Prey

## Movie Overview

***Prey*** is a 2022 *Predator* film directed by Dan Trachtenberg and written by Patrick Aison. The Walt Disney Company produced the project through their 20th Century Studios banner. It follows Naru, a young Comanche healer in 1719 as she combats a Predator in the Great Plains to protect her tribe. The film has the distinction of being the the earliest setting in the Val Verde Cinematic Universe in the Prime Timeline.

## Val Verde Cinematic Universe Connections

Prey takes place in the Prime timeline in the Val Verde Cinematic Universe in 1719P.

##### Definitive Connections

1. The Predator Yautja Species appear in the Predator franchise
2. Billy Bear played by Sonny Landham in Predator and 48hrs. is a descendent of the Comanche tribe and reincarnation of Taabe.
3. Prey is a prequel to Predator.
4. In 1997P, Yautja Greyback gave Raphael Adeline's flintlock pistol to Lieutenant Mike Harrigan after he killed the City Hunter Predator.

## Plot (P)

In September of 1719, somewhere across the Great Plains of North America, Naru, a young Comanche woman trained as a healer, dreams of becoming a great hunter like her brother, Taabe. Naru herself is quite skilled in using a tomahawk as a thrown weapon. While tracking deer with her dog Sarii, she witnesses the arrival of a "thunderbird" in the sky (in reality a Predator ship dropping off a hunter), taking it as a sign that she is ready to prove herself. Taabe agrees to take her with him as he leads a search party for the mountain lion that attacked one of the tribe's hunters. They retrieve their wounded tribe member and depart, the mountain lion having apparently been spooked off by an unknown stalker that follows and observes the hunters while collecting the skulls of several local predatory species. Taabe however stays behind to find the mountain lion and complete the hunt.

Naru circles back and finds Taabe. She manages to trap the lion but falls and strikes her head after being distracted by a burst of light. Taabe carries her home and returns to finish off the weakened lion, a deed for which he is honored by the chieftain and the rest of the tribe. An envious Naru leaves home with Sarii in secret the next day to hunt; she comes across a herd of skinned bison. She prays briefly over the wasted carcasses, planting a totem on the head of the nearest one. Later, she spots a grizzly bear near the river below her vantage point on a cliff. When she tries to launch an arrow at the bear, her bow snaps, the noise alerting the grizzly. She is quickly cornered by the beast due to her lack of experience. She squeezes herself into a large thicket as the bear attacks. It is unable to reach her. Suddenly, she watches as the bear is overpowered and killed by her stalker. She catches a mere glimpse of the stalker as the blood showering down from the bear's corpse covers it. Fleeing in horror, she finds a pack of Comanche hunters sent to find and bring her home. The creature swiftly ambushes and kills them, and Naru tries to escape before her foot gets snagged in a metal fur trap. The creature, seeing that she is no longer a threat, leaves.

French trappers, who were the ones responsible for skinning the bison of their pelts, find Naru and cage her, ordering their translator, Raphael Adolini, to question her about the creature. When she refuses to talk, the lead *trappers* reveals that he has Taabe captive as well and tortures him before tying both siblings up as bait for the predator. The creature, using its advanced weaponry, kills most of the *voyageurs* while Taabe and Naru escape. Naru rescues Sarii from the voyageurs' camp and stumbles across a dying Raphael, who teaches her how to use his flintlock pistol in exchange for medical treatment. Naru gives him a medicinal flower to staunch the bleeding from his wounds, and inadvertently discovers that doing so also reduces a person's body heat, making it difficult for the creature to see one's heat signature.

The creature fails to see Raphael with its thermal vision, but finds and kills him when he makes a noise, before Taabe comes in on horseback to assist Naru. The siblings are able to weaken the creature before it uses its invisibility cloak to hide and sneak up on Taabe, stabbing him through the back. Naru flees into the woods and finds the surviving lead trappe*r*, who had previously tortured Taabe, collecting water. She knocks him out, severs his legs, and gives him an unloaded gun before eating the orange flower to hide her heat signature, baiting the creature to kill the *trapper*. She uses Raphael's pistol to ambush the predator from behind as it revels in its kill, knocking the creature's mask off and stealing it, and runs deep into the woods to prepare for a final showdown.

Using all her knowledge of the creature's characteristics, tactics, and weaknesses, Naru lures it into the same mud pit she had fallen into previously, then uses the creature's mask to turn its own projectile weapon against it. The creature, known as the Feral Predator, dies of its wounds, and Naru severs its head and paints her face with its glowing blood. She brings the head back to her tribe, who believed her to be dead, and tells them that with the arrival of white men, it is time for them to find a new home. The tribe honors her victory as Naru, beaming with pride, turns to face a young girl. After the credits, dense clouds form in the sky as three Predator ships fly in.

### Aftermath

A Yautja Predator investigates the death of the Feral Predator and comes across Naru's Comanche tribe. The Predator appears not to be on a hunt, and Chief Kehetu gives the predator Raphael's Flintlock Pistol which the Predator perceives as a trophy of her kill. This gesture marks this Comanche tribe as off limits to future Predator hunts, and the Predator departs.

## Cast

* Naru .... Amber Midthunder
* Sarii, Naru's dog .... Coco
* Taabe .... Dakota Beavers
* Aruka .... Michelle Thrush
* Wasape .... Stormee Kipp
* Kehetu .... Julian Black Antelope
* Feral Hunter Predator .... Dane DiLiegro Sumu (Chief Wife) .... Stefany Mathias
* Raphael Adolini .... Bennett Taylor
* Big Beard .... Mike Paterson
* Waxed Moustache .... Nelson Leis
* Huupi .... Tymon Carte
* Tabu .... Skye Pelletier
* Itsee .... Harlan Blayne Kytwayhat
* Paaka .... Corvin Mack
* Puhi .... Samuel Marty
* Ania .... Cody Big Tobacco