Alien: Romulus made the bold move to take viewers on the dark journey of the kids from Jackson’s Star, who wanted nothing more than to get away from their dead-end mining colony. But the film quickly made it clear that the kids’ plan to steal the cryostasis chamber from a nearby Weyland-Yutani space station Renaissance was doomed from the start; The Romulus and Remus sections were already graveyards, with a full xenomorph outbreak frozen in mid-progress. The aftermath hinted at a significant story of death, tragedy, and scientific hubris—a story now told in a new one Alien: Romulus prequel.

WARNING: SPOILERS FOLLOW!

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Marvel Comics has released Alien: Romulus #1 by writer Zac Thompson and artist Daniel Picciotto, with Alien: Romulus director Fede Álvarez and co-writer Rodo Sayagues contribute to the story. The series takes place immediately after the opening prologue of Alien: Romulus film, which saw Weyland-Yutani discover a cocoon version of original Foreign (1979) Xenomorph that attacked the Nostromo (designated “XX121”) and bring it back to the Renaissance Station for study. But how did it all go so wrong?

Alien reveals the story of Romulus Station’s first Xenomorph outbreak

IN Alien: Romulus #1, we discover that xenomorph XX121’s arrival at the Renaissance station caused great division among the crew. Science officer/android Rook was fascinated by the biotechnological possibilities presented by the xenomorphs – but security officers Hyla and Adrian know from experience that hostile life forms can wreak havoc – especially when they seem most harmless. As Rook and the scientists take XX121 to Remus, Hyla and Adrian wait for an opening and sneak in and attempt to eject the xenomorph from the station.

As always in Foreignthe plan goes awry: the two security guards unwittingly disable the cryogenic bed that XX121 has been held on, and the xenomorph comes back to life and rips off Adrian’s face. XX121’s advance leaves a trail of bodies—and the creature accidentally releases the cloned face huggers Remus’ scientists developed, resulting in even more xenomorphs being implanted into human hosts.

The outbreak comes to a head when Hyla and Rook must form a temporary alliance to open the airlocks and attempt to clear the alien hostilities, parasites and infected hosts from the station. Hyla lures XX121 into a killbox and blasts it to pieces – but Rook ultimately sacrifices her, half his body, and the rest of the human crew by choosing to complete his Prometheus serum extracted from XX121, rather than prioritize human life and close the airlock .

The Alien: Romulus the prequel comic manages to be a significant and exciting expansion of the film’s story, which was the plan. It also does an admirable job of making readers want to go out and look Alien: Romulus the film immediately afterwards, to enjoy it on a whole new level.

Alien: Romulus available to watch on streaming.