Minor Spoilers for Predator: Killer of Killers are below!

Summary

Predator: Killer of Killers is a unique, animated anthology film with three distinct Yautja battles throughout history.
Killer of Killers features a franchise first, seeing a Predator ship in an aerial dogfight with WWII pilots.
Director Dan Trachtenberg continues revitalizing the Predator series, with Predator: Badlands set to feature the first Yautja protagonist.

Predator: Killer of Killers is a unique film in the Predator franchise, and the anthology features a Yautja battle unlike anything fans have seen before. Director Dan Trachtenberg reinvigorated the Predator series with his 2022 film Prey, which followed Naru, a Comanche warrior played by Amber Midthunder, who battled a Yautja hunter in 1719. Trachtenberg has since been entrusted with the franchise, with the director behind two new films releasing this year, Predator: Killer of Killers and Predator: Badlands.

Predator: Killer of Killers recently debuted on Hulu, with audiences streaming the animated anthology movie, which has proven to be one of the highest-rated films in the franchise. The movie tells three separate stories, seeing a Viking, a Samurai, and a WWII pilot battling Yautja hunters at different times throughout history. Predator: Killer of Killers is one of the franchise's most unique entries, embracing elements that have worked for the series in the past while adding new thrills fans haven't seen before.

How Predator: Killer Of Killers Perfectly Sets Up Prey 2

Predator: Killer of Killers is a unique anthology film that is secretly more connected to the franchise than it lets on, setting up Prey 2.

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By Timothy McClelland

The Previous Predator Films Have Thrived On Similar Concepts

The Predator franchise has thrived on standalone sequels that feature various types of human warriors battling Yautja hunters. The first Predator, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, followed a team of soldiers. 2010's Predators featured numerous military types, as well as a Mexican cartel member, a serial killer, and a Yakuza member. Trachtenberg's Prey was the first to step back in time, seeing a Comanche warrior fighting a distinct Yautja hunter, giving the franchise a female protagonist. The series has successfully brought the Predator back to battle new people in new places, as each sequel embraced similar concepts.

Predator: Killer of Killers took what fans loved about Prey and picked three other warriors from throughout history to battle Yautja. Each story also featured distinctly different Yautja, varying the encounters. The Viking story featured a Brute Yautja, with the Samurai story seeing a leaner, stealthier Predator unlike any presented in prior films. However, the WWII story gave the Predator franchise something it had never done before.

Predator: Killer Of Killers Sets Itself Apart In More Ways Than One

Predator: Killer of Killers is easily the most distinct film in the franchise, as it is the first animated movie and anthology. It also sets up a finale that could see prior characters returning, as an expanded lore introduces a conceit full of possibilities. While the Viking and Samurai stories are things Predator fans have yet to see, they share similarities with earlier films in the series. The Samurai story, in particular, has elements reminiscent of Hanzo in Predators, with the same actor, Louis Ozawa, also voicing the characters Kenji and Kiyohsi in Predator: Killer of Killers.

The WWII pilot's tale in the film's third story offers the Predator franchise a new battle that no other movie has featured. The pilot, Torres, finds himself and his fellow airmen embroiled in an aerial dogfight with a Predator ship. While Predator ships have played integral roles in prior movies, as 2018's The Predator featured a finale that saw characters on one of the ships, trying to bring it down, and Predator 2's conclusion plays out on one, audiences have never been treated to a dogfight. The scene sees planes downed by the Predator ship, with Torres performing a death-defying feat to keep his aircraft aloft as he figures out the Yautja's heat-seeking technology.

The scene also sees Michael Biehn voicing the character Vandy, who perishes, making him the second actor in history killed by a Terminator, a Predator, and a Xenomorph (or at least in an Alien movie), alongside the late Bill Paxton. Still, the entire dogfight shows Predator: Killer of Killers flexing the advantages of its animation to thrill audiences with a scene a live-action movie could shy away from due to budgetary constraints, giving the franchise a battle audiences likely never thought they would see.

Killer Of Killers Is The First of Two Unique 2025 Predator Movies

Trachtenberg has been invigorating the Predator franchise with fresh ideas. After the success of Prey, the director has continued to find new ways for the series to continue in ways fans never expected. While Predator: Killer of Killers sets itself apart as an animated anthology movie, the director may give the franchise one of its most distinct outings later this year with Predator: Badlands.

Predator: Badlands will feature the first Yautja protagonist in the franchise, following Dek, an outcast who teams up with Elle Fanning's Thia. The trailer's other twist is that Thia is a Weyland-Yutani android, which connects Badlands to the Alien franchise. It may also be setting up another Alien vs. Predator film, potentially expanding the franchise with a new crossover movie. Given what Trachtenberg has set up with the finale of Predator: Killer of Killers, and what Predator: Badlands promises to bring to the series, the alien hunters look to have a bright future in the director's hands, with numerous ways to continue.