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Feral Predator, or simply the Predator, is the antagonist of the 2022 Hulu movie Prey. He is an extraterrestrial creature who is determined to fight a worthy adversary.
Background[]
Personality[]
While a skilled hunter and warrior, the Feral Predator is also still young, inexperienced and overconfident. While adhering to the Yautja Honor Code in the sense that he will not attack unarmed opponents or non-aggressive animals, the Feral Predator was much more selective with the code in actual combat: he remained cloaked during his fight with a bear, he switched his active camouflage on during combat with Taabe when he got frustrated with the Comanche and killed a wounded Raphael, though in that particular case the hunter may have just been surprised.
This willingness to bend the Code suggests that Feral Predator more or less viewed the Code as being more like guidelines rather than actual rules. Alternatively, the Honor Code he followed being slightly different, less strict than the one classic Predators familiar most, owing to indication of him originated from a clan who different than ones introduced in previous installments (see Trivia below).
However, after Naru was able to injure him and proved herself a worthy adversary, he intentionally decides to draw out the fight even though he could have easily killed her. The Feral Predator also seemed to have a very short temper, quickly grows frustrated upon challenges from foes which he found too subpar to his liking such as Comanche warriors and Taabe. The peak of his temper was exhibited when during his encounter with the French trappers; after stumbling into a bear trap and being ambushed, the Feral Predator went into a violent rage and used all of his weapons to slaughter his human assailants, even resorting to using explosives out of sheer spite towards them. The Predator's all-out approach against the trappers admittedly didn't help by latter group less formidable in comparison of Comanche warriors he fought prior, with one of the trappers killing himself in humiliating manner (his flintlock shot got deflected back to his skull by his Bio-Mask).
The Feral Predator also enjoyed utilizing unarmed combat mixed with his wrist blades more then his other weapons, as he seemed to particularly enjoy killing with his bare hands the most. It seems he also came to enjoy hunting by the trees, stalking his prey from above, a tactic that later followed by more experienced Jungle Hunter.
Physical appearance[]
Like its fellow species, referred to in other media as the Yautja, or Hish, the Feral Predator is a tall, bulky being with black and brown armored skin. His fingers are tipped with large claws, and he wears minimal armor, mainly in the form of his wrist bracers, a loincloth, belts to carry his equipment, and his helmet, which can see in a wide array of visual spectrums. He has a rather obtuse head with long wiry, hair-like dreadlocks that serve as sensory organs and a large helmet resembling or perhaps constructed from a skull of an alien creature. When the helmet is removed, his real face is shown to have tiny yellow eyes and a large wide mouth with four insect-like mandibles and fangs.
Powers and abilities[]
The Feral Predator possesses an array of weapons, including his species' signature double wristblades, a laser-guided speargun and his helmet, which can see heat signatures, infrared, and other visual spectrums. The Feral Predator also had several chain blades that could snap straight before being thrown at a target, curling around to slice through the target; they could slice through a human's leg like a knife through butter, and could break a bear trap with little effort. He also possessed a spear that could be separated into a machete and a mace in combat. Likewise the helmet contains a cloaking device that can turn him invisible. On top of this, the Feral Predator possessed tools for preserving the skulls of his kills: after beheading his quarries, he would use liquid nitrogen or a similar component to dissolve their flesh, leaving only the bones that he would attach to his belt. In addition to this, the Feral Predator can run faster than any human, climb trees with terrifying speed and leap great distances. An excellent tracker, he can hunt prey over a wide expanse of territory, and he was strong enough to kill an adult grizzly bear with nothing more than his bare hands and wrist blades.
Trivia[]
- This marks the first time that this Predator has ever been on Earth to hunt.
- Behind the scenes, he is referred to as the Feral Predator.
- This Predator is more distinct from other Predators in the Franchise and has a more bulbous, narrow forehead, suggesting it is from an as-yet unseen group of Predators within the species. The director of Prey has hinted it may come from a different part of the species' home planet.
- This is in line with other Predators in the franchise, such as the Super Predators from 2010's Predators film and the more classic Predators like the Jungle Predator and City Hunter from the first two films.
- Michael Vincent, the film's concept artist, confirmed such statement by describing Feral Predator's clan to be part of desert-dwelling subspecies (other members of his kind which featured so far better adapted to jungle biomes by contrast). In addition of developing more distinctive appearance as expressed by Feral Predator himself, the clan also holds reverence in bones as reflected from his Bio-Mask which fashioned from the skull of a formidable alien lifeform (implied to be a River Ghost from Predators or similar creature).
- Dane DiLiegro, Feral Predator's, actor, revealed a tidbit of his character's background which explained his behavior: Feral Predator was an aspiring skilled Yautja who sought to prove himself in his first and unfortunately, last hunt on Earth. Yet his prowess was hindered by a sense of hubris, lack of refinement possibly as expected from young age that outsmarting the Yautja is the best approach in defeating him. In addition of Naru's success in doing so via. elaborated scheme rather than using brute force head on, it's no surprise that fans quick to compare him to recently promoted Blooded-ranked members of mainstream Yautja clan at best, even though whether he hold such rank or his clan's hierarchy being same as the former remained to be seen.
- Boltgun and Proximity Mines in his disposal were described by filmmakers as precursors to Plasmacaster and Self-Destruct Device respectively. The former resembled Wolf's Plasma Pistol fashioned from modifying a Plasmacaster as seen in Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem and launched guided bolts that sought out their target via the use of the bio-mask's targeting laser system not unlike typical Plasmacaster's own. The activation of Feral Predator's Proximity Mines on the other hand, involved activation code followed by countdown like Self-Destruct Device albeit leading to Wrist Computer releasing the Mines instead of exploding.
- Design and mechanics-wise, Feral Predator's retractable shield was based on Kratos' Guardian Shield from 2018 game God of War. Although, the concept revolving it had been previously explored in other works, most notably Wristwatch Shield from Riordan's novels and Temujin's Retractable Shield from Naruto the Movie: Legend of the Stone of Gelel.
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