The Predator Legacy Character The Series Must Introduce

Here’s the Predator legacy character the series needs to introduce someday. The original Predator was something of an update of the Beowulf poem and saw a special unit of soldiers face off against an alien hunter. John McTiernan’s taut direction combined with a great cast and a fantastic premise combined to make Predator an instant classic. The movie only scratched the surface in terms of the titular alien, and subsequent sequels and spinoffs would greatly flesh out the mythology behind it.

Predator 2, in particular, revealed the hunters had taken down far more than human prey, which includes the famous Xenomorph skull easter egg. None of the Predator movie sequels lived up to the purity of the original, but Predator 2 and 2010’s Predators made for solid, entertaining sci-fi action films in their own right. Fans of the series had high expectations for 2018’s The Predator, which promised to revive the series and inject some of director Shane Black’s signature snappy dialogue. Unfortunately, due to reshoots and re-edits, the sequel was a misshapen mess.

The Predator franchise will get another revival with the upcoming Prey. This will be the first entry to be set in the past and follows a female Comanche warrior as she battles one of the first of the Predators to arrive on Earth. The series has flirted with the notion of a prequel in the past, with the most notable example being Predator 2’s – which had a strange death for Gary Busey’s Keyes – ending. This saw Danny Glover’s Detective Harrigan gifted a flintlock pistol after defeating the sequel’s primary hunter by Greyback, the elder of the hunting party. This flintlock was engraved with the name Raphael Adolini, with the date reading 1715. If the Predator series continues on the prequel track, the franchise should introduce Adolini as a legacy character.

Given that Prey is set in 1719 anyway, the series is currently exploring this time period anyway. Just like Predator 2 essentially birthed the Alien Vs Predator comics – and the ill-received movies of the same name that eventually followed – it also let fans ponder the backstory of Raphael Adolini’s flintlock and how exactly Greyback came in possession of it. This storyline was explored once in a Dark Horse comic Predator: 1718. This Predator movie franchise origin story revealed Adolini was a pirate captain with a code of honor – something that brings him into bloody conflict with his own men – and the story recounted how he fought against – and eventually allied with – a young Greyback.

It also revealed Adolini’s flintlock was a gift given to Greyback with the words “Take it,” which the hunter later repeated to Harrigan. A prequel focused on this Predator legacy character doesn’t have to be a straight adaption of this comic short story, of course, but since the movies are going straight to Hulu this should allow filmmakers to be a little more experimental with the series. One early concept for a third Predator movie even involved exploring the backstory of Raphael Adolini and his pistol, so if Prey is a hit with Hulu viewers, this is a perfect sequel idea to explore.

About The Author

Padraig Cotter
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It’s pronounced Paw-rick, not Pad-raig. Now that’s out of the way, a brief introduction. Padraig has been writing about film online since 2012, when a friend asked if he’d like to contribute the occasional review or feature to their site.

A part-time hobby soon blossomed into a career when he discovered he really loved writing about movies, TV and video games – he even (arguably) had a little bit of talent for it. He has written words for Den of Geek, Collider, The Irish Times and Screen Rant over the years, and can discuss anything from the MCU – where Hawkeye is clearly the best character – to the most obscure cult b-movie gem, and his hot takes often require heat resistant gloves to handle.

He’s super modern too, so his favorite movies include Jaws, Die Hard, The Thing, Ghostbusters and Batman. He can be found as i_Padds on Twitter making bad puns.

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