Marvel's Alien: Romulus Prequel Reveals How The Xenomorph From The 1979 Movie Really Died

20th Century Studios

This post contains major spoilers for Marvel's "Alien: Romulus" #1.

Director Fede Álvarez brought the "Alien" franchise back to life with this year's "Alien: Romulus." It was the first entry in the franchise in seven years following the commercial disappointment that was Ridley Scott's "Alien: Covenant" in 2017. But Álvarez didn't shy away from touching on Scott's prequels in his film, nor did he shy away from making direct connections to Scott's original 1979 horror/sci-fi masterpiece "Alien." Now, a new comic that serves as a prequel to Álvarez's film makes even more connections to Scott's '70s classic, shining a light on the fate of the first Xenomorph that terrorized the crew of the Nostromo.

Marvel's "Alien: Romulus" #1, written by Zac Thompson and illustrated by Daniel Picciotto, serves as a direct prequel to the events of the film of the same name. The cold open of the film sees a crew aboard the Renaissance Station discovering not only the wreckage of the Nostromo, but also the cocooned remains of the Xenomorph, dubbed XX121 in the book. Well, at the very least, these unfortunate souls believe they've found remains. Xenomorphs are quite resilient, it turns out, as even the cold vacuum of space can't kill them.

The "Romulus" prequel comic shows us that Rook, who was made in the likeness of Ian Holm's Ash from "Alien, wishes to study the Xenomorph and, as Álvarez's movie reveals, he ultimately gets his wish. Meanwhile, a pair of security guards named Adrian and Hyla are against it, believing the organism should be destroyed. The duo end up disabling the Xenomorph's cryo-sleep device and — wouldn't you know it — the deadly creature comes back to life and starts wreaking havoc.

Marvel Comics

Because the science officers aboard the Renaissance had already cloned several of the facehuggers, all of the necessary ingredients to make more Xenomorphs were there. Pretty much everyone dies, with Hyla and Rook at odds trying to accomplish different missions. Rook wants to extract the "Prometheus Fire" serum from the Xenomorph, which ties back to both "Prometheus" and "Covenant" Hyla, on the other hand, wants to kill XX121 for good.

Hyla does accomplish her mission, defeating the original Xenomorph with a barrage of gunfire before putting it down for good. Sadly for her, Rook ends up getting her sucked out of the station's airlock, so she also dies and is unable to warn anyone else of what transpired on the station. In the end, then, Rook gets to secure his serum and that tees up the events of "Alien: Romulus" the movie. Much like the film, the "Romulus" comic does a lot to fill in some gaps in the overall timeline without stepping on any pre-existing continuity.

As for the future? Disney and 20th Century Studios are currently developing a "Romulus' sequel, which will likely see the return of Cailee Spaeny's Rain and David Jonsson's Andy. Plot details remain under wraps, but one thing is for sure: They won't be encountering that particular Xenomorph because it is good and truly dead now. Despite Ellen Ripley's best efforts, that alien lived to kill again decades later. It truly is a perfect, deadly organism.

"Alien: Romulus" is available on VOD now, or you can pre-order the film on 4K, Blu-ray, and DVD via Amazon.