The Alien vs Predator Franchise Started Out as a Joke

Though it sounds like a schlocky concept, the Alien vs. Predator franchise has proven enduring in pop culture. The concept of two major 20th Century Fox killer aliens (the Predator and the Xenomorph) duking it out has fascinated the imagination of moviegoers for eons nearly as powerfully as potential confrontations between Godzilla and King Kong. This notion proved so powerful that there were even two Alien vs. Predator features in the 2000s that finally saw these sagas intertwine for a prolonged period of time.

There’s even been public chatter about reviving the Alien vs. Predator series in some new exciting form. This showdown just won’t die, just like the two enduring aliens that headline this franchise. However, even though it’s now treated with reverence by sci-fi geeks, the Alien vs. Predator saga’s origins in 20th Century Fox movies have much more modest origins. When this concept was first teased in Predator 2, it was just a throwaway joke.

Alien vs. Predator’s Humble Origins

The entire Alien vs. Predator concept originated in a series of comics from Dark Horse published in late 1989 and early 1990. In fact, the comics finished running the same month Predator 2 began principal photography. This motion picture would provide the first live-action tease of the Alien and Predator sagas existing in the same universe through an Easter egg: a Xenomorph skull lingering in a Predator’s trophy room. Among the many creatures this skilled hunter had taken down was apparently the bane of Ellen Ripley’s existence.

By all accounts, this Easter egg was mostly thrown in on a lark, with the decision apparently coming from Stan Winston artists John Rosengrant and Shane Mahan. The duo, along with other Winston artists, was tasked with making various otherworldly alien skulls that could appear in the Predator trophy room. Rosengrant and Mahan had recently become aware of the Alien vs. Predator comics and decided to craft a Xenomorph skull as a humorous nod to those texts. This wasn’t some deft way of teeing up sequels, nor was it the result of a 20th Century Fox executive mandate to set up a subsequent crossover.

Instead, Rosengrant and Mahan’s jokey nod towards comics they like fired up the imagination of moviegoers across the world. Suddenly, the Alien and Predator movies were fully canon in live-action media while those Dark Horse publications provided visual reference for what an Alien vs. Predator showdown could look like. For the next 14 years, artists would toil away at making an Alien vs. Predator movie a reality. Even when these crossover movies wound down after 2007’s Alien vs. Predator: Requiem, the intermingling between these sagas didn’t end.

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Alien and Predator Are Forever Intertwined

2010’s Predators tossed in a subtle nod to the Alien saga through its name, which evoked the beloved 1986 feature Aliens. More explicit further connections between the two movies, though, would come in 2018’s The Predator, which briefly featured weaponry from Alien vs. Predator. Furthermore, an alternate The Predator ending would’ve seen the sudden arrival of Ellen Ripley and Newt. Twenty-eight years after that Xenomorph skull first appeared in Predator 2, these movies couldn’t stop referencing each other.

While Alien: Romulus didn’t pause its run time to establish connections to the Predator saga, Romulus director Fede Alvarez has been openly enthusiastic about the idea of helming an Alien vs. Predator feature. Alvarez even proposed that he and new go-to Predator helmer Dan Trachtenberg helm various parts of the feature in a style evoking Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino’s Grindhouse collaboration. Once again, it’s not just aloof executives championing this crossover but everyday artists craving this sci-fi crossover.

If nothing else, the enduring popularity of Alien vs. Predator is a reminder that ideas that resonate with people can come from anywhere. Who knew a Predator 2 Easter egg or some Dark Horse comics from the late ’80s could still impact pop culture? Yet that’s just what happened with the Alien vs. Predator saga, which started off as a jokey background Easter egg and spawned a multimedia franchise. Compelling notions for art can come from anywhere, even when they concern Predators and Xenomorphs beating the crud out of each other.

Alien vs. Predator is now streaming on Disney+ and Hulu.