Superman Once Took on the Xenomorph From Alien (and It’s as Bonkers as You Think)

Superman is one of the most popular superheroes on the planet. The Alien franchise is one of the greatest sci-fi horror and slasher movie series out there. While the two couldn’t be more different, the two doing a crossover was inevitable. After all, people love crossovers and thus, 1999’s Superman/Aliens exists. On paper, the idea of Superman fighting the Xenomorphs from the Alien franchise sounds absurd. Superman is invulnerable and can move planets, while the Xenomorphs can be taken down by a few good bullets. It sounds like something that would be just too easy for Superman and dull for the reader, but this crossover was actually far more entertaining that it initially sounds. The Man of Steel faces down an endless swarm of Xenomorphs in a thrilling and surprisingly emotional battle to save a family he never knew he had and while it’s bonkers, it actually works.

It all starts with Clark Kent and Lois Lane being called in by the head of LexCorp’s space division, Cheryl Kimble. Kimble says that LexCorp satellites have picked up something entering the atmosphere, and it’s emitting some kind of call in an alien language. Superman recognizes the language as Kryptoneese, the language of Krypton, and flies off to catch the meteor. He discovers that it is a probe of some kind, which psychically transmits the images of a domed city escaping an exploding planet, and the coordinates to find said city. With a LexCorp ship, Superman heads into deep space to rescue a potential city of other Kryptonian survivors. Lois waits in the satellite they launched his ship from, untrusting of Kimble’s real intentions for helping.

A Depowered Hero Meets Movies’ Most Terrifying Creature

Superman lands on a desolate world with no yellow sun, and his powers immediately begin to fade at a rather alarming, and plot convenient, rate. He discovers the domed city, which appears to be in near ruins and has clear signs of something trying to claw its way inside, and by a broken entrance, he finds a few unconscious people. Beside them, though Superman doesn’t recognize it, is a dead facehugger. He loads them onto his ship and sends them back for medical attention, then ventures inside the city, when he is attacked by a Xenomorph. Superman fights it off, but finds his powers already heavily diminished, to the point where the creature can slash him and draw blood. Superman is reluctant to harm it, as he is unaware if it’s sentient or not, and he does not want to kill anyone. The story references his then recent encounter with General Zod in Superman Volume 2 #22, where Superman executed Zod and two other Kryptonian war criminals in a move that remains controversial to this day. I never expected an Alien crossover to be this careful about Superman’s deep lore, but it’s a great thing that only adds to the atmosphere of the story.

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Regardless, the Xenomorph’s acidic blood temporarily blinds Superman, but he is rescued by a survivor of the city, a teenaged girl named Kara. She executes the Xenomorph, then escorts Clark to a safe house to clean his eyes. She speaks Kryptoneese, and explains how her city escaped her home planet’s destruction and crash landed here. The city’s food and life support systems began to break down, so they sent out distress probes like the one that landed on earth, but no one came. One day, a massive freighter arrived and crashed near the city. The people explored it, and found what they thought was a dead Xenomorph Queen and thousands of eggs. Except they were just in hibernation, and eventually woke back up and went on a rampage. After hearing how they infect host bodies, Superman realizes he sent live Xenomorphs back to earth, and says they need to get there fast.

Back on the LexCorp satellite, Lois and Kimble get the survivors out of the ship, only to find one dead, with a baby Xenomorph slinking off into the ship. Soon enough it grows into a full-sized one and starts tearing through the crew. Kimble locks Lois and the alien in the hangar in an effort to get rid of Lois, but she manages to jettison the monster out into space before it can get her. Knowing what kind of danger these things pose, and after seeing another chestburster break out of one of the survivors, Lois torches the two that Kimble was going to add to LexCorp’s weapons division, leaving only one fully grown Xenomorph left.

An Escape and a Horrifying Discovery

Back in the city, the weakened Superman and Kara attempt to gather the other survivors so they can get to the ruined ship the Xenomorphs came here on to find a way off the planet. However, they’re unable to save anyone but themselves, and Superman learns that Kara isn’t Kryptonian, but is instead from Krypton’s sister planet Odiline, a planet that adopted Kryptonian culture and language after several Kryptonians were buried there. (It’s never explained how the Odiline people learned Kryptonese but okay.) Still, Superman is weakened to the point that the two are eventually overwhelmed and captured. He and Kara are both infected, but after they break out of their bindings the Xenomorphs refuse to attack Superman, and they realize he is infected with a Queen. Leveraging that, the two get away from the army of Xenomorphs and form a plan to use the escape pods on the ship to get away.

The problem is the pods can’t escape the atmosphere on their own, and are going to need a boost. They come up with the plan to blow the entire ship up and use the explosion to catapult them into the atmosphere. Superman prepares the pods while Kara rushes to the fuel system. After dealing critical damage to it, she steps inside a teleporter for Superman to beam her to him, except he realizes he can use it to save her from the chestburster. Superman teleports the chestburster outside of her, saving her life, but Kara is forced to flee the teleporter as a Xenomorph shows up. The ship explodes, and Superman is launched back to earth without Kara.

The Most Insane Xenomorph Defeat – And Story – Ever

Back beside a yellow sun, Superman’s powers return. The Queen chestburster attempts to break through his guts, but can’t pierce his skin. In what is probably the most disgusting Xenomorph kill ever, Superman crushes it with his internal organs and pukes up its remains. Gross, yet effective. He is then able to save Lois and Kimble from the final Xenomorph, but calling back to the regret he felt when he killed the other Kryptonians, he chooses not to kill it. Which would be a strong, emotional moment if he had not just killed the one in his chest. And one earlier when it tried to kill Kara. Either way, he stands by his morals, but Kimble kills the alien herself.

As for Kara? In the end, Superman tells Lois about Kara as he mourns her, unaware that Kara managed to get inside another escape pod. Now free of the horrors of the Xenomorphs, Kara goes into space to find a new home and family. 

This crossover was insane. Sure, Superman losing his powers so quickly was definitely a plot device to let the Xenomorphs be a threat to him, and the whole moral stance he had is affirmed, then broken, then affirmed again arbitrarily, but the comic was a lot of fun. It was pure Aliens dread and superhero comic action, and was absolutely peak 90s comics. Superman even had his classic mullet. This comic may not make much sense sometimes, but it is a great ride to go on. And trust me, its sequel is even crazier.