What is ‘Alien Legion’ and Where Is the Movie? by Daryl McCormick

(Everything You Never Needed to Know About the French Foreign Legion, ‘The Dirty Dozen’, and An AWESOME Comic-book from the ‘80s)

With the news last November that Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group acquired the rights to the ‘Alien Legion’ comic-book series, now is an opportune time for a deeper dive into this cult-classic. 

For ardent fans of the series, news of the project vindicates decades spent in seemingly hopeless anticipation of an ‘Alien Legion’ movie.  Amplifying the excitement is news that Tim Miller, creator of ‘Love, Death and Robots’ and director of ‘Deadpool’, is affiliated with the project and listed as its director on IMDb.com.

If riotous sci-fi adventures in space are in your wheelhouse and you’ve never heard of ‘Alien Legion’, then I hope what follows piques your interest.  With any luck, after some exposure to ‘Alien Legion’, you’ll feel like you discovered a secret map to hidden treasure.

So, without further ado, let’s take a look at the series and some of its themes and influences, and let’s see what this wild tour de force through space has to offer as a feature film.

So…What Is ‘Alien Legion’?

‘Alien Legion’ is a comic-book that debuted in 1984, published by Epic Comics, an imprint of Marvel Comics.  Two series of 18 and 20 issues ran from 1984 to 1987, and from 1987 to 1990, with additional miniseries and short stories published from 1987 to 1993.  The title was revisited in 2014 in a four-part story released by Titan Comics. 

The series was created by Carl Potts, Alan Zelenetz and Frank Cirocco, with later and significant contributions by Chuck Dixon, Larry Strohman, Mike McMahon, Randy Emberlin, Mark Farmer, Dan Panosian, Enrique Alcatena, Hoang Nguyen, Scott Hanna, Terry Austin and Douglas Brathwaite.  Apologies to anyone I may have omitted.

Set in the Marvel Comics Multiverse (Earth-98140), ‘Alien Legion’ follows the fortunes and glory of Force Nomad, an elite fighting unit of ‘the Legion’, staffed by sentient beings from member worlds of the TOPHAN Galactic Union (aka the ‘TCU’, aka ‘the Union’). 

The Union is an alliance of worlds from three galaxies, forming a type of government called a ‘Galarchy’.  Representatives from member worlds are elected and appointed to various positions within the vast bureaucracy of the Galarchy, and are distributed throughout the three member galaxies of the Union.

The Union maintains its own military service, known simply as ‘the Legion’, which is responsible for keeping the peace and for defending the Union and its interests wherever threats emerge.

The Legion’s ranks are filled with a unique ensemble of beings, representing a tiny cross-section of the Union.  Each Legionnaire brings their own persona, capabilities and baggage to the story.  Some of those Legionnaires were criminals, convicted of crimes and sentenced to life imprisonment or execution.  When given the choice of service or execution of sentence, they chose to serve and joined Force Nomad, a penal military unit in the Legion.

Among the thousands of worlds in the Union, humans and humanoids are common.  So, too, are Legionnaires with non-humanoid anatomy, beings with unusual abilities and communication methods that complement their extraordinary appearance.

Figure 1: By Carl Potts - The Artists Blog, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=37315926

Presentation & Tone

Complementing its absolutely kick-ass visual execution is the story’s writing, which explores topics of politics, conduct and honor through the perspective of military service. 

Service-adjacent subplots - discipline, cowardice, desertion, PTSD, etc. - percolate through the story’s many missions and adventures. 

The characters are presented as an assortment of principled leaders, commanding a vibrant collection of criminals, thugs and scoundrels in the lower ranks.  Tales of camaraderie, courage and survival wind through the series as we follow the Legionnaires through high-stakes battles with the Union’s enemies and, for some, with their own personal demons. 

The stories are intriguing and accessible, and even after reading the series numerous times, I find my interest is still held through every issue.  I’m low-key jealous of anyone who gets to read through these stories for the first time, they’re in for quite a trip.

I liken the ‘Alien Legion’ reading experience to tearing through Robert E. Howard ‘Conan’ novels, or short stories by Bradbury or Lovecraft.  If you’re a fan of those authors and genres then you know what I’m talking about.  If not, well, my hopefully curious friend, I urge you to pick up an issue or two and discover for yourself.

Influences and Rumors

‘Alien Legion’ has been around for a while, long enough to be an influence in its own right.  Naturally, in the decades since it was published, the series was read and re-read (and re-re-read, et al), and readers have pointed out some similarities between ‘Alien Legion’ and other bits of pop-culture history. 

Two such items that I’d like to consider here are the French Foreign Legion and the 1967 film ‘The Dirty Dozen’.

The French Foreign Legion Connection

The French Foreign Legion is a nearly two-centuries-old elite French Army corps known for recruiting foreigners into service.  Their recruitment policy has, over time, been distorted into a romanticized narrative, that they accept just about any recruits who want to become a Legionnaire in an effort to start fresh and escape from their potentially ignoble pasts. 

Encouraging this romanticized notion are numerous Hollywood entries on the subject.  ‘Beau Geste’ immediately comes to mind.  That film has been made and remade several times in the past century, with the last big-screen version being something of a desert-themed farce released in 1977 (‘The Last Remake of Beau Geste’).

Considerable time, effort and money were spent producing stories about the French Foreign Legion, constructing and reenforcing the narrative that service in the Legion is a route to redemption for the desperate.  Taking advantage of the theme’s popularity, Golden Age of Hollywood comedy greats “joined the legion” and took part in the fun. 

Laurel and Hardy starred in ‘Beau Hunks’ in 1931, followed by The Three Stooges’ parody of the French Foreign Legion in ‘Wee Wee Monsieur’ in 1938.  Abbott and Costello starred in ‘Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion’ in 1951.  Porky Pig got in on the French Foreign Legion action in two animated shorts, ‘Little Beau Porky’ in 1936, and ‘Ali Baba Bound’ in 1940.

With the advent of sound in cinema in 1927, the French Foreign Legion emerged as an often-visited story element.  It must have felt like the genre was ripe for the picking…even the cartoon pig got involved!  Clearly there’s something more to this French Foreign Legion idea, but what is it, what makes it so popular?

Setting aside expectations of serious drama, those Golden Age of Hollywood comedians honed right in on what made the French Foreign Legion a hot commodity: no matter how much of a screw-up you were, no matter how poorly your chances elsewhere panned out, there’s an opportunity for you to join the French Foreign Legion and redeem yourself.  You’ll have to work your ass off to be allowed in, and you’ll have to meet entry requirements first.  Is it easy?  Of course not.  Is it dangerous?  Absolutely.   

In Hollywood’s hands, the French Foreign Legion became a ready-made vehicle for telling redemption stories, which, as is turns out, are immensely popular.  Really, who doesn’t appreciate a decent tale of rebirth and redemption?!  I know I like them. 

The ‘Star Wars’ franchise blossomed from a three-film story about the redemption of Anakin Skywalker into one of the most successful intellectual properties in existence.  Ebeneezer Scrooge makes his way ‘round the bend of his lifelong ill-will by enduring harrowing experiences with ghosts and spirits.  He is transformed by humility and becomes redeemed through the good he then joyfully distributes to others.  Star Wars and Charles Dickens are distinguished pop-culture company to keep, and it hasn’t escaped my notice that the redemption arc is strong with ‘Alien Legion’.

In the French Foreign Legion there’s a specific award for service: after three years of service, or immediately following combat injury during service, Legionnaires may apply for French citizenship.  The goal of French citizenship and the hope of a fresh start draws potential recruits from around the world, resulting in diversity among the ranks of the service and a robust esprit de corps. 

‘Alien Legion’ embraces the glamorized we-accept-anyone narrative and heads into deep-space with it.  Different beings from different worlds serve together in one Legion, and despite the circumstances of their participation, redemption is what many Legionnaires seek.  But they must also survive.

Recruits in ‘Alien Legion’ hail from planets scattered among three galaxies.  It’s no accident that ‘Alien Legion’ has esprit de corps to spare, and popular notions of the French Foreign Legion play a role in how we perceive the series.

‘The Dirty Dozen’ In Space

For those who haven’t seen it, ‘The Dirty Dozen’ is a WWII film released in 1967 by MGM.  Filmed in England and featuring an iconic, star-studded cast, the movie was a smashing success, eventually rising to become the #1 film in America, earning its budget back after only six weeks in theaters. 

For those of us who have seen it, it’s a bit of a rainy-Saturday-afternoon war-movie staple…and if you’ve seen it once you’ve likely seen it more than once.  Its status as a classic is deserved and well-earned. 

Briefly, it’s about a bunch of undisciplined criminals who are recruited from military prison into a penal unit, and then trained as commandos before being sent off to conduct what appears to be a suicide mission on the eve of the US landing at Normandy. 

Is it a serious, practical story?  No, probably not.  Well…is it fun?  Hell yeah, absolutely!  They’re all criminals, in an assortment of shapes, sizes and temperaments.  But each member of the unit has their own part to play, and they’re expected to play it…or else.

Once the motley assortment of ill-mannered recruits coalesces as a group of dirty, angry soldiers, they become “We”.  Thereafter they work together as a cohesive unit, towards a common goal.  Through unity their differences generate strength and advantage.

And that’s the really interesting bit in all of this prattle about an old WWII Nazi-squashing sausage-party of a movie, there’s a sort of unspoken subtext here: potential becomes kinetic, unity becomes realized strength.  The mandatory buy-in from all participants works.

SPOILER: Excepting the actions of a single psychopathic individual, the unit conducts itself honorably during its perilous mission.  Of course, most of them don’t survive, and by the end of the film it’s generally accepted that the unit has restored its honor through courageous action against overwhelming odds.

The penal military unit full of criminals, cowards and hard-cases, the against-all-odds missions, the tales of survival and sacrifice, the harrowing escapes, these elements stake a claim to prime real-estate on the common ground between ‘The Dirty Dozen’ and ‘Alien Legion’…and hidden from view, underpinning all of it, is the arc of redemption.

Rumors, Dead-Ends and Why This Movie Will Be Great

In the years since the bulk of the ‘Alien Legion’ stories were published, I’ve kept an eye out for any little bit of news I could find about it; whether or not new content was forthcoming, what other projects were in the pipe-line, who was attached to a script or studio, that sort of thing.  I enjoyed the story so much I that I couldn’t get enough, and my appetite for ‘Alien Legion’ was insatiable.

Sometime around the early 2000’s I began to wonder what, if anything, would ever become of this amazing comic-book that clearly, obviously has massive potential in other media formats.  Years passed without even a squeak of hearsay…until a brief article surfaced in 2009, revealing the news that ‘Alien Legion’ was being adapted to film by Jerry Bruckheimer and Disney.

Finally, I thought.  It’s finally happening.  YES!!!

My excitement didn’t last very long.  After that spike of hope, nothing.  Not a peep.  For weeks. Then months.  The dearth of news eventually dialed my excited anticipation back to just hopeful – hopeful – for a movie.  Someday.

With the report late last year that Warner Bros. and Tim Miller are the latest custodians of an ‘Alien Legion’ movie project, my excitement and anticipation were rekindled.  I am once again presented with the uncertain prospect of an ‘Alien Legion’ film adaptation, but a prospect nonetheless.  Moreover, Tim Miller is a self-avowed comic nerd and an OG fan of the series.

Now that my excitement is revived, I want all the details I can get about the production, but that’s not how it works.  I can search for things all day, but I can’t find what isn’t there to be found.  I’d like more information, even if it’s just token proof that the project is actually happening.  Alas, I can only wait for details to emerge…if details emerge.  So.  Patiently I shall wait.  I can do that.  I’ve done it before.  I’ll do it some more.  I know from past experience that an ‘Alien Legion’ movie may not manifest.   Although my excitement is tempered, my hope is resolute, and I’m keeping a watchful eye for any related news.

If you never heard of ‘Alien Legion’, then I’m delighted to have introduced you to what could become one of your favorite stories.  I’m comfortable recommending ‘Alien Legion’ because I know the series is too good to give up on, and I know that as more people discover and read it, the louder our voice will grow as we clamor for an inevitable film.

I believe an ‘Alien Legion’ movie has the potential to be an outrageous space-faring military adventure, and a parable of unity, courage and redemption. 

I believe the technology we use to create astonishing, mind-blowing cinematic spectacles is capable of meeting the unusual design demands of ‘Alien Legion’. 

I believe the director assigned to this project is a great fit and capable of delivering an outstanding ‘Alien Legion’ movie experience. 

…do I believe we’re going to get an ‘Alien Legion’ movie?

SHHHH, DON’T JINX IT!!!!! 

How ever this saga plays out, I’m happy to gin up interest in a story that presses all the right buttons for comic-book and science fiction fans.  If you have anything you’d like to say about this blog post, please speak up in the comments. 

Thanks for reading.

DM

Epilogue

With strong divisions tearing at the seams of our social fabric, a unifying and inspiring tale aimed at Everyone would be a nice distraction from a lot of stress and anxiety.  I expect a feel-good unite-and-conquer story could draw quite a crowd right now. 

Come on, you’re not getting that from a movie, certainly not a comic-book movie. 

Fair enough.   I do think the time for an ‘Alien Legion’ movie is now, though.  It wouldn’t hurt to have a wildly entertaining reminder that when we’re united, we can accomplish great things despite our differences and because of our differences. 

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