Aliens: What If...? #5

History

The series was announced by Marvel in January 2024 and launched with issue #1 on March 6, 2024, running bi-monthly through July 17, 2024. The writing team of Paul Reiser, Leon Reiser, Adam F. Goldberg (creator of ABC's The Goldbergs), Brian Volk-Weiss (producer of The Toys That Made Us), and scripter Hans Rodionoff was assembled specifically around Reiser's long-standing personal interest in revisiting Burke; Reiser publicly noted that fans had questioned him for years about the villain's moral complexity. Interior art across all five issues — including #5 — was handled by Guiu Vilanova, a Marvel veteran with credits on Cosmic Ghost Rider and Eternals, with coloring by Yen Nitro, lettering by VC's Clayton Cowles, and cover art by Phil Noto. Editor Sarah Brunstad oversaw the project, which was published concurrently with Alien: Black, White & Blood within Marvel's broader Alien comics line.

Trivia · 9 facts

• Issue #5 is the concluding chapter of the five-issue limited series Aliens: What If...? (March–July 2024), published by Marvel Comics under license from 20th Century Studios.
• The series is co-written by Paul Reiser — the actor who played Carter Burke in James Cameron's 1986 film Aliens — making this one of the rare cases of a film actor co-authoring a licensed comic continuation of their own character.
• Additional co-writers on the series are Leon Reiser (Paul's son), Adam F. Goldberg (The Goldbergs), Brian Volk-Weiss (The Toys That Made Us), and Hans Rodionoff (Damage Control); interior art throughout is by Guiu Vilanova.
• The series introduces two original characters: Brie, Carter Burke's estranged daughter, and Hiro Yutani, identified in the story as the son of Shin Yutani of Weyland-Yutani, both of whom play central roles in the finale's xenomorph outbreak and moral resolution.
• Issue #5's plot sees Burke and Brie attempting to rescue trapped workers and Burke's comatose wife from a xenomorph queen infestation, with the arc ending on an open-ended note that several reviewers interpreted as a deliberate set-up for a potential sequel series.
• The Xenopedia (AVP Fandom) wiki notes a continuity detail embedded in issue #1 of the series: Lt. Gorman is referred to as 'William' — a nod to actor William Hope who portrayed the character on screen — rather than the 'Scott' established in the 2014 reference book Alien: The Weyland-Yutani Report.
• Cover art for issue #5 was provided by Phil Noto (standard cover) and Andrei Bressan (variant cover).
• The complete five-issue series was collected in a trade paperback (ISBN 978-1302946586), released October 1, 2024, reusing cover art from issue #2 by Phil Noto.
• Within Marvel's own Alien publishing timeline, the series was preceded by Alien: Descendant and followed by Alien: Romulus, placing it at a transitional point in the line.

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