When was the last time you identified with predator and prey alike? In the twisted, timeline-crossing Predator movie series, the audience is allowed to be both the hunted and the hunter, but so much has happened in this series in a relatively short period of time, it can be hard to keep all of the most important moments of the Predator movie timeline in your head.
The Predator timeline may look simple from the outside, but when you actually break down everything the Yautja (that's what these hunter aliens are actually called) have accomplished on Earth dating back to the dawn of humanity, it can be overwhelming. Adding to the staggering amount of things that have happened in these films is the series' crossover with the Alien franchise.
Depending on which sci-fi circle you run in, the Alien vs. Predator timeline is its own thing and has nothing to do with the original films or its Shane Black-directed follow-up. Not here. We've taken everything the Yautja have done in cinema and compressed it into one camouflaged and self-detonating timeline for your viewing pleasure.
It all starts here, long before Dutch went head-to-head with a chatty Yautja in the jungles of Central America, and way before the Predalien wiped out a small Colorado town. As human civilization was just getting its act together, the Yautja showed up to teach primitive tribes across the globe how to build pyramids.
The Egyptians, Aztecs, and Mayans each had their own run-ins with the Yautja, a highly advanced species that were considered to be gods. Worshipped as deities, the Yautja not only used humans to construct the pyramids, but also pushed them to breed Xenomorphs for their hunts.
Every Hundred Years: The Yautja Hold Ceremonial Hunts Pitting Young Bloods Against Xenomorph Prey
It didn't take long after the first pyramids were finished that the Yautja began their centennial Xenomorph hunts in South and Central America. The hunts test the mettle of young Yautja trying to earn their dreads. Survivors are considered to be worthy of future hunts, and those who are overwhelmed by Xenomorphs destroy everything in order to keep Xenomorphs from taking over the planet.
Initially, natives offered themselves up as hosts for the Xenomorphs to help the creatures they saw as gods carry on with their hunt. As time went on, this practice disappeared, and the Yautja were forced to coerce humans to the area through heat blooms and various scientific quandaries in order to continue with their hunt.
1718: A Yautja Helps A Pirate Captain Fight Off A Mutiny
The first recorded instance of a Yautja and a person working together occurred in 1718, and - wouldn't you know it - it was a nasty affair. That was the year that pirate captain Raphael Adolini faced a mutiny over a case of gold that was on its way to a mission. Adolini wanted to make sure the gold made it to its destination, but the crew thought otherwise.
A Yautja entered the fray as Adolini's men chased him through the jungles off the Guinea Coast. Adolini and the Yautja fought back-to-back until they defeated all but one of the mutinous crew members. A final member of the crew shot Adolini in the back and earned a blast from the Yautja for his efforts. Before Adolini passed on, he gave an engraved musket to the Yautja. Before leaving, the Yautja left his retractable sword with Adolini's body.
1719: A Yautja Does Battle With The Comanche People And French Fur Trappers
The Comanche hunting grounds were turned into a killing field when a Yautja arrived in 1719. What began as a hunt for the area's apex predators turned into a gruesome battle of man versus alien when young Comanche healer, Naru, noticed the creature stalking animals in the area.
Naru's tribe doesn't realize what they're up against until it's far too late. Her fellow warriors and her brother are slaughtered by the vicious alien hunter, as are a group of French fur trappers who are so out of their element with the Yautja it's not even funny. It looks as if the Yautja is about to have free run of the planet until Naru truly proves herself as a warrior. She uses her surroundings, as well as the contemporary weapons of the hunter alien, to drown it in a bog before beheading it.
1904: A Whaling Crew Sails Into The Middle Of A Ceremonial Xenomorph Hunt
In 1904, Norwegian whalers near Razorback Point experienced underwater tremors in the chilly Arctic waters surrounding them. The men who investigated the mysterious rumbling discovered a metallic pod hidden in a crater on the ice that held a Yautja. As soon as this single hunter was free of the pod, it started wiping out whalers left and right.
The whalers had the bad luck of showing up on time for the centennial hunt, so they didn't just have to deal with one Yautja - which might have ended decently - they had Xenomorphs to deal with, too. The men were wiped out completely, and Razorback Point became a ghost town.
1987: A Yautja Perishes When It Tries To Eliminate Dutch's Mercenary Team
If the Yautja popped up on Earth between 1904 and the decades leading up to Predator, there's no record of it. In 1987, one of these alien hunters popped down to Central America. That's where it ran afoul of a search-and-destroy troop of ex-military men led by Major "Dutch" Schaefer, who were wiping out a group of insurgents.
Dutch's team was completely wiped out until the major was the only person left standing. He went head-to-head with the Yautja in jungle warfare, which led to the hunter blowing himself up with a timed nuclear device. Dutch and the single insurgent survivor, Anna Gonsalves, escaped the explosion on a helicopter.
