Summary

  • Alien Resurrection introduced a team of space pirates, cloning, and human/Xenomorph hybrids to the Alien franchise.
  • In the latest Alien installment, Alien #4, a human/Xenomorph hybrid is introduced as a tribute to the Newborn from Alien Resurrection.
  • The disturbing visual of a human/Xenomorph infant is magnified by the fact that its own mother conducted experiments on herself and the unborn fetus.

Warning! This article contains spoilers for Alien #4 Despite the fact that many fans consider Alien Resurrection to be the worst in the Alien franchise, the film brought a number of interesting ideas into the established canon. Alien Resurrection introduced a team of space pirates for the first time (who were actually the main protagonists), it introduced the idea of cloning in the Alien universe, and - most notably here - it introduced the idea of human/Xenomorph hybrids. And now, the latest piece of Alien lore is seemingly honoring this criminally underrated addition to the mythos with a new human/Xenomorph hybrid that’s a sick reference to Alien Resurrection.

Alien Resurrection is set two-hundred years after the events of Aliens and Alien 3, long after Ellen Ripley’s heroic demise at the end of the third installment, when she sacrificed herself to eliminate the last of the Xenomorph species. So, two-hundred years later, a group of scientists funded by the military decided to operate in unregulated space and conduct illegal cloning experiments to bring back the ‘perfect organism’. Since Ripley’s DNA was entangled with that of the alien Queen she had growing inside her during Alien 3, the process of cloning new Xenomorphs also resulted in the clone of Ripley, known as Ripley8. Ripley8 was the first human/Xenomorph hybrid, a title fitting for Alien’s most disturbing hybrid.

Alien Resurrection’s Newborn Is Honored With An Infant Xenomorph Hybrid

Alien's new infant hybrid is a reference to the Newborn.

In Alien #4 by Declan Shalvey and Andrea Broccardo, a family of scientists (consisting of a pregnant mother, a teenage daughter, and their synthetic) are working on an icy world designated LV-695 when they’re attacked by a horde of Xenomorphs who were hibernating beneath the ice. While this seemed to come as a shock, readers soon learn that the mother was well aware of this planet’s Xenomorph infestation, and she was actually using them for her own secret experiments. In this issue, the mother and daughter are on the run from the loose horde when the mother begins going into labor. Once the baby is born, it's revealed that the mother had been conducting experiments on herself and the unborn fetus, resulting in the infant’s hybridized mutation.

The visual of a human/Xenomorph infant is heart-wrenchingly disturbing in and of itself, but the idea that the baby’s own mother did that to him makes the situation even worse. And then, after that initial horror sets in, fans come to the realization that this new human/Xenomorph hybrid is seemingly a reference to one of Alien’s first: the Newborn. The Newborn was born from the Queen Xenomorph clone in Alien Resurrection, as she developed a human reproductive system since her DNA was mixed with Ripley’s. The Queen gave live birth to the Newborn, who was a human/Xenomorph hybrid, just as the mother in this Alien issue gave birth to her own human/Xenomorph hybrid.

Alien’s newest human/Xenomorph hybrid is a newborn, while one of the first hybrids of its kind in the franchise is literally called the Newborn. This is too perfect to not be addressed, and is more than enough evidence to assert that Alien’s new human/Xenomorph hybrid is seemingly a sick reference to Alien Resurrection.

Alien #4 by Marvel Comics is available now.