The origin of Xenomorphs: where do the ‘Alien’ creatures come from?

With ‘Alien: Romulus’ just around the corner (August 16, 2024 in theaters), fans of the Ridley Scott saga might want to take the opportunity to catch up. It is a horror and science fiction franchise that has one of the most acclaimed films of all time, ‘Alien’, which established the path for several sequels. But the arrival of ‘Prometheus’ and ‘Alien’ Covenant’ completely changed history, since they are sequels set long before the events that occurred in the 1979 film. So it’s time to answer the million-dollar question: What is the origin of the Xenomorphs?

The origin of the Xenomorphs

The first thing you need to understand the theories about the origin— or rather, creation—of these creatures is that the lore of the series changed when ‘Prometheus’ arrived, the first of the prequels that take place before the events that occurred in ‘Alien’. It is in ‘Prometheus’ where light is shed on the birth of these terrifying monsters.

In ‘Alien’, when an old abandoned spaceship is discovered, it is mentioned that it is a bomber designed to unload its deadly cargo and eliminate all traces of life from a planet. It is understood that it is one of those ring-like ships from planet LV-223 (‘Prometheus’).

These ships house hundreds of vessels filled with that strange black liquid capable of altering everything it touches, even generating monsters inside the people in whom it is deposited.

There is no official explanation, but the vast majority of fans of the saga accept the theory that the Engineers created the Xenomorphs with the intention of using them as weapons. A relentless and lethal biological weapon. The Engineers, an extraterrestrial species with a humanoid appearance, of white skin, and a height of approximately three meters, were dedicated to terraforming planets and planting life on them, as explained in ‘Prometheus’.

In fact, according to the movie, Engineers are also the creators of human beings. Of course, they did not have very encouraging plans for them, since the fact is also made known that they intended to restart the Earth’s ecosystem and to end all traces of terrestrial life, with said biological weapon being sent to the planet.

Full screen

At the end of ‘Prometheus’, after a confrontation between an Engineer and a mutation of the pathogen, in the final scene we see how a Deacon emerges from inside his body. This creature looks very similar to the Xenomorph that later appears for the first time - according to the chronology - in ‘Alien: Covenant’, after the android David’s attempts to create the perfect monster after discovering and resuming the experiments carried out by the Engineers.

In summary, it can be said that the Engineers are the creators of everything: human beings and Xenomorphs.