Aliens versus Predator versus The Terminator
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Aliens versus Predator versus The Terminator is a comic published by Dark Horse Comics about fictional characters from three separate movie series: Alien, Predator, and The Terminator. The series was in four parts, with parts 2-4 having a tagline on their cover.
Contents |
[edit] Synopsis
[edit] Part 1
The story begins in a sewer residing community at an undisclosed location (possibly on Earth), the characters are looking for someone, who they find in the form of a seemingly decrepit woman in rags. At her request they attempt to help her stand at which point she begins to attack them, beating the larger men easily before Annalee Call (Winona Ryder's character from Alien: Resurrection) identifies herself to the woman, who is revealed to be the Ellen Ripley clone (also from Alien: Resurrection). Call then takes Ripley back to her base of operations where after expressing her sadness that Ripley left her after their promise to stay together after Alien: Resurrection informs Ripley of a new military operation on the science station Typhoon, involving a hybrid Aliens super soldier, lead by a Dr. Trollenberg. Also at this point Ripley explains that she nearly didn't sign on for the position on the Nostromo.
The issue then moves to Dr. Trollenberg working on the super soldier and being approached by the General Helm who is in charge of the station and intent on shutting down the project after Trollenberg requested cybernetic components. The doctor then opens fire and proceeds to kill the general and his two guards, before changing his voice to match the general's and hailing the bridge, informing them that the general will remain with in the lab till the completion of the project and can only be contacted there. He finishes by throwing the three bodies into a vat of acid.
Back at Call's base they are still trying to convince Ripley to join their mission to stop the project, Ripley mentions that she no longer has nightmares about the aliens, she knows they "can't be stopped. The aliens are coming and the human race is going to suffer... they just do what they have to do. And then you're dead and it's over". Eventually Call blackmails Ripley saying she will inform the military of her location, to which Ripley replies "I could learn to hate you".
Meanwhile a Predator is travelling towards the Typhoon intent on hunting this super soldier. Call, her crew and Ripley infiltrate the station disguised as a "the World's Most Unexceptional Food Delivery Service", and after killing the guards move into Trollenberg's lab. Inside they find Trollenberg who proceeds to kill two of Call's crew before the cloaked predator decapitates him with its disc, leaving Call, Ripley and the survivors stunned. Immediately following the now decloaked predator is thrown back into the room, only to be followed by the hulking form super soldier who proceeds to fight the predator.
[edit] Part 2: Monster Vs. Machine!
Ripley, Call and her crew stand stunned as the super soldier and predator fight, noting that the super soldier is almost impervious to harm and is able to absorb metal objects to regenerate damage. After tearing off one of the predator's arms, the super soldier moves to absorb a portion of the exterior bulkhead of the lab, opening a hole into the vacuum which quickly dispatches the predator.
Moving quickly back towards the shuttle (with Trollenberg's head) the heroes quickly escape before the space station explodes from the breach, meanwhile the super soldier boards a smaller science vessel/escape pod taking with it some alien chestbursters. As the space station explodes, Ripley has a bad feeling that the super soldier survived and in the 'science pod' the super soldier commences work on a second super soldier who was also near completion.
Call suggests she hack into Trollenberg's skull to learn more about him, she explains that the skull and its wiring "is very weird... advanced in some ways, in others a real antique". Once inside Trollenberg's memory she encounters a shell program and is approached by an interactive recording of John Connor, who goes on to explain the Skynet war, concluding with the "Skynet Resurrection Program" which used a model known as the Crypto Terminators (which Trollenberg was one of) which were capable of existing in civilisation indefinitely until such time that technological advancements would allow for a new generation of Terminators which would be unstoppable (during this, scenes from Trollenberg's existence are shown, including the creation of the super soldier). The recording finishes with "the victorious forces of the 21st Century salute you... and wish you good luck".
Logging out of Trollenberg's memories, Call expresses concern that this is simply another great cover up in history, although the discussion is cut short by Yautja space craft surrounding their ship before teleporting onboard. The predator's then capture Ripley and disappear as if they were never there, and elsewhere the science pod reaches it destination and two super soldiers disembark.
[edit] Part 3 Summary
Following her abduction Ripley is free to walk about the Predators' warship learning much about their race and culture (especially their connection to the Aliens), after extracting the location of a stockpile of Aliens (known as the Black Asteroid) from the genetic memory Ripley received from her cross-DNA the Predators offer Ripley the chance to fight and die alongside them during their assault of the Black Asteroid, Ripley refers to them as understanding the universal balance and working to maintain it, they arm her and give her ceremonial warpaint.
Elsewhere Call and her remaining crew recover and make their own way to the Black Asteroid, Call having learned of it years before. Meanwhile the supersoldiers has taken over their rescue vessel and have begun their own successful assault, easily taking over the Black Asteroid itself.
[edit] Part 4 Summary
In the space surrounding the Black Asteroid an entire fleet of military ships have arrived to retake the station only to be wiped out by a powerful energy surge, this is watched in horror by Call and her crew.
Ripley and the Predators infiltrate the station to find the supersoldiers have created even more new supersoldiers which look more monstrous than the original two (presumably this is similar to the endoskeleton of regular Terminators), the Predators assault is as unsuccessful as the battle on the Typhoon, due to the supersoldiers' ability to absorb massive amounts of energy (even at the cost of their own lives), they even render the Predator's self-destruct weapons useless.
As Call and her crew move through the carnage of the Black Asteroid, Ripley moves to the stockpile of fully-grown Aliens, seeing the chance to even the odds she releases the Aliens whose acid blood is able to damage the supersoldiers, the remaining Predators use this to their advantage firing into the fray before falling to the Aliens themselves.
Running into Call, Ripley informs her she needs to leave the station whilst she hunts down the remaining supersoldier (the original), Ripley thanks Call for bringing her back into the fight one last time before she leaves. Call and her crew quickly move to leave the station as it is destroyed.
Onboard an escape craft Ripley stalks towards the prototype, remarking of the similar situation she experienced on the Nostromo's escape pod (only now the roles reversed), Ripley moves to kill the terminator but its superior speed, strength, and reflex response allow it to evade her attack. Cutting her hand she grapples with the terminator having sprayed her blood over the ships controls/fuel tanks. The escape craft explodes and we are left with Annalee Call eulogizing Ripley in her final moments, ultimately ending her part in the Alien canon.
[edit] Publication
It has been collected in a single volume:
- Aliens versus Predator versus The Terminator (by Mark Schultz, Mel Rubi and Mark Lipk, Dark Horse Comics, 96 pages, 2001, ISBN 1-56971-568-8)
[edit] See also
Other related comic series include:
