History Main / ClashOfEvolutionaryLevels

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* ''Film/QuestForFire'': An evolutionary four-way battle royale is playing out. The Wagabu, which resemble ''H. habilis'', raid a village of Ulam which resemble ''H. neanderthalensis'' and force them to flee. Later on, the Kzamm, which resemble ''H. erectus'', are depicted as nomadic hunters of other hominids. Finally, the Ivaka, who are simply modern humans, end up getting along with the Ulam. It can be a subversion if you interpret the Ulam as neanderthals, as the movie was released in 1981.

** [[Literature/QuestForFire The 1911 novel]] actually subverts this trope even further. There are many clashing hominid species but none of them are portrayed as inherently superior or inferior to each other. The Kzamm are even more [[FrazettaMan primitive-looking]] in the book, but they are noted to have more sophisticated fire-keeping techniques than the protagonists. The modern humans (called Wah instead of Ivaka) are physically much weaker than other humans and as a result are barely clinging to survival in spite of their advanced weaponry and ability to actually start fires. Then there are the Blue-haired men who are literally just big apes but have no interest in clashing with anyone given their peaceful foraging ways.

* Averted hard in ''Literature/QuestForFire'' (the book the film is based on). There are multiple human species clashing but none of them are portrayed as inherently superior. The brutish-looking cannibal tribe has more advanced fire-keeping techniques than the neanderthal protagonists and the proverbial cro-magnons are in many ways inferior to the other species despite their sophisticated tool culture. Said neanderthals and cro-magnons end up forming an alliance with no violent conflict between them. The most physically "primitive" hominids represented turnout to be peaceful gorilla-like vegetarians. [[FairForItsDay It's a remarkably nuanced portrayal of early humans for 1911!]]

* ''Film/QuestForFire'': An evolutionary four-way battle royale is playing out. The Wagabu, which resemble ''H. habilis''[[note]]but are Neanderthals in the book[[/note]], raid a village of Ulam which resemble ''H. neanderthalensis''[[note]]but are Cro-Magnon in the book[[/note]] and force them to flee. Later on, the Kzamm, which resemble ''H. erectus''[[note]]but are also Neanderthals in the book[[/note]], are depicted as nomadic hunters of other hominids. Finally, the Ivaka, who are simply modern humans, end up getting along with the Ulam. It can be a subversion if you interpret the Ulam as neanderthals, as the movie was released in 1981.

[[HollywoodEvolution Except it (probably) didn't happen that way.]] For one thing, the Cro-Magnum man didn't show up out of nowhere as a more evolved version of the Neanderthal. They were both different strains of the ''homo'' evolutionary tree who were at first separated by geography and climate (I.E. the Ice Age) but then intermingle later as those restrictions lessened. Also, while it was the leading theory for quite some time that the Cro-Magnum violently replaced Neanderthals by weaponizing its greater intelligence, more recent evidence has many anthropologists believing that Neanderthals and Cro-Magnon's co-existed and interbred. This interbreeding, in fact, is probably what contributed to modern Human intelligence in the first place as Neanderthals, in inverse to what pop culture would say, had highly developed brains (their DNA still exists in peoples of Eurasian descent). The evidence is ''very'' new, however, and the "Neanderthals=dumb therefore extermination" model is still widely believed by many. As such, it's likely to show up in any work not made (or set) within the last few years.

[[HollywoodEvolution Except it (probably) didn't happen that way.]] While it was the leading theory for quite some time, more recent evidence has many anthropologists believing that Neanderthals and Cro-Magnon's co-existed and interbred which contributed to modern Human intelligence in the first place as Neanderthals, in inverse to what pop culture would say, had highly developed brains (their DNA still exists in peoples of Eurasian descent). The evidence is ''very'' new, however, and the "Neanderthals=dumb therefore extermination" model is still widely believed by many. As such, it's likely to show up in any work not made (or set) within the last few years.

-->-- ''The Uncanny X-Men'', issue 141

* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40K'': {{Invoked}} as the justification for CivilWarcraft for Tyranids (the members of the other factions not really needing a reason to turn on each other): Tyranid fleets, being driven by an urge to consume everything they see and get the most adaptations out of it, will attack each other so that the fleet best suited for combat survives, the loser's adaptations and biomass serving the winner.

It is CommonKnowledge that Cro-Magnon man exterminated the Neanderthal. And as we all know, HistoryRepeats. Thus, it is inevitable that a more-evolved species of human (frequently "''Homo superior''") will exterminate a lesser-evolved species of human (frequently, our modern ''Homo sapiens sapiens''.) Of course, because HumansAreWarriors, the less-evolved humanity [[DoNotGoGentle does not go gentle]], and fights back against the more-evolved version. Depending on where the work falls on the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism, co-existence may be easy, difficult, or impossible. Frequently, expect modern humans (whether they are more or less evolved than the version of human they're fighting against) to "draw first blood," because HumansAreTheRealMonsters (neanderthals shot first, basically the driving force behind ''ComicBook/XMen''.) Sometimes, however, ''Homo superior'' bands together and institute TheMasquerade to protect themselves until the day they inevitably take down those uppity neanderthals (basically the premise of the series ''Series/{{Prey}}'', see Live-Action TV below). And then, some ''Homo superior'' TakeAThirdOption and say ScrewThisImOuttaHere One of these species is likely to attempt (or actually employ) a FinalSolution on the other.

* In ''Literature/TheNeanderthalParallax'', by Creator/RobertJSawyer, a gateway opens to a parellel Earth where Neanderthals became the dominant form in humanity and evolved a society which in many ways is at least as advanced as our Cro-Magnon Earth and in some ways outstrips it. From the Neanderthal point of view, their problem is that they chose to apply birth control and hence population control quite early on. They are outnumbered by a factor of thousands to one. Meanwhile, there are people on the overpopulated and spoilt Cro-Magnon Earth (ours) who see Neanderthal Earth as a godsend and plan to conquer it. To them the Neanderthals are a nuisance who should, at best, have the status of Native Americans on reservations following the conquest of the USA -- and that's the ''liberal'' view. Others want to distribute diseases the Neanderthals have no defence against, and deal with the problem that way...

It is CommonKnowledge that Cro-Magnon man exterminated the Neanderthal. And as we all know, HistoryRepeats. Thus, it is inevitable that a more-evolved species of human (frequently "''Homo superior''") will exterminate a lesser-evolved species of human (frequently, our modern ''Homo sapiens sapiens''.) Of course, because HumansAreWarriors, the less-evolved humanity [[DoNotGoGentle does not go gentle]], and fights back against the more-evolved version. Depending on where the work falls on the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism, co-existence may be easy, difficult, or impossible. Frequently, expect modern humans (whether they are more or less evolved than the version of human they're fighting against) to "draw first blood," because HumansAreBastards (neanderthals shot first, basically the driving force behind ''ComicBook/XMen''.) Sometimes, however, ''Homo superior'' bands together and institute TheMasquerade to protect themselves until the day they inevitably take down those uppity neanderthals (basically the premise of the series ''Series/{{Prey}}'', see Live-Action TV below). And then, some ''Homo superior'' TakeAThirdOption and say ScrewThisImOuttaHere One of these species is likely to attempt (or actually employ) a FinalSolution on the other.

[[HollywoodEvolution Except it (probably) didn't happen that way.]] While it was the leading theory for quite some time, more recent evidence has many anthropologists believing that Neanderthals and Cro-Magnon's co-existed and interbred which contributed to modern Human intelligence in the first place as Neanderthals, inverse to what pop culture would say, have highly developed brains (their DNA still exists in peoples of Eurasian descent). The evidence is ''very'' new, however, and the "Neanderthals=dumb therefore extermination" model is still widely believed by many. As such, it's likely to show up in any work not made (or set) within the last few years.

* This is a big part of ''Manga/ElfenLied''. Diclonius/Diclonii, or ''Homo Diclonius'', are a newly mutated subspecies of human. Their appearance is similar to humans, but with several differences, namely horn-like protrusions on the forehead and the presence of telekinetic invisible arms called "vectors." Diclonii are hated and feared by the few people who know about them, as they seem to have an innate urge to kill humans (the entire reason why people became aware of them is because when they develop their vectors at age 3 they kill their families). Once this was known, it resulted in all known Diclonii being euthanized soon after birth or kidnapped and locked away in a government facility that performs painful experiments on them. It's revealed that Diclonii have a "DNA voice," or a genetic drive to kill humans and take their place as Earth's dominant species. However, there is some ambiguity as to just how much this can be averted by childhood circumstances; every Diclonius in the series has been abused by humans to the point where their biological survival instinct has fused with their psychosis, which insists that humans must be eradicated or they will eradicate the Diclonii.

It is CommonKnowledge that Cro-Magnon man exterminated the Neanderthal. And as we all know, HistoryRepeats. Thus, it is inevitable that a more-evolved species of human (frequently "''Homo superior''") will exterminate a lesser-evolved species of human (frequently, our modern ''Homo sapiens sapiens''.) Of course, because HumansAreWarriors, the less-evolved humanity [[DoNotGoGentle does not go gentle]], and fights back against the more-evolved version. Depending on where the work falls on the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism, co-existence may be easy, difficult, or impossible. Frequently, expect modern humans (whether they are more or less evolved than the version of human they're fighting against) to "draw first blood," because HumansAreBastards ([[TheDogShotFirst neanderthals shot first]], basically the driving force behind ''ComicBook/XMen''.) Sometimes, however, ''Homo superior'' bands together and institute TheMasquerade to protect themselves until the day they inevitably take down those uppity neanderthals (basically the premise of the series ''Series/{{Prey}}'', see Live-Action TV below). And then, some ''Homo superior'' TakeAThirdOption and say ScrewThisImOuttaHere One of these species is likely to attempt (or actually employ) a FinalSolution on the other.

** In ''Comic/OldManLogan'', Logan notes with some melancholic amusement that, in the end (at least within that particular AlternateUniverse) the whole situation was AllForNothing: as his own children can showcase, the X-Gene isn't passed on to descendants of mutants. Mutant-hood was just a genetic 'burp' in evolution and would have probably died out quietly in time if not for the GreatOffscreenWar.

SubTrope of EvolutionaryLevels, specifically involving HumanSubspecies. People who often consider this as their life philosophy include the SocialDarwinist, the EvilutionaryBiologist or SuperSupremacist, painting whatever group he's against as the Neanderthals and his own group as the Cro-Magnons. A symptom (or justification) of HollywoodEvolution. See AllCavemenWereNeanderthals for more information. [[IThoughtItMeant Has (probably) nothing to do with]] CavemenVersusAstronautsDebate.

** Apparently played to the hilt in ''Film/WarForThePlanetOfTheApes''.
--->'''The Colonel''': You talk about mercy? No matter what you say, eventually you'd replace us. That's the law of nature.

[[HollywoodEvolution Except it (probably) didn't happen that way.]] While it was the leading theory for quite some time, more recent evidence has many anthropologists believing that Neanderthals and Cro-Magnon's co-existed for quite some time, even interbreeding (many modern humans have some percentage of Neanderthal DNA). The evidence is ''very'' new, however, and the "extermination" model is still widely believed by many. As such, it's likely to show up in any work not made (or set) within the last few years.

SubTrope of EvolutionaryLevels, specifically involving HumanSubspecies. A symptom (or justification) of HollywoodEvolution. Often invoked by the EvilutionaryBiologist or SuperSupremacist. A SocialDarwinist is likely to cite this trope, painting whatever group he's against as the Neanderthals and his own group as the Cro-Magnons. See AllCavemenWereNeanderthals for more information. [[IThoughtItMeant Has (probably) nothing to do with]] CavemenVersusAstronautsDebate.

* In the ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' episode "My Three Crichtons", an alien probe creates two clones from Crichton, a primitive caveman referred to as "Neandro" and a hyper-evolved character with a giant brain referred to as "Futuro". Inevitable, the latter turns out to be selfish and evil, willing to kill the other two and everyone else to survive, and the latter benevolent and self-sacrificing.

It is CommonKnowledge that Cro-Magnon man exterminated the Neanderthal. And as we all know, HistoryRepeats. Thus, it is inevitable that a more-evolved species of human (frequently "''Homo superior''") will exterminate a lesser-evolved species of human (frequently, our modern ''Homo sapiens sapiens''.) Of course, because HumansAreWarriors, the less-evolved humanity [[DoNotGoGentle does not go gentle]], and fights back against the more-evolved version. Depending on where the work falls on the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism, co-existence may be easy, difficult, or impossible. Frequently, expect modern humans (whether they are more or less evolved than the version of human they're fighting against) to "draw first blood," because HumansAreBastards ([[TheDogShotFirst neanderthals shot first]], basically the driving force behind ''ComicBook/XMen''.) Sometimes, however, ''homo superior'' bands together and institute TheMasquerade to protect themselves until the day they inevitably take down those uppity neanderthals (basically the premise of the series ''Series/{{Prey}}'', see Live-Action TV below). And then, some ''homo superior'' TakeAThirdOption and say ScrewThisImOuttaHere One of these species is likely to attempt (or actually employ) a FinalSolution on the other.

** The Morlocks are mutants who decided not to get involved with either the X-Men (fighting to protect a humanity that hates and fears them) or the Brotherhood (fighting to destroy a humanity that hates and fears them), and instead chose to live deep in the tunnels under New York City. TakeAThirdOption didn't exactly work that well for them, though. . .

* In the science fiction novel "Frostworld and Dreamfire", the planet Hraggellon has/had multiple offshoot humanoid species: the civilized local equivalent of Homo Sapiens; a species of near-sapients equivalent to australopithecines; and in between the two the Onhla, intelligent but utterly uncivilized, who don't even build shelters or wear more than a fur cloak for clothing. (Mention is also made in passing to an "extinct race of dwarves"). [[spoiler: By the end of the novel the Onhla have all died of a civilization-bred plague and the semi-sapient species hunted to extinction.]]

* The Howard Families, in Creator/RobertHeinlein's ''Literature/MethuselahsChildren''. They aren't truly mutant, they're just the members of families who have voluntarily engaged in selective breeding for long lifespan. After several generations of this, members of the Howard Families (Mr Howard was the dude who ponied up the cash to make it work way back in the beginning) routinely live 25 to 30% longer than normal people, and the normal people refuse to believe that the Howard's don't have some secret formula or treatment that they aren't sharing. (It doesn't help that the Families tend to be very well off, too). Long story short: the government is pressured into starting a program to strip the Howards of their holdings and imprison them until they fork over the secret. The Howards manage to hijack a colony spaceship (don't ask) and take off for the stars to find a world where they will be safe. From there it basically becomes an {{homage}} to the The Odyssey. . .
* In ''Literature/TheNeanderthalParallax'', by Creator/RobertJSawyer, a gateway opens to a parellel Earth where Neanderthals became the dominant form in humanity and evolved a society which in many ways is at least as advanced as our Cro-Magnon Earth and in some ways outstrips it. From the Neanderthal point of view, their problem is that they chose to apply birth control and hence population control quite early on. They are outnumbered by a factor of thousands to one. Meanwhile, there are people on the overpopulated and spoilt Cro-Magnon Earth (ours) who see Neanderthal Earth as a godsend and plan to conquer it. To them the Neanderthals are a nuisance who should, at best, have the status of Native Americans on reservations following the conquest of the USA - and that's the ''liberal'' view. Others want to distribute diseases the Neanderthals have no defence against, and deal with the problem that way. . .

* ''Series/Babylon5'': Telepaths versus "[[{{Muggle}} mundanes]]" are this. While most of humanity's poor treatment of their telepaths is due to [[JerkassHasAPoint not-unjustifed]] fear of telepathic invasion of privacy, some of it is due to the fact that some humans fear telepaths are "homo superior," and their very existence means ''homo sapiens'' days are flat-out numbered. One wealthy industrialist goes so far as to [[spoiler: create a telepath-specific virus, which would make all telepaths completely reliant on injections supplied by him or die.]] As his right hand man states, "on a level playing field, homo superior wins every time." And then there are some human telepaths who consider ''themselves'' homo superior, and are quite prepared to inherit the Earth Alliance once they've rid it of those pesky mundanes. For what its worth, the series itself strongly implies telepathy is the next step in human evolution (though it was [[spoiler: [[TouchedByVorlons kick-started by the Vorlons]]]]), and will ultimately lead to humans evolving into EnergyBeings.

* TabletopGame/Warhammer40K: {{Invoked}} as the justification for CivilWarcraft for Tyranids (the other factions not really needing a reason to turn on each other): Tyranid fleets, being driven by an urge to consume everything they see and get the most adaptations out of it, will attack each other so that the fleet best suited for combat survives, the loser's adaptations and biomass serving the winner.

-> ''I wonder, as well, doctor, if this same question wasn't asked by the last neanderthal about the first cro-magnon?''
-> ''(StuffBlowingUp)''
-> ''An apt question, Senator Kelly, and one with its own answer -- for we all know what the first cro-magnon '''did''' to the last neanderthal.''
--> Seantor Robert Kelly and Mystique, ''The Uncanny X-Men'', issue 141

It is CommonKnowledge that Cro-Magnon man exterminated the Neanderthal. And as we all know, HistoryRepeats. Thus, it is inevitable that a more-evolved species of human (frequently "''Homo superior''") will exterminate a lesser-evolved species of human (frequently, our modern ''Homo sapiens sapiens''.) Of course, because HumansAreWarriors, the less-evolved humanity [[DoNotGoGentle does not go gentle]], and fights back against the more-evolved version. Depending on where the work falls on the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism, co-existence may be easy, difficult, or impossible. Frequently, expect modern humans (whether they are more or less evolved than the version of human they're fighting against) to "draw first blood," because HumansAreBastards ([[TheDogShotFirst neanderthals shot first]], basically the driving force behind ''ComicBook/XMen''.) Sometimes, however, ''homo superior'' is GenreSavvy enough to band together and institute TheMasquerade to protect themselves until the day they inevitably take down those uppity neanderthals (basically the premise of the series ''Series/{{Prey}}'', see Live-Action TV below). And then, some ''homo superior'' TakeAThirdOption and say ScrewThisImOuttaHere One of these species is likely to attempt (or actually employ) a FinalSolution on the other.

* The Creator/SyFy (then [=SciFi=]) series ''Series/{{Prey}}'' was also about this trope. During a routine DNA test for a murder trial, the main character discovers the murderer's DNA is different enough from baseline humanity to qualify him as a different species, which leads to the discovery of a whole new species of humanity. This new species is GenreSavvy enough to remain hidden from humanity until they increase their numbers and technology sufficiently to decisively win the inevitable war against "baseline" humans. Thus, the main characters, with almost no one believing them, have to fight a covert war against this new species before old humanity is wiped out. Yeah, it's basically ''Franchise/XMen'' meets ''Series/TheXFiles''.