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"Mature Content Warning!" |
| “ | Look, those two specimens are worth millions to the bio-weapons division. Now, if you're smart, we can both come out of it as heroes and we'll be set up for life! | „ |
| ~ Burke reveals his motives to weaponize the Xenomorphs. |
Carter J. Burke is the secondary antagonist of the 1986 film Aliens, the second installment of the Alien film series.
He is the junior executive of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation. While initially amicable towards the Marines and Ripley in particular, in reality Burke had ulterior motives and his loyalties lay solely with Weyland-Yutani.
He was portrayed by Paul Reiser.
What Makes Him Pure Evil?[]
- He aids Weyland-Yutani in their attempt to weaponize the Xenomorphs, which would certainly cause mass chaos if they were put into the wrong hands. While weaponizing the Xenomorphs was the company’s decision, the brutal ways he tries to accomplish this goal is under his own volition, so this isn't a prevention at all.
- He sent the colonists to the derelict ship, which he knew contained Xenomorph eggs without warning and shows zero remorse when it turns out Newt was the lone survivor, regardless of him feeling nervous about lying or not.
- He locks Ripley and Newt (who’s only a child, and has already been traumatized by what she had experienced at the colony) in a soundproof room with two facehuggers so he can smuggle the alien embryos back to Earth, Ripley theorizing that he would then jettison the cryo-sleeping marines into deep space so nobody could contradict his story once they’re impregnated.
- After his plan to jettison the Marines is discovered by Ripley, he seals the group of heroes in a room with the Xenomorphs and leaves them all to die while making a run for it, which directly causes the deaths of Hudson, Gorman, and Vasquez and nearly causes the death of Newt.
- Overall, he's so repulsive that even Ripley describes him as a bigger monster than the aliens in-universe, saying that not even they would greedily betray their own species.
- While he initially acts kind and sympathetic to Ripley, this is just a front to hide his own nature and get the Xenomorphs as weapons, meaning this was just pragmatism on his part.
- While he does show horror and remorse upon seeing the colonists in the Xenomorph hive, this was before he is revealed to be responsible for their predicament in the first place, and upon revealing his true colors, he shows no remorse over sending them to their deaths, indicating his remorse and horror was faked and not genuine.
- Despite his death, it's revealed in Aliens: Colonial Marines that he was able to send a message out to Weyland-Yutani, informing them of the eggs and the Xenomorph hive, which results in all of the deaths in the game. Even though the game has since been rendered non canon, it still displayed on just how even more heinous Carter really was.
- Although the Xenomorphs, the Predators and other antagonistic characters like David 8 have done much worse, Carter easily stands out for being a normal human that only uses the resources around him and shows no actual remorse for all of his actions.
Trivia[]
- Only the movie version of Carter J. Burke qualifies as Pure Evil, as his counterpart from Aliens: What If... cannot count as Pure Evil due to him not only caring for his daughter Brie and his motive for obtaining a Xenomorph Egg being to cure his wife, but also redeeming himself by saving his fellow employees during the Xenomorph outbreak. However, that is an alternate timeline, so it does not affect the main Carter Burke.
- Additionally, there was a deleted scene in the film where Ripley, while searching the Hive for Newt, would be grabbed by Burke, who had been captured and had a Chestburster in him. He would have apologized to Ripley for the whole disaster, and weeping, asks Ripley to save him. Ripley, in a moment of pity, gives Burke a hand grenade to detonate and spare him from the Chestburster killing him. Had this scene been kept in the film, Burke would not have been Pure Evil due to showing remorse and being depicted sympathetically.
- Paul Reiser's own parents hated Carter J. Burke so much that they cheered at his death and one of Reiser's sisters even punched him for playing such a loathsome character.
- Carte J. Burke is, alongside Skynet and Mick Scoresby, one of three villains from James Cameron to be Pure Evil. He is also, alongside Mason Wren, one of the two Alien villains to be Pure Evil.
- His character is symbolic in the sense that it embodies the greed that the Weyland Yutani has in regard to rare species and resources from space, as well as the lengths this corporation is willing to go in order to obtain them.
- Burke, alongside Mason Wren, are the only Alien characters to be pure evil.
- Despite displaying many aspects of a psychopath, Burke was originally written as neurotypical, even after deleting any humanizing scene. The reasons range from making him easier to be redeemed/humanized to James Cameron's wish to show that people can be greedy and revolting even if they don't have any personality disorder. Ironically, this makes Burke even worse than the average psychopath, as his effective empathy is intact, yet he still doesn't care for anyone other than himself.
External Links[]
- Carter J. Burke on the Villains Wiki
- Carter J. Burke on the Xenopedia Wiki
- Carter J. Burke on the Hate Sink Wiki
[]
 Pure Evils
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