Alien vs. X-Men: Wolverine Gets His Second Xenomorph War
Alien vs. X-Men is a new four-issue Marvel crossover that pits the Children of the Atom against the galaxy's deadliest organism. Marvel and 20th Century Studios announced the series on June 17, 2026, with the first issue scheduled for September 16, 2026. The comic follows the success of Aliens vs. Avengers and marks the first time the licensed Alien franchise has received a full X-Men crossover rather than a teaser cover or Easter egg.
What We Know So Far
The main story is written by Kieron Gillen and illustrated by Geraldo Borges, with covers by Ryan Stegman and a variant by Ivan Shavrin. Marvel's official description states that the X-Men leave Earth on a mission to recover a Phoenix egg, only to return with far more dangerous cargo. What follows is a violent conflict between mutants and Xenomorphs as the infestation spreads and the team's survival is put in doubt.
Each issue will also include a backup story by legendary X-Men writer Chris Claremont. That serial pits Claremont's own parasitic Brood against the Xenomorphs, with a young Kitty Pryde caught between two of Marvel's most terrifying alien species. For longtime readers, Claremont's involvement is especially notable because he already bridged the X-Men and the AvP universe decades earlier through Dark Horse.
Chris Claremont's History With X-Men And AvP
Long before Marvel owned the Alien license, Claremont was one of the most important creative links between mutants and the expanded AvP universe. His most direct contribution is Aliens vs. Predator: Deadliest of the Species, a 1993 Dark Horse miniseries that remains one of the strangest and most ambitious crossovers in franchise history. The story follows Caryn Delacroix, a corporate heir who is forced into an uneasy alliance with the female Predator known as Big Mama while battling the rogue AI Toy, white hybrid Xenomorphs, and the mega-corporation Montcalm-Delacroix et Cie.
One of the most famous panels from that era is Big Mama's trophy room, which functions as a crossover museum in its own right. Among dinosaur skulls, exotic alien remains, and other hunting trophies, the display includes several unmistakable X-Men trophies, reflecting Claremont's dual role as both AvP and X-Men writer at the time. The room also contains a Batman cowl and head, an Easter egg explored further in the Batman vs. Predator encounters article. For Alien vs. X-Men, Marvel is effectively bringing Claremont back to a collision he already seeded visually in the Dark Horse era, even if those earlier trophies were not part of official Marvel continuity.
The 2019 Aliens vs. X-Force Covers
When Disney's purchase of 20th Century Fox finally allowed Marvel to publish Alien comics again, the publisher signaled its plans with a wave of promotional variant covers rather than immediate full crossovers. In 2019, one of the most memorable images was the Aliens vs. X-Force cover, showing Wolverine and his teammates overrun by Xenomorphs in classic horror-comic fashion. These variants were not a complete story on their own, but they made it clear Marvel intended to merge its superhero line with the Alien brand. Alien vs. X-Men is the payoff to that tease: a proper miniseries instead of a one-off homage cover.
Wolverine In Aliens vs. Avengers
Marvel's modern Alien line began in earnest with Aliens vs. Avengers, a dystopian miniseries by Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribic set after a global Xenomorph outbreak on Earth. Wolverine was one of the few heavy hitters still standing after Captain America, the Hulk, and much of the X-Men had already fallen. The survivors eventually reached Mars, where the mutant villain Mister Sinister had begun experimenting with Xenomorph biology and transformed himself into a red Xenomorph Queen hybrid.
Wolverine's healing factor and combat experience made him one of the most practical heroes left for close-quarters Xenomorph combat, but even he was not immune to the scale of the catastrophe. The series escalated when the Venom symbiote bonded with a developing Chestburster inside Tony Stark, creating the Venom Xenomorph that ultimately battled Sinister's hybrid form. That finale gave Marvel its clearest precedent for a solo mutant-vs-Xenomorph spotlight before the dedicated X-Men crossover was announced.
How Predators Already Killed Half Of The X-Men
Before Xenomorphs became Marvel's next mutant crisis, the Yautja had already done serious damage on their own. Predator Kills the Marvel Universe was the grand finale of Marvel's licensed Predator crossover line, sending the Predator King and a Vibranium-armed invasion force against Earth's heroes. The story built on earlier hunts such as Predator vs. Wolverine, with Kraven the Hunter teaching the Yautja how to exploit each team's weaknesses before the war began.
The X-Men suffered some of the worst losses. Graveyard, the Predator King's favored son, led a hunting party against the Xavier Institute, killing many students and faculty while destroying the school. By the time the invasion collapsed, about half of Earth's mightiest heroes were dead, including most of the X-Men. Wolverine survived long enough to kill Graveyard and avenge his fallen teammates, but the scale of the slaughter showed that Marvel was willing to treat its superhero line as hunting grounds for both Predators and Xenomorphs.
Conclusion
Alien vs. X-Men therefore arrives with more groundwork than a typical event comic. Readers already know Wolverine can survive in this setting, that Claremont helped define both the Brood and classic AvP lore, that Marvel's Predator line already eliminated most of the X-Men, and that the Alien comics can support full superhero apocalypses rather than isolated horror one-shots. Whether the new series goes as far as AvA remains to be seen, but the announcement alone confirms that Xenomorphs are now a recurring part of Marvel's sci-fi horror strategy.
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Tag Categories: Avp News | Alien Comics | Alien And Predator Crossovers
