Warning! This submit comprises SPOILERS for Predator: Badlands and Alien: Earth
The Alien and Predator franchises are at present dominating Hollywood in a surprisingly related vogue. Each franchises have not too long ago flipped the script in key methods with tasks like Predator: Badlands and Alien: Earth, increasing what every respective (but related) franchise is able to with daring new instructions.
In additional methods than one, these current entries in 2025 have developed past sci-fi survival horror. Extremely artistic and distinctive in their very own proper, this is how every has equally entered new narrative areas, and the way each the Alien and Predator franchises have been succeeding nicely earlier than this 12 months alone.
Predator: Badlands Continues An Epic Pattern We First Noticed In Alien: Earth
Launched in November 2025, Dan Trachtenberg’s Predator: Badlands has shortly turn out to be some of the widespread entries within the franchise’s historical past.
Primarily set on a extremely deadly alien world, the film defies earlier franchise expectations with its protagonist being a younger Predator searching for to show himself on his first hunt, who additionally turns into an unlikely duo with Elle Fanning’s Thia, a Weyland-Yutani employed synth (connecting to the Alien franchise, which has lengthy been set in the identical canonical universe).
General, Predator: Badlands is a really daring, character-driven take that’s earned large important reward. Nevertheless, we additionally noticed one thing very related earlier this 12 months with the everyday monstrous antagonist turning into a key protagonist.
As seen in Noah Hawley’s Alien: Earth, which started streaming earlier within the 12 months, a brand-new sort of Xenomorph debuted underneath the management of the human-synth hybrid Marcy (often known as Wendy), the collection’ central character and protagonist.
Because of Marcy’s distinctive connection to the creature, she was in a position to harness the ability of the lethal alien species in methods Weyland-Yutani (and Alien: Earth’s different newly launched mega firms) have solely ever dreamed of in earlier Alien entries.
Whereas the tales could also be fairly totally different, they share one factor in widespread: giving the Predator and Xenomorph new ethical shades, permitting each franchises to realize recent depth and narrative potential with out dropping their edge. It’s extremely thrilling to see it taking place throughout the similar 12 months, particularly contemplating how energized each franchises have turn out to be over the previous few years.
Even Earlier than 2025, The Alien & Predator Franchises Have Been On A Main Roll
The current revival of each the Alien and Predator franchises actually started with the success of Trachtenberg’s Prey in 2022, the Hulu hit that redefined what a Predator film could possibly be, proving the franchise might nonetheless innovate with its distinctive timeline.
Likewise, Alien: Romulus in 2024 by Fede Álvarez was equally widespread with its unimaginable sensible results, proving that the Xenomorph at any stage of its life cycle stays one of many scariest sci-fi film monsters of all time. There’s additionally Trachtenberg’s animated film Predator: Killer of Killers, which was additionally launched this 12 months in June 2025.
Marvel’s Alien and Predator comics have additionally been fairly widespread, in addition to their tremendous enjoyable crossovers with numerous Marvel heroes, like Predator vs. Wolverine, Aliens vs. Avengers, and the brand-new Alien vs. Captain America (set in WWII).
General, there’s been some fairly nice evolution and innovation with each of those franchises and what they’ll convey to the desk.
Whereas the hope is to naturally see extra particular person tasks from each franchises, it ought to be apparent to twentieth Century Fox and Disney that there is by no means been a greater time for a brand-new Alien vs Predator crossover movie, as each IPs are proper now on absolute fireplace.
Predator: Badlands is now taking part in in theaters. All episodes of Alien: Earth season 1 are streaming on Hulu.