Despite the fact that Xenomorphs are Ripley’s sworn enemies within the Alien universe–a hatred so powerful that it even transcended the cosmic barrier of death itself–she actually learned something from the very first Xenomorph she ever killed, and used that deadly skill to save the universe.
Ellen Ripley first encountered a Xenomorph during the events of the 1979 film Alien. In the movie, Ripley is a crew member of the interstellar resource-transportation vessel, the Nostromo, and while she and her team are heading back to Earth with their haul, they receive a distress signal from an unknown world. Per company protocol, they are obligated to investigate–and when they do, those who stepped foot on this world’s surface discovered a derelict alien ship with a large, dead creature inside. Upon further investigation, the crew finds a chamber within the ship that is lined with large eggs, and when one of the crew members, Kane, sticks his face over one while it is opening from the top, he gets attacked by a Facehugger which attaches itself to Kane’s face and impregnates him with a Xenomorph. Some time later, while back on the Nostromo, the Xenomorph bursts forth from Kane’s chest and proceeds to kill every member of the crew one-by-one–every member, except Ripley.
In Aliens vs Predator vs The Terminator #4 by Mark Schultz and Mel Rubi, Ripley8 (the clone of the original Ripley who was introduced in Alien Resurrection), has teamed up with a small army of Predators to take down the resurgent Skynet and stop the killer-A.I. from merging Terminators with Xenomorphs–which would create the deadliest creatures in the universe. This issue depicts the final battle between the Predators (plus Ripley) and the Terminator-hybrids, and while it is shaky for the cosmic heroes at first, they eventually come out on top. However, one of the original Terminator-hybrids covertly makes his escape–though not covertly enough as Ripley8 follows him to his ship and hides within a side panel amid the pipes and wiring within the vessel. When the Terminator least expected it, Ripley popped out of her hiding spot and launched an attack–successfully killing him and effectively saving the universe.
Ripley’s First Xenomorph Kill Helped Save the Universe
The maneuver Ripley8 used in this issue to kill the last known Terminator is exactly what the Xenomorph of 1979’s Alien did in the final scene of the movie. In the film, the Xenomorph hid within the wiring of the escape-vessel’s side panel and popped out when Ripley least expected it. While that Xenomorph’s tactic failed as Ripley was able to kill it, Ripley still kept that sneaky skill in mind for future use and found great success when she implemented it herself–which is something that wasn’t lost on the character. In the comic, Ripley8 comments on how similar her attack strategy is to that of the first Xenomorph she encountered, and based on what happens at the end of this series, it’s actually a pretty significant parallel–and for more reasons than one.
In the final pages of this series, Ripley8 is shown sacrificing her life to stop the Terminator. This brings her entire story full-circle as she uses the maneuver of the very creature that threatened her life centuries earlier to complete this final heroic mission. Plus, this issue adds universe-saving importance to Ripley’s first Xenomorph kill, whereas before, it was simply just the first of many to come–making the fact that Ripley died saving all of humanity by using a skill she stole from the first Xenomorph she killed in Alien the perfect end for her character.
