Warning! This article contains spoilers for Alien #4Despite the fact that Alien is one of the most popular Sci-Fi franchises in history, there is one key detail within nearly every installment of the series that has frustrated fans to their core–but now, that ongoing criticism regarding the Xenomorphs has been officially fixed (and in the most shockingly horrific way possible).
When Xenomrphs were introduced in 1979’s Alien, fans were taken aback by the disturbing nature of the species–not just in terms of its killing proficiency, but also its parasitic reproductive process. In the film, the crew of the Nostromo investigate a distress signal coming from an unknown world, and upon finding a derelict ship, a few members of the crew search the vessel on foot. When they entered the ship, one crew member, Kane, uncovers an entire chamber filled with large eggs, and he leans his head over one as it was opening up from the top, only for a Facehugger to jump out and attach itself to his face and impregnate him with a Xenomorph embryo. This fatal act of curiosity wouldn’t be the last of its kind in the Alien series as a number of other space explorers/scientists would neglect to take the proper precautions when investigating an alien life form (as shown in Aliens, Prometheus, and Alien: Covenant). However, with one mutation/hybridization made to the Xenomorph species, this annoying trope may never need to happen again.
In Alien #4 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and Julius Ohta, a synthetic spec-ops team known as Steel Team is on a mission to extract an Ovomorph from a planet that has been overrun by Xenomrphs on behalf of humanity. While on this planet–called Tobler-9–Steel Team discovers the remnants of all the Xenomorph experiments that were being conducted within secret laboratories across the planet–including one that contained mutated mosquitoes merged with Xenomorph DNA. In the previous issue, one of these ‘Xeno-squitos’ bites a human survivor of Tobler-9, and in this issue, fans learn what happens to those who are bitten by this hellish hybrid: they don’t get impregnated with a Xenomorph, they become a Xenomorph.
Xenomorph Reproduction Eliminates Reliance on the Stupidity of Hosts
From the first Alien movie to the number of sequels and prequels (not to mention the comic book and novel continuations), people consistently get infected with a Xenomorph by not taking the proper precautions around a mysterious alien object/life form, and that has become a huge complaint from fans of the series. Xenomorphs are considered the perfect organism, yet they rely on convenient foolishness from humans in order to spread. However, with this ‘Xeno-squito’, Xenomorphs can infect a great number of people without them even knowing it as the Xenomorphs are spreading by way of a covert insect bite rather than blatant stupidity.
Not only are the ‘Xeno-squitos’ a much more proficient way for Xenomorphs to reproduce that doesn’t rely on humans ignoring any and all safety protocols when encountering the unknown, but it’s also infinitely more terrifying. While Facehuggers are creepy, it seems as though one really just needs to not get close to an Ovomorph and the Facehuggers will never emerge in the first place. With the hybrid mosquitos, however, it would be much harder to avoid infection–proving that Alien has officially fixed its biggest complaint while also giving Xenomorphs a massive (and terrifying) upgrade.
Alien #4 by Marvel Comics is available now.
