History Main / HumansAreSurvivors

In fiction, no matter how many other races are kicking around, if there's one species that seems to have a knack for avoiding extinction it's us. Genocidal aliens? [[LastStand We fortify our position and fight back with everything we have.]] Earth becomes uninhabitable? We either head into space to find somewhere new to live or artificially create enclosed environments that are habitable. Our planet [[EarthShatteringKaboom gets blown up]]? Again, time to take to the stars. Global ice age? [[TruthInTelevision Been there, done that.]]

* The populations of the [[EverythingTryingToKillYou aptly named]] "{{death worlds}}" in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}''. Due to natural (and sometimes not-quite-natural) selection, these planets are basically breeding grounds for badasses, who fill the ranks of the most renowned Imperial Guard regiments as well as Space Marine chapters.

* In ''Franchise/MassEffect'', humans were the last species to master intergalactic space travel and are new to intergalactic diplomacy. They are seen as overly ambitious upstarts. However, whenever there is a threat to the galaxy, the humans are the first to detect it and always lead the charge to defeat it. Humans are attacked [[EldritchAbomination by space badasses]] over and over again and always manage to survive despite alien species and planets being obliterated.

Differs from LastStand in that while LastStand is to do with refusing to surrender even when the odds are heavily stacked against them, with the possibility of extinction not always being a factor, Human Are Survivors covers the way that humans as a species tend to be very, very hard to kill off, regardless of whether the ones attempting to do so are enemies, Mother Nature, the universe in general or even [[HumansAreMorons our own stupidity]]. There is a fair bit of overlap though. Can sometimes overlap with HumansAreSpecial. See also HumansAreWarriors and HadToBeSharp, and [[JustForFun/FightingForSurvival]] for many of the ways that humans can show that they're good at surviving. There's a contrast with anyone who is [[{{Immortality}} immortal]] or [[NighInvulnerability nearly indestructible]]; humans are survivors because they developed the virtues of survival in order to overcome the state of affairs where they are mortal and die rather easily, while an immortal being just never has to face a survival-threatening problem.

Differs from LastStand in that while LastStand is to do with refusing to surrender even when the odds are heavily stacked against them, with the possibility of extinction not always being a factor, Human Are Survivors covers the way that humans as a species tend to be very, very hard to kill off, regardless of whether the ones attempting to do so are enemies, Mother Nature, the universe in general or even [[HumansAreMorons our own stupidity]]. There is a fair bit of overlap though. Can sometimes overlap with HumansAreSpecial. See also HumansAreWarriors, and HadToBeSharp. There's a contrast with anyone who is [[{{Immortality}} immortal]] or [[NighInvulnerability nearly indestructible]]; humans are survivors because they developed the virtues of survival in order to overcome the state of affairs where they are mortal and die rather easily, while an immortal being just never has to face a survival-threatening problem.

* The Terrans in ''VideoGame/StarCraft'' are the descendants of a small group of refugees from earth's death camps who crashed into a bunch of planets after missing their intended destination by some 15 years in warp and later proceeded to fight at least one nuclear war amongst themselves. In the games themselves several of their colonies are infested by a HordeOfAlienLocusts and/or sterilized by ScaryDogmaticAliens, and yet they continue to not only hold out against both species and internal strife but to prosper.

* In ''VideoGame/XenobladeChroniclesX'', humanity is forced to flee into the stars after Earth is destroyed in the crossfire between two warring alien races. One of those races continues to pursue humanity, forcing them to crashland on the planet of Mira, a beautiful but hostile world teeming with dangerous alien flora and fauna. In spite of their circumstances, humanity continues to survive, building a colony the size of a small city and settling into their new niche in space.

Differs from LastStand in that while LastStand is to do with refusing to surrender even when the odds are heavily stacked against them, with the possibility of extinction not always being a factor, Human Are Survivors covers the way that humans as a species tend to be very, very hard to kill off, regardless of whether the ones attempting to do so are enemies, Mother Nature, the universe in general or even [[HumansAreMorons our own stupidity]]. There is a fair bit of overlap though. Can sometimes overlap with HumansAreSpecial. See also HumansAreWarriors, and HadToBeSharp.

* Humans in ''[[https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/wiki/series/humans_dont_make_good_pets Humans Don't Make Good Pets]]'' quickly become seen as being as indestructible as the Vul'va which is basically a space dragon whose presence on a battlefield will cause an immediate retreat. The human in protagonist can ignore any weapon that isn't an anti-tank rifle or stronger, barely even notices being infected with several of the worst diseases in galactic history, and a poison designed to kill anything in a matter of seconds only knocks him out for a few hours. Even being injected with a cocktail of the three deadliest plagues known to the galaxy at wide only leaves him mildly sick for two days. Several medical researchers state that a human's immune system could wipe out most life in the galaxy, let alone all the viruses and bacteria they carry on them. Lastly, humans are apparently the only sentient omnivore in the galaxy, and in fact any kind of omnivore is astronomically rare due to being exposed to both flora and fauna based diseases and toxins.

->''Homo sapiens. What an inventive, invincible species. It's only a few million years since they've crawled up out of the mud and learned to walk. Puny, defenceless bipeds. They've survived flood, famine and plague. They've survived cosmic wars and holocausts, and now here they are amongst the stars, waiting to begin a new life, ready to outsit eternity. They're indomitable. Indomitable!''
-->-- '''[[Series/DoctorWho The Doctor]]''', ''[[{{Recap/DoctorWhoS12E2TheArkInSpace}} The Ark in Space]]''

[[folder: Fanfiction ]]

* In ''Fanfic/{{Renegade}}'' (a ''Franchise/MassEffect/[=/=]VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberianSeries'' FusionFic), mankind survived living on a planet where, thanks to the Scrin and their GreenRocks, [[DeathWorld the ground was trying to eat them.]] Naturally, this coupled with [[HumansAreWarriors humans constantly being at war]] made humanity [[HadToBeSharp even tougher]]. Even the [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy krogan]] respect humans.

[[folder: Films -- Animated ]]

[[folder: Films -- Live-Action ]]

* ''Franchise/{{Predator}}'': According to ExpandedUniverse and WordOfGod, the titular alien hunters enjoy hunting humans because, despite our inferior physiology and technology, we're ingenious survivors and we're not bound by rigid codes of honour. In expanded material, they especially value two different species as prey: "Pyode Amedha", which is "Soft Meat" and refers to us, and "Kainde Amedha", which means "Hard Meat" and refers to the [[Franchise/{{Alien}} Xenomorphs]]. In other words, a race of super-strong, armed-to-the-teeth {{Proud Warrior Race Guy}}s have arguments about whether or not we're more entertaining quarry than a race of LightningBruiser bug monsters with acid for blood, simply because cheating is our bread and butter. Makes you proud in a weird way, doesn't it?

[[folder: Literature ]]

* In Creator/ArthurCClarke's ''Rescue Party'', aliens who've come to try and save as many as they can before the Sun goes nova are surprised to find that Earth's inhabitants have already managed to rescue themselves.
%% * In ''Literature/TheBooksOfEmber'', humanity manages to survive both above and below ground.
* ''The Green Book'' by JillPatonWalsh. Another "take to the stars" one.
* In ''Literature/{{Hothouse}}'' by Brian W. Aldiss, humanity is just barely surviving, but considering that the only other known animals left are highly evolved insects, that's impressive.

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

* In ''Series/DoctorWho'' the human race not only outlasts the planet Earth, but manages to survive until the end of the Universe. Unfortunately things go downhill after that.
** In "Evolution of the Daleks", Dalek Sec [[spoiler:merges with a human to become a HalfHumanHybrid]] specifically because HumansAreSurvivors [[spoiler:and wants to impart that resilience to a new generation of Daleks]]. At first he believes this is because of humanity's ambition and "genius for war", but eventually thinks it's because of humanity's better qualities instead.

[[folder: Music ]]

-->''Where the best of men are broken
-->And where the best of men are made...''

[[folder: Tabletop Games ]]

* The populations of the [[EverythingTryingToKillYou aptly named]] "{{death worlds}}" in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}''. Due to natural (and sometimes not-quite-natural) selection, these planets are basically breeding grounds for badasses, who fill the ranks of the most renown Imperial Guard regiments as well as Space Marine chapters.

[[folder: Video Games ]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]
* {{Discussed}} in ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse,'' when [[spoiler:[[ALighterShadeOfBlack Blue Diamond]]]] comes to Earth to [[spoiler:[[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes mourn]] [[PredecessorVillain Pink Diamond]]]] and meets [[NonActionGuy Greg]].
-->"How curious. I am impressed by humanity's ability to survive in the wild. What a strange planet...where else would a being as fragile as a human live...while [[NotSoInvincibleAfterAll a being as powerful as]] [[spoiler:a Diamond]] perish?"

[[folder: Truth In Television ]]

* Some people, including StephenHawking, think we're not trying ''hard enough'' at this, and better get it together (read: spread into space).

* Humanity in ''WesternAnimation/TitanAE''. Aliens try to kill them off by blowing up Earth, years later those who were evacuated before said EarthShatteringKaboom are still hanging in there despite the loss of their planet, being on the bottom of the galactic totem pole and the fact that the nearest thing they have to a home is a bodged together space colony made out of old ships, not to mention that the aforementioned aliens are still out to get them.

* This is a major theme in ''Film/PacificRim''. As soon as it's made clear that no one is safe from the {{Kaiju}}s, humans create the [[HumongousMecha Jaegers]] to defend themselves and they prove incredibly effective. The only reason Kaijus are still a threat is because stronger versions of them keep appearing after increasingly shorter intervals. Midway through the movie, it's revealed that [[spoiler:the Kaijus are beings enginereed to actively destroy humanity]] but humans do such a good job at surviving that they manage to [[spoiler:kill their creators]]. Ironically, the attacks started because humans [[spoiler:inadvertedly facilitated the invasion of Earth by polluting the atmosphere]].

In fiction, no matter how many other races are kicking around, if there's one species that seems to have a knack for avoiding extinction it's us. Genocidal aliens? [[LastStand We fortify our position and fight back with everything we have.]] Earth becomes uninhabitable? We either head into space to find somewhere new to live or artifically create enclosed environments that are habitable. Our planet [[EarthShatteringKaboom gets blown up]]? Again, time to take to the stars. Global ice age? [[TruthInTelevision Been there, done that.]]

* In Creator/ArthurCClarke's ''Rescue Party'', aliens who've come to try and save as many as they can before the Sun goes nova are suprised to find that Earth's inhabitants have already managed to rescue themselves.

* In ''Series/DoctorWho'' the human race not only outlasts the planet Earth, but manages to survive until the end of the Universe. Unfortunately things went downhill after that.

* In ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'', humans are the bottom of the food chain and often seen as the scourge of the earth by monster races, angels, and demons. But somehow the humans keep thwarting plans for domination and destruction that have been in the plans for decades, millenia, eons, etc.

* The population of the [[EverythingTryingToKillYou aptly named "death worlds"]] in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}''. Due to natural (and sometimes not-quite-natural) selection, these planets are basically breeding grounds for badasses, who fill the ranks of the most renown Imperial Guard regiments as well as Space Marine chapters.

* In ''Franchise/MassEffect'', humans are attacked [[EldritchAbomination by space badasses]] over and over again and always manage to survive despite alien species and planets being obliterated.

* In ''Franchise/MassEffect'', humans were the last species to master intergalactic space travel and are new to intergalactic diplomacy. They are seen as overly ambitious upstarts. However, whenever there is a threat to the galaxy, the humans are the first to detect it and always lead the charge to defeat it.

* In ArthurCClarke's ''Rescue Party'', aliens who've come to try and save as many as they can before the Sun goes nova are suprised to find that Earth's inhabitants have already managed to rescue themselves.

Differs from LastStand in that while LastStand is to do with refusing to surrender even when the odds are heavily stacked against them, with the possibility of extinction not always being a factor, Human Are Survivors covers the way that humans as a species tend to be very, very hard to kill off, regardless of whether the ones attempting to do so are enemies, Mother Nature, the universe in general or even our own stupidity. There is a fair bit of overlap though. Can sometimes overlap with HumansAreSpecial. See also HumansAreWarriors, and HadToBeSharp.

* In the time that humans have been on this Earth[[note]]which is admittedly brief compared to the many, ''many'' other species on Earth that exist today but predate us by millions of years[[/note]], we have experienced global drought, Ice Ages, drastic changes in sea level and weather patterns, numerous global epidemics, natural disasters, and many, many, many wars.

* Humanity in ''Videogame/{{Destiny}}'' is explicitly described as this in their [[AllThereInTheManual Grimoire]] entry. Mankind once lived in a golden age of advanced technology thanks to [[BigGood the Traveler]], until [[EldritchAbomination the Darkness]], its archenemy, attacked and ruined mankind. The current human society is made up of the descendants of the survivors of the collapse, gathered in a single city on earth, desperately struggling for survival and to reawaken the Traveler. They are surrounded by incredibly powerful enemies, including alien pirates, an occupying alien army, a legion of bloodthirsty MagiTek {{Omnicidal Maniac}}s, and hyper-advanced, malevolent time-traveling robots who warp reality. But despite all the myriad threats they face, this one weakened species and its one small city are slowly, doggedly pushing back, intent on retaking what was once theirs.
* The humans in [[Videogame/XCOMEnemyUnknown XCOM: Enemy Unknown]]. Aliens have landed on Earth, and are abducting citizens and razing entire cities. Every nation's military is no match. In a last ditch effort, nations from around the world pool all their funding and technology into "The XCOM Project", a secretive Paramilitary organization dedicated to combating the aliens. Even with the absolute best humanity has to offer, they are severely outmatched. The aliens can take large barrages of gunfire, all while tearing through XCOM's body armor as if it were paper. In addition to being outnumbered, the humans are outgunned as well. Countless aliens keep landing, tearing apart more and more of the world. They can bend minds and kill soldiers with just a thought, and yet the humans of XCOM hang on. After managing to kill enough aliens and steal enough tech, XCOM begins reverse-engineering alien tech and supplying their soldiers with gear that can make their soldiers survive even the aliens' deadly plasma guns. The soldiers that keep surviving missions become tougher and tougher, stronger and more determined, until your elite soldiers can survive the deadliest weapons the aliens can throw at you, even powering through alien mind control and lethal wounds though sheer will and determination. Even losing the City to the Cabal in ''Videogame/Destiny2'' has only furthered their resolve to keep fighting and surviving.