Spoilers for Predator: Killer of Killers follow. The Predator franchise is experiencing a major renaissance, and following the animated anthology Predator: Killer of Killers, multiple Predator franchise stars can return to the series. Killer of Killers follows a trio of human warriors spread throughout different time periods and cultures battling Predators, a.k.a. Yautja, with each emerging triumphant. However, the big franchise twist of Predator: Killer of Killers involves the trio being abducted, cryogenically frozen, and eventually thawed out to do battle in a massive gladiatorial arena on another planet overseen by the Predators. Moreover, Killer of Killers‘ end credits scene show the Comanche heroine of 2022’s Prey, Amber Midthunder’s Naru, as one such Predator protagonist being kept in cryostasis.
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While such a shocking reveal sets up potential for the Predator franchise’s lore to expand even further in Predator: Badlands, that’s just the beginning. The real kicker of Killer of Killers‘ big twist is that surviving protagonists for virtually every Predator movie ever made have been given a perfect window of opportunity to be brought back into the series. With Dan Trachtenberg overseeing the resurgent Predator franchise, it seems like a good bet that such Predator franchise comebacks could be on the cards for some of its most iconic characters. Here are 5 Predator franchise stars who can easily return after Predator: Killer of Killers.
1) Dutch (Predator, 1987)
The OG human protagonist of the Predator franchise, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Dutch is the very character most probably would have expected to have returned at least once in the series already. Indeed, that very idea was proposed for 1990’s Predator 2 (with multiple conflicting reasons reported for why Arnold declined to return). Nonetheless, as a human who has triumphed over a Predator, Dutch is exactly the kind of warrior the Predators would elect to abduct, cryogenically freeze, and drop into a gladiatorial showdown. Thanks to Killer of Killers, the case is stronger than ever to bring Dutch back into a future Predator project.
2) Anna (Predator, 1987)
With Dutch was technically the only surviving member of his unit’s encounter with their Yautja hunter in Predator, there was one other survivor of the incident, Central American freedom fighter Anna (Elpidia Carillo). As the unit was picked off one by one, Anna heeded Dutch’s order to “Get to the chopper!” along with providing the team with support in battling the Predator along the way. As a child, Anna heard the Latin American folklore of “The Demon who makes trophies of man”, and she provides most of the context for the Predator’s backstory and hunt in Predator.
Though she was less engaged in direct combat with the Predator compared to Dutch, Yautja hunting rules might still look at her as a victor over a Predator due to her survival, which could also make her a human the Predators might decide to abduct and bring to their turf for a gladiatorial rematch.
3) Detective Mike Harrigan (Predator 2, 1990)
When a Predator arrives in the urban jungle of 1997 Los Angeles in the underrated Predator 2, Danny Glover’s Detective Mike Harrigan pursues and ultimately defeats the alien hunter. Moreover, Harrigan’s gotten perhaps the most direct look into the Predator culture of any of the franchise’s protagonists. In addition to being briefed on the CIA’s intel on the Predators, Harrigan also glimpses the Predator’s trophy room aboard its ship, seeing how many other lifeforms its hunts (including the Xenomorphs of the Alien franchise).
While the other Predators seem to leave Earth respecting Harrigan’s own hunting skill – the Elder Predator even gifting him the franchise’s famed flintlock pistol – Harrigan’s defeat of a Predator and his somewhat in-depth knowledge of their origins might still motivate them to snatch Harrigan up from Earth and bring him to the Predator arena, opening the door for Danny Glover’s possible return to the Predator franchise.
4) Royce (Predators, 2010)
Not all human warriors have battled the Predators strictly on Earth, with some being abducted straight away and plopped down onto a game preserve planet for a hunt. Such is the case for battle-hardened and cynical mercenary Royce (Adrien Brody) in 2010’s Predators, one of seven humans dropped onto the game preserve by the movie’s trio of towering Super Predators, and the one who beheads the trio’s leader in the finale. What made Predators so unique in the franchise is its introduction of the idea of warring tribes of Predators, the Super Predators being engaged in a long-standing feud with the Classic Predators (one of them chained and held captive in the movie). This also sets up the idea that not all Predators think and hunt the same way, with the Super Predators seeming to favor selecting the most formidable enemies they can on Earth and bringing them to their designated hunting ground.
The practice of human victors over Predators being abducted for a gladiatorial match on another game preserve of sorts opens the idea even further, and designates Royce as a human to have defeated a Predator as another candidate for the Yautja gladiatorial games.
5) Alice Braga (Predators, 2010)
The only other human to survive Predators alongside Royce is IDF soldier Isabel (Alice Braga), a sniper who uses her skills to help Royce defeat the Super Predator’s leader in the final showdown. Isabel has a much bigger heart and sense of compassion compared to the stone-cold Royce, and the contrast of the two philosophically different warriors added to the pair’s dual protagonist dynamic in Predators.
When last Royce and Isabel were seen in the final moments of Predators, a new group of humans was being parachuted onto the game preserve, with Royce intoning “Now, let’s find a way off this f–king planet.” To date, it’s unknown how or if Royce and Isabel managed to get off the game preserve planet, but as two humans who jointly defeated a Super Predator, the twist of Predator: Killer of Killers suggests they may not have had to, with a new set of Yautja taking them from the hunting grounds to the Predator’s Colosseum on another planet. That opens the door for Alice Braga’s Isabel to be another possible human warrior to be thawed out of cryostasis in a future installment of the Predator franchise.
Predator: Killer of Killers is available to stream on Hulu and Disney+, and Predator: Badlands will be released in theaters on November 7th.
