10 Movie Characters They Couldn't Stop Killing Off
5. Ellen Ripley - Alien
Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) is the much-loved protagonist of the Alien franchise, and who controversially died at the end of the wildly divisive Alien 3, diving into a vat of molten lead just as the Xenomorph Queen she was impregnated with burst from her stomach.
As sad as it was to see Ripley go, it was a fittingly heroic end for the character. That is, if not for the fact that sequel Alien: Resurrection went the glorified fan-fiction route and brought her back by way of clones - ever a hallmark of quality storytelling.
A clone of Ripley is created using blood taken before her death, but because Ripley's DNA combined with the Xenomorph's while she was "pregnant," and Xenomorphs have genetic memories of their hosts, it allowed the new Ripley to retain some of the original Ripley's memories. How convenient.
Anyway, the Ripley clone is referred to as "Ripley 8," because seven failed clones were created before her, yet either died or were euthanised due to their extensive mutations.
Memorably, we get an up-close glimpse of the horribly deformed Ripley 7, who Ripley 8 quickly puts out of her misery with a flamethrower burst.
Ripley 8 ultimately survives the events of the movie, but with nobody having a clear idea of how to continue her journey, we haven't seen any version of the character in the 25 years since.