Steve is the main antagonist of "Black Leather Jackets", the 18th episode of the 5th season of The Twilight Zone, which aired in 1964. He is an alien infiltrator who was sent to Earth to exterminate humanity for his species' benefit, and is externally identical to a human, although he ages slower, possesses telekinesis, and can influence the minds of humans, able to make humans forget encounters and take on mindless behavior for a short amount of time. While physically appearing to be a young man, he is likely much older by human standards, as his species ages slower than humans.
Steve was portrayed by Michael Forest.
Biography[]
In the mid-20th century, the leader of a humanoid alien race sought to destroy Earth to use the planet for his species' expansion, justifying his actions by declaring humans to be hateful and violent, thus inferior and undeserving of life, a claim supported by Earth's history and constant media coverage of violence and tragedy. To take over the planet, the leader sent dozens of infiltrator squads to Earth, disguised as humans in various professions and only identifiable via an alien symbol carried on a badge somewhere on their persons, unrecognizable by humans. The first area to be eliminated was somewhere in the United States, where at least 29 different squads, dubbed Bacteria Units, were deployed to, with a mission of infecting water supplies with an alien bioweapon that would kill all who drank it. Steve, along with his brother Fred and younger brother Scott, were assigned to Bacteria Unit 59 together, and sent to a town somewhere in the United States. While Steve doubted Scott's ability to stay true to the mission due to believing him to be too young, the three took on the guise of young bikers, and rented a house together. Riding to their new house on their motorcycles, the aliens took on the attitudes and speech patterns of stereotypical bikers, and had human moving company workers haul in boxes of communications equipment.
Once the workers had left, Steve, evidently the de-facto leader of the trio, used his telekinesis to shut the windows and open a door to a large room, where the aliens set up their communications terminal to their leader, creating power fluctuations in the nearby houses. That night, the fluctuations caused a human living next door, Stu Tillman, to investigate, assuming the aliens were ham radio operators, and wanting to know if they were licensed. He found the door unlocked, and was soon confronted by the aliens. When asked if they were ham radio operators, the aliens laughed at him, and when asked who they were, Steve jokingly responded that they were monsters, Scott and Fred adding that they were from space and wanted to see the human leader. When Stu tried to question them again, Steve poked him in the stomach while making a comment about a raygun, and the three aliens then began mockingly pushing Stu around between themselves, until Stu managed to break free and declared he'd call the police. However, Steve approached him, and using his mind control abilities, ordered Stu to forget it. Stu promptly forgot the encounter, and took on a blank, almost mindless attitude for the rest of the night as he robotically walked home, the aliens returning to their post. Later, Steve and Fred watched Scott meet and offer a ride to Ellen Tillman, Stu's daughter.
After some time, Steve and Fred prepared to speak with their leader, although Steve was irritated with Scott's absence, managing to remotely monitor Scott. Upon seeing him with Ellen, Steve promptly contacted the alien leader, standing at attention with Fred and telling the leader about how Scott is forming an attachment with a human. When asked if the humans were catching on the scheme, Steve responded that as the alien research indicated, humans were a stupid race, commenting that the universe would be better off without them. Over the next five days, the aliens tested the bioweapon, finding it highly effective, although Scott kept leaving his posts to be with Ellen. After the five days, Steve and Fred reported back to the leader, telling him that Scott was still disobeying orders to be with Ellen, and were ordered to proceed without him. When Scott returned home from a date with Ellen, having abandoned his guard post to do so, Steve telekinetically restrained him and demanded to know what he had told her. Scott denied telling Ellen anything, and Steve released him, but made it clear that from here on out, Scott would only be along for the ride. Afterwards, Steve and Fred contacted the leader again, telling him that in conjunction with the 29 other Bacteria Units in the state, they would be able to completely exterminate the state's population in two days. Upon being ordered to commence the contamination at once, Steve and Fred then heard Scott run off, but when Fred tried to call out to him, Steve told him it didn't matter anymore. The two mounted their motorcycles to get to the nearest reservoir, but stopped to call out the bushes where Scott was hiding, Steve saying that humans weren't worth it.
Scott quickly tried to warn the Tillmans, but was apprehended by Deputy Harper, another alien infiltrator. Steve, along with the other aliens, were free to continue the invasion, dooming humanity to extermination.
