History Film / Prometheus

* EldritchAbomination: [[spoiler:The twisted, squid-like monstrosity that Shaw had the bad luck to be impregnated with.]]

** Vickers tells [[spoiler:Weyland]] before the team leaves for the structure: "If you go down there, ''you'll die''." Not only does [[spoiler:Weyland and most of the team]] get killed minutes later by [[spoiler:the surviving Engineer]], but [[spoiler:Vickers ends up getting crushed by the falling Engineer ship seconds after her escape pod lands on the planet]].

* CanonDiscontinuity: ''Prometheus'' completely ignores the ''Film/AlienVSPredator'' films. The Weyland Corporation [[https://www.weylandindustries.com/timeline timeline]] notably does ''not'' feature Charles Bishop Weyland, who founded Weyland Industries in that canon. Subverted in a sense because [[spoiler:The Engineer's suits and equipment resemble that of a Predator's armor and weapons and many the "pictures" in the room resemble both Xenomophs and Predators]].
** The tech, especially the autonomous, gravity defying, reconnaissance spheres are something the Colonial Marines probably wished they had in Aliens.

** Played straight when Vickers says they've come a half-billion miles, which is roughly the distance of Jupiter from the sun, unless she meant the distance traveled since they came out of FTL.

* AIIsACrapshoot: David [[spoiler:has been instructed by Peter Weyland to get in touch with the Engineers by any means necessary.]] While he's programmed against attacking humans, after Holloway expresses willingness to do "anything" to learn more about the Engineers, David can interpret this as permission to [[spoiler:poison Holloway with the Engineers' organic sludge to see what happens.]] Foreshadowed to a degree by the ''Happy Birthday David'' viral advert:
-->''I can carry out directives that my human counterparts might find... distressing, or unethical.''

* DeathByGenreSavvy: Zig-zagged: After the team finds the dead body while exploring the alien planet, [[ThoseTwoGuys Fifield and Milburn]] [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere turn tail to head back to the ship]]. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, they get lost, and end up getting killed there. The rest of the party manages to survive that particular excursion]].

Domed Hometown

** [[spoiler:Holloway, later. ''[[EyeScream There is a bloody worm in his eye]]'', and he doesn't think to seek medical attention before venturing back into the place he possibly contracted it in. At least he has the common sense to force Vickers to kill him later.]]

* CriticalResearchFailure: One of the scientists states that the air contains 3% carbon dioxide and that "two minutes without a suit and you're dead". While this is accurate for carbon ''monoxide'', it's estimated that humans can handle 3% CO[[superscript:2]] for over a month and barely display any symptoms of it or lasting damage.

** [[spoiler:David manages to wake up the Engineer and tell him Weyland's request, but while the Engineer seems contemplative at first, watching Weyland's mooks mistreat Shaw, he suddenly mutilates David and kills Weyland and the rest. He then re-initiates a 2000 years old mission to carry the black liquid to the Earth, ostensibly to bomb the planet with it and reboot all its biosphere. The reason of any of this is left open to interpretation.]] This is lampshaded in-universe when [[spoiler:Shaw asks him why the Engineers had prepared such plan against the humans, but no answer is given inside the film.]]
** A deleted longer version of the same scene makes it slighty less ambiguous. [[spoiler:The Engineer now talks and actually replies angrily to Weyland, but what does he say and why he ends up reacting the same way are still unclear. According to the promotional book ''A grammar of modern Indo-European - Prometheus edition'', the Engineer's reply to Weyland's request for immortality translates literally as "you would not be a man if you didn’t grow old," implying either that humans cannot be made biologically immortal or that they are not deemed worthy to his eyes to receive such gift. Meanwhile, David claims the Engineer is asking why is Weyland supposed to be so great as to deserve immortality, which differs enough from the real line to suggest David is actually betraying Weyland by mistraslating his dialogue. This and Weyland's subsequent pathetic boasts imply the Engineer attacks merely out of annoyance at him, but the reason of his mission to Earth remains intact and unknown.]]

** Weyland's hologram-message to the crew bears a striking similarity to Hari Seldon's series of hologram-messages to the people of Terminus, in Creator/IsaacAsimov's ''Literature/{{Foundation}}''. Seldon is also physically diminished, reveals the true hidden nature of their mission, and is [[spoiler:secretly manipulating people from beyond the grave. Although, in Seldon's case, he really is dead.]]

** Dr. Shaw is said to be one for Ellen Ripley. Not that that's [[TropesAreNotBad a bad thing]]; Creator/NoomiRapace considers it high praise.

* EverythingsSquishierWithCephalopods: The [[spoiler:facehugger]] seen in this movie is noticeably squid-like, in contrast to [[spoiler:the more arachnid-like ones in earlier ''Alien'' films]].

** A deleted longer version of the same scene makes it possible even more ambiguous. [[spoiler:The Engineer now talks and actually replies angrily to Weyland, but what does he say and why he ends up reacting the same way are still unclear. According to the promotional book ''A grammar of modern Indo-European - Prometheus edition'', the Engineer's reply to Weyland's request for immortality translates literally as "you would not be a man if you didn’t grow old," implying either that humans cannot be made biologically immortal or that they are not deemed worthy to his eyes to receive such gift. Meanwhile, David claims the Engineer is asking why is Weyland supposed to be so great as to deserve immortality, which differs enough from the real line to suggest David is actually betraying Weyland by mistraslating his dialogue.]]

* TheVirus: The black liquid, [[spoiler:implied to be some kind of bioweapon]].

%%*** [[spoiler:Not so important for that, since the Engineer didn't seem to care about what David said. But it was still important, earlier, since it allowed David to open the doors from which it went wrong]].

%%* FetusTerrible: [[spoiler:"It's... [[BodyHorror not a conventional fetus]]."]]

** If Shaw and Vickers had just run to the side to begin with, [[spoiler:they would have avoided both the ship rolling and tipping over]]. Shaw [[spoiler:only survives because she falls down and realizes she can roll out of the way]]. [[http://penny-arcade.com/comic/2012/06/13 Thoroughly mocked]] by ''Webcomic/PennyArcade''.
%%*** To be fair though, there was also plenty of debris falling from the sky. Vickers and Shaw would have been at risk no matter what direction they ran.

%%*** The entire Fifield affair just reeks of idiocy. [[spoiler:As pointed out above, the guy in charge of ''maps'' gets lost. Then, rather than call the ship that has a '''huge holographic map''' of the very place he is lost in (and clearly the communications were not affected by the storm), he just lets himself get lost. Then, rather than follow up with the smart plan of "let's all get away from the strange alien body", the two return to this '''same''' room, and bunk in a room with containers dripping mysterious black goo, although there were clearly better options. Options that as the cartographer, you ''should'' have known about.]]
%%*** Fifield was in charge of the ''devices'' the were ''creating'' the map. There's no indication that he has actual access to a map. Why do you think that it was those still at the ship who were seeing it?

%%* SceneryPorn: The intro sequence.

%%* StartOfDarkness: For Weyland Industries.

%%* AStormIsComing: ''"...and lots of static. This is not good."''

** Shaw and Vickers don't consider [[spoiler:running ''out'' of the path of the falling spaceship instead of in the same direction it's crashing in. Shaw only gets the idea when she trips and finds herself about to get flattened. Vickers wasn't even that smart]]. [[http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2012/06/13 Noted]] by ''Webcomic/PennyArcade''. CinemaSins even names a reoccurring Sin after it: The Prometheus School of Running Away from Things.

* GodIsEvil: Subverted with the Engineers. [[spoiler:They may have created humanity long ago, but they are very much mortals. And absolutely not worthy of worship]]. [[spoiler:Whether or not the entire race is AlwaysChaoticEvil is left up in the air, though. See Blue And Orange Morality.]]

A team of scientists and astronauts set out on the research vessel ''Prometheus'' to unravel the mystery of the dawn of mankind. They seek the Engineers, an alien race who may be humanity's creators; scientists Shaw (Creator/NoomiRapace) and Holloway (Logan Marshall Green) believe they have uncovered an "open invitation" to find the Engineers within a reoccurring star pattern found in several ancient human writings. The team soon learns that the location is far from welcoming… and that what they've discovered could endanger the entire human race.

* AndTheAdventureContinues: [[spoiler: The ''Prometheus'' crew foils the Engineers' plan to wipe out life on Earth, but Shaw (the sole survivor of the expedition) still has no idea why they decided to destroy the species that they helped create. Desperate for answers, she boards an Engineer spacecraft and, with David as her guide, plots a course for the Engineers' home planet…]]

--> '''David''': "The trick, William Potter, is not minding that it hurts."
--> '''David''': "There is nothing in the desert, and no man needs nothing." [[note]]this quote is from Faisal, not Lawrence.[[/note]]
--> '''David''': "Big things have small beginnings." [[note]]this quote is from Dryden, not Lawrence.[[/note]]

* BloodFromTheMouth: One of the crew members, when [[spoiler:the mutated Fifield attacks the ship]]. Justified, since it seems that [[spoiler:Fifield ''did'' crush his organs]]. Also occurs after [[spoiler: David's head is ripped off, though it's a rather odd milky-white seeing as he is an android]].

* CanonDiscontinuity: ''Prometheus'' completely ignores the ''Film/AlienVSPredator'' films. The Weyland Corporation [[https://www.weylandindustries.com/timeline timeline]] notably does ''not'' feature Charles Bishop Weyland, who founded Weyland Industries in that canon. Subverted in a sense because [[spoiler: The Engineer's suits and equipment resemble that of a Predator's armor and weapons and many the "pictures" in the room resemble both Xenomophs and Predators]].

%%*** [[spoiler: Not so important for that, since the Engineer didn't seem to care about what David said. But it was still important, earlier, since it allowed David to open the doors from which it went wrong]].

** Everything related to the film, from the ViralMarketing campaign (that shows Weyland Industries before it merged with the Yutani Corporation) to the content of the plot (the crew interacts with the same type of ship seen in the original film, the Space Jockey race, [[spoiler: xenomorphs]], etc.), is made of this.

** [[spoiler: Weyland himself is a different story. He lies to the crew, treats Vickers like a redheaded stepchild, and seems to be the person pulling David's crew-abusive strings. He's also effectively risking humanity's existence on his request of the Engineers being well-received]].

* CrisisOfFaith: [[spoiler: Subverted. The entire movie seems to be setting Shaw up for a monstrous one, yet in the end, she stands by her faith.]]

** [[spoiler: Fifield's helmet melts into his face. After he's mutated—which forced his body to crawl the entire way to ''Prometheus'', legs over spine—and shows up at the ship, [[RasputinianDeath he gets shot repeatedly, run over, and is set on fire]]]].
** [[spoiler: Milburn's death by asphyxiation—or perhaps, worse still, massive internal injuries—when a creature forces its way into his body through his mouth. What occurred beforehand was also ''very'' unpleasant]].
** [[spoiler: The Engineer's slow death at the hands of the horrific tentacle monster. Then the Engineer's true death by [[ContinuityNod chestburster]].]]

* DeathByGenreSavvy: Zig-zagged: After the team finds the dead body while exploring the alien planet, [[ThoseTwoGuys Fifield and Milburn]] [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere turn tail to head back to the ship]]. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, they get lost, and end up getting killed there. The rest of the party manages to survive that particular excursion]].

* DistantPrologue: The film's opening depicts [[spoiler: what seems to be the Engineers creating humanity.]]

* DwindlingParty: By the end of the exposition [[spoiler: Shaw and the decapitated head of David are the only surviving crew members]]

* EverythingsSquishierWithCephalopods: The [[spoiler: facehugger]] seen in this movie is noticeably squid-like, in contrast to [[spoiler: the more arachnid-like ones in earlier ''Alien'' films]].

* FallenHero: Peter Weyland, who according to the company timeline was a child prodigy, earned two unshared Nobel Prizes, and founded a corporation which is entirely responsible for humanity forming an interstellar civilization. Such a person would have been favorably immortalized by history without a doubt. [[spoiler: His desire for physical immortality however, not only alienated his daughter, but sacrificed a significant portion of his corporation's assets, was directly responsible for the deaths of 15 of 17 people aboard ''Prometheus'', and jeopardized the human race with extinction. However, because no one returned to Earth to tell the tale, [[KarmaHoudini Weyland's reputation remains intact.]] On the other hand, him sacrificing said portion of his company's assets may have unwittingly led to Weyland Industries' merger into [[MegaCorp Weyland-Yutani]]. ]]

* FetusTerrible: [[spoiler: "It's… [[BodyHorror not a conventional fetus]]."]]

** The hologram of Peter Weyland at the beginning of the film refers to David as "the closest thing [he] has to a son". There is then [[spoiler: a brief shot of a seething Vickers. It is later revealed that Vickers is Weyland's biological daughter.]]
** Vickers being [[spoiler: Weyland's daughter]], is once again foreshadowed by the fact that she and David [[spoiler: (who Weyland had earlier referred to as the "closest thing he had to a son"),could easily pass for brother and sister]]. Janek even asks Vickers [[spoiler:if she is an android because she and David have a similar temperament.]]
* FromASingleCell: [[spoiler: It's strongly implied that even the smallest drop of the virulent black goo ending up in an eco system would be enough to turn a habitable planet into an all out DeathWorld overrun with rapidly evolving flesh-eating nasties, deadly parasites and rampaging mutants. For instance, the "Hammerpede" that killed Millburn and Fifield originated as an inch-long segmented worm that got drenched in the goo leaking from the vases]].

* GodIsEvil: Subverted with the Engineers. [[spoiler: They may have created humanity long ago, but they are very much mortals. And absolutely not worthy of worship]]. [[spoiler:Whether or not the entire race is AlwaysChaoticEvil is left up in the air, though. See Blue And Orange Morality.]]

--> '''Weyland''': ''We'' are the Gods now.
** In one of the deleted scenes, this is how he justifies [[spoiler: wanting to be immortal to the Engineer]]:
--> '''Weyland''': I ''deserve'' this, because you and I, we are superior. We are creators. We are gods. And gods never die.

* TheGreatestStoryNeverTold: [[spoiler: Shaw writes an ApocalypticLog warning travelers not to get near the planet, but never explains why]].

* HateSink: Vickers fills the role of "person we're allowed to hate" for most of the film, since [[spoiler:the Engineer]] doesn't turn up until the end and [[spoiler: David]] doesn't have clear enough motives for us to know ''why'' he does what he does.

** [[spoiler: Holloway too]]. He says that he is prepared to do "anything and everything" for the mission to succeed. Unfortunately, [[spoiler: David]] takes that a little too literally…
** [[spoiler: Fifield and Milburn]], upon being informed there are sporadic lifesigns in one direction, immediately go the other way. [[spoiler: Going ''to'' the sporadic life signs to investigate would have placed them outside a locked hatch in a perfectly safe corridor. Going the other way placed them in the room with the creatures that killed/mutated them.]]

** [[spoiler:The Engineer ship has room-sized holographic displays, which are activated via playing a musical instrument, and controlled by pressing button-like fatty cushions and glowing green crystals]]. [[spoiler: Other control panels in the ship seem to be little more than cuneiform inscriptions carved in rock, that react to touch]].
* HumanityIsInfectious: One theory about why [[spoiler: the Engineers want to eradicate humans.]]
* HydraProblem: [[spoiler: Fifield attempts to cut off the alien snake's head when it breaks Millburn's arm, but not only does it spray acid blood over Fifield's face for his efforts, the head ''instantly'' grows back.]]

** So the suit of one of those crew members shows up inexplicably right outside the door, and you the captain realize that something is amiss? [[spoiler: Whatever you do, don't actually tell the rest of the crew, instead of just talking to yourself, or physically stop the doors. Because that would be helpful]].
** If Shaw and Vickers had just run to the side to begin with, [[spoiler: they would have avoided both the ship rolling and tipping over]]. Shaw [[spoiler:only survives because she falls down and realizes she can roll out of the way]]. [[http://penny-arcade.com/comic/2012/06/13 Thoroughly mocked]] by ''Webcomic/PennyArcade''.

* AIIsACrapshoot: David [[spoiler: has been instructed by Peter Weyland to get in touch with the Engineers by any means necessary.]] While he's programmed against attacking humans, after Holloway expresses willingness to do "anything" to learn more about the Engineers, David can interpret this as permission to [[spoiler: poison Holloway with the Engineers' organic sludge to see what happens.]] Foreshadowed to a degree by the ''Happy Birthday David'' viral advert:
--> ''I can carry out directives that my human counterparts might find… distressing, or unethical.''

--> "[[AGodAmI We, are the gods now]]."

** The producers [[WordOfGod say]] their intention with the [[spoiler: Deacon]] was to show the "origin" of what would later become the familiar Xenomorph.
* LosingYourHead: [[spoiler: David after the last Engineer wakes up and tears it off. Later, when Shaw returns for him, both David's head and body respond, with his hands almost comically reaching out to her.]]

* MercyKill: [[spoiler:Holloway]] asks for this—and gets it—from Vickers. Granted, [[spoiler: a flamethrower]] doesn't seem all that merciful, except compared to what was happening to him.

--> "David, we are ''leaving''!"

** The [[spoiler: mutated Fifield]] gets run over and crushed by a vehicle in exactly the same way as one of the Xenomorphs in ''Aliens''.

-->'''[[spoiler:Peter Weyland]]:''' There's… nothing.\\

** The Engineers created the Xenomorphs to serve as a LivingWeapon. [[spoiler: It's implied so were humans.]]

** Scott claimed fans would "recognize strands of ''Alien''[='=] "DNA" at a certain point in the film. The film features a [[spoiler: wall mural that looks eerily similar to the Xenomorphs]] and [[spoiler:a variety of monsters]] that will be very familiar to ''Alien'' fans.

-->'''Shaw''': ''Why do you hate us?''

** Invoked by David. "Don't we all wish for our parents to be dead?" [[spoiler: Weyland programs him, serving as sort of adoptive father, and without him, David would consider himself to be free.]]

--> [[spoiler: [[TookALevelInBadass Shaw]]: '''''DIE!!''''']]

* RammingAlwaysWorks: [[spoiler: Since the ''Prometheus'' is designed for long-range space travel with little in the way of weaponry, Janek sets the ship on an intercept course with the discovered Engineer ship to prevent it from leaving orbit and attacking Earth]]. Unusually, [[spoiler:the ''Prometheus'' is completely destroyed, while the Engineer ship is merely brought down intact to the ground]].
* RasputinianDeath: [[spoiler: Fifield]], post-mutation. It takes him [[spoiler: being shot multiple times, hosed down with several flame-throwers,]] ''and'' [[spoiler: run over]] to finally kill him.

* TheReveal: [[spoiler: The Space-Jockey from the original ''Alien'' was in fact an Engineer. Given that they are supposed to look near-human, the reason for the Space-Jockey's strange, elephantine features is because it was merely his ''helmet'']].

* RubberForeheadAliens: A very interesting example. The [[spoiler: Engineers]] are [[HumanSubspecies genetically human]], but while very humanoid in general appearance, their bodies look like they're [[SculptedPhysique carved from white stone]], they're 9 to 10 feet tall, [[OrganicTechnology their flesh is apparently fused to their skeletal-looking space suits]], and looking into their eyes, you see they are ''[[HumanoidAbomination unutterably alien]]''.

* ScareChord: When Holloway discovers the worm in his eye, and any other instance of horrible things happening, including [[spoiler: the Caesarean section]] and Fifield and Milburn's [[spoiler: fatal encounter with the snakelike creature]].
* SceneryPorn: The intro sequence.

* SingleTear: Shaw sheds one while she's on the table after [[spoiler: Holloway's death]], getting scanned and discovering [[spoiler: she is carrying an alien fetus]], and being asked about the death of her father by David as he removes her cross necklace.

* StartOfDarkness: For Weyland Industries.

* AStormIsComing: ''"…and lots of static. This is not good."''
* StupidEvil: At least 2,000 years ago, the Engineers [[spoiler: gave the order to wipe out humanity and apparently had the bright idea of leaving the job to their least competent outpost who couldn't even keep their own weapons under control. In the two intervening millenia, whatever military or governing body of the Engineers that exists didn't even consider checking up on the status of their own outpost, let alone the status of the target they ordered destroyed.]]

* SummonBiggerFish: [[spoiler: The surviving Engineer]] is defeated by [[spoiler:a giant proto-facehugger]] set loose on it by the last survivor.

** Let's not carry anything to defend ourselves on our first expedition onto the planet we just found and know literally nothing about the plants and animals. Even if it's a scientific mission, why is Shaw not overruled by Vickers when she tells the security guy to ditch the flamethrower.

** The trailers for the film clearly show [[spoiler: the ''Prometheus'' plowing into the side of the Engineer ship and partially blowing up, Shaw's emergency c-section, the living Engineer attacking several members of the crew, and much more.]]
** In fact, one of the movie posters has Shaw in her suit in the foreground, with [[spoiler: the ''Prometheus'' plowing into the side of the Engineer ship and partially blowing up]] in the background. That's right, the ending of the movie is in one of the posters.

* UpToEleven: The last four movies had face-raping facehuggers that look like big skeletal spiders. How do you top that? Simple: [[spoiler: take the same creature, make it the size of a car, and turn it into a tentacled monstrosity with a mouth full of fangs and eyes on its underside]].
* VasquezAlwaysDies: Vickers, the callous company exec who's shown doing push-ups right after stasis, [[spoiler: torching infected crew with a flame thrower (for the sake of the rest), throwing David around like a rag doll]], and just being a bitch is offed in favour of the sensitive, scientific, religious, emotional Shaw.

* VillainProtagonist: [[spoiler: Vickers, according to Theron]]. [[JustifiedTrope Mostly justified]] in that [[spoiler:she has no reason to believe Charlie and Shaw's thesis that the Engineers are out there. She's also the only one to follow any kind of guidelines and common sense when it comes to letting the infected and contaminated Charlie back on board, and thanks to her father's rather horrid WellDoneSonGuy tendencies toward her, she has a massive chip on her shoulder when it comes to David--whom Weyland brands as the ''son'' he never had in front of her and the entire ''Prometheus'' crew during their initial briefing. She's almost definitely a precursor to the CorruptCorporateExecutive we see fully manifested in Aliens' Burke, but she's got more reasons behind the way she is.]]

* TheVirus: The black liquid, [[spoiler: implied to be some kind of bioweapon]].

--->'''David:''' "[[spoiler:You have to get out of there, immediately. He's coming for you]]."

-->"You bet he has feelings."—Creator/RidleyScott

** What happens to [[spoiler: the decapitated Engineer.]]
** Inverted (implode) [[spoiler: with Fifield, whose helmet collapses into his face when he contacts the black goo]].