Warning! Contains mild SPOILERS For Prey.The alien killers that have come to be known as Predators have been terrorizing and delighting viewers with their spectacular predator skills since 1987's Predator, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. There have been many Predator (a.k.a Yautja) variants over the years. Over the course of the five Predator films (Predator, Predator 2, Predators, The Predator, and Prey) and two crossover films (Alien vs. Predator and Alien vs. Predator: Requiem), fans have been introduced to more than one kind of Predator whose hunting abilities vary from the previous Predator. The Predator race cannot be contained to just one version and as fans who've followed the franchise over the years know, there are more Predator variants than anyone can fathom. The list of every Yautja variant across all Predator movies continues to grow, and most recently expanded with Prey's Feral Predator (2022).

This is because the kinds of Predators that have been created for this franchise are not just limited to the movies. There are also Predator comics and novels which have been running since the 1990s, expanding the world and the canon lore of the Predator species. Through all of these materials, fans have been able to learn about the multiple clans of Predators that exist, their motivations to hunt, their internal conflicts, and their personal journeys. Plus, with more than 30 years of material to choose from, it's no wonder the Predator franchise is going strong, able to pick and choose which Predator variant to put at the center of a new story.

Related: All The Predator's Alternate Endings Explained

So, the time has come to nail down as many established Predator variants as possible. There have been so many over the years and so many that have come in contact with humans to either terrify them or try and make contact with them. Then of course there are those who go toe-to-toe with the Xenomorphs from the Alien franchise. Who are these Predators, and what are their backstories? Let's take a look at a majority of the established Predator variants which have been seen in all Predator movies, from the original 1987 Predator through to the Feral Predator in 2022’s Prey. Here’s every Predator in Predator.

Jungle Hunter

Yautja have been iconic across all Predator movies, but the one that started it all is the Jungle Hunter Predator. It was the very first Predator introduced in the Predator franchise. He appeared in 1987's Predator and was responsible for stalking and killing a group of mercenaries led by Dutch Schaefer (Schwarzenegger) in the Val Verde jungle. The blueprint of what makes a Predator, who will all come to be revealed as members of the alien race called the Yautja, begins with the Jungle Predator. It's believed the Jungle Hunter had been using the Val Verde jungle as his hunting ground for years before Dutch and his crew arrived, meaning the Jungle Hunter had plenty of time to refine his hunting skills. He quickly earned the moniker "El Diablo que hace trofeos de los hombres" ("The Demon who makes trophies of men") from locals because of his stealthiness and killing techniques. Predator also introduces Yautja hunting accessories like the Bio-Mask, which detect body heat in the dark and have the ability to record and send information back to the Yautja's home planet of Yautja Prime. The Jungle Hunter also reveals what makes himself and the other Predators so special: they have the ability to camouflage, and they naturally have infrared vision. The Jungle Hunter's Bio-Mask recordings were seen by the City Hunter, inspiring him to travel to Earth to do a little hunting of his own.

City Hunter

The City Hunter Predator was the leader of the Predator gang in 1990's Predator 2. The City Hunter is pretty bold in his actions, hunting and terrorizing his prey which included LAPD Detective Lieutenant Mike Harrigan (Danny Glover). He was inspired to go to Earth after viewing the Jungle Hunter's Bio-Mask recordings from Val Verde. Although he lands with a crew of other Predators, he's the only one to leave the ship and make use of Los Angeles as a prime hunting ground. The City Hunter is seen actively hunting during the day and night, taking advantage of an existing turf war between two cartels and picking off members from each group. He also makes a prime target out of Harrigan, who he considers a warrior, and proceeds to engage in a game of cat-and-mouse to draw Harrigan to him. Harrigan eventually kills the City Hunter. Over the course of Predator 2, a lot of advanced Yautja technology and Predator weapons are introduced because it's part of the City Hunter's arsenal, including a Plasmacaster, Netgun, Combistick, and Smart Disc, as well as a Wrist Gauntlet with a self-destruct mode, a short-range energy projector, and communication device. It's also established in Predator 2 that Predators have had previous contact and conflict with the Xenomorphs, the aliens first seen in Alien.

Related: The Predator's Ending Explained: Killer Armor, Sequel Setup & What Was Changed

The Predator 2 Gang

In Predator 2, there's more than one Predator that comes to Los Angeles. The City Hunter may have been the leader, but he brought with him an entire gang of Yautja as backup. They're responsible for overseeing the City Hunter, eventually retrieving his body after he is killed by Harrigan. It's notable that the gang of Predators led by the City Hunter stayed on the ship for most of Predator 2 (with the crossover-spawning Xenomorph skull in the trophy room). When they finally showed up, they did not attack Harrigan, who had chased the City Hunter back to his ship and killed him. Instead, the Predator gang gave Harrigan a trophy, an antique flintlock pistol, for killing the City Hunter. The gang then took the City Hunter's body back to Yautja Prime.

Ancient Predator

The Ancient Predator was first seen in Alien vs. Predator. He's an imposing Yautja elder, standing much taller than other Predators and shown to be older by the "facial hair" (what appears to be spikes) on his face. He is seen to not be combative or predatory like other Yautja members but instead chooses to make peaceful contact with the film's protagonist, Lex Woods (Sanaa Lathan), at the very end of AvP. His appearance is brief, but it's presumed he was there to oversee the initiation hunt that involved the film's younger Predators Scar, Celtic, and Chopper. The Ancient Predator watched as Lex worked with Scar to defeat a common enemy, choosing to reward Lex with her life rather than kill her during their meeting. The Ancient Predator gifted Lex with the Combistick, a Yautja weapon similar to a spear made of lightweight material.

Related: The Predator Makes Alien vs. Predator Canon Again

The Predalien

Predator vs Predalien

The Predalien is the spawn of a Predator and a Xenomorph, first seen during Alien vs. Predator. It's only glimpsed for a moment and, like the other Xenomorphs from the Alien franchise, is shown to be a chest-burster when it first comes to life. The Predalien was born to Scar, a Predator, after Scar was somehow impregnated by a Facehugger (an Alien variant) during his hunt in the pyramid underneath Bouvet Island. To this day, the Predalien is the only known product of a Facehugger and a Predator having a child (so to speak) and will likely be the only one to ever exist in the franchise since it was killed during AvP. Because it was both Facehugger and Predator, the Predalien possessed physical traits of both species, emitting a different infrared pattern when viewed through a Bio-Mask and having the facial features of a Facehugger but the dreadlocks and body of a Predator. The Predalien was also able to command Xenomorphs, bringing two Xenomorph Warriors and numerous Facehuggers with him to Colorado in the terrible AvP: Requiem.

Super Predator

Remember the Jungle Hunter for Predator? Well, if you turned the Predator dial up to 11, you would be met with the Super Predator of 2010's Predators, the third film in the mainline series. The Super Predators are a larger, stronger version of the Jungle Hunter. Physically, they stand as tall as the Jungle Hunter but have more reptilian faces and their dreadlocks sit further back on their heads. When it comes to weaponry, there are some slight differences in preferences between the Super Predators and their Jungle Hunter counterparts. Super Predators prefer Gatling gun-like weapons to the traditional Plasmacaster and use single blades that spring from their Wrist Gauntlets. They also make good use of vocal mimicry and cloaking to hide from their prey until it's the right time to strike. History revealed in Predators shows that the Super Predator clan is at war with the Jungle Predator clan, causing conflict that manifests in the movie and exhibiting how two Predator clans can come to blows.

Predator Dogs

The Predator dogs appear in 2018's The Predator. The dogs are in service of the Ultimate Predator and the Hybrid Predator. They essentially look like the Yautja version of a dog, walking on four legs with elongated faces, rows of sharp teeth, and much bigger, broader bodies. They are skilled trackers and capable of running at great speed and distance to catch their prey. However, after the humans in The Predator face off against the Predator dogs and get in a few blows, they manage to subdue the Predator dogs to the point that they essentially become large alien watchdogs who are more bark than bite.

Related: The Predator: Every Easter Egg & Movie Connection

Ultimate Predator

The Ultimate Predator, along with the much bigger and more menacing counterpart occasionally referred to as the Hybrid Predator, appears in 2018's The Predator. The Ultimate Predator was a genetically-modified Predator sent to Earth to destroy the "Predator Killer," a weapon that was also sent to Earth to destroy Predators and protect humans. Physically, the Ultimate Predator had an unusual advantage because of all its genetic modifications, with DNA brought in from various alien species and fused into its own DNA to enhance it and make it more of a skilled warrior. At 11 feet, he stands taller than previous Predators and could actually manipulate specific areas of his body, so he developed an armor-like covering to protect himself.

Related: The Predator: Ultimate Predator Origins, Hybrid DNA & Abilities Explained

Feral Predator

Three shots of the Feral Predator from Prey

The Feral Predator is the antagonist hunting 2022's Prey cast, and the design of this Yautja got a significant overhaul for the soft reboot. Unlike other Predator movies, Prey had a historical setting. Rather than following a group of modern soldiers or scientists, Prey is set in 1719 and follows a group of Comanche hunters trying to take down the Yautja that crash lands in their territory. While the Feral Predator has many of the tools and weapons of Yautja in the other Predator movies, they're much more primitive than other Yautja seen on screen. There's a notable lack of plasma weaponry, for starters. Its armor also looks significantly different. Most notably, its helm still has the same visual thermo-tracking tooling, but it's not hidden behind an eyeless bone faceplate, one that exposes its face mandible and lower jaw. Prey leaves many questions about the Feral Yautja's backstory, but it seems more arrogant than other Yautja. It also shows much less regard for the Yautja Honor Code, as evidenced by its killing of unarmed foes during combat and use of explosives to unnecessarily kill a group of French trappers when it grew frustrated. The Feral Predator would no doubt have killed the Trappers anyway, but using explosives when there was no threat to its own life isn't the Yautja way. When unmasked, the Feral Predator has a notably different bone structure to other Yautja, especially around the eyes. It could be that the Feral Predator is from an entirely new tribe of Yautja – one that has a different version of the Honor Code (or none whatsoever).

Bad Blood Predator

Taken from the Predator comics rather than the Predator movies, the Bad Blood Predator is a rogue, unstable Predator variant notorious for having gone on a killing spree. The term "Bad Blood" is used to refer to any Yautja who has broken the Yautja Honor Code and gone against its fellow Yautja, thereby harming the community as a whole. This particular Bad Blood Predator caught the attention of other Yautja when it went on a killing spree in New Jersey. The Enforcer Predator was eventually called in to take it out. However, the Enforcer failed and the Bad Blood Predator was eventually killed by Black Ops agent Mandy Graves - another character only found in the comics - instead.

Enforcer Predator

Enforcer Predators are the Yautja equivalent of someone like Judge Dredd. As tough as the name suggests, the Enforcer Predator was specifically tasked with taking out the rogue Bad Blood Predator in the comics. Its mask is different to other Predator Bio-Masks, giving him the appearance of a specialized hunter or soldier to show he's a specific kind of Yautja. Unfortunately, the Enforcer Predator was unable to subdue the Bad Blood Predator and is eventually killed after confronting the Bad Blood Predator over its killing spree.

Infected Predator

The Infected Predator can be found in the Predator comic series Fire & Stone. It's a monstrous creature, made with the help of a black substance created by the Engineers, the sentient beings with possible ties to humans that were also seen in the Alien franchise prequel Prometheus. The black substance turned the Predator into a mindless killer, easily manipulated into doing the bidding of whoever controlled it.

Related: Prey Movie Ending Explained (In Detail)

Big Mama Predator

The Big Mama Predator has claimed her place in Predator history as the only female Predator to ever exist within the franchise. She appears in the Predator comic Alien vs. Predator: Deadliest of the Species. In the comics, she is tasked with hunting down Caryn Delacroix in a simulator known as TOY. Big Mama and Caryn forgo their potentially antagonistic relationship and, instead, Big Mama becomes a mentor to Caryn, teaching her Yautja ways and fighting techniques.