The Queen resembles a more powerful and larger Alien Adult, with a much larger and elongated head, and 4 arms. She stands about 4 metres tall, has 5 spines on her back for protection. The end of her head flattens out to form a 'crest' or 'crown'. Her face can actually slide up into the main part of her skull, offering some protection if attacked whilst sleeping or whatever. Unlike Warriors, she walks more parallel to the ground than upright, Using her immense head and long tail for balance. Her legs look surprisingly thin and weak, but she is able to maintain balance at even very high speeds of running. Her two main arms have 5 fingers and one 'thumb' and are quite long and powerful. Her second pair, are located on her chest and are quite small and weak in comparison. Her tail is very long and powerful, and the end is armed with a cruel, huge spear that is easily capable of impaling anything, from human to yautja.

The queen is suspected of having a very advanced intelligence level, and controls the warriors through an advanced form of either telekinesis or telepathic connection. It is speculated that she has an intellect of at least the standard of humans, if not far greater. She is quite capable of using several complex thought patterns, including problem solving. She normally sits on her egg sac, a bio-construct made or grown so that the queen may carefully position her eggs throughout the lower levels of the hive. The queen is incredibly dedicated to the preservation of her species, and will go to extreme lengths to protect her eggs, including hunting down her prey in acts of vengeance.

Their have been several different strains of Alien queen said to exist, and the first is the queen onboard the Auriga. Although her DNA was thought to have not been altered, after a few weeks on normal egg-laying, she lost the cycle and took on a new reproduction system- that similar of a human. She developed a womb and gave birth to an Alien/Human hybrid, known as the Newborn.
The Second is that identifed and captured in the book Aliens: The Female War. It was said to be the ruler and mother of all aliens, the Queen of Queens, or a 'superqueen'. She looked similar to a normal Queen, but was about considerably larger, and had the telekinetic ability to transmit signals to humans that had encountered the xenomorphs, in the form of dreams beckoning them to join the hive and otherwise carry out her will.