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Predator Movie Franchise Deep Dive Before Badlands
- Sakshi D
- Oct 18
- 7 min read
Updated: Oct 19
The Predator franchise has one of the most straightforward concepts in sci-fi: what if an alien species treated hunting humans like we treat trophy hunting? What if we weren’t the apex predator for once?
That simple premise has sustained seven films across nearly 40 years, from jungle warfare in 1987 to the Great Plains in 1719 to a future alien planet in the upcoming Badlands. The franchise works because the Yautja (the Predators’ actual species name) follow rules. They have honor codes. They respect worthy opponents. They’re warriors with culture and technology.
Predator: Badlands drops in 2025, taking the franchise into completely new territory with a Predator protagonist and a far-future setting. Before that happens, you need to understand the timeline, the lore, and why these films keep working.
I’m breaking down the entire Predator Movie Franchise - release order, chronological timeline, the Yautja culture that makes them fascinating villains, and what Badlands promises to change.
The Timeline of the Predator Movie Franchise
Chronological Order (In-Universe)
The Predators have been visiting Earth for centuries, maybe millennia. The earliest encounter we see is Prey (1719), then Predator (1987), Predator 2 (1997), both Alien vs. Predator films (2004), Predators (circa 2010s), The Predator (2018), and finally Badlands set in the far future on a distant planet.
Release Order
Watching in release order gives you the evolution of the franchise. Watching chronologically shows you how humanity gradually learns to fight back against an enemy they barely understand. :)
Yautja Culture: The Honor Code
The Hunting Rules
Predators are a tribal warrior race whose entire society revolves around ritualized hunting for sport.
A Predator typically targets only armed, dangerous opponents. They spare those deemed unworthy or incapable of defending themselves. The films show them avoiding children, unarmed civilians, and pregnant victims who pose no challenge.
If a human proves worthy by killing a Predator in single combat or aiding one, they’re often spared and sometimes gifted a weapon as respect. The franchise treats combat as a dialogue between warrior cultures.
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Trophies and Rituals
After a kill, Predators skin or decapitate their prey and keep the remains as trophies. Their wrist-mounted gear includes a self-destruct bomb: if defeated or cornered, a Predator will trigger this device to honorably obliterate itself and its trophies rather than be captured.
The 2010 film Predators introduced Super Predators, a rival Yautja clan engaged in blood feuds with “standard” Predators. This revealed that Predator society has internal conflicts and hierarchy.
The Technology
Predators are highly advanced. Tall humanoids with mandibled faces, using active camouflage cloaking, thermal-vision masks, plasma shoulder cannons, wrist-blade gauntlets, and starships for interstellar travel.
Their blood glows green. Their bodies withstand extreme wounds and environments. In Prey (1719), we see a more primitive Predator using bone and metal weapons with a crude bone mask, showing how their technology evolved over time.
The Films: What You Need to Know
Predator (1987): Where It Started
Arnold Schwarzenegger leads a special-forces rescue team in a Central American jungle. They’re being stalked by a lone Predator hunter.
This film establishes everything—the cloaking ability, thermal vision, wrist cannon and blades, the deadly self-destruct ritual. It introduces the Predator’s motive: trophy hunting formidable humans for sport.
Dutch Schaefer’s guerrilla combat against the creature sets the template for every human-Predator encounter after. Remove technology, use the environment, turn the hunt around.
Director John McTiernan created an action-horror hybrid that still holds up. The jungle becomes a character. The tension builds perfectly. When you finally see the Predator’s face, it’s earned.
Predator 2 (1990): Urban Hunting Grounds
Set in 1997 Los Angeles during a heatwave and crime wave, the Predator turns up hunting gang members and cops. Detective Mike Harrigan (Danny Glover) fights the urban Predator.
This sequel expands the lore significantly.
We see the Predator’s trophy collection, including a Xenomorph skull that foreshadows the crossover films. The neural shunt and bomb tech get explained. Humanity begins investigating through Agent Keyes, signaling that the Predator threat is now on government radar.
The shift from jungle to city shows the Predator adapting to different hunting environments. Heat draws them because they thrive in hot climates.
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Alien vs. Predator (2004): The Crossover
In present-day Antarctica, a corporate expedition led by Charles Bishop Weyland uncovers an ancient pyramid housing both dormant Predators and trapped Aliens.
Three Predators arrive for a rite-of-passage hunt. Massive battle between Predators and Xenomorphs with humans caught in the middle. This crossover reveals Predators collect Aliens as ultimate prey and hints at their long history with Earth.
The film ties Predator lore to the Alien mythos through the Weyland company. Within the Predator franchise canon, the AVP movies are part of the timeline. In official Alien canon, they conflict with Prometheus and Covenant, so they’re effectively non-canonical there.
The Predator franchise embraces AVP. The Alien franchise ignores it.
Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007): The Outbreak
Immediately following AVP, an alien queen crash-lands in a Colorado town, spawning Aliens that run amok. A lone Predator (the “Wolf”) follows to contain the outbreak.
This film shows a Predator efficiently slaughtering swarms of Aliens. It briefly depicts Predator homeworld scenes and ships. Though critically panned, it deepens the crossover lore and cements AVP events in Predator canon.
The concept of Predators as intergalactic hunters of Xenomorphs becomes central to their mythology.
Predators (2010): The Game Preserve
Elite soldiers and killers wake up on an unknown jungle planet—a Predator game preserve. They learn they’re prey to a new breed of hunters.
This film broadens everything. Multiple Yautja clans exist (standard vs. Super Predators). Predators abduct humans for sport on other worlds. Evidence of many past hunts suggests a galaxy-wide hunting culture.
Adrien Brody leads as Royce, a mercenary who gradually understands the rules of the game. The survivors find other humans who’ve been stranded there for years.
The idea of Predators as deliberate hunters with infrastructure, not accidental Earth visitors, gets reinforced.
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The Predator (2018): Genetic Enhancement
Soldier Quinn McKenna uncovers a stranded “Golden Predator” engineered with human DNA. This installment ramps up Predator tech with genetic upgrades and new weapons. Multiple Predator ships and trophies from Earth appear.
The film explores government involvement through Project Stargazer. It shows clan conflict among Predators. The tone shifts toward action-comedy, which divided fans.
Props include a Xenomorph spine in the lab, nodding to franchise history. Though divisive, it expands lore on Predator factions and Earth’s reaction to their return.
Director Shane Black (who had a minor role in the original Predator) tried taking the franchise in a new direction. Results were mixed.
Prey (2022): The Beginning
Set on the Great Plains in 1719, this prequel follows Naru, a young Comanche tracker who confronts the Predator’s first visit to North America.
With primitive bows and spears, Naru’s guerrilla tactics expose the Predator’s earliest hunting methods. The Predator uses bone masks and thrown spears, showing primitive tech before their advancement.
This confirms “ground zero” for Predators on Earth. Indigenous cultures first encountered and eventually defeated one of these hunters. Naru strikes it with a flintlock pistol that later appears in Predator 2, connecting the timeline.
Director Dan Trachtenberg stripped everything back to the basics—survival against a nearly invincible hunter. The film became a critical and audience hit, proving the franchise still had fresh stories to tell.
Amber Midthunder’s performance as Naru earned widespread praise. The film works because it understands the core appeal: underdog ingenuity versus superior technology.
Predator: Badlands (2025): The Future
What We Know
Dan Trachtenberg returns to direct after Prey’s success. Set in the far future on a remote extraterrestrial planet, Badlands follows a young outcast Predator who forms an uneasy alliance with a human named Thia (Elle Fanning).
The Predator protagonist will be CGI, motion-captured by Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi. Early reports indicate rogue Yautja and legacy of Weyland-Yutani genetic experiments factor into the story.
Why This Matters
This is the first Predator film with a Predator as the protagonist. That’s a massive shift. We’ve always seen them as antagonists, mysterious hunters from a warrior culture. Now we’re following one on their quest.
The far-future setting opens possibilities. How has Predator society evolved? What does their homeworld look like now? How do humans and Yautja interact when both have advanced technology?
The alliance between outcast Predator and human suggests exploring the honor code from the inside. What happens when a Predator breaks their society’s rules?
Why the Franchise Endures
The Predator concept is elegant. You can drop it into any time period, any location, any genre. Jungle warfare, urban crime thriller, sci-fi horror, Western survival story, future space adventure. The core remains: a superior hunter stalking worthy prey.
The practical effects and creature design hold up remarkably well. Stan Winston’s original Predator design is iconic. The mandibles, the dreadlocks, the bio-mask—instantly recognizable even in silhouette.
Each film explores different aspects of the mythology while maintaining continuity. Prey showed their origins on Earth. Badlands will show their future in space. The timeline spans centuries but the core concept stays consistent.
What You Need Before Badlands
Watch Prey if you haven’t. It’s the best entry point for new viewers and the strongest film since the original. It proves the franchise can still innovate while respecting what made it work.
Understand the honor code. Predators are warriors following ancient rules. That distinction matters when one becomes the protagonist.
Know the timeline. Badlands sits far in the future, but it builds on everything that came before. The Weyland-Yutani connection, the clan conflicts, the genetic experiments—all of it feeds into where we’re going.
Prepare for something different. A Predator protagonist changes everything. We’ll see their perspective, their motivations, their conflicts. That’s never happened before in this franchise.
Which Predator film is your favorite and why? Tell me if you’re team original, team Prey, or riding for one of the wild ones.
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