Ridley Scott’s original Alien movie has plenty of iconic moments, from the original “chestburster scene” to each crewmember’s horrific death, to Ripley’s final battle against the Xenomorph. In the real world, the film is a classic that can be enjoyed as both a science fiction movie and a unique horror film. But in the world of the X-Men, the movie means so much more…
That’s because in the Marvel Universe, people actually do meet creatures like the alien Xenomorphs on a regular basis. Popular X-Men villains The Brood were based on Xenomorphs (as their eggs gestate inside other species) while the demon N’Gari also resemble the popular aliens. Fortunately, in addition to their powers, the X-Men have something even stronger to use against these creatures – classic cinema knowledge!
Then-rookie member Kitty Pryde learned just how powerful this knowledge could be in The Uncanny X-Men #143 when she was left alone in the X-Men mansion on Christmas Eve, only to find a rogue N’Gari demon in the house with her. Terrified, Kitty uses her phasing power to stay a step ahead of the creature and immediately tries to call the X-Men for help – only for the creature to anticipate her moves and start hunting her through the rooms. Worse, Kitty soon finds that even though her intangibility protects her against most attacks, the demon’s mystical nature allows it to hurt her even in a phased state, paralyzing one of her arms in an attack.
What really horrifies Kitty, however, is what will happen if the demon kills her and the X-Men come back with no warning of the threat. Given how powerful the N’Gari demon is, it could easily slaughter most or even all of the mutants. Determined not to let that happen, Kitty starts fighting smart. She lures the creature to the Danger Room and programs a trap for it – only for the demon to anticipate that move, too, and force Kitty to enter the danger zone as well. However, Kitty discovers that fire is capable of hurting the demon – and suddenly has a flashback to the movie Alien.
Wishing she had access to some big flame throwers, Kitty quickly dismisses the idea as it didn’t work in the movie – but then she recalls how Ripley finally did beat the Xenomorph and decides to try to the same move. Luring the demon to the Blackbird hanger, Kitty phases into the jet plane. Then, just as Ripley used the engines of her ship, the Nostromo, to blast the Xenomorph alien into space, Kitty decides to prep the Blackbird’s engines to do basically the same thing. With only seconds to spare, she manages to keep herself calm enough to remember the proper sequence of commands and burns the demon where it stands.
Impressive as Kitty’s horror movie knowledge is though, she nearly forgets one crucial rule – the monster always survives for one final scare. Phasing out of the ruined Blackbird, Kitty staggers, exhausted, amid the flames to see if her plan worked – only for the N’Gari demon to reach its arm out of the flames in one final murder attempt. Kitty herself is too tired to phase and would have died instantly, but fortunately her attack devastated the creature, who disintegrated into dust before it could touch her.
Kitty’s battle (which basically decimated the X-Mansion) would earn her some good-natured ribbing from Wolverine and Nightcrawler, yet most of the X-Men admitted they were all very proud of how she handled herself against such as threat. Taking down the N’Gari demon took all of Kitty’s mutant powers, courage, and physical strength… not to mention a healthy recollection of Ridley Scott’s Alien.
