On the subject of the superhugger... here's a theory... a lot earlier in this thread someone suggested that the intro had to be a fever dream in hypersleep, as we see a regular hugger in the intro, a regular hugger leaving the EEV (theatrical cut) but then a superhugger in abattoir (assembly cut)..what if they are in fact one in the same, and it is simply a regular hugger..
Ok, so just for a moment, let's disregard the expanded media of the time, and just go by what we have actually seen in the movies.. up until Alien 3, we've seen only two successful facehugs.. Kane and Russ Jordan.. both sprung immediately from an ovomorph onto the host..the huggers in the medlab were all dead baring two that were surgically removed before embryo implantation... and once released, they were in close proximity of human hosts.
There's absolutely nothing in the movies that say a hugger *cant* undergo metamorphosis just like an adult Xenomorph does.. we simply choose to believe that is the case: which got me thinking - The Space Jockey on LV-426... before a concept of 'Engineers' or it being human in a suit..how did a hugger from an ovomorph in the derelict fit on a head that size...likewise, how did a human-head sized hugger also wrap around an ox? This got me thinking of how adaptable the xeno is, and also reminded me of the early alien 3 concept art of the 'aquatic hugger' - many traits including the webbed-legs carrying over into the final superhugger design...
So here's the theory: there were in fact two facehuggers as many who prefer the theatrical cut suggest, the one that impregnated Ripley and died (it's carcass still on the Sulaco) and the second hugger that hitched a ride on the EEV (as shown in the screen used models) - the EEV crashes into the sea, the interior of the EEV flooding - the hugger, adapting to its environment, sheds its skin in the same way a chestburster does,(losing its larval colouring as per a chestburster) growing a little larger like any molting animal and gains the webbed legs to suit the aquatic environment / swim ashore. In its new larger/armored state, it's able to target a larger host - one of the ox, which it does so later back at the prison (which is why nobody sees it happen) - so there is no superhugger .. just a regular hugger that adapted to its environment and prey to ensure embryo implantation. (Yes it's that time of the night where I have too much free time and my mind wanders, can you tell?) 😂
