Whenever aliens invade, it doesn’t really seem to matter how technologically superior they are.  They almost always lose.  Star Wars took a lot of flack for its Ewoks beat the Empire elements, but when you think about it, this is almost how it always goes.

In Independence Day, aliens with giant spaceships that can devastate whole cities not only lose, they lose after having already devastated most of the planet.  You would think after wiping out billions of human lives and destroying billions of dollars of vital infrastructure that they would have a lock on victory.  And you’d be wrong.

In Cowboys and Aliens, not only are the aliens technologically superior, they’re physically superior.  In the climactic battle, the aliens are slaughtering humans by the dozens, while the Earthlings are lucky to kill one or two in return.  At the end of the day, the aliens still lose.

The invaders of Skyline are more invincible, and there’s no indication the human race has much of a chance.  But then we remember that this was supposed to be the first chapter of franchise, which meant that inevitably, the aliens were going to face defeat if the film had been successful enough to warrant a sequel.

On the surface, it might seem like humans are pretty awesome, but then along comes Avatar, where we get the spaceships and the laser cannons.  And proceed to lose the battle.  Granted, the natives of this particular world are fairly fierce and they do have the ability to call in space rhinos as backup.  Still, there’s no reason the humans can’t just come back later with more troops, bigger guns and better prepared.  Heck, they could probably bomb the planet from orbit.

But they won’t be back because they know what we already know.

Caveman beats Astronaut, every time.

If there’s one thing fiction has taught me, it’s that a technologically superior invader will generally lose against sticks and spears (or rockets and fighter planes) as long as the heroes have enough pluck and courage (and access to a bit of deus ex machina).

The Death Star will always have a ventilation duct.  The aliens will somehow forget to filter the water.   The blue cat people will have dragons at their disposal.  And the most powerful weapons in the universe tend to explode at the drop of a hat.

So if and when aliens do invade the earth, my plan is simple.  I will immediately throw away all my electronics.  I’ll dig a hole in the ground, carve a spear with my own two hands, and I’ll wait for the ten foot bug warrior with power armor and a death ray to make his move.

Poor bugger won’t stand a chance.  Almost makes me feel sorry for him, but that’s what he gets for invading my planet.