The late 1990s and early 2000s were certainly a golden age for comedy. Men in Black, a comic science fiction franchise, is one of the best examples of this. The plot began as a Lowell Cunningham comic book series called The Men in Black, which was published by Aircel Comics, then Malibu Comics, and eventually Marvel Comics.
The stories revolve around a non-governmental organisation tasked with monitoring alien and paranormal threats to the planet Earth. While these guys, most of whom are clothed in black suits and ties with sunglasses, guard humanity from those aliens, they must also ensure that the general public is completely ignorant of their presence.
Most famously, these comics were turned into a trilogy of films titled Men in Black, Men in Black II, and Men in Black III, starring Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith. Men in Black: International, a spin-off film starring Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thomson, was just released. In addition to these four films, there have been various video games and an animated series titled Men in Black: The Animated Series.
All of these have made us chuckle and invest our time in the plotlines, to the point that we sometimes find ourselves paying more attention to aliens than Will Smith! So, today, we’ll take a journey down memory lane and revisit some of our favourite aliens from the silver screen.
Edgar, the Bug (Men in Black, 1997)
The major enemy of the first film, Men in Black (1997), is an alien named Edgar, and we’ll start with him. This alien, who hails from the planet Hiveworld, despises anyone who harms insects. This alien disguises himself as a human – afarmer – while on Earth. Technically, it is this person, not the extraterrestrial, who is named Edgar.
The true form of the beast stands at least 12 feet tall and has fangs, six legs, and two antennae. It looks like a cross between a huge cockroach and a scorpion, a praying mantis, a cricket, and a grasshopper, despite the fact that it is intended to be a giant cockroach.
After the alien takes the farmer’s body to use as a human suit, the farmer technically dies but his outer body continues to move around with the extra-terrestrial in control. The skin becomes saggy, almost falling off the body and it soon begins to rot.
It is Edgar’s wife who first encounters him after the alien eats his insides and turns his skin into a cardigan, and she plays a key role in bringing this creature to MIB’s attention.
Edgar’s abilities include an insane amount of flexibility, advanced intellect, super-strength and some bug-like features such as the ability to stick to and climb walls, and to secrete slime.
After running amuck all over town,visiting places that his alien license would prohibit, the creature is finally confronted by Agent Jay (Will Smith) and Agent Kay (Tommy Lee Jones) of the Men in Black organisation. It removes its Edgar costume, showing his monstrous actual form, and consumes both of the agents’ firearms, preventing them from shooting him.
Agent Kay then decides to let the alien consume him so that he may search the creature’s stomach for his weapon. Despite the fact that K shoots the enormous bug from within, cutting its body in half, the giant bug does not die until later, when a mortician kills it again.
Edgar the Bug has a tiny cameo in Men in Black: International (2019): a photograph of the insect sits on the wall of MIB’s London office next to photos of Agents Jay and Kay.
Alpha a.k.a Agent A (Men in Black: The Series, 1997)
Alpha is a famous example of what happens when powerful men turn evil. He was one of the founding members of MIB and served as its chief until his greed got the best of him.
In his instance, it was the desire for the Cosmic Integrator, an alien gadget capable of fusing objects together. This gadget was illegal on Earth, and when the organisation learned of Alpha’s misdeeds, they expelled him and left him to die. Alpha urged Agent Kay to join forces with him before turning rogue, as he had been Kay’s mentor during his time at the corporation.
Agent Kay, on the other hand, refused, prompting Alpha to fire a shot at him. After his banishment, Alpha roamed the cosmos and stole parts from the “perfect” aliens against their will. Then, using the Cosmic Integrator, he melded those parts with his own body and returned to Earth to destroy MIB.
After several battles against Alpha, MIB failed to destroy him, but are able to finally do so after he climbs atop a missile heading towards Earth in order to disarm it. He does so as he still wishes to take over the planet, but while the missile is still out of the Earth’s atmosphere,Agent Kay and Agent Jay shoot it. Even after many years pass, Agent Kay lives under the paranoia that Alpha is still alive.
As he went on collecting body parts of aliens in search for the perfect body that would be practically indestructible, Alpha started to look more and more menacing. He first appeared to be a tentacle monster, with the exception that each tentacle had its own set of weapons or defence devices.
He eventually resembled a cyborg comprised entirely of mechanised parts, and he didn’t look human at all. Even his heart wasn’t human; Alpha stole it from the Sintillians, a race of aliens.
The heart was a living organism in and of itself, with the ability to move around. In the animated series, Alpha’s character is voiced by actor David Warner while Agent Kay and Agent Jaywere voiced by Gregg Berger and Keith Diamond. Alpha has also appeared in the video game series titled MIB: Crashdown.
SerleenaXath (Men in Black II, 2002)
Obsessed with a cosmic force known as the Light of Zartha that it wanted to use to destroy planet Zartha, Serleena is an alien belonging to a species called theKylothians. The alien is a snake-like creature that lives on Earth in the form of model, played byLara Flynn Boyle.
It becomes enraged when it learns that Agent Kay duped it into traversing the galaxy in quest of the Light of Zartha many years ago, and it returns to Earth with the goal of not only locating the light, but also killing Kay for vengeance.
Serleena soon discovers that the Light is Lauranna, a girl from Earth who is actually the princess of Zartha. As the ship prepares to blast Lauranna into space, Kay and Jay devise a scheme to eliminate Serleena while keeping Lauranna safe.
Fighting against Serleena, Kay and Jay are almost able to kill the creature a couple of times, but each time they do, it changes form. It starts out as a worm, but eventually transforms into a massive vine plant, which may be its real form.
As it rockets into space, the agents are able to kill it with a display of pyrotechnics in the sky. Serleena is the most dreaded alien, and she even acts the role, appearing vicious and indifferent. It also has a major appetite, never shying away from eating everything it can: human food or humansas food!
Boris, the Animal (Men in Black III, 2012)
Boris, also known as the Animal, serves as the main antagonist of Men in Black III and is played by actor Jemaine Clement. It lives on Earth in human form but is really from a planet called Boglodite.
The Animal is the last remaining of the Boglodites and is a wanted intergalactic criminal. Boris’ story begins in 1969 when Agent Kay places it under arrest after having blown a hole through its hand. Boris keeps its pet Weasel in this hole, which attacks adversaries with its spikes.
Boris manages to break out of a maximum security jail in 2012 and decides to travel back in time to 1969 in order to kill Kay and preserve the Boglodite race. Agent Jay goes back in time after Boris to prevent this from happening.
Kay is able to murder both versions of Boris – in 2012 and 1969 – in a game of cat and mouse between the agents and Boris, altering timelines in both 1969 and 2012. The Animal uses Weasel’s spikes to kill Jay’s father, Col. James, before he can. Boris remains defeated and the agents return to the current (and correct timeline).
Boris is shown as a relentless and cunning villain and although its main grudge against Kay stemmed from the fact that he caused the extinction of the Boglodite race, Boris itself would kill both human and alien alike if they were to get in its way.
The Animal’s true appearance is only shown for a few minutes in the film, but it is enough to make anyone squirm. It has a reptilian tongue and spiky claw-like fingers making up its entire body.
It does not have any eyes or nose but sharp, fang-like teeth. The only way to tell if it is disguised as a human is if it has any slits in its hands or bulges on its forehead and chest. To make up for the lack of eyes, it is seen perpetually wearing dark glasses.
The Hive (Men in Black: International, 2019)
The Hive is the last of the main adversaries in the MIB series movie. Its race was known for fusing their DNA with that of the species they captured, and the planet Earth was their goal in Men in Black: International. Back in 2016, Agent H (Chris Hemsworth) and High T (Liam Neeson) used a wormhole positioned directly above the Eiffel Tower to stop the Hive from invading Earth, but the former is unable to live with the trauma of their deeds.
He narrowly kept his job at MIB, forcing High T to use his clout in the organisation to persuade their managers not to terminate H.
In 2019, Agent H is seen working alongside a new partner, Agent M (Tessa Thompson), tasked with protectingVungus the Ugly, amember of an alien royal family.Ugly is killed, however, by the Twins, an alien species from Draco Constellation, and as the two agents track down the killers, they discover that the Hive had managed to convert High T into one of its own right before the 2016 attack.
n their quest to defeat the Hive once again and bring High T back to his former self, Agent H and Agent M find a way to separate High T’s original self from the version of him that has fused with the Hive. After doing so, they use the small window of time to destroy the Hive, finally ending the alien once and for all.
The Hive appears as a giant being made up entirely of tentacles thick and thin. It is described as a sapient species, like that of the Predator’s Yautja, but unlike the predator, Hive does not bear any semblance to humans.
Jack Jeebs (Men in Black I, 1997; Men in Black: The Series, 1997; Men in Black II, 2002)
Although the primary villains from each film, as well as those from the series, have left an indelible impression on fans, there have been other aliens in the franchise who, while merely appearing as supporting characters, have not failed to wow.
Tony Shalhoub. Jeebs works as a human pawn shop owner on Earth, where he sells a variety of stolen or unlawful alien and human artefacts. He isn’t the most trustworthy of associates and has the attitude of a ruthless businessman, but he is also wonderfully sarcastic, and acts as brilliant comic relief.
In Men in Black (1997), we learn that Jeebs can regrow his head an endless number of times, although it is a painful process for him. The makers used this as a running gag, having Kay shoot up Jeebs’ head whenever the alien annoyed him.
In the animated series we get some more insight into the character.It seems as though he does not require oxygen to survive like humans do, but he needs it in order to regrow his body parts.
Another funny addition was a story Jeebs narrated about a time when he and his brother lost their heads together, and while growing them back, they got a little too close, which accidently fused them together. Jeebs makes his final appearance in Men in Black II, when he is less visible but his pawn store is destroyed during MIB’s struggle with Serleena. Jeebs is thought to have afterwards renovated the shop.
Jeff (Men in Black II, 2002)
Jeff is the ominous-looking extraterrestrial who, in reflection, is actually pretty sweet. Yes, it’s a 60-foot-long enormous worm that lives in the subway tube and can eat anything, but what about the really cute flower that’s always on its head, signalling the MIB agents’ location?
Not to mention, it was owing to Jeff that we were able to say our goodbyes to the terrifying KylothianSerleena, even if only for a short while. Jeff is said to have cooperated with the organisation since it was a baby on the condition that it be allowed to reside in designated tunnels where it can gorge on inorganic trash.
During the climax of the battle against Serleena, the agents hatch a plan that lands the evil alien straight into Jeff’s mouth. But much to their horror Jeff rises, writhing in pain as Serleena not only manages to survive but starts growing in size to the point where it makes Jeff’s body explode, killing our scary yet adorable flower monster.
Jeff’s appearance is scary enough as it is, but when it opens its mouth, the view is even worse. It’s like a tunnel that leads all the way to its stomach, yet the number of teeth seems to go on forever.
Jeff’s teeth aid in the digestion of the creature’s non-biodegradable excrement, and we can only picture the human minced flesh that would result if it were consumed. Re-watching MIB as an adult puts it into perspective- even though Jeff looks scary and can be dangerous when provoked, all it wants to do is live peacefully under a tunnel with a flower on its head and help save the environment by consuming all that inorganic garbage.
Vungus (Men in Black: The Series, 1997)
For the final item on the list, we preserved Vangus, an alien who was defeated but never killed in the animated series. Although Alpha was the major villain in this film, Vangus played an important supporting role, assisting Alpha in his attempt to destroy Earth.
Vangus is a member of the Ixions, a race of aliens seeking to gain access to Earth’s oil deposits, which are deemed valuable across the cosmos. Alpha invites Vangus to help him with his goals in exchange for giving it what it desires. Despite the fact that Alpha destroys the MIB HQ, it is ineffective, leaving Vangus angry.
Taking matters into its own hands, Vangus decides to destroy the planet altogether and get its hands on the oil after doing so. Vangus tries to stop Alpha from enacting his plans to rule the planet, and the twofight.
Agent Jay uses Alpha’s own weaponry to shoot both the villains, but Vangus is able to recover,and sets off a missile that would destroy Earth.The agents shoot the missile with Alpha atop it, whilst it is still outside the planet’s atmosphere, and Vangus’ plan fails.
This extraterrestrial is a brown monster with bone-like spikes sprouting from its body and covered in fur. Because it is a secondary villain, nothing is known about it. However, based on the events of the series, it is evident that, although being gullible and deceived by Alpha at times, Vangus is motivated to acquire what its species requires at any cost.