Though they established inconsistencies, plot holes, and in some ways engineered more questions than they answered, Alien franchise questions Disney's new movie must answer.

8 Prometheus Retconned The Origins Of Weyland Corp

While Alien vs. Predator may be considered a weak link in the Alien franchise to some fans, it did establish the origins of Weyland Corp, which Prometheus subsequently retconned. Peter Weyland, son of Charles Bishop Weyland, would have had to revive his father's company under a new name after it went under, assuming Charles Bishop Weyland is still the founder. It's also possible to reconcile the issue by thinking that Alien vs. Predator exists in a different timeline, or, in some fans' minds, simply doesn't exist as part of the franchise.

7 Prometheus Retconned The Chestburster Gestation Process

In the typical xenomorph gestation process established in Alien, an ovamorph/egg hatched a facehugger which, once attached to a host (in that case a human), implanted a chestburster embryo. After several days of gestating and gaining nutrients, it would burst force from its host, killing it and beginning its metamorphosis into a fully grown Drone or Warrior xenomorph over several days. Prometheus did away with this entirely by having organisms that weren't related to facehuggers (such as Trilobites) impregnate humans (and Engineers) and alter the xenomorph gestation cycle, which lasted only a few hours in the case of the Engineer.

6 Covenant Makes David The Xenomorph's Creator

Despite the fact that xenomorphs can be seen adorning the motifs and murals surrounding the Space Jockey in Prometheus and are integrated into aspects of the Engineers culture, David is made their progenitor in Alien: Covenant. David's Covenant plan makes a huge Alien pothole by effectively retconning the prior movies Scott made decades ago as well as his earlier prequel. Many fans choose to believe that David's experiments on Shaw, resulting in the xenomorph's many other hybrids, aren't truly how the universe's deadliest organism got its start.

5 Prometheus Makes The Space Jockey Pointless

Alien fans marveled at, and postulated about, the Space Jockey in Alien ever since its enormous frame was seen in the ship that crash landed on LV-426. The incredulous reactions of the Nostromo crew aped the response of viewers, who couldn't wait to learn how they were connected to the xenomorph eggs they seemed to carry as cargo. Not only does Prometheus make the Space Jockey pointless by not explaining it at all, Alien: Covenant adds insult to injury by nerfing the concept of the Engineers altogether and their hand in the development of the xenomorph.

4 Xenomorphs Are Born Without A Queen In Prometheus & Covenant

Aliens provided even more information about the xenomorph gestation process by introducing the concept of a hive established in the human colony created on LV-426. A Queen was the largest and strongest xenomorph in a hive who laid eggs that would carry the genetic material for Drones or Warriors depending on the facehugger organism inside them. Prometheus and Alien: Covenant made a Queen irrelevant and provided all manner of ways a xenomorph could be born, sometimes even without a chestburster embryo at all.

3 A Human Can Survive A Chestburster

Alien, Aliens, and other movies in the franchise established that to get impregnated with a chestburster embryo (or in Elizabeth Shaw's case, some black space goo) was a death sentence. Somehow, she's able to perform surgery on herself and survive running around a ship, fighting off a deacon, and getting off world with a mutilated David in tow. Ordinarily, anything to do with having a xenomorph inside a human host, parasitically corrupting their bodies would be enough to kill them, but Prometheus makes it seem like perhaps Ellen Ripley didn't need to sacrifice herself in Alien 3.

2 Prometheus Changed The Alien Life Cycle With Space Goo

Prometheus and Alien: Covenant further complicated the xenomorph life cycle process by adding organisms like the Hammerpede, the Trilobite, and the mysterious black goo. One victim of the black goo turned into a zombified monster, with an eye worm that led directly to a Hammerpede, while Elizabeth Shaw's exposure made her pregnant with the Trilobite which, after attaching itself to an Engineer, became a Deacon. While intriguing, Scott's new approach to the alien life cycle provided infinitely more biological questions than it did answers.

1 Prometheus Suggests Wayland Yutani Sent The Crew Of The Nostromo To LV-426

Given that Weyland Corp actually knew what was on LV-426 prior to the crew of the Nostromo stumbling on it, it's hard to believe that it didn't know what it was doing responding to the distress call. Alien created a sense of mystery around not just the Nostromo's true mission, but Ash's purpose on the ship. Prometheus retcons any possibility that the Nostromo encountered the planet by happenstance, and suggests instead that The Company sent them to the sight on purpose in order to come face to face with the Alien universe's most terrifying organism.