Aliens: What If…? comic book series looks at what would have happened if Carter Burke had lived

Marvel Comics has been publishing issues of their anthology series What If…? – which takes familiar scenarios from their comics and explores what might have happened if things had played out differently or if characters had taken different paths in life – since 1977. Now the series, which has included such titles as “What If Spider-Man Had Joined the Fantastic Four?”, “What If Thor of Asgard Had Met Conan the Barbarian?”, and “What If The Punisher’s Family Had Not Been Killed?”, is being infiltrated by the Alien franchise. Marvel gained the comic book rights to the Alien franchise when Disney acquired 20th Century Fox a few years back, and now they’re set to publish the five-issue limited series Aliens: What If…? that asks the question, “What if Carter Burke had lived?”

Paul Reiser played the slimy Carter Burke in writer/director James Cameron’s 1986 classic Aliens. Burke was a junior executive for the Weyland-Yutani Corporation, and he was hoping to get Xenomorphs back to his higher-ups on Earth… even if that meant causing heroine Ripley and little girl Newt to get aliens planted in their bodies by facehuggers. Burke paid for his sins. But in this What If…? series, he didn’t.

The saga will further explore the nature of the man who infamously betrayed Ripley and the lengths he’s willing to go to get his hands on the deadliest species in the galaxy… For years, fans of James Cameron’s legendary Aliens questioned whether Carter Burke, a company man more hateable than the Xenos themselves, had actually survived the traumatic events on the terraforming colony Hadley’s Hope. Thirty-five years later, Burke is eeking out a cursed existence on a backwater asteroid. With his once-promising career in the toilet, Burke’s only remaining purpose in life is to care for his daughter, Brie. She hates him, probably for being a horrible person. And when she finds out what he’s up to now? It’s not going to be a friendly reunion. Has Burke learned his lesson, or is he about to get all of his companions killed again?

Paul Reiser, his son Leon, Adam F. Goldberg (The Goldbergs), Brian Volk-Weiss (The Toys That Made Us), and Hans Rodionoff (Damage Control) have teamed up to craft the scripts for “What if Carter Burke had lived?”, with Guiu Vilanova of Cosmic Ghost Rider and Eternals providing the artwork. Paul Reiser had this to say about the series: “For years, people have asked me about Burke, what it was like to play such a ‘bad guy,’ to which my response was always ‘You say ‘bad,’ I say ‘misunderstood.’ Now the world will find out!“

Will you be reading the Aliens: What If…? comic book series? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

The first issue of Aliens: What If…? will reach store shelves on March 6th, with the second issue following on April 11th.