History Main / OriginalMan

* PlayedForLaughs in ''WesternAnimation/HazbinHotel''. Adam from the GardenOfEden was the "first ''man''", and as such he essentially functions as the AnthropomorphicPersonification of TestosteronePoisoning, with the personality of a sailor-mouthed SexDrugsAndRockAndRoll-loving FratBro with a [[BloodKnight penchant for violence]].

** ''ComicBook/{{Marville}}'': ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} was the first human. He evolved from an otter. [[WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs It's that kind of series]].

* In Franchise/TheDCU, recurring villain ComicBook/VandalSavage (originally a ''ComicBook/GreenLantern'' villain but nowadays a big-name bad guy who'll fight anyone) is [[DependingOnTheWriter usually]] one of the very first ''Homo sapiens'' to exist, rendered immortal by a MagicMeteor. (Apart from the weird ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis'' tie-in which depicted him as literally the Biblical [[Literature/BookOfGenesis Cain]], although some later writers adopted this as MetaphoricallyTrue in the "first cold-blooded murderer" sense.)

** Adam K'ad-mon is a [[Comicbook/ManThing Man-Thing]] lookalike who is believed by some to be the original human being and protects the Primal Matrix, which is the focal point of the multiverse.
** In the ''ComicBook/EarthX[=/=]Universe X[=/=]Paradise X'' trilogy, the original humans were a feral, beastlike race before [[CosmicEntity the Celestials]] came to our planet and began fiddling with our genetics. The Celestials use young planets as "incubators" for their kind, and [[DifferentlyPoweredIndividual Superhumans]] were created to act as "antibodies" to protect the planet from invasion -- particularly from Comicbook/{{Galactus}}, their sworn enemy. It turns out that Comicbook/{{Wolverine}} is not a mutant, but actually the last "pure" human left alive.

The hominid tribe is about 6 million years old, and modern man is just the last sliver of it, definitely not the original. The original hominid would not be recognized as any species living today. That is if anything could be called the original hominid; rather than a single such species having ever existed, today's paleotologists reconstruct a gradual transition with no clear break. But there has been much speculation, study and effort to find the original man, probably some outlandish fiction too. In fact, this is one of the oldest tropes in the book. Can overlap with AdvancedAncientHumans, depending on how complex original man's society was or HumanityCameFromSpace if original man did not develop on Earth. Also compare with FrazettaMan and AllCavemenWereNeanderthals.

*** Arguably the first member in the ''Homo'' genus belongs to Homo habilis, though some would say they were australiopiths and not human beings, and an intermediate form dates back to 2.6 million years ago.

*** The first anatomically modern inhabits of Europe are referred to as the Cro-Magnon peoples. They existed about 300,000 years ago based on fossil evidence, and another hundred thousand or so based on DNA evidence. Modern Europeans are identical to the Cro-Magnons beyond becoming a little taller, having lighter skin tones, and retaining lactose tolerance after maturation due to a mutation.

* The Literature/BookOfGenesis describes the creation of humans beings twice.

* ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'', in a late (and [[GuideDangIt hidden]]) dialogue, it's revealed that Humanity's progenitor and thus the player character's ancestor is none other than [[spoiler: The Furtive Pygmy, a character only briefly shown in the opening cutscene and is described as "so easily forgotten", and who, in the dawn of time, gained the power of the titular Dark Soul.]]

*** The first anatomically modern inhabits of Europe are referred to as the Cro-Magnon peoples. They existed about 300,000 years ago based on fossil evidence, and another hundred thousand or so based on DNA evidence. Modern Europeans are identical to the Cro-Magnons beyond becoming a little taller, having darker skin tones, and retaining lactose tolerance after maturation due to a mutation.

** Regarding what we would immediately recognize as human
*** Cro-Magnon existed about 300,000 years ago, based on fossil evidence and another hundred thousand or so based on DNA evidence. Homo Sapien has changed very little from Cro-Magnon beyond becoming a little taller, a developing a wider variety of skin hues as some populations reduced melanin production, losing use of their appendixes, and 1/5th of adults retaining lactose tolerance after maturation due to a mutation.

*** However, ''Homo sapiens neanderthalensis'' and ''Homo sapiens heidelbergensis'' are also accepted terms, which would put Homo sapiens at around 600,000 years ago, older than Cro-Magnon.
** Regarding more distant ancestors
*** Homo erectus was apparently able to speak, built rafts or simple boats, used fire and probably wore animal skins, and the first known fossil of Homo erectus dates to 1.8 million years ago.
*** Arguably the first member in the Homo genus belongs to Homo habilis, though some would say they were Australiopiths and not human beings, and an intermediate form dates back to 2.6 million years ago.
*** Some people hold that Australiopiths are also human beings, making OriginalMan arise about 6 million years ago.

[[folder:Real life]]

[[folder: Radio]]

A variation of the trope is an older species of man that was wiped out before ours began or is biologically independent of the homo sapiens species in some other way. In these cases human identification is a must, otherwise they belong under {{precursors}}. Identification, [[OurHumansAreDifferent not necessarily familiarity]].

* ''Franchise/Marve;Universe'':

* In Creator/MarvelComics's ''Comicbook/EarthX[=/=]Universe X[=/=]Paradise X'' trilogy, the original humans were a feral, beastlike race before [[CosmicEntity the Celestials]] came to our planet and began fiddling with our genetics. The Celestials use young planets as "incubators" for their kind, and [[DifferentlyPoweredIndividual Superhumans]] were created to act as "antibodies" to protect the planet from invasion--particularly from Comicbook/{{Galactus}}, their sworn enemy. It turns out that Comicbook/{{Wolverine}} is not a mutant, but actually the last "pure" human left alive.
* In Marvel comics, Adam K'ad-mon is a [[Comicbook/ManThing Man-Thing]] lookalike who is believed by some to be the original human being and protects the Primal Matrix, which is the focal point of the multiverse.
* According to ''Comicbook/{{Marville}}'' Comicbook/{{Wolverine}} was the first human. He evolved from an otter. Please reread the last sentence if you didn't believe it. [[WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs It's that kind of series]].

* One early ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel reveals that the First Men of the Disc created by the gods were immensely powerful beings, which took one look at their situation including their sucky gods and lost their tempers. After the resulting mayhem, men were re-created a good deal smaller.
* References here and there in the Verse of Creator/SimonRGreen (''Literature/{{Nightside}}'', ''Literature/SecretHistories'', ''Literature/GhostFinders'' etc) suggest that humankind was originally intended/planned/expected to be ''much'' more powerful, perceptive, and glorious than we actually are. Just who/what came up with that intention/plan/expectation, and whether it was an injustice or a mercy that we ''didn't'' turn out that way, is left unsaid.

* ''[[Franchise/StargateVerse Stargate]]'''s Alterans, an ancient human subspecies predating Cro-Magnon. They are indistinguishable from homo sapiens outwardly, technically have much greater genetic diversity on account of longer existence and wider distribution but so few are left in the visible universe that it is almost a moot point, and most of them [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence Ascended]] thousands of years ago. The Stargate builders among them left behind a lot of technology that only works when used by people with their genes though.
* Before TheReveal, the First People of ''Series/{{Fringe}}'' were believed to be this. Much was made of them being an ancient civilization of human beings-the first humans-that supposedly predated Adam, Eve and the dinosaurs. This was a bizarre claim even for a show where computer viruses can infect the human brain. Later, [[spoiler: it turns out the "First People" are actually the future-versions of the main characters who designed the technology attributed to this ancient civilization and sent it back in time through a wormhole to the distant past.]]
* The people of Kobol whose ancestors became the 12 Colonies of ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003'' were this, although the primitive humans of Earth (2) appear to be a separate "creation" of that series' God.

* In the Zohar and other Kabbalah texts, original man, [[TropeNamer Adam Kadmon]], is not so much a physical being as it is a spiritual realm from which every human body gets its soul.
* Thanks to syncretism, the original woman is often equated to Myth/{{Lilith}} (originally [[SadlyMythtaken an animal]] in Literature/TheBible or [[OurDemonsAreDifferent a demon]] in Myth/MesopotamianMythology), which would make her ''very'' different from modern woman.

* ''TabletopGame/DemonTheFallen'' actually depicts Adam and Eve as {{Ultimate Lifeform}}s. Their antediluvian descendants are also described as exceptionally powerful, if only because they had infinite faith (in God and the angels)--something that their modern descendants severely lack, much to the dismay of the returning Fallen.

* In the Franchise/{{Nasuverse}}, copies are always inferior to the original, and since children are considered copies of their parents, the first humans (i.e. human archetypes) have been immensely more powerful than their modern descendants.
* In the ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'' franchise, humans are lifeforms created by members of an ancient and powerful race to be used as a ServantRace via MindManipulation. They look like us in pretty much every significant way, but with [[PsychicPowers six senses instead of five]]. Adam and Eve were not the ''first'' humans, but the first {{Half Human Hybrid}}s that were immune to their mind control. Millennia later, in the present, the ancient race is extinct and what was left of their genes has become severely diluted in the modern human race. As a result, we are all once again susceptible to MindManipulation.
* In the ''Videogame/{{Xenogears}}'' canon, the humans that live on the planet the game is set on are descendants of the creations of "Deus", the [[AIIsACrapshoot supercomputer that acts as the overarching central antagonist]]. As such, all humans are "pieces" of Deus itself that it one day plans to absorb as part of a millennia-long self-repair program. The "original" humans were part of the spaceship which Deus took over and destroyed.
* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'s'' original man was a collection of different hominid species who used to hold one of the strongest interstellar empires in the galaxy. Then, tens of thousands of years ago, the [[{{Precursors}} Forerunners]] defeated them, erased all traces of their empire, stripped them of all their technology, forcibly [[DevolutionDevice devolved]] them into a more primitive state, and quarantined the vast majority of them on their home planet of [[InsignificantLittleBluePlanet Erde-Tyrene]].

A variation of the trope is an older species of man that was wiped out before ours began or is biologically independent of the homo sapiens species in some other way. In these cases human familiarity is a must, otherwise they belong under {{precursors}}.

The hominid tribe is about 6 million years old, and modern man is just the last sliver of it, definitely not the original. The original hominid would not be recognized as any species living today. That is if anything could be called the original hominid; rather than a single such species having ever existed, today's paleotologists reconstruct a gradual transition with no clear break. But there has been much speculation, study and effort to find the original man, probably some outlandish fiction too. In fact, this is one of the oldest tropes in the book. Can overlap with AdvancedAncientHumans, depending on how complex original man's society was. Also compare with FrazettaMan and AllCavemenWereNeanderthals.