Dan Trachtenberg’s Predator: Badlands Will Have The Predator As The Protagonist

[@somemistakes6091]

Adam the only one understanding what a hero can be, Aaron and Eric stuck in the idea if a Superhero

[@AlienvsPredatorGalaxy]

It's more about the classical definitions of the word hero (like being noble or high morals or etc), not being stuck on the idea of a superhero. The Predator just doesn't fit that definition unless it's leaning too heavily into the Yautja side of things and that has never been as aspect of them I've enjoyed. IIRC I said we may just be overanalyzing that wording, and it means just "primary" or literal protagonist. I've no issue with that. I just don't want to see them as a classical "good guy". I want to see them being violent with some inventive and classy kills.(Aaron)

[@fernandodaela]

I think this has the potential of being a pretty awesome experience, cause my main gripe with Predator movies is how dumb and forced the Predator losing usually feels. This way they can simply go all out with the Predator being smart, resourceful and badass

[@gspida25]

I’m 100% with Adam on this one, you can only repeat the same formula with the yautji so many times in film before it gets stale. Dan in the interview makes it seem like he has a hell of story to tell with his take on the predator and I’m willing to give it a chance ontop of I’ve been dying to see this role reversal in the films for some time now.

[@mrspeigel3593]

@@gspida25 I mean Predator can fight anything anywhen

[@Drewgantka_97]

Hero and villain status is always a matter of perspective. If in a specific moment of the film the Predator carries out a deed that seems heroic, like killing a vile human, then the creature is heroic. But just as easily as committing something heroic it can quickly do something we consider villainous. That’s what’s great about the creature because it can be both at any moment since its only goal is to hunt. Who the prey turns out to be as a character determines its status in our eyes. They’re versatile creatures and characters and for film it’s about damn time they become more than just the ugly space hunters who always fail to hunt.

[@gspida25]

Agreed Very well said

[@SolidSnake240]

One thing I've learned is how many people don't know what protagonist actually means lol. Just because a Yautjua is the protag doesn't make them a hero

[@hamrammr1]

Some good arguments on both sides here. My thoughts are that we've only seen one side of the predator, one facet of their characters (at least cinematically), and therefore we don't know everything about them. If humans had the technology to travel to distant planets just to hunt, then the indigenous species of those planets would see us just as hunters. No reason why predators can't have more to them. Maybe they can be heroic. Makes sense that there would be good and bad predators, moral and immoral, honourable and dishonourable, maybe even ones that don't like hunting. Given a whole planet of yautja, there have to be, statistically, pacifist predators. As mad as that sounds.

[@ridgetop21]

Yep. There have to be some Predators among their race that are “good guys,” and that sounds interesting to me.

[@hamrammr1]

@@ridgetop21 Definitely. Difference and conflict makes good drama.

[@kailem4707]

I agree with what Ridgetop is saying here, a story with a Predator protagonist can totally work. Like he said, they're just not one-note slasher villains like Jason or Michael Myers, they've got enough shades to them so that we could easily have a story where they're the ones we're following and rooting for. Godzilla's another character that works as both outright hero who we're rooting for even while he's still destroying stuff, as well as full-on bad guy depending on the movie, and that's been going on for decades! And hell, you could say we've already had a "hero" Predator on-screen with Wolf in AVPR. Say what you want about the movie itself, but Wolf is indisputably one of the main protagonists there, and we follow him for a bunch of the story with no or minimal human interaction during a lot of his scenes. So the groundwork has already been laid to a certain extent. Just because Dan used the word "hero" doesn't mean he's never going to be killing people or only doing good deeds. Also, one of the reasons people root for Feral when he's taking out the trappers *is* totally because they're the bad guys. We see them capture, threaten, beat and torture the good guys in their prior scenes, so we're more than happy to cheer for Feral when he wipes them out, especially when he does it in a bunch of cool ways. So going all-in and having a movie where we follow the Predator as the main character could give us license to do that for the entire movie, not just that one scene, since we already know it works from an audience perspective.

[@Ashy_Slashy3]

Hopefully the predator doesn't die... again....

[@sal4731]

He most likely will, either in a sacrifice or a trade blow like in the AvP films

[@Ashy_Slashy3]

@sal4731 typical. Hopefully not

[@Predatorwarrior18]

Well a character doesn’t have to always be a hero in order to root for them.

[@AlienvsPredatorGalaxy]

Completely agree. (Hicks)

[@Xenosaurian]

Correction, Lex earns Scar's respect in AVP because she returns his weapons and uses his spear to kill an Alien.

[@AlienvsPredatorGalaxy]

She definitely shows her chops off later, but at that point, she lucked out with the spear. She showed no combat skills then. And iirc the cannon slide out of her backpack when she was attacked. Lex doesn't earn the team-up at that point imho (Hicks)

[@ridgetop21]

I personally bought it. Just the fact she reacted fast enough to kill an Alien, and managed to, made him probably think. “Huh… interesting. Well I’ll make her some weapons from her kill and let’s see how she does.” Also she slid the canon to the Predator, before it was attacked.

[@caldervanegas240]

I agree with Adam he seems to be the only one who understands what the article is saying. I think Aaron and Erick I thinking way too literally on the hero part of it

[@AlienvsPredatorGalaxy]

I said that in the discussion that we might just be getting hung up on the wording of hero. He may possibly just be meaning that it's the primary. I completely understand that. (Hicks)

[@caldervanegas240]

@@AlienvsPredatorGalaxy I understand the concern and also the Feral predator scene where he kills the French a lot people were rooting for the predator because the French were horrible people it wasn’t just that the Feral Predator was being badass

[@ridgetop21]

We may indeed have been caught in semantics, but I wasn’t just meaning the protagonist, which yeah doesn’t need to be a hero in a story. But the word might also come down to perspective. Could totally be more of an anti-hero framing that Dan meant too. Characters like Batman or Han Solo have been described as such.

[@kdmendonk]

I think it'll be a rescue mission based on the sisters plot. My suspicion is they are infant yautja and the Predator is trying to get them back.

[@roadkillofficialaustralia]

Well, the reality is... we've had countless great Predator characters (Wolf, Scar, City Hunter, Grey Back, etc.) in 7 films now so to see one finally be the 'main' protagonist is a great move by Trachtenberg! I guess the only film where the Predator was the main focus was AVP Requiem and while the film is OK at best, the inclusion of WOLF was in reality, the 'star' of the film. Dan nailed it with PREY, I expect he'll deliver again in Badlands!

[@Shadx27]

Yautja are a different species and different culture. Movies should reflect that. 'The Predator' was definitely a mess and plot holed filled. Unneeded Marvel tech thrown in too. 'Predators' did well to expand lore. I would have had Wolf survive AvP Requiem, via his ship in orbit saw the nuke plane coming, he jumps off hospital roof with the severed tail of Predalien stuck in his leg, he laughs as he flies off on his shuttle that was there to catch him, and the Predalien roars in triumph until it sees something falling from the sky...

[@keithfarrell4882]

Looks like a female Predator.

[@sal4731]

Dan literally says in the first line ‘He’s still a badass’

[@BUGHUNTER6]

Anyone else read the subtitle in the thumbnail as "Brolands"?

[@spookyartist1166]

Maybe when they mean hero they mean like 80s action heroes like Rambo or Conan

[@jamesmitchell4927]

I love how the focus isn't taking into account who owns this franchise now.... What if the "Hero we don't normal get to root for" is .......(we have rooted for a predator in AVP 1 and 2 so I doubt its that)...... a female predator!!!!..... Predator head tails in a ponytail, its proof!

[@chrisromero2608]

Since Elle Fanning is playing twins, I have a feeling that one of the two will die at the hands of the Predator and the other will survive. It also sounds like one of the twins will clearly be more morally ambiguous than the other.

[@chrisromero2608]

@ Hope not, but Dan was behind Prey which was great in my opinion and 100x better than The Shitolyte.

[@mrspeigel3593]

They're some kind of test tube babies, like ones a super soldier and ones super smart , the Predator is after whatever is after them

[@chrisromero2608]

@@mrspeigel3593 Ohh interesting. I also heard about the Predator hunting some sort of alien. But I didn't know it was hunting whatever is hunting the humans. If this is the case, it does sound a bit concerning. I'd like for them to keep the Predator from becoming some sort of superhero, but I guess only time will tell.

[@mistergrim6702]

Thats cool Like in the comics

[@rv2167]

We need a movie were androids go to the predator world to hunt them

[@noktrum2794]

In the past two decades I’ve learned a very valuable lesson when it comes to your beloved franchises and modern Hollywood - if un upcoming movie flashes red flags left and right - its going to be dog$hit. Don’t look for a second bottom, don’t hope for it to be some sort of clever advertisement, that is meant to surprise you - the movie will be dog$hit, end of story. Save yourself the trouble and skip this BS... If I understood this simple truth back in 2018 (but not only) I would save myself a lot of disappointments.

[@warsincs]

I reckon this Predator is gonna be a female.

[@FilthyValentine]

discord link broken

[@bjrnhalfhand2258]

Not too excited about this one yet. Maybe the trailer will get me interested. I don't like the hero Predator protagonist thing.

[@michaeldamico3000]

Is it a female predator?

[@sal4731]

No, Dan says in the first line ‘He’s still a badass’

[@michaeldamico3000]

@@sal4731 lol my bad I missed that part

[@joesalvator5878]

I'm tired of the typical hunting movie in this franchise, I'd like to see an origin story for the yautja, or a story about their home world.