'Prometheus' Mysteries Solved (By You!)

Major spoilers, theories and possible answers about the movie lie ahead, so be warned.

Fans (and haters) of Prometheus, let me start off by saying:

Whether you loved or hated the movie — or reside somewhere in between — the great thing about director Ridley Scott‘s ambitious new sci fi film is that it has stoked a theorizing fire in fans that I can’t remember seeing for a long time.

In fact, the last time was probably the ending of Inception. Was the whole thing a dream? Did that top stop spinning or were we totally hearing things?

But the mythology of that movie certainly wasn’t as rich and deep as Prometheus, which spans decades thanks to the Alien franchise.

And that’s half the fun of movies like this: whether your theory is actually the one in the filmmakers’ heads, it’s cool just to think about it. (And Google at 1 a.m. And read about Greek mythology to find answers. Officially: obsessed).

Everyone’s been searching on TV for the next Lost. Well, I think we found it on the big screen.

So, yesterday I posed 13 questions about the movie that I still want answers to. And you responded with some incredibly thoughtful, interesting theories.

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Below are the answers that make the most sense to me (click here to see the full list of amazing theories). Do you agree? Do you have your own theories that blow these out of the water? Share them in the comments section below.

1. What was that nasty DNA tea that the opening scene Engineer drank?

“Primordial juice. He knew what he was getting into. He was a seeder of life. Is it dissimilar to the black goo? That is the question.” — Vamsee Valetti

“The opening scene in Prometheus has me wonder if this was the ‘seeding’ or terraforming of Earth or the Engineers testing our their new Bioform black goo on a poor bastard from a safe distance. Obviously the Bioform kills Engineers (read: bad times) and the byproduct created life, humans, taxes, reality TV, Justin Bieber (read: very bad times).” — smelly_jelly

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2. Was he following orders and sacrificing himself to create life on another planet or had he gone rogue?

“I personally think there are a number of philosophically different godlike beings. Some of them sought to create life on other worlds to fulfill their biological manifest destiny, while others sought to destroy the mutant offspring of those others.” — Tim Tebow

“The big white guys that look like they are sculpted from marble have striking resemblances with humans (More specifically men). The bible states that God created man in his image. Ancient civilizations could have been depicted as Gods and worshiped. The guy in the beginning who did a body shot and went cliff diving in the waterfall that started live was dressed differently than the engineer in the sleep pod who ripped off the robot head. Bodyshot guy arrived in a different ship that was a disc/ saucer (or Halo, if you see where I’m getting at). He could have been part of a good guy faction that wanted to start life for mankind (an Angel). The skeletal suit engineer who wrecked everybody’s shit flew a ship that looked like a broken halo, hence demons because demons are described to be fallen angels. Similar appearances but different mentalities.” — Palinga

3. Did Weyland hire the most idiotic biologist and geologist on purpose? (Seriously, petting the slimy alien snake-thing? Amateur.)

Consensus: No. Just dumb.

4. Is Vickers really a robot? (Sure, she’s Weyland’s “daughter.” But David is his “son.”)

“No. A robot wouldn’t have needed to wake up and do exercises after hypersleeping.” — In-search-of-answers

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5. Did David revenge-kill Tom Hardy’s twin? (Or was he simply driven by child-like curiosity?)

“Yes. It was revenge for ‘David, why do you need a suit? You doesn’t breathing anyway.’ David really trying to be ‘human-like’ and really overreacts when humans notices his differences, you can see it in the briefing scene.” — Joss13

6. Why did the black goo turn tattooed Ginger Beard into a Dawn of the Dead-Zac-Snyder zombie?

“It didn’t. It created a weapon.” — Eric Miller

7. Why was the surgery pod configured only for men? Was it meant for Weyland all along? And if it was so expensive, couldn’t the creators configure it for men and women?

“It was ‘very expensive equipment’ for Weyland. Seriously, it’s obvious. It’s just 2090, not 2590.” — Joss13

8. Why didn’t Shaw tell anyone she just pulled an alien fetus out of herself (arcade-game style)?

“It was cut out of the movie. Everyone knew. Ford tried to wake her up and Shaw defies her. After the operation and at the deck, everythingis hunky dory. Even, David acknowledges it with a witty dialogue. Blame the executives for this scenario.” — Vamsee Valetti

9. What did David say to the Engineer?

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“Depends on whether you think he had his own motivations or not but I think he was plotting the whole time and said something to intentionally anger him and set his plan in motion.” — Lukeareyou

10. Was he trying to kill his creator (Weyland)?

“David understood markings well enough to activate the historical holograms. He knew how to communnicate with an Engineer, and ultimately he was able to help Shaw fly one of their ships. So David knows way more than anyone in the movie. He may already know the answer to Shaw’s last question. You can’t know how to fly a computer driven ship and not know how to access the computer for specific information.” — In-search-of-answers

11. Is Vickers really dead? (See #4)

“If Vickers was an android, why didn’t she just turn right/left to escape the oncoming spaceship?” — Imaute

12. What exactly is the black goo? (A weapon of mass destruction? An evolutionary accelerator?)

“Substance designed to weaponize humans, the purpose for which they were created.” — Eric Miller

“There may be the case that it is all meant for biological warfare of some type. The way these creatures and xenomorphs utilize hosts in a parasitic/symbiotic fashion could be evidence of that.” — Genesis_518

“After thought, I think the black goo uses RNA or DNA already present in the ecosystem.(remember they disturbed bugs in the chamber of the vases when walking). And given in past Alien films the offspring take on more characteristics by breeding in different hosts.” — Sawkrumbs

13. And of course, the biggie: Why did the Engineers create humans and now want to destroy them? (Did they begin to feel threatened by their creations? Were they “fixing” the actions of a rogue Engineer? Were they really pissed that humans created nukes — and Jersey Shore?)

“Why the Engineers don’t like us: Perhaps Earth was not the first experiment or humans turned out to be more less than the desired outcome. Let’s say the original Alien with the cute psychotic xenomorphs only came about via a mutation originally started by an infected human host. This infection and mutation may have led to the damn-near demise of the Engineers race. Humans + bioform = xenomorphs. Engineers + bioform = dead Engineer. Which is worse?” — smelly_jelly