There are few horror monster that are more iconic than the Xenomorphs from the Alien franchise, due in part to how beloved the film franchise is as a whole (at least the first two), but that may not have been the case if the coolest Xenomorph-killer made an appearance in the movies. The character in question is truly awesome after it made its comic book debut, though that awesomeness borders on silliness which would completely undermine the tone set by the Alien films.
In the four-part limited comic book series Aliens: Hive by Jerry Prosser and Kelly Jones, a scientist named Stanislaw Mayakovsky is approached by a thief named Gill with the proposition of a lifetime. Gill wants Mayakovsky to help her infiltrate a Xenomorph hive to steal the slime produced by the alien queen known as Royal Jelly as it is one of the most coveted commodities in the galaxy. Royal Jelly is valuable for a number of reasons, but one of the most profitable is that, when refined, Jelly is a powerful and highly addictive drug. In order to cash in, Gill and Mayakovsky have to find a way into the Xenomorph hive without being detected, and Mayakovsky developed a way to do such a thing many years ago.
Mayakosky once made a robot ant for the purpose of sending it into a nest and learning about the intricacies of their lives. So, the scientist uses the same method with Xenomorphs and creates a Synthetic alien named Norbert. While a Robo-Xeno is a really cool idea and was, in fact, integral to the Aliens: Hive storyline, one aspect of the character makes it a little too ridiculous to have existed in the movies. After Norbert infiltrated the hive, but was cornered by a number of enemy threats, the Synthetic removed its robotic tail and revealed that it was actually a gun all along. The next panel shows the Synthetic Xenomorph mowing down its enemies with this unique blaster, a vision that undermines the horror mystique of the Xenomorphs by turning them into, what looks like, badass action heroes. Xenomorphs are mysterious, sneaky, and gruesomely terrifying, so one wielding a giant blaster, Synthetic or not, takes away the aspect of Xenomorphs fans fell in love with in the first place.
While it wouldn’t work on film as it wouldn’t fit the tone the Alien franchise set, the Synthetic Xenomorph absolutely worked in the comics and fit perfectly into the world established during Dark Horse Comics’ many runs with the franchise. Dark Horse’s Aliens comics took the universe to whole new heights in terms of ludicrous storylines and deepening lore, including the establishment of Royal Jelly, a storyline where an entire Xenomorphs hive is decimated by a pig, and even the featured Synthetic Xenomorph, Norbert. While they were dark, these comic storylines were really fun and widely entertaining and really pushed the boundaries of what an Alien story looks like.
Norbert was a huge hit with readers upon its debut, and it wasn’t the last Synthetic Xenomorph to make an appearance in the comics. Jeri was the second Robo-Xeno to make an appearance in the comic book world, debuting in Aliens: Stronghold, and was much more of a character than Norbert. Jeri was a wise-cracking, cigar-smoking, blaster-wielding Xeno who was thrown into a number of humorous situations. While Jeri’s existence seemingly proves how beloved Norbert was to fans, it seems as though their time to shine began and ended with their comic book appearances, especially Norbert and his robotic blaster tail, as Alien’s coolest Xenomorph-killer would have ruined the movies forever by replacing the very mystique that makes Xenomorphs so terrifying with ludicrous and fantastical action.