Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Alien: Romulus!

Summary

• Alien: Romulus features the original Xenomorph and the return of the black goo storyline from Prometheus and Alien: Covenant.
• Weyland-Yutani aims to forcefully evolve humanity using the black goo, leading to dangerous experiments and unforeseen consequences.
• The black goo, now headed to Yvaga, may have disastrous effects on the planet, setting up potential for a sequel to Alien: Romulus.

Alien: Romulus features experiments on black goo as a major story beat, and here's what the goo means and how it connects to Big Chap from the original Alien. Big Chap is the common nickname for the Xenomorph from Ridley Scott's 1979 classic Alien, and while it has become one of the most iconic movie monsters of all time, every other Alien movie has focused on different types of Xenomorph. However, Alien: Romulus decides to bring back the franchise's original Xenomorph, with it playing a major role in the film's black goo storyline.

Alien: Romulus is finally here, and the film manages to do the impossible by linking Ridley Scott's Prometheus and Alien: Covenant prequels with the original Alien series. In the Alien timeline, Alien: Romulus is set between Alien and Aliens, with the film taking place shortly after Big Chap terrorized the end of Alien: Romulus.

Alien's Big Chap Helped Weyland Discover The Prometheus Goo

The Goo Returns From Prometheus & Alien: Covenant

The Alien franchise's black goo plays a major role in Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, and it just unexpectedly came back in Alien: Romulus. In Prometheus, the black goo (known as chemical A0-3959X.91 - 15) was found by the prequel's main cast on the planet LV-223. Seemingly having been created by the Engineers, the black goo has the ability to create, take, and transform life, with David using it to wipe out an entire civilization of Engineers in Alien: Covenant while it is also used to create new lifeforms out of deceased and living individuals.

Although the black goo storyline was seemingly over after Alien: Covenant, it made a surprise return in Alien: Romulus. As Rook reveals to the cast of Alien: Romulus, the Weyland-Yutani Corporation was able to recover the Xenomorph from the wreckage of the Nostromo, allowing it to analyze the terrifying creature. Upon studying the Xenomorph, they were able to extract the black goo from the creature, using it to synthesize more samples of it.

Sometimes referred to as "Prometheus Fire," Weyland-Yutani decided to run experiments on the black goo in the hopes of using it to evolve human civilization. These experiments took place on the Romulus space station, but after a Xenomorph was unleashed, the station was abandoned. Thus, the black goo remained in the lab, with it set to suffer the fate of crashing into the planetary rings until the crew of the Corbelan arrived and discovered the samples.

Why Weyland Wants To Create A New Black Goo

Weyland-Yutani Wants To Forcefully Evolve Humanity

Despite the incredible danger of the pathogen, Weyland-Yutani wanted to harness the power of the black goo, meaning that the company needed to create more of it. As Rook and Andy explain in the film, humans are imperfect beings, meaning that they are not perfect for the company. However, Weyland-Yutani theorized that they could use the black goo to forcefully evolve the humans into perfect beings. This would make them better workers while also completing Peter Weyland's original vision of becoming a creator in his own right.

What Went Wrong With Weyland's Goo Experiments

Alien: Romulus' Rat Experiment Proves Why The Goo Is Dangerous

Although Weyland-Yutani's use of the black goo didn't start out as well-intentioned, things went far worse than they could have predicted. Alien: Romulus features footage of a rat that was injected with the black goo after death. Although it initially manages to come back to life, the black goo eventually causes it to mutate into a horrifying monster, with it eventually being killed again. This is reinforced later in the film when Kay injects herself with the black goo only for her baby to be born as a giant, pale, deadly creature.

The bridge between Alien: Covenant and Alien: Romulus' point in the timeline still has some holes, leading to some questions regarding the company's knowledge of the black goo. The crew of the Prometheus and Covenant had already discovered that the black goo turned people into monsters, with the synthetic David even using this to his advantage. It isn't clear how Weyland-Yutani discovered the black goo's properties without knowing its dangers, as they would presumably have learned about David's runaway Weyland-Yutani ship from the end of Alien: Covenant. However, it is possible that they learned about the goo on their own.

Is There Any Black Goo Left After Alien: Romulus?

It Is Headed To An Entirely Different Planet

Despite the Remus and Romulus space stations being destroyed, the black goo managed to make it out of the ship intact. This is because Rain and Kay take several samples of it back on board the Corbelan before escaping the space station. While Kay does use one sample on herself, Alien: Romulus shows that there were several samples with the two characters, meaning that most of these should still be on their ship.

However, the black goo isn't going back to a Weyland-Yutani planet anytime soon. Instead, it is headed to Yvaga along with the rest of the Corbelan, a planet on which Weyland-Yutani is banned. The company does know that the black goo is on their ship, as they talk to Rook before his death. However, it may be hard to get it back while the Corbelan is on its nine-year journey to Yvaga.

What Alien: Romulus' Goo Reveals Means For The Franchise's Future

It Could End Up Having A Disastrous Effect On Yvaga

The reveal of the black goo in Alien: Romulus is exciting, as it could mean a lot for the franchise's future. Despite the expectations of many fans, the return of the black goo means that the impact of the Prometheus sequels on the Alien franchise isn't gone, with the film carrying on the prequel series' biggest storyline. This could mean that tons of Prometheus storylines could come back into play, with there even being potential for Michael Fassbender's David villain from Alien: Covenant to return.

Alien: Covenant has shown that the black goo is able to quickly wipe out entire civilizations, and unfortunately for Yvaga, that may happen again. Since the black goo is being transported to Yvaga, the once beautiful planet may suffer the same fate as Planet 4 from Alien: Covenant. The black goo could decimate every lifeform on Yvaga, turning it into a terrifying hellscape of mutated creatures and Xenomorph. Weyland-Yutani will undoubtedly try to get their hands on the black goo before this happens, setting up an exciting sequel to Alien: Romulus.