Aliens gave birth to a strange extended universe

Aliens gave birth to a strange extended universe

When screenwriter Dan OBannon conjured up the premise of Alien his ambitions for the iconic alien never went beyond the horrific depiction of him on the page and the enigmatic crashed spaceship from which he emerged. Any talk of the creatures origin or life cycle made it to the cutting room floor only to be added back to a special Directors Cut decades later. The mysterious beast inspired James Cameron to write the Aliens script to explore his backstory but you may not know that it also led to a strange and extended universe.

While Aliens lived up to its predecessor the same couldnt be said for David Finchers Alien 3 which picked up Ripleys story six years later. Sigourney Weaver returned but various problems made it impossible for Lt. Dwayne Hicks Michael Biehn Rebecca Newt Jorden Carrie Henn or Bishop Lance Henriksen to return.

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Fans werent exactly thrilled about its deletion and neither was Cameron who called the move dumb and a huge slap in the face for fans. Heres the thing though The wishes of die-hard fans to see Ripley Hicks and Newt continue their adventures were granted. It just didnt happen on screen. A direct sequel to Aliens the Dark Horse Comics series also called Aliens picks up the story years later as Hicks and an 18-year-old Newt reunite to battle aliens on distant planetoids. Their success spawned a series of comedic sequels including one where they are reunited with Ripley.

However the series went awry when Alien 3 was released and forced a retcon with later reprints of those original comics turning Hicks and Newt into nobodies of the Wilks and Billie franchise. Sad no doubt but this offered Dark Horse freedom. With the comics no longer tied to the movie continuity his writing group turned to new ideas. Many believe the seeds of Alien vs Predator were sown in 1990s Predator 2 where a xenomorph skull is seen in the predators trophy shack but on the page they had already fought.

Of all the matings this one made the most sense as the predators trap an alien queen taking advantage of her endless supply of eggs to breed xenomorphs as training material. The nature of the Predators as interstellar hunters using seemingly unkillable alien species as training tools? Its a match made in heaven. Fans thought so too and the success of Alien vs. Predator paved the way for a future of increasingly bizarre crossovers. Make no mistake none of the following were canon but who cares when you have Aliens vs Judge Dredd? Or Aliens vs. Batman? This era pushes the limits of credibility with tongue firmly in cheek. Lets take Superman and Batman against Aliens and Predator. For this giant crossover to work each caped crusader needed their own miniseries featuring the beasts to establish the backstory.

 

The Batman comic follows Bruce Wayne into the jungle where he encounters a xenocroc and ends with him fighting hybrid alien versions of Poison Ivy and the Joker. The Superman comics settle the age-old question can a xenomorph cut through a Kryptonian? The answer a resounding no.