White Spikes are a species of extraterrestrial predators that arrived on Earth on North Russia, during 2048 and wiped out a huge half of humanity.
The White Spikes arrived in the distant past by accident but the first attack was in late 2048 where they begun to kill the majority of humanity in three short years later. these creatures are big in size, although not gigantic, they were bigger than humans and seem to be in the size range of, horses, buffaloes or rhinos. They are very quick and agile and they act as a swarm species, with not much of an individual level of intelligence that can be impressive, but they follow orders from a queen and certain members of the species that may be termed as alphas.
There are a multitude of males in the swarm but only one female who is bigger and more powerful, both males and the female share a similar anatomy with the only difference is the head and the size. They are both white in coloration and have spikes on their backs, which gives them their name. These aliens run in a quadrupedal manner although they have six limbs with two forelimbs, two bigger hind limbs and two smaller insectoid limbs situated on the chest that can be used for close quarter combat. The White Spikes an run as fast as leopard and lions, but not as fast as cheetahs.
They are agile, they can climb vertically and puncture concrete structures with their limbs which allow them to scale virtually anything. They have a very powerful biteforce as the Queen shows by biting a soldier in half, right in the middle. Their tentacles can shoot darts from a long distance and these darts are huge, with one shot being able to easily decapitate a human Their main weakness is the two parts in their body which are not bullet proof, that is, their neck and abdomen, but aside from that their entire body is bulletproof to small arms fire, although they can be killed with 50 caliber ammunition and explosive bombs and shells.
In the future, Muri informed Dan that the first White Spike attack occurred in northern Russia, 2048. But they couldn’t find any spaceship entering earth’s atmosphere and thus concluded that these aliens just appeared on Earth’s surface. Emmy theorized that the aliens started attacking in 2048, but that doesn’t mean that’s when they got there. The future soldiers might be searching for White Spikes origins in the wrong year.
Charlie (Sam Richardson) investigated a White Spike tooth and found out traces of Chinese volcanic ash. Dan’s student Martin deduced that the Changbai Volcano erupted in 946 A.D. and blew ash over half of the world. The ash possibly would have found its way to Russia. He supported his theory by scientific research in which ash sediments were found during deep drilling of Russia’s largest glacier.
Dan thought White Spike were living under the depth of the glacier and dug their way up. But it wasn’t the case. Due to global warming, polar ice melted drastically, and by 2048, it thawed out. It is how the aliens found their way to the surface of the Earth.
In Severnaya, Russia, Dan found an alien spaceship transporting Whitespike but crashed on Earth. These alien species were bred inside the ship as planet-clearing weapons. However, their target wasn’t Earth. It was just ill-fated that it crashed on Earth.
Trivia
- Director Chris McKay (making his live-action debut on this film) states that he wanted the aliens to "be a character in the movie."
- McKay went on to say "I wanted them to feel old, I wanted them to feel ancient, I wanted a lot of texture. I kept talking about how I wanted history in their [design]". "I wanted to see beyond the edges of the frame as far as what happened to them. I wanted nicks, cuts, scratches, Psoriasis ... I wanted them to feel hungry at all times. That was very informative to the design. I wanted them to feel like they had an insatiable appetite. I wanted them to have teeth that felt like a dental nightmare, and then I wanted them to have a feral intelligence."
- Creature designer Ken Barthelmey states that "the White Spikes had to be a powerful enemy. In our Skype meetings, director Chris McKay described the White Spikes to me as vicious creatures that attack and eat everything they see. He asked for a compelling design that conveyed the hunger and intelligence of these creatures. Additionally, the White Spikes needed to have different abilities such as fast swimming and flying. It was important that they [were] agile and able to move extremely fast. It was my job to translate all this information into one cohesive design."
- Although not confirmed, it is believed that the White Spikes may not be "actual aliens" but genetically engineered monsters created by a much more intelligent alien race with the sole purpose of conquering a planet by killing everything they encounter so an alien race could easily take over.