The complete Predator timeline explained
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While the Predator franchise largely takes place in the here and now – only, in some sort of worrying alternate universe where you've got a realistic chance of being taken out by an extraterrestrial trophy hunter – last year's Prey dramatically turned back the clock.
Set in 1719, the prequel – which you can stream on Disney+ in the UK and on Hulu in the US – saw a fledgeling Comanche hunter (Amber Midthunder's) fight for survival against both the harsh wilderness and a fully armed Predator.
But where exactly does it fit in with the rest of the series? Well, we're here to help.
Fortunately, the series has so far avoided the complex timelines of other major franchises (we're looking at you, X-Men), but given that it's spanned 35 years and included two notorious crossover movies, it's still worth remembering what happened when.
Oh, and we know there's a whole host of comics, books and video games featuring the Predator in action and crossing over with everything from Superman to Tarzan, but for the sake of simplicity, we're sticking to the established movie timeline.
1719 – Prey
Watch now: Disney+
The prequel movie is now chronologically the first in the series, despite being the most recently released.
It follows Naru as she attempts to prove herself as a hunter, unaware she's actually tracking one of the fiercest hunters around. The movie largely follows the structure of the first movie as the Predator offs a bunch of foolish contenders before finding its match in Naru.
She outsmarts the Predator and kills it, bringing the head back to her tribe to earn the respect of her elders. Naru also brings back a pistol which is the same one we'll see later in the timeline at the end of Predator 2 (more on that in a bit).
Will we see Naru return in a potential Prey sequel? There's been no official confirmation yet, but we hope so.
1987 – Predator
Watch now: Disney+
Our introduction to the elite hunting machine came in a Central American jungle as Dutch (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and his military rescue team come face-to-face with the Predator.
Dutch's whole team are offed in various ways and then, after a bloody and brutal bout, Dutch bests the Predator who activates a self-destruct switch that's basically a nuclear explosion.
Dutch gets to the chopper with guerrilla fighter Anna (Elpidia Carrillo) and, presumably, lives happily ever after. The Predator director Shane Black tried to get Arnie back for his movie, but understood why he didn't want to do what was essentially a cameo role.
He hasn't ruled out a return in the future though, so we may yet catch up with Dutch.
1997 – Predator 2
Watch now: Disney+
Ten years later and we move from a Central American jungle to Los Angeles and a different Predator gets involved in a turf war between rival drug cartels.
This brings him to the attention of Lieutenant Michael R Harrigan (Danny Glover) who the Predator decides to play with by killing everyone closest to him. What a joker. Harrigan is then informed by Special Agent Peter Keyes (Gary Busey) about what exactly has been hunting him and a trap is set.
Obviously the Predator is too smart for this and we're soon left with another one-on-one battle between Harrigan and the Predator in its ship (hidden underneath Los Angeles, naturally).
Harrigan is victorious and because they're an honourable lot, the other Predators on the ship let Harrigan live and even give him an antique pistol as a trophy. (It's this pistol that Naru receives from a trapper in Prey, raising the question about how a Predator got it back from her.)
2004 – Alien Vs Predator
Watch now: Disney+
There's a lot of debate over whether the Alien Vs Predator movies are canon in the Alien timeline as Ridley Scott seemed to ignore them when it came to Alien: Covenant.
However, until such a thing happens in the Predator timeline, we're including them here for now, whether you like it or not. The first movie takes place in 2004 as a group of experts led by Charles Bishop Weyland (Lance Henriksen) investigate a heat signal on Bouvetøya, an island off the coast of Antarctica.
Unfortunately for them, they awaken an Alien Queen and are soon battling with aliens and three Predators who have come to hunt the newly-born Xenomorphs.
All but one of the Predators and the humans die, so the two survivors team up to battle the Alien Queen. She's defeated, but not before the final Predator is killed after getting impaled by the Alien Queen's tail.
A Predator ship that has been orbiting Earth comes down to retrieve the body, unaware that a Predalien hybrid is brewing inside. Whoops.
2004 (again) – Alien Vs Predator: Requiem
Watch now: Disney+
That pesky Predalien doesn't take long to make its mark as the sequel picks up pretty much straight after the first movie.
It makes its way onto a scout ship that detaches from the mothership, kills most of the Predators and the ship then crashes in the small town of Gunnison, Colorado. Before it's killed by the Predalien, the remaining Predator sets off a distress signal and a veteran Predator makes its way to Earth to battle the hybrid.
The Predator faces off against the Predalien and a bunch of minor Xenomorphs, while some humans get in its way and a few get killed off. The survivors get out of town and the Predalien and the Predator have a final battle before a nuclear blast levels everything.
And in a scene that now means nothing due to Scott's retconning of the franchise, the Predator's weapon is taken to Ms Yutani (Françoise Yip), an act that's meant to set up the Alien movies.
2010 – Predators
Watch now: Disney+
The only Predator movie so far to not take place on Earth, Predators sees a group of soldiers, murderers and other criminals forced together on a planet that acts as a sort of playground for two groups of Predators.
We don't know when exactly it's set and common consensus among fans over the years is that it's probably set in the year it was released. (The Predator director Shane Black has stated that his movie takes place before Predators though, so your call.)
Even if it's not exactly 2010, it can't be too far into the future as the group's weapons aren't that advanced, so it's probably still in the 21st century.
What we do know is that, like always, the Predators (there's three of them) kill a bunch of the humans. This time, the survivors team up with a rival Predator to try to escape back to Earth, only for the plan to be foiled by the remaining bigger Predator. Their one chance of escape is blown up, but they do at least kill the remaining Predator afterwards.
So, technically, Adrien Brody's Royce and Alice Braga's Isabelle are still out there on that planet, looking for a way home. We have a feeling they'll be waiting a while.
2018 – The Predator
Watch now: Prime Video
The Predator takes place in 2018 when it was released and sees army sniper Quinn McKenna (Boyd Holbrook) team up with a squad of outcast army veterans and a biologist with a fascination for aliens to stop Earth's latest Predator visitor.
There's actually two Predators in play and it's unfortunate for the humans that they captured the one actually trying to help them. This Predator is being pursued by another, much bigger and upgraded, Predator as a result of the mysterious cargo the former has brought to Earth.
The upgraded Predator kills the other Predator and a lot of the humans, leaving McKenna, biologist Casey Brackett (Olivia Munn) and McKenna's son Rory (Jacob Tremblay) as the only survivors of the main cast.
They kill the upgraded Predator and later open the cargo that the helpful Predator had brought to Earth. It's actually a "Predator Killer" suit that would level the playing field against the bigger Predators.
McKenna seems to be the first human to test out the technology, but to be honest, he's probably still waiting and will be forever.
Prey is available to watch now on Disney+ in the UK and on Hulu in the US.
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