1987’s Predator might have started as a simple action vehicle with Arnold Schwarzenegger, but through the years, it’s turned into one of the most popular action-horror hybrids to hit the market. The campy series has seen numerous sequels throughout the years and even when it seemed like the films had fallen out of favor, there’d be a new entry in the series that would hit theaters and reignite interest. The Predator films have gone on to create their own unique universe, but they’re also the one monster that’s become so popular that it’s been deemed worthy to take on the iconic Xenomorph beasts from the Alien films. Regardless of the quality of the end products, the AVP movies were tremendous, cinematic events and much of that had to do with the lasting power of the Predators.
Predators have shown more of their history and backstory over the span of four films and two crossover endeavors, but there’s also a rich collection of comics, video games, and other ancillary materials that extend the story. Audiences may love the Predator and have kept the franchise alive, but that doesn’t mean that it’s infallible. More films, and an increasing source of reference materials, mean a greater chance for confusion to arise. Accordingly, here are 25 Things With The Predator Everyone Chooses To Ignore.
25 The Various Designs And Etymology Of Female Predators
The Predator pictures tend to focus on the male species, which has resulted in a lot of speculation over the females of the race. There was even debate if there were female Predators out there, but sure enough, the series slowly started to shine a light on that corner of the alien race; however, reaching a consensus on the topic isn’t so easy.
Some Predator comics have indicated that female Predators have mammary glands, wider hips, and other genetic similarities to its human counterpart. At the same time, other Predator texts show that the females look identical to the males. This discrepancy obviously raises a lot of questions.
24 Unlimited Ammo
It should come as no surprise that a franchise that involves commandos, and is very action-oriented, would incorporate a large amount of gunfire. Letting the rounds fly is part of the fun of these films, but both Predator and Predators feature situations where the mercenaries and soldiers have a finite amount of ammunition and no means of gaining more.
In spite of this, there are several scenes in both films where they go wild with their weapons and are still never concerned about an ammo shortage as their journey continues. They already have enough to worry about, but they shouldn’t be able to fire off as many shots as they do.
23 The Convenient Means Of Escape Transportation
When your films deal with an advanced race of ancient alien hunters, the most inexplicable element in your story shouldn’t come down to transportation. And no, we’re not talking about the Predators’ alien ship and its complicated cloaking technology. This is in reference to all-terrain vehicles and a news choppers.
In Shane Black’s The Predator, an RV and a news helicopter come out of nowhere as a means of escape for the film's heroes (the RV is also conveniently stocked with ammo and machine guns). Surely, the major reshoots and edits around the film probably provide answers here, but it's kind of ridiculous to see these major pieces of the puzzle just fall in their laps.
22 A Predator Was Defeated By A Teenager
The Predators are supposed to be an elite race of hunters. They’ve conquered some of the most ferocious and intimidating species across the entire universe, which is why it’s so surprising to see humans make waste of them. The Predators deserve some slack since these are highly trained humans, but there is that one instance when a teenager defeats a Predator.
Predator: Hell Come a Walkin' is a limited comic series that depicts Predators’ exploits during the Civil War. During this time, a Predator is beaten by a teenage Jesse James, which may be cool, but doesn't make much sense.
21 The Predator's Pickiness Over Who It Fights
The Predators follow plenty of self-moderated rules over who they decide to focus their sights on. Their targets in battle may not always be the most sensible and it sometimes feels like whoever the Predators attack has more to do with what will make for the coolest action scene.
In the original film for instance, Predator, why doesn’t the Predator attack any of the insurgents before the special ops team shows up? It’s possible that the Predator’s plan is to lure Dutch and company deeper into this mess, but this extra set of bodies that are allowed to survive, even if for a limited time, seem a little antithetical to the Predator's way.
20 Their Collecting Habits
There are plenty of spooky aliens that exist in popular culture. I mean, under the right circumstances, even ALF can be scary. Predators have a chilling appearance, but something that makes them truly nightmarish is their compulsion for collecting the spines of their foes.
Originally, it looked like this habit was just an emphatic display and an example of their trophy hunting ideals. However, The Predator reveals that these spines actually serve a purpose and that they collect the spinal fluid and DNA of their prey. This leads to even more inconsistencies, like why do they take every spine that they do? Is every one genetically superior?
19 A Predator Can Overpower A Power Loader Suit
One of the cooler set pieces in Aliens is when Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley takes the fight directly to the Alien Queen and battles her with the impressive P-5000 Powered Work Loader mech suit. The mech suit does a good job against the beast, but the Alien Queen still manages to hold her own. Curiously, Predators also get to take a crack at this technology.
In the AVP video game, the Exosuit is introduced, which is more powerful than the P-5000 and even features missiles. In the end of AVP 2's Predator campaign, a regular Predator beats this Exosuit using Predator tech.
18 Are They Low-Tech Or High-Tech Hunters?
For the most part, the Predator race is shown to be highly advanced when it comes to weaponry and their technology. Not only do they have massive advancements in offensive and defensive measures, but they also have translation and camouflage science that Earth could only dream of.
In spite of this, Robert Rodriguez’ Predators shows a bunch of low-tech Predators that act quite primitive and are not tech-reliant. Whether these are just uninformed Predators that have some resistance to technology, or they’re going through some “no tech” phase remains to be seen, but it still goes against what the rest of the series explains.
17 Their Colonization Of Earth Plan
The Predator lays some solid groundwork for the reasoning behind why the Predator invasions have happened at an increasing velocity. Apparently, Predators are aware of the global warming situation on Earth and are trying to collect viable human DNA before the species is wiped out and the planet is no longer hospitable for humans. That being said, the film also touches on the colonization of Earth and really jumbles the mission.
It makes sense in theory for Predators to occupy Earth after the race is extinct, but do they really need to? Their home planet appears to be fine and they have other planets at their disposal, as seen in Predators.
16 Their Timeline And How Long They’ve Existed
It may be fun to fill in the blanks on the Predators’ lore and past, but it also feels like these aliens are more effective when they remain a mystery and stay in the shadows. Accordingly, it’s not exactly clear how long the Predator race has existed and just what sort of timeline they’ve experienced. Depending on where you look, there are plenty of different answers in response to the length of the Predators’ hunt.
Predator 2 implies that the race has been around since the 1700s, but comics and other texts date them back to the Civil War or in some cases, they’re entirely pre-civilization, making them as old as the dinosaurs.
15 Why Does The Good Predator Go Rogue?
So much of The Predator involves the good “Super Predator” arriving on Earth to aid the planet in their fight against the Predators. This unexpected ally even gives the humans a battle weapon to help even things out.
This is consistent for most of the film, but then towards the movie’s final act, this unusual friend just starts to battle humans and goes on a rampage that seems quite antithetical to his original goal. It’s unclear if the many reshoots surrounding the film had anything to do with this or not, but the turn happens when it’s convenient.
14 The Variety In Predator
It’s absolutely reasonable to mix up the variety of Predators in order to keep the series feeling fresh and different, but there still needs to be some degree of consistency between these creatures.
For instance, there's one breed of Predator that has a special gland on its neck that releases a unique hormone that causes other Predators to rage out and gain intense strength, but it comes at the expense of control. It is able to pump up the Predator and can also transfer to other Predators. It’s a great way to build up an army, but why can only some do it? Are they more evolved or have they assembled other species' DNA?
13 The Inconsistencies Behind Their Camouflage
There’s a lot to love about the Predators, but ever since the first film, one of their abilities that has strongly resonated with audiences is their advanced camouflage skills. It’s easy to create suspense when your hunter can seemingly appear and disappear into thin air, but the rules still need to apply.
The Predators’ camouflage is often treated like they're straight-up invisible, but that shouldn't be the case as it's only suppose to help them blend in extremely well. In Predator for instance, the fact that Dutch is completely oblivious to the beast when it is using the camouflage to set a trap doesn't make sense. The camouflage wouldn't be that efficient when he is moving that close to the soldier.
12 Their Green Plasma
When there’s a lot of aftermath between humans and aliens, a different color of blood for the extra-terrestrials is one easy way to keep tabs on who’s injured. There may be certain practical cinematic purposes for the color of the Predators’ blood, but in terms of the actual reasoning behind it, it’s a fairly random decision.
To begin with, the blood of Predators was originally supposed to be orange, but during filming, it was discovered that it doesn’t look great on camera. After some quick thinking, the solution was to take the glowing liquid from glow sticks and use that. This may look cooler, but it doesn’t really make much sense.
11 The Taming Of The Predator Dog
The Predator has some fun by bringing Predator dogs into the mix as reliable hunting tools to help aid the species. However, the Loonies basically secure one of these quadrupeds and induce Stockholm Syndrome to make it fight on their side.
The Loonies treat this Predator pooch very poorly (they even fire at it), and yet, it still helps them out. It even fights other Predators, but it's never quite clear why. Also, why would Predator planets have dog-like creatures that harken back to Earth animals in the first place?
10 Dutch Starts A Fire In The Middle Of The Jungle
Dutch does a great job against the Predator when push comes to shove, but as impressive as Dutch’s performance is throughout Predator, the guy still makes some glaring mistakes that fortunately don’t get him eliminated. The film establishes that Predators see heat, it’s one of the few things that Dutch and company do know about them, yet, Dutch starts a major fire in the jungle and this doesn’t set off any warnings for the creature.
Plenty of viewers take exception to Dutch’s infamous “mud bath” solution to the heat problem, but this fire is even more of a problem.
9 Predator Hunter Suit And Its “Packaging”
The Predator ends on quite the audacious note and feels more like sequel bait than anything that actually seems practical. Additionally, the fact that this “Predator Killer” suit comes in a human-shaped pod is also incredibly misleading. Plus, why does it operate exactly like Iron Man’s armor (other than the Shane Black connection)?
Furthermore, why didn’t the good Predator just wear this high-tech suit when he arrived on Earth, rather than separate from it? This would presumably aid him in battle and give him the edge against all of the initial problems that he faces.
8 Humans Can Communicate With Them Through Sign Language
In what’s a testament to their superior hunting and tracking skills, the Predators develop their own sign language to be more silent and adept in battle. This doesn’t seem suspect, but then AVP: Three World War verges into the implausible when Predators begin to teach this sign language to humans in order to help distinguish which ones they are on good terms with. This still seems counter-intuitive to how the Predators work, even if there is logic behind it.
Regardless, this still involves teaching sign language when the two base languages are different in the first place, which makes this teaching process even more problematic.
7 Inconsistencies With Their Weaponry
The Predators sport a mean look, but they also pack a hefty arsenal and know that it’s never smart to enter into battle underprepared. So, even though the Predators are physically impressive in their own right, they really come into their own when they’ve got their full bag of tricks at the ready.
In the original Predator, there’s a cannon that undesirably injures George (Carl Weathers) and Blain (Jesse Ventura). However, when Dutch gets hit with the same weapon, it just gives him a flesh wound. Wherever it hit him, the corresponding result should be much more significant.
6 Their Immunity To Xenomorph Plasma
Any occasion where Predators get to clash with the Xenomorphs from Alien is a reason to get excited, but sometimes, this crossover of franchises is more trouble than it’s worth.
In AVP, there’s a moment where a Predator marks himself with the acidic plasma of a defeated Xenomorph, yet, it doesn’t eat away at him. The following AVP comics and novels actually explain that Predator blood neutralizes the acidity found in a Xenomorph's, but it’s a really convenient explanation. Still, there should be some burning or reaction upon contact.
5 Predator's Heat Vision Isn't Actually Heat Vision
One of the most memorable moments from the original Predator film is when the movie switches over to the creature’s point of view. It’s a very effective way to get in the Predator’s head and show the interesting way he tracks Dutch and his team. That being said, the creature’s iconic heat vision isn’t actually heat vision.
Of course, the intention here is to emulate heat vision, but the mechanics were just too difficult to figure out during filming. Instead, they took regular footage and turned it into a negative in post-production. Afterward, they “turned up” and added the “heat vision” color effects to complete the image.
4 They’ll Let Humans Join Their Team
AVP made headlines for a number of reasons, but something that stood out was the film’s memorable tagline: “Whoever wins, we lose.” The film promised a showdown between Predators and Xenomorphs, but it also seemed pretty obvious that humans would be the ones disadvantaged. So, what are the monsters doing teaming up with them?
The AVP comics follow Machiko Noguchi's indoctrination into Predator culture and The Predator deals with humans as allies as well. Humans are basically a means to an end for the Predators in order to take out more Xenomorphs, and although they may not be fully accepted by the Predators, it still seems like it would go against their values.
3 Their Inconsistent Code Of Honor
The Predator films are usually pretty efficient about the species’ integral code of honor where they won't attack a defenseless target and will always allow their prey a “fair shot” at survival. Even The Predator sticks to this with how the humans are given a head start to their escape, or like how the child in Predator 2 is spared.
In spite of this careful work, AVP: Requiem has a moment where a Predator snipes off an innocent target that didn't even realize he was being hunted, probably because it made for a flashy moment.
2 The Purpose Of The “Dreadlocks”
The Hunter's Planet Predator novels give a certain regal significance to the race’s hair and that the length of their dreadlocks actually corresponds to their battle proficiency and efficiency as a mate. The longer the dreadlocks, the more attractive the Predator is to its suitors and the more respect they deserve. And yes, there are female Predators.
However, The Predator retcons this to some degree and paints a different picture. It says that this “fashion choice” is actually an antenna and a part of their technology and radar efficiency. It’s not just a style thing, but it actually aids them in battle.
1 Their Name Makes No Sense
You’d think that if there was one thing that made sense about the Predators it would be their name, but not even that is sacred. I suppose that’s what happens when you let humans name them.
Actual predators prey on others for survival, but the Predators in these films only hunt for sport and it’s never to survive. This means that they’re actually hunters, but “predator” certainly sounds cooler, doesn’t it? There are plenty of jokes about this in The Predator, but to underscore this point, the first film was originally titled, The Hunter, before the name was changed during production.
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These are all of the major question marks and overlooked details about Predators that we could pull together, but are there any that we’ve overlooked? Now’s your chance to sound off in the comments below!
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