History Main / TheRightOfASuperiorSpecies

* The Eldar in ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' have this attitude.
** They are ancient and wise and vastly longer-lived than humans; their technology, knowledge and cultural sophistication eclipse anything mankind has achieved; and, in the distant past, they used to rule the galaxy. More importantly, they are a DyingRace -- the Eldar are slowly but surely heading towards extinction. Humanity is young and stupid and there are already a lot of them around. Therefore, the Eldar feel completely justified in scouring a human planet clean of life (or changing the present so that this will happen to humanity in the future) to save a single Eldar life. The Dark Eldar do this to extremes, though the fact that they think nothing of doing it to themselves if they can means they probably go out the other end into AlwaysChaoticEvil.

** The Eldar do have some semblance of an excuse -- the reason their great empire fell was that they reached such levels of decadence and depravity that they ended up creating a new [[GodOfEvil Chaos God, Slaanesh]]. Because of this, every last Eldar soul is damned to eternal torment at the hands of Slaanesh after they die, which humans and other sapient species are not, so they will do anything to prevent the death of an Eldar. Also, [[HumansAreBastards it's not like the Imperium wouldn't do the same thing to them if given a chance]].

* The Celestials from Marvel sit in judgment of entire civilizations, treating them as little more than science experiments, and exterminating them if they don't live up to their standards. To them, a planet like Earth is essentially a Petri dish in their cosmic laboratory. [[spoiler: They get on the receiving end of this trope courtesy of [[ComicBook/SecretWars2015 The Beyonders]], [[ComicBook/TheUltimates2015 Logos]], and [[ComicBook/KingInBlack Knull.]]]]
* ''Franchise/WonderWoman''

* Galactus also uses this reasoning to justify devouring entire planets and their inhabitants, claiming that appeasing his hunger is more important than the billions of lives he snuffs out. [[JustifiedTrope We eventually find out that he's right]], as if he is allowed to die, [[OutOfTheFryingPan all reality across the multiverse is in danger of collapsing]].

* ComicBook/{{Magneto}}’s long-standing objective in the Film/XMenFilmSeries. Humanity cannot be trusted to coexist with mutants so they must be subjugated or eliminated by the mutants in order to prevent the atrocities of persecution.
* ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2'': Ego, as a nearly omnipotent Celestial, believes it his "purpose" to convert every planet in the universe into more of him. The death of every other being in existence doesn't matter to him because they are so ''lacking'' in comparison to a Celestial.

* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' adventure ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS22E3TheMarkOfTheRani The Mark of the Rani]]'', the Rani compares the exploitation of lesser species with stepping on ants.

* On the rare occasion that the Literature/{{Animorphs}} directly interact with [[PuppeteerParasite Yeerk controllers]], the Yeerks almost always pull out this argument. As far as they're concerned, all other species are to Yeerks as cattle are to humans, so Yeerks are fully justified in enslaving, {{Mind Rap|e}}ing, and killing human, Hork-Bajir, Andalites, and so on. Of course, [[JustifiedTrope the Yeerks the Animorphs can interact with are the ones who think this]] -- the ones who don't agree don't leave the Yeerk pools in the first place, except a few who only changed their minds later.
** The Yeerks ''do'' [[VillainHasAPoint have something of a point]] in that being a PuppeteerParasite is what evolution made them, and expecting them to not take over and use other beings as hosts is tantamount to expecting them not to ''live,'' as without a host a Yeerk is a blind, deaf, helpless worm, despite possessing the same sentience as more physically-able creatures. Some more sympathetic Yeerks (such as Aftram) argue that they can't help what they are. Where the argument falls apart is when they claim this entitles them to form a galactic empire to conquer and enslave all other sentient beings in search of more and better hosts.

* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration''. This is Q's go-to argument for being a JerkassGod to Humanity in general and the crew of Enterprise in particular. This has led to more than one PatrickStewartSpeech in response.

->''And before we judge them too harshly, we must remember what ruthless and utter destruction our own species has wrought, not only upon animals, such as the vanished bison and the dodo, but upon its inferior races. The Tasmanians, in spite of their human likeness, were entirely swept out of existence in a war of extermination waged by European immigrants, in the space of fifty years. Are we such apostles of mercy as to complain if the Martians warred in the same spirit?''
-->-- ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds''

-->-- ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds'', perhaps the TropeCodifier

!!Examples

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

-->'''Zamasu''': You pathetic mortals always try to emulate the divine. Now, why is that? Is it because we gods are so wondrous? Are you coveting our undeniable beauty? I understand, yet it's so tragic. Your mimicry is doomed to fail! Acts of gods are beautiful because we are inherently pure, while mortal endeavors will inevitably become wicked—corrupted and marred by sin!

* The Lunarians in ''[[FanFic/IcedFairysANewWorld A New World]]'' use this excuse to justify their annihilation of humanity via faking a colossal nuclear exchange and letting them kill themselves by the billions with their own nukes. The universal answer to this act is [[ScrewYouElves "Screw You]], SpaceElves!"

[[folder:Film]]

* In ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2'' Ego, as a nearly omnipotent Celestial, believes it his "purpose" to convert every planet in the universe into more of him. The death of every other being in existence doesn't matter to him because they are so ''lacking'' in comparison to a Celestial.

[[folder:Mythology and Religion]]

* The Celestials from Marvel sit in judgment of entire civilizations, treating them as little more than science experiments, and exterminating them if they don't live up to their standards. To them, a planet like Earth is essentially a Petri dish in their cosmic laboratory. [[spoiler: They get on the receiving end of this trope courtesy of [[ComicBook/SecretWars2015 The Beyonders]],[[ComicBook/TheUltimates2015 Logos]], and [[ComicBook/KingInBlack Knull.]]

* The Celestials from Marvel sit in judgment of entire civilizations, treating them as little more than science experiments, and exterminating them if they don't live up to their standards. To them, a planet like Earth is essentially a Petri dish in their cosmic laboratory. [[spoiler: They get on the receiving end of this trope courtesy of [[ComicBook/SecretWars2015 The Beyonders]],[[[ComicBook/TheUltimates2015 Logos]], and [[ComicBook/KingInBlack Knull.]]

* The Celestials from Marvel sit in judgment of entire civilizations, treating them as little more than science experiments, and exterminating them if they don't live up to their standards. To them, a planet like Earth is essentially a Petri dish in their cosmic laboratory. [[spoiler: They get on the receiving end of this trope courtesy of The Beyonders and then Logos.]]

* ''Franchise/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]]: The aliens from Neptune see themselves as the more advanced inherent superior of humanity and intend to enslave every human that survives their plans to remove the earth from orbit to use its resources as they please, which they consider their right.

* The TropeCodifier is Chatoyance and her take on ''Fanfic/TheConversionBureau'', where she gives this excuse to justify the genocide of all humans (by [[BalefulPolymorph ponification]]). She [[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/27678/ten-minutes-aftermath#comment/671772 firmly believes]] [[http://imgur.com/a/Aq2n7 (screenshotted)]] [[InsaneTrollLogic that a superior species justifiably can do things that would be considered evil if a "lesser" species (namely, humans) were to do them.]]

* In the ''Literature/{{Dragaera}}'' series, this attitude crops up among powerful [[OurElvesAreBetter Dragaerans]] as regards humans, at least when they bother to really think about humans at all. The Dragaerans can make a case for it, as they live for millennia, are taller, stronger, and more magically gifted than humans, and have a variety of other advantages. Whenever the question comes up whether the Dragaeran Empire should invade its human neighbors, the argument against invasion is usually more "Is the army ready for it? No? How inconvenient. Bored now, let's do something else." And yet above the Dragaerans are the Jenoine, alien beings of fantastic power and BlueAndOrangeMorality who created the Dragaerans from human stock as an experiment, and mostly just want to get the lab rats back in their cages.

Overlaps heavily with TheSocialDarwinist, type three. Contrast AlienNonInterferenceClause and BenevolentAlienInvasion. See also CantArgueWithElves. When these attitudes are applied to fellow members of one's species, then you're looking at a self-styled MasterRace. It can be argued that ''any'' species that practices this trope is probably '''not''' actually a SuperiorSpecies, but stories that use it heroically/unironically [[FridgeLogic never seem to touch upon this argument]].

* In ''VideoGame/DoomEternal'' the [[spoiler:Maykr]] have been facilitating the demonic invasions of mortal worlds for millions of years in order to receive [[spoiler:Argent energy]], the only thing preventing their race's extinction. [[spoiler:Khan Maykr]] openly declares that this is their right as a higher species and creators of the setting's [[spoiler:Heaven]] analogue. Of course, when this results in a GenocideBackfire thanks to the Doomslayer, [MoralMyopia she hypocritically calls him out]] on defeating her through his superior OneManArmy status.

* In ''VideoGame/DoomEternal'' the [[spoiler:Maykr]] have been facilitating the demonic invasions of mortal worlds for millions of years in order to receive [[spoiler:Argent energy]], the only thing preventing their race's extinction. [[spoiler:Khan Maykr]] openly declares that this is their right as a higher species and creators of the setting's [[spoiler:Heaven]] analogue.

* Part of the game mechanics in ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}'', interstellar empires cannot engage in normal diplomatic relations with pre-FTL species. They can just research them like animals, uplift them as a protectorate, or simply [[AlienInvasion invade]]. And fighting other empires requires a formal declaration of war, you can bombard or invade a pre-FTL planet at any time.

** The 9-foot-tall HumanAliens roaming the planet Valennia have no other word for humans than "cattle". Their people are the "chosen ones", while humans are there to serve them and fill their cookpots. Even horses (brought from Earth thousands of years ago and bred to carry the huge aliens) have a higher status than "cattle", since they enable their nomadic lifestyle. Other animals like pigs and cows are considered to be "lesser cattle", but the preferred meat of choice is "cattleflesh" (i.e. human meat). The aliens impose a MedievalStasis on the various human cultures that come over periodically through the [[LostTechnology Tunnels]] of [[TeleportersAndTransporters Light]] and have themselves maintained their level of technology for thousands of years, maintaining their way of life. Any new weapons that show up with newly-arrived humans are quickly destroyed or buried (last time, they tangled with some pirates and many Tugar warriors were lost to firearms before the pirates were killed).

->''And before we judge them too harshly, we must remember what ruthless and utter destruction our own species has wrought, not only upon animals, such as the vanished bison and the dodo, but upon its inferior races. The Tasmanians, in spite of their human likeness, were entirely swept out of existence in a war of extermination waged by European immigrants, in the space of fifty years. [[MoralMyopia Are we such apostles of mercy as to complain if the Martians warred in the same spirit?]]''