Warning: spoilers for Alien #5!As Marvel continues to expand the Alien canon, it's introducing a new hybrid human/Xenomorph. Not only does this being pose a unique threat to humanity, but it's even more dangerously intelligent than the original alien species.
A group of advanced synthetics known as Steel Team have been tasked with retrieving an alien egg from a destroyed Weyland-Yutani research facility. The egg is essential to saving a huge number of lives, but it is contained deep within Tobler-9 - a planet overrun by Xenomorphs the company originally held for study. However, the synthetics were surprised to learn that there was a band of human survivors living on the planet. They even saved the synthetics when they were under attack, and have been holed up on the desolated planet for years.
Xenomorphs Just Got Smarter
In Alien #5 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and Julius Ohta, the synthetics are dealing with the aftermath of a Xenomorph attack on the survivors' base. Tragically, one of the survivors snooped in the synthetics' belongings, exposing them to a mutated Xenomorph/mosquito that caused a genetic mutation within their DNA. They became a human/Xenomorph-hybrid and turned on the synthetics. This bizarre-looking creature, which is neither human nor Xenomorph, displays signs of advanced intelligence by operating a gate and freeing the Xenomorph Queen.
Xenomorphs are cunning instinctual hunters, but they don't display human levels of intelligence when it comes to technology. They take in a surprising amount of sensory data which can make it seem like they have the ability to predict human behavior, but the species possesses little in the way of logical or rational thought. This new human/Xenomorph hybrid doesn't appear to be restricted in the same manner. Its allegiances lie with the Xenomorphs, however it retains a base human knowledge which can seemingly still be accessed, turning it into an almost unprecedented threat.
Xenomorph/Human Unity Has Begun
The series has teased that in the future, humans and Xenomorphs will truly combine on the genetic level, creating a devastating new type of killer. It's possible the new hybrid is the start of this process, and its ability to bypass measures which previously stopped the Xenomorphs makes Tobler-9 the epicenter of a devastating new evolution. A gate on a chain is an extremely basic place to start, but something more complex - such as operating a ship - would go a long way towards expanding the Xenomorph threat. Xenomorphs were already the deadliest killers in the universe, but with even basic human intelligence backing them up, Alien is teasing a horrific new future, all beginning on Tobler-9.
Alien #5 is now available from Marvel Comics.