiche boarding his ship removing his helmet and revealing himself to be human. He makes a video call back to Earth, showing that he was hunting HumanAliens on another planet all along.

* In ''Literature/TheHobbit'', Gollum is described as a strange and nasty creature of undefined origins. In ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', we get to know he's in fact a hobbit whose appearance and personality were twisted by centuries of exposure to the [[ArtifactOfDoom One Ring]].

* In ''Literature/{{Pact}}'', Rose Thorburn is introduced as a vestige of Blake Thorburn, her DistaffCounterpart, a version of himself who was created artificially, lives, in mirrors, and is doomed by her nature to slow decay. It's later revealed that [[spoiler:It's Blake, not Rose, that's the vestige-he's a bogeyman loaded with FakeMemories to make him ''think'' that he's human, and Rose is the real human of the pair.]] And then it turns out that [[spoiler:neither is more 'real' than the other. Blake and Rose are the soul fragments of the real Thorburn heir who was split apart by The Barber.]]
* In ''Literature/MerlinsGun'' (a Creator/AlastairReynolds short story), the AbsoluteXenophobe fleets that swarmed out from {{Dyson Sphere}}s near the galactic core millenia ago and have since then been eradicating every human ship and colony they come across are revealed to be human, albeit heavily modified with cybernetics.
* In ''Literature/GirlWhoAreYouAlienErImAnAlien'', [[spoiler:this is inverted with the girl, who's technically the real alien by our standards. However, this is played straight with the alien, who's actually a human in a distant future where humanity has developed drastically, and can now explore space.]]
* Happens occasionally in the Literature/LandOfOz series:
** In ''Literature/RinkitinkInOz'', [[spoiler: King Rinkitink's talking goat steed is revealed to have been a ForcedTransformation victim that was previously a prince]].
** In ''Kabumpo In Oz'', [[spoiler: the [[LivingToys living doll]] Peg Amy is revealed to have been the lost princess of Sun Top Mountain, and the princess that the protagonist was supposed to marry to release his kingdom from a spell.]]
* PlayedWith in the ''Literature/{{Goosebumps}}'' book ''My Best Friend is Invisible:'' [[spoiler:The "best friend" is human. [[TomatoSurprise The other characters aren't]]]].

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': The series 3 finale ([[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E11Utopia "Utopia"]]/[[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E12TheSoundOfDrums "The Sound of Drums"]]/[[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E13LastOfTheTimeLords "Last of the Time Lords"]]) has two examples:

* In ''Series/TheLordOfTheRingsTheRingsOfPower'' is rather Elves all along. The Orcs led by Adar, are former Elves from the lost subcontinent of Beleriand, enslaved and experimented by Morgoth.

* An episode of''Series/TheTwilightZone2002'' had this as well: In one episode titled "Hunted", a group of soldiers were hunting down a monster known as the Kreetor. Turns out that the Kreetor is a human being, and the people we thought were humans are actually robots. We also initially assume that "Kreetor" is a linguistic devolution of "Creature". Turns out it was actually from the word "Creator".

* In the end of ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarII'', the creators of [[BigBad Mother Brain]] are revealed to be an alien race who were planning to conquer the planets of the Algol system. Their homeworld? [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters Earth]].

* This is the big twist behind the Shades in ''VideoGame/{{NieR}}'', though the backstory for it is rather complicated. The events of ''VideoGame/{{Drakengard}}'''s weirdest ending introduced a magical plague to Earth that forced humans to separate their souls from their bodies and store them until an army of {{Artificial Human}}s cleaned up the planet. Unfortunately these Replicants developed sentience, forgot their origins after completing their mission, and built their own civilization in the world's ruins. By the time of the game the Replicants are slowly dying out due to complications like the Black Scrawl disease, while the humans' Shades have started going insane without their bodies, with many devolving into ravening shadow monsters. There ''was'' a plan to put things right and reunite the Shades with their Replicants, but by the end of the game, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Nier kind of killed it.]]
* ''VideoGame/HauntTheHouse'': Inverted. The Pharaoh ghost in ''Terrortown'' looks like he was just as human in life as the other ghosts, but because he's initially trapped in a sarcophagus, we don't see what he looks like until he becomes a ghost... [[spoiler:until we see the family photo at the end, which reveals that he was actually a cat.]]
* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'', Link grew up among the elf-like Kokiri and was believed by himself and the Kokiri themselves to be one of them, but eventually learns that he is a member of the human Hylian race.

* With the occasional exception, pretty much every last ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDoo'' villain is actually a human criminal pretending to be a monster or supernatural creature. And they would've gotten away with it too, if it wasn't for {{you meddling kids}}.
* The protagonists of ''WesternAnimation/CodeLyoko'', including Aelita herself, spent the first two seasons thinking that she was an AI, but the end of the second season reveals that she's not only human, but the daughter of Franz Hopper, the creator of Lyoko.
* WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003 has two examples:
** The green creature that plays a prominent role in a Breather Episode from season 1 later turns out to be a human, mutated by AncientAliens known as the Y’Lyntians.
** T9581 from “Dragon’s Brew” is revealed at the end to be a former marine, who [[BigBad Ancient Bishop]] turned into a monster as part of his experiments.

* In the pilot episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Bonkers}}'', Lucky gets into a scuffle with the defeated Toon villain The Collector and pulls off one of his gloves, revealing that he has ''five fingers''. Since Toons in this series all have FourFingeredHands, this clues in everyone -- including The Collector's own unaware Toon henchmen -- that he is not a Toon. Lucky pulls off his mask, revealing that the Collector is indeed human. Disturbingly enough, the [[BelievingTheirOwnLies Collector keeps insisting he's a Toon]] afterward.
* Near the end of the final season of ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'', it's discovered that [[spoiler:the original Mewman settlers where actually humans that came to Mewni from Earth, travelling through the Realm of Magic. Since the Realm of Magic causes amnesia, they forgot their origins, and when Glossaryck came to them and gave the MagicWand to the woman who would become the first queen of the Butterfly dynasty, he called them Mewmans.]]
* The second season of ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' reveals that [[spoiler:[[BigBad Emperor Belos]], a powerful witch who rules over the Boiling Isles with an iron fist, is actually Philip Wittebane, a human WitchHunter from 17th-century Earth. Subverted with The Golden Guard[=/=]Hunter, as he's more or less of an ArtificialHuman who was modeled after Philip's brother to resemble a typical witch.]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/OverTheGardenWall,'' Beatrice only reveals halfway through the series that she's a human [[ForcedTransformation transformed into a bluebird]], and that the reason she's going to [[WalkingSpoiler Adelaide]] is to turn herself and her family back.