Hicks was initially killed during the introduction of the film's sequel Alien 3, a decision that garnered negative backlash from fans of the franchise.

As with the rest of his crew, Hicks believed that the mission was a waste of time, and Ripley's belief that there were alien lifeforms on the planet was nonsensical and they were only going to uncover a communications breakdown at the colony of Hadley's Hope.

Eventually, the group discovers a lab with contained "Facehuggers", holes in the floors from the Xenomorph's acid blood, and a young girl hiding from the creatures named Newt (Carrie Henn).

One of the colonists gave birth to a "Chestburster", which was set ablaze by Sergeant Apone (Al Matthews), which woke the aliens and attacked the marines.

As the marine squadron was being massacred by the aliens, Hicks, along with Privates Hudson (Bill Paxton) and Vasquez (Jenette Goldstein) were able to escape back to the APC with Newt.

Ripley and Hicks devise a plan to decimate the complex with a nuclear strike from orbit to successfully ensure all Xenomorphs were eradicated.

Before the survivors could be escorted back to the Sulaco to safety, a Xenomorph killed pilot Corporal Ferro (Colette Hiller), and crashed their aircraft into the APC.

Bishop then reveals to the group that Atmosphere Processor had been damaged in battle, and would explode in several hours, and that the dropship crash had destroyed the systems that would stop this from happening.

In response to this, Hicks formulated a plan that would involve Bishop remotely piloting the second dropship aboard the Sulaco to the surface from the colony transmitter.

Hicks later responds to a fire alarm that had been set off in the medical lab, only to discover that Ripley and Newt were trapped inside with two live Facehuggers.

Hicks wanted to execute Burke for his treachery, but is stopped by Ripley who demands he face justice for his crimes back on Earth.

The crash results in Newt being drowned in her Cryotube, Hicks being impaled and crushed by a support beam and Bishop being damaged further, leaving Ripley as the sole-survivor once again.

[3] In the game Aliens: Colonial Marines, it is revealed that Hicks attempted to send a distress call before entering cryosleep, but the message was blocked by Weyland-Yutani and was never transmitted.

Both Aliens and The Terminator were directed by James Cameron and in both movies Michael Biehn plays sympathetic but heroic military men that bond with the strong female protagonists.

Biehn also reprised his role for the audio drama of William Gibson's unused Alien 3 script alongside Lance Henriksen returning as Bishop.

[19][20][21] In 1987, Michael Biehn was nominated for Best Actor at the Saturn Awards by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films for his performance as Corporal Hicks in Aliens.