What would happen if Cage tried to confront the first (or second) Alpha again?

Question

In Edge of Tomorrow we learn from Cage's and Rita's experience, that when covered in the Alpha's blood, one can inherit the aliens' ability to reset the day.

The sub-question is - when this occurs, do the mimics retain the ability? If so, in my opinion Cage was lucky he changed his route after his first death, since the Alpha would remember how it got killed and adapt accordingly. The fact that the aliens had a lot more experience using this technique could mean that the "early", untrained Cage would be quickly drained of his blood still on the battlefield.

But - when trained and sufficiently experienced - what would happen if he decided to attack one of the Alphas again - for their blood, to "infect" others with the power, for example Rita or his pals from J Squad? Was it possible to create even a whole unit of day-resetting soldiers? Cage knew the location of at least two Alphas - the first one he killed with the claymore, and the second at the dam.

Could the Alphas still be confronted in their original locations? If so - is it possible to kill one Alpha multiple times (my guess is that it would adapt its strategy to not get killed or simply do not go in the location it got killed - that means if they still had their power)? Would it be a risk worth taking?

Answer 1

We are constantly told that Cage has become the Alpha. At no point in the loops, do we see the Alpha on the beach again. Further more, when Cage kills the Omega, absorbing it's blood and power, the Omega does not survive the reset. So we can logically assume that that Alpha didn't survive it either.

Cage could not fight that same Alpha as it no longer exists in time. Cage became that Alpha.

The second Alpha is very remote, and since it was a trap, there is no reason for Cage to ever travel all the way to Germany from France again. If he could take that Alphas power is debatable but not addressed in the film.

But the film does state that J Squad must "take one for the team" and let themselves die by the Alphas hand, otherwise they risk killing it and the Mimic resetting and learning what they planned. The risk is massive, and there would be no guarantee one of them getting the Alpha Blood Power on them before the reset.

As for the Mimic learning from the events, we can see they do not, from one to the next loop. It takes a unknown amount of loops for them to catch on, unlike Cage whom learns immediately.

Answer 2

Allow me to explain what seems most likely to me:

At the moment at which the day is reset, the day that was in progress ceases to exist. So, assuming that some subjects perish upon contact with the blood of the alpha, which is obviously corrosive and venomous, at the moment the first subject reset the day, the other subjects would cease to exist and only the first to die would retain the power. If no subjects perish, all I can assume is that each subject will simultaneously live through a string of days in which all other subjects had not yet received the power...

...but that's confusing, so I'm most likely wrong.

Answer 3

From what I understand, the Alphas do not retain the ability to reset the day and the Omega can no longer remember what happened anymore. Whenever Cage died, he activated the Omega's automatic response to reset the day, but only Cage would remember what had happened. I think that the Omega may have sensed that it was losing control because Alphas may have been getting killed without the day being reset. But the director left it pretty ambiguous about how the Omega knew it was losing control. I think it may have just set up the trap at the dam already, and just tried to send out the fake visions to whatever else was connected to its mind, even though it couldn't pinpoint where that entity (Cage) was. If it could have pinpointed Cage, I assume it would have just found Cage and taken his blood as soon as he landed on the beach the second time.

I think that since the Alphas didn't have the power anymore, it wouldn't be able for anyone else to get the power from their blood. Maybe if Cage bled a lot on someone it would work - we know Rita tried to pass it on to others, but she never said whether she tried bleeding on other people. We only know that she tried sex. If indeed the power could be passed on, I would think that the power would only be possessed by one person at a time. It seems like only one being can have the power at a time, since once Cage acquired it the Mimic collective was no longer in control of it (beyond automatic responses triggered by Cage). But a lot is left unexplained, this part is just speculation.

Answer 4

I'll try to give you an answer from my understanding of the movie:

• I do not think that the aliens knew right away that Cage got the ability, his visions leading him to the trap in the damn did not occur after killed the Alpha.
• Alphas are the strongest type, Cage was lucky to kill one (well, it was in the script) so killing one again is harder avoiding them and coping on it's own.
• The idea it's to kill the "brain", killing an Alpha would reset the day, there is no logical point in going after them.
• And your idea of having more people with the power to reset the day has some flaws: there is a chance that the Alpha wins and Cage looses his ability, there will always be a weaker person in the team that will reset the day even if others can continue...

Hope this helps you.

Answer 5

IIRC the thing is different: Alphas are very important to the Omega. So: whenever an Alpha is killed, the omega resets the day to prevent that from happening. It will then send the Alpha somewhere else, so that it cannot be killed again.

I think, that was the explanation at the end of the movie why the "task force" was not allowed to kill an Alpha when chasing the Omega, because otherwise the day would be reset and the Omega would move away.

Unfortunately I cannot tell, if it is possible to "infect" multiple persons with the "reset" ability by covering them with blood of an Alpha and killing them instantly thereafter, as it is not stated anywhere in the movie.

Sorry for my english, I am not a native speaker...