In the distant past, the spacecraft of an advanced humanoid alien
race arrives on Earth. One of the aliens consumes a dark liquid, causing
its body to disintegrate and fall into
a nearby waterfall, seeding Earth
with the building blocks of life.
In 2089, archaeologist couple Elizabeth Shaw and Charlie Holloway discover
a star map
among the remnants of several otherwise unconnected ancient cultures.
They interpret this as an invitation from humanity's forerunners. Peter
Weyland, the elderly founder of the Weyland Corporation, funds the
creation of the scientific vessel
Prometheus to follow the map to
the distant moon LV-223.
The ship's crew travels in stasis while the
android David monitors their voyage. In 2093, the ship arrives, and its
crew are informed of their mission to find the ancient aliens, called
"Engineers". Mission director Meredith Vickers orders them to avoid any
direct contact and return if the aliens are found.
The Prometheus
lands near an alien structure. A team including Shaw, Holloway, and
David explores the structure, while Vickers and Captain Janek monitor
their progress onboard the ship.
They find several artifacts, a statue of
a humanoid head, and the corpse of a
giant alien, thought to be one of the Engineers. Other bodies are later
found, and the species is presumed to be extinct. David secretly returns
an ampoule to the ship, while the remaining ampoules begin leaking dark
liquid. An approaching storm cuts the expedition short, and the crew is
forced to return to
Prometheus. Botanist Milburn and geologist
Fifield are separated from the expedition and stranded in the structure.
In the ship, Shaw and medic Ford analyze the Engineer's head, and
discover that its DNA is almost identical to that of the human species.
Meanwhile, David investigates the ampoule and discovers a dark liquid
substance. He intentionally infects Holloway with the substance. Later,
Shaw and the infected Holloway have sex.
Inside the structure, Fifield and Milburn are attacked by snake-like
creatures. Milburn is killed, and a corrosive fluid from one of the
creatures melts Fifield's helmet, exposing him to the dark liquid
leaking from the ampoules. The crew returns to the structure and finds
Milburn's corpse. David discovers a room containing a living Engineer in
stasis and a star map highlighting Earth. Elsewhere, Holloway's
infection rapidly ravages his body, and he is rushed back to the ship.
Vickers refuses to let him on board, and burns him to death at his own
request. A medical scan reveals
Shaw is pregnant, despite being sterile.
A desperate Shaw uses an automated surgery table to cut a squid-like
creature from her abdomen. Weyland is found to have been in stasis
aboard the ship; he explains to Shaw that he intends to ask the
Engineers to help him avoid his impending death.
A mutated Fifield attacks the hangar bay and kills several crew
members before being killed himself. Janek suggests the planet was used
by the Engineers as a military base until they lost control of their biological weapons, the
ampoules. The remaining crew return to the structure and awaken the
Engineer, who is occupying what is discovered to be a space ship. David
speaks to the Engineer, who responds by decapitating David and killing
Weyland and Ford. Shaw escapes the alien ship as it is activated by the
Engineer. The still-active David reveals it is going to Earth to unleash
the ampoules on humanity. Vickers orders Janek to return to Earth, but
Shaw convinces them to stop the Engineer ship by any means necessary.
Janek crashes the
Prometheus into
the Engineer ship while Vickers
uses an escape pod. The disabled Engineer ship crashes to the planet,
killing Vickers. Shaw goes to the escape pod to retrieve supplies.
Inside, she finds her squid-like offspring, which has grown to gigantic
size. The Engineer survives the crash, enters the escape pod and attacks
Shaw, who releases the tentacled monster. It subdues the Engineer by
thrusting a tentacle down its throat. Shaw recovers David's remains from
the alien ship, and together they activate another Engineer ship to
travel to the Engineers' homeworld in an attempt to understand why they
created humanity and attempted to destroy it. In the
Prometheus escape pod, an alien creature bursts out of the dying Engineer's chest.
