Warning: contains spoilers for Alien Annual #1!
One of the biggest reveals in the original Alien film is no longer possible. Alien Annual #1 from Marvel Comics has shown that Weyland-Yutani has learned from its past mistakes. Synthetics are no longer as vulnerable to discovery when it comes to the company's directives.
In Alien (1979), Ripley is able to discover Ash's hidden directives thanks to communications within Mother's terminal on the Nostromo. By accessing his private files, she realizes that the alien aboard the ship is top priority, while the crew is perceived as expendable. However, thanks to some upgrades made to synthetics since those events, this is no longer a possible option. Weyland-Yutani has covered its tracks more tightly, allowing its robotic employees to operate with far more stealth.
Alien Annual #1 has the creative team of Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Salvador Larroca and C. B. Cebulski. The issue goes back to a previous mission Gabriel Cruz had with Weyland-Yutani before the events of the "Bloodlines" arc. It brings back a "new" synthetic model of one of Alien's biggest villains - Ash. However, this Ash is far more careful than the one Ripley faced. This one has a wireless communication channel with the company, disallowing Gabriel from finding out the synthetic's directives and secret goals until it is far too late.
Gabriel is sent with a squad to put down a rebellion, which involves impregnating a host with a Facehugger. However, the mission quickly goes south aboard their ship and this combat model of Ash begins using Gabriel's squad to observe the xenomorph's abilities. The company did not approve a Bishop model, choosing to provide a Hyperdyne model 120-A2. This model, though outdated in terms of not following "core directive legislation" is perceived as more "flexible" since it doesn't abide by "core directive legislation" in regard to human involvement. It can be used to carry out Weyland-Yutani's aggressive directives, while having wireless access to a secure channel. The events of Alien occurred in 2122, while this new annual takes place in 2193.
The time difference between events easily explains the improvement to secret communication abilities within the Alien universe. It also explains why this particular synth model has such a robotic appearance compared to other models within the universe, such as the original Ash and the Bishop models. It isn't necessary for the company to hide an android for this particular mission, so visual stealth is not an imperative component. Instead, a communications upgrade is all that is needed to make this synthetic a bigger threat than Alien's Ash. The communications don't need to be written on an external device or audibly vocalized, they can be silently transmitted with no one being the wiser. Ripley ruined Weyland-Yutani's original plans, but the company has learned how to avoid being discovered by the same means. While their goals may not be changing very much, the approach to achieving them certainly has, making Alien's original big reveal a future impossibility.
Alien Annual #1 is available now from Marvel Comics!