The upcoming addition to the Predator franchise, Predator: Badlands, will feature a big change that has only been attempted once before. Predator: Badlands comes out soon, but it will not be the only Predator movie coming out in 2025, since we also have the Predator: Killer of Killers animated feature releasing on Hulu. Predator: Badlands footage from CinemaCon, as well as details shared by the movie’s star, Elle Fanning, hint at major differences from past Predator movies that will allow audiences to see the Predator as a much more sympathetic character.

The movie’s director, Dan Trachtenberg, who previously helmed 2022’s Prey, has also teased the importance of a Predator protagonist. Along with shifting the focus of the movie onto the typical antagonist, Predator: Badlands will have to include bigger, badder villains. While all of this sounds like a very exciting prospect, Predator: Badlands is not the first time audiences have seen this twist occur. In fact, the new movie now has the potential to make up for a similar twist from 21 years ago that is often overlooked.

Predator: Badlands’ Planned Team-Up Pays Off Lex & Scar’s Alliance In Alien vs. Predator

The 2004 Movie Featured The First Human Predator Alliance

In her introduction of the new footage at CinemaCon, Elle Fanning touted the new alliance as “unprecedented,” and it certainly still could be, but the first time that a Predator and a human teamed up was actually in 2004’s Alien vs. Predator. The movie focused on a group of researchers attempting to study a mysterious pyramid thousands of feet under Antarctic ice, though they eventually come to realize that the discovery was actually a trap. Inside the pyramid, alien Xenomorphs attack the humans and Predators, who it is revealed created the pyramid.

After the Xenomorphs kill off several of the Predators and humans, a guide named Lex and a Predator called Scar are forced to team up to defeat the Xenomorph Queen. Lex proves herself to be capable of killing the Xenomorphs, which reinforces the alliance, but Lex and Scar’s partnership is based more on necessity than true desire for collaboration. The pairing was exciting to watch, especially as Lex proves herself just as dangerous as either of the two alien species. That said, Predator: Badlands has the opportunity to take it further if Fanning’s character creates a true friendship with the Predator.

Alien vs. Predator’s Surprising Alliance Twist Means There’s A Lot Of Potential For Predator: Badlands

Predator: Badlands Could Take The Alliance Even Further

Alien vs. Predator received negative reviews when it was released and has been forgotten a bit over time, but there is no denying that having a human team up with a Predator was a great twist. If anything, there was potential for the movie to have gone even further with the idea, and I am hoping that this is exactly what Predator: Badlands will do. So far, there has been little information released about the plot of Predator: Badlands beyond the alliance, so it will be interesting to see just how well the two work together.

Knowing that the Predator will become something of a protagonist rather than still being a threat to Fanning’s character, Thia, already makes it significantly different from Alien vs. Predator. While the Predator was an unlikely ally in the older movie, it still was not the hero. The upcoming Predator: Badlands could change this, with the Predator and Thia creating a genuine connection and communication while working together to fight a common enemy.