"Prometheus" announces its epic intentions in the very first scene, with stunning cinematography of a lush deserted wilderness that we'll later learn is Earth. Wide, immaculate shots of the pre-historic landscape accompany Marc Streitenfeld's ethereal score, and we're introduced to our first member of the pale alien race affectionately known as "The Engineers." This mysterious being watches a spaceship depart in the clouds, and then drinks a mysterious black liquid from a metal cup. Immediately, he doubles over in pain and begins to disintegrate — the camera zooms in to show us his very DNA is dissolving, and then begins recombining as he plunges into a waterfall.
Later it is suggested (based on how the DNA of an Engineer closely resembles human DNA), that this was the moment the Engineers essentially created humanity. In a similar way to the monolith from the famous opening scene of "2001: A Space Odyssey," which gives primates a kick-start in the evolution of consciousness, "Prometheus" posits that this humanoid alien race sent a lone member on a fateful mission to break himself down into the genetic building blocks that would eventually become modern humanity. Why that process would take such a long detour into pre-hominids and australopithecines isn't entirely made clear, but the Engineers are shown to definitively be the creators of humanity.
