The new movie, Predator: Badlands, is now available on Hulu and Disney+, bringing it to a larger audience. What makes Badlands different is that it’s the first Predator film to tell the story from the perspective of a member of the Predator race, known as the Yautja. The film focuses on Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi), a young Predator who was considered an outcast and destined to be killed by his father, the clan leader.
The story follows Dek, an outsider trying to gain acceptance from his Yautja clan, which offers a fascinating look at their harsh and savage culture – a culture far more brutal than our own. But the comic Predator: Badlands ends with a surprising twist, revealing something that connects to long-held secrets within the Predator universe – secrets that haven’t been explored in the films.
Predator: Badlands Teases The Screen Debut of Female Yautja
Beware, spoilers ahead! The story of Predator: Badlands concludes with Dek successfully conquering the dangerous planet Genna and returning to his home world, Yautja Prime, with a trophy – the head of Genna’s most fearsome creature, the Kalisk. In a clever move, Dek actually presents the head of his android opponent, Tessa (Elle Fanning), as the Kalisk, tricking his father into a final battle. This duel is a test of Dek’s victory, as his father refuses to grant him the cloaking device he’s earned. Dek wins the fight, earning the right to lead the clan, but surprisingly declines the offer. He’s formed a new clan with his allies from Genna – including Thia, an android who resembles Tessa, and the Kalisk itself. However, their celebration is cut short by the arrival of a massive Yautja ship. Dek realizes it’s his mother, signaling that an even larger conflict is on the way.
While female Predators haven’t appeared in any of the Predator films, they aren’t completely absent from the franchise. The world of Predator extends beyond the movies, with a wealth of stories in comics, novels, and video games. A well-known example is The Machiko Noguchi Saga from the Predator novels published by Bantam Books in the 1990s. This series follows Machiko Noguchi, a Japanese woman who becomes an honorary member of the Yautja, earning the name Da’Dtou-di (“small knife”), and becoming known as the Human Predator. She initially gains the Yautja’s respect by helping them hunt a colony of Xenomorphs, as seen in Aliens vs. Predator: Prey.
As Noguchi becomes more integrated into Yautja society, she discovers that their culture has strong gender roles and is, surprisingly, based around females. Both the movie Prey and the comic Aliens vs. Predator: War establish that Yautja culture is matriarchal, meaning women hold the central roles. Other stories, like the Superman and Batman versus Aliens and Predator comics, even show us what a Yautja village looks like, with females focused on home life and raising children. It’s also been confirmed that female Yautja have reproductive systems similar to mammals and are very protective of their offspring. The video game Predator: Hunting Grounds was the first time we saw female Yautja hunters in action, proving they are just as skilled and dangerous as the males. Considering all the different Predator stories – movies, comics, books, and games – there are now at least a dozen known female Yautja characters.
Director Dan Trachtenberg, who worked on Predator: Badlands, has hinted that a long-held fan theory is true, based on the film’s ending involving Dek’s mother. It appears that Yautja clans are ruled by both a king and a queen who share equal authority. Previously, Yautja lore suggested the king led hunting groups and expeditions off-world, while the queen oversaw life back on their home planet, Yautja Prime, handling everything from household matters to politics.
If a sequel to Predator: Badlands is made, we might finally learn more about Dek’s mother and get a better understanding of the story. You can currently watch Predator: Badlands on Hulu and Disney+, and share your thoughts about the film on the ComicBook Forum!
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2026-02-15 18:11