The Predator franchise has a collection of 8 different kinds of Predators, and Prey 2 could bring many or even all of them into the game. Forgoing the title of Predator 5, Prey takes the franchise back in time to 1719 while introducing a new type of Predator known as a "Feral Predator" as the antagonist of the Comanche warrior Naru (Amber Midthunder) who goes head-to-head with it. While the Feral Predator's look sets it apart from every other masked alien hunter in the franchise, the Predator movies have always gone out of their way to individuate one Predator from another.
Certain aspects of the Predator's appearance have remained consistent, including its mandible jaws and dreadlock-like hair (which were actually said to be quills by the Predator's designer Stan Winston). Still, the various redesigns the creature has been given over the years have been extensive enough to give a sense of how many different Predators exist on their home world. Additionally, some of the Predator movies have also established major cultural differences from different groups of masked Predators, particularly 2010's Predators.
The Predator franchise's expanded universe in the Predator and Aliens vs. Predator comic books also delved into aspects of the Predators' society and culture on their home world, including showing other kinds of Predators not seen in the movies themselves. After Prey, having been heralded as the best Predator movie since the original (and in some cases even praised as surpassing it), Prey 2 could do something no other Predator movie has done in bringing every kind of Predator from the movies and comics together in one epic story. Here is how Prey 2 could involve all the different types of Predators in its story.
The Predator Franchise Has Several Different Predators
As the introduction to the extraterrestrial hunter, Predator centered on a single Predator as its antagonist against Arnold Schwarzenegger's Dutch, and it was not until Predator 2, which Schwarzenegger did not return for, that multiple Predators were seen on-screen at once. Even so, the basic look of the Predator was kept consistent until Predators, which brought the classic Predator back and also debuted the Super Predators into the franchise. The Predator later saw the arrival of the much larger Ultimate Predator, standing about 11 feet tall and genetically enhanced with the DNA of other species.
Prey presents the latest new addition to the franchise's canon of hunters with its own version of the Predator. Known as the Feral Predator, this Predator variant carries very different facial features from any other member of its species while wearing a skull-like mask. All of these are in addition to other versions of the Predator seen in Predator and Aliens vs. Predator comics, such as the Bad Blood Predator, Enforcer Predator, Infected Predator, and Big Mama Predator, among other sci-fi-based Predator variants. Each individual Alien and Predator movie having largely written its own rules about what it regards as canon, Prey 2 could officially bring in the comics-specific Predators for their big-screen debuts with no difficulty. The possibilities presented by the different types of Predators get more interesting when looking at certain elements of the story of Predators.
Predators Established A Conflict Among Different Predators
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Predators took the franchise off-world for the first time, with the Super Predators abducting various soldiers and killers from around the world to hunt on a jungle planet used by the Predators. The Super Predators themselves were a major new addition to the franchise, but Predators also added to this with the role the Classic Predator played in the movie. Kept chained to a post by a Super Predator trio hunting the humans, Predators established that the different factions of Predators are all hunters and warriors, and are also in a long-standing conflict among themselves, to the point of apparently even hunting each other.
The Predator somewhat followed on this with the Ultimate Predator's mission to stop a defecting Predator from getting the "Predator Killer" suit to the humans of the film. However, this was not directly connected to the war among Predators that was a significant focus of Predators itself. By introducing the latest new type of Predator in the franchise, Prey has continued building on the diversity of the Predators both culturally and as a species. It also means that Prey 2 could follow on what Predators first set up.
Prey 2 Could Incorporate All The Predators Into Its Story
Prey's end credits tease more Predators arriving, and it looks as though more than just one Predator will be arriving on Earth for the next hunt in Prey 2. While it seems likely that more of the Feral Predators could be part of the arriving party, Prey 2 could take it even further with the various types of Predators seen throughout the Predator movies and comics being a part of the story. Even better, it could also make the Predators' animosity to each other a part of the film.
The different Predators all pursuing the same collection of humans would naturally stir up competition among them, which would only be intensified by the fact of their internal divisions. Classic Predators and Super Predators are already known to hate each other, but the other Predators could also be as determined to take each other down as their human prey, due to both built-in hostility and hunting competition. As the hunt in Prey 2 begins, members of the different kinds of Predators seen in comic book stories, such as the Bad Blood Predator or Enforcer Predator, could also arrive on Earth with the others. That story could essentially make Prey 2, from the perspective of the Predators themselves, into a kind of hunting free-for-all, the Predators hunting the humans of the story while also battling each other to the last Predator standing.
Even as simplicity has been one of the Predator franchise's greatest assets, the occasional glimpses into just who and what Predators there are has also been essential to the series. Prey is the latest to do so with the debut of the Feral Predator bringing its ever-vicious hunting tactics as the enemy of Amber Midthunder's Dutch one-upping Naru. With so many great Predators in both movies and comics, seeing an ensemble of hunters arriving on Earth next might just be how Prey 2 can continue the Predator franchise's re-invigoration that Prey has begun so effectively.