What are the Xenomorphs in Alien? Origins explained

The Alien franchise is back in a big way with Alien: Romulus, and it’s bringing the titular Xenomorphs back to the forefront. 

After a jaunt into prequels with Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, the Alien franchise is returning to what worked before with Romulus. Set between Alien and Aliens in the timeline, it’s promising to bring back the sheer terror that defined those early films.

That includes the Xenomorphs, the alien race that has stalked the series since its inception. Despite 40 years of films, they’re still as mysterious as ever. 

Now that Alien: Romulus has slithered its way into theaters, here’s everything we know about the Xenomorph race’s origins. 

Where do the Xenomorphs come from?

The actual origins of the Xenomorphs are unknown, but there are several theories, including the idea they were created by David.

The closest to a homeworld we know of is Xenomorph Prime, which appeared in a handful of comic book tie-ins and the Aliens vs. Predator video game. However, the canonicity of these of these projects is disputed, and the planet has never been shown or addressed in a canon project. 

In the stories where it appears, Xenomorph Prime is said to be an incredibly hostile planet, and the Xenomorphs are actually an invasive species. As they flourished, the Xenomorphs began to evolve into several varieties and eventually dominated the planet. 

A later theory supported by original film director Ridley Scott proposes that Xenomorphs are actually a designed species. The sci-fi movie Prometheus and its sequel, Alien: Covenant, suggest that the Xenomorphs were created by Michael Fassbender’s David, who aspired to create a “perfect” organism. 

The Engineers theory

Perhaps the most mysterious part of the Aliens saga is the Engineers, giant extraterrestrial beings who are intrinsically linked to the Xenomorphs. However, one theory ties them to the creation of the Xenomorphs. 

The theory proposes that the Engineers made use of the Xenomorphs for some purpose, such as a weapon or an experiment. Something caused the Xenomorphs to break free, and the Engineers were unable to control them. 

This resulted in Engineer ships full of Xenomorph eggs, like the one seen in the original Alien horror movie, being abandoned on various worlds. The eggs eventually hatched and spawned Xenomorphs. 

Xenomorph powers and weaknesses

The Xenomorphs are apex predators who have evolved to become the ultimate hunters. They’re fast enough to dodge gunfire, strong enough to rip a human being apart, and durable enough that they can survive unprotected in space. 

Perhaps most notable about them is their acidic blood, which is shown to create a genuine logistical problem in the movies. The blood can eat through anything and, at one point in Alien, threatens to eat through the hull of the Nostromo. 

Despite this, the Xenomorphs are far from invulnerable. They appear very susceptible to fire (especially in their egg state), and a pulse rifle can shred through them. They also seem to have limited intelligence, as they can be evaded and tricked. 

Full Xenomorph life cycle

The Xenomorph life cycle is contentious, as there appears to be two distinct branches of it. 

In the original Alien, there is a single Xenomorph that grows from an egg implanted in a host by a Facehugger, which itself hatched from a massive egg. Though the scenes were deleted, it is implied that the Xenomorph reproduces asexually, turning victims into eggs, which in turn evolve into Facehuggers. 

Aliens largely threw this out the window, though. It establishes the presence of a Xenomorph Queen, a massive alien seen laying the Facehugger eggs. 

Today, the accepted theory is that both are valid. While the Xenomorphs ideally reproduce via eggs laid by the Queen, smaller hives or lone Xenomorphs have the ability to reproduce asexually. 

Xenomorph Queens explained

Much like the Xenomorphs themselves, the very nature of Queens is unclear.

20th Century Studios

It appears they are born of unique chestbursters implanted by so-called Royal Facehuggers. However, much of the details on this are from the Assembly Cut of Alien 3, and the canonicity is in question. 

It is clear that Ripley has a Queen Chestburster embryo in her throughout the film, and the Chestburster seen erupting from her chest does appear to be slightly different in design than the standard Chestburster. 

However, given how other Alien reproduction cycles work, there is also some speculation that a Queen is evolved rather than hatched. 

Queens are much larger than the standard Xenomorph and appear to be more intelligent, too. The one seen in Aliens seems to understand Ripley’s threat to destroy her eggs. However, they’re still incredibly hostile, as we see the Queen choose to ignore said threat to send a Chestburster after her. 

While the Xenomorph is based on work by H.R. Giger, the Queen was designed mainly by Aliens director James Cameron as a cost-cutting measure for the film. 

Can Xenomorphs survive and breathe in space?

Xenomorphs do appear to be able to survive in space, but we do have limited information. 

Multiple times throughout the Alien movies, a Xenomorph will find itself outside of a spaceship. The lack of oxygen and freezing temperatures don’t seem to have much impact on them. 

The most notable of these instances would be from the original Alien when Ripley blows the Xenomorph out of an airlock. It appears to be just fine right up until she fires up the engines, which incinerates it. 

Do Xenomorphs have eyes? 

Xenomorphs can see, obviously, but they do not appear to have physical eyes as we would conceive them. Behind the scenes, this was an idea by Giger, who felt it made them more threatening if you did not know what they were looking at. 

That design has made the idea that Xenomorphs have eyes at all somewhat contentious, though. Some depictions of the Xenomorph reveal a human-like skull underneath the outer carapace, especially in statues, action figures, and supplemental materials. 

Is there a Xenomorph language?

The Xenomorphs do appear to communicate via any number of hisses and grunts, so they clearly have some form of language. However, it seems unlikely it is anything a human would be able to understand, especially given how little we know about the Xenomorph species. 

One interesting detail is that the Xenomorphs may have some form of mimicry. The original cut ending of Alien would have seen the Xenomorph mimic Captain Dallas for a recording after slaughtering the Nostromo’s crew, including Ripley. Given that this ending was cut, it’s unlikely this ability is canon, but it is not impossible. 

Why Xenomorphs hate humans (and everyone)

There is no specific reason established as to why the Xenomorphs hate humans. The one in Alien, for instance, is canonically said to have primarily been acting out of fear because it was disoriented after being born. 

However, one clue could be found in 2014’s Alien: Isolation. During the course of the game, players will meet a character named Marlow. He will explain that the Xenomorphs seem to only kill humans because they perceive them as a threat to their hives. 

We do see some hints that the Xenomorphs act purely out of self-preservation in the films. For instance, the Xenomorph immediately stops its attack on Ripley in Alien 3 once it realizes she’s the host for the Queen Chestburster. 

Other Alien species from the movies

Despite the fact that it’s called Alien, there are not that many other species. The chief aliens of the film series are the Xenomorphs, but a few different races exist in the universe. 

The most notable is the Engineers, previously known as Space Jockeys. They first appear in Alien in the form of a massive, desiccated corpse the Nostromo finds. We learn more about them in Prometheus and Alien: Covenant. 

The prequels also introduce two relatives of the Xenomorph: the Neomorph and so-called Protomorph.

The Neomorph first appears in Covenant, and its life cycle is a bit different to the Xenomorph. Rather than impregnating people via Facehuggers, they infect people via spores released from crusty egg sacs.

They don’t necessarily burst out of people’s chests, either: in the film, one breaks out from a man’s back, while the other slides up and out of his mouth, destroying his neck in the process. They look different too, with pasty grey skin, spikes on their backs, and a puckered mouth.

The Protomorph is a bit more contentious. It’s technically a Xenomorph, but its anatomy and behavior have some notable differences: when it’s born (far quicker than a Xenomorph’s life cycle), it’s able to stand up and appears to be fully developed; it appears to be even faster than the original alien; and it’s more muscular than its Xeno counterpart, with longer back tubes too.

The other notable alien race in the franchise is the Yautja, otherwise known as Predators. The Alien and Predator franchises teased connections long before Alien vs. Predator hit theaters, though now the Yautja are established as the “ultimate prey” and are hunted in an almost religious fashion. 

Now that you know all about the Xenomorphs, be sure to read about the newest Alien sneakers you can buy, the Romulus age rating, and how to get the new Alien: Romulus Xenomorph popcorn bucket. We’ve also got an Alien Romulus review.