Popverse's top stories of the day

• How the Star Trek V: The Final Frontier campfire scene encapsulated and inspired everything we love about the Marvel Studios movies & TV shows
• WATCH: Yellowstone: John Dutton's fate, Kevin Costner's exit, and season 5's biggest surprise revealed
• Creature Commandos at NYCC '24: The weirdest, wildest & Weasel-est moments from DC & Max's James Gunn-led panel

Never bet against James Cameron. The director has pulled off some of the most breathtaking action set pieces in cinema history with his film, Aliens. At a panel at Baltimore Comic Con this year, fans got the chance to learn about the scrappiness that Cameron brought to his Aliens set. 

If you remember Aliens, you might also remember the pulse rifles that the Colonial Marines wield against the xenomorphs. These weapons were one of the biggest changes from the first Alien film, because Aliens took a more action-oriented approach thanks to its new Marine characters. However, as actor Mark Rolston, who played Private Mark Drake in Aliens, revealed at Baltimore Comic Con, James Cameron had a unique approach to fixing problems with the Marines' weapons. 

Rolston said, "There were times where, on set we'd have to test a weapon. All the keys of the departments were there, and Jim [James Cameron] would say move your weapon forward so we try to move the weapon forward and the whole rig would [ giant crashing sound] smack on the floor and everyone would stand there in silence until Jim went, 'Duct tape!'"

Cameron's duct tape solution would require serious commitment from the actors, as Rolston noted. "So every morning we had duct tape in this gear to the point where there were times I woke up in the middle of the night gasping because I thought I still had on the gear. The pressure on my shoulders! ...we couldn't get de-rigged between shots."

There's something to be said that a film franchise like Alien, that already deals with the costs of merging the organic with the inorganic, took such a toll on the actors' bodies. That said, the weapon rigs that actors like Rolston were duct taped into in Aliens looked incredibly impressive onscreen. James Cameron always knows how to cook. 

If you love aliens bursting out of chests and hugging your face, then we have all you could want from  Popverse's Alien watch order, details on where Romulus fits into the Alien timeline, and all you need to know  on the upcoming Aliens TV show with Timothy Oliphant.