In the long history of Hollywood, there have been few science fiction aliens or monsters as widely popular as the dreaded dread-locked extraterrestrial hunters commonly known as Predators.
First hatched in 1987 with Predator, the R-rated blockbuster directed by John McTiernan and starring a jacked-up Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers, and Jessie Ventura, it was an earth-shattering debut that reverberated across the entire entertainment landscape.
A divisive, criminally-underrated, Arnold-less sequel, Predator 2, came in 1990, as well as the Dark Horse comic book crossover Alien vs Predator that spawned the non-canonical Alien Vs. Predator and Alien vs. Predator: Requiem feature films.
The engaging sequel Predators did land in 2010 starring Adrian Brody, but the franchise remained stagnant for nearly a decade until the blatant failure of director Shane Black’s The Predator reboot in late 2018. Predator’s mojo was gratefully resurrected thanks to filmmaker Dan Trachtenberg’s Prey, a surprising 2022 period-set prequel centered around a young Native American girl clashing with a nasty Predator beast.
Now Hulu has returned with Trachtenberg’s Predator: Killer of Killers, an outstanding animated anthology film in three parts tracing a trio of different alien hunters in unique timelines and further expanding 20th Century Fox’s former intellectual property now owned by Disney into fresh, invigorating territory.
Here’s the official synopsis: “The anthology story follows three of the fiercest warriors in human history: a Viking raider guiding her young son on a bloody quest for revenge; a ninja in feudal Japan who turns against his Samurai brother in a brutal battle for succession; and a WWII pilot who takes to the sky to investigate an otherworldly threat to the Allied cause. But while all these warriors are killers in their own right, they are merely prey for their new opponent – the ultimate killer of killers.”
It’s a fiercely enjoyable and downright frightening addition to the mythology of the vicious creatures officially known in canon as the Yautja. Trachtenberg truly has the pulse of this lucrative franchise and is instinctively aware of what fans are yearning for in a Predator movie.
Its introduction into the artful medium of animation is a welcome one, arriving a few months prior to the director’s other Predator project for 2025, the live-action flick, Predator: Badlands.
Set in the bloody heart of the Predator universe, 20th Century Studios’ Predator: Killer of Killers struck Hulu on June 6, 2025 and features solid storytelling from screenwriter Micho Robert Rutare and stupendous animation courtesy of Josh Wassung at The Third Floor.
Hulu’s Predator: Killer of Killers introduces three new types of Yautja, so let’s get down to ranking each of the anthology’s three thrilling installments to see how they all size up in one of the best new Hulu movies!
3. The sword
Set in the rich world of 17th century Feudal Japan, this is the most Zen-like, strikingly visual, and mysterious of the other chapters. Here, a stealthy Ninja infiltrates a royal palace under the cover of darkness as a silent
Predator stalks him from behind in full camouflage mode, mirroring his movements. It’s a poetic, atmospheric piece that relies on moody shadows and the notion of these two opposing characters exhibiting many of the same skills, just with different weaponry and physiology.
This particular Predator warrior is by far the most interesting from a design standpoint and its insane arsenal of crackling energy projectiles, armored gauntlets, and wicked Spear of Doom are formidable tools by which this alien slaughters its prey. Style over substance gets the job done with this Predator tale, and you’ll be satisfied with the final resolution.
2. The bullet
This is the episode that hits hard and it was a toss-up between this piece and The Shield. Here we’re tossed back to the 1940s during World War II with the pilot of a fighter bomber engaged in a harrowing dogfight with a Predator steering an alien attack ship, dancing and darting amid the clouds.
The main character is a Hispanic kid named John Torres who receives a draft notice calling upon his services in World War II. There’s a touching father-son dynamic that resonates well throughout the tale, especially since Father’s Day was just this past Sunday!
Seeing Torres mature and become an ace pilot is exhilarating but the Predator’s cool spaceship steals the show for me with its geometric design and electrifying cloaking mechanisms. Plus the images of the snarling alien pilot illuminated by the ship’s readouts and flashing lights adds to the overall allure.
1. The shield
Who doesn’t love a great Viking saga? And if you’re a super fan of Vikings, Vikings: Valhalla, The Last Kingdom, or The Northman, you’re going to love this winning episode.
The imposing 9th century Viking warrior here named Ursa is sort of like the Norse equivalent of Prey’s Naru with her improvisational skills and determined single-mindedness, but matched with a savage bloodthirsty streak of revenge that’s quite shocking for timid viewers to witness.
But hey, this is the Predator world after all so forewarned is forearmed. Finally revealing himself to the Viking clan as a behemoth monster equipped with a lethal weaponized appendage, the Predator warrior of this chapter is the craziest in terms of sheer size and weight and a creature we wouldn’t ever want to bump into anytime soon. It’s a beautiful but brutal story of redemption that takes the top prize in this dynamic anthology orchestrated by Dan Trachtenberg.
A final standalone scene acts as a unifying theme but we’ll leave that spoiler-free!
Predator: Killer of Killers is streaming exclusively on Hulu.
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