With eight movies in the Predator franchise, so far, 11 humans have had the chance to kill the titular extraterrestrials, the Predators, also known as the Yautja. First conceived by screenwriters Jim and John Thomas, the Predator franchise kicked off in 1987, and has since spurred a decade-spanning franchise of mostly-standalone movies. Each movie focuses on a single or group of human protagonists who find themselves at war with a brutal and technologically-advanced alien species that hunts other lifeforms for sport and has the ability to camouflage itself with invisibility.
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What sets the Predators apart from other movie aliens is that they adhere to a strict code of conduct, selecting only the most dangerous individuals as their prey – those who they deem the most worthy. Over the years, the Predators have become known across the universe as the strongest and most violent hunters of many different lifeforms, but many of them have also fallen victim to lowly humans. There have, so far, been eight Predator movies, and humans have killed the creatures in almost every single one.
The Predator franchise includes 1987’s Predator, 1990’s Predator 2, 2010’s Predators, 2018’s The Predator, 2022’s Prey, and 2025’s animated Predator: Killer of Killers. Predator: Badlands is a new live-action instalment scheduled to release in November 2025, while the series has also crossed over with the Alien franchise for adventures in 2004’s Alien vs. Predator and 2007’s Alien vs. Predator: Requiem. Across these eight projects – discounting Badlands – 11 humans have had the honor of killing the greatest hunter in the universe, though this usually comes at great cost.
11) Major Alan “Dutch” Schaefer in Predator (1987)
The first human to ever kill a Predator on-screen was Dutch, the protagonist of the original Predator movie from 1987. Portrayed by Arnold Schwarzenegger, Dutch is a highly-skilled and experienced special forces officer who served in Vietnam and now leads a group of mercenaries. During a mission in Val Verde, the Predator picks off Dutch’s group one by one before the remained realize they’re being hunted. Dutch soon learns that disguising his body heat with mud makes him invisible to the Predator’s thermal eyesight, which gives him the chance to kill the alien.
Dutch sets a trap for the Predator before covering himself in mud and screaming out to get the creature’s attention. Dutch is able to wound the Predator and damage its cloaking device and, despite having his mud washed off in the river, Dutch is able to lure the Predator underneath a counterweight that he drops and crushes it, mortally wounding the Predator. Instead of dying a peaceful death, however, the Predator activates its self-destruction device, though Dutch is able to find cover, surviving his altercation with the formidable fighter.
10) Lieutenant Mike Harrigan in Predator 2 (1990)
While Predator was set in a fictional country in Central America, 1990’s Predator 2 brings the creature to Los Angeles, where it comes under fire from LAPD Lieutenant Mike Harrigan, played by Danny Glover. Harrigan becomes embroiled in the Predator’s actions during his investigation of a gang war, but his pursuit of the alien eventually brings him to the Predator’s spaceship. There, he fights the Predator, and eventually kills it with its own weapon, the powerful Smart Disc, leading to a group of other Predators giving Harrigan a trophy for defeating the universe’s greatest hunter.
9) US Military in Alien vs. Predator: Requiem (2007)
No humans killed Predators in 2004’s Alien vs. Predator, but its 2007 sequel, Alien vs. Predator: Requiem brought the Predalien and Wolf, a highly-skilled Predator, to the small town of Gunnison, Colorado. There, the Predalien and Xenomorph face-huggers rampage and prove unstoppable, which spurs the United States military to drop a tactical nuclear weapon on Gunnison, obliterating the town and killing any lifeforms – human or otherwise – within the town. Requiem was panned by critics, but the Predator franchise has continued to reference the Alien franchise in subsequent movies, including the upcoming Predator: Badlands, which features an android developed by Weyland-Yutani.
8) Nikolai in Predators (2010)
2010’s Predators diverged from the typical narrative of Predator movies by bringing a group of humans to another world, instead of having the aliens visit Earth. Predators brought together a group of proficient killers on a planet that serves as a game reserve for two warring factions of Predators, but the humans prove too strong for the hunters. During their time on the alien world, the humans are hunted by three Predators: Tracker, Berserker, and Falconer, and the former was killed by Nikolai (Oleg Taktarov), who blew himself and Tracker up to buy his new comrades more time to escape.
7) Hanzo in Predators (2010)
Yakuza enforcer and assassin Hanzo (Louis Ozawa Changchien) contributed to one of the most impressive Predator kills of the franchise, as he battled the Predator known as Falconer with a katana. Changchien had previously trained in the Japanese martial art of kendo, which earned him skills that he used during Hanzo’s duel with Falconer. Hanzo ultimately died from wounds inflicted during this spar, but he bought the others enough time to get to the Predators’ camp and hope to find a way back to Earth.
6) Royce in Predators (2010)
Leading the group of humans taken to the Predators’ game reserve world is Royce, Adrien Brody’s ex-US Special Operations Forces soldier-turned-mercenary. Just as Royce is about to leave and go back to Earth with a Predator he’d saved, Berserker ambushes them, kills his alien ally, and seemingly kills him by blowing up the ship. Royce survives, however, and booby-traps Edwin (Topher Grace) with explosives to lure Berserker out and injure him, which gives Royce the opportunity to decapitate the Predator in a brutal and morally-questionable sequence.
5) Quentin “Quinn” McKenna in The Predator (2018)
Despite its strong cast, 2018’s The Predator is considered one of the weaker instalments in the franchise. Boyd Holbrook leads as US Army Ranger sniper Quinn, who comes face-to-face with a Predator several times after it crashes on Earth, managing to, at first, incapacitate one, and later kill another, larger Predator, with the help of his son, Rory (Jacob Tremblay), and evolutionary biologist Casey (Olivia Munn). Quinn proved himself to be a formidable opponent in Shane Black’s criticized instalment in the Predator franchise.
4) Naru in Prey (2022)
Unlike The Predator, 2022’s Prey revitalized the Predator franchise and received critical acclaim. Developed by Dan Trachtenberg, who has written and directed subsequent instalments in the franchise, Prey took audiences back to the Great Plains in 1719, where Naru, a young Comanche healer played by Amber Midthunder, takes on a Predator to protect her people. She outsmarts the creature, which she names Mupitsi, time and again before tricking it into killing itself with its spear. She beheads it to become her tribe’s War Chief, and her story has since been briefly revisited in Prey’s animated follow-up.
3) Ursa in Predator: Killer of Killers (2025)
Dan Trachtenberg returned to the Predator franchise to develop Predator: Killer of Killers, the series’ first adult animated instalment that detailed three smaller tales which saw new human characters take on Predators at various points in history before coming together in the final act. In the first chapter, titled “The Shield,” Ursa (Lindsay LaVanchy), a Viking warrior in 841, defeats a Predator ambushing her clan after a violent duel, and tragically loses her son, Anders (Damien Haas) in the process.
2) Kenji and Kiyoshi Kamakami in Predator: Killer of Killers (2025)
In Predator: Killer of Killers’ second chapter, titled “The Sword,” we’re taken to Japan in 1609, where we meet brothers Kenji and Kiyoshi Kamakami (Louis Ozawa Changchien – who previously played Hanzo in Predators), who are battling to become their father’s successor as a samurai warlord. 20 years later, Kiyoshi is the lord, while Kenji has been exiled, but he returns to battle his brother, only to come face-to-face with a Predator. The brothers team up to defeat and kill the Predator, though Kiyoshi dies from injuries sustained during this battle.
1) John J. Torres in Predator: Killer of Killers (2025)
The third chapter of Predator: Killer of Killers, titled “The Bullet,” takes place during World War II and focuses on US Navy fighter pilot John J. Torres. Torres investigates a mysterious aircraft crashed in North Africa, and discover it’s a Predator spaceship. The Predator inside annihilates Torres’ squadron, and Torres then tricks the creature into killing itself. However, Torres was then abducted by another Predator ship and, after waking from suspended animation, he teams up with a similarly-abducted Ursa and Kenji to fight and kill more Predators.
While Torres and Kenji manage to escape from the Predator ship at the end of Predator: Killer of Killers, Ursa is recaptured and put back in suspended animation alongside other captives. This includes Naru from Prey, which suggests that all the humans who managed to best Predators in battle over the years may also have subsequently been abducted. This could bring back the likes of Dutch, Mike Harrigan, Royce, Quinn, and more in future Predator movies, perhaps even as early as 2025’s Predator: Badlands.
Do you want to see all these humans team up to battle Predators in the franchise’s future? Let us know in the comments!
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