Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Predator: Killer of Killers!
Although it has not yet been officially announced, it seems incredibly likely that Disney will be doing a newAlien vs. Predatormovie sometime soon. Both theAlienandPredatorfranchises have had something of a renaissance lately, with the former getting the critically-acclaimedAlien: Romulusand theupcoming TV seriesAlien: Earth, and the latter getting a trilogy ofPrey,Predator: Killer of Killers, andPredator: Badlands. With all of these recent successes, Disney seems to now be leaning into theAlienandPredatorshared universe connections, setting up the possibility of a thirdAlien vs. Predatorfilm.
2025 will see the release of twoPredatorfilms, with the animatedPredator: Killer of Killersnow out on Hulu and the upcomingPredator: Badlandscoming to theaters in November. After the success ofPrey,Predator: Killer of Killershas been another critical hit for the franchise, and many fans are hoping thatDan Trachtenberg continues these successes withPredator: Badlands. Interestingly, these two films have begun to reference theAlienfranchise more than the series has in years, meaning that something big may be coming.
Predator: Killer Of Killers Seemingly Has A Big Xenomorph Easter Egg
Has The Predator Warlord Killed A Xenomorph?
Near the end of the film,the characters inPredator: Killer of Killerswind up on a Yautja planet, where they encounter the deadly Predator Warlord. The Warlord has a unique design, with his most noticeable characteristic being his cape of bones. Although it has not been confirmed, the bones that make up this cape look shockingly like the Xenomorph tails from theAlienfranchise. Since Predators often make costumes out of the bodies of the species they’ve killed, it would make sense for the Warlord to make his cape out of fallen Xenomorph.
Disney’s Upcoming Alien & Predator Projects Are Teasing Franchise Connections
Hinting At Another Crossover
AnotherAlien vs. Predatormovie isn’t a stretch at all, as thePredatorfranchise has been explicitly highlighting its connections toAlien. ThePredator: Badlandstrailer features a Xenomorph skull on a wall of skeletons, with the wall also featuring theIndependence Dayaliens. On top of that,Elle Fanning’s Thia inPredator: Badlandsis actually a Weyland-Yutani synthetic. In the trailer, her eyes can be seen glitching and briefly showing the Weyland-Yutani logo, confirming that she comes from the antagonisticAliencorporation.
AlthoughAlienhasn’t referencedPredatoras explicitly, there is one tease. In thetrailer for the upcomingAlien: EarthTV show, it is revealed that a ship that contained five of the most dangerous species in the galaxy crash-landed on Earth. While the Xenomorph is presumably one of them, it hasn’t been revealed what the other aliens are. Interestingly, one of the characters refers to the aliens as “predatory,” with this being a potentialPredatortease.
The Alien Vs. Predator Teases Fit With Previous Comments
Disney Is Interested In Making A Third AvP
Interestingly, it has already been confirmed thata thirdAlien vs. Predatormovie would “probably” happen. 20th Century president Steve Asbell was discussing the recent successes of the two franchises when he confirmed that the studio was thinking about a third film. However,Asbell also explained that “we haven’t gotten to that point,“meaning that the teases are all that we will get for now. Here are Asbell’s full comments:
[You will] probably [see another Alien vs. Predator movie.] It wouldn’t be in the way you think. That’s the thing. Not in the way that it will just be called Alien vs. Predator or anything like the original movies. If we do this, they’ll be organically created out of these two franchises that we’ve continued with characters that we fall in love with and those characters will combine…perhaps. But we haven’t gotten to that point. And we’re not just going to bang it out.
Alien Vs. Predator 3 Makes Sense Now Disney Has Revived Both Franchises
Compared To Where They Were When The First AvP Was Released
Although thefirst twoAlien vs. Predatormoviesweren’t received well, now is the perfect time to make a new one. WhenAlien vs. Predatorand its sequel were made, both franchises were at a dark time. The most recentAlienmovie wasAlien Resurrection, and the most recentPredatormovie was 1990’sPredator 2. The quality of the crossovers reflected the quality of the franchises at that point, leading to the poorly-received movies that were released.
However, Disney has managed to revitalize both franchises better than anyone could have imagined,Alien: RomulusandPreyhelped raise the bar for what these franchises could be, and bothAlienandPredatorhave big new projects in the works. Now that the quality and popularity of these films has risen, it is possible that the quality and popularity of a thirdAlien vs. Predatormovie could be raised as well.
