2019 marks the 40th Anniversary of the first
Alien film, and the legacy that followed, but the year also marks significance
for the DC Comics character Batman, his first appearance being an astonishing 80 years
ago, with the publication of Detective Comics #27. 2019 is also the 30th anniversary of the Tim
Burton directed, Michael Keaton starring film, simply titled, BATMAN, released on June 23rd,
1989. Happy birthday, Batman. The film was a huge success, a phenomenon, really, and it forever
changed the face of comic book inspired films. In the late 80s, Batman proved that a series of
comics could translate successfully into a big budget blockbuster with Tim Burton's films,
while with Aliens, Dark Horse proved a big budget blockbuster, like Alien and Aliens, could
translate successfully into a series of comics. Dark Horse released their Earth War storyline
with Aliens Volumes 1-3 to high praise, and their crossover, featuring the Predator creature,
also became a huge hit. So surely, in the world of comics, a crossover with aliens was inevitbable .
Well, the Batman/Aliens brawl eventually did make its way onto the pages of a comic
story, but it wouldn't be until 1997, right as each film franchise released final
entries in each series before a lengthy dormance. Written by Ron Marz, with art by Bernie
Wrightson, Batman/Aliens saw the caped crusader fighting against the aliens in
the ruins of an Ancient Mayan temple, the beasts being the result of a mysterious,
crashed spacecraft, and also encountering a unique variant of the xenomorph never-before-seen.
The story was released as a miniseries produced by both DC and Dark Horse Comics as two issues,
though the story is expanded upon in a two-part prequel comic, Alien: Incubation, which was
originally published Dark Horse Presents #101-102, and eventually finding its way, as a
complete story, in Aliens Omnibus #5. The story of Batman/Aliens begins in space, on
a crafted manned by an unkown alien species, who have acquired xenomorph specimens,
not realizing the dangers of what they've brought with them, resulting in a jungle near
the Guatemala Mexico border. At this site, a geolist working for Wayne Tech, Abel Barrett
was surveying copper deposists and discovered the crash. He soon uncovered the horrors that
the ship left behind. In his final moments, Barrett spoke into a tape recorder,
trying to make sense of what he'd seen. "We have no way of knowing where they came from.
Normally that'd be such an important question, but now... well, obviously it doesn't
matter now. Not much does, really. Funny, I 've always looked to the Earth.
That's what brought me here in the first place. I never bothered to turn my eyes to the
sky and wonder. Didn't much care if there was anyone out there or not.
So this happens to ME. God has a sense of humor after all.
I know at least what they looked like. Not all that different from us, really.
I can't even guess at anything more than that. What were they like? Pacifists or
warriors? Explorers? I can't tell you. I'm assuming there was an egg.
I think it starts with an egg. Sounds so damn innoccuous, doesn't it? An egg.
I don't believe they knew they had it aboard. I mean...they couldn't have, right?
One of them stumbled across it, probably...and didn't understand what
it was. Not until too late, anyway. You have to realize that I'm
guesing about most of this, trying to piece it together
from what I've seen here. But even if I've got half of it right, only
half...can you imagine what that means? The thing that hataches from the egg...I don't
now, I suppose we'd call it an embryo. It doesn't kill you. Better if it did, of course.
I was in the ship, I found the thing in there, the husk from the embryo stage. I came down
here for soil samples -- for dirt -- and I end up holding some kind of alien in my hands.
They must've thought the embryo was the end of it. Natural assumption. The
thing dies once its job is done. He probably beieved there
was nothing wrong with him. Yeah... well....guess he
realized that wasn't the case. I'm not a biologist. I know a lot more about
basalt and sediment than I do anything organic. So maybe you want to discount what I'm saying.
But I wouldnt if I were you. Even I can deduce what an exit wound from the inside means.
The embryo implants ANOTHER lifeform within the host. It incubates, like a parasite.
And when it matures...it hatches. I feel sorry for them, you know?
What must they have thought, finding him with an eight inch hole blown out
of his chest? They suspected...something. But anything even close to what was on that ship
with them? Not in their darkest nightmares. It occurs to me that they probably went looking
for it. Seems like such a pathetic thing to do. I'm sure it found them.
I can't tell you what it's like. Catching sight of one for the firsttime.
Though I supposed if you're listening to this... You already know words can't describe. Damn it...I want to to see my wife again. I think...I think I'm running out of time.
It's hard to concentrate...but you need to know this. As much as I can tell. So
what was I...yes...seeing one. And seeing what it does. Maybe then they began
to understand. I'm fairly certain it didn't kill them. Not all of them. Not right away.
It took at least one...for breeding stock. It's some sort of species imperative. Everything they
are, everything they do, is designed to propogate the race. Not a comforting thought, is it?
From what I've seen, it was different this time. An adult already excisted. It cocooned the
host into a place for the hatching process. I told you what that was like. I did, didn't I?
The egg? The embryo? God, he knew what was going to happen to
him. He knew. All he could do was wait. And then there were two of them.
What was left of the crew tried to hunt them. I imagine, of course.
Youd do the same, because you'd want to feel as though you had a chance. That you
were doing something to save yourself. Maybe that makes the inevitable easier to accept.
I wonder, did he pray, the last of them? I haven't prayed.
It hadn't really occured to me before now. What difference would it make? I
don't believe in salvation anymore, the things I've seen. There's nowhere to hide.
Nop place you can go to be safe from them. Such perfect engines of carnage:
Cunning. Fearless. Powerful. There's horriffic beauty in what they are.
You dare not even wound one...if what I saw in the cockpit is an idication. Everything scored
by acid, or something like it. A dying reflex, a ruined guidance system...
Doesn't matter how the ship found its way here. I don't believe
it was intentional. Just an accident. That's probably how they spread. Accidents.
Coincidence. From world to World. Like seeds, scattered by the wind.
And now they're here. We should be thankful, I suppose. What if
it'd come down in the middle of New York? Or London? What kind of massacre would that be?
You, listening to me, that's what you have to understand. That's why I'm leaving
this. They can't be allowed to spread. You have to make sure...
This is where it ends. I did what I could, but not enough. It's
going to be over very soon for me. Down to my last flare. Survey charges are
gone...not that they did much good. You'll have to do better. Find some way
of stopping them. Nothing else matters. Only stopping them. And if you're fortunate
to survive this madness and get home again, I want you to do something for
me. You ow me that, at least. Please...find my wife, tell her I love
her, and tell my little girl, tell her ---" [click]
Four days passed after contact was lost with Barrett. Bruce Wayne became aware of his
company's geolist going missing, also aware of the wife and daughter left to worry for him. As Bruce
Wayne knew this, The Batman knew this. He embarked on a self-described mission of mercy, tracking
Barrett down and in the process coming into contact with a horror that would stay with him as
vividly as the experience that came to create him. "The nights of my life are spent
grappling with leering psychotics, criminals whose inner psyches are as scarred
and twisted as their outward appearances. In them, I believed I had
seen the heart of horror. I've learned I had no concept of horror.
The events replay themselves in my mind with an intense clarity I've encountered only once
before...the memories of my parents' murder. I cannot forget.
It begins. An autopilot plane, programmed to ditch in the
Gulf, delivers me to the Mexican-Guatamalan border. I drop lazily toward the teeming green
hell below, a verdant shroud concealing dark secrets beneath. I have no understanding
of the madness into which I descend..." When he landed, Batman was not alone. A covert
ops team, whose plane had crashed leaving most of their supplies at the bottom of the swamp,
was nearby. Close enough for one them, Hyatt, to warn Batman of the approaching crocodile. Shots
were fired but Batman made a point to preserve its life, simply tying its jaws shut, and sending it
on its way, holding no grudge against creature, despite moments before it being out for his blood.
Captain Sealey of the OPS team didn't want to see the dangerous animal let loose, and attempted
to shoot it, much to Batman's objection. "The croc was only following its nature,
it never kills...just for pleasure." "I don't know who you are or why you're
here, but I have a job to do and I won't have you in the way. So you're you're leaving."
"I think maybe you must be confused. Only mission round here is the one we're on. Government sort of
thing. You're in the middle of a restricted area, military law imposed. So when you think
about it....you're doing the leaving. One way or the other. You're in the wrong
place man, you're out of your element." "People who point guns at me come to regret it."
Hyatt called for the two to stand back, becoming the voice of reason in the
situation, requesting a truce of sorts. "Look, like it or not, we're stuck
with each other. Our team's on a covert op. We don't allow civillians
to know about missions like this, much less stumble into the middle of
them. Protocol says neutralize you, but circumstances being what they are, we could
use the extra body. Our target site's northeast." "So's mine."
"Seems like we'd just be getting in each other's way then,
wouldn't we? My name's Hyatt, you're...?" "Just who you think I am."
"All right....Batman. Do we have a working relationship?"
"You ask as if there's any real choice. I'll allow you to accompany
me...as long as you stay out of my way." "I think we can live with that arrangement.
Might as well get to know the rest. This is the DEAD MAN'S HAND, government special forces.
Exactly who we work for isn't your concern. That's Page
Ganry Van Derpool, call him Van...
And you've already had the pleasure of meeting Captain Sealey.
We were sent here to find...something. But recon and intel went to sleep on us, we
chuted in blind and hit the swamp - all our gear -- radio equipment, most of our
weapons, ammo, rations - sank before we could get to it. What about you? Your
gear come down somewhere around here?" "I'm carrying everythig I need."
"Right, right social time's over. We got at lease five klicks to cover through heavy
jungle and we're losing light. Let's move." During their trek through the jungle tensions
continued to rise between Batman and Sealey, the two were at odds and even anaged in a physical
confrontation when it was interrupted by a site that shocked the group. Something they'd never
seen before. Massive...foreign. Whatever it was, it came from space, crashed into the site of
the Mayan Ruins. Hyatt expressed her shock. "It's here. An honest to goodness spacecraft...or
what's left of one. Not one of ours, Sealey. Not Russian, either. And nobody else has the tech
to get something like this into orbit. Doesn't leave too many other options. It's got to
be the real deal. It's from OUT THERE." "Damn. An alien spaceship and batman,
all in the same day," mused sealey. They investigated the craft, Sealey
calling on his team to stay sharp. "Okay boys and girls. Let's have us a little look
around and see if anybody's home. Page with me. Van and Gantry, that way. Hyatt, you and your
boyfriend up there. If anybody finds anything, yell. Rendevouz back here in fifteen.
See something you don't like, shoot it." "I heard that," agreed Van.
Batman and Hyatt walked the corridors, silently, despite Hyatt's attempts at some
small talk. Batman observed a mark...a burn, some evidence of a struggle or accident on board
the ship. A gunshot and a scream sounded from further within the craft. The shot, and scream,
came from vanderpool....the rest rushed to his aid, seeing that he and gantry had discovered
one of the ships inhabitated. It was an alien, bound by some sort of secreted resin, an empty,
opened egg in front of it, a hole in its chest, and a fresh, new one in its head, courtesy
van, who was still startled by the discovery. "Aw jeez, man, it's real -- it's REAL, and it
ain't human. The head. The head's all wrong." Gantry, also shaken from
their findings. Began to pray. "Though I walk through the
valley of the shadow death...I will fear no evil....for thou art with me."
Amidst the calls to god, and Van's panic, Sealey called for an explaination, as Batman
examined the aftermath of the xenomorph birth. Eventually looking to the world's
greatest detective for some kind of theory. "So....what killed the little guy? And
what's that gunk he's all strung up with?" "I'm not sure just yet. We need to
search the rest of the ship, collect more evidence. Maybe then I can give you a theory."
"Thanks, that's really enlightening. Search the rest of the ship. I wouldn't have thought of that
myself....ALL RIGHT, we fine-tooth this place, same pairs as before, find everything that's here.
And Van? Don't shoot something unless it's alive. Meet back at the hull breach in ---"
an interupption from batman "Sealey...I DO think we should be careful." Gathered by a fire outside the ruins to survey
their conditions, Page was startled by one of the indigiounous primates, firing his weapon at
the howling creature, much to Hyatt's dismay. "Good idea, Page. Most of our ammo ended up
on the bottom of the swamp, so why not WASTE what little we have left."
"CAn't stand hose things, all that howling gives me the creeps."
"We're camped next to a downed spaceship, insode of which we find five alien bodies....two with
theirs chests exploded...and you get freaked out by monkeys. You're one of a kind, PAge, truly."
"I'm gonna find that thing and kill it." "You do that, great white
hunter. Put that gun to use." "Idiot," Sealey sighed.
Hyatt turned to Batman, curious of his plight. "How bout you? You really get by with just your
fists, like they say? Why don't you carry a gun." Memories of his parents' murder
weighed heavy. He answered, simply, "I have my reasons."
He turned the opposite end of the question over to Hyatt.
"What about you? Why do you carry a gun?" "You're asking why I do this? Ambition. I'm
the first and only woman on any U.S. covery OPS team. I do it because it's the sort of thing
that gets you noticed. Moves you up the ladder. I'm going to be a woman with power someday. I
wanted that ever since I was a little girl. I'll do whatever it takes to get me there. I guess
we all have our little obsessions, don't we?" Howls, yells, and gunfire heard from the
distance informed the group that Page's foolish errand may have gotten him in trouble.
Running to his aid, a trail blood was found, leading into the ruins. Blood, Batman obvserved,
"more than likely human. More than likely Page's. His gun's over there in the undergowth. I
have to assume he was carried away...because his tracks were joined by....something else.
Like nothing I've ever encountered before." The group travelled into the ruins, finding
not PAGE - but the body of Abel Barrett, Wayne Tech e's geologist. It was apparent
he suffered the same fate as the the small alien being they discovered earlier. It
was apparent a threat was among them. Batman and Healey continued to discuss over
what exactly this mysterious threat was, whilst Hyatt discovered something of note,
keeping it to herself....Barrett's tape recorder, containing his final words and
observanaces of the xenomorph. Deeper into the ruins, the group cautiously
searched for any signs of Page. It had been some time since his disappearance and they
seemed to be no closer to finding him. A weak voice called Vander pool's name,
It was Page, bound like the others, and struggling to speak.
"They came out of those things...like you can't imagine...teeth and teeth. The things...didn't
kill me...they didn't....they put me here and brought that...egg. ... opened just like a
flower...hands on me.....on my face....down my throat. I can feel it...moving...."
Noticing the hatched egg nearby, it was evident to Batman that Page had been victim
to the facehugger embryo implantation, just like the others, and it was very likely he was
now carrying the deadly parasite inside of him. Batman was determined to help Page and
prevent the the inevitable birthing of the monster,convinced he could remove it
somehow....but Captain Healey had other, more practical plans, delivering a headshot
to Page and putting him out of his misery. "Had to be done," he announced.
"MURDERER!" Batman lunged for Sealey, grabbing his throat. "He was
dead already," Healey reasoned, as Gantry and Van tried to hold the bat
back, and Hyatt tried to calm everyone down. "Stop it! Both of you! What's done is done. We've
got enough problems without fighting each other." Batman stared Sealey down. "You killed
that man in cold blood, Sealey." "Not the first time," Sealey said. "Page was a
casualty the minute that thing got inside him. I know it and so do you. I'm just the one who
admitted it. I said we take care of our own. What that means now is we save ourselves. We're
getting out of here, and we'll do it faster without carrying baggage like Page. You don't need
to be a detective to figure something's down here with us. I want to be gone before it finds us."
A tail came down grabbed Sealey, hissing aliens loomed over the captain as he frantically
fired his weapon, until gaining composure and firing straight into the mouth of one
of the beasts. A mistake. The acid blood erupted from the wound, burning Sealey's
face. Panic and confusion hit the group. "What the hell? Oh god, what are they?"
"Sealey's down! Somebody get to him!" "Back to back! Don't panic! No crossfires!"
"I can't see them moving! Too fast!" "How many?!"
Batman restrained one of the creatures as it approached Hyatt, pulling it away
with a batarang, though the Dark Knight's strength could not hold it back for too long. Gantry,
having fired wildly and without conservation, stared into the hissing alien as his
weapon made its last, deperate clicks, and Gantry made his last, desperate prayers before
the hideous creature sent him to meet his maker. Van, meanwhile, steadied his fire but could
not bring down the xenomorph before him, catching acid spray on his arm, just as the
dark knight flew in to take it on face to face, even holding off the attack of the alien's
inner jaw, grabbing it with both hands. Sealey, weakened and burned, got the attention of
the hord of aliens with gunfire and taunts, leading them to advance upon him, as he
pulled out a grenade. As the rest fleed, Sealey set it off, taking one of the bastards
with him. Batman, Hyatt, and Vanderpool remained, surviving the debris caused by the blast.
They took a moment to assess their current situation. "Hyatt? How bad
off are we, huh?" asked van. "You're asking me to find a silver lining,
Van? Take a look around. Sealey and Gantry are dead. Sealey snuffed one of those things,
but the other two are still out there somwhere. The explosion sealed off the corridor, so
at least they can't get in here with us. "For now," interjected the Bat.
"Our supplies are nil, and van der pool is going to need more complete medical attention
than I can give. Those creatures have been in the ruin complex for days at the very minimum. They
don't appear to be intelligent in any coventional sense of the term....but they're cunning,
they've had time to familiarize themselves with the passageways. It's only a matter of
time...before they find a way...to get to us." During this time, the crocodile that Batman spared
from the the gunfire of the ops team had released itself from the rope binding its mouth close, and
swam closer to the complex. A journey to the shore nearby lead to the discovery of another egg from
the doomed the alien ship. It had not been opened, not until a host had a approached it. The
large reptile moved in for a closer look. In the darkness, for a moment -- just a brief
moment -- Batman had fallen asleep. The dream was always the same. His parents. The theatre.
The alleyway. The shots fired from a desperate criminal that took away Bruce Wayne's parents
forever and lead him to a live of fighting crime and preventing further heartbreak such as his own.
But it was different this time. The film they went to see...it was Zorro. The masked, swashbuckling
avenger. The memory was clear. Although in his mind's eye, he could see the marquee -- now,
a science fiction feature - an alien film - It Came From Beyond Space. The film had frighened
the child, he didn't want to go to the alleyway. Even watching himself as a child, he knew what
was waiting. But not this time. No mugger. No gunshots. But a figure, latched onto his father's
face. He let out gasping, muffled screams before he fell uncsonscious. Little Bruce called to his
mother for help. But he could see her clutching at her chest, moaning in agony, the creature
inside bursting out of her chest with a force that send the pearls falling to the ground along
with the blood that spilled with it. He knelt at his parents' side, victims to the alien monster.
He could hear BArrett's tape, his final pleading words on the the dangers of what he's found. The
boy looked at his bloody hands. He was grown now. His hands were gloved. He was dawned in the cape
and cowl of the Batman. One was inside of him. It struggled and made its way to rip out of him.
Batman shot into waking life with a startle. A fire relit the area. His companions noticed the
temporary loss of composure, Hyatt especially, putting away the tape she had been listening
to, that had crept into the Bat's subsconscious. "You're human after all."
"Sorry?" "You're human after all. You slept. Bad dreams?"
"No," he replied. No more time for sleep. No more time for waiting. The situation was
desperate, and Van Der Pool was not very optimistic about their chances. They
spoke of the possibility of survival. "Well, if you got any ideas," said Vand DerPool,
lighting a cigarette, "I'm all for hearing them. Not like we got a real bright outlook here. Sealey
and Gantry are croaked, we got zip supplies, we're trapped because of the cave-in behind
us. And my arm's all screwed up. I mean, those things are out there, man, and we hardly
got any firepower. That's right, ain't it, Hyatt?" "More or less. We've got you're rifle, Van,
and whatever clips you've got left. There are a couple of extra magazines for
my automatic and my .45. That's it." "Never thought I'd buy it -- getting my face
eaten off by some freakin space bug. Catch a bullet, whatever, yeah...but not this."
Batman held some more optimism. "There's always a way, Vanderpool, don't lose hope."
"Cripes, who are you - little mary sunshine? Don't you get it? There could be
dozens of thoe things down here." "Evidence suggests there are only two of them. If
what I've deduced is correct, obviously they came to earth via the doomed spacecraft we found. I
believe I've pieced together its lifecycle. It hatches from an egg, implanting an embryo in
a living host. A fetus then hatches from the host. And apparently the fetus grows into an adult
with alarming speed. Inside the ship we found five humanoid aliens. All dead, two with chests burst.
Opened eggs nearby in both cases. Within these ruins, we found Barrett, the geoloist, his chest
also burst. There was an opened egg next to him. The fourth embryo never hatched because Sealey
murdered its host, Page, whose body was then crushed in the cave-in. We've seen no other eggs,
no other hosts. The logical conclusion is there were three adult aliens. One was destroyed
by Sealey...Leaving only two specimens." Batman, with about as much insight into
the animal that bears his namesake as one may expect, noticed the bats within the ruins. "They're flying deeper into the complex. They
have been with us since we entered the ruins, even before the cavein. They must be headed toward
another surface access. Another exit. This way." Torch equiped, batman lead his fellow
survivors delved deeper into the structure, discovering anicent mayan hyroglyphics. "They
describe a secret place of religious importance. A cavern or grotto. There's some kind of sacrificial
area. Something about fire. I can't make out -- From the darkness the alien stalker emerged,
frightening Van Der Pool stiff, unable to fire upon it. Batman warded the beast off with his
torch and held it back and Hyatt attempted to take it down, while the other specimen made
its appearance from above, entangling her with its its tail. Ordering Van to stand clear
and freeing Hyatt from the alien's grasp Batman, equipped with his own grenade, managed to destroy
one of the aliens as he and Hyatt took cover. The collapse of one of the ancient statues
staved back the other, but not killing it, only seperating it from the entrance of
the temple and the survivors now inside. With no time to spare, Batman
Urged the group to move forward. "Let's go. If I interpreted
the hieroglyphics correctly, the room we just left was a preparation area
for sacrificial ceremonies. We should be getting close to our way out. I'll destroy the remaining
alien once I've gotten you to saefty. Something this deadly can't be allowed to escape...or
fall into the wrong hands. It might be best to level the whole sight with an airstrike."
Van Der Pool was very agreeable to this notion, though Hyatt had no opinion to
voice on the matter. They were getting close. "This way," said Batman.
Their path lead to an exit leading out of the stone giant mayan's head - across A
subterranean waterfall to a massive set of stairs - steps leading, as the flight of the
bats suggested, to a way out - a stairway to salvation. Batman left the pair behind to secure a
line to the exit, climbing, swimming, and swinging to ensure a safe path for the surviving humans.
Van Der Pool, weakened from his injuries, found himself to be in a sunny dispotion as he waited.
"This is sweet, Hyatt. An hour ago, I mean, I really thought we were dead. All
of us, even him. But we're gonna make it. Think we'll get decorated for this?"
"Uh-huh, that's what they usually do," when you lose three-firths of your squad and come back
empty-handed. I see big medals, Van Big ones" The sarcasm not lost on Van Der
Pool, he continued nevertheless. "Well...I'm just happy to be alive.
Those things...they're just killing machines is what they are. Turn some of
them loose in BaghDad...or Havana maybe? Wouldn't need grunts like us anymore.
Man, I can't think of a worse way to go....having one of those bugs get at you.
All the teeth and claws and speed. I saw, you know...I got a good look at gantry when
it was done with him. His face was like..." "Van....don't move" Hyatt whispered,
shocked at the sight behind him. The remaining specimen had tracked
down its pray. It grabbed Van Derpool. He writhed in its clutches, pleading for Hyatt
to take a shot. Hyatt aimed her weapon, upwards, away from the Van and the alien, firing above
her, letting the monster take him. Batman, having heard the gunshots, raced to the aid
of his fellow survivors, finding Hyatt alone, who informed him of Van Der Pool's fate. Batman
inquired of the possibility of Van Der Pool being alive, which Hyatt denied. She also claimed that
her shots had killed the alien in the process. "I'm a soldier. I know what dead
is. I swear. Both of them. I swear." "All right. We'll go. I need
to know...if you can climb." The two made it to the top of the
steps leading to the exit above them, bats still flying through the
caverns leading the the way out. "We're standing on a capped lava tube. It might
even still be active under the crust. The altar was used for blood sacrifces. I'm certain the
hole in the cavern ceiling leads to the surface." He threw up the batarang, securing
the line for the upcoming climb. "At some point it was probably a vent for the
lava flow. Secure. You first, then I'll--" A strike of Hyatt's weapon took Batman to the
back of the head. He tumbled down the the ancient stairway, falling to the ground by the water.
Hyatt made her way down, meeting Batman with the 45 aimed directly at his face. He looked up to
Hyatt, beginning to piece together the treachery. "You killed Van...didn't you?"
"Not exactly. I just didn't go out of my way to save him. Another obstacle
cleared from my path. Just like you." "Why?"
"This." She pulled out the tape recorder, and began
playing Barrett's words for Batman. At least this time he would be awake to appreciate it.
"I picked it up next to your dead geololist. It's all here. Everything the aliens are.
Everything they could be. Bioweapons, Batman. The future of warfare. Just point them
in the right direction and turn them loose. Once I realized what we'd stumbled into, the rest
of the team became expendable. You, too, now that you've provided me with a means of escape.
We'll come back with reinforcements, capture the live one. There are rewards for delivering this
kind of weapon for the people I work for. You have no idea how far this will take me."
"Your ambition was worth this price? You can't control these things. Trying to
put them in anyone's hands in lunacy!" Hyatt was unphased by Batman's pleas for reason.
"Yeah, thanks for the advice...but you'll forgive me if I ignore it."
She steadied her weapon, and prepared to snuff out the Bat, but swiftly,
and without warning, came an interruption. From the water an onto the shore of the stone
staircase ascent emerged the result of the crocodile's embryo implanation...a giant,
vicious specimen, born from the agressive, semi-aquatic creature quickly advanced
upon them. It effortlessly grabbed Hyatt, as the precious audio tape fell from her hand,
the gun still equipped, struggling to aim at a potential weak spot...Batman tried to pull her
away from the grasps of the massive alien, but to no avail. Firing wildly, Hyatt proclaimed her
plight to survive. "NOT GOING TO STOP ME - NOT -" Opening its jaws, the alien shot out an equally
giant second set, piercing through Hyatt's torsoe, nearly ripping her her in half, but instead
leaving a perfect, bloody hole in tact, tossing aside the female soldier like an old rag doll,
leaving her in a pool of her own blood. A lifetime of aspirations unfufilled. A specimen that could
not be controlled. A lesson learned much too late. Batman, clutching Barrett's tape recorder,
dodged the advances of the beast which now turned its fury towards him. He searched for a
weapon. Scattered about were ancient swords and spears left behind from the ancient civilization,
held by its statues. Now used by the Dark Knight in a stand-off against the perfect organism, in a
form more vicious than believed possible. Holding back as long as he could, he made his way to the
top of stairs. He swung the serrated sword at the creature -- a good, clean swipe, spilling its
acidic blood. But it barely flinched. The acid, burning through the stone, revealed the
lava underneath. The solution and key to victory dawned on Batman. Make it bleed.
It moved in for the kill but the bat endured, avoiding the same gruesome death that befell
Hyatt. He grabbed the spear, puncturing the beast through the chest, right at its heart -- if
it did, indeed, have one. The earth shaking roar of the wounded alien indicated that, at the very
least, it felt pain. And it continued to bleed. It bled enough to burn through the altar further,
stone crumbling and falling into the lava below. This was his chance. He grabbed at the rope
leading to the opening, hanging from above as the stone from beneath him gave way, submerging
the alien into the sacrificial pit of lava. Roaring and screeching and flailing within the
pool of death, the alien was subdued - sinking and burning within the lava. Batman looked down
to confirm. The beast was dead and gone. Without even a moment to process this, a tail from
the cave ceiling flung out from the darkness and sangged at batman's neck, choking him. The
final specimen. It brought Batman in closer, snapping its jaws at the exhausted hero,
who could just barely avoid the attacks. Then. Old friends from the pitch of black
appeared. A colony of bats, hissing and swooping out of the opening, gave enough of a distraction
to the alien to allow Batman to harness it with the spare rope dangling below. Severed by the
alien's own blind urge to attack, the rest of the rope and the alien along with it fell into
lava, assisted by a final kick from Batman's boot. Along with his winged bretheren, Batman climbed
to the surface. The remaining xenomorph specimens were destroyed. The blood sacrifices had
been offered, and accepted graciously. It ends.
With dawn chasing the darkness, like a parent's
touch banishing a child's nightmares. It rose in the light. It seems nearly possible
that all the death and madness had only been nightmare - an imagined horror. But I know.
The spacecraft I destroyed, putting it to the torch and waiting for its fuel, whatever it might
have been, to combust into a bright, second dawn. The explosion obliterated the ship, the
bodies, the entire ruin complex. Everything. Such a waste. So much could have been learned
from the ship. But how long could I have kept something so massive from the shadow-men?
No. Let the ones who sent Hyatt and Sealey and the others wonder what happened. They'll never
stitch together anything close to the truth. In two dys I made my way through the jungle to
the coast, to a fishing village in belize. From there I contacted Alfred and arranged for
a pickup in Belize City. Seven hours later, I was back in Gotham. Home.
I am left to contemplate the ordeal. "Perfect engines of carnage,"
Barrett called them. But EVIL? No. The aliens are simply what they
are. Like a shark, or the crocodile. Yet I did confront evil in the labyrnth
beneath the ruins. The same evil I confront each night in Gotham's canyons.
Greed. Lust for power. Disregard for life. Human evil.
Barrett was right. Destroying them was the noly option. The alien physiology
is far too dangerous for anyone to possess. But not because of what they
are. Because of what WE are. REflecting on his experiences, intent on
delivering Barrett's final message to his family, Batman throws all remaining evidence of the
xenomorph into the depths of the batcave, leaving the possibility of weaponization far behind.
As a joint venture between DC and Dark Horse, Batman/Aliens is a crossover that stays to
true many elements of each franchise and was ultimately a successful blend of the two,
stickling for continiuity aside. This was the not the first Aliens crossover with DC,
however. Superman/Aliens preceded this story, and the aliens would also face off against Green
Lantern, not to mention the Batman/Aliens sequel, released in 2003. But there was something special
about this one. The moods of both worlds and moods fit together pretty, with the depiction of Batman
being very faithful to the traits we know about him as a hero, and being very faithful to concept
of the Aliens as a threat and mysterious organism. It was a compelling story, as I hope you'd agree
with me on, and I think if it's not too late, they should go for a part III, and cap
it off as the Batman/Aliens trilogy. But maybe there are other crossovers
worth exploring before that. Comic book publisher allegiance aside, is
there a super hero or other comic book character you'd like to see also get a
crossover with Aliens? Marvel, DC, whoever, who do you think would put up a good
fight? Comment below and let me know. As always, I'd like to Thank you very
much for watching. I really appreciate it, and If you enjoyed this video,
please make sure to give it a like - or, thumbs up for the Batman voice -- I had
to, I just had to-- and you can also subscribe for all the latest videos from the channel
A very, very special thanks goes out to Weyland Yutani Executives EmYaruk, and Lady Anne,
part of the Patreon Hive. If you'd like to join the hive and support the channel, check out my
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next time, this is Alien Theory, signing off.
