Engineers are antiheroes in the Alien Series
Biography[]
Little is known about the Engineers' history beside them being transcendent beings, but the Engineers are shown to be the "creators" of the human race as they visited Earth during its primordial state, whereupon the lone Sacrificial Engineer ingests an unknown liquid, causing his entire body structure to dissolve and seeding the planet with his DNA, and hastening evolution upon that world. The Engineers continue to visit Earth multiple times to observe the human race's development, presumably to pursue further unknown studies on humanity.
At some point approximately 2,000 years before, the Engineers stationed on LV-223 initiated a plan to wipe out humanity for reasons unknown by releasing the black liquid pathogen they had created. However, they apparently lost control of the pathogen and led the Engineers there to die off. Four surviving Engineers took refuge within their ship, storing themselves within its hypersleep chambers; however, only one of them survived.
In 2089, archaeologists Elizabeth Shaw and Charlie Holloway discover a star map among several unconnected ancient cultures within a cave during their expedition on the Isle of Skye. They interpret this as an invitation from the Engineers rather than a warning to stay away. Shaw then contacted Peter Weyland, the elderly CEO/Creator of Weyland Corporation, for a proposal in order to gain enough funding for an expedition to follow the star map. Weyland agrees with the proposal and funds the creation of the scientific vessel Prometheus to follow the map to the distant moon LV-223.
On April 4, 2090, a probe sent by Wayland arrived on LV-223 to survey the moon. Before it could complete it's readings however, it was stepped on and destroyed by a passing Engineer.
In 2093, after the USCSS Prometheus' two year voyage, the ship arrived on LV-223. The Prometheus crew explored the moon's surface where they came across the Engineer Temple. The crew entered the structure and discovered the bodies of some Engineers, as well as several Steatite Ampules stored within the structure. The crew's interference caused the pathogen stored within the Ampules to melt, a few crew members were exposed to the pathogen, and in the ensuing chaos most were killed. The android David successfully found the last living Engineer and informed Weyland, who was secretly aboard the ship the entire time. Weyland and his team went to the Engineers' ship to commune with the last Engineer however, upon waking; the Engineer decapitated David after a brief conversation and killed Weyland along with the entire party, save Shaw, who managed to escape.
The Engineer reactivated his ship and headed for Earth to carry out his original mission to wipe out the human race. The remaining crew later sacrificed themselves and the Prometheus to destroy the Engineer's ship. The Engineer survived and attacked Shaw within Prometheus' lifeboat, Shaw released the Trilobite she had extracted earlier from her womb as the result of intercourse with Holloway who was infected by the pathogen, which restrains and impregnates the Engineer while Shaw escapes. The Engineer later died and birthed a Deacon.
In 2094, David arrived at Planet 4 aboard a Engineer ship and bombed an Engineer city with the black liquid, wiping out the settlement and creating Neomorphs.
In 2104, the colony ship Covenant, discovers Planet 4. After a series of deaths and a disaster that strands the crew on the planet, David leads the survivors to the Engineer city, filled with the petrified remains of the inhabitants.
In 2122, while returning from Thedus, the USCSS Nostromo was diverted to the Zeta II Reticuli system, the Nostromo's onboard computer, MU-TH-UR, intercepted a distress beacon originating from LV-426. The crew members were awakened prematurely from their hypersleep, and they responded to the beacon and took the Nostromo to the planet. A three-person survey crew explored the planet's surface where they came across a crashed derelict ship. Upon entering the ship, they discovered the remains of a fossilized Engineer wearing a Bio-Suit and numerous eggs that were stored within the ship's cargo bay. Afterwards Kane was impregnated by a Facehugger and was taken back to the Nostromo for medical treatment, only to die a few hours later when a Chestburster burst violently out of his chest. The creature quickly matured into an adult and began killing the crew members one by one and led to the destruction of the Nostromo.
In 2137, the USCSS Anesidora discovered the derelict. Inside, the crew discovered the fossilized Engineer and equipment from the Nostromo. While exploring the ship, crew member Catherine Foster was attacked by a Facehugger, and the Anesidora subsequently headed to Sevastopol Station in search of help, triggering an outbreak there.
In 2179, the terraforming and research colony Hadley's Hope established on LV-426 was given a vague order from Weyland-Yutani executive Carter Burke to locate the derelict, having learned of the ship's location from the claims of the Nostromo's sole survivor Ellen Ripley. Surveyors Russ and Anne Jorden located the ship, Russ was attacked by a Facehugger and Anne pulled him out and radioed for help. Some of the rescue party also went into the derelict and were attacked. All of the victims were returned to the colony which eventually led to its downfall.