After 47 Years, Alien's Chestbuster Scene Has Been Outdone In The Last Place Fans Expect
Nicolas Ayala is a Senior Writer for the Comics team at ScreenRant, with over five years of experience writing about Superhero media, action movies, and TV shows.
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The iconic Chestburster scene from Alien just met its match, as one famous sci-fi hero pulls off an even more gruesome kill than the birthing Xenomorphs. The Xenomorphs' black exoskeleton allows them to blend into the shadows to hunt their prey unannounced, but when a battle escalates into open combat, the aliens transform into an unstoppable whirlwind of claws and fangs. Their long prehensile tails work as high-velocity lances capable of impaling heavily armored prey from a distance, and their pharyngeal inner jaw shoots out like a hydraulic piston to punch directly through solid bone. This savage toolkit makes the Xenomorphs a mortal threat even to seasoned Yautja Predators.
The Xenomorphs have pulled off a wide variety of gruesome executions. In Alien 3, Clemens meets a shocking end when a hidden runner alien bursts into the room and drives its secondary jaws straight through his skull mid-sentence. Alien Resurrection ups the ante with a gruesome two-for-one execution where Larry Purvis holds the wicked Dr. Wren in a death grip, placing the scientist's head over his own sternum so the Chestburster drills entirely through Wren's face. More recently, in Alien: Romulus, Bjorn attacks an incubating Xenomorph with a shock baton, inadvertently rupturing the specimen and causing a torrential spray of acidic blood to melt through his face and chest.
Yet, none of these horrific milestones can overshadow the sheer horror of Ridley Scott's 1979 original Alien, where Kane collapses over breakfast and a blood-drenched Chestburster violently splinters his ribs and rips its way out of his torso.
Wolverine Recreates Alien's Chestburster Scene With His Claws
Alien vs X-Men #1, Written By Kieron Gillen & Chris Claremont; Art By Geraldo Borges, Andrew Dalhouse, David Messina, And Rain Beredo
The Xenomorphs have their third go at terrorizing the Marvel Universe after Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribic's Aliens vs Avengers and Frank Tieri and Stefano Raffaele's Alien vs Captain America. Alien vs X-Men #1 opens with a familiar scene for fans of the Xenomorphs: an artificial character who looks just like a human being is interrupted by a mysterious creature bursting out of his chest, leaving everyone around him covered in blood and guts. Only this time, it's Wolverine's claws that come out of the Mister Sinister clone Orbis Stellaris' chest, to the disgust of all X-Men present.
Wolverine is used to spilling blood in battle, but catching an enemy off-guard from behind and basically exploding his entire torso with his claws isn't something that Logan often does. Emma Frost and Cyclops question Wolverine's approach, and he argues that Orbis Stellaris' body is surprisingly frail. The irony arrives immediately afterward, as Beast hacks a gate open and finds an entire room filled with Xenomorph eggs, where one of the eggs has already cracked open. This is a pretty clear hint that a real Chestburster will repeat Wolverine's move on the X-Men in a matter of seconds.
Only Three X-Men Are Well-Equipped To Deal With The Xenomorphs
Two Major X-Men May Not Make It Out Alive Of Their First Encounter With A Xenomorph
Of all X-Men present at the scene, Wolverine, Emma Frost, and Kitty Pryde possess near-perfect countermeasures against the dormant Xenomorphs in Alien vs X-Men #1. Wolverine's healing factor allows him to survive Chestburster embryos and splashes of acid, Emma Frost’s diamond form provides her with an impenetrable physical shell that resists the Xenomorphs' tails and teeth, and Kitty Pryde's intangibility allows her to phase clean through any attack from the aliens. Unfortunately, Cyclops and Beast are in danger. As agile and durable as they might be, they can't fight Xenomorphs indefinitely without sustaining significant damage.
In Marvel's previous Alien vs. Avengers storyline, set in a different continuity, the Xenomorph swarm breaches Earth's defenses and overwhelms the planet's most powerful superheroes through sheer numbers. In that version of the clash, the X-Men move to Arakko, and Mister Sinister is betrayed by the Xenomorphs after providing his scientific knowledge to upgrade them. So far, only Wolverine is confirmed to survive Alien vs X-Men #1, and Cable is confirmed to arrive in issue #2.
Who do you think will survive in Alien vs X-Men #1?
Alien vs X-Men #1 is available September 30 from Marvel Comics
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- Movie(s)
- X-Men (2000), X2, X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), X-Men: First Class (2011), The Wolverine (2013), X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), Deadpool (2016), X-Men: Apocalypse (2016), Logan (2017), Deadpool 2 (2018), Dark Phoenix (2019), The New Mutants, Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)
- TV Show(s)
- X-Men: Pryde of the X-Men, X-Men (1992), X-Men: Evolution (2000), Wolverine and the X-Men (2008), Marvel Anime: Wolverine, Marvel Anime: X-Men, Legion (2017), The Gifted (2017), X-Men '97 (2024)
- Video Game(s)
- X-Men: Children of the Atom (1994), Marvel Super Heroes (1995), X-Men vs. Street Fighter (1996), Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter (1997), Marvel vs. Capcom (1998), X-Men: Mutant Academy (2000), Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes (2000), X-Men: Mutant Academy 2 (2001), X-Men: Next Dimension (2002), Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds (2011), Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (2011), X-Men Legends (2005), X-Men Legends 2: Rise of Apocalypse (2005), X2: Wolverine's Revenge (2003), X-Men (1993), X-Men 2: Clone Wars (1995), X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse (1994)
- First Film
- X-Men (2000)
- Character(s)
- Professor X, Cyclops, Iceman, Beast, Angel, Phoenix, Wolverine, Gambit, Rogue, Storm, Jubilee, Morph, Nightcrawler, Havok, Banshee, Colossus, Magneto, Psylocke, Juggernaut, Cable, X-23
- Comic Release Date
- 213035,212968
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Alien
- Movie(s)
- Alien, Aliens, Alien 3, Alien Resurrection, AVP: Alien vs. Predator, Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem, Prometheus, Alien: Covenant, Alien: Romulus
- TV Show(s)
- Alien: Earth
- Video Game(s)
- Aliens: Colonial Marines, Alien: Isolation, Alien: Isolation 2
- First Film
- Alien
- First TV Show
- Alien: Earth
- Genres
- Sci-Fi, Horror, Action
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