WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS ahead for Alien: Earth episodes 1 & 2.
Just two episodes into FX’s gripping sci-fi horror seriesAlien: Earth, the franchise appears to have found a brand-new heroine to become its face after Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley.
Ripley appeared in the first fourAlienmovies from 1979 to 1992. After becoming the sole survivor on the Nostromo spaceship and battling the lethal and primitive Xenomorph in Ridley Scott’sAlien, she leads a group of futuristic Marines to kill the queen alien and her eggs in James Cameron’sAliens.
Weaver has not appeared in any of the modernAlieninstallments, dating back to the prequel movie Prometheus and the newFX TV series,Alien: Earth. Instead, a rare and unprecedented type of humanoid is introduced as the series lead, namedWendy, who was born as the human Marcybefore her consciousness was digitally transferred into the world’s first ever “hybrid” by Boy Kavalier and his Prodigy corporation.
Alien: Earth’s Wendy Is Shaping Up To Be The Show’s Hero
By theend ofAlien: Earthepisode 2, all signs point to Wendy becoming the face of the franchise’s first-ever endeavor into the TV format. She’s essentially a real-life superhero in the world of Alien, with super-strength, speed, and cognitive ability that allow her to hack into various electronic devices, even AI-driven androids.
Wendy was born as Marcy, a terminally ill young girl who was given the opportunity to live forever at Prodgy’s research island, Neverland. Marcy’s father allowed his daughter to undergo the treatment, thinking it was the only way to save her life. While this may be the case, it’s unclear whether Wendy actually retains Marcy’s sense of humanity or spirit, even though she insists on being human.
Wendy’s motivation to protect her biological brother, Joe, becomes a fascinating experiment for Boy Kavalier, who doesn’t fully understand his greatest creation since she is the first-ever hybrid being. Wendy looks, talks, and behaves mostly like a human being and is still driven by Marcy’s emotions, particularly when it comes to loving her brother.
How Wendy Compares To Ripley And Other Alien Heroes
Wendy is obviously one of a kind and but is a morally-guided strong female protagonist, just like Ripley. However,Ripley is only a human being, largely driven by fear and survival instinctin theAlienfranchise, while Wendy is unafraid of injury or death, since theoretically, she is evidence of human immortality.
Ripley was also not a superhuman by any means (although she does become a clone inResurrectionafter dying inAlien 3). InResurrection, Ripley was a much different type of hybrid with both human and Xenomorph DNA. Wendy, however, is just a synth that has been artificially created, similar in body composition to Timothy Olyphant’s Kirsh.
Cailee Spaeny’s character inAlien: Romulus, Rain Carradine, is much more similar to Ripley than Wendy is, mostly because she is human and one of the “final girls” of theAlienfranchise. All things considered, theAlienuniverse has never seen anything like Wendy before, which makes her incredibly fascinating to watch.
Wendy Is A Lot Stronger Than Previous Alien Protagonists
Wendy’s physical and cognitive powers as a Prodigy hybrid make her one of the most powerful entities ever introduced in theAlienuniverse. While her powers have yet to be fully realized, perhaps even by herself, she’s already enforced her status as a leader of the hybrids and could become a dangerous weapon that Prodigy and Boy Kavalier could use to their advantage.
So far, Wendy has proven she can obey orders, although she was hesitant to jump at Kirsh’s command to investigate the spacecraft room with the Xenomorph “omelette.” It’s important to remember thatWendy still has the personality of her 12-year-old former self, which Dame Sylvia is hoping will continue naturally into a simulated version of adolescence.
That said, it’d be ridiculous to think that Boy Kavalier doesn’t have the power to switch Wendy off at any second, especially since he doesn’t fully have a grasp on what she’s capable of. Her ability to override an android’s AI interface shocked Boy Kavalier and the Prodigy scientist Arthur, so there could be more surprises in store about her potential in future episodes ofAlien: Earth.
Alien: Earth May Be Setting Up A Dark Future For Wendy
Wendy seems like a bit of a superhero after two episodes of Alien: Earth, especially if she’s able to rescue Joe from the Xenomorph. Given her incredible strength and speed, she’s likely a formidable fighter, maybe even one that can take on a Xenomorph with her bare hands (wouldn’t that be a sight to see?).
That said, Wendy’s achievements are only an extension of Boy Kavalier’s innovation, since, at the bottom line, she is the property of the Prodigy corporation.Boy Kavalier likely didn’t create Wendy and the other hyrbirds to bow down to them, so there should be some restrictive limits placed on Wendy at some point, which could spell trouble for her.
The promise of being saved from an early death and attaining immortality sounds like a dream come true. Instead, under these circumstances, it could very much become a waking nightmare for Wendy. Her purpose and utility will be further explored throughoutAlien: Earth, and a power struggle could very easily form between her and her creator.
