While the entire Alien series is pretty convoluted, 2012’s Prometheus was one of the first movies in the franchise to flagrantly over-complicate things. I still how surprised I was when, less than a decade after the arrival of 2004’s Alien Vs Predator, Ridley Scott’s prequel introduced a new version of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation’s origin story, complete with a new CEO and founder. Lance Henriksen’s Charles Weyland was replaced by Guy Pearce’s Peter Weyland.

This change was ameliorated over a decade later when FX’s forthcoming Alien TV show Alien: Earth, but Alien: Romulus already managed to streamline some of the many retcons found in Prometheus and the prequel’s 2017 sequel, Alien: Covenant. However, even Fede Alvarez’s straightforward reboot couldn’t undo my least favorite part of Prometheus’s needlessly convoluted story, a pointless plot detail that I can’t forgive even 12 years later.

Prometheus Made The Black Goo Integral To Alien Mythology

Ridley Scott’s Prequel Centered On The History of The Engineers

I truly wish Prometheus hadn’t made the black goo so central to the Alien mythos, since neither Scott’s prequel nor the subsequent movies in the series were able to justify its existence. The “Black goo” is first seen in Prometheus’ enigmatic opening sequence, wherein an Engineer consumes the liquid before disintegrating and dying almost instantaneously. Like so many moments in Prometheus, this scene looks great and explains almost nothing. In an experimental short film, it would be a bold, striking image for viewers to ruminate on. In the Alien prequel, it is a non sequitur that proceeds to go precisely nowhere.

The Black Goo Has Never Been Properly Explained By The Alien Movies

Prometheus And Alien: Covenant Left The Goo A Mystery

Thanks to David’s creepy Prometheus poisoning plot, viewers learn that the goo is as lethal to humans as it is to Engineers. The "Black goo,” as players of Alien: The Roleplaying Game can attest, is a potent bioweapon developed by the Engineers. Also known as “Prometheus Fire,” the goo is used by the advanced alien race to wipe out entire planets. This is all fascinating information, but none of it is made clear in Prometheus or Alien: Covenant. While viewers don't need everything to be spoon-fed, the Alien movies don’t thrive on ambiguity. The horror franchise works thanks to its simplicity.

Prometheus' Black Goo Made Alien's Canon Needlessly Complicated

Scott’s Alien Prequels Left The Franchise’s Lore Convoluted

Alien isn’t Tarkovsky’s Stalker, so saying that Prometheus left the goo unexplained to challenge viewers feels like a cop-out when the movie was a major mainstream Hollywood blockbuster. I always assumed that the black goo’s explanation was cut for the sake of pacing or run time, and this would ordinarily be fine if it weren’t for its impact on the series more broadly. The biological specfiics of Alien: Romulus’s nastiest death are never explained in detail, but the movie's story is punchy and effective enough for viewers to forgive this oversight. Prometheus, in contrast, is deliberately paced and pointedly philosophical.

Ironically, the prequel never really justifies the Xenomorph’s existence.

The opening scene of Prometheus is eventually revealed to be a sci-fi retelling of the Prometheus myth. An outcast and renegade, the disintegrating Engineer grants humanity its existence by sacrificing his body and providing it with the building blocks of human DNA. The Engineers develop Xenomorphs to destroy humanity so they can maintain intergalactic dominance, but this irreversibly complicates the franchise’s mythology. Since the black goo is capable of wiping out entire planets, it would make much more sense for the Engineers to use this bioweapon when eliminating humanity. Ironically, the prequel never really justifies the Xenomorph’s existence.

There Was An Easier Way To Create A Xenomorph Origin Story

Prometheus Could Have Explained The Xenomorph’s Discovery

What makes Prometheus’ Xenomorph backstory so frustrating is the fact that Alien’s prequel didn’t need to explain where the Xenomorph came from. Scott’s prequel leaves a lot unexplained, from the nature of the black goo to the origins of the Engineers themselves. The Xenomorph’s origins could have been another compelling mystery that was left intentionally unsolved, and this might even have made the monsters scarier. Ripley’s Alien franchise story never felt compelled to explain the origins of the Xenomorph and, to this day, Alien and its first sequel Aliens remain the franchise’s most acclaimed outings due to this simplicity.

The reason I can’t stand Prometheus’ black goo subplot is that it demands further explanation and exposition. I don’t want a string of Alien follow-ups that exist solely to explain the story of the earlier movies, but this is what the lore of Prometheus sets up. I can’t imagine that many viewers were clamoring to know where the Xenomorph originally came from before Prometheus, but it is hard to watch the prequel without wondering what the significance of the inexplicable black goo is. Instead of clarifying things, Scott’s prequel only made the franchise’s backstory more complicated and necessitated further spinoffs.

Alien's Black Goo Mystery Means Ridley Scott's Covenant Follow-Up Must Still Happen

Alien: Romulus Linked Its Canon To Scott’s Prequels

Alien: Earth showrunner Noah Hawley itted that he didn’t care for the revelations about the origins of the Xenomorph seen in Scott’s prequels. Interviewed by KRCW’s The Business, Hawley itted that the idea of the Xenomorph as a recently invented bioweapon wasn’t “Useful” to the story he wanted to tell. This means that Alien’s David prequel storyline needs a follow-up more than ever, since Alien: Earth obviously won’t be exploring the black goo and its origins any further. The show’s exploration of Weyland-Yutani could have justified this plot focus, but Hawley understandably isn’t interested in the storyline.

FX's Alien: Earth is set to be released in early 2025.

The black goo is something of a dead-end for the Alien franchise, but a future project still has to explain its existence. The Alien movies can’t simply ignore the Engineers because they occupy an awkward space in the franchise’s mythology, and the only thing that could make Prometheus’ subplot more frustrating would be subsequent movies ignoring it entirely. The Alien series can’t forget about the goo any more than the franchise can drop the Xenomorph itself, but this makes me wish that 2012's prequel Prometheus had never mentioned the existence of the confounded substance in the first place.

Source: TheHollywoodReporter