History Main / WeComeInPeaceShootToKill

* This can happen any time in a FirstContact situation in ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}'' when at least one of the two spacefaring empires has set their First Contact Protocol to "Aggressive", which allows them to immediately open fire on any unknown entities in range, including abducting the most-likely unarmed (since science vessels are usually the ones exploring unknown systems) and abducting/vivisecting the crew while MissionControl can only [[HelplessWindowDeath watch in horror]]. Adopting the stance requires that the empire in question not be Pacifist or Xenophilic, meaning the one who starts shooting before even trying to decrypt and translate the other side's communications is at minimum paranoid as all hell if not an outright {{Jerkass}}.

** The UsefulNotes/PlayStation version had this rendered as a cutscene of two world leaders in the UN building signing a treaty with the aliens, only for a group of aliens (led by a Sectoid with a SlasherSmile and two [[EliteMook Mutons]]) to come through the door and [[BoomHeadshot blast the head off one of them]].

* ''Literature/TheNanoFlower'' by Creator/PeterFHamilton. [[HonestCorporateExecutive Julia Evan]]'s husband Royan discovers some alien microbes and decides to experiment with them. Unfortunately they gain sentience and try to assimilate Royan when he tries to terminate the experiment, but end in a MexicanStandoff as [[BodyHorror Royan is partly-absorbed]] but could still detonate the gamma mines he's set up if the alien tries to complete the process. They agree each will send [[OnePhoneCall one message]] to the outside world; one to Julia Evans and the other to a CorruptCorporateExecutive, with both of them pitching the argument for the alien's survival vs. destruction to whoever turns up.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'''s Jenova. Originally thought to be a mummy from an ancient, magic-wielding civilization, it was later exposed as an alien who was entombed by said magic-users. Jenova's MO is to imitate someone's appearance and voice, then - using their absorbed memories - approach that person's friends and loved ones under the guise of the victim. Her spawn have this ability, too, so it's a good thing Jenova was stopped dead in her tracks before she could escape the artic.

** [[spoiler: It was later revealed that they're a pretty decent beings in a more modern and industrialized but diverse society in their home planet Zeelich. However their religion and prophecy are controlled by, as revealed near the end of the game, Funfrock, the BigBad of the first game.]]

* ''[[ComicBook/{{Superman}} Action Comics]]''. [[CrystalSpiresAndTogas An ancient and wise race]] is doomed by [[EarthShatteringKaboom planetary destruction]]. Their greatest scientist [[IgnoredExpert is ignored by his peers]], so he sends his infant son, the LastOfHisKind, to Earth, where his ship lands in a field outside a town called Smallville ... And because this is the [[FantasticRacism institutionally anti-alien]] Earth of the 31st century, Jun and Mara blast the infant with a laser-rifle and bury the remains behind the barn. They're still talking about how right they were to do so some months later, when they get killed in passing by a deranged AlternateUniverse Superboy. [[KarmicDeath That's karma for you]].

* Displayed quite nicely in ''Film/IndependenceDay'', in which a [[StrawmanPolitical horde of Genre Blind people]] has assembled atop a skyscraper waving "hello and welcome to Earth" placards as the alien spaceship positions itself directly over them... and then fires its massive "[[AppliedPhlebotinum frission]]" cannon, destroying the building and most of the city. Earlier, the government sent a helicopter rigged with [[Film/CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind a grid of flashing lights]] to try and communicate: the aliens promptly blew it out of the sky.
** This is not only a darkly funny TakeThat to ''Film/CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind'', but a ShoutOut to ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds''. A group of astronomers tried to use semaphore flags to communicate their good will to a pit containing the Martian ship and a half-constructed tripod. [[HilarityEnsues Heat Ray-ity Ensues]].
* Subsequently parodied in ''Film/MarsAttacks'' The Martian ambassador comes up to a podium and speaks into a translation device, translating his words as "We come in peace". Then they whip out the rayguns and incinerate everyone in sight- at first, seemingly in response to a "cultural misunderstanding" where "dove means war", but it quickly turns out they are just doing it ForTheEvulz. Later, during the full-scale genocide, one of the Martians is carrying the translation device, which now broadcasts "Do not run! We are your friends!" over and over.
* ''Film/TheDayTheEarthStoodStill1951'' (the original) is the quintessential movie for demonstrating how badly humans would treat InnocentAliens.
** [[Film/TheDayTheEarthStoodStill2008 The 2008 remake]] zig-zags the Trope: [[spoiler:Klaatu's mission on this version is to KillAllHumans [[GreenAesop because we are a serious ecological threat to Earth]],]] but the way the United States Government treats him from the moment he accidentally gets shot (including being detained, interrogated, any information he gives told outright will be made classified, told he will ''never'' talk to the world's governments and apparently was going to be poisoned) [[spoiler:don't do much to make him believe his decision is wrong until Helen begs him to reconsider and the Professor [[NotSoDifferentRemark brings up the logic that Klaatu's race was the same]] a long time ago.]]

* The first encounter between humans and the the Kzinti (''The Warriors'', reprinted in the first ''Man-Kzin Wars'' collection) found the peaceful human explorers (whose society had abolished violence and war) on an unarmed ship being slowly roasted by an Kzinti warship whose captain wanted to kill the human crew without destroying their ship, having determined via a telepath that the humans had no real concept of war and have no weapons aboard their ship ... and then one of the humans realizes what is happening, and rotates the human ship to cut the attacking ship in half with [[WeaponizedExhaust the powerful laser the human ship utilizes as both reaction drive and communications device]] and loots the weapons off the wreck. The tag for the series was that humans had decided to study war no more because [[HumansAreWarriors we're too good at it]].

* ''Literature/{{Bounders}}'' has an example with Earthlings as the aliens. When humans first started mining Gulaga for occludium, they thought the Tunnelers were just dumb animals. Once they realized Tunnelers were actually intelligent beings with a complex civilization, they effectively enslaved the species, while pretending to be their allies, and forced them to mine occludium. LaResistance fought hard but lost, and was forced to flee into the wilderness, while Gulagaven, the planet's main city, fell completely under Earth Force control. [[spoiler:By ''The Heroes Return'', the Tunnelers have expelled Earth Force from the planet and are now at war with Earth]].

* ''[[Fanfic/StarWarsVsWarhammer40K Star Wars vs. Warhammer 40K]]'': The incident which sparks off war between the Galactic Republic and the Imperium of Man. The Republic initially makes first contact with the Imperium when one of their fleets encounters a lone Imperial freighter carrying refugees. Their meeting goes horribly wrong when one of the Republic's Venator cruisers (secretly acting under Palpatine's orders) suddenly moves out of formation and uses its hyperdrive to perform a SuicideAttack on the Imperial refugee ship. Horrified by what has just occurred, the Jedi General leading the Republic fleet immediately sends over rescue ships to save the crew of the attacked freighter. It's at this point that an entire Imperial armada shows up, sees their damaged civilian ship being surrounded and boarded by unknown alien vessels, and [[HelpMistakenForAttack opens fire under the assumption that their refugee ship is being attacked by slave raiders.]]

* The Slylandro probes in ''VideoGame/StarControl II'' state peaceful intentions, but abruptly change their minds and attack regardless of conversation options. [[spoiler:Turns out [[HanlonsRazor the Slylandro just suck at programming]]; they dialed up the probes' self-replication ability too high, resulting in them dissecting the targeted ship for materials to make more probes.]]

* ''[[Fanfic/StarWarsVsWarhammer40K Star Wars vs. Warhammer 40K]]'': The Galactic Republic's first contact with the Imperium of Man goes horribly wrong when one of their Venators suddenly moves out of formation and uses its hyperdrive to perform a kamikaze attack on an Imperial freighter carrying refugees. [[spoiler:Palpatine deliberately sabotaged first contact by ordering the Venator's clone captain to hyperspace ram the Imperial transport in order to start a war with the Imperium.]] Horrified by what has just occurred, the Jedi Knight in charge of the Republic fleet immediately sends over rescue ships to save the crew of the attacked freighter. It's at this point that an entire Imperial armada shows up, sees their damaged civilian ship being surrounded and boarded by unknown alien vessels, and [[HelpMistakenForAttack opens fire under the assumption that their refugee ship is being attacked by slave raiders.]]

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E12TheSoundOfDrums "The Sound of Drums"]]: plays this one straight: TheMaster goes to Earth, creates a human identity for himself, and gets elected as Prime Minister. Then he calls in the Toclafane, who come to Earth under the pretense of sharing their technology in exchange for Earth's friendship. Moments after first contact, however, the Master and the Toclafane set their true agenda into motion: take over the world so they can build warships and conquer the rest of the universe. Earth humans are literally (in the Latin sense of the word) decimated.

* In ''VideoGame/EarthDefenseForce5'', the appearance of "HumanAliens" (actually giant FrogMen) among the invading Primers leads some Earthlings to believe that peace can be negotiated, since they are NotSoDifferent. Unfortunately, everyone that tries to open a dialogue with the invaders ends up getting killed. The Primers don't have any difficulty in communicating, they just [[AlwaysChaoticEvil never had any desire for peace]].

* ''[[Fanfic/StarWarsVsWarhammer40K Star Wars vs. Warhammer 40K]]'': The Galactic Republic's first contact with the Imperium of Man goes horribly wrong when one of their Venators suddenly moves out of formation and uses its hyperdrive to perform a kamikaze attack on an Imperial freighter carrying refugees. [[spoiler:Palpatine deliberately sabotaged first contact by ordering the Venator's clone captain to hyperspace ram the Imperial transport in order to start a war with the Imperium.]] Horrified by what has just occurred, the Jedi Knight in charge of the Republic fleet immediately sends over rescue ships to save the crew of the attacked freighter. It's at this point that an entire Imperial armada shows up, sees their damaged civilian ship being surrounded and boarded by unknown alien vessels, and opens fire under the assumption that their refugee ship is being attacked by slave raiders.

* ''[[Fanfic/StarWarsVsWarhammer40K Star Wars vs. Warhammer 40K]]'': The Galactic Republic's contact with the Imperium of Man goes horribly wrong when one of their Venators suddenly moves out of formation and uses its hyperdrive to perform a kamikaze attack on an Imperial freighter carrying refugees. [[spoiler:Palpatine deliberately sabotaged first contact by ordering the Venator's clone captain to hyperspace ram the Imperial transport in order to start a war with the Imperium.]] Horrified by what has just occurred, the Jedi Knight in charge of the Republic fleet immediately sends over rescue ships to save the crew of the attacked freighter. It's at this point that an entire Imperial armada shows up, sees their damaged civilian ship being surrounded and boarded by unknown alien vessels, and opens fire under the assumption that their refugee ship is being attacked by slave raiders.

[[SpaceAlien Alien]]s' FirstContact with Earthlings will go one of two ways, usually.

* In ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'', a horde of fleshreaving, soul-devouring, [[AlwaysChaoticEvil pure evil]] demons [[DemonicInvaders invade another dimension]], yet they become widely accepted (at least in America) thanks to propaganda portraying any resistance against them [[PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad as anti-demon bigotry]]. [[http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/20040912 This]] strip says it best.

* In ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'', the first part of the trope name is a BerserkButton for T'Kuvma, who believes that the Federation are liars, who claim to come in peace, while aiming to assimilate all cultures they come across, including the Klingons. To him and his followers, claiming to "come in peace", while seeking to undermine what it means to be a Klingon, is a bold-faced lie. He manages to rally most of the Great Houses under his banner, while chanting "Remain Klingon!" Michael Burnham is the only one who thinks that this approach to Klingons is wrong, having been told by her foster father Sarek that Vulcans have learned to open fire on Klingon ships at every encounter in order to initiate a dialog (the so-called "Vulcan hello"). She wants to do the same, against her captain's orders, not realizing that T'Kuvma intends to start a war no matter who fires first.

* Both variations are common in ''Series/TheOuterLimits1963'', ''Series/TheTwilightZone'' and similar anthology shows.