The news from Comic-Con this year, bless its chaotic heart, was a stark reminder of where we are. No Marvel bombast, no multi-universe pontificating. Instead, Disney wheeled out its other behemoths: Predator: Badlands and Tron: Ares. And for once, the spotlight landed on something that didn't feel entirely manufactured in a boardroom focus group. We got a new Predator: Badlands poster and the First 15 Minutes were unveiled.
The Hall H presentation, according to reports, kicked off with a Predator warrior scanning the crowd with its multi-color vision — projected, naturally, for the masses. Kevin Smith, that ever-present moderator, quipped about Jeffrey Epstein files and then, rather presciently, floated the notion of Dan Trachtenberg becoming “the Alien vs. Predator guy.” The cheers, I'm told, were substantial.
Trachtenberg, flanked by Elle Fanning, Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi, and VFX maestro Alec Gillis, laid out the premise: a young Predator outcast, an unlikely ally. The twist? This time, the Predator is our protagonist. Fanning, who seems to be shedding her ingénue skin for something a bit more… synthetic, confirmed she plays two roles, one of them a synthetic android. “There are no humans in this film,” she declared, a statement that, frankly, sounds like a blessing given the state of most human characters in genre pictures these days. The practical effects and New Zealand shoot are welcome news, too. Lord knows, we've seen enough tennis balls masquerading as monsters.
The newly released poster is… well, it's a Predator poster. A familiar, almost iconic, profile of the creature, eyes glowing, set against what appears to be a desolate, dusty landscape. It's got the classic feel, not reinventing the wheel, but rather, reinforcing the brand. It's effective in its simplicity, relying on the instant recognition of its star monster. You know what you're getting. No obscure symbolism, no deconstructed art. Just the beast, glaring out. Like it's daring you to buy a ticket. It's a bit like those old exploitation movie posters from the 70s—direct, no-nonsense.
But the real meat of the presentation, for those of us who appreciate actual moving pictures, was the First 15 Minutes. And what a departure it sounds like. We're plunged onto the Yautja home planet, meeting two Predator brothers, Kwei and Dek. Dek, the younger, is the perceived “runt” of the tribe, a notion his father reinforces with rather brutal paternal guidance. A duel, a perceived weakness, and the father's demand that Kwei dispatch his brother. Instead, Kwei launches Dek into space, bound for a “Death Planet” to hunt an “unkillable creature” — a trophy for their fearsome patriarch. Kwei, of course, pays the ultimate price for his fraternal loyalty. We've seen familial drama play out across countless human narratives, but rarely with such… predatory stakes.
On this charmingly named Death Planet, Kalisk, Dek encounters Fanning's Thia — or rather, half of her. A synthetic android, stitched up and missing her lower half, who Dek straps to his back. A buddy comedy, then, with dismembered robots and alien hunters. Trachtenberg, bless him, seems to know how to wring something fresh out of a well-worn property. His 2022 film Prey, starring Amber Midthunder, proved that. It was a stripped-down, visceral affair, set in 1719, and it delivered. It went straight to Hulu, a decision that, in hindsight, feels like a monumental miscalculation by the Mouse House, given its critical reception (94% on Rotten Tomatoes, if you track such things).
Now, with Predator: Badlands, Trachtenberg is taking his thematic interests further. This isn't just about putting a new spin on the hunt; it's about character. The idea of a Predator as a protagonist, an outcast, paired with a damaged synthetic, is intriguing. And yes, it continues Trachtenberg's apparent penchant for strong female characters, something he started with Naru in Prey and continued with Predator: Killer of Killers (95% on Rotten Tomatoes, a hair above Prey). This is not about some ideological agenda, mind you. It's about crafting compelling narratives, and if those narratives happen to feature capable women in central roles, then so be it. It's called good writing, something that often feels like a forgotten art in this industry.
The Predator franchise, which began its bloody reign in 1987 with John McTiernan's original, starring a prime Arnold Schwarzenegger, has had its ups and downs. Schwarzenegger never returned, which is a shame, but the series has soldiered on, even crossing over with Ridley Scott's Alien films. And now, Predator: Badlands is set for a theatrical release in the U.S. on November 7. A proper theatrical run, for once. Perhaps some lessons were learned from the Prey streaming debacle.
Will Badlands follow in the footsteps of Prey and Killer of Killers and continue Trachtenberg's winning streak? Based on the First 15 Minutes and the premise, it certainly has the potential. It's a bold swing, taking the franchise into uncharted territory with its character dynamics. And in an era saturated with sequels and reboots that often feel like empty retreads, a bold swing is precisely what's needed.
