Corporal Dwayne Hicks was a member of the military branch USCM (United States Colonial Marines) that was deployed to the moon LV-426 aboard the Sulaco to investigate the sudden loss of contact with the colonists. Hicks was one of the most successful Colonial Marines in the service.
History
Mission to LV-426
Cpl. Hicks and the rest of his squad was sent in-response to the loss of contact with the colony Hadley's Hope on LV-426 in 2179. Under the command of Lieutenant Gorman, the squad also brought along two civilian advisors: Weyland-Yutani rep Carter J. Burke and Lt. Ellen Ripley. Hicks also made time during the last part of the journey bantering with several of his squad mates. The general feeling from Hicks and the rest of the squad was that they were going to find a bunch of colonists that just had communication failures. During the drop planetside, Hicks took a nap with all the turbulence.
Arrival on Hadley's Hope
After landing, Hicks and the squad made their way to the administrative building in the complex. After the building was clear and Gorman and the advisors joined the squad in the colony, Frost picked up a signal on the motion tracker. The signal was soon discovered to be a young girl hiding. Hicks then reached out to get the girl and was bit on the hand by her, Ripley then caught and calmed the girl down, the squad investigated further to find the whereabouts of the missing colonists, founding them in the Atmospheric Processor.
When they reached the atmospheric processor and proceeded to the sub levels, the station changed from machinery to being covered in a secreted resin which Hicks asked what it came from. Hicks and the rest of the squad then received an order to sling the Pulse Rifles and Smartguns so a stray shot doesn't overload the reactor. Hicks complied and pulled out his antique shotgun to compensate.
After a live colonist was discovered, and very soon died from the emergence of an Alien Chestburster, both the creature and the body were torched by Sgt. Apone. This action antagonized the hive and the creatures struck, taking two Marines and attacking the rest. In the chaos, Hicks rescued Wierzbowski from an explosion and would later call out to him when he was killed. Shouting what happened to Apone and being told by Hudson he's dead; Hicks ordered the survivors to pull back. By the time they made it back to the APC and just about had the door closed, one of the creatures, got its hands in the door forcing it open. Hicks the stuck his shotgun in the creatures mouth shouting "Eat This!" as blew the back of its away, but the acidic blood destroyed his shotgun and injured Hudson.
During the escape from the processor, Lieutenant Gorman was knocked unconscious by loose items in the APC, making Hicks the acting commander of the mission. Ripley, points this out when she came head-to-head with Burke over the next course of action after the danger of the Xenomorph became apparent. Hicks, as acting commanding officer, declared that they would leave immediately and use a thermonuclear warhead to destroy the colony. Hicks then radioed Ferro for an immediate evac to and would meet her at a designated landing spot.
Due to some interference with the creatures, the dropship lost control and crashed, stranding Hicks and the others planet side with the xenomorphs. Hicks then ordered Vasquez and Hudson to salvage what gear they could from the APC and dropship wreckages and meet back up at the administrative building. Once there, Bishop pointed out that the processor was using it's emergency venting stating it was about four hours before it went critical.
During this time Hicks and the others formulated a plan to get the space dropship down and to hold out in the meantime. As Bishop left to go link up to the main dish outside, Hicks and the others fortified their position by welding shut the doors and reinforcing the colonist's blockades on the doors and deploying sentry guns in the main corridor. Hicks also instructed Ripley how to use the M41A Pulse Rifle for self defense. It wasn't too long until the creatures attacked the main corridor but were gunned down by the sentries' fire and exhausted their ammo completely. So Hicks and the others waited for Bishop to get the dropship down and anticipated the creatures to make another push at them.
Sometime later Hicks heard the alarm go off in the med lab portion of the station where Ripley and the girl where resting. When Hicks and others got there the door's lock was sabotaged and the two were stuck in the room with several of the specimens from the med lab running loose. Hicks shot out the glass and helped Ripley get the one that was strangling her off and killing it while Hudson dealt with the other one. Ripley managed to let the Marines know who set her up : Burke.
Ripley explained to Hicks and the others that Burke was the one who originally gave the orders to the colonists to check out the derelict and caused the infestation. Ripley also revealed that Burke wanted to get a live specimen back to Earth in herself and Newt, Hicks interrupted her saying that he and the others would know. Ripley said he could sabotage certain cryotubes, namely Hicks' and the others. Hicks was all for killing Burke right there but was interrupted when the creatures cut the power and Burke escaped.
Escape
As they escape, Hudson, Vasquez, and Gorman are killed in the ensuing fight. After Gorman and Vasquez commit suicide with a grenade, the force of the blast knocked Newt down into the sewers. Ripley; unable to leave the girl, talked Hicks into cutting out the flooring to reach her before the creatures came. Regardless of how fast Hicks moved the young girl was taken by one of the creatures. Unable to do anything for her, Hicks and Ripley had to escape before the creatures took them as well.
As they made it to the elevator one of the creatures got into the door and pried it open. The creature was cut down by gunfire and the blowback from the blood spray got on Hicks. He was injured when acidic alien blood hit his chest and the left side of his face even with Ripley frantically pulling off his armor. Ripley still managed to get him to the dropship, and he was stabilized by Bishop. Right before Ripley leaves to rescue Newt, they reveal to each other their first names. He was then passed out from the meds to stabilize him and relieve the pain of the burns. Dwayne Hicks was one of only four survivors who made it off Acheron alive. Newt, Ripley and Hicks all went into hypersleep for the journey back to Earth.
Personality & Traits
Corporal Hicks was a soft spoken and level-headed heroic leader, providing contrast to other members of the team, including the hot-tempered Private Vasquez, the emotionally unstable Private Hudson, the inexperienced Lt. Gorman and the greedy Carter J. Burke. Hicks is mostly calm, although he does attempt to attack Burke after learning of his betrayal. Hicks was shown to be able to sleep during a turbulent planet side drop, showing he was almost always calm, even in troublesome situations.
Hicks is also skilled in the use and understanding of most weapons as shown when he instructs Ripley in the use of the M41A Pulse Rifle and the fact he had an old pump-action shotgun as a backup weapon so as not to damage processors.
The Combat Efficiency Of Each Colonial Marine
To determine how effective each Marine was in combat, a points system will be used. To Cpl. Dwayne Hicks:
- Weapons of choice: Ithaca 37 shotgun, M41A Pulse Rifle
- Kills: 8
- Friendly fire penalty: 0 but causes 1 non-fatal acid spray on Hudson
- Cause of death: n/a (wounded but survives the movie)
- Combat efficiency score: 8
Hicks was initially played by James Remar but was replaced by Michael Biehn during filming, which meant he didn't go through the training the rest of the cast completed and didn't customize his armor. Hicks and Gorman are the only Marines whose first names don't match the names of the actors portraying them (Tip Tipping was born Timothy).
Hicks is shown to be quiet and extremely calm under pressure - he even falls asleep on the dropship on the way down (a smart move since he has a very long day in front of him). The only Marine to make it through the film, Hicks gets at least one alien with his shotgun in the hive (we hear an alien scream) before taking out another that rudely pokes its face into the door of the APC. With the loss of Apone and Gorman incapacitated, Hicks steps up to take charge along with Ripley.
In the second battle, he makes efficient use of the Pulse Rifle, taking down five. He gets one more at point-blank range in the elevator with Ripley but is wounded by the acid. Sedated by painkillers, he falls asleep again and misses the climactic battle between Ripley and the queen entirely.
Equipment
Hicks, as a Colonial Marine, was outfitted with fairly standard issue M10 Pattern Ballistic Armour with a Shoulder lamp attatchment for illumination. He also carried a Tracer Bracelet with him that eventually ended up with Newt. The Corporal also carried a handheld welding torch which came in handy for fortifying barricades and cutting through obstacles like doors. Hicks was also proficient with several types of firearms including the standard issued M41A Pulse Rifle and his Ithaca M37 "Stakeout" shotgun that he kept as a back up.
Appearance in other media
Dark Horse Comics
The following information follows the continuity from Dark Horse Comics' Aliens comics and all related media, therefore unrelated to the primary continuity.
Hicks appeared in Dark Horse Comics' Aliens comic book series, set on an alternate continuity following the events of Aliens. However, 1992 saw the release of Alien³, which contradicted the events of the comics by beginning with the death of Corporal Hicks. In order to keep the stories relevant to the main Alien film series, Dark Horse changed Hicks' name into Wilks for future printings of the comics. Hicks served as one of the main protagonists of the first three comics, which focuses on the events that transpired leading up to the Aliens' global scale infestation on Earth.
To be continued
Aliens Colonial Marines
TBA
Behind the scenes
Corporal Dwayne Hicks first appeared in the 1987 film Aliens. He is portrayed by American actor Michael Biehn, who had previously appeared in director James Cameron's previous film, The Terminator as Sergeant Kyle Reese. For his portrayal as Hicks, Biehn received a Saturn Award nomination for Best Actor.
Hicks was originally portrayed by actor James Remar, who had undergone training with the other Colonial Marines actors until he was ultimately fired after a couple of weeks of working on the film due to the possession of illegal drugs. The role of Hicks was subsequently recast and given to Biehn.
In Kenner's Aliens toys commercial Hicks was voiced by veteran voice actor Rob Paulsen.[1]
Trivia
- In the original writing of the script in Alien 3, Hicks was the main character as he and another team of US Colonial Marines travel to another surveyed planet where colonists use the Xenomorphs as some kind of bio-weapon. But because of so many re-writes of the script, Michael Biehn (along with director James Cameron) dropped out of the movie entirely, causing Hicks to be removed from the movie.
- Michael Biehn cites he wasn't asked to reprise Hicks in Alien 3, but in early script Hick's body was shown to Ripley, but Michael Biehn threaten to sue if they use his likeness.
- Hicks' shotgun from the film Aliens is available in game play in Aliens: Colonial Marines after being collected aboard the Sulaco in single player (it has additional marking not featuring in the film Aliens).