Warning: SPOILERS ahead for Alien: Romulus
Director Ridley Scott's Prometheus gave it a surprising origin that moved the franchise forward while still invoking audiences' fear of the unknown.
the Alien franchise into something far more than just a series of slasher movies set in space.
David Creating The Xenomorph Explains Why It Is So Perverse
The Xenomorphs Reflect David's Goals
Created as a servant to Corporation's founder, Peter Weyland, David loathed having to cater to an evil man he would eventually outlive. Seeing only the worst in humanity, he later focused his malice on creating life forms of his own using the Engineers' black ooze, resulting in the birth of the Xenomorphs as an embodiment of his twisted view of perfection.
Like the android Ash in Alien, David has little to no regard for human life, iring the "purity" of the Xenomorphs as emotionless and vicious survivors with no sense of morality. It's only natural that the Xenomorphs share the qualities that their creator values so much and that they became the source of several gruesome horrors for humanity.
With the Xenomorphs, David revolted against the humans that created him, starting with Prometheus's crew. Fitting with the film's Biblical allegory, the android's actions parallel the Devil leading an army of demons against God, leading to the genocide of the Engineers that David executed in Alien: Covenant. Since David likens himself to Satan from Paradise Lost in the sequel, saying he would rather "reign in Hell" than "serve in Heaven," it's clear that David designed the Xenomorphs to be the demonic creatures that have tormented humanity throughout the Alien franchise.
A "Human" Creating The Xenomorph Makes A Lot Of Sense
It Fits With Wider Themes In The Franchis
In a film rife with religious and philosophical ideas, one major theme in Prometheus is humanity's interest in creation, with the crew of the titular starship seeking out the Engineers to understand the reason for humanity's existence. The film also explores humanity's desire to create life, with Weyland and the Engineers doing so seemingly because they could. This pattern of creation culminates in androids like David, who ironically bring about destruction for those who made them.
Prometheus' David Became An Android Messiah After Alien: Covenant
After the events of Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, Alien fans don't know what happened to the synthetic David, but one comic might hold the answer.
David inherits this desire to play God from creator Peter Weyland, along with his callous arrogance. Just as Weyland made David in his image, so too did the latter make the Xenomorphs in his image. In the end, the android and his aliens become agents of chaos, with David eventually destroying the Engineers who made his human creators in the first place. Thus, the story that Prometheus has built through David shows how humanity can bring about their undoing by recklessly toying with nature.
Alien Still Hasn't Decided What The Xenomorph's Origins Should Be
Questions Remain About Where They Came From
Since the Alien films before Prometheus never revealed the origins of the Xenomorphs, screenwriters Jon Spaihts and Damon Lindelof had plenty of freedom to expand the franchise's mythos in the prequel. Though Prometheus showed the Xenomorphs had existed in some form long before Alien, they are still a mysterious and chaotic force implied to have existed even before the Engineers, as shown by a mural depicting a Xenomorph known as "the Deacon."
The Fate of Prometheus' First Xenomorph Was Too Gruesome For The Movie
The fate of Alien's first Xenomorph, the Deacon, was left open-ended in the film Prometheus, but the comic book sequel explained what happened to it.
The film reveals that the Engineers harnessed and weaponized this force through the black ooze that creates the Xenomorphs or beings similar to them. The idea that such a small substance can mutate any life form it touches into a remorseless and unfeeling monster aligns with the Lovecraftian themes of the first Alien film.
The fact that the divine Engineers attempted to use this destructive force to annihilate humanity also invokes fears about whether there is a God looking out for people in the face of such unholy terrors.
Both films used the mystery and brutality of the Xenomorph to show how terrifying and uncaring the universe can be. Just as the Facehuggers turned humans into alien incubators without mercy, the Engineers' black ooze corrupts everything it infects to varying degrees, transforming it into a host of destruction that can be unleashed instantly. The fact that the almost-divine Engineers attempted to use this force to annihilate humanity for no apparent reason also invokes fears about whether a God is looking out for people and protecting them against such unholy terrors.
Prometheus Is A Way Better Movie If You Ignore The Biggest Thing About It
Prometheus faced plenty of criticism for rewriting the Alien timeline and lore, but would the movie have been better as a standalone sci-fi adventure?
Overall, Prometheus built upon the Xenomorph's unknown origins to reinvent the Alien films in a surprising but sensible way. The prequel made these aliens the demons of the franchise, as envisioned by the Satanic but human David. Despite this, the franchise leaves enough questions unanswered to retain the chaotic terror that the Xenomorphs embodied in the original film. Though Prometheus remains divisive with audiences, the franchise continues to showcase the true horror of the Xenomorphs, as brought back the black ooze to unleash a new kind of alien terror.
Prometheus
- Release Date
- June 8, 2012
- Runtime
- 124 Minutes
- Director
- Ridley Scott
WHERE TO WATCH
- Writers
- Jon Spaihts, Damon Lindelof
- Sequel(s)
- Alien: Covenant
- Franchise(s)
- Alien
- Studio(s)
- 20th Century
- Distributor(s)
- 20th Century
- Budget
- 130 million
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