Alien: Romulus made the bold move of taking viewers along for the dark journey of the kids from Jackson’s Star, who wanted nothing more than to get off their dead-end mining colony home. However, the film quickly made it clear that the kids’ plan to steal the cryostasis chamber from a nearby Weyland-Yutani space station Renaissance was doomed from the start; the Romulus and Remus sections were already graveyards, with a full-on xenomorph outbreak frozen mid-progress. The aftermath hinted at a significant story of death, tragedy, and scientific hubris – a story which now being told in a new Alien: Romulus prequel.
WARNING: SPOILERS FOLLOW!
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Marvel Comics has released Alien: Romulus #1 by writer Zac Thompson and artist Daniel Picciotto, with Alien: Romulus director Fede Álvarez and co-writer Rodo Sayagues contributing to the story. The comic takes place immediately following the opening prologue of the Alien: Romulus movie, which saw Weyland-Yutani discover a cocooned version of the original Alien (1979) Xenomorph that attacked the Nostromo (designated “XX121”) and bring it back to the Renaissance station for study. But how did all go so wrong?
Alien Reveals The Story of Romulus Station’s First Xenomorph Outbreak
In Alien: Romulus #1, we discover that xenomorph XX121’s arrival on Renaissance station caused major division amongst the crew. Science officer/android Rook was fascinated by the bio-engineering possibilities the xenomorphs presented – but security officers Hyla and Adrian know from experience that hostile lifeforms can cause havoc – especially when they appear most harmless. When Rook and the scientists take XX121 to Remus, Hyla, and Adrian wait for an opening and sneak in trying to eject the xenomorph off the station.
As always in Alien, the plan goes sideways: the two security guards unwittingly disable the cryogenic bed that XX121 has been kept on, and the xenomorph comes back to life, tearing off Adrian’s face. XX121’s rampage leaves a trail of bodies – and the creature accidentally releases the cloned facehuggers Remus’ scientists developed, resulting in even more xenomorphs being implanted in human hosts.
The outbreak comes to a head when Hyla and Rook have to form a temporary alliance, to open the airlocks and try to purge the xenomorphs, parasites, and infected hosts from the station. Hyla lures XX121 into a killbox and shoots it to pieces – but Rook ultimately sacrifices her, half his body, and the rest of the human crew by choosing to complete his Prometheus serum extracted from XX121, rather than prioritizing human life and closing the airlock.
The Alien: Romulus prequel comic manages to be a significant and thrilling expansion of the film’s story, as was the plan. It also does an admirable job of making readers want to go out and watch Alien: Romulus the movie right afterward, to enjoy it on a whole new level.
Alien: Romulus is available to watch on streaming.