Ridley Scott expanded the parameters of the horror and sci-fi genres in a single stroke with Alien (1979). The movie presented an extraterrestrial species straight out of the darkest corners of Lovecraftian horror — the Xenomorph. Its phenomenal success led to the birth of a mega franchise, comprising sequels, spin-offs, comic books, video games, board games and now a TV series. In all of them, the centre of attention remains the original Xenomorph and its numerous types.
Hailed universally as one of the greatest fictional antagonists in cinema, the original Xenomorph was designed by Swiss surrealist Hans Ruedi Giger. Over the years, as numerous other types of Xenomorph emerged in the movies and other media, the alien species developed an evolution mythology around them to which both official and fan theories contributed immensely.
Today, the franchise is one of the most successful in terms of box office revenue. Its most recent big screen offering, Alien: Romulus (2024), ended its run as one of the highest-grossing horror movies of all time. Its first live-action TV series, Alien: Earth (2025), is expected to expand the franchise by introducing new alien species alongside the Xenomorph.
Why is the Xenomorph so famous?
Its popularity is perhaps due to the simplicity of its nature — the Xenomorph exists to kill and survive. Unlike most other aliens in cinema and the general impression audiences have of extraterrestrials, the Xenomorph serves no civilisational purpose. It is a perfect killing machine; a terrifying form of an unstoppable parasitoid horde which uses other living beings as the host body for reproduction.
The Alien movies have shown different types of Xenomorph, establishing certain attributes for each. It is established that the Xenomorph is a bioweapon created by Engineers, an extremely advanced humanoid alien race. Some types of Xenomorph in the canon are a result of experiments conducted by the Weyland-Yutani Corporation, a megacorp with a presence on multiple planetary bodies.
The most common type of Xenomorph is the one seen in the original film. It has a defined life cycle that is presented in nearly all Alien movies in which it has appeared. Sequels and prequels of the original movie added more types, some of which are distinct from the common Xenomorph. Yet they, too, are classified as Xenomorphs due to shared DNA.
Here we list the various Xenomorph types seen in the movies. It also includes a few Xenomorphs from other media who fans would love to see on the big screen or the small, including Alien: Earth (2025) and any of its probable future seasons.
Other prominent Xenomorph types seen in video games and comic books include Tarkatan Xenomorph, Praetorian, Matriarch, Prowler, Red Xenomorph and Irradiated Xenomorph.
How to watch Alien movies in order
Before we enter the world of Xenomorphs, here is a quick look at the Alien movies, including spin-offs, by release year:
Alien (1979)
Aliens (1986)
Alien 3 (1992)
Alien Resurrection (1997)
AVP: Alien vs. Predator (2004)
Aliens vs Predator: Requiem (2007)
Prometheus (2012)
Alien: Covenant (2017)
Alien: Romulus (2024)
Though it is not necessary to watch the Alien movies in chronological order, it can help understand both the attributes of the extraterrestrial and its complex evolutionary history. In that case, the order is as follows:
AVP: Alien vs. Predator (2004)
Aliens vs Predator: Requiem (2007)
Prometheus (2012)
Alien: Covenant (2017)
Alien (1979)
Alien: Romulus (2024)
Aliens (1986)
Alien 3 (1992)
Alien Resurrection (1997)
This list, however, is not based on any of the orders and presents the Xenomorph (and closely related species) according to the stages in the life cycle.
All the Xenomorph types in the Alien movie franchise
Ovomorph — Four-petal egg of the original Xenomorph
Appearance: All Alien movies except Prometheus
The Ovomorph is the egg stage of the Xenomorph life cycle. It has been seen prominently in Alien and Alien vs. Predator, where depictions of fields of eggs are enough to send a chill down the spines of the discoverers (and viewers).
Inside the Ovomorph is a gooey substance within which lies the Facehugger. Unlike normal eggs, there is no incubation involved, and the Facehugger doesn’t crack open the egg to emerge. Instead, the Ovomorph opens itself on its own, like the blooming of a flower bud, but creepier, when it senses a potential host for the Facehugger nearby. It is thus a kind of living organism. This makes the eggs in the Alien franchise extremely scary.
Facehugger — The many-legged carrier of the Xenomorph
Appearance: All Alien movies except Prometheus (depictions vary)
The Facehugger scares us more than the Xenomorph. Why? Imagine a cross between the scariest spider and a scorpion moving as fast as a hare, charging towards you as aggressively as the black mamba. A Facehugger is that nightmare.
With a flat body that looks like an arthropod, a Facehugger can crawl rapidly with its eight legs. It also has a long tail, using which it can leap several metres to reach its prey. If its appearance and movement alone don’t give shivers, what it does is more horrific than even the most brutal death.
Every Facehugger lives for just one purpose — to impregnate a host creature with the Xenomorph embryo. It does so by latching onto the face of its target, which can be of any species except its own, and then pushing the embryo down the victim’s throat through a proboscis while tightly wrapping its tail around the neck.
There is no way to rescue the victim once the Facehugger has gripped the face because it instantly generates toxins which render the victim unconscious. Further, it tightens its grip on the neck if any external attempt to remove it is made. Its blood is acidic and causes fatal burns on the body if the Facehugger is cut. The creature comes off only after the insemination is over and dies almost immediately.
It is revealed in Romulus that Facehugger tracks its target by heat signature. As such, Rain (played by Cailee Spaeny) and Tyler (played by Archie Renaux) manage to walk through a passage teeming with Facehuggers along with the android Andy (played by David Jonsson) for a while by raising the heat in the area to match their body temperatures.
Royal Facehugger — A Facehugger with an armoured skin
Appearance: Alien 3 Special Edition
The Royal Facehugger, also known as Super Facehugger in some media, is larger than a normal Facehugger, is stronger and has a thicker skin, which possibly protects it from getting wounded or killed. This makes it a formidable threat, given that it is, anyway, very difficult to kill a normal Facehugger.
But what primarily distinguishes the Royal Facehugger from the normal Facehugger is that the former carries the embryo of a Xenomorph Queen while the latter is the carrier of the basic embryo.
Chestburster — The Xenomorph hatchling
Appearance: All Alien movies except Prometheus
This is the most visibly violent stage in the Xenomorph life cycle and the most painful one for the host. The parasitic embryo grows inside the chest of the host body until it is strong enough to burst its way out.
It takes only a few hours from the Facehugger planting the embryo in the host body to the emergence of the Chestbuster, comparable to an insect’s larvae.
The first Alien movie left audiences horrified at the sight of the Chestbuster as it chewed its way out from the body of a screaming Kane in the movie. The scene remains one of the most defining moments in sci-fi horror movies and continues to scare anyone seeing it for the first time.
The Chestbuster can be easily killed, but it usually manages to escape because it is astonishingly agile. Moreover, its violent emergence from the chest of its host leaves unsuspecting characters shocked long enough for it to escape.
Hosts never survive the Chestbuster. In most cases, they don’t even realise they are carrying the embryo from a Facehugger because the toxins wipe away the memory of the attack. The victims may even appear normal until it is too late. In some cases, as seen in Alien vs Predator, the host dies a slow and painful death from incessant blood loss with the embryo eating away its insides.
Once the Chestbuster is out of the host body, it scurries away from anything that might be a threat to its own life. It finds an isolated spot and creates a cocoon to grow further. It is from this point that it transforms into a Xenomorph. The process takes only a few hours, and a fully formed Xenomorph emerges from the cocoon.
Thus, the Chestbuster is the third stage in the alien’s life cycle before it becomes a Xenomorph.
Drone — The common Xenomorph
Appearances: All Alien movies
Drone is the true Xenomorph and the most famous of all species types across the franchise. It emerges from a human host. As such, it takes some traits and DNA from humans. It is usually bipedal, but can behave like a quadruped during hunting or rapid movement through tight places. When standing on its hind legs, a Drone can reach up to 2.4 metres in height.
The Drone has an elongated, tubular head and a long tail with a harpoon-like end, which it often uses as a weapon. However, its most preferred way of killing is by driving a smaller second mouth, which emerges from its larger mouth, through the skull of its victim.
The Drone can be killed, but its green blood is acidic enough to melt metals, including weapons. This attribute led to a Xenomorph getting the fan name Grid due to the grid-like pattern on its head caused by a Predator net that dissolved in its blood.
Warrior — Aggressive Xenomorphs that hunt in packs
Appearances: Aliens
The early films in the franchise did not distinguish well between a Warrior and a Drone Xenomorph. But later material across media has given the former a distinct identity. Accordingly, the Warrior is seen as the Stage V evolution in the Xenomorph life cycle.
A Warrior is faster, stronger and larger than a Drone. It is more aggressive and harder to kill. While a Drone usually hunts its prey alone, the Warrior hunts in large groups similar to a wolf pack. According to the franchise lore across media, the Xenomorph of the Warrior type is tasked with protecting the hive of the Queen. It also captures victims alive and drags them to a hive for breeding.
Apart from the size, there are some physical differences between a Warrior and a Drone, with the former having a rigid carapace instead of a smooth one like the latter. This change is present even though the Warrior, too, might have emerged from a human host.
Runner — The dog Xenomorph
Appearances: Alien 3
More aggressive than a Warrior is the Runner. Seen only in Alien 3, this Xenomorph, which is completely quadrupedal because its host in the film is an innocent dog. The film is therefore the first to establish the fact that Xenomorphs essentially take on the traits and DNA of their host, and any living thing larger than maybe a cat can be its victim. As such, the Runner is comparable to the Drone stage.
What it finally evolves into or whether it does at all are not known.
The Runner is much faster than all other Xenomorph types due to its body structure, which is without dorsal tubes on the back as well as slimmer and shorter than the others. Its size and speed not only allow it to crawl rapidly across ceilings and walls but also make it very difficult to kill. However, its size depends on the size of its host. A Xenomorph, which uses a horse or a bull as its host, is expected to be much larger and heavier than one which bursts out of the body of a puppy in the film.
The larger one is also classed as the Runner type, but none have been seen on the screen.
Queen — Xenomorph mothers
Appearances: Aliens and Alien vs. Predator
Standing around 4.8 metres in height, the Queen Xenomorph is the monster of the franchise. She produces the eggs from which the Facehuggers emerge. All Xenomorph types, be it Drone, Warrior or any other with a Facehugger origin, obey her command and are connected to her by a hive mind. She is also the most intelligent of all Xenomorphs depicted on the screen.
The most powerful depiction of the Queen Xenomorph is in Alien vs. Predator. In it, a Queen is seen kept captive in an ancient pyramid deep beneath Antarctica to produce Ovomorphs, which would lead to enough Xenomorphs for the Predators to hunt. But she escapes and climbs several hundred metres from below the Antarctic ice to break through the surface, hunting for a Predator and a human who destroyed all her eggs.
Newborn — Experimental human-hybrid Xenomorph
Appears in: Alien Resurrection
The Newborn is one of the most unique Xenomorph types. It looks like a very large human, with skin that appears to be melting. The creature is so disgusting that its mere sight is an assault on the eyes.
Nevertheless, what distinguishes it from other Xenomorph types is that it is the result of a genetic experiment done by humans using a Ripley 8, a clone of the real Ellen Ripley (played by Sigourney Weaver), and a Xenomorph Queen.
The Newborn is extremely strong, as it kills the Queen immediately after birth. Due to its genetic connection with Ripley 8, it chooses the clone as its mother and appears to obey her. It also shows visible human emotions, such as curiosity, affection and anger. But its general behaviour is like any other Xenomorph — a killing machine.
Thankfully, Ripley 8 ended its life before it could reach Earth.
Trilobite — A large Facehugger-like creature that looks like a giant squid
Appears in: Prometheus
A Trilobite is a carrier of the Xenomorph embryo and is either Stage II or Stage III of the Deacon life cycle. Unlike the Facehugger, it does not emerge from an egg, at least not in the movie. Prometheus shows that a character named Charlie Holloway (played by Logan Marshall-Green) is infected by a black goo pathogen on the moon LV-223. Unaware of the substance inside him, he unknowingly impregnates Elizabeth Shaw (played by Noomi Rapace).
The Trilobite begins growing inside Elizabeth, but is surgically removed before it can emerge on its own. It doesn’t die, however, and quickly grows into a beast with seven arms and weighing around half a tonne.
In this form, the Trilobite captures an Engineer — a pale alien humanoid species, which created humans and other life forms in the universe — and does exactly what a Facehugger does to its victim.
Deacon — A Xenomorph born out of Engineers
Appears in: Prometheus
A Deacon might appear like any of the Xenomorph types, but it is classed as a close relative called Proto-Xenomorph or Protomorph — the earliest Xenomorph. It is named so for its head, which is shaped like that of a Drone but has a pointed end towards the back.
Using its pointed head, it tears its way out of the dead body of the Engineer impregnated by the Trilobite. As such, a Deacon is more like a Chestbuster, but unlike the latter, is the size of a human at birth. This is why it is believed that it matures into a true Protomorph, which would be much larger than any other Xenomorph.
A Deacon has a similar set of metallic teeth as other Xenomorph types and an inner jaw, but no second mouth. It has no tail, and there is a lack of clarity on whether it has the same green acidic blood as its relatives.
It is seen only briefly towards the end of its only appearance in the Alien franchise.
Bloodburster — An offspring which comes out of the back
Appears in: Alien: Covenant
This is another relative of the Chestbuster and the Stage III in the Neomorph life cycle. Also known as Backburster or Spineburster because of the region it generally bursts out of, the Bloodburster has a very different origin from the Xenomorph types. In its only appearance on the screen, it is revealed that Backburster begins forming in a host body after the latter is infected by microscopic pores called Motes.
No one can see Motes, and they do not violently invade a living organism. Instead, the pores surreptitiously enter a host body through open orifices. They are produced by Neomorphic Egg Sacs when the latter are touched.
Once in the body, the pores gestate rapidly until they are ready for a violent emergence.
A Bloodburster is unlike a Chestbuster in many ways. Though small in appearance, it is fully formed with arms, legs and a tail. It is very aggressive and attacks immediately instead of making good its escape. Moreover, it is quadrupedal like the Runner.
Neomorph — A distant relative of the Xenomorph
Appears in: Alien: Covenant
Neomorph is the final stage in its eponymous life cycle. In its only appearance, the Neomorph is directly connected to the deliberate release of the Engineer’s black goo pathogen on Planet 4 by the android named David (played by Michael Fassbender).
The Neomorph is almost the opposite of a Xenomorph in appearance. It is pale white, has no tail, lacks the dorsal spine and is more humanoid. It has no inner mouth, but its teeth are like fangs that protrude out of the jaw, which the highly aggressive creature uses to slash or stab its prey. Unlike the Xenomorph, its blood is not green but is possibly acidic, though it isn’t established.
Praetomorph — A large Xenomorph created by David
Appears in: Alien: Covenant
While David is connected to the creation of the Neomorph, it is the Praetomorph that he designed, possibly using the originals created by the Engineers. Praetomorph is a result of the crossbreeding of the alien eggs by David. Naturally, the thing it becomes is far more horrifying than both Xenomorph and Neomorph.
Though the Praetomorph looks much like a Xenomorph, its life cycle is faster, and its egg is different from that of the more famous alien species due to a two-petal design instead of a four-petal opening.
The Praetomorph Facehugger takes less time to impregnate a host than a Xenomorph’s. Similarly, a Praetomorph Chestbuster looks much darker than a Xenomorph Chestbuster. The former also has fully developed limbs, which makes it more agile and aggressive. A key difference between a Praetomorph and a Xenomorph is that the former has a purely animalistic behaviour and is less intelligent.
Predalien — A Xenomorph born out of a Predator
Appears in: AVPR: Aliens vs Predator – Requiem
The Predator, also known as Yautja, has its own loyal fanbase since its first appearance in Arnold Schwarzenegger‘s 1987 action epic Predator. The Alien vs. Predator series of movies (as well as games and comic books) connected the Predator world to the world of the Aliens. The Predalien is a result of the events in the movies.
One of the most famous Xenomorph types in the Alien franchise, the Predalien appears in its final form only in Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem. Its Chestbuster stage is, however, seen in the prequel movie, Alien vs. Predator, where it rips apart the chest of a dead Predator named Scar, who was attacked by a Facehugger during the events of the film.
Due to the Predator DNA, the Predalien Chestbuster is born with mandibles, a distinctive feature of the Yautja species. By the time of Requiem, which is set immediately after the events of Alien vs. Predator, the Predalien has grown to its full size and goes up against a Predator sent to kill it.
The Predalien is larger than any other Xenomorph, barring the Queen, due to the Predator DNA. It is much fiercer, scarier, intelligent and stronger. Unlike other Xenomorphs, the Predalien can impregnate hosts and can do so by directly pushing more than one embryo from its mouth.
Offspring — An early humanoid Xenomorph
Appears in: Alien: Romulus
The Offspring is a Xenomorph-engineer-human hybrid. Almost everything about it is uniquely different from other Xenomorph types.
Take, for instance, its emergence; the Offspring is the only Xenomorph that undergoes gestation in a human womb and takes birth instead of bursting out like a Chestbuster. Unlike any other Xenomorph in the Alien cinematic franchise, there is no involvement of a Facehugger either.
In the film, Kay (played by Isabela Merced), who is already pregnant with a human foetus, is the one who gives birth to this abomination. Injured during an escape from a true Xenomorph, she injects herself with compound Z-01, believing it can help her unborn baby survive. Z-01 is a bioengineered mutagenic compound created by scientists of Wuland-Yutani Corporation from the original black goo pathogen and can accelerate healing in humans, but also causes a dangerous mutation. In Kay’s case, Z-01 heals her but mutates the unborn foetus in her. The result is the Offspring cocoon.
Once out of her body, the cocoon rapidly transforms into a fully grown pale humanoid. It then kills Kay to feed on the Z-01 compound in her body. Subsequently, it grows a tail and develops an inner mouth within seconds. Extremely strong despite its scrawny appearance, the bipedal Offspring uses its sharp claws on its hands and feet to kill or disable any threat.
Chronologically, the Offspring is the earliest humanoid version of the Xenomorph, and the Newborn is the latter. This is because Alien: Resurrection, in which the Newborn appears, is set around 250 years after the events of Romulus.
Xenomorphs, we hope to see in future Alien movies and TV shows
There are numerous other Xenomorph types depicted in the comics and games (video games, board games and others) which are part of the wider franchise. A few of them deserve to be in movies or TV shows. These include:
Spitter Xenomorph — There is a possibility that future movies or TV shows in the Alien franchise might show a Xenomorph that spits acid. That ability alone makes it one of the most dangerous Xenomorph types to ever appear in the franchise, since the acidic blood is one of the biggest strengths of the alien species. So far, the Spitter Xenomorph has appeared only in the video game Aliens: Colonial Marines (2013).
Flying Xenomorph — This is the one Xenomorph most fans wish to see in the movies or TV shows. While the common Xenomorph is already super-terrifying, one with wings raises the threat level to omega proportions. Seen in the comic books, Alien: Survival, Alien: Swarm, Alien: Night Strike and Alien: Space Marines alongside some video games, the Flying Xenomorph has large bat-like wings as well as arms. Both Drone and Queen types of this Xenomorph exist.
Aquatic Xenomorph — Though the common Xenomorph can swim, this is a purely aquatic variant. It first appears in the comic series Alien: Colonial Marines. This Xenomorph has a large tail, like a fish, and no legs. It hunts in deep waters but can also attack any species closer to the shore.
King Xenomorph — A male Xenomorph larger than the Queen and armed with tusks and designed for brutal combat, the King has appeared only in the tactical board game Alien vs Predator: The Hunt Begins.
(Hero image: IMDb; Featured image: 20th Century Studios/20th Century Studios – © 2024 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved. via IMDb)
