The Predator: Badlands Movie Spoilers: Every Twist from the Plot & Ending

If you’re new to Predator: Badlands or just want to revisit the best parts, TopMob has compiled a list of all the coolest moments from the series.

The Predator series has been strong since the original movie in 1987, but it’s looking particularly promising now. Dan Trachtenberg’s 2022 film, Prey, and the animated movie Predator: Killer of Killers have revitalized the franchise.

Predator: Badlands, coming in 2025, is a first for the Predator series – it tells the story from the perspective of a Yautja, making it a particularly fresh and interesting installment.

Predator: Badlands Spoilers Breakdown

Predator: Badlands Teaches Us Yautja Clan Dynamics

The comic Predator: Badlands opens with a fierce fight between two Predators named Kwei and Dek. Kwei is bigger and stronger, forcing Dek to mostly defend himself. Despite the intensity, it quickly becomes clear they aren’t trying to kill each other – they’re brothers.

Dek is the smallest of his family and often mistreated by his father, Njohrr, who leads their clan. To gain his father’s approval, Dek is training with Kwei to fight a dangerous creature. He’s chosen to battle on the planet Gemma, a world filled with deadly animals, including a seemingly invincible beast known as The Kalisk.

Njohrr was furious when he arrived, upset that Kwei had helped Dek and arguing Dek should have been eliminated. Kwei believed Dek deserved a chance to prove himself with a successful hunt, but Njohrr demanded Dek’s death. Kwei pretended to obey, then surprised everyone by freeing Dek, getting him onto a spaceship, and turning to battle Njohrr. Njohrr killed Kwei right as the ship launched towards Gemma, leaving Dek filled with rage.

Dek piloted his spaceship toward Gemma, but the journey was rough – he collided with many rocks circling the planet. He ejected in an escape pod and crash-landed in the forest below. Immediately, he was set upon by aggressive vines, barely managing to break free, though they ripped away some of his weapons in the process.

The Yautja Dek Meets A Weyland-Yutani Synth, Thia

Dek entered a dangerous field filled with plants that fire paralyzing needles. He was having trouble getting through it when he heard a voice from above. It was Thia, a broken synthetic from Weyland-Yutani, stuck on a cliff. She offered to guide him through the field if he could toss her a weapon to help her escape.

As Dek struggled, a flying creature noticed him and started throwing boulders at him. Thia warned him the creature was trying to activate the plants, hoping to paralyze him and make an easy meal. Despite the danger, Dek managed to throw Thia the weapon, but a plant still managed to paralyze him. Luckily, Thia was freed and used the surrounding plants to reverse the paralysis.

Thia and Dek make an agreement: she’ll guide him to the Kalisk if he lets her join the search for her lost legs, which she lost while fighting the creature. Though reluctant to rely on anyone, Dek agrees to let Thia assist him, seeing her as a means to an end. Meanwhile, Thia’s sister, Tessa, has been rebuilt by Weyland-Yutani and given a single mission: capture the Kalisk, no matter the cost.

Moving towards the Kalisk, the two travelers hit a patch of incredibly sharp grass that Dek struggles to get through without getting hurt. To make matters worse, a huge, dangerous creature with a hard, bony face is also moving through the same area, blocking their path.

Dek manages to defeat a large, heavily armored creature while traveling through the forest. Along the way, he encounters a small, harmless creature—later named Bud by Thia—who saves him from another dangerous beast. This little creature then follows Dek and Thia, and Thia believes it marks Dek with spit as a sign of acceptance, like welcoming him into their family. Despite this connection, Dek continues his journey with only Thia, leaving Bud behind.

Dek Finds The Kalisk, But Weyland-Yutani Captures Both

After a long journey, the two finally returned to the Kalisk’s lair. There, Thia located her detached legs and began to reattach them using technology from Weyland-Yutani. Secretly, she then reached out to the Weyland-Yutani corporation.

The Kalisk appears – a huge and powerful creature. Dek fearlessly faces it, quickly discovering what it means to be ‘unkillable’: any wounds inflicted on the beast heal almost immediately.

The battle rages until he finally severs the creature’s head, but the neck instantly begins to reconnect it. Things look bad, especially since the fight is delaying Thia’s attempt to reattach her leg. However, the Kalisk suddenly catches Bud’s scent on the fallen Yautja.

When the Weyland-Yutani team, headed by Tessa, arrives, they capture both the Kalisk and a furious Dek. Thia pleads with Tessa, whom she sees as a sister, to save Dek. Though Tessa believes Dek shouldn’t be experimented on by the company, he is still subjected to torture.

During their conversation, Thia understands that Tessa’s true loyalty lies with Weyland-Yutani, and that she views Thia as flawed and disposable – much like Dek’s own people once saw him. After Tessa departs, she orders a subordinate to torture Dek, demanding he reveal the secrets of the weapons she recovered from his wrecked ship.

Dek Escapes, Builds Organic Armor, and Prepares To Fight

Thia acts as an interpreter for Dek, deceiving his captors into believing he’s triggered a harmless Yautja device, which provides Dek with the opportunity to break free.

Dek meets Bud and discovers Bud is actually his mother. Determined to confront the Weyland-Yutani team, Dek realizes he’s lost his weapons. He then revisits the places where he previously fought and defeated dangerous creatures, hoping to recover them.

Dek crafts armor from the planet’s wildlife – using strong hides and even special plants. He also creates bombs from explosive caterpillars and has trained a slug to fire projectiles from his shoulder, turning it into a unique weapon.

Dek confronts Weyland-Yutani directly, taking out numerous synthetic security guards before Tessa arrives with a heavy-duty cargo lifter, reminiscent of the climax of the movie Aliens. Meanwhile, Thia breaks free from captivity and, aided by Bud (despite her leg injuries), unleashes the Kalisk.

Working together, the allies defeat the massive power loader. Then, the Kalisk creature swallows Tessa. Luckily, Tessa manages to detonate a cryo-bomb she’d secretly taken, destroying the Kalisk from the inside.

Dek, Thia, and Bud killed Tessa, and Bud violently retaliated by decapitating her. Because Tessa had killed the Kalisk – the planet’s most dangerous creature – Dek claimed Tessa’s head, declaring it the new apex predator.

Predator: Badlands’ Ending Explained

Feeling defeated, Dek travels to his father’s home world, Yautja Prime, to face him. He presents the skull of a synthetic creature, explaining that Tessa was responsible for the death of a Kalisk, making her skull a suitable prize.

Njhorr continues to refuse Dek the recognition he deserves and commands other Yautja to attack him. Dek swiftly defeats them all, and then overcomes his father in a fight. Impressed, Njhorr offers Dek the chance to return to the clan as its respected leader.

Dek turned down the offer, much to the annoyance of the other Predators. Meanwhile, Bud, who had grown significantly, unexpectedly bit off Njhorr’s head. Dek then faced the rest of his clan as a ship approached – a ship belonging to his mother.

The sequel looks incredibly promising, hinting at a showdown between Dek and his close-knit group of friends against the powerful family that abandoned him.

Predator: Badlands is playing in theaters worldwide.

2025-11-07 01:07