By October 2024, Trachtenberg, who previously directed Prey (2022), had made a secret film in the franchise, set to be released prior to Predator: Badlands (2025). In April 2025, the film's title and release date were revealed. Animation was provided by The Third Floor.
Predator: Killer of Killers was released on June 6, 2025, in the United States on Hulu and internationally on Disney+.[2] The film received positive reviews from critics, with praise for its animation, Trachtenberg's direction, writing, action sequences, musical score, and voice cast.
Plot
Go forth among the stars and seek only the strongest prey. They shall be your trophy. Become the killer of killers.
—Opening epigraph attributed to the "Yautja Codex 0522/74"
The Shield
In Scandinavia in the year 841, Viking shieldmaiden Ursa leads her son Anders and their clan on a hunt for Zoran, leader of the Krivich tribe, who forced a young Ursa to kill her own father, Einar, the previous Earl of Ladoga; she believes that killing Zoran will also kill her inner monster. Torturing a prisoner for Zoran's location and massacring his clan, Ursa confronts her foe in his fortress, where a mocking Zoran is beheaded by Anders after Ursa freezes in shame. The Vikings are suddenly ambushed by a Predator with a sonic weapon in place of an arm, slaughtering Ursa's clansmen and gravely wounding Anders. Ursa manages to kill the Predator in a brutal underwater duel, but Anders dies in her arms after asking her if she "killed the monster," and Ursa sobs over his death.
The Sword
In Japan during the year 1609, Kenji and Kiyoshi, sons of a samurai warlord, are ordered to duel to determine their father's successor. When Kenji refuses, Kiyoshi scars his face and wins the duel, and a disgraced Kenji flees. Twenty years later, with their father dead, Kiyoshi becomes lord of the region, while Kenji has lived in exile as a shinobi. Unaware that a spear-wielding Predator is hunting him, Kenji stealthily infiltrates his brother's castle, subduing the guards and defeating Kiyoshi, who falls into the moat. The Predator ambushes Kenji and kills the remaining guards, as Kenji escapes the castle and reunites with Kiyoshi, who is mortally wounded saving his brother. They join forces and kill the Predator, and Kenji comforts Kiyoshi before he dies of his wounds.
The Bullet
In 1942, Latino mechanic John J. Torres is drafted into the U.S. Navy as a fighter pilot under Captain "Vandy" Vandenburg. During the North African campaign, Torres is grounded after a malfunction while his squadron investigates a mysterious aircraft that destroyed a friendly unit, with the surviving pilot rambling about how the aircraft targeted his plane's engine. After discovering a heat-seeking harpoon in the engine that nearly kills his fellow mechanic Delgado, Torres takes off in a battered Grumman F4F Wildcat named the Bullet to warn the others, but a Predator starship suddenly ambushes the squadron and systematically slaughters them with several highly advanced weapons. Torres soon realizes that the Predator can only see heat, so he shuts off his engine; however, Vandy decides to sacrifice himself to buy Torres some time, and the Predator launches a net at his plane to behead him. After shooting out one of the Predator ship's engines, Torres tricks the Predator into pursuing him into an active battle, where the Predator's ship is shot down, and after flooding his plane's engine with fuel, he eventually tricks it into firing a harpoon before falling into the water with a parachute while the Predator accidentally drags the engine into its cockpit, killing it and destroying the ship. After World War II ends, having earned a medal and working in his father's garage, Torres is abducted by a Predator prison transport ship, leaving crop circles behind in the field.
The Battle
Aboard the ship, the Predators awaken Torres from suspended animation, throwing him into a cell with fellow captives Ursa and Kenji; the latter realizes they all defeated their respective Predators, but a language barrier prevents them from communicating effectively.[a] Fitted with explosive collars, they are taken to a gladiatorial arena on a desert world and presented to a Predator warlord Ursa calls the "Grendel King," who commands them to fight to the death. Ursa initially attacks Torres and Kenji in desperation to reach Valhalla and reunite with Anders, but they convince her to join forces, as the Grendel King unleashes a massive alien beast which swallows Torres; Ursa and Kenji briefly work together to kill the beast and Torres frees himself. Dissatisfied, the Grendel King attempts to kill Ursa and Kenji with the collars on their necks, but Torres manages to deactivate them and hijack a hoverbike. The three decide to team up together and flee to the Grendel King's spaceship, although the Grendel King intercepts them with a bone axe that destroys the hoverbike.
The Grendel King gains the upper hand against Ursa and Kenji, but Torres commandeers his ship and knocks him down a cliff with the engines. As Ursa and Kenji flee to him, the Grendel King severs Kenji's right arm with a thrown spear, and Torres tries to fly them away, but the ship is harpooned by the Grendel King's men. Telling Torres and Kenji not to avenge her, Ursa - realizing the cost of revenge and finally killing her inner demons - sacrifices herself to destroy the harpoon launcher as the others escape, allowing the Grendel King's men to capture her as she gloats about his defeat, while Kenji tourniquets his missing arm. Pleased that they managed to escape, Grendel King rallies a hunting party to pursue the fugitives, calling for a fleet of ships to follow them. Ursa is placed back in suspended animation alongside other human and alien captives who have killed Predators, including Comanche warrior Naru,[b]LAPDLieutenantMike Harrigan,[c] and MajorAlan "Dutch" Schaefer.[d]
Lindsay LaVanchy as Ursa, an aggressive, violent and temperamental 9th century Scandinavian Viking hunter who seeks vengeance on a warlord who killed her father.
Louis Ozawa Changchien as Kenji Kawakami, a stoic and relaxed 17th century Japanese shinobi who is the disgraced son of a samurai warlord; and Kiyoshi Kawakami, Kenji's ambitious samurai brother who succeeds him as their father's successor. Ozawa previously portrayed the yakuza enforcer Hanzō in Predators.
Rick Gonzalez as John J. Torres, a cheery and upbeat 20th century Latino mechanic who is drafted as an Allied fighter pilot during World War 2.
Michael Biehn as Vandenberg "Vandy", a fighter pilot and the commander of the Texas Aces, who serves as Torres's mentor.
Doug Cockle as Einar, Ursa's father and the earl of Ladoga who was killed long ago by Zoran.
Damien Haas as Anders, Ursa's young son and Einar's grandson.
Lauren Holt as Freya, one of Ursa's Viking warriors and the only other named female member in her tribe.
Jeff Leach as Ivar, another one of Ursa's Viking warriors.
Piotr Michael as Gunnar, another of Ursa's Viking warriors.
Andrew Morgado as Chief Zoran, a powerful Krivich chieftain who killed and then usurped Einar, and the target of Ursa's revenge.
Alessa Luz Martinez as Delgado, a young World War 2 mechanic who is friends with Torres.
Felix Solis as Mr. Torres, Torres's strict father who works as a mechanic. He initially does not allow his son to serve as a pilot because he thinks his son abuses his vehicles' functions without concern.
Britton Watkins as the Yautja warlord dubbed the "Grendel King", the ruthless leader of a Yautja war band who seeks to battle only the strongest warrior and force powerful warriors to fight each other for his approval.
Production included Micho Robert Rutare serving as screenwriter, while the productions were created simultaneously.[5]Benjamin Wallfisch serves as the film's composer, marking his first composition for an animated film.[6] The soundtrack was released on June 6, 2025.[7] The film was animated using Unreal Engine, one of the first feature films to do so, and drew stylistic influences from Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira (1988) and Netflix's Arcane (2021–2024), aiming to embrace both stylized violence and visual spectacle in ways Trachtenberg felt would be less effective in live-action.[8] Several artists from Arcane contributed to the production, including lead character animator Steven J. Meyer.[8] Trachtenberg also cited Christopher Guest's Best in Show (2000) as a structural inspiration, aiming for emotional ambiguity by encouraging empathy with all three protagonists.[8]
Trachtenberg and the animation team sought to make each Predator antagonist distinct, wanting individuals of their species to be "as varied, at least, as we are."[9] In doing so, Trachtenberg hoped to avoid the Star Wars trope in which all individuals of a species look identical: "I get a little bored when we see Kashyyyk, the Wookiee planet or whatever, and they're all just a bunch of Chewbaccas. Some have a little bit of a gray fur and some of them [don't], but they're all basically just Chewbacca, just standing around being Wookiees."[9]
Benjamin Wallfisch serves as the film's composer, marking his first composition for an animated film.[6] The soundtrack was released on June 6, 2025.[7]
Streaming analytics firm FlixPatrol, which monitors daily updated VOD charts and streaming ratings across the globe, reported that Predator: Killer of Killers was the top streaming film on Hulu the day following its release on the platform.[11]JustWatch, a guide to streaming content with access to data from more than 45 million users around the world, estimated that Predator: Killer of Killers was the third most-streamed film in the U.S. from June 9–15.[12]
Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 95% of 107 critics' reviews are positive.The website's consensus reads: "Plunking the Predator into a series of inspired matchups with a striking visual palette, Killer of Killers is a lean, mean, and just plain awesome addition to the iconic sci-fi franchise."[13]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 78 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[14]
Toussaint Egan of The A.V. Club praised the film's "frenetic violence and novel cinematography" and efficient storytelling with "little to no fat".[15] Writing for IndieWire, David Ehrlich called it "an awesomely violent and artfully staged piece of animated pulp" that answers burning questions like, "Who would win in a fight: a Predator or a ninja? What about a Predator or a Viking?"[16] Jim Vorel of Paste criticized the film's "iffy animation" but described its story as "pulpy sci-fi goodness that longtime series fans have likely been craving".[17] In a mixed review, Catherine Bray of The Guardian also described the animation as lacking a "spark of life and ingenuity", speculating that AI might have been used.[18] In Screen Rant, Grant Hermann criticized the film's ending as "a blatant setup for a sequel [that] actively ruined much of my love for Prey".[19] Aidan Kelley of Collider, in contrast, praised the final segment as pleasantly surprising and setting up interesting future developments in "a new golden age for the Predator franchise".[20]
See also
Grendel – a character in the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf
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