The White Spikes are the main antagonists in the 2021 film The Tomorrow War.
During the year 2048, White Spikes started to systematically wipe out Earth's indigenous population. From an unknown landing site in Northern Russia the reduced our planet's population to a mere 500,000 survivors who remain under attack. In a last ditch effort to save the human race from extinction a time portal (The 'Jumplink') is created which allows the meager forces to be reinforced by people in the past, for 7 days then any who survive are returned to the past automatically.
The film's current survivors band together to find and kill the White Spike invasion before it starts. A crashed alien ship is located in the Northern Russia glacier. Believing this hostile force was an act of intelligent aggression turns out to be a misfortunate alien transport ship which crashed in the past and the White spikes merely thawed out and escaped.
It is surmised the White Spikes are a type of alien biological weapon used by unknown aliens to clear planets of life. The rampaging swarms of White Spikes are merely acting naturally to their purpose. Led by a queen, the hostile force is made up of males. They communicate with her and when she is captured, they come to her rescue.
These alien monsters are cunning, fast and deadly. Not only are they lethal alone they swarm and attack with heavy carnage. While they can run swim and jump, they can't fly. They will however, climb each other to attack low flying aircraft and scale high walls.
Visual effects supervisor James Price and creature designer Ken Barthelmey worked together to bring the menace to life. “We ultimately landed on a creature that had so many different ways of being lethal. It had jaws, arms, tentacles, and it shot spikes. It was agile and quick.” Source: Variety.com
Appearance
The White Spike is a quadrupedal carnivore with a distinct white color, possibly due to a lack of skin pigment. Roughly as tall as a man but twice that in length. It has a 'hunched' look to it standing on four legs with its two front arms tucked under its chest. The White Spike also has two tentacle-like limbs which exit the upper rear of its back. It has three toe-like pads on each leg where feet should be and those are equipped with razor sharp claws. Its arms possess two long razor sharp claws which can grasp as well as rend.
It has large rear facing long sharp spikes exiting its back. Its head has a mantle similar to an alien queen and the female queen's mantle is larger than the males with spikes on its trailing edge. Each tentacle ends with a three digit claw surrounded by tufts of long sharp spikes as well. Its forearms are also covered in spikes at the elbow joint. At the ends of each tentacle is a thicker area uses to project long bony spikes at high speed and accuracy.
The face of the White Spike is fear-inducing. Binocular vision from two eyes indicates depth perception. It has a nose plate and a large mouth of sharp teeth which can force outward when biting. It has a strong well-defined jaw suitable for slicing, ripping and pulling apart its prey.
Design Gallery
Appearance Design Video Gallery
Powers and Abilities
The White Spike possesses the following powers and abilities:
- Powerful jaws with razor sharp teeth
- High velocity spike projectiles
- Wall climbing ability like a gecko
- Fast attack speed and stamina
- Leaping attack
- Strength and durability
- Clawing, rending and throwing
- Hive minded
- Cunning predator intelligence
- Swarming
- Fast swimming
- Jumping and gliding
- Battle roar
- Terrifying appearance
- Queens seek revenge and will pursue their subjects
- Carnivorous predatory instinct
Fate
Many White Spikes are killed during the battles shown but they are all killed in the past when Dorian blows up their crashed ship.
The queen is killed when Dan Forrester forces a vial of toxin down her throat and she falls to her death, melting, off the edge of an icy cliff.
Trivia
- This movie talks about alien pilots, of which we see only a few, crashing their spaceship on Earth, all the while carrying a different type of alien as cargo inside the spaceship. It refers to the cargo aliens, the White Spikes, as planet-cleaning aliens, although it's believed that Earth wasn't the actual target as the ship had crashed.
- The film has parallels to classic space-alien films; The Thing and Alien/Prometheus.
- In the original script, the soldiers from the past were secretly poisoned with a toxin which eventually killed the aliens who consumed them. This plot twist explained why they did not need training (they were always meant to be expendable bait) but was not included in the movie.
- Speaking with Newsweek, director Chris McKay: “I wanted them to have a feral intelligence, that they understood their communication like coyotes and wolves can, you know, they will hunt in packs and run plays to stalk their prey.”
- On July 8, 2021, it was reported that Skydance and Amazon were in discussions to produce a sequel, due to the film's success. It is intended to bring back director Chris McKay, screenwriter Zach Dean, and stars Chris Pratt, Yvonne Strahovski, Betty Gilpin, Sam Richardson, Edwin Hodge, and J.K. Simmons. It was confirmed that Paramount Pictures would be returning to be the producer of the sequel. McKay also revealed that he would like to explore deeper the alien race that was introduced in the film, the Whitespikes, even including their origins. Source Wikipedia
Inside the Creation of the Terrifying Aliens of ‘The Tomorrow War’
The Tomorrow War: White Spikes explained – where did the aliens come from?
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