Carter Burke must be one of the most loathsome characters in sci-fi movie history. A slick and sleazy company man, he tried to sell out Ripley and the surviving Colonial Marines in James Cameron's Aliens, but met his comeuppance thanks to either an alien, or the detonating nuclear reactor on LV-426 - it's always been a bit unclear which finished him off.
Marvel's five-issue Aliens: What If...? comic offers an alternative ending, however. The series, which is based on a story in-part by Burke actor Paul Reiser, neatly explains how the character may have survived and escaped back to Earth - only to find himself subject to the cruel whims of his paymasters at the Weyland-Yutani corporation.
The series has, so far, been a lot of fun, neatly joining up with the start of Alien 3 in its first issue before leaping ahead by 35 years to find an older, sadder, but no less weaselly Burke estranged from his daughter. We've got an exclusive preview of the penultimate issue right here, and if you've been reading the series so far, then you'll know that an alien queen has just (chest)burst her way onto the scene. Check it out in the gallery below.
"WHAT IF…CARTER BURKE HAD LIVED?" asks Marvel's synopsis. "Or more importantly, what if Carter Burke was about to die a different, even more horrible death?! Xenomorphs are loose on the mining asteroid where Burke's made his small sad life and even-more-insignificant career. Panic is about to break out, slaughter to follow - and once again, it's all Burke's fault. Is this justice at last for the consummate company man? Or is there more to Burke's character hidden beneath the mountain of mistakes?"
Aliens: What If...? #4 is written by Hans Rodionoff and Brian Volk-Weiss, from a story devised by the pair with Adam F Goldberg, Paul Reiser, and his son Leon. It's drawn by Guiu Vilanovo, with colors by Yen Nitro and lettering by Clayton Cowles. The issue is published by Marvel Comics on June 5, with a collected edition of the five-issue story landing on October 1.
Elsewhere in Marvel's Alien line, the xenomorphs are about to battle the Avengers!
