The Xenomorph is the iconic monster of the Alien franchise, but chronologically speaking, it wasn’t the first, as Prometheus introduced a creature incredibly reminiscent of the classic Xenomorph before promptly forgetting about it. But Prometheus actually did quietly explain what happened to its 'first Xenomorph’, known widely as the Deacon.
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The Deacon, also known as a ‘Proto-Xenomorph’, made its debut in the 2012 film, Prometheus, and its origin is more than a little complicated. When the Prometheus lands on LV-223 (in search of the Engineers), the crew discovers an ancient temple filled with canisters of a mysterious Black Goo. Prometheus' Black Goo is a mutagen designed to wipe out life on a planetary scale while simultaneously planting the seeds for new life to form - and the psychopathic synthetic, David, quickly makes sinister plans for it.
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David uses the Black Goo to mutate one of the Prometheus' crew members, Holloway, who then passes the mutagen to his wife, Elizabeth Shaw. This results in Shaw becoming pregnant with a squid-like alien that she has to surgically remove. Afterward, it quickly grows to the size of an entire medical bay. By the end of the movie, this grotesque creature infects an Engineer (as if it were a Facehugger) to send the Deacon bursting forth from its chest just as a Xenomorph would. But it was never to be seen again. At least, not until the comic book sequel.
Prometheus’ Forgotten Sequel Reveals the Deacon Became a Mountain
The Black Goo Mutagen Went Haywire within the Deacon's Body
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In Prometheus: Fire and Stone - Omega by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Agustin Alessio, a team of space explorers are trapped on the moon LV-223 after their mission to find out what happened to the missing crew of the Prometheus went horribly wrong. After a shocking run-in with a horde of Xenomorphs and a clan of Predators (not to mention a lone Engineer murdering life forms on-sight), half the crew left the second they got the opportunity, leaving the other members behind to die on LV-223. However, the remaining survivors did have one glimmer of hope: the Prometheus.
The ship itself was still on the moon, and the explorers soon learned that it was located inside a mountain. Though upon some minor excavation, the humans (plus one Predator and one Black Goo-mutated synthetic named Elden) realized that this mountain wasn’t a mountain at all... it was alive.
This fate for the first chronological ‘Xenomorph’ in the Alien universe is equal parts horrifically tragic and vastly underwhelming.
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After the Deacon was born, it started to grow exponentially as the Black Goo mutagen in its system went haywire, and just kept creating and mutating mass on top of itself until Prometheus’ very first ‘Xenomorph’ essentially became a motionless mountain. All this happened around the Prometheus ship (since the Deacon was born inside it), which is why the human survivors believed the vessel to be buried inside the ‘mountain’ when really it was just consumed by the formless mass that became of the Deacon.
This fate for the first chronological ‘Xenomorph’ in the Alien universe is equal parts horrifically tragic and vastly underwhelming. When Prometheus ended with a shot of the freshly-born Deacon screaming, it was seemingly leaving an open-ended cliffhanger for the creature’s eventual return. Perhaps as the first of a new type of Xenomorph species with a fresh design and differing characteristics. Instead, it just quietly grew into a mountain, undoubtedly confused and terrified - if it was even capable of those emotions in the first place - and will likely never be explored again.
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Prometheus Secretly Created The Biggest Xenomorph of All Time
Alien's 'Biggest Xenomorph' is Also It's Least Deadly
While turning the Deacon into a mountain did greatly squander its potential, the franchise did accomplish one thing by doing so: Alien created its biggest 'Xenomorph' of all time. This franchise is rooted in cosmic horror, and a staple in the cosmic horror subgenre (that Alien doesn't really touch on) is the idea of impossibly massive beasts. Almost every corner of Lovecraftian horror backs up that assertion, with the main standouts being the likes of Cthulhu and Azathoth, just to name a few. Now, Alien has its own incomprehensibly giant alien creature with the Deacon.
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Unfortunately, the Deacon has also become the least deadly 'Xenomorph' in the entire franchise. Sure, if one finds themselves inside the 'Deacon Mountain', they can become trapped within its fleshy caverns and eventually die. But, at the same time, all someone has to do is not approach the mountain. Not only that, but it's trapped on the relatively dead moon of LV-223, meaning it's more than likely it won't get any more visitors anytime soon, making the 'Deacon Mountain's' threat level virtually zero.
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For something to be truly terrifying in a cosmic sense, it not only has to be absolutely gigantic, but also terrifyingly deadly. In the Deacon's case, it's just a mountain, making it almost comically non-threatening - especially in contrast with its terrifying potential, as teased at the end of Prometheus. Of course, the nature of the Black Goo is still very much a mystery in Alien canon, and the only thing about it that fans know for sure is that it can not only mutate life, but self-sufficiently create it - and that is an exciting prospect.
Alien has the Chance to Create New Kinds of Xenomorph Life From the Deacon
The Deacon Could Continue to Mutate, Giving Life to All-New Horrors in the Alien Universe
The 'Deacon Mountain' itself is basically a non-threat in the Alien universe, which essentially makes it nothing more than wasted potential. But, that doesn't have to be the case. The only reason the Deacon is a mountain in the first place is that the Black Goo wouldn't stop mutating the creature, adding layer after layer of lifeless tumors on top of the Deacon until it grew to be the size of a mountain. Who's to say the Black Goo will ever stop? And who's to say those 'tumors' will remain lifeless?
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Alien has the chance to turn the Deacon into a supermassive 'Queen Xenomorph', of sorts, as it's possible the mountain could create new life forms from itself. Alien fans have seen the Black Goo infect entire moons to create life from the very earth (like in Alien: Covenant, and even in this Fire and Stone story), so it stands to reason that a mountain of Black Goo-infected alien flesh could produce life from itself - perhaps the most horrific Alien fans have ever seen.
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If the 'Deacon Mountain' could create horrific Xenomorph-like creatures (which is well within the realm of possibility for the Black Goo), then it would become the most terrifying entity in Alien mythos. A pulsing mass of mountain-sized flesh birthing cosmic horrors beyond compare, as if a living portal to hell itself, is a thing of nightmares, and would be an epic way to utilize the Deacon in the franchise's future. But, as of now, Prometheus' Deacon is literally just a mountain, and while a bit underwhelming, that's still an incredibly gruesome fate for Alien's 'first Xenomorph'.
Alien
The Alien franchise, which began with Ridley Scott's 1979 film, is a Sci-Fi series comprised of several horror films, games, and comic books centered on humanity's encounters with a hostile extraterrestrial species known as Xenomorphs. Characterized by their lethal prowess and capability to reproduce at an alarming rate, these creatures pose a profound threat to human existence. The primary series protagonist, Ellen Ripley, acts as the voice of reason as she seeks to keep the creatures out of the hands of greed-driven corporate scientists.