A super-capable new team introduced in Marvel’s Alien is taking the fight to the franchise’s deadly Xenomorphs, but in the process they’re also proving that should the franchise once again cross over with Predator, they’d be more than capable of racking up some significant Yautja kills.
Despite the fact that both franchises began on film, the idea of Alien’s Xenomorph fighting Predator’s Yautja actually came true in the 1989 comic published by Dark Horse, Aliens vs Predator. From there, Xenomorphs started battling Predators across a number of mediums including video games, novels, and finally films with Alien vs Predator and the sequel Alien vs Predator: Requiem. Today, Marvel has acquired the publishing rights to both vicious alien species, and fans are waiting with bated breath for them to clash once again.
In Alien #1 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and Julius Ohta, readers are introduced to Tobler-9 – a paradise world created by Weyland-Yutani in a sequence that seems like an advertisement for their long-standing “Building Better Worlds” campaign that has been shown throughout the Alien franchise. However, moments later, readers are shown the grim truth: that the planet was infested with Xenomorphs who quickly made it their own in a truly terrifying display. Unfortunately, that planet was also a significant scientific base for Weyland-Yutani where they used the Xenomorphs to develop a medicine that would be critical for the continuation of humankind as a species. So, since humanity needs the medicine but can’t send any humans on the planet to get it due to the overwhelming Xenomorph presence, there is no other option than to turn to a team of ex-military Synthetics known as Steel Team.
When readers are introduced to Steel Team, it is immediately obvious how proficient they are at killing. Being androids with superhuman strength, speed, and stamina, these Synthetics are shown climbing mountains and jumping from great heights, all without fear of death or injury. While these feats of athleticism are impressive, the team really proves how deadly they are when human soldiers try to capture them, mowing them down despite their advanced tech and weaponry. In every Predator movie and in a lot of the comics – including Marvel’s current ongoing series – Predators are shown to be vulnerable to humans in the right circumstances. Steel Team already proved in just a few panels that they are more physically imposing than the Yautja, though that is just the beginning of the Synthetics’ advantages.
Since they are Synthetics, Steel Team doesn’t give off heat signatures the way humans do, allowing them to dodge the Predator’s signature thermal vision. This means that Steel Team would be hiding in perpetual camouflage from the Predator without even trying. Add that to their proven ability to kill even the best of humanity’s soldiers, and it becomes clear that Alien’s deadly new Xenomorph killers would have no trouble obliterating the Predator, making them perhaps the biggest physical threat included in the two franchises’ shared canon so far.
Alien #1 is available now from Marvel Comics.
