In Aliens, the Colonial Marines find the creatures at the space colony Hadley’s Hope.
Hadley’s Hope is a terraforming colony on LV-426, the moon where the crew of the Nostromo discovered the derelict spacecraft in the 1979 film Alien. In Aliens, contact with the colony is lost after its inhabitants investigate the same alien site, prompting the company to send a military team with Ellen Ripley.
The 1986 sequel was directed by James Cameron and changes the emphasis from isolated survival horror to military science fiction and action. Sigourney Weaver returns as Ripley, who joins the Colonial Marines despite her traumatic experience aboard the Nostromo.
Hadley’s Hope is not the name of the moon; LV-426 is the location, while Hadley’s Hope is the human settlement. That distinction is a frequent source of confusion. The colony’s fall also establishes the scale of the threat, revealing that the alien species can overwhelm an organized human population.