The following contains major spoilers for The predator #3, available now from Marvel.
Marvel is new The predator has certainly breathed new life into her story, painting the Yautja hunting in 2056. Theta has been murdering them for decades after her family was ambushed at an Astar Industries outpost when she was a child. Since then, she has become an efficient killing machine that flips the script on Predators.
Unfortunately, Theta’s mission suffered a major blow when she ends up missing on an ice planet, Tusket. She’s been searching for the one predator that killed her family, but right now she needs to focus on finding supplies and getting her ship flying again. Unfortunately, the mission has changed enormously thanks to a large bomb shell The predator #3 (by Ed Brisson, Kev Walker, Frank D’Armata and VC’s Clayton Cowles).
Marvel’s Predator has turned Theta against its own kind
This cartoon is based on the movies outside Alien vs Predator series, where the Yautja either come to Earth or release humans on their hunting world. This allows them to test their soldiers, and truly see which warriors are worthy of becoming elite Yautja legends. In Theta’s case, she’s actually one of the toughest they’ve ever met, but what she discovers shakes her to the core, making her realize she was never the alpha here.
Theta ends up killing another Yautja on the Astar base and getting her ax back. However, she is confused as to how it knew she would be there, which her AI then sheds light on. It turns out that the clan has tracked down all the Astar outposts, and feels that Theta’s revenge mission takes her from one to the next so she can stock up on supplies. However, this means they slaughter everyone on every base, making Theta’s existence a curse.
Marvel’s Predator has evolved and expanded its hunt
The AI confirms that the aliens have been hacking systems and tracking the Astar ships on Earth in the galaxy for quite some time. This type of strategy and system allows them to hunt humans and any other species they deem valuable across the cosmos. Thus, they come across as much more intelligent, as alpha killers who do not need a confined space – they can now participate in the star-crossed hunt.
This is bad news for other life forms who think they escaped one world, as the Yautja could have planned long-term, intricate games. Since their search for prey is no longer limited to tracking someone in a particular world, it teases the hunt for species on a galactic level that would allow Marvel to tell even broader stories. Granted, this can level the playing field for targets by allowing them to draw and find powerful weapons and allies, but it can also leave them sitting ducks by lulling them into a false sense of security. A bit of both has been seen with Theta now being attacked by ships that snuck up on her to end the problem, leaving her to believe she will never be able to outrun them, in what is clearly a relentless, endless game.
