Predator Kills the Marvel Universe #1 Review

Welcome friends, to a comic that I am super excited to talk about. You all know that I love me some crossover battles. Heck, those of you that follow my side project, Fiction Fight Forever Wrestling, will know that it’s basically an entire fictional Universe dedicated to crossover battles. Shit, just the other day, I posted my first article on this blog in over a year, and it was a crossover. In fact, my first introduction to Predator, was in the movie Alien vs. Predator, which is, say it with me now, a crossover. Stuff like this is my bread and butter. But before we jump in, let’s actually talk about Predator. While I’ve always been familiar with Predator, I didn’t actually watch the original 1987 action sci-fi horror classic until relatively recently while looking for something to watch in the wake of the unfortunate passing of Carl Weathers. What did I think? I fucking loved it! I genuinely believe that the Predator is one of if not the most unique and terrifying slasher villains in the entire history of the genre. Let’s face it, any idiot with a machete can kill a bunch of horny teenagers, but when you’re up against Arnold Schwarzenegger and a team of highly trained mercenary commandos, you gotta bring your A-Game. The Predator species (which I’m aware are actually called the Yaujta, but for the sake of simplicity, I’ll be referring to as Predators throughout this article) are the deadliest and most efficient hunters in the galaxy, decked out with superior firepower, invisibility, and all other manner of nasty tricks in their arsenal that make them a dangerous customer for anyone to deal with, even a superhero.

This is actually the fourth in a series of crossovers between Predator and the Marvel Universe. The first saw a lone Predator stalking Wolverine throughout various points in his centuries long history. The second crossover saw an ambitious Predator with a special suit of Vibranium Armor by the name of Graveyard leading a hunting party to invade Wakanda only to be defeated by The Black Panther. Both were really fun reads, though in my opinion, the Wolverine crossover is the better of the two. There’s also a Spider-Man crossover, but I haven’t actually read it yet, mostly because pre-ordering the trade from the bookstore where I work is more cost efficient than driving forty minutes to the nearest comic book store and hoping they have the back issues in stock. All I know about it is that it pits Spider-Man against a Predator named Skinner who’s supposed to be brutal and ruthless to the point where even the rest of his species wants nothing to do with him. Also, Kraven the Hunter plays a major role in the story, which will become important in a minute. But anywho, that’s more than enough preamble, let’s get to the actual story.

We open in space where The Guardians of the Galaxy are responding to a distress signal. Everything seems pretty routine, but it’s quickly revealed to be a trap. One of the common tactics of the Predator is to use voice recordings to lure in unsuspecting prey. As such, the Guardians are completely slaughtered by the Predator Hunting Party and their leader, Kraven the Hunter.

We then cut to the “Weapon +” Facility, which anyone who is able to tilt their head sideways can likely deduce is actually a front for the Weapon X program, where a visiting US General is meeting with Dr. Cornelius, who long time Wolverine fans will recognize as one of the scientists who coated Wolverine’s bones with Adamantium. The general wants to see the weapon that the doctor has been developing. And in response, the doc locks her in a room with what he calls Predator X, a Predator (likely the one who fought Wolverine) who has been given the Weapon X treatment what with claws and stuff.

We then get some insight into what these Predators are all about. It seems in the vast universe, only about one percent of all planets are actually habitable. Given that this is the MARVEL Universe I’m not exactly sure about that statistic, but I’ll roll with it for the sake of the story. Anywho, since Earth is one of the few planets that won the cosmic lottery, The Predator King seeks to claim it as his people’s ultimate hunting ground, and eventually, their new home. Oh, by the way, it’s not clear if this Predator king is the ruler of the entire species or just this particular tribe, but I don’t suppose that matters right now. What matters is that The Predators are coming for Earth and it will be Kraven leading the charge. See, after Kraven apparently killed the Predator known as Skinner back in the Spider-Man crossover, this Tribe of Predators marked him as one of their own. However he still hasn’t quite learned Predator etiquette as he’s blasted in the back for failing to kneel before the king. The one who did the blasting is the king’s son, Graveyard, the Predator in Vibranium armor who served as the main antagonist of the Black Panther crossover. Anywho, killing Skinner wasn’t the only reason the Predators brought Kraven on board. See, as the greatest Hunter in the Marvel Universe, Kraven has a strategy prepared for taking down every major hero and villain in the world, and has compiled a list of the most strategic targets that will make taking the Earth a lot easier. Plus, they’ll make for some swell hunting trophies. Kraven’s service only comes with a single condition. The honor of killing Spider-Man is his and his alone.

Cut to the dark side of the moon, where somewhere Pink Floyd is syncing up perfectly to The Wizard of Oz, but more importantly, The Fantastic Four are enjoying some rare downtime. Reed is a bit concerned that the Doomsday Algorithm he developed to alert them when Earth is in danger has been triggered, but Sue decides that whatever it is, one of the thousands of other heroes on Earth can take care of it this time, they’re on vacation.

And then Reed gets his arm cut off.

Well Sue, that’s what you get for taking a vacation.

Anywho, a Predator Hunting Party descends upon the Fantastic Four as narration from Kraven details the strategic means to defeat each of them. Johnny ends up taken by surprise and getting garroted and Ben gets ganged up on and launched into space by Graveyard. The only one left standing is Sue who picks up her dying husband and makes a fun for it. And so our comic ends with Reed bleeding out in Sue’s arms as the Predators set their sights on Earth.

This comic was pretty awesome even though it doesn’t really feel like a whole lot actually happened. I know that’s a wild thing to say about a comic where The Guardians of the Galaxy and most of The Fantastic Four were brutally slaughtered, but what I mean is that this feels like it’s only getting started and that this is just a taste of the awesome stuff to come. The awesome might of the Predators is of course on full display, but weirdly enough, I’m more excited about Kraven. Kraven is definitely a top tier Spider-Man villain and definitely formidable in a one on one confrontation, but he’s not exactly the type of villain you’d see as the main antagonist of a universe spanning event comic, even a non-canon one like this, but if anyone is going to invade Earth with an army of Predators at his command, it makes sense for it to be Kraven. I guess it’s just cool to see a character like Kraven get to be a Thanos or Doctor Doom level threat for once. The other thing I like here is that there’s this clear sense that no one is safe. I mean, the Fantastic Four and Guardians of the Galaxy are fucking dead, and, spoilers, I’ve read issue two, those aren’t the only big names on the chopping block. Any of our favorite heroes can get slaughtered at any moment, which definitely makes the story a lot less predictable. Ordinarily, I’m not a fan of gratuitous death in big event comics like this, but I’m okay with it here because, one, this is clearly not the mainline Marvel Universe so none of this is actually canon and two, this is a crossover with a well known slasher movie franchise, brutal and gory death is what people are going to expect. So, yeah, we’re off to a promising start. Hopefully they’re able to keep this up.