Alien: Romulus - The Offsprings Powers & Abilities Explained

Alien: Romulus introduced The Offspring to the franchise, a terrifying new monster with its own set of powers and abilities. By the time of Alien: Romulus' ending, the installment solidified it as one of the best in the series. Not only did it feature plenty of classic Xenomorph-based action-horror, but it also tied to the Alien prequel movies by expanding the lore of the franchise. This was done via the inclusion of the Prometheus Fire, a pathogen that led to the creation of The Offspring.

The Offspring is a new type of Xenomorph variant in the Alien franchise and provided a terrifying final obstacle for Rain to overcome in Alien: Romulus. However, The Offspring is very different from the final monsters of the past Alien movies. The reason for this links to its placement on the Alien movie timeline, as alluded to via the film's connections to Prometheus and Alien: Covenant. Regardless of its differences, The Offspring provided a terrifying new entry to Alien lore as a villain with unique powers and abilities.

The Offspring Is A Human-Xenomorph Hybrid In The Alien Franchise

Kay's Baby Played A Part In Creating The Offspring

Early in the film's story, it is confirmed that the character of Kay, played by Isabela Merced in Alien: Romulus' cast. This adds an extra layer of threat and drama to the movie once the destruction of the Xenomorphs is unleashed on the titular Romulus station, as Kay is now fighting for the survival of her child as much as that of herself and her friends. At the end of the film, Kay injects herself with the film's Z-01 compound to keep her alive, yet the compound has unwitting effects on her unborn baby.

The Z-01 compound, initially developed from the Xenomorphs as a way of strengthening human DNA, mutates Kay's baby. She gives birth to a cocoon, from which The Offspring emerges. The Offspring is particularly terrifying due to its somewhat human appearance. The film shows that The Offspring has human aspects, warped by body-horror aspects. The Offspring has Xenomorph elements too, from the long, bladed tail to the toothed, second jaw inside its mouth. As such, The Offspring can only be described as a human-Xenomorph hybrid, the latter elements granted by the Z-01 compound and the former from Kay's baby.

How The Z-01 Compound Gave The Offspring The Ability To Mature So Quickly

The Z-01 Compound Follows Previous Xenomorph Maturity Rates

One of the main questions coming out of Alien: Romulus' final act is how The Offspring matures so quickly. Shortly after being born, The Offspring grows to be a giant, hulking Xenomorph-human hybrid in little to no time. The reason for this stems from the Z-01 compound. As the compound was taken from the Xenomorphs initially, it possesses the aging abilities of the titular aliens. The Xenomorphs mature incredibly quickly, as often shown in the best-ranked Alien movies via the speed at which chest-bursters become fully grown Xenomorphs.

Once Kay's baby was mutated by the Z-01 compound, it took on this accelerated aging. This was confirmed as a side-effect of the Z-01 in Alien: Romulus, explaining not only why Kay fell into labor so quickly after injecting herself with it, but also why The Offspring grew at a dramatic rate. The compound itself is what allowed The Offspring to take its final form as quickly as it did, just as Xenomorphs have done since the earliest days of the franchise.

The Offspring's Physical Appearance & Strength Explained

The Offspring Has A Unique Look & Immense Strength

Concerning its visual appearance, The Offspring is one of the most terrifying creatures in the Alien franchise. The creature looks human, yet the level of uncanny valley caused by its Xenomorph aspects makes it an incredibly scary sight. The body of The Offspring looks akin to Prometheus' Engineers, the giant white-skinned humanoid creatures with which Peter Weyland was obsessed in the movie. However, The Offspring's mutations cause its body to be crooked, leaning somewhat to the right.

On The Offspring's back, the tubes that usually stick out of a Xenomorph are not fully formed, instead being dark holes into the creature's skin. This is accompanied by other Xenomorph elements, such as the long, bladed tail and toothed tongue. The rest of its body is incredibly skinny, with bones being visible through its pale white skin. Finally, The Offspring has long, clawed hands and deep black eyes that truly sell it as a terrifying inclusion in the lore of the Alien franchise.

Regarding The Offspring's physical strength, the creature is not to be messed with. It is shown to dispatch humans or synthetics like Rain and Andy with little more than a swipe of its tail or arms in Alien: Romulus. Furthermore, once Rain seals herself behind metal doors in the film's climax, The Offspring manages to break through them with minimal effort. Therefore, it can be assumed that The Offspring has the combined strength of an Engineer and a Xenomorph, providing a distinct physical threat.

Why The Offspring Has Similar Characteristics To The Engineers

Alien: Romulus' Connections To Prometheus Explains This

As alluded to, The Offspring in Alien: Romulus shares some similarities with Prometheus' humanoid Engineers. The reason for these similar characteristics is explained via the Z-01 compound, aptly named the Prometheus Fire in Alien: Romulus. The Z-01 compound is a combination of Xenomorph and human DNA, very similar to the black goo-like substance often shown throughout Prometheus and Alien: Covenant. The Z-01 compound is essentially a recreation of this black goo, which was initially tampered with by the Engineers using their own DNA.

Therefore, it can be assumed that the Z-01 compound contains some elements of Engineer DNA. This explains why The Offspring looks somewhat like an Engineer, as the human baby was mutated with a mix of the humanoid race's DNA and that of the Xenomorphs. This not only allowed for Alien: Romulus to create an incredibly unique alien monster but also tied the film cleverly to both the original two Alien movies and the two prequel films crafted by Ridley Scott.

What Fede Álvarez Has Said About The Offspring's Creation & Appearance

Since the release of Alien: Romulus, director Fede Álvarez has commented at length about several aspects of the movie. One aspect that has received distinct attention is The Offspring itself, partly driven by its unique design but also the possibility that the filmmaker went too far with the creature. This was addressed in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter with Álvarez stating:

“They [Disney] did [push back] at the beginning [with regard to the Offspring], but not because they didn’t like it. They just thought, ‘Is it too much? Do we really have to go there?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, now that you said that we shouldn’t, I know that I will. If you’re given an Alien movie by a corporation that is owned by Disney and they immediately say, ‘Yeah, let’s make it,’ then you are failing somehow. So we really pushed it to the limit, and I’m glad we did.”

In another interview with Variety, Álvarez addressed The Offspring's design, specifically the ties to Prometheu s' Engineers. The director stated that his son called out the fact that The Offspring looks like something from Alien: Resurrection, but that he was more concerned about connecting the film to Prometheus. Álvarez stated that he hoped people would pick up on the similarities to the Engineers, insisting that:

“The black goo is the root of the whole thing that was introduced in ‘Prometheus.' It’s the root of all life, but also particularly the xenomorphs come out of that thing, which means it has to be inside there... So we thought, if it affects your DNA, and the Engineers clearly came out of the same root of life, it made complete sense to me that [the offspring of a human and a xenomorph] was going to look like that.”

Evidently, Alien: Romulus' connections to Ridley Scott's prequel movies were not accidental. Thankfully, Álvarez is someone who values the deeper exploration of the franchise lore from Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, leading the filmmaker to include these aspects in his own film. Whether potential sequels to Alien: Romulus continue to do the same remains to be seen, but, thanks to The Offspring, the franchise has a frightening new alien with unique abilities and an original design that ties all sections of the timeline together.