Alien: Has Anyone Ever Survived A Facehugger?

The first trailer for "Alien: Romulus" bears all the hallmarks of a heartstopping Xenomorph-laden horror show. To wit, several harrowing, almost too gross to watch shots in the trailer show off a facehugger in action. One of the creatures is pulled from the throat of a victim, another of which leaps onto an unsuspecting human with a shriek. It looks like a pretty dire situation, and for most unfortunate souls who find themselves incubating acid-blooded alien creatures, it typically is. But while no one knows how well this set of characters will fare against the Xenomorphs, one character has managed to survive contact with the creature.

The incident happened in Marvel Comics' "Alien" spin-off tales. In "Alien #4"—part of a series published from 2021 to 2022—the central character is Gabriel "Gabe" Cruz, a Weyland-Yutani underling who's sent to a ruined lab on Epsilon Station to retrieve a deadlier, even scarier Xenomorph creature the company genetically engineered into being. Gabe is initially apprehensive; years ago, he survived the removal of a Xenomorph egg from his body before it could gestate into a chest burster and kill him. But when Cruz learns that his son, Danny, was stationed on Epsilon before the aliens took over he immediately agrees to take on the task. Gabe sets about trying to save Danny's life and is put on a collision course with the very same Xenomorph that had been excised from his body so many years before. 

Gabe is in extremely rarified company, as facehuggers have taken down some of the best and brightest characters — including one of its most iconic figures.

Gabriel Cruz' story of survival is even more fascinating because the series' mightiest heroine, Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) does not manage to survive hosting a Xenomorph embryo. In "Alien 3," Ellen, knowing all too well the fate ahead of her, sacrifices herself by pitching her body into the foundry of the Fiorina "Fury" 161 to keep the universe safe from the queen she's gestating just as it bursts forth from her body. 

Yet fate still isn't done with Ellen. Two centuries later, the character is cloned using partial DNA from a Xenomorph queen in "Alien: Resurrection." This version of Ripley isn't entirely human, having been grown within a Xenomorph queen — just one more reason why the biology of the Xenomorph makes no sense. She displays physical abilities and endurance that go beyond that of your average human and does not have the socially angular manner of her progenitor. The queen is kept alive so scientists might harvest its eggs, and Ellen knows precisely what will happen. Her warnings fall on deaf ears, but she ends up being entirely correct — just one more reason why fans laud her for being the character behind the smartest decision ever made in the "Alien" franchise. 

Audiences will find out whether humanity will finally be able to outsmart their Xenomorph enemies when "Alien: Romulus" debuts on August 16.