"Black Destroyer" is a science fiction short story by A. E. van Vogt which was first published in the magazine Astounding in July 1939 – the start of the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Along with van Vogt's subsequent story, "Discord in Scarlet", this was claimed as an inspiration for the movie Alien and van Vogt collected an out-of-court settlement of $50,000 from 20th Century Fox.