Warning: contains spoilers for Alien #6!
While Xenomorphs are regarded as ruthless killing machines throughout the galaxy, Marvel's Alien comic has revealed a deeper, more cosmic role for the creatures. In Alien #6, on sale now in print and digital, Gabriel Cruz learns the truth about his visions of 'the Woman in the Dark,' and it leads to a huge revelation about the Xenomorphs.
Earlier this year, Marvel launched a brand-new line of comics based on the Alien films. These comics have expanded the mythos, introducing the only person to ever survive being implanted with a Xenomorph embryo: Gabriel Cruz. While the embryo was inside of him, he had a vision of a horrifying figure he called 'the Woman in the Dark.' Years later, Cruz’s only son, Danny, leads a raid on a Weyland-Yutani facility in Earth orbit. Cruz is sent to the station to bring his son home, accompanied by a Bishop-model android. Cruz learns that the corporation was experimenting on captured Xenomorphs, hoping to weaponize them. Naturally, the Xenomorphs break free and wreak havoc on the station, and Cruz must escape the outbreak. While on the station, Cruz learns more about his vision from years earlier, and it leads to a stunning revelation about the Xenomorphs and their role in the universe.
Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, with art by Salvador Larroca, colors by GURU-eFX and letters by Clayton Cowles, the issue sees Cruz, Bishop and Danny’s girlfriend Iris try to escape the facility. Bishop approaches Iris, who grabs a gun and opens fire on him. Bishop seems to kill her, shocking Gabriel, as Bishop models are not permitted to kill. It is revealed that Iris is a rogue synth of unknown origin. She says that, thanks to Danny, Earth will become a "post-organic Utopia." Just as Cruz goes to finish her off, she tells him she has information about his visions. He presses her, and she reveals that humans were not the first organics to attempt to leave their solar system; when organics become "arrogant enough" for space-travel, they find "Prometheus' cleansing fire" waiting. Each species tries to first harness the fire, and then use it to augment themselves. Iris tells Gabriel that the Woman in the Dark is the unavoidable result of his species attempting to harness the powers of the Xenomorph.
Iris' beliefs about the Woman in the Dark aside, the revelation that the Xenomorphs are the "cleansing fire" of the universe is a huge one, hinting that the creatures have a much larger role in the cosmic scheme. This was a theme of 2012’s Prometheus, a prequel to the original Alien film, and this story serves as a callback to that movie. But while Xenomorphs have long served as a metaphor for human overreach and carelessness, their role in the fall of multiple spacefaring civilizations makes it clear that they're not just a hurdle for humanity, but a galactic test for any sufficiently advanced civilization.
The Alien comic just turned the Xenomorphs into the answer to the Fermi Paradox, explaining why organic species don't survive past leaving their home solar systems. This gives the Xenomorphs a cosmic role as a deadly test humanity is likely to fail like many civilizations before it - one that, should the human species fail, will remain to act as the extinction event for whatever new alien race happens across them next. Marvel continues their expansion of the Alien series with the revelation that the Xenomorphs serve a much higher purpose in the universe than originally thought - an idea that is sure to be expanded on as the comics continue.