In every single story featuring a Predator, fans are shown a Yautja–or group of Yautja–on a hunt, usually trying to kill either humans or Xenomorphs, which would lead one to assume that one of those two species are Predators’ favorite prey. However, one extended-universe comic reveals that the Predator’s deadliest opponent isn’t humans or Xenomorphs, but another unexpected species that has been staring fans in the face from the beginning.
Yautja were introduced in 1987’s Predator, a movie that was a huge hit and launched a widely successful franchise that would eventually evolve into an entirely new (yet equally epic) crossover series called Alien vs Predator. Across a plethora of novels, comics, video games, and movies–both in the solo Predator universe and the shared AvP canon–Predators are depicted as arguably the deadliest warriors in the cosmos, with a culture that revolves entirely around the hunt. In fact, the whole reason Yautja and Xenomorphs battle each other is that Predators recognize a ceremonial rite of passage for the younger members of their species called the Blooding Ritual where a Predator has to kill a Xenomorph in order to be considered a true member of the clan. Despite the cultural importance of the Xenomorph species, Predators seem almost obsessed with hunting humans as they have been doing so since at least the 1700s and all the way through to the distant future. However, in the Predators’ eyes, no other species can compare to their ultimate prey: each other.
Predators Have to Fight Each Other for the Privilege of a Hunt
In Aliens vs Predator #0 by Randy Stradley and Phill Norwood, readers are given a glimpse at the calm before the storm of this iconic AvP storyline. This is the first official Alien vs Predator story ever told, second only to the single-issue (quarter issue, really) storyline in Dark Horse Presents #36. So, in order to fully capture its importance, issue #0 was released to allow fans to see what happened in the moments right before the start of Aliens vs Predator #1–including how the Predators chose who would hunt this particular Xenomorph horde.
On the Predator ship, before the escape pods were launched and the chosen Predators would descend upon this world to kill their first Xenomorph and earn a place in their clan, every Predator who was competing to participate in this Bleeding Ritual had to fight each other until there was only a few handfuls left. Not only did this fight decide who would go on the hunt, but it also revealed who would lead the hunt. The act of Predators fighting each other for the honor of going on a hunt makes perfect sense for their incredibly violent culture, and it leads one to wonder if this is how every hunt is decided.
If Predators have to battle one another before a Bleeding Ritual to see who would go, it would only make sense that they would do the same for any and all off-world hunts across the cosmos. This means that every Predator featured in any movie, book, or comic had to kill a number of its own kind just to try to kill whoever the protagonist is in any given storyline–which is the most metal aspect of the entire franchise, both Predator and AvP. Not only that, but it also shows that, no matter what species the Predator is hunting, they have to fight one another first–proving that the Predators’ deadliest opponent isn’t humans or Xenomorphs, it’s themselves.