Predators and humans are working together, and they may have been doing it for a long time. That’s my theory based on what we see in 2010’s Predators—the third film in the sci-fi horror franchise, and without doubt the most slept-on entry in the series. My theory is based on the choices the aliens make in the film for prey, which I don’t think they could or would make without human aid.

Predators

Predators proves humans are working with the space hunters because of one of the ways in which the film is unique in the franchise—it’s the only Predator movie that doesn’t take place on Earth. Seven men and one woman are abducted and deposited on an alien game preserve.

In a lot of cases, the prey the Predators choose make sense from what we know about them. For example Adrien Brody’s Royce is a mercenary, Alice Braga’s Isabelle is an IDF sniper, and Mahershala Ali’s Mombasa is a death squad soldier from Sierra Leone.

But there are three characters whose presence don’t make sense unless the Predators have some kind of human agent on Earth helping them.

Hanzo

One of the more mysterious characters in Predators is Hanzo (Louis Ozawa), a Yakuza enforcer who arrives in the game preserve wearing an outfit that looks like it cost a few thousand bucks at least. His only weapon is a very serious looking handgun kept in a holster under his jacket.

His presence adds to the evidence that Predators are working with humans because how else would one of the aliens even know who the guy is or what he does for a living? He’s not like Isabelle or Nikolai (Oleg Taktarov) who were literally in combat when they were abducted. There’s no way for the aliens to know he’s a killer.

Stans

Before he was The Ghoul in Fallout, Walton Goggins played the death row inmate Stans in Predators, and his character is even better proof than Hanzo that the aliens are working with humans.

Unlike any other character in the film, Stans is abducted straight out of a prison cell. Considering he was scheduled to be executed in two days’ time, whatever he did to get behind bars was likely pretty bad.

But in order for the Predators to even target Stans for abduction without human aid, they would first need to know who he was and what he did. I suppose they could monitor human news channels, but considering everything we know about them it would seem a lot simpler to just abduct another soldier.

Not to mention abducting another soldier or mercenary would offer the hunters a much greater challenge, which is what the Predators are all about. Because he’s abducted right out of prison, Stans is one of the only protagonists in the film who isn’t armed to the teeth—all he has is a homemade shiv.

Edwin

If no one else in Predators proves that Predators and humans are working together, Topher Grace’s Edwin proves it.

Edwin is not in the military like most of the protagonists of Predators, nor is he a convicted felon like Stans. Edwin is a serial killer who, as far as anyone watching the film can tell, has never been caught (except by the Predators).

So are we now supposed to believe that Predators are traveling to Earth and independently solving murders to get their prey? They could travel to any number of active military conflicts to quickly and quietly scoop a soldier or two off the battlefield, but instead they’re going full-tilt FBI criminal profiler for their subjects?

For subjects who, again, are not nearly as challenging to hunt as the soldiers? The only “weapon” Edwin has for all of Predators is a scalpel.

How Would A Predator/Human Partnership Work?

Assuming I’m right and the Predators are working with humans, exactly how would that partnership work? I think it would work one of two ways.

First, covert agencies within one or more governments has established some kind of contact with the hunters and have struck a deal—the agencies locate prey for the alien gaming preserve and in return the Predators agree to either not conduct more hunts on Earth, or to do it a lot less often.

This could actually explain a lot. Covert agencies would likely see it as a benefit to humanity to hand over a felon like Stans or a serial killer like Edwin (assuming, perhaps, they knew Edwin was a killer but couldn’t get enough hard evidence yet).

The second possibility—and arguably more likely, because the hunters don’t seem like the most diplomatic guys—is that the Predators might be occasionally sparing humans from their hunts specifically to act as scouts for their gaming preserve. The Predators would offer them a choice: either find humans for us to use at our game preserve, or we come back and finish the job on you.

Possibility #3

I do think it’s possible that Predators aren’t working with humans to scout out “talent” for the game preserve, but someone must be doing it. So, I do think there’s a third possibility—since we know in the Predator narrative that intelligent life beyond either humans or the hunters exist, it could be that there is another alien species living incognito on Earth who is working for the Predators.

It would need to be someone who—like Alan Tudyk’s character in Resident Alien—could disguise themselves as aliens.

All I know for certain is that it wasn’t a Predator who found Topher Grace’s Edwin. You might be able to convince me they’d scout out Yakuza or death row inmates, but there’s no way you’re convincing me one of those crab-faces is going spend a couple of weeks pulling a Columbo just to get the dude from That ’70s Show in a hunt.