Real Men of Action: Nada

• Name: George Nada
• Occupation: Drifter/Construction
• Family: None
• Allies: Frank Armitage, Resistance movement
• Enemies: the hidden Aliens
• Weapon(s) of Choice: Colt Python, Ithaca 37 Shotgun, HK94 Carbine
• Body Count: n/a
• Memorable Quote: “I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass, and I’m all out of bubblegum.”

In the alternate version of the mid 80’s in John Carpenter’s They Live, George Nada starts off as just another homeless drifter but ends up as the savior of the human race.

Nada arrives in Los Angeles and gets a job at a construction site.  He meets another worker named Frank Armitage, who takes Nada to a shantytown set up by a local church.  Nada gets some food and decides to stay for a while but notices some strange activity going on at the church.  He goes to investigate and finds the church is some sort of front, hidden in the back of the church is scientific equipment and stacks of cardboard boxes.  Nada’s investigation is cut short however as police swarm onto the church and shantytown, destroying the latter.

Nada returns the next day and finds the church deserted.  He does find a hidden box and, upon opening it, finds it full of sunglasses.  Nada takes a pair and heads off to find another job.  Nada puts on the glasses and finds that they actually reveal subliminal messages and that many people are actually aliens.  Nada starts running around, trying to figure out what’s going on, and draws attention to himself as the aliens realize he can see them.  An alien police officer tries to arrest him but Nada knocks him out and takes his weapons.  Nada decides to take matters into his own hands and enters a bank.  He opens fire on all the aliens inside, but is forced to retreat.  He finds a woman on the street and forces her to help him escape.

The woman, Holly, takes Nada to her home and he tries to explain what is going on.  She pretends to believe him but eventually gets him in front of a window, which she throws him out of.  Nada survives the fall but leaves behind his sunglasses.  Nada goes to find Frank to get him to help him and recovers the box of sunglasses from an alley garbage can.  Frank refuses to wear the glasses however and a vicious fist fight ensues between the two of them.  Nada eventually forces Frank to wear the glasses and he sees the aliens himself.  The two then get in contact with the underground resistance, who plan on destroying the alien’s signal which shields them from the general public.  Before this can happen, the police raid the resistance headquarters and kill most of the members.  Frank and Nada manage to escape using a stolen alien wristwatch that is actually a teleporter.  The two end up in secret tunnels that the aliens use to hide their main operation, including a space port.

Making their way through the tunnels, the pair ends up at the Cable 54 TV station, whose satellite dish is the source of the alien signal.  The two meet up with Holly, who claims to believe Nada’s story and agrees to lead them to the roof.  She is working with the aliens however and kills Frank.  Nada kills Holly with a hidden gun in his sleeve and gets to the roof to blow up the dish.  A police helicopter appears overhead and shoots Nada.  With his last ounce of strength he manages to blow up the dish and flip off the helicopter.  With the dish destroyed the aliens are revealed around the world.

See Nada in Action:

video://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsZpdUUdd3I