The Predator’s Yautja are some of the most accomplished killers in all science fiction as they literally go from planet to planet for the sole purpose of hunting increasingly dangerous prey. Now, however, the franchise’s greatest Yautja-killer has masterfully flipped the Predators’ greatest advantage.
Predators were introduced in the 1987 film Predator where one was shown shooting down to Earth from a mysterious spacecraft and then hunting a team of humans who were no strangers to combat themselves. In the sequel film, Predator 2, another Predator arrives at Earth and hunts people in the urban jungles of Los Angeles. Skip ahead to the film Predators and the Yautja decide to change things up a bit by abducting their prey and bringing them to an off-world hunting ground. Then, in both The Predator and the prequel film Prey, the Predators are back hunting on Earth. While each story is unique in its own way, there are two distinct patterns exhibited by the Predators streaming through them all–and one person is using them to her advantage.
In Predator #4 by Ed Brisson and Kev Walker, a human Yautja-killer named Theta is being attacked by a ship full of Predators after decades of hunting the Yautja across the galaxy looking for the one responsible for murdering her family. In response to Theta’s incessant attacks on their kind, the Yautja have made an effort to track her as well, hoping to end her vengeful murder-spree once and for all. However, there is just one thing that keeps getting in the Predators’ way every time they have a clear shot to take Theta out for good: the Predators don’t want to just kill Theta, they want to hunt her–which is yet another advantage Theta has over them.
Theta Copies and Exploits the Predators’ Hunting Methods
Throughout this series, it is confirmed that Theta has killed more than twenty Predators, which is more kills than every human in all the Predator films combined–and it’s not even close. The reason Theta is able to do this is that she uses the Predators’ own maneuvers against them. In all the films, a Predator–or small group of Predators–picks an area in which to hunt, and then they conduct that hunt with their prey being none-the-wiser until they are already in the middle of their deadly game. Theta uses this method against the Predators as she tracks them to a location where they wouldn’t expect to be hunted, and then catches them off guard. This is how Theta has racked up so many kills, and in this issue, the Predators have finally figured it out–but they can’t seem to just pull the trigger on Theta when they get the chance because their need to hunt her outweighs their murderous frustration with her.
Not only does Theta use the Predators’ hunting methods against them, but she also exploits their desire to hunt the most dangerous prey possible, and in this case, that ‘prey’ is always her. Theta tracks and ambushes Predators across the cosmos, and when they track her down, she uses their desire to hunt her against them as it gives her more time to counter their strike–proving that Theta knows her enemy perhaps more than they know themselves, and is able to use that knowledge to retain her title as the greatest Yautja-killer in the Predator universe.
