->''"Aw, Mom, he's no [[ETTheExtraTerrestrial E.T.]] He doesn't even look like [[StarTrek Mr. Spock]]!"''
-->-- '''Sean Donovan''', upon seeing the first alien Visitor, ''{{V}}''

->'''Christina:''' You look human.
->'''The Doctor:''' You look Time Lord.
-->-- ''DoctorWho'', "Planet of the Dead"

->''"Since [Jesus] [[TheBible became a man]], what other form can reason take?"''
-->-- '''Tinidril''', ''{{Perelandra}}''

When a creature from a planet other than Earth looks like a human, sounds like a human, acts somewhat like a human and gets confused for a human.

[[BizarreAlienBiology Their internal physiology]] may well be different, but otherwise they appear to be the genuine article.

In-story, this occasionally leads to a [[HandWave Hand Waving]] story about how all the races have some common ancestor. Other times, it gets [[JustifiedTrope justified]] by using a TransplantedHumans story. Out-of-story, this is often explained by the fact that there are remarkably few non-humanoids in the [[Main/{{SAG}} SAG]] or [[Main/{{Equity}} Equity]]. Other explanations include the idea that a humanoid form is the natural result of any evolutionary path (HumansAreSpecial [[XMeetsY on]] EvolutionaryLevels). Recent research may hint at this being true to some extent; many species seem to be engineered by evolution for maximum fuel efficiency. The bipedal human body has remarkable agility and stamina for its size, though there are some notable flaws like weak joints and a narrow birth canal. Although our impressive cognitive abilities and incredibly complex social structure evolved to counter these.

This trope also covers [[VoluntaryShapeshifting shape-shifters]] who [[CoconutSuperpowers budget-savingly]] stay in human form around humans.

In 1950's movies, this also could be used as an actual part of the theme of the story, as the idea that these sorts of aliens could pass completely for humans made a rather handy [[RedScare metaphor for Communism]].

The bottom rung of the {{Alien}} ladder, below RubberForeheadAliens and [[IntelligentGerbil Intelligent Gerbils]]. May or may not apply to {{Fantasy}} settings, where the characters are either implied or explicitly stated to be human despite the world being [[HighFantasy obviously not our Earth]].

----
!!Examples

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Anime ]]

* ToHeart2 brings us Lucy Maria Misora, aka Ruuko Kireinasora.
* The Zentraedi of ''[[{{Macross}} Macross/Robotech]]'' and its descendants are one of the clearer examples of the trope, straight down to the {{HandWave}} concerning their origins being linked to that of humanity. The primary physiological difference being that in their natural state they are ten meters tall, but can through an [[CloningBlues ill-defined process]] be shrunk down to roughly human size (or expanded back up).
* The Buff Clan in ''SpaceRunawayIdeon'' look identical to humans, with the exception of them lacking pupils. They also possess the honor code of the samurai, call their warriors samurai (though the actual humans don't), and even call their home planet Earth. If it weren't for the fact that they were an isolated race before meeting the people of Logo Dau, you'd swear that they were human!
* The aliens who inhabit the world of ''{{Simoun}}'' are all mostly human, except that they're all born female, and half of them change sex at age 17.
** Well, technically they are all born neuter with external female traits, like ant drones, and only get actual gender-properties at the age of 17, namely the ability to procreate, either as males or females.
* The natives of ''TheTwelveKingdoms'' seem almost indistinguishable from humans of Earth stock, but in fact have a [[BizarreAlienBiology bizarre life cycle]] that includes [[spoiler: being born from large fruit that grows on special trees.]]
* Barring their monkey-esque tails (which can be permanently removed), Saiyans from ''{{Dragonball}}'' Z look exactly like humans, and can even [[HalfHumanHybrids interbreed with them with ease]]. Of course, the "Earth" of ''{{Dragonball}}'' is also inhabited by five foot tall talking foxes, dogs, cats, pigs, sea turtles... and [[WeirdnessCensor nobody ever thinks any of it is strange]].
** Blue, talking, flying shapeshifting kitten? Fine. Man whose hair suddenly changes colour? RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY!
* Similar to the Saiyans above, Lalas race from ToLoveRu are indistinguishable from humans apart from their [[FantasticArousal tails]]. In a similar vein, there is Ren/Run whose only difference from humans is [[GenderBender Gender]][[InvoluntaryShapeshifting Bendering]]. There are other examples of Human Aliens, but it is shown that there also exist RubberForeheadAliens and PlantAliens, so at least the universe has some variety.
* The S and Stars seasons of ''SailorMoon'' brought '''so''' many HumanAliens (or at least aliens that were ''originally'' human in appearance) from across the galaxy [[TokyoIsTheCenterOfTheUniverse to Tokyo]] that one could wonder if non-humanoid intelligent lifeforms really existed at all! Even the [[TalkingAnimal talking cats]] Luna and Artemis, who were aliens from the planet Mau in the manga, could assume human forms. (Rei's crows Phobos and Deimos were also revealed to be aliens who could take human form in the manga.) The filler arc villains Eiru and An from the start of the second season were also aliens who could assume human form, though the villains from the first season and the rest of the second season were originally from Earth.
** The Moon Kingdom inhabitants and the Senshi of the past could also count, since they're technically not from Earth. This also means [[spoiler:Queen Nehelenia/Zirconia]], the BigBad from [=SuperS=], would count, even though the rest of her minions are either from Earth originally (animals given human form, some girls from the rainforest given powers) or are dream-monsters (the Lemures).
* The Arume in ''BlueDrop'' are human in every way, although their whole race [[OneGenderRace consists of females only]], leading to [[GirlsLove certain kinds of behavior]].
** Some years later, sci-fi artist Nemo Ramjet revisited the concept as part of a series of paintings. His [[http://www.nemoramjet.com/illuspicdino.htm new "Dinosauroid"]] thankfully avoids this trope. (As a matter of fact, he looks sort of like a [[FraggleRock Fraggle]]...)
* ''SuzumiyaHaruhi'' has the Data Overmind and its counterpart, the Sky Canopy Domain, and their plethora of minions, all of whom seem to be MostlyHuman schoolgirls with mystical [[RewritingReality reality-overwrite powers]].
** This was justified however, as they were only ''given'' this form in order to be close to Haruhi and observe her. Imagine if they looked like aliens, or robots? It'd be hard to get close, especially considering that part of their mission is to prevent Haruhi from becoming aware of all the craziness which exists in their world.
*** That might make them [[ArtificialHuman artificial humans]], instead. Who knows?
*** It's a ''[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin data entity]]'' and the minions are ''interfaces'' that are explicitly said to have been created around 3 years ago. So, yes, they are [[ArtificialHuman artificial humans]] created by SufficientlyAdvancedAliens, presumably to allow communication with organic lifeforms.
* The Plants in ''{{Trigun}}'' look exactly like humans, all to various degrees. The ones used as power look semi-humanoid with wings and other assorted appendages, while Vash and Knives can easily pass for human.
* The Juraians in ''TenchiMuyo'' not only look human but have Japanese-sounding names.
** It's implied that Earth is actually one of Jurai Empire's peripheral planets and that there has been interaction in secret since times immemorial; according to the novels at least some of the Earth governments actually take orders from Jurai in the rare occasions that they bother to interfere. Emperor Azuza's second wife is apparently an Earthling from Feudal Japan whose life was technologically extended from normal human limits, and that's just the start of it.
* The nazi-inspired Gamilons from SpaceBattleshipYamato began as looking identical to humans in every sense of the word. However, the creators of the show retconned their design a few episodes into the show and gave them blue skin, blonde hair and black eyes. Why? Probably to distinguish them easily from the human cast.
** This is further developed when [[spoiler:it's discovered that the Gamilons need radiation to survive, like how a human needs oxygen to breathe]].
* Lum and her family in ''UruseiYatsura'' look almost exactly like humans, only with two small horns. However the series does feature other aliens in all shapes and sizes.
* While no aliens other than the Anti-Spirals are actually ''shown'', it's implied that ''TengenToppaGurrenLagann'' follows this trope, based on the premise (used to justify HumongousMecha) that the humanoid form is the best shape for channeling Spiral power.
* The Time-Space Administration Bureau in ''MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'' covers multiple [[AnotherDimension worlds]] but are all apparently human. One character comments on how somebody in her family history was from Earth when they were discussing "Unadministrated World #97".
* In ''HoushinEngi'', Taikoubou (later known as [[spoiler: Fukki]]) is later revealed to be [[spoiler: one of the "First Humans", which are actually an ancient race of aliens]], although he looks exactly like a human.
* Almost all throughout ''DragonBall'', everyone just assumed Goku was an extraordinarily gifted human who just happened to have a monkey tail (and given the existence of anthropomorphic animals in DragonBall's world, this wasn't a far stretch). TheReveal that Goku is actually Kakarotto, a mercenary of a [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy warrior race of aliens]], doesn't come until the first few episodes of the sequel series.
*The [[OneGenderRace all-female]] Alpha Cygnans in ''ProjectAKo''.
*In the series "InuYasha", it's the demons who look human who are considered most powerful.
*A similar notion extends to "YuYuHakusho", as quite nearly all of the show's most powerful demons appear human.
*While not aliens, the main characters of "WolfsRain" spend a lot of time looking human, mainly as a form of camouflage, as they're supposed to be extinct.
* MahouSenseiNegima has an interesting take on this, in that [[spoiler: the Magic World is in AnotherDimension, that happens to be layered on top of Mars. Meaning that anyone from the magic world is technically an alien. Including Negi]].

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

* In all ''Comicbook/{{Superman}}'' stories, Clark Kent and all other Kryptonians are visually indistinguishable from humans, despite massive biological differences (thus making this OlderThanTelevision, although the fact that [[OlderThanTheyThink the Ancient Greeks also came up with the concept]] makes it OlderThanFeudalism). All versions also show that Kryptonians can be attracted to humans, but the last episode of ''LoisAndClark'' has them finding out the two species are genetically incompatible (right before a foundling gets [[ContrivedCoincidence dropped on their doorstep]]). Science fiction great Larry Niven did address that issue in his hilarious essay ''[[http://www.larryniven.org/stories/Man_of_Steel_Woman_of_Kleenex.shtml Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex]]''. [[spoiler:Of course, ''Superman Returns'' and some comics continuities have a [[HalfHumanHybrids half-Kryptonian]].]]
** The GoldenAge Superman had extraordinary muscle control, even allowing him a mild ShapeShifting ability for minor disguises. And in some SilverAge versions, Kryptonians were descendants of humans plucked from Earth by a more technologically advanced race. Some post-Crisis stories imply this as well.
*** To be fair, this has been addressed from time to time by different others: One graphic novel in particular, detailing Clark's life after leaving Smallville but before journeying to Metropolis, mentions that he has "unearthly blue eyes" which could never be mistaken for human; it's for this reason that he wears ultra-thick glasses - to dull the color, not just "mask" his face.
*** An old Superman/Flash crossover story has the duo facing a mysterious alien race that apparently seeded both Earth and Krypton with life, at around the same time, serving as a possible explanation for this trope.
*** Adding credence to the above point would be the fact that the Earth was originally meant to evolve a godlike race similar to the Kryptonians. They ended up as the weak, fragile primates called 'humans' only because another alien race messed with the pre-human gene pool.
*** [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in an issue of Starman where Jack Knight's journeys through space and time land him on Krypton before its destruction. He is promply arrested by the authorities, who suspect him of being a member of a Kryptonian rebel group. When Jack tries to argue that he's an alien visitor from planet Earth, his interrogator refuses to believe him, pointing out that he looks no different from any Kryptonian. Jack wonders whether God was feeling unoriginal.
** In TheDCU's ''LegionOfSuperheroes'', most of the alien races are perfectly humanoid in appearance, although they possess various additional abilities. [[PostCrisis Post-Crisis]], this was {{handwave}}d by having them be descendants of humans who were given superpowers in alien experiments. After they were freed by Lar Gand, they were placed in colonies around the galaxy to ensure Earth would have allies in the future.
**The oldest sapient life in TheDCU, the Guardians of Oa, are basically human in form (the males have blue skin, that's about it.) The natives of Rann and Thanagar can even interbreed with humans. A few other humanish races exist, more if you count those whose only visible non-human trait is odd skin color.
** On ''{{Smallville}}'', almost all the Phantom Zone aliens were human-looking (well, some were disembodied and [[DemonicPossession possessed]] human bodies, but the rest were human-like). One had HellishPupils, that's about it. The shapeshifters Brainiac and MartianManhunter stay human except on special occasion.
**The original reason for Superman's human appearance was that he ''was'' human - he was originally meant to be a super-highly-evolved person sent back in time from the far-distant future, when life on Earth was finally dying out. This backstory was changed before publication, but the rewrite had no impact on Superman's appearance or his powers.
***That explains part of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Son Red Son]].
* In the MarvelUniverse, the Kree are divided into two races: the pink Kree, who look just like Caucasian humans, and the blue Kree, who look just like blue humans.
** Likewise, the Shi'ar are humanoid, with features such as feathers and eye markings just odd enough to be exotic. The Skrulls are slightly more alien, being egg-laying reptilians, but their females in their native forms appear as [[NonMammalMammaries shapely]] {{Green Skinned Space Babe}}s (who still have the ugly ridged chins).
**Also, the Celestials and Galactus are more-or-less humanoid, though details are obscured by their armor and they're ''freaking enormous''. Since these are "gods" from before the Big Bang, who are ''known'' to have tampered with life throughout the universe, it's not too surprising that there are lots of humanoid races. This was lampshaded at times by [[WriterOnBoard John Byrne's]] claims that they only ''appear'' as the same species of any sentient being seeing them, but later revelations made this dubious.
** And then there are the Norse gods and Olympians.
***While being extra terrestrial in the sense that they don't live on the surface of the planet, Marvel has been pretty consistent in saying that the various pantheons and mythical beings are "of Earth." The current Thor series makes frequent reference to the idea that humans and supernatural creatures, especially gods, exist in a spiritual symbiotic relationship.
* In a similar manner to Superman, the Viltrumites of ''{{Invincible}}'', of whom main character Mark is a [[HalfHumanHybrids human hybrid]], are basically humans with superpowers, and, if they're male, mustaches. All of them. And that's it.
** Averted by literally every other race, especially the Flaxans, who had to study traces of Omniman's clothing to understand the properties of our ''dimension'' because they're so far removed.
* The Wildstorm Comics [[TheVerse 'Verse]] has Kherubim, super-powered humanlike [[{{Immortality}} immortals]] who can even interbreed with homo sapiens. It's eventually [[RetCon revealed]] that this is because [[spoiler: Earth and other planets were seeded with devices designed to spread the Kherubim genome across the universe in a form of bloodless conquest]]. Not that they were averse to the bloody kind on occasion either, being [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy a Warrior Race]].
* In the Sandman collection Endless Nights, Dream is courting a mortal woman named Killalla, whom he takes to a parliament of stars. Killalla looks just like a human being, but with blue skin. Justified in that while at the parliament, she encounters a young star named Sol, who admires her greatly and says that when his planets awake to life, he'd like for there to be a species that looks like her.
** Which, in a roundabout way, also explains the case of DC's Guardians, above, since Killalla is an inhabitant of prehistoric OA.
* Bigsby Wolf and Snow White in the Vertigo series "Fables" have a litter of children who are either wolf-like, human or a combination of elements of both.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Film ]]

* All the alien races in ''ChroniclesOfRiddick'' series. This gives the superficial illusion of AbsentAliens, but there are a few here and there revealed to be aliens. Such as the air elemental, who looks like a normal old lady, but can turn into mist as she chooses. And there't the protagonist, Riddick, who's Furyan.
** More of a shameless {{retcon}} from the first movie.
* Practically all alien races in the ''{{Godzilla}}'' movies. (Although sometimes this is [[MobileSuitHuman just a disguise]] for [[KillerSpaceMonkey space gorillas]] or [[BugWar cockroaches]].)
* Thomas Jerome Newton in ''The Man Who Fell to Earth'' is actually a RubberForeheadAlien, but appears human (as human as David Bowie is capable of looking, at least) throughout most of the film through the use of contact lenses and stage makeup. Without his cosmetics, his bright golden skin and eyes with vertical, ovular pupils would give him away. Biologically his people are essentially identical to humans, except for their long life spans (Newton remains the same age while other characters in the movie go from college age to their late 50s), and are extremely sensitive to X-rays, which blind them.
* The squid-like Thermians in ''GalaxyQuest'' use [[AppliedPhlebotinum appearance generators]] to look human. Somewhat justified: they based their entire society and technology on a human TV show, and they were trying to fit in with their human guests. Since they have no concept of deception, it isn't meant to let them pass for human or even to make the humans ease into the whole alien thing; it's just their version of {{Cosplay}}.
** Also, the Thermians built their ''Protector'' to look and control exactly like the one they saw on TV... which left them with a machine wholly incapable of being controleld by their actual bodies. They need human-shaped hands to use the ship!
* ''StarWars,'' of course, features Human Aliens alongside SerkisFolk. There's [[ALongTimeAgoInAGalaxyFarFarAway no sign of Earth]], and what connections or differences exist between the totally-human-looking races of different worlds remains unknown. (One must wonder if there are other planets with, say, Wookiees that are completely unrelated to the ones of Chewie's homeworld of Kashyyyk...)
** "Unknown" as in "unconfirmed", perhaps, but the Star Wars ExpandedUniverse makes it clear that it's universally accepted by scientists and historians that all humans in the galaxy are members of the same species that "spread like rats" through the galaxy, the problem being that this happened so long ago that no one knows exactly where they originated from. It even goes on to clarify that various RubberForeheadAliens like the eyeless Miraluka or the blue-skinned Chiss are "near-human" species that evolved from the human baseline stock.
*** I read somewhere that, although it is stated as only a theory, Coruscant is speculated to be the origin of the "human" species.
*** Possible, but unlikely. (Don't read this if you're not interested in a long, detailed explanation. Canon events do not conclusively validify any one theory; just leave it at that if you're not a fan.) Coruscant ''is'', however, the homeworld off the Taung species, who became the founders of the multi-species Mandalorians before going extinct, and at least one other species, which drove the Taungs off Coruscant to the planet Mandalore (named after their leader at the time.) It's possible that this unknown species was the Humans, but if so they never left any trace; the earliest records of Humans come from Corellia, when they teamed up with the Duro species to explore the Galaxy Far, Far Away. Also of note is that the Corellian system has five habitable planets and three sapient species, and is known for a fact to have been constructed at some unknown time by the unknown species called the Architects, who moved those planets there from other star systems. They quite likely also transplanted the three species (Human, Drall, and Selonian) there, too, so even Corellia probably isn't the Human homeworld. Throw in the Rakatan Infinite Empire and its practice of transplanting its slave species a couple thousand years later, and you get the phenomenon of Humans being on several hundred planets with no records of how they got there, leading to many conflicting claims to be the Human homeworld. There are even hints that Humans came from Tatooine, Zonoma Sekot, and a variety of other planets. It's also possible that the Human homeworld was destroyed, leaving Humans scattered across the Galaxy, like the Hutts and all the species they brought from their own homeworld to their adopted home of Nal Hutta. There have even been at least two attempts to finagle humans from Earth (or some other planet in the Milky Way Galaxy, i.e. THX 1138) to the Galaxy Far, Far Away, though they were shot down pretty quickly by the higher-ups at Lucasfilm. All in all, it's a long, twisted history that really doesn't answer anyone's questions.
** There are basically two contradictory explanations, one that humans evolved independently on Coruscant, and one that all humans are descended from escapees from the dystopic Earth of THX 1138 (another Lucas production). For example, Corellia was named for a human with the Italian name of Corellia. Neither explanation has been canonised so far.
*** The latter cannot be true, as the very first bit of Star Wars says "Long long ago..."
*** Actually, one detail was left out. The theory that they are escaped humans from THX 1138 is explained that the ship fell through a wormhole that took them to the Star Wars galaxy ''and'' eons into the past.
*** There are a ''lot'' more than two theories. See above and below for the others.
*** KnightsOfTheOldRepublic, which is actually canon surprisingly enough (light side ending), implies that the human homeworld was actually Tatooine. The originals were the ancestors of the Sand People as well, who abandoned technology after a (technically) successful rebellion against the Rakatan that also led to the world being turned into a desert by orbital bombardment.
** In case you're still wondering, there are aliens believed to be relatives of, for example, Wookiees as well. The Yuzzem are very similar in both physical and mental characteristics, though they're more bearlike than apelike.
*** Apparently near-Duros species are common as well, most notably the Nemodians. And for much the same reasons-Duros achieved hyperspace early on compared to most species, though if this troper recalls correctly the Correlians came a bit earlier.
** Except in the expanded universe comics by dark horse indiana jones finds the millenium flacon crashed on earth and the bodies of han solo and chewie after thousands of years of being stranded in a south american jungle.
***That's explicitly non-canon, doesn't count.
*** [[EpilepticTrees Some have actually hypothesized]] that some Ewoks were transported from Endor to Kashyyyk by [[KnightsOfTheOldRepublic the Rakata]], and eventually became the Wookiees.
* ''The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra'' used this trope purposely with the "Marvans" as an affectionate spoof of low-budget sci-fi horror movies from the 50s.
* Justified or Handwaved in the remake of ''The Day the Earth Stood Still'', where Klaatu arrives on earth encased in something like an engineered placenta-suit, inside which he grows himself a humanlike body resembling Keanu Reeves. He explains that his true form "would only frighten you."
** Actually, the reason he assumed that form is because only an organism that originated on Earth could survive in its envoriment without some sort of assistance. The above explanation came as an answer to a human who was curious about his original body.
* The upcoming Disney movie ''RaceToWitchMountain''. The aliens look ''exactly'' like humans... but then there's the superpowers.
** When [[strike:The Rock]]Dwayne Johnson's character [[InvokedTrope points this out]], they [[{{Handwave}} respond]] with "What's an alien ''supposed'' to look like?"
* [[RockyHorrorPictureShow Dr. Frank N Furter, Riff Raff, Magenta, and the other Transylvanians]] look like normal human beings. Considering that the film is an AffectionateParody of old B-Movie science fiction films, it's no surprise.
* It's strongly implied in ''{{Film/Outlander}}'' that Kainan's people are related to humans, as his computer describes Earth as an "abandoned seed colony".

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

* All visual incarnations of ''[=~The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy~=]'', despite the fact that its other alien races are incredibly diverse (pan-dimensional mice, superintelligent shades of the color blue, etc). Arguably, this was deliberate, as the idea that "outer space is just like Earth only a little weirder" is one of ''Hitchhiker's'' main jokes.
* RobertRankin shamelessly {{lampshade}}s this in one of his stories (''Armageddon, the Musical'' I think) where it is advanced as proof that there is a {{God}} who designs dominant species in his own image. "As any {{science fiction}} fan knows, the basic human shape, Head at the top, two feet at the bottom, wedding tackle about halfway down, is the standard for intelligent life the universe over. They often speak good English with a noticeable American accent, too. Facts that should serve up friend Atheist with a workload of eggs, faces for the use of."
* In one {{Discworld}} book (though it was referring to gods, the spirit's the same), it's mentioned that if you ask someone to come up with an alien-looking being, it would basically be a man in an animal mask.
* EdgarRiceBurroughs did this all over the place starting back in [[OlderThanRadio 1912]] with ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Princess_of_Mars A Princess of Mars]]''. Everybody on Mars except the Green men looked human, but [[GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe hotter]]. The earth born hero [[JohnCarterOfMars John Carter]] and his Martian Princess wife have two kids, despite massive [[BizarreAlienBiology biological differences]] including Martians being oviparous. This doesn't even begin to cover some of the [[BizarreAlienBiology wild biology]] that shows up in the Land that Time Forgot stories.
* The Takisians of the ''WildCards'' series. In fact, that's what leads to the entire plot of the series; the Takisians note how biologically similar they are to humans, believe they must be the descendants of a "lost colony," and drop the wild card virus on Earth to test out its purpose as a biological weapon.
* The various biological species of TheCulture are mostly human-looking, although they have various additional internal glands and bits. Given the degree of casual genetic modification in the universe though, it's anyone's guess as to whether they were all always like that.
** In ''The Use of Weapons'', Shias Engin asks Zakalwe "I know that all the outworlders aren't humanoid, but a lot are. How come?". Zakalwe replies jokingly that it is the universe's way of getting rid of alcohol.
** Some of them ''are'' human, a result of TheCulture grabbing some of them to spread out across the universe.
* In [[UrsulaKLeGuin Ursula K. LeGuin's]] series the Hainish Cycle, this is because all the humanoid races are from planets colonized by the titular Hainish. Including Earth humans. Despite a common ancestry, they don't all look like us. The Cetians are hairer, for example, and the Athsheans are green (fairy green, not Martian green) and diminutive.
* In JamesPatterson's ''The Dangerous Days of Daniel X'', the aliens on Daniel's home world, Alpar Nok, look exactly like humans. The planet even [[AllPlanetsAreEarthLike looks like Earth]].
* In the ''PerryRhodan'' universe, the ancestors of the most prominent 'human alien' races of our galaxy actually came from Earth. (Extra irony points for one of those species later coming back and, quite unaware, [[AncientAstronauts claiming 'Larsaf III' as a colony of their own]] for a brief time.) Humanoid life in general seems to have some common ancestors in the distant cosmic past, and can also be partially justified by the fact that SufficientlyAdvancedAliens have been known to meddle in the evolution business as well.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

* ''DoctorWho'' did this more times than can be counted. The most famous examples are, of course, the Doctor himself and the other Time Lords. Their most noticeable physiological differences (two hearts, 60-degree Fahrenheit body temperature, a far more complex brain structure, a respiratory bypass system, "symbiotic nuclei" in their cellular structure, and whatever organs or systems are responsible for their ability to regenerate) were effectively invisible to the television viewer.
** The ExpandedUniverse did a LampshadeHanging by having a racist founder of Time Lord society, who thought that the Time Lord form was supreme to any other, go around the universe and infect species with a virus that would cause them to evolve into humanoid forms.
** Earlier, the ExpandedUniverse lore had come up with a completely different LampshadeHanging, also involving the Time Lords. The Time Lords evolved first out of all sentient species. Therefore, the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morphic_field morphic resonance]] of Time Lord-ness propagated throughout the universe.
** This troper always felt the show was playing up the humans get around aspect, and that any time a human like alien was encountered, they were actual humans from the future who had colonized another planet. This is reasonably supported as both the new and old series have many appearances of human colonists going pretty darn near everywhere in the universe. It didn't explain the Time Lords, but they could build time machines that were BiggerOnTheInside than on the out and that could disguise themselves into any shape needed to blend in.
*** The show may have said at one point that the mission of humans in the future was to sort of '[[IfYouKnowWhatIMean get around]]' with as many people as possible. He could be wrong, though.
*** Which also doesn't explain Turlough, for example, who we know came from an advanced alien civilization which existed in the 1980s (since he's been exiled to Earth which is where we pick him up). As far as we can tell, Trions don't have time-travel, so the chances that they are actually human descended in some way is unlikely.
** Yet another [[LampshadeHanging lampshade was hung]] in the Easter 2009 special ''Planet of the Dead'':
-->'''Christina''': "You look like a human."
-->'''Doctor''': "You look like a Time Lord.''
** Thals and Kaleds look like humans. ''The Stolen Earth'' [[NightmareFuel reveals]] that they have fewer ribs than humans and BizarreAlienBiology, though.
* ''StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' had several, and it was rather strange when Spock was the only crew member who had to disguise himself on an alien planet. (It was even stranger when Kirk's BeleagueredChildhoodFriend was able to make himself dictator of an alien planet without any of the aliens noticing something odd about him.) In fact, aliens are HumanAliens more often than not, probably for budgetary reasons.
** ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' attempted to provide an explanation for the prominence of humanoid species (both HumanAliens and RubberForeheadAliens) in the universe by revealing that there was a common ancestor race that "seeded" the galaxy with its basic genetic material. They switched to exclusively using RubberForeheadAliens rather than HumanAliens after the first few seasons (excluding Guinan's people, the El-Aurians and Councelor Troi's, the Betazoids).
*** Betazoids actually do have one distinguishing feature from humans - their irises are completely black. A shame too, Marina Sirtis has gorgeous green eyes, but you'd never know it from the show.
*** The Trill as they appear in ''{{DS9}}'' , are also closer to this than RubberForeheadAliens, at least on the surface; their main distinguishing facial feature are their spots.
** ''StarTrekVoyager'' had a few HumanAliens in ''its'' first season, too, mainly wearing strange and colourful national dress.
** At least ''StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' had a few attempts at using body paint for doing alien skin colours. ''Voyager'' had an absurd number of aliens who were virtually indistinguishable from humans, even in later seasons when they had a high budget.
*** In fairness to ''{{Voyager}}'', they did require a new alien species almost every week as they were travelling constantly. This would require a certain amount of cost-cutting -- remember [[UnpleasableFanbase the fuss]] when the Kazon kept reappearing for two seasons?
*** That had more to do with the fact that they never really seemed to be a threat. It's one thing to have a recurring villain that the heroes often encounter, but when they think drawing a line on the floor and telling prisoners not to cross it is good enough security not to post a guard it's really hard to take them seriously.
** An early ''StarTrekEnterprise'' episode dealt with the bizarre culture of humans acting like aliens (much like the Stargate examples below), where it's [[JustifiedTrope justified]] as the current population is the children and grandchildren of the human settlers of the first Earth colony.
* ''{{Stargate SG-1}}'' and ''StargateAtlantis'' partly subvert this trope by setting up the premise that the Milky Way, Pegasus, and Ori galaxies are filled with actual human beings due to being [[TransplantedHumans kidnapped from Earth and seeded on different planets]] by various {{Sufficiently Advanced Alien}}s. Of course, this doesn't explain why every human culture they encounter on these shows speaks English. See AliensSpeakingEnglish for some thoughts on the matter.
** Note that this is pretty hilarious considering that almost the entire plot of the original ''Stargate'' movie consisted of Daniel Jackson trying to figure out the elaborate language of the planet they gated to.
*** Not any more elaborate than any other human language; it started out as Ancient Egyptian and then drifted for several thousand years (and should have changed ''vastly'' in that time--consider that, 5000 years ago, the language that was the remote ancestor of Latin hadn't really developed yet-- but having undying gods around does tend to freeze things in place).
** It should also be noted that the humans are related to the ancients in some way, which explains the similar appearance. Likewise the Jaffa were genetically-altered humans. So while all three races look the same (for the most part, Jaffas do have a visible pouch on their stomach) it's because they're all related in the first place. Of course, Humans still manage to get around being, apparently, the most populous race in the Milky Way, Pegasus and Ori galaxies.
*** The humans in Pegasus and the Ori galaxy were seeded by the Ancients through genetic engineering, and are not directly descended from them, despite the use of the term "ancestors" in Pegasus. The humans on Earth presumably came about the same way. Humans were not seeded on any other Milky Way planet, the Goa'uld brought them to those worlds from Earth.
*** A Goa'Uld named Hathor actually turns Jack O'neill INTO a Jaffa in one episode, although it only lasts a few minutes, as he's placed in a sarcophagus and returned to normal. (Is there a trope for this?) jaffa were humans altered by the Goa'Uld queens and a hand device that altered their bodies.
**** Yes, it's called {{Discontinuity}}.
** Also, while the hyper-advanced Asgard appear to be your typical [[TheGreys Greys]], one episode does show that their ancestors were, in fact, not unlike humans in appearance (except for the gray skin). Their current condition was caused by thousands of years of Cloning. This suggests that they may also share a common ancestor with the humans/Ancients.
* The three alien kids from ''{{Roswell}}'' who looked human, [[DawsonCasting but prettier]]. It's gradually established that they are actually traditional Roswell [[TheGreys greys]] in [[VoluntaryShapeshifting human form]]. The thing is, they assumed these forms before exploring outside their crashed spaceship as children. The reason they knew to do so was later {{HandWave}}d by explaining they are HalfHumanHybrids. Whew!
* On ''{{Farscape}}'', the Sebaceans. [[spoiler: Same thing happened to them as the aliens on Stargate.]] As a bonus, this explains their absolutely absurd vulnerability to heat (as well as their numerous superiorities to humans, such as keen eyesight and [[spoiler:ability to breed with humans]]); it was [[spoiler:engineered into them by their abductors as a control mechanism]]. Considering that, in real biology, one of the things that [[HumansAreSpecial makes humans special]] is our ability to withstand overheating, there's [[DidNotDoTheResearch no way that could have happened naturally]]. Though even before the reveal this was something of a subversion, as the show is noted for its many decidedly non-human looking aliens, which were {{Muppet}}s at least as often as [[RubberForeheadAliens actors in prosthetics]], so the fact that humans and Sebaceans look exactly alike is considered quite weird. Not to mention, since the human John is the alien far from home, everyone they meet natually assumes he's a Sebacean, which often plays right into the heroes' hands.
** For that matter the physiology of the Luxans made no sense either, so, this editor took the heat vulnerability in step and just kept going.
*** Or the Delvians. Or...
* [[MorkAndMindy Mork]], of course. He was even able to have a kid with Mindy (although he was the one who laid the egg, and the kid was middle-aged Jonathan Winters.)
* ''PowerRangers'' ''really'' abuses this trope, invoking it for more or less anyone who isn't a [[RubberForeheadAliens rubber-forehead-alien]] or a robot-ish thingy. They even ''call'' themselves humans, for the most part.
--> "What, you think Earth is the only place humans come from?" -[[PowerRangersInSpace Andros]] in his first appearance
* The Centauri from ''{{Babylon 5}}'' look human, except for their hairstyles [[spoiler:and tentacle-like genitalia.]] Possibly [[JustifiedTrope justified]] in that [[spoiler:Vorlons had tampered with the evolution of younger races on numerous occasions]].
** This was lampshaded in the first episode, where it is revealed that, after encountering humans for the first time, the sneaky Centauri claimed that their physical similarity was due to Earth being a [[TransplantedHumans long-forgotten Centauri colony]]. Human scientists, no doubt keeping the fossil record in mind, got hold of some Centauri DNA and disproved this claim. The Centauri saved face by claiming "clerical error" had mislabelled Earth as a lost colony. Internally they are completely different.
* The aliens on ''[[ThirdRockFromTheSun 3rd Rock From The Sun]]'' mention a few times that they've taken on human form and describe their natural form as being "purple tubes". It's never quite clear whether they're using stolen bodies from real humans or if they somehow created their human bodies from scratch.
** The first words spoken by High Commander Dick Solomon on arriving on Earth are "Everyone fully formed?", which would indicate the latter.
* Arguably the Cylons from the new Battlestar Galactica. But this instance is justified. "The Cylons were created by Man..." And they WANTED to become like humans. For, among other reasons, sex and having children. Also, [[spoiler:Humans apparently evolved independently on both Kobol and Earth. Kobol first.]]
**[[spoiler: Not necessarily. We have good reason to believe that [[SufficientlyAdvancedAliens Sufficiently Advanced Aliens]] have been screwing around with humans for some time. It's not impossible that the people of Kobol were originally taken from Earth. After all, the only records of Kobollian civilisation are ancient religious texts - the Colonials may ''believe'' that they evolved on Kobol, but they don't actually ''know'' that]].
**[[spoiler:Doesn't matter. In terms of us, they are humanAliens that finally found OUR Earth, but since we are their descendents, aren't we also HumanAlien?]]
* ''Odyssey 5'' had Synthetics, which were human bodies created by artificial intelligences. At one stage the team consult a sci-fi writer, pretending they're looking for help with a sci-fi novel. The writer complains how cliched the idea of Synthetics is: "It's just a cheap tool TV shows use to save on special effects!"
* A nice HandWave comes from the TV show SomethingIsOutThere. "God created human beings in his image, right? How many images do you think he has?"


[[/folder]]

[[folder: Tabletop Games ]]

* ''{{Warhammer 40000}}'' has roughly humanoid eldar, sentient fungi who just so happen to look like Football holigans, a race of little blue humanoids evolved from ''grazing herd animals'' and a faction of humanoid undead robot skeletons. Their are dozens of StarfishAlien minor races, but the humanoids are pretty much dominant.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* ''SuperRobotWars: Original Generation'' reveals that all the HumanAliens are actually humans, who left Earth long ago voluntarily. The Mysterious [[CosmicHorror Lovecraftian Aliens]] refer to Earth as the "Land of Beginning", where sentient life first evolved.
* ''Galactic Civilizations II'' has a race called the Altarians, who are essentially Humans With PsychicPowers. The Altarians even call the [[HumansByAnyOtherName Terrans]] their "lesser cousins." It's implied in the backstory, however, that the two races might have a common origin.
* ToejamAndEarl 2: Panic on Funkitron plays with this by having the hero's planes being invaded by ''humans''. HilarityEnsues.
* StarControl2 is mostly pretty good about making its aliens different from humans, though there are still a suspiciously large number of bipeds with heads on the top. However, one species, the Syreen, are your typical [[GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe blue-skinned space babes]] - and they comment on the perplexing similarity between their species (the big difference being matriarchal rather than patriarchal). They're so close, in fact, that they're apparently sexually compatible, capable of producing fertile offspring. It is implied in the game's rich backstory, however, that it's because a [[LittleGreenMen certain other alien species]] transplanted some ancient Syreen to Earth as part of an extremely long-term experiment.
* The Lunarians in {{Touhou}} are basically this. But then again, they might be [[EpilepticTrees merely ascended humans]] after all.
* Similarly, the Lunarians in ''FinalFantasyIV'' don't look too different from humans other than slightly different skin tones and hair colors. They can even interbreed with humans and the two major characters are [[HalfHumanHybrid Half-Lunarian]].
* The vast majority of the alien races in ''StarOcean'' are human or PettingZooPeople. This may be [[JustifiedTrope justified]] by the third game's ShockingSwerve if [[FridgeBrilliance the player thinks about it]].

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* ''{{Ben10}}'' plays with this trope a ''lot''. For starters, most of his aliens are of a fairly human shape, so even when he transforms, he doesn't have to deal with totally BizarreAlienBiology (though even PlantAliens don't give him any trouble figuring out - apparently the Omnitrix downloads a detailed knowledge of the new form's abilities into his brain that Ben can call up subconsciously when necessary). Then in the [[Ben10AlienForce sequel]], Alan is a [[HalfHumanHybrid Pyronite crossbreed]] who looks human except for when he's using his powers, and it's revealed that [[spoiler: Gwen is a HalfHumanHybrid]] and gets her powers from her alien grandmother (the logical extension is, of course, that anyone without an Omnitrix strapped to their wrist who has powers is an alien or part-alien. The fans have had fun with this).

!!Aversions and subversions

* The First Breed from ''His Majesty's Starship'' look nothing like humans.
** Although books are naturally far less vulnerable to this trope than LiveActionTV, given that it takes significantly less effort to write a character as a "20-foot arachnid" than it does to act said spider.
* Prot in K-Pax explains this by saying that it is the most energy efficient form to take on Earth. Of course, he [[spoiler:may or may not be an alien]].
** In the earlier film which might have inspired the novel, an Argentinian production called ''Hombre Mirando al Sudeste'' (''Man Looking Southeast''), Rantes explains to the doctor that though they came in a ship, he and the others are actually physical [[ProjectedMan projections]] from a distant, doomed future on another planet, and that they naturally adapt to whatever the observer [[WeirdnessCensor expects to see]]. Of course, he [[spoiler:may not be an alien, either--though he does have PsychicPowers, and his equally-alien (?) female friend does leak blue liquid from her mouth when excited]], and then again, he also claims to be TheMessiah...yeah, it's one ''hell'' of a MindScrew.
* Subverted in ''Monster Buster Club''; Cathy seems like a Human Alien at first glance... but various lines indicate that this is just a human disguise like we see on other aliens in the series, and her true form hews closer to the StarfishAliens trope.
* Both the {{Transformers}} & the Brave Series have a weird variation on this, wherein there are several planets besides Cybertron/whatever planet the heroes come from that are inhabited by intelligent TransformingMecha. Sometimes explained as being colonies of the main characters' race, sometimes not. While it may be reasonable to assume that a sufficiently advanced civilization would discard their weak organic bodies for more durable mechanical ones, the whole transforming thing is pushing it. The weirdest example being the Japanese BeastWars II series, where there is a planet of highly evolved FunnyAnimal-like aliens who have developed to the point of Trans-funnyanimalism, where they have upgraded themselves with cybernetics. This allows them to turn into humanoid robot forms that look uncannily like the Maximals & Predacons, despite having no prior contact with them, for no apparent reason other than RuleOfCool.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Anime ]]

* ''{{NeonGenesisEvangelion}}'', oddly enough several of the Angels are roughly humanoid, others are more... interesting. Notably, the two most powerful ones are basically cloned HalfHumanHybrids.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

* Averted in the novel ''Transformers: Ghosts of Yesterday'' (a prequel to the film), where Starscream claims that any sufficiently advanced race would naturally build machines that were similar to Cybertronians, as the Decepticons believe that they are the most perfect lifeforms in the galaxy. However, he also may have been simply trying to explain away the fact that the human spaceship ''Ghost 1'' seemed to be built using Cybertronian technology (i.e. that Megatron, the Decepticons' true leader, has been found).
* Conspicuously and consciously avoided in Wayne D. Barlowe's illustrated sci-fi novel ''Expedition''. Barlowe, a noted fantastic fiction illustrator who darn well knows his biology, openly despises this trope and so he invented an alien race who is very like humankind in their attitude and culture - [[spoiler: but they look a bit like a cross between a hot air balloon and an [[SpaceWhale airborn octopus]].]]
* In LarryNiven's {{Ringworld}} series, there are various humanoid races who all turn out to be [[spoiler: descended from the same race of {{Precursors}} who are the ancestors of Earth humans]].
* The Martians and Venusians of S.M. Stirling's ''TheLordsOfCreation'' novels look human because they are (more or less); the eponymous beings, in prehistoric times, Terraformed Mars and Venus and seeded them with Earth life (repeating the process several times, so that on Venus you have humans sharing the planet with dinosaurs and mammalian megafauna).
* The aliens in Robert Zubrin's {{The Holy Land}} consider themselves the humans, and the Earthlings merely 'proto-humans'. Given their superior senses, telepathic ability, superior physiques, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking superlative hygiene]], they're probably right. However, they themselves originated on Earth, about twenty thousand years ago.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

* ''[[BabylonFive Babylon 5]]'' had a strange inversion/subversion. The Vorlons are so alien looking that for the first two seasons we don't know how much of them is clothing and how much is their real body. Their true form appears to some kind of energy being, but every species perceives a Vorlon to look like their species version of an angel - It is suggested explained that this is the result of the ancient Vorlons having not only genetically tweaked the other species, but also appeared to them ''as'' angels at appropriate times in their respective development, creating the basis for the legends.
**Mollari, due to his subversion by the Shadows, doesn't see anything when the Vorlon reveals itself.
***WordOfGod implies that's more due to the Centauri not really having an equivalent to the role Kosh was taking on than to anything the Shadows did to Mollari.
**** Hmph. Bad writing then. In the opinion of every B5 viewer this troper has ever met, it came across as due to Londo being somehow ''tainted'' by his involvement with the Shadows. It has already heavily implied that any race that possesses telepaths has been interfered with by the Vorlons - why wouldn't they have an angel equivalent?
**** Touched on in the Legions of Fire book series when Emperor Mollari remembers the incident and his memory finally manages to perceive Kosh as an angelic being.
* ''{{Firefly}}'' pointedly [[AbsentAliens avoids this trope]]. If the people on the next planet over look human, that's because they are. [[spoiler:Yes, even the Reavers.]]
* TNG had a weird variation once: apparently, it's not just humans that have doubles. "Who Watches the Watchers?" features a alien species that are physically identical to ''Vulcans'' (or at least Romulans, who are basically Vulcans with a ridge to make them distinct from their Federation cousins) without being a descendant.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Radio ]]

* Parodied in the ''Captain Kremmen'' radio spoof, when Kremmen first encounters the Thargoids.
-->"Except for their large transparent heads, three lips and sixteen nostrils, they looked just like you or I!"

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Tabletop Games ]]

* Subverted in ''Cthulhu Tech''. The Nazzadi look like RubberForeheadAliens, but that is because they are actually genetically engineered from humans by the very alien [[StarfishAliens Migou]].
* ''{{Traveller}}'' RolePlayingGame both uses ''and'' subverts this; there are humans and humanoids [[TransplantedHumans spread]] by mysterious {{Precursors}}, and there are StarfishAliens, some of them ''very'' alien.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* ''DeadSpace'' has an ironic subversion, since all the Necromorphs are made from human corpses and several of them look pretty damn close to a plain old human.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Web Comics ]]

* ''[[http://www.aliendice.com/archive.php?day=20010516 Alien Dice]]'' has numerous examples of aliens who look similar to humans but with subtle differences, such as exotic HairColors or CuteLittleFangs. It also has a rather interesting subversion when it is [[TheReveal revealed]] that [[spoiler:the reason that the blueskinned Rishan look human is because they '''are''' human, having been created using genetic material taken from Earth humans generations ago]].
* ''ElGoonishShive.'' Aliens and magical beings get around by wearing T-shirts that say "Human" or some such. (''One'' person notices that his coworker is an alien. Her denying it is enough to convince the others, and she and this coworker wind up sending silly notes back and forth to each other about it.) Of course, Uryuoms being natural shapeshifters ''and'' the creators of TransformationRay technology, they could hide by simply becoming human. Of course, [[RuleOfFunny that wouldn't be funny.]]
** Two of them hire Ted (seen in a flashback) to design human forms for them, and provide the technology for it - apparently there are legal/political/religious reasons why they can't do it themselves, rather than an inability to do it themselves. Also, once they've been raygunned into humans, they can (implied) shift back and forth freely.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* Deeply subverted in ''InvaderZim''. Zim is small and green, with antennae, but everyone else is so oblivious that no one notices.
** But he has his human disguise! He puts in his contacts and wears a wig - INGENIOUS!!! [[http://www.quizilla.com/user_images/P/PorkCow/1042793471_InvaderZim.jpg evidence]]
* Captain Crandall of ''TeamoSupremo'' claims to be from another planet, despite the fact that he looks too much like his "Earth-mom" to possibly not be her child.

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