Hicks

Lore & Background

In Aliens, Hicks and his unit were dispatched to LV-426 by Lieutenant Gorman, accompanied by Weyland-Yutani representative Carter Burke. After discovering Facehuggers and a young girl named Newt in the Hadley's Hope colony, the marines descended into the hive where they faced a massacre. With Sergeant Apone deceased and Gorman unresponsive, Hicks automatically assumed command of Ripley, Hudson, Vasquez, Newt, Burke, and Bishop. Following a dropship crash that killed pilot Corporal Ferro, the survivors fortified the Operations Center. When Bishop revealed the Atmosphere Processor would explode, Hicks formulated a plan for Bishop to remotely pilot a second dropship from the Sulaco. During an assault where Xenomorphs cut power, Hicks rescued Ripley and Newt from a medical lab trap set by Burke. In the final escape through ventilation ducts, Vasquez and Gorman sacrificed themselves with a grenade. Cornered in an elevator, Hicks suffered severe facial burns and chest armor melting from Xenomorph acid blood. He was sedated by Bishop before entering cryosleep on the Sulaco.

In Their Own Story

In Alien 3, an alien egg hatches aboard the Sulaco, causing a fire that ejects cryogenic pods into the ocean of Fiorina 161. The crash results in Newt drowning and Hicks being impaled and crushed by a support beam, leaving Ripley as the sole survivor. However, Aliens: Colonial Marines reveals Hicks attempted to send a distress call before hypersleep, which was blocked by Weyland-Yutani. Awakened by colonists Samuel Stone and Turk due to an emergency, a firefight ensues where a bullet grazes the Facehugger on Ripley, causing an electrical fire. In the scuffle, Turk is knocked into Hicks' open cryotube, becoming the casualty witnessed in Alien 3, effectively retconning Hicks' death. Hicks and Stone traverse the Sulaco, killing Weyland-Yutani PMCs and Xenomorphs before boarding a skiff to Fiorina 161. They observe Ripley's sacrifice to prevent the company from obtaining the Queen Chestburster. Captured by Michael Bishop on The Resolute, Stone is executed for non-compliance. Freed by researcher Rick Levy, Hicks fights through an outbreak to transmit his distress call before being rescued by a USCM squadron aboard the USS Sephora, where he executes the android double of Michael Bishop.

Reader's Guide

Corporal Dwayne Hicks functions as the narrative anchor of human resilience within the franchise's military chapters. Physically rugged and equipped with standard Colonial Marine combat training, he embodies the shift from faceless soldier to individual hero who prioritizes family over orders. His partnership with Ellen Ripley defines the emotional core of the second chapter, proving that survival requires more than just firepower. During the LV-426 crisis, he instructed Ripley on using the M41A Pulse Rifle for self-defense and formulated plans to escape despite overwhelming odds. His fate in Alien 3 serves as a grim reminder that even the strongest allies cannot withstand the Xenomorph threat or cosmic misfortune, dying when impaled by a support beam during the crash. In Aliens: Colonial Marines, his survival highlights the theme of corporate interference and the malleability of canon, where he ultimately faces another android double.

Did You Know?

• Actor James Remar was originally cast as Hicks and filmed for two weeks before being fired due to a drug arrest.
• James Cameron replaced Remar with Michael Biehn, who rejected the 'padlock heart' motif on his armor because it looked like a bullseye.
• In Alien 3, Hicks was killed off at the start of the film, a decision that led actor Michael Biehn to file a lawsuit against 20th Century Fox for unauthorized use of his likeness.
• The game Aliens: Colonial Marines retconned Hicks' death by revealing that colonist Turk was knocked into his cryotube and died in his place during the crash on Fiorina 161.