Warning: Spoilers ahead for Alien: Black, White & Blood #3!The Facehuggers from Alien have officially been proven to not be the automatic death sentence that fans once thought they are. Ever since the first Facehugger attached itself to Kane in the landmark 1979 film, these horrific parasites from the Alien franchise have gained a deadly reputation. It was long believed that once one attached itself to an organic life form, that host, whether it was human or not, would have a matter of hours to live before an incubated Xenomorph would erupt from their chest. However, new evidence suggests that this deadly result can be circumnavigated and spare the host’s life.
In Alien: Black, White and Blood #3, the story “Gear in the Machine” by Cody Ziglar and Claire Roe focuses on a group of Weyland-Yutani workers who are tasked with preserving Xenomorph specimens. In this case, the two are given a band of survivors in cryostasis who have been implanted with baby aliens following a Xeno attack. However, rather than leave the hosts in cryosleep to study them, they actually perform surgery on them to pull the embryonic aliens from their chests.
This stunning moment shows that it’s entirely possible to remove Chestbursters before they have the time to hatch, paving the way for a future where humans aren’t confined to death when attacked by a Facehugger.
Chestbursters Can Be Surgically Removed If Doctors Act Fast
It’s remarkable to see just how far humans in the Alien franchise have come if they’re capable of sparing people the agony of an early death should they find themselves the host of a Facehugger. While it’s unknown if the subject survives his operation in this story, as things escalate quickly when a Xenomorph appears, the fact that the surgeons work quickly to prevent the Xenomorph from hatching shows that they want to save their patient’s life. After all, a Chestburster needs a living subject in order to hatch, so the subject is still alive when he goes under the knife.
Even if humans haven’t found a way to prevent someone from dying in surgery when extracting a Xenomorph, that also doesn’t mean that it’s impossible. Medical science in the Alien universe has likely evolved dramatically over time as scientists gain more understanding about the human body, Facehugger biology and how they work when combined. While removing a Chestburster could have resulted in death before, it’s entirely possible that doctors have come a long way to understanding how to extract the parasite without killing the host. Weyland-Yutani has put a lot of time and effort into studying the Xenomorphs, so its teams of scientists could have discovered a way to save Facehugger victims at this point in time.
Why Would Weyland-Yutani Fund a Program that Saves Facehugger Victims?
Of course, the big question surrounding this revelation is why Weyland-Yutani would care about saving people who have become Facehugger hosts. The corporation is notoriously self-serving, putting its own needs ahead of the safety of employees. This is shown in the story’s ending when the company declines to send guards in order to save money, resulting in the surgeons being killed by an unexpected Xenomorph. Perhaps the most probable reason behind the company funding this life-saving program is to build faith among the survivors, which is something Weyland-Yutani values more than Xenomorphs. The reason why Weyland-Yutani has lasted so long is that there are clearly people who support it, despite its shady operations. If the corporation were to save some people from death while still attaining Xenomorph specimens, it would essentially be having its cake and eating it too, as its corporate reign over the human race continues.
Even though Weyland-Yutani likely started this life-saving program for its own selfish reasons, there’s no denying that it’s a massive step forward for humans in the Alien universe. By saving the life of a host, doctors would be able to save not just the victim but those around them as well, by preventing a Chestburster from becoming a full-sized Xenomorph. This completely redefines everything Alien fans knew about Facehuggers and could change the landscape for the franchise going forward.
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Alien (1979)
Alien is a sci-fi horror-thriller by director Ridley Scott that follows the crew of a spaceship known as the Nostromo. After the staff of the merchant’s vessel perceives an unknown transmission as a distress call, its landing on the source moon finds one of the crew members attacked by a mysterious lifeform, and they soon realize that its life cycle has merely begun.
