Written by: Sam Santiago
With Disney‘s acquisition of Fox bringing the X-Men and Alien franchises under the same roof, it was only a matter of time before the Xenomorphs found their way into the Marvel Universe. The Avengers already got their turn. Captain America wasn’t spared either. Now the acid blood is headed straight for mutant territory.
The funny thing is, X-Men fans have been dealing with Alien-inspired nightmares for decades.
Long before Marvel ever got the license to publish Alien comics, Chris Claremont unleashed the Brood on the X-Men. First appearing during his legendary run on Uncanny X-Men, the parasitic extraterrestrials quickly became one of the most disturbing threats the team had ever faced. They implanted hosts, transformed victims, and spread through the galaxy like a plague. The influence of Ridley Scott‘s Alien was obvious from the start.
Now Marvel is finally putting the inspiration and the original nightmare in the same room and bringing Chris Claremont along for the ride.
Main cover by Ryan Stegman.
Marvel has officially announced Alien vs. X-Men, a four-issue crossover from writer Kieron Gillen and artist Geraldo Borges. The series will pit Marvel‘s mutants against the galaxy’s deadliest organism while also featuring a backup story from Chris Claremont that brings the Brood back into the spotlight.
According to Marvel:
“The X-Men went looking for a Phoenix egg. They found something else.”
The story follows the X-Men as they return to Earth carrying something far more dangerous than they realize. What follows is exactly what you would expect when mutants and Xenomorphs occupy the same space. Blood, chaos, and a rapidly escalating body count.
Variant Cover by Ivan Shavrin
On his love for the Alien franchise, Gillen shared, “Alien was the first R-rated movie I ever saw. Aliens is one of the four founding teenage films that I built my understanding of story structure upon. As a hormonal teen, I had a looming Alien poster hung over my bed. I love Aliens so much that I am unhelpfully explaining beats to Geraldo by referencing two-second sequences featuring tertiary characters, as if he cares about Ferro and Dietrich as much as I do. So, yes, this is some prime-grade bucket list stuff for me, and I’m highly enjoying taking the X-Men on an X-press elevator to hell.”
“For me, the coolest aspect here is returning to a universe where I can pit my deadliest alien predators against their movie counter-parts, with Kitty caught in the middle,” Claremont said. “Kitty brings a hero’s perspective to the challenge that embraces the heart and soul of the X-Men. This story is cram-packed with adventure – plus some crazy surprises along the way.”
ALIEN VS X-MEN hits comic book shops in September 16th 2026, and we hope for the X-Men‘s sake, they stay frosty…speaking of, where’s ICE MAN when ya need him?