Warning: contains spoilers for Alien #5!
Marvel’s Alien comic has made a bombshell revelation about the Xenomorphs, confirming that they form a psychic "bond" with their hosts. In Alien #5, on sale now in print and digital, the sole survivor of being implanted by a Facehugger recounts the horrifying visions he had while under the creature’s influence, saying, "When they're attached, we become part of them."
In the Alien universe, Xenomorphs lay eggs which, when they hatch in the presence of a viable host, produce Facehuggers which then forcibly implant a Xenomorph embryo. The embryo grows inside the host until it is ready to emerge as a Chestburster. Up until Marvel’s Alien comic, no one had ever canonically survived being impregnated by a Facehugger, making Gabriel Cruz incredibly valuable to Weyland-Yutani, who surgically removed his embryo, allowing the corporation to continue its research on the Xenomorph species and landing Cruz a position as chief of security on Epsilon Station.
Unfortunately, Cruz's son eventually leads an attack on Epsilon, accidentally liberating a number of Xenomorphs and forcing Gabriel to return to the station and attempt a rescue mission. In Alien #5 - from Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Salvador Larroca, Guru-eFx and Clayton Cowles - Cruz recounts his experience carrying an Xenomorph inside of him, making it clear that, "Facehuggers don't just lay eggs." In a flashback sequence to twenty years earlier, Cruz tells his story, saying that when a Facehugger is attached, it becomes part of the host, and the host part of it. Cruz then recounts having horrifying visions of hordes of Xenomorphs of all shapes and sizes, some of which are yet to exist.
Cruz doesn't elaborate too much on the connection between a host and a Xenomorph, but this close "bond" he describes has never been seen before in the movies. This connection adds another twisted layer to the creatures, showing that they not only impact their host physically, but mentally as well. Previous issues of Marvel’s Alien comic have shown that Xenomorphs can also track a person who has been implanted with an embryo - what other abilities are the creatures hiding? Since acquiring the rights to create comics based on the Alien franchise, Marvel has expanded the mythos, showing new sides and dimensions to existing characters, as well as creating new ones.
Marvel’s Alien comic is taking the franchise to places it’s never been before, revealing that Xenomorphs form a twisted psychic bond with their victims, forever marking them as prey for the creatures, but perhaps also offering vital insight into what it will take to end this galactic scourge once and for all - or at least prepare for the new forms of Xenomorph life still to come.