Warning: This post contains spoilers for Predator: Killer of Killers!Predator: Killer of Killers is the latest entry in the popular sci-fi franchise, and the new animated movie introduces a few new and important concepts to the lore, showing not only that thousands of people have defeated Yautja before, but also giving a hint at what happened to them afterward. The new Predator film's ending is one of the most interesting in the series for what it suggests. With Prey director Dan Trachtenberg helming both this and the Predator: Badlands, a comprehensive and unique Predator vision seems to be playing out this year.

There have been many movies in the pistol from Predator 2 is one of the few links between films, appearing in Predator 2, Prey, and in the new Killer of Killers. However, following some interesting teases in the new film, including a significant look at what might be the Yautja homeworld, it seems that Killer of Killers is actually setting up Badlands in a way that could connect with several other previous stories.

Predator: Killer Of Killers Reveals What Happens To People Who Kill A Yautja

The Victors In The Franchise Are Given A Dark Future

The ending of Killer of Killers featured an intense sequence that saw the three protagonists from the film's previous segments coming together and being forced to fight one another. Overcoming communication barriers between the three, they were eventually able to fight back, and stole the ship away from the new Yautja warlord, referred to as the Grendel King by Ursa. Ursa sacrifices herself to allow the other two to escape, but the ending scene shows what was done with her. Instead of being killed, she was preserved in some kind of cryogenic capsule and brought into an enormous chamber.

The term Grendel King refers to Grendel, a demonic creature who serves as the first antagonist in the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf.

This chamber is significant because it showed many other capsules just like it. There is a reference to the ending of Prey in this scene, as the camera ends with a focus on Naru, preserved in one of these capsules. It seems then that after being victorious in a struggle against a Predator, the winner of those fights is claimed by the Yautja. This led to the ending scene of Killer of Killers, where an eclectic combination of those victors were put together inside a gladiatorial arena to fight for their lives once again.

Killer Of Killers Confirms That Thousands Of Predators Have Been Beaten

There Are Many Capsules In This Yautja Storage Space

Considering the vast time jumps between each of the stories shown in this film, it seems that many different people through many different centuries, if not millennia, have fought Yautja and survived. There appear to be countless capsules in the room and, while the first one seen shows a creature that does not appear human, it looks like many humans, among other creatures who have bested the Yautja, have been stored here. While interesting, this detail is actually fairly upsetting to earlier Predator movies.

There are so many disturbing implications that grow from this ending. Having beaten these creatures, it seems that the humans are not actually given the relief of a happy ending. While so many people have been able to resist Predators and even defeat them through the years, that victory is actually short-lived. Rather than having the opportunity to live out their days in peace, the victors of these fights are preserved, likely in order to fight further, as was seen in the ending scene with the Grendel King.

How Killer Of Killers' Ending Means All Predator Survivors Can Return

An Adventure On The Predator Homeworld Now Makes Sense Within Franchise Lore

Some characters have survived the events of previous Predator movies, and the implications of that grow much greater with the closing sequence in the new film. All the survivors of the previous Killer of Killers segments are seen with collars on their necks, being brought in after victory for further fights on the planet, which appears to be, although it is not confirmed as, the Yautja homeworld. The Killer of Killers cast, including Ursa, Torres, and Kenji, are abducted from their own planet and are forced to continue battling until, inevitably, they are killed.

Considering that each character came from a distinct historical period, time does not seem like a material consequence here. Many humans from throughout the franchise's run are suggested to be stored in the capsules that are shown in the film's ending. This could potentially include anybody who survived a fight with the Predators in past films, including Royce and Isabel from Predators, and a sizeable portion of the cast of Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem. While not every past story will likely be revisited, it is exciting to know that so many could be.

Some of the most interesting characters are now primed to reappear in the franchise in the future. Arnold Schwarzenegger's Dutch is perhaps the most compelling of all of these options. Especially if depicted in animation in a Killer of Killers sequel, the character could appear exactly as he did in the original film, and could be a major part of an exciting narrative on this Yautja planet. This could even work in a live-action appearance, although the creatives would have to come up with a reason for Schwarzenegger's aged appearance, like they did in Terminator: Dark Fate.

Prey's Naru Returns In Predator: Killer Of Killers, Setting Up Prey 2

Each Capsule In This Room Hints At Another Exciting Story

While there has been talk of a sequel to Prey, the movie that saved the Predator franchise, nothing material has come of that. Killer of Killers, however, helps to explain why that might be the case. Following her victory against the Yautja in the first film, Amber Midthunder's Naru was abducted by a Predator craft and has been taken offworld. In the last shot of the new animated film, her face can be seen suspended inside of one of the capsules. This helps to set up what Prey 2 might end up being, and it looks very unexpected.

While the Predator: Badlands looks different from any previous installment in the franchise, the connections between that film and Prey may have been tied together by Killer of Killers. With all three films being helmed by Trachtenberg, it seems likely that the planet in Badlands, referred to as Yautja Prime, is the same planet seen in the climax of the new animated film. It has been shown in Killer of Killers that Naru is there, suspended in a cryogenic chamber, which suggests that she could even play into the story of the Badlands.

Midthunder is not confirmed to appear in the next film, but she could have been added as a surprise, or Badlands could be setting up for a Prey sequel to follow. While Badlands at first seemed like a completely different kind of Predator movie, with no links at all to Trachtenberg's last live-action entry, the story of Killer of Killers helps to show that things are more tied together than expected. With different Predator stories told across so many years, there are so many exciting possibilities for what to do with Naru next, in an entirely different setting.

Predator seemed to be a dead franchise, but Trachtenberg has done an incredible job resurrecting it. Predator: Killer of Killers is another very special entry in the long-running series, and adds some shockingly important details that will likely be explored further in subsequent Predator films. Understanding the scale of the Predators, and how many of the Yautja have been defeated by human hands through the years, only makes things so much more exciting, building even greater anticipation for the franchise's next project.