The fourth issue of Marvel’s Alien has revealed some monstrous killers on Tobler-9 that make the rabid Xenomorphs look like child’s play.
The following contains spoilers for Alien #4, on sale now from Marvel Comics.
Marvel’s Alien has truly been a scary ride, focusing on the Steel team of synths sent in 2217 to Tobler-9: a scientific hub that got bombed after Xenomorphs ran amok. The synths have been tasked by the military to retrieve an ovomorph egg, whose biological data can save farming projects and unlock new medical treatments. Thus, the hope is this squad can indeed bring back the Weyland-Yutani experiment, so it can finally be put to good use.
Unfortunately, the synths are betrayed by the last bastion of humanity that remained in the complex, bitter their corporate overseer deemed them expendable when the planet got nuked. Interestingly, as a new war erupts, with the Steel team trying to complete the mission and get home, Alien #4 (by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Julius Ohta, Yen Nitro, and VC’s Clayton Cowles) reveals two monsters way more diabolical and scarier than the Xenomorphs.
Alien’s Lee Becomes a New Type of Queen
Earlier in this series, Eli (one of the lead synths) noted that a collection of bugs in the lab were being experimented on as well. He saw one crawling on the human, Lee, in the resistance, but said nothing. She eventually got bitten after the betrayal, which Eli deems karma. Sadly, she turns into a monster with a lizard-like tongue. When the rebels try to take the synth’s ship to get off-world, this mutated Lee ravages most of them, causing the vessel to crash.
She’s way more rabid, quick and aggressive than the Xenomorphs, ripping off people’s jaws and maiming them in the blink of an eye. The kicker is, when the Xenomorphs approach her, she’s able to control them, assuming the role of the Queen that the synths killed. Lee then takes the pack to the resistance hub, attacking and feeding, creating the perfect mix of human and beast — which the corporation wanted all along. But this creature is much smarter than the usual Queen and way more uncontrollable with no scientists around.
Eli is Becoming Alien’s Next Deadly Synth
Freyja, the other synth leader, is angry Eli let Lee be turned. He justifies it as a war tactic, anticipating the humans would backstab them. This nods to the likes of David and Bishop from the movies, who manipulated humans for their own means, and in the name of scientific advancement. But in Eli’s case, he’s nastier as he’s jealous of the freedom that humanity has. As a result, he laps up the fact Lee’s going to devour her own people. This is much more sadistic and lacks compassion in a bigger way than when the other bots schemed in the iconic property. Even Freyja points it out — noting innocent women and kids will die in Lee’s rampage.
Eli, though, is unforgiving because he wants the genocide to occur, not just for them being traitors, but because this is a further step to the synths being highlighted as the superior species once they survive the planet. It leaves Freyja worried he’s lost his mind, and if Eli will be willing to sacrifice his remaining four teammates to get the DNA samples back to the military. Ultimately, Freyja has to risk going to face Lee as the rebels have the beacon they need to get home. But now, she’s suspicious Eli might be a menace to his own kind, as well as the humans begging to be escorted off the rock.
