History Main / TechnologicallyAdvancedFoe

* In ''Film/HighPlainsInvaders'', the alien invaders have high-tech battlesuits and advanced weaponry. Thhe cowboys can only contectualize them as 'bugs'.

[[quoteright:300:[[Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/war_of_the_worlds.jpg]]]]

* ''Film/WarOfTheWorlds'' is about "martians" launching an AlienInvasion upon Earth. Their ships are so advanced that even hitting them with a nuclear weapon '''to the face''' does nothing to slow them down (though in the novelization, a lucky hit with artillery to the leg of a crawler does manage to very briefly cripple it until one of said "martians" makes repairs and the crawlers are unaffected from that point on.) The "martians" are only technically defeated because they are infected by some native bacteria to which they have no resistance. (The TV series reveals said bacteria only put them into stasis, not killed them. They revive when the bacteria are killed by accidental exposure to radioactive waste.)

* In ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds'', the technology of the invading Martians far outstrips that of the British military (or that of any other nation on Earth). The Martians have towering three-legged "fighting-machines" (tripods), each armed with a heat-ray and a chemical weapon: the poisonous "black smoke". These tripods are capable of wiping out entire army units. The military is able to score some minor successes through combined artillery fire or the firepower of a warship like ''HMS Thunder Child'', but these are mere drops in the ocean and the Martians swiftly crush all resistance.

* The Borg from ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration''. In their first appearance, [[GreatGazoo Q]] uses them to give the crew of the Enterprise a lesson in just how dangerous the universe still is and how "prepared" they are.

** Interestingly, Species 8472 is an Outside-Context Villain for the ''Borg'': a species from another dimension that they can neither assimilate nor destroy. It proceeds to kick their asses.
* The Doomsday Machine, from ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries''. It came from outside the Milky Way, a weapon intentionally designed to be "too dreadful to use." [[Film/StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome Not even whales can stop it]]. It eats planets.
* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine:'' The Dominion. When they first arrive, they have the Federation (and almost everyone else in the Alpha Quadrant) totally outgunned, making them all but unbeatable in space. It isn't until the Federation captures a crashed Dominion ship and starts reverse engineering their technology that things get a bit more even.

** Justified in the case of the Goa'uld because they merely found [[LostTechnology]] from the [[Precursors Ancients]] and with few exceptions lack the drive and interest in developing their own advances. Which makes savvy enemies such as Anubis and Ba'al all the more dangerous because of it.

* The ''Literature/HarryPotter'' fanfic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8722436/1/The-Squad The Squad]]'', the British Army is this to the wizarding world. The titular squad is a group of SAS Commandoes sporting state-of-the-art anti-terror training and equipment. Let's just say high-powered scoped sniper rifles, assault helicopters, and claymore mines are all great equalizer when it comes to Death Eaters and their wands.

* The ''Literature/HarryPotter'' fanfic "The Squad", the British Army is this to the wizarding world. The titular squad is a group of SAS Commandoes sporting state-of-the-art anti-terror training and equipment. Let's just say high-powered scoped sniper rifles, assault helicopters, and claymore mines are all great equalizer when it comes to Death Eaters and their wands.

* ''LightNovel/{{Gate}}'' has the Roman/Medieval mash-up Empire ill-prepared for a counterattack from the JSDF. Legions of pre-industrial soldiers and fantasy-genre monsters were simply no match for heavy artillery. And to rub salt in the wound, said heavy artillery is technically '''outdated''' by the JSDF's standards.

* The Ironstorm Army is this in ''[[http://kleinerkiller.deviantart.com/gallery/41037509/Minecraftia-Saga Yognapped]]''. In previous years, [[Machinima/YogscastMinecraftSeries Minecraftia's greatest battles]] were fought against a [[ReligionOfEvil shadowy cult]] with swords and bows. When teams of masked soldiers with advanced firearms appear out of nowhere and start marching into the largest population centers, [[spoiler:not even the heroes can prevent millions of casualties and the regression of Minecraftia to an AfterTheEnd state.]]

* ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'' has [[spoiler:the Kingdom of Marley from beyond the three Walls. Unlike the people from behind the Walls, who live in a mostly 17th-century technological stasis, the Marleyans are shown employing Industrial Age technology and are currently in an arms race to boot; it's stated that if it wasn't for the millions of Titans entombed inside the Walls, the Marleyans would easily massacre every man, woman and child behind the walls should they decide to invade. Interestingly, it's later revealed that the Marleyans themselves are technologically falling behind their rivals, due to their over-reliance on Titans]].

* ''Literature/OutOfTheDark'' borrows some elements from ''Literature/{{Worldwar}}'' in that the invaders are expecting a more technologically inferior humanity than originally thought, although the gap is much narrower this time (they assumed humanity would be at about 17th-18th century instead of early 21st). Still, the Shongairi have FTL travel, ArtificialGravity, OrbitalBombardment, and [[EnergyWeapon Frickin' Laser Beams]]. Their opening strike [[spoiler:obliterates every national capital, as well as all the large military bases (plus the cities near them) and naval warships. The total human casualties on the first day of the invasion are over 2 billion]]. Then they try to land troops... and find that human ground and air combat tech is actually pretty close to theirs, [[InsufficientlyAdvancedAlien even surpassing it in certain respects]]. For example, their {{Hover Tank}}s have powerful beam cannons but relatively thin armor, which means even a 30-year-old ex-Soviet tank can punch a hole clean through it with a single shot (although the reverse is also true). Additionally, their combat tactics are woefully inadequate, especially when it comes to asymmetric warfare. Suddenly, everything the Western powers have learned about [=IED=]s and guerrilla warfare (used against them in the Middle East) is now very useful in fighting a technologically superior enemy, who can level entire cities on a whim. [[spoiler:Of course, none of that technology helps the aliens when a certain Transylvanian decides to take matters into his own claws and fangs.]]

* ''VideoGame/WolfensteinTheNewOrder'' makes the Nazis this - StupidJetpackHitler taken UpToEleven. With their super technology [[spoiler:which they stole from a sect of Jewish scientists]], they destroy the Allies, win World War II and take over the world.

* ''FanFic/MegaManDefenderOfTheHumanRace'' has the Stardroids, extremely powerful robot aliens that no one on Earth knew about before they invaded. Their mere presence en route to Earth enabled them to [[spoiler:scan Bass's memories and even make him go haywire]], when he was the most powerful robot in the series before they arrived.

* ''FanFic/RosarioVampireBrightestDarkness'': Part of the reason for TheMasquerade is due to [[MugglesDoItBetter advances in human weapons in technology]], which are stated outright to be superior to monster might and magic. In fact, in Act II, Dark and Kokoa confirm that Fairy Tail could easily take a Dark Lord like [[VampireMonarch Moka's father]] in a fight by using human technology.

* ''Fanfic/SOE2LoneHeirOfKrypton'': NERV was made to fight the [[{{EldritchAbomination}} Angels]], not ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' villains. So what happens when Brainiac -a living, conniving humanoid super-computer that hails from a more technologically advanced alien civilization- comes along? They are completely helpless. His computers could hack into the Magi easily, his machines could nullify an A T Field, and his base was a space-ship that drifted out of NERV's reach. If ''[[Comicbook/{{Supergirl}} Asuka]]'' had not stopped him, he would taken everything he wanted and left.

* ''VideoGame/CrusaderKings II'' has this, unusually for a historically-accurate game, with an expansion pack that introduces an Aztec invasion of Europe. [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything They have different gods, powerful weapons, and spread diseases that Europeans have no resistance to]], making them a serious threat completely out of left field for all the dynasties engaged in intricate political machinations.

* [[TheRemnant The Enclave]] functions as this in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}''. The player initially hears nothing from them except from a bunch of eyebots flying around the Wasteland blasting Enclave propaganda, which most people think is simply an old radio broadcast playing on a loop. So when a bunch of stormtroopers in advanced power armor (even more advanced than the Brotherhood of Steel's) and vertibirds fly in out of nowhere to seize control of Project Purity and start occupying the Wasteland, ''everyone'' is caught off-guard, including the Brotherhood themselves, who figured that they had been wiped out in the previous game.

* ''WesternAnimation/MegaMan'': The appearance of Vile and Spark Mandrill in "Mega X", given they're from the future. Their armor is literally ''centuries'' ahead of any present-day weapons, and they are able to shrug off attacks from Mega Man and Dr. Wily alike.

* In a ''VideoGame/{{Bodycount}}'' trailer an African militiaman is surprised by a skyscraper rising from the ground, with a large door opening. He promptly gets one-shotted by a laser from a guy in futuristic body armour.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Film]]

** In ''Film/{{Predator 2}}'', the LA police think they're dealing with gang war between rival drug gangs. However, the federal task force sent in turns out to know they're dealing with an alien, they just refuse to tell anyone about it.

* ''{{Franchise/EXTRAPOWER}}'': The Dark Force invasion fleet can be this depending on what planet it conquers, but is especially advanced compared to Earth. We might have [[HenshinHero Henshin Heroes]], GadgeteerGenius weapon inventors, monster-hunting mercenaries and several magic factions on Earth in ''[[VideoGame/ExtrapowerAttackOfDarkforce Attack of Darkforce]]'', but they're still invading with a fleet of spaceships that can obliterate planets and endless waves of [[RobotWar robotic]] and [[BugWar bioroid]] troops that overwhelm Earth's defenses.

** Fallen Empires are TheRemnant of civilizations that pre-dated all other galactic civilizations by hundreds or thousands of years. They typically stay out of galactic affairs, but if they get pissed off, their technology means they can obliterate any other civilization in the galaxy, even if the entire rest of the galaxy teams up against them. The rest of the galaxy will only start catching up to them in the late game. They can sometimes also "Awaken" around the mid-game and start taking an active role in galactic society again, which could possibly a very bad thing for the rest of the woefully behind galaxy.

* ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}'', unusually, allows ''you'' to be this when you invade planets with pre-space age inhabitants. Depending on their advancement and traits, the results can be anything from "[[WizardsFromOuterSpace our weapons must seem like magic to them]]" to "[[VideoGame/XCom able to form an international coalition dedicated to stopping you]]", and yes, there is a rare ''Literature/{{Worldwar}}'' EasterEgg.

* The Trisolarans of ''Literature/TheThreeBodyProblem'' aren't the biggest fish in the pond. But they are a lot bigger and scarier than humanity, and their technology, though fundamentally comprehensible with some study, is far beyond humanity's.

** In the [[VideoGame/AfterTheEndACrusaderKingsIIMod After The End]] mod, the British and Brazilians take the place of other invasions.

* In ''Fanfic/PerfectionIsOverrated'', the ''Anime/MyHime'' cast faces [=SUEs=] armed with powers such as mind control, [[TimeMaster time manipulation]] and AntiMagic. One even [[spoiler:opens a portal to the ''Anime/MaiOtome'' world and brings over an army of Schwarz members with Slaves]].

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': UNIT versus any of the alien races who invade Earth in the classic series: Daleks, Cybermen, Silurians, Axons, Zygons, Kraals, etc. It is usually a combination of superior numbers, pluck, cunning, HeroicSacrifice and, of course, the Doctor that allows them to win the day. In the new series, UNIT has repurposed some its captured alien tech to help defend, which levels the playing field a bit, but not always enough.

* In ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds'', the technology of the invading Martians far outstrips that of the British military (or that of any other nation on Earth). The Martians have towering three-legged "fighting-machines" (tripods), each armed with a heat-ray and a chemical weapon: the poisonous "black smoke". These tripods are capable of wiping out the army units. The military is able to score some minor successes through combined artillery fire or the firepower of a warship like ''HMS Thunder Child'', but theses are mere drops in the ocean and the Martians swiftly crush all resistance.

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* In {{VideoGame/Destiny}}, the Darkness is explicitly referred to as an OCP/Outside Context Problem. Fitting, as what is known about the Darkness hints at a Kardeshev type-4 entity.
* ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'': The Eternal Empire, hailing from the backwater region of Wild Space. It is a advanced empire with technology that outmatches anything the Old Republic or Sith Empire has, and has an army of force users capable of standing toe-to-toe with Jedi or Sith. Their leader is the Immortal Emperor Valkorion [[spoiler:who is one of the fallen Sith Emperor's latest incarnations]]. By the time the Outlander is freed from carbonite the Empire has dominated the galaxy and has the Republic and Sith under its thumb.
* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'':
** The Covenant play with this; their technology was far superior to humanity's during the Human-Covenant War, but they themselves barely understood how it worked, as it was all poorly reverse-engineered from Forerunner artifacts. After the war, humanity's been able to close much of the tech gap with the Covenant's various remnants.
** [[{{Precursors}} Forerunner]] constructs play this straight, especially from ''VideoGame/Halo4'' onward.
** A small-scale [[TheVirus Flood]] infestation relies almost completely on captured technology, but ''Literature/HaloSilentium'' reveals that [[spoiler:a large-scale infestation actually plays this trope 100% straight, since the Flood are the descendants of the [[RecursivePrecursors Precursors]], the most technologically-advanced species in the entire setting. As such, the Flood are the only remaining species capable of fully utilizing "neural physics"]].

* ''VideoGame/EmpireEarth'' has Novaya Russia from the last mission in the Russian campaign. Novaya Russia is a dictatorial regime that started during the first mission as an uprising in Volgograd led by a power hungry man known as Grigor Stoyanovich, and quickly gains ground after recruiting the cities of Rostov, Saratov, and getting the aid of the Ukraine to raze Voronezh. And then Grigor dies from complications related to old age, leading his robotic bodyguard (which he named Grigor II) to lead Novaya Russia. Novaya Russia crushes China and sabotage a Chinese superweapon that would turn the tide of the war: [[spoiler:A TimeMachine]]. Then, a Novaya Russia officer becomes a DefectorFromDecadence, and uses said superweapon to stop Novaya Russia. [[spoiler:While said officer and an ally he recruited from the US try to go the subtle route and convince Grigor not to make the mistakes that lead to this, and kill him if he refuses.]] Grigor II manages to capture the super weapon, and the defector becomes stranded with much lower technology in [[spoiler:Voronezh, before the rise of the first Grigor, while Grigor II went the much less subtle route of arming Novaya Russia with [[NanoMachines nanotech era equipment]].]] The mission relies on stealing technology from Novaya Russia, as the HeroUnit stranded with the defector is a spy and can train other spies to infiltrate key facilities.
* ''VideoGame/KirbyPlanetRobobot'' has the Haltman Works Company, who invade Planet Popstar for its rich resources. The company's tech is far superior to that of the natives. Even Meta Knight, who has a technological airship (and may, indeed, have some of the only mechanical technology on Popstar), is no match for them. Unfortunately for them, [[HoistByTheirOwnPetard this ends up being their downfall]] as Kirby, the only one left to stop them, is able to acquire their tech, specifically a MiniMecha. And the rest is history as Kirby uses this mech to absolutely decimate Haltmann's forces as a one-puff army.
* ''VideoGame/KirbyStarAllies'' has this in its backstory between two rival factions, one that mastered magic and the other that mastered science. Despite working together as friends since time immemorial, one day the science clan attacked and banished the magic clan to the far reaches of the universe where their numbers are now dwindling due to being separated and unable to reproduce. [[spoiler:BigBad Hyness is one of the last remaining members of the magic clan, and is seeking revenge.]]
* In ''VideoGame/UniverseAtWar'', Earth is invaded by an alien race of PlanetLooters known as the Hierarchy, and the human race is nearly wiped out in the resulting war as nothing they have can counter the Hierarchy's powerful giant walker robots. [[HumansNeedAliens Just as all hope seems lost]], another alien race turn up, a race of MechanicalLifeforms with a grudge against the Hierarchy known as the Novus, and begin aiding the human remnants and the tide begins to turn. [[spoiler:And ''then'', the mighty [[OurElvesAreDifferent Masari]], the super-advanced race who once uplifted the Hierarchy only to be hunted to near-extinction by them, [[{{Atlantis}} rise from the Atlantic in their continent-sized colony ship]] to deliver a little "divine retribution" to their errant children.]]
* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'', there's a certain faction who's been manipulating events to instigate a continent-wide war. Nothing says 'advanced' like [[spoiler:''ballistic missiles'' dropping from the sky]], given the [[MedievalStasis setting's general tech]].
* ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}'', unusually, allows ''you'' to be this when you invade planets with pre-space age inhabitants. Depending on their advancement and traits, the results can be anything from "[[WizardsFromOuterSpace our weapons must seem like magic to them]]" to "[[VideoGame/XCom able to form an international coalition dedicated to stopping you]]", and yes, there is a rare ''Literature/{{Worldwar}}'' EasterEgg.
* Try as other forces might, in ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'', there is no equal to Dr. Eggman in terms of tech level. There have been attempts to reverse-engineer Eggman's robots and war machines by G.U.N. and Tails, but the results are always unwieldy and easily crushed by Eggman's own robots. Accordingly, if an environment in a Sonic game has a [[EternalEngine metallic, industrial look to it]], nine times out of ten Dr. Eggman was involved in its creation.

* In ''WesternAnimation/StormHawks'', Master Cyclonis actually manages to become this mid season 2 by traveling to the other side of the planet and bringing back some of its technology.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThunderCats2011'' presents [[BigBad Mumm-Ra]] this way to the Cats, as he and the LostTechnology his armies use have both been reduced to superstitions and legends in the centuries since he was first defeated by their ancestors.