My biggest beef with his demise is ....well, see the egg on Sulaco thread. Also it certainly wouldn't have been difficult to also have him unarmed and in danger on Fury. He still could have died in some manner. Same for Newt. Something to give it a little story and see more character development.
Clemens literally filled the same role that Hicks could have. I don't mean profession. I mean that she loses Hicks, but finds another anchor in Clemens. Clemens was interesting and the performance was very good, but the series already had a character that had that role. He got offed offscreen only to have another character immediately fill that role. If Hicks dies in the infirmary, then it would have carried more weight for me as far as Ripley being on her own, because she would have lost someone that had already helped her emerge from a previous tribulation that saw her grow. Yes I know Hicks still dies in the Alien 3 we got lol, but growing that bond some more would have added the weight.
Dillon kind of filled that role also, just not in the way she wanted. He was the answer to her problem, one way or another.
It didn't have to be Pulse Rifles and Smartguns all over again just because Hicks would have been present.
The best ending for Hicks would have been anything with more growth before he either died or survived.
