Prometheus 2: 10 Questions The Film Needs To Answer

10. What Was The Engineer Actually Doing In The Prologue?

One of the biggest and most ambiguous questions that was never answered in Prometheus is what on Earth - or not as it may be - is going on in the eerie prologue to Prometheus, and what effect does it have on the rest of the film? In case you're stumped trying to remember the opening sequence, several Engineers land on a terraformed planet - foliage, waterfalls, the works - and one of them voluntarily ingests a vial of black liquid in what appears to be a ritual of sorts, evoking a post-modern take on Aztec and Mayan sacrifices. Soon after the Engineer dissolves into a pool of fluid that begins to affect the organisms in the water. While it's clear that the Engineer is hinted at starting life on Earth, the writers and director have never explicitly confirmed that it is indeed Earth, and the way that the sacrifice is framed - affecting the microscopic life rather than bigger lifeforms - questions whether or not Earth is the planet, given that it's believed that the Engineers specifically saw potential in humanity, rather than other lifeforms. Interestingly, Jon Spaihts' original script has the black liquid become beetles who bite primordial humans, granting them an alien intelligence in the same way Prometheus gave humanity fire and providing a stronger way of confirming that the prologue takes place on Earth. Even the question of why the Engineer was willing to sacrifice his life in order to affect a massive ecological and genetic change remains murky. At best his actions are a beautiful self-sacrifice and the Engineers appear as graceful, advanced, benevolent beings, and at worst it's a cruel experiment of literally playing God. Scott would earn himself a lot of brownie points from fans by officially clearing up the prologue scene once and for all.