The Alien movie franchise has become iconic for its sci-fi-horror imagery – built around its official “mascot,” the Xenomorph. The black-skinned, eyeless, and serpentine-like creatures have inspired nightmares in generations of moviegoers, and one the biggest reasons why is that there is no shortage of the kind of nightmarish forms a Xenomorph can take.

As of writing this, the new film Alien: Romulus has delivered a new classic spin on the Xenomorph design with “The Offspring,” a creature that’s a mix of human, Engineer, and Xenomorph DNA, thanks to a compound developed by Weyland-Yutani scientists. However, there have been many other creative spins on the Xenomorphs that have never made it onto the screen. Below you will find a list of 7 of the coolest Xenomorph variants that have been introduced through Alien novels, comics, and video games. All the more reason to check out these other lanes of the franchise!

7 Coolest Xenomorphs That Have Never Appeared In Alien Movies

–

7. Flying Xenomorph

One of the most obvious Xenomorph variants is still one of the coolest. Flying versions of Xenomorph Drones have appeared as foes in Alien arcade games, as well as the Alien: Survival limited comic series in 1998. Xenomorphs are terrifying creatures as is: giving them the ability to go aerial is sprinkles on top of a nightmare-fuel cake. The 1992 limited comic series Aliens: Space Marines, as well as a trading card collectible comic Operation: Aliens went a step further, introducing Flying Queens as major foes in their respective stories (see image above).

6. Spitter/Crusher/Prowler Xenomorphs

The idea of the Xenomorphs taking on the characteristics of animal hosts was made (in)famous by David Fincher’s Alien 3 – but it’s been explored in much more detail in some of the other cannon and non-cannon entries of the franchise.

• Spitters are Xenomorphs adapted for combat against both human and Predator forces. They can spit acid through their jaws, and kangaroo-jump to different vantage points to attack.
• Crushers are “sentry” Xenomorphs that undergo a second metamorphosis. A combination of a Queen’s “Royal Jelly” and a diet of raw metals inside a cocoon creates four-legged monstrosities that have heavily armored mesoskeleton armor and charge prey like rhinos. Not the smartest Xenomorphs, but some of the most powerful.
• Prowlers (or “jumpers”) are dog-like Xenomorphs of red-and-black coloring, which stalk prey and leap on them, tearing them apart with teeth and claws.

All of these animalistic variants on the Xenomorph are featured in the Aliens: Fireteam Elite game released for consoles and PC in 2021. Crushers and Spitters have a longer history in the franchise, going back to the Aliens: Colonial Marines comic series and video games, as well as the Alien vs. Predator – The Hunt Begins board game.

5. Queen Mother/Empress Xenomorph

After James Cameron’s Aliens introduced the hierarchy of a Xenomorph hive and its queen, it was only natural that the idea would evolve into something greater. And, during several novels and video games, Alien has explored what indeed sits above a Queen in the Xenomorph hive.

The Empress Xenomorph appeared in video games like the 1998 online FPS game Aliens Online, and the 2011 Nintendo DS game Aliens: Infestation. The Empress is one of the largest forms of Xenomorph (rivaled only by the Queen Mother) and has a thick mesoskeleton shell denoted by a double-layered crest, while also having more developed dexterity with its four arms than a normal queen. An Empress rules over collections of queens, making her the commander of multiple hives of Xenomorphs at once.

Queen Mothers are the rarest and most advanced form of Xenomorph – thought to be the final evolution in the queen-empress-queen mother cycle. They grow to the biggest size (upwards of ten times a normal egg) and have the distinct ability to lay specialized eggs that can birth other Queen Mothers. They have thick dorsal spines, a massive spiked tail, a double jaw fitted with metallic teeth, and tendril-style horns protruding from the chin. Queen Mothers have appeared in novels like Aliens: Female War, Alien: Genocide, and Alien: Music of the Spears, as well as the Alien: Infestation game and Alien vs. Predator – The Hunt Begins board game.

4. King Xenomorph

Every queen needs a king. Even though Queen Xenomorphs have been shown to reproduce asexually, the animal kingdom connections with Xenomorphs almost demand there be a male counterpart to the female regent.

Several concepts of the “King” Xenomorph have been done: the Aliens: Rogue Dark Horse comic series and Bantam Spectra novel both featured the first concept of a king: a genetically engineered hybrid created by rogue scientist Ernst Kleist. Kleist successfully engineered Xenomorph drones, but could not reproduce a Queen until he introduced human DNA into the mix, resulting in a male version of a Queen. The King quickly turned on his fellow Xenomorphs, including challenging the Queen for supremacy – a battle the Queen ultimately won against the slower, less cunning male.

The 1990s Dark Horse comic series Aliens vs. Predator: Deadliest of the Species featured a humanoid white-skinned Predator/Human/Xenomorph hybrid called “King” that was engineered by a computer program (TOY) and had a mix of Xenomorph and Predator features (red eyes, long head, spikes, spotted skin, second mouth).

Finally, the original 1990 script for Alien 3 featured a King Xenomorph that could spit acid, and directly implant Chestbursters onto victims, as well as use chameleon-style camouflage. The King Xenomorph has since been immortalized in toy lines by Kenner (1992), as well as by Sideshow Collectibles and the Alien vs. Predator: The Hunt Begins board game.

[RELATED: Alien Finally Answers A Question Fans Have Had For Years]

3. Test Subject #7

The 2021 novel Alien: Infiltrator by Weston Ochse is a prequel to the Fireteam Elite video game, and looks at the Xenomorph experiments taking place on Pala Station that (shocker!) go horribly wrong. In that story, twelve Xenomorph eggs are exposed to Chemical A0-3959X.91 – 15, aka the “black goo” or “Prometheus Fire” liquid of the Engineers, which was refined by the android David (Alien: Covenant) and later the team of Weyland-Yutani scientists aboard Renaissance Station (Alien: Romulus).

Test Subject #7 was mutated by the goo into an albino drone, which exhibited one-of-a-kind intelligence, as well as psychic abilities it could use to coordinate and control other Xenomorphs (to a lesser degree than a queen). Test Subject #7 battled surviving Colonial Marines to the death and remains one of the more unique and menacing Xenomorph variants out there.

2. Irradiated Xenomorph

Comic writer Benjamin Percy’s 2021 one-shot comic Alien: Aftermath was a direct sequel to the events of James Cameron’s Aliens, including using that film’s events to introduce a unique new creature: the Irradiated Xenomorph.

This Xenomorph variant was created from the nuclear fallout of the Hadley’s Hope colony’s Atmosphere Processing Plant exploding on the planet LV-426, after Ellen Ripley and Colonial Marines’ battle there. One Xenomorph mutated into a drone with bio-luminescent skin, as well as liquid nitrogen for blood, instead of acid.

While its death was never confirmed, the Irradiated Xenomorph was last seen locked in a brutal final skirmish with one of the story’s main characters, Cutter Vasquez, the extremist journalist investigating the disappearance of his aunt, Colonial Marine Jenette Vasquez.

1. The Goddess

The Goddess (or the “Woman in the Dark”) is an entity that is being teased in Marvel’s various volumes of Alien comics as the pinnacle result of Xenomorph mutation, that will threaten all life in the universe. The 2021 comic story arc Alien: Bloodlines teased her as an abstract entity representing the ultimate evil; however, the 2022-2023 story arc Alien: Icarus made the threat very real. A character named Lee, leader of a human settlement on the planet Tobler-9, was infected by an experimental Weyland-Yutani compound, based on the black goo. The compound transformed Lee into a true Xenomorph-human hybrid, giving her the telepathic command abilities of a queen, while also augmenting her human DNA, physically transforming her into something akin to an android.

Alien: Icarus has left “The Goddess” dormant on Tobler-9… for now. However, since the story is set 60+ years after the events of Alien: Romulus, it seems like this Xenomorph-human hybrid could represent the doom that inevitably comes of the Engineers and humanity all playing god with life. It remains to be seen if the Goddess will be a major villain of Alien comics, or future screen projects, as well.

If nothing else, this list should prove why you need to be reading, playing, and watching all the Alien content you can!