Black Goo and Green Vials Explained

It is important to distinguish between the two substances as they have very different roles in the film. BLACK GOO: The black goo that was leaking out of the canisters and that surrounds the green vials is a reacting agent. It changes whatever it comes into contact with. Presumably, when a life form comes into contact with the black goo, the black goo accentuates whatever characteristics the life form already has. Kind of like a hallucinogenic drug experience, whatever you bring in with you is what you take out. Example 1: when the meal worms come into contact with the black goo, they change into super worms. Worms are simple creatures. They have no emotion, no intellect, they only perform simple life functions, ie, survive and reproduce. When the biologist and the geologist encounter the black goo super worms in the ampule room, the scene shows us how the worms' basic functions are still there, but they have evolved. Notice, the worm only gets dangerous after they start to struggle with it, ie, the worm is trying to protect itself. The black goo does not turn the worm into a proto xeno or anything in the evolutionary chain or cycle of the xeno morph, it just twists the worm into something beyond a mere, normal worm. Example 2: Fifield. Humans are much more complex than worms, but the theory holds true. When Fifield comes into contact with the black goo, the goo accentuates his human characteristics, ie, strength and aggressiveness. Again, the black goo doesn't turn Fifield into a xeno, or anything in the xeno chain or cycle, it just boosts his capacities. I will note that the black goo appears to accentuate the characteristics that we already know and love about the xenos. The black goo inspired worms show us that the worms developed acid blood, they have grown larger and are drawn to seek out the back of a human’s throat. Black goo inspired Fifield show us that the black goo turns him into a freakishly strong, mindless killing machine. The black goo pushes whatever life form it touches in this direction. SUBSTANCE IN GREEN VIALS: When David sneaks the canister back onboard the Prometheus, he removes the vials out of the canister (also note, black goo pours out all over the table, but David doesn’t give it a second glance). It’s the stuff in the vials that is of value. The vials are seemingly fragile and designed to break. I will contend that the substance in the green vials is the basic DNA of the xeno morph. We see this chain of effects play out when Holloway ingests the substance from the green vials (xeno DNA). It takes root in him, where he translates it to Shaw who gives birth to squid, yada yada. The substance in the green vials is dangerous, no doubt, but the complete bio weapon is the full canister, the green vials and the black goo surrounding it. It seems as if it were designed to be dropped on a planet, the green vials break open, mixing and releasing the xeno DNA. The xeno DNA then combines with the black goo surrounding it, accentuating the natural characteristics of the xeno DNA and creating a suoer xeno. It’s a similar concept to a nuclear bomb. You have the uranium core that by itself isn’t that dangerous. But when you surround the core with an explosive charge that detonates sequentially, it kicks the whole process up a few notches.