Despite being one of the deadliest alien creatures in the history of science fiction, the Predator actually has a pretty simple weakness, one that was made apparent after the franchise introduced the surprisingly simplistic yet absolutely perfect Yautja-killing weapon.
The Predator, or Yautja, species made its debut in the 1987 film Predator where one travels to Earth to hunt humans. While that wasn’t the first (or last) trip the Yautja would make to Earth, that first appearance gave fans practically everything they needed to know about the Predator. The Yautja are highly advanced technologically–as shown with their cloaking devices and shoulder cannons–but they also like to use simple killing methods like the two-pronged fist blades and spears. What’s more, the first film also gave fans a deeper look into the Predator’s mindset and motivations. If someone doesn’t have a weapon in clear view, or pose a serious threat, the Predator will simply leave them alone. The Predator will also usually match their prey in terms of weaponry, so if the thing they’re hunting are fighting back with more primitive weapons, the Predator will also use similar weapons to battle them on their level and thereby proving their superiority if they are victorious. Yautja are smart, capable warriors, but they are also prideful, and that is something that can be used against them.
In Predator #4 by Ed Brisson and Kev Walker, the human space-warrior, Theta, is being shot down by a Yautja ship, causing her vessel to crash-land. Throughout this series, Theta has been hunting Predators across the cosmos, killing any she comes across in the hopes of finally finding the one who killed her family when she was a child. After her ship was shot down in this issue, Theta quickly suited up and walked outside into the brutal conditions of this blizzard-swirling planet to meet her pursuers. When Theta comes face-to-face with the Predator who shot her out of the sky, she attacks them–but things don’t go as well as she hoped. Theta is getting absolutely destroyed in this fight as it's clear that the Predators are sick of her killing their kind and have come at her with a fiery and murderous vengeance. Fortunately, Theta is well-prepared for any Predator-encounter, and when this Yautja was strangling Theta, holding her close while watching her die, Theta pulls out a hidden blade and stabs the Predator in the throat, killing them in seconds.
A Hidden Blade is the Perfect Weapon Against a Predator
In this instance, a hidden blade was Theta’s last hope of survival, but its effectiveness proves that it should be more than a last resort weapon. While Theta is an extreme example of a Predator’s prey–since she was targeted and marked for death even if she wasn’t in a position to fight back–a Predator would likely leave someone alone if all they had on them was a hidden blade. As shown in every Predator film, the Yautja sees their prey through infrared vision, so they wouldn’t necessarily notice a concealed blade. Plus, if someone just had one on them during a Predator’s hunt, then they could covertly use it against the unsuspecting Predator if they were close enough to. Theta proved a small knife is more than enough to kill a Predator if used properly, and if someone with this weapon was meeting a Predator under normal hunting conditions, then they would have a better chance of killing the Yautja than someone with a giant machine gun would.
The concealed blade makes it seem like someone doesn’t have a weapon at all, which leaves the Predator vulnerable to surprise attack as they wouldn’t be looking at that person as ‘honorable’ prey, and this issue shows that a knife like that can kill a Predator just as well as any other weapon–proving that a simple concealed blade is surprisingly the perfect Yautja-killing weapon.