Alien & Predator: How 2025’s Bold New Entries Redefined Both Franchises

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Warning! This post contains SPOILERS for Predator: Badlands and Alien: Earth

Both the Alien and Predator movie series are currently seeing a resurgence in Hollywood, and in surprisingly similar ways. Recent projects like Predator: Badlands and Alien: Earth have shaken things up for both franchises, pushing them in exciting new directions and showing what they can really do.

These new installments from 2025 have gone beyond typical sci-fi survival horror. Each one is remarkably original, exploring fresh storytelling approaches. And, it’s worth noting that both the Alien and Predator series were already thriving and innovative long before this year.

Predator: Badlands Continues An Epic Trend We First Saw In Alien: Earth

Dan Trachtenberg’s Predator: Badlands, which came out in November 2025, has rapidly become a fan favorite and one of the most successful films in the Predator series.

The movie takes place on a dangerous alien planet and breaks from what fans expect from the Predator series. It centers on a young Predator on his first hunt, who unexpectedly teams up with Thia, a synthetic human played by Elle Fanning, who works for the Weyland-Yutani corporation – a connection to the Alien universe. This links the film to the established storylines of the Alien franchise.

Predator: Badlands is a daring story focused on its characters, and it’s been highly praised by critics. However, the idea of shifting from a classic monster villain to a central hero has been explored in another recent release this year.

The new series Alien: Earth, which started streaming earlier this year, introduced a unique Xenomorph controlled by Marcy (also called Wendy), the show’s main character.

Because Marcy had a special link with the creature, she could control its dangerous abilities in ways that Weyland-Yutani—and the other powerful new corporations in Alien: Earth—have always wanted but never achieved in past Alien stories.

Despite their different storylines, both recent films explore new complexities in the characters of the Predator and Xenomorph, adding depth and opening up exciting possibilities for future stories without sacrificing the thrilling nature of each franchise. It’s particularly great to see this happening now, as both series have been gaining momentum in recent years.

Even Before 2025, The Alien & Predator Franchises Have Been On A Major Roll

The Predator and Alien series both gained new life thanks to the success of Trachtenberg’s 2022 film, Prey. This Hulu release showed that the Predator franchise could still be fresh and original, and demonstrated that stories set in a different time period could work well within the universe.

The 2024 film Alien: Romulus, directed by Fede Álvarez, was a hit, largely thanks to its impressive practical effects. It reminded audiences why the Xenomorph is still one of the most terrifying creatures in science fiction. This year also saw the release of Trachtenberg’s animated movie, Predator: Killer of Killers, in June.

Marvel’s comic books featuring Alien and Predator have proven to be very successful. The exciting crossovers between these franchises and Marvel’s heroes – such as Predator vs. Wolverine, Aliens vs. Avengers, and the recently released Alien vs. Captain America (which takes place during World War II) – have also been a hit with fans.

Both of these series have seen fantastic development and new ideas, consistently offering something exciting and unique.

Although fans would love to see more standalone movies for both the Alien and Predator series, now is the perfect time for 20th Century Fox and Disney to create a new Alien vs Predator crossover film. Both franchises are currently experiencing a surge in popularity, making it an ideal moment to bring them together again.

You can now see Predator: Badlands in movie theaters. Plus, all episodes from the first season of Alien: Earth are available to stream on Hulu.

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2025-11-09 05:09