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Which Alternate Alien 3 will Dark Horse Comics release this July?

Which Alternate Alien 3 will Dark Horse Comics release this July?

Alien-Covenant.com
By GavinAlienPublished: May 1, 2018

Dark Horse Comics recently announced that they will be printing a series of comic books that will follow an alternative narrative to that seen in the 1992 movie Alien 3 that was directed by renowned director David Fincher before he abandoned the project due to "creative differences" with 20th Century Fox and the producers from Brandywine Productions. Fincher's directorial debut, Alien 3 had a very troubled production with multiple screenwriters, scripts, and directors being attached to the project before Fincher was hired. As such, there is a wealth of possible "Alternate Alien 3's" that Dark Horse Comics could adapt in addition to Neill Blomkamp's original "Alien: Awakening" that was briefly considered by Fox before Alien and Prometheus director Ridley Scott coerced the studio to abandon Blomkamp's script in favor of Scott's Alien: Covenant. From the opening page teased (pictured below), Dark Horse Comics will likely be printing just one of the alternate Alien 3's, although which is currently unknown. If successful it may be in the Dark Horse Comics' interests to explore some of the other alternate Alien 3's that were considered during the movies pained production. Here are a few they could consider...

Brandywines Alien 3

David Giler, Walter Hill, and Gordon Carroll (AKA Brandywine Productions) originally conceived of an Alien 3 in which it was to be revealed that the Weyland-Yutani Corporation coveted the Xenomorph with the intent of using it as a biological weapon against a separatist faction of militarily aggressive humans. Corporal Hicks (Michael Biehn) was to be the lead protagonist of the movie with Sigourney Weaver's Ripley appearing in a much smaller role.

 

William Gibson's Alien 3

Cyberpunk author William Gibson's vision of Alien 3 expanded upon Brandywine Productions' idea, shifting the setting to a space station named Anchorpoint. To be directed by Renny Harlin, Gibson's Alien 3 again featured Hicks as the stories protagonist, and Ripley's role again was reduced, although this time the narrative of this iteration of the movie saw Weyland-Yutani using the space station to develop an army of Xenomorphs that inevitably overrun the station. Although this version of Alien 3 is well favored among the fanbase, it also bears more than a striking resemblance to Alien: Resurrection, which is considered by many fans as one of the weakest movies in the franchise.

 

Eric Red's Alien 3

Since disowned by The Hitcher and Near Dark screenwriter, this version of Alien 3 saw the survivors aboard the USS Sulaco falling victim to the Alien threat off-screen, with the story being set in a biodome colony representative of a small-town USA city. It was within this setting that the Xenomorph would be unleashed, with the colonies townfolk battling to survive against the Xenomorph threat. This idea echoed the Alien vs Predator comic strip published by Dark Horse Comics in 1990 and was later revisited in 2007 movie AvP: Requiem, which is universally considered the worst Alien movie to date.

 

Vincent Ward's Alien 3

Although David Twohy's concept of a prison planet would be revisited in the final movie, it was initially dropped in favor of writer/director Vincent Ward's setting of a wooden planet/moon which would be home to a devout group of monks, who viewed the Xenomorph as the devil sent to test their faith. Although the wooden concept while strikingly original it was frowned upon for canonical and aesthetic reasons. However, the religious elements of Ward's Alien 3 did find their way into the finished movie.

 

Neill Blomkamp's Alien: Awakening

From the many pieces of concept art that have been released during, and after the movies brief consideration, Blomkamp's movie looked set to see Hicks return alongside Ripley, presumably retconning Alien 3's place in the franchises canonicity. Other pieces of concept art attached to the project hinted at a return to the derelict Juggernaut on LV-426 and the return of the Xenomorph Queen (picture below).

 

Of course, it is entirely possible that Dark Horse Comics has developed a completely original "Alternate Alien 3", although we will have to wait to find out when the comic series is released this July.

The Alien: Romulus sequel is currently in development and cameras are set to roll by October, 2025! Be sure to bookmark the Alien: Romulus 2 Info Page for an up-to-date account of all available information, production updates and important details! You can also share any news & rumours we may have missed by starting your own discussion in our forums!

In addition to the upcoming Alien: Romulus sequel, we have the Alien: Earth TV series from Noah Hawley arriving this August and a rumoured Alien vs. Predator reboot in the works as well after it was revealed Weyland-Yutani play a key role in the upcoming Predator: Badlands movie! There's really never been a better time to be a fan of the Alien movies. Be sure to check out our image galleries for the latest images, posters, concept art and leaked materials for all these upcoming Alien projects!

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BigDave
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It could be interesting to see where they go with this...

A number of unused ideas/concepts always seem to make their way into Future Movies/Drafts and indeed Blomkamps Alien 5 kind of has elements from the Brandywines Alien 3 and Gibsons Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection Certainly has that Gibsons Alien 3 element to it.

I am just wondering WHY NOW?

And so i think maybe there is the potential we could see WHAT Plans Niel Blomkamps Alternative Alien 3 would have been like.

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Gee W
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The opening echoes the original Alien 3 opening, so that rules out a couple of scripts. I'd love to see a version of Ward's story, that would work very well as a graphic novel. I'm also curious about Blomkamp's idea. I never had much faith in it, but it can't do much harm in comic form. And if it turns out to be good, maybe he deserves a shot with an original Alien story (but leave Ripley out of it, that story is done)...

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I.Raptus
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Agree with Gee W

Gibson's script would probably transfer well as a comic. Lots of action, some cyberpunk attitude, Hicks as a grizzled protagonist.

Ive always been intrigued by Ward's script. The plot needs a lot of refinement but the premise is so unique and grand. The protagonist doesn't necessarily need to be Ripley. I can't see it as a comic or film, but yes! a graphic novel would be amazing!

I haven't read Brandywine script but I strongly dislike any premise where the Xenomorph has been domesticated or leashed for 'bio-weapon' applications.

I can't see the harm in a Bloomkamp script comic....at least that way they dont need to worry about the whole de-aging of Weaver and Biehn problem lol

 

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I Moon Girl
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The big question that I haven't read in the comments section or in the post is...

Where do I get one when July comes?!

I like the idea because Alien3's motivation is kind of off and ambiguous.  In all honestly, it is is on the border of being to vague and vogue enough.  Actually, to me, it leans closer to being to vague.

The reasoning being...

1. How does the facehugger get on the Solaco?

2. What causes it to hatch?

3. How does the Queen get inside Ripley?

Those are some big questions that drive the whole movie which are really almost to vague and are almost stretched to the point where they're not really logical either.

@BigDave I feel that may be the reason why the Alien3 gets a re-release in the comic book format.  Plus, with the franchise being pushed to the headlines with A:C just being released in theaters, I see it is just free advertisement for the Alien3 comic books.  Plus, since Alien: Awakening is in an apparent state of limbo, why not try and re-release one of the most holey plots of the franchise?

Regardless of how holey it is, I still like Alien3.  I just wish it took 5 min. to at least TRY and answer my question.  They don't have to be answered, but they didn't even TRY.

So, back to my first question...

Where do I buy the comic books?!

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I.Raptus
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Depends on where you are in the world I Moon Girl but Im sure there are online stores that could ship a copy to you.

Dark Horse do offer digital comics if you don't have access to physical copies however.

https://digital.darkhorse.com/

 

The more I think of it, the more i want a Vincent Ward Alien 3 graphic novel!! Do it Dark Horse! XD 

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ali81
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yes def Ward's wooden planet I believe would be the best version for DH to put into comics. would be great to see what they do and I love what DH have done in the past with alien and predator so I think it would be a huge success. theres no limits for the artwork that accompanies that script. no wonder it was Finchers preferred choice of scripts

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Thoughts_Dreams
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Alien 3 in their alternate versions would be alright as comics and the same goes for the Blomkamp thing, I just don't think that they should be done into movies. If Blomkamp would do an alien movie then I hope that it will be a spin-off, not set in the official timeline.

To answer the question: I would like to see the wooden planet, that would be interesting. They talked about the planet in the Perfect Organism podcast.

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