The Predator. I fucking love this race of characters. Their look and their culture is very fascinating to me and the original Predator film is my third favorite movie of all-time. What is most compelling about the Predator though is how well it can fit into other universes and still work well as a nemesis or supporting character. Predator has crossed over with many other franchises, most notably the Alien franchise (after all, there's countless comics and games plus two movies about that) but they have also gone toe-to-toe with the likes of Batman, Superman, Tarzan and recently Archie. Yes. That Archie. This is a thing.
The interior art is more in the style of the old Archie comics but this cover looks amazing.
Even though the Predator almost always loses in these crossovers, there is enough action and carnage to make them entertaining sights and it is just in the Predator's character to lose (usually). So with a new Predator film in the works, I got to thinking about other characters I would like to see the Predator clash with...
10: Boba Fett from Star Wars
I'm putting this one at the bottom because it is the most obvious one to think of: the galaxy's best bounty hunter vs the galaxy's best game hunter. 'nuff said.
09: Dean and Sam Winchester from Supernatural
My wife and I really liked Supernatural but over time we kind off lost track of it (I believe we got halfway through Season 4). Not that the show lost its appeal but more so we just haven't been able to fit getting caught up back into our schedule. I know that in the Supernatural universe, aliens simply do not exist but the idea of watching the Winchesters chasing a cryptid creature only to find it carved up by a Predator and spending an episode (or two) having to track and kill something that is more than capable of doing the same to them is too tantalizing to pass up. Or how about a prequel episode where the Predator is hunting their father, John Winchester? However you do it, Winchester vs Predator could make for an interesting and very entertaining crossover.
08: Delta Squad from Gears Of War
Despite the teeth-clenching difficulty of the first game, I had a lot of fun playing through the Gears Of War games, even if some of the world and backstory isn't terribly well fleshed out. Predators thrive on heat and conflict, right? Well, it looks plenty warm and there's more than enough conflict on Sera, the planet which Gears Of War takes place. You could even drop a Predator or Predators in during the Pendulum Wars before E-Day if you really wanted to but it would probably be cooler to watch Predators hunt both Delta Squad and The Locust. Who wants to see Predators fight a Corpser or a Brumak? This guy, that's who!
07: Jason Voorhees from Friday The 13th
This one is actually a fan-fic I wrote in high school. I treated it like a direct sequel to Freddy vs Jason where a female Predator landed Crystal Lake as Jason came out of hiding and went on another killing rampage. I would love to see how the Predator would assess its target and go about hunting a revenant like Jason Voorhees. Until an official crossover happens, we do have the DLC from Mortal Kombat X featuring these two characters to tide us over...which is AWESOME!
Cosplay by thecrunkpanda
06: The Ghostbusters
This was another fan-fic that I wrote in high school, only mine followed the continuity of the animated series' The Real Ghostbusters and Extreme Ghostbusters where someone mistakes a cloaked Predator as a spirit and naturally, calls the Ghostbusters. When they and Slimer arrive, the Predator attacks only to be driven off by Slimer and killed in a factory explosion when Peter fires at the creature in defense and hits a fuel depository. Flash forward to Extreme Ghostbusters where the spirit of the Predator reawakens and targets other ghosts, taking their spectral bones and ectoplasmic flesh as trophies (a ghost that kills ghosts) and then the new team has to finish what the originals started all those years ago. IDW currently has a long-time Ghostbusters series that is very well written (the art is a little iffy for me) and I would like to see a story where the team, whether it be the originals, the comic's roster or even the cast from the new movie (which is actually pretty good, for the record), goes up against an ectoplasmic Predator.
Artist unknown
05: Ashley J. Williams from The Evil Dead series
Bruce-fucking-Campbell fighting a Predator. Do I really have to elaborate more on this? I may not have seen the current TV series Ash vs The Evil Dead (heard nothing but great things, though) but I do own the first and third Evil Dead films as well as a slew of the comics, including Freddy vs Jason vs Ash and Marvel Zombies vs The Army Of Darkness, so its not like Ash is any stranger to crossing over with other worlds. I would love to see a brawler fight of Ash's chainsaw and Boomstick against the Predator's various blades and gadgets and if the writers felt so inclined to have the Predator become possessed by a Deadite during the fight? Groovy.
By on Gamespot
04: The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
I'm not gonna lie, this one originally started off just being The Shredder fighting Predator but the more I thought about it, why couldn't the Predator fight all five of them? The Predator's fighting style has some ninja and stealth elements to it so it would be interesting to watch it clash with prey well versed in martial arts and match its speed and agility. I'm not saying that Shredder and the Turtles have to ally themselves with one another to defeat the Predator although depending which incarnation of this property you use, that could very well happen. I also would like to see other alien species from the Turtles universe in the Predator's trophy case just as a fun and morbid little Easter egg.
By Scott Blair Art of Deviant Art
03: Spider-Man & Daredevil
I know the most obvious choice from Marvel to fight the Predator would be Wolverine, but we've already seen that on Super Power Beat Down (very well done, though). This is a crossover I've wanted to see since early high school and I actually remember drawing a picture of a Predator ambushing Spider-Man as he swings through New York with Daredevil in the background running in to help the Webslinger. The picture has long since been lost in the sands of time but the idea has always stuck with me: a slew of brutal murders hits New York's criminal population. Noticing that it doesn't fit a certain skull-bearing vigilante's M.O., Spider-Man and Daredevil join forces to put a stop to the murders (Spidey gets involved because a few of the skinnings happen in his neighborhood) and find themselves facing off against a Predator. Since this is a Spider-Man comic, the Venom symbiote needs to be involved somehow and then it gets itself attached to the Predator...y'know, because the Predator wasn't awesome enough already, right?
Diorama by Guadimo on Photobucket
02: Punisher MAX
Oh, ho ho ho...the idea of how much blood this crossover would shed makes me happy in my pants. Now, just to clarify, I am picking Punisher MAX specifically because of that line's ruthless brutality and gore that gets so intense that you need to be ID'ed to buy them. I have all of the original Garth Ennis written Punisher MAX entries (and a few post-Ennis trades) depicting an older, grizzled and more remorseless Frank Castle and given the cold one-liners (my favorite Punisher moment, by the way) and gory details the writing and art weaves in, this character is ripe picking for the Predator to do battle with. I'm assuming that the Predator would end up riddled with bullet holes and its intestines ripped from its abdomen and shoved into its freshly slit throat but holy shit, that is a battle that I really want to see.
And yet, not as much as...
01: Scooby Doo
Stop looking at me like I'm drunk and hear me out on this one. Predator has crossed over with some very unusual characters (again, ARCHIE) and Scooby-Doo has quite the laundry list of established characters/celebrities he and the gang have run into (Batman, Wonder Woman, Kiss, WWE) so would it really be that far out of left field to see these two meet? I don't think so. You're probably thinking, "Isn't Predator a little much for Scooby?" I thought so too but not too long ago, my son (over the course of a couple weeks or so) binge watched just about every bit of Scooby-Doo he could find on Netflix and came across this show Scooby-Doo & The Mystery Incorporated. It has a story arc involving past Mystery Inc crews and various monsters and prophecies and what have you that spanned over two seasons and some episodes, particularly the series finale, actually got pretty damn dark. If Scooby, Shaggy, Fred, Daphne and Velma were to cross paths with the Predator, I would like to have it set in this particular incarnation of the property, like a comic series that takes place in between episodes or something of that nature.
As for plot? Mystery Inc has tracked and captured some creature that turns out to be a wanted murderer and as he's carted away by the cops, the Predator watches and records Velma saying her famous catchphrase, "Jinkies." The Predator tracks the murderer to his prison cell, kills him inside (like the comic Predator: Race War) and mimics Velma's voice. Naturally, the guards and other prisoners think that Velma did it so Mystery Inc is on the run to catch the Predator and prove Velma's innocence. The earlier season of the show really hammered in the whole "everyone has the hots for each other" thing to an almost annoying degree so perhaps to have a happy medium between the two properties, dial back the Predator violence a little bit and up the mature content with Mystery Inc a little bit. You don't have to go full blown hentai comic but if it works in the context of the story for Fred and Daphne to get busy or Velma and Shaggy to have "Just In Case We Die Tonight" sex (is that a thing?), go for it. I also really want to see this crossover if for no other reason than to add another entry to the very short list of Scooby-Doo things where the creature that the gang is chasing is ACTUALLY a creature and not some person in a costume. Look, Scooby-Doo has done a bang-up job of showing us that man is the real monster but I don't want to see that if they cross paths with Predator. Instead, I want to see Fred rip off the helmet and this conversation follow:
FRED: Oh, my!
SHAGGY: ZOINKS! Like, that is one ugly mother fucker, dude!
SCOOBY: RAGGY! WANGUAGE!
VELMA: Actually, Scooby, Shaggy has a point.
DAPHNE: Ug, I'd rather look at that horrendous hair instead of that face...
PREDATOR (vocal mimicry): HEY!
Anyway, those are the Top 10 Predator crossovers I want to see. What did you think of these ideas and what property would you like to see the Predator trade blows with? Let me know in the comments and stay cynical.
-The Cynic
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