Predators

The Predators (also originally known as the Yautja) are an alien race and the featured villains in the Predator film series.

Characteristics
The predators as a race are great hunters, with trophies from many species across the galaxy. They are attracted to war zones, as those hunted there would make for the more difficult trophies to acquire, as well as the ones with the most honor attached. Trophies can consist of skins or skulls with the spinal column still attached. They often wear masks, and their faces resemble large crustaceans. Their equipment consists of invisibility technology, as well an array of weapons, including powerful shoulder cannons. They also wear small but powerful bombs on their wrists in case of defeat.

Despite the predators' ruthless behavior when they hunt their prey down, they all have a great sense of honor and fight with it. They never kill innocent, sick, or unarmed people, and they show great respect towards those who have defeated their own kind.

History and Culture
Predator culture revolves around the hunting and stalking of dangerous lifeforms. After making a kill, Predators typically skin or decapitate the carcass, converting it into a trophy. Failure in a hunt results in the Predator involved committing an honorable suicide. It is often alluded to that the reason Predators hunt is not for sustenance or elimination of threats, but as entertainment or rite of passage, as they will only attack life forms that have the ability to provide them with a challenge. In Predators, it is revealed that there are at least two different Predator tribes, which are engaged in a long lasting blood feud. The film also introduced a pack of spined, quadrupedal beasts used as flushing dogs by the "Super Predators". Creature designer Gregory Nicotero used hyenas as a basis for the creature's physique, while the spines were added later by Chris Olivia.

Predators made contact with early human civilizations such as the Ancient Egyptians, the Khmer Empire, and Aztecs, as well as a fictitious culture inhabiting what is now modern day Bouvetøya. Upon arriving on Earth, the Predators were worshipped as gods by humans, and they taught many of the civilizations how to build pyramids (an explanation as to why many of these different ancient societies had distinctly similar cultures and architecture), but in return expected sacrifices of humans for use as hosts for huntable Aliens. The Predators returned to Bouvetøya every century to consummate the bargain, until at one point in the ritual, the Aliens spread out of control, resulting in the Predators detonating a bomb that obliterated the entire civilization. Relations with humans and the Predators deteriorated from that time on; the Predators then viewed humans as little more than another quarry to hunt.

Predators feature prominently in the folklore of certain cultures; some Latin American people refer to the species as, "El Demonio que hace trofeos de los hombres" (Spanish for "The Demon who makes trophies of men"), while Jamaican superstition identifies Predators as demons from the spirit world. When hunting humans, Predators normally avoid certain individuals such as children and some adults if they are unarmed, though they will spare armed ones if they happen to be pregnant or sickly. A human who has managed to kill a Predator in single combat or has fought alongside one is usually spared by the deceased hunter's comrades and given a gift (often a rare or exotic weapon) as a sign of respect.

A learner's first successful Alien hunt is completed with the marking of his helmet and forehead with the blood of his kill. Predators apparently keep Alien Queens in captivity in order to maintain a supply of eggs. It is shown in a brief scene in Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem that Predators have had prior contact with the Space Jockeys. This is confirmed in the film's DVD commentary.

Language
The script of the Predators is expressed in the films and other media through written patterns of dashes. These written symbols appear on the creatures' gauntlet displays, their helmets, architecture, and many other surfaces. The most common vocalizations of the Predators consists of a series of clicks, roars, snarls, and growls. Predators will mimic human language on occasion, and have been stated or shown to be able to understand and speak human languages. Author Steve Perry designed a constructed language set for the Aliens vs. Predator novel series.

Technology
Predator technology is distinctive in many respects, not the least of which is its ornate, tribal appearance masking deadly, sophisticated weaponry. It is shown in Predator 2 that at least one Predator weapon uses a metal that does not correspond to any element on the periodic table, and some weapons have been shown to be completely resistant to the effects of acidic blood belonging to Aliens. In addition, several of these tools make use of thermal imaging to track prey. The Predator's mask also houses a viewing system that fine tunes the creature's infrared vision by filtering out ambient heat, and also allows it to view in different Spectrum completely. The Predator's technology is advanced enough that the mask enables it to see in specific levels of X-ray and identify diseases and cancers, as well as picking up on pulse and heartbeat signals to track targets, as seen in "Alien vs. Predator" and "Predators", respectively. The Predator also makes use of a light-bending cloaking device. A flashback sequence in Alien vs. Predator indicates that some aspects of their technology have been in use for millennia.

Predator
In the first film, a lone predator is sent to a Central American country in the throes of civil war. It killed and skinned one team of special forces troops in the area and witnessed another destroy a guerrilla camp while sustaining zero casualties. The predator hunted them down one by one until only their leader Dutch was left. The predator viewed him as a more worthy adversary than the rest and engaged in single combat with him. However, Dutch caught the predator in a trap he had previously laid. Knowing it was defeated, the predator set its bomb and blew itself up.

Predator 2
In the second film, a group of predators lands near Los Angeles, which is being torn apart in a war between Colombian and Jamaican drug dealers. One is sent out to gather trophies, and it hunts among the drug dealers and police alike. It makes the mistake of killing the partner of Det. Harrigan, who seeks vengeance. He engages in combat with the predator, and the wounded alien flees to its ship, where they fight a final battle. Harrigan kills the predator, after which the others throw down their cloaking devices and approach him. The senior member of the group hands him a pistol from civil war times in recognition of his victory. The predators depart soon after.

Alien vs. Predator
In 2004, a Predator ship arrives in Earth orbit to draw humans to an ancient Predator training ground on Bouvetøya, an island about one thousand miles north of Antarctica. A buried pyramid which gives off a "heat bloom" attracts humans led by Charles Bishop Weyland, who unknowingly activates an Alien egg production line. Three Predator hunter initiates enter the structure, killing all humans in their way with the intention of hunting the newly formed alien warriors. Two Predators die in the ensuing battle, while the third (credited as Scar in the credits) allies itself with the lone surviving human, Alexa Woods in order to battle the escaped Queen Alien. The Queen is defeated, but not before she fatally wounds the last Predator.

The Predator ship hovering above the battleground uncloaks and the crew retrieve the fallen Predator. A Predator elder gives Alexa a spear as a sign of respect, and then departs. Once the Predator ship is orbit, it is revealed that a chestburster was in the Scar Predator's corpse, though this specimen has Predator mandibles.

Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem
Set immediately after the previous film, the Predalien hybrid on board the Predator scout ship, which just separated from the mothership from the previous film, has grown to full adult size and sets about killing the Predators on-board the ship, causing it to crash in Gunnison, Colorado. The last survivor activates a distress beacon with a video of the Predalien, which is received by a veteran Predator, who sets off towards Earth to "clean up" the infestation. When it arrives, the Predator tracks the Aliens into a section of the sewer below town. He removes evidence of their presence as he goes by using a corrosive blue liquid. It uses a laser net to try to contain the creatures, but the Aliens still manage to escape into the town above. The Predator fashions a plasma pistol from its remaining plasma caster, the other being damaged while it hunted Aliens all across town (accidentally cutting the power to the town in the process) during a confrontation with human survivors.

Later on, the Predator encounters the same human survivors again in the Alien Hive and loses his plasma pistol. The Predator then fights the Predalien singlehandedly, and the two mortally wound one another just as the United States military drops a tactical nuclear bomb on the town, incinerating both combatants as well as the few remaining humans in the city. The salvaged plasma pistol is then taken by the United States Army to Ms. Yutani.

Predators
Main Article: Berserker Predator In Predators (which deliberately distances itself from the prior Aliens vs Predator movies), it is revealed that there are two warring Predator tribes, with one group using quadrupedal hunting beasts and elaborate traps to hunt. These Predators capture and drop a group of elite killers from different locations from Earth onto a forested planet used as a game preserve. After numerous skirmishes resulting in the deaths of two Predators and all but two of the captured humans, the last Predator manages to kill another member of its kind from a rival tribe, but is defeated in combat by the human survivors.