Question: The movie Predator, is supposedly canon to only the first Predator film and never acknowledges the second film from even happening. Sort of a Superman Returns deal where it's a sequel to an earlier film, retconning the later films. This movie, however, acknowledges both of the first films but nothing about Predators is ever mentioned. But considering the premise of Predators, maybe just nobody in the film researching these aliens knows about the events of that film, however unlikely. So my question is this movie canon with all 3 previous films, or does it not count Predators?
Phaneron
4th Oct 2018
The Predator (2018)
Answer: The second film is actually subtly acknowledged by Jake Busey playing a scientist named Keyes, implying that he is the son of Peter Keyes from the second film who was played by his father Gary.
5th Sep 2019
The Predator (2018)
Question: Why would the main character send the obviously dangerous and unstable alien tech to his house? I could see no other reason then to just simply get the plot to move along but it's obvious he doesn't have a consistent stable relationship with his son and wife - why send the tech there? And on top of that with no explanation to them as to what it is? On top of that he seemed like he was a respected member of the military - there was no reason for him to go against that and hide this information.
Answer: McKenna states that he assumed his estranged wife would just put the box with the rest of his stuff and leave it alone. He doesn't trust sending it to anyone else because they might open the box and have questions. As you suggest, it is indeed quite an egregious plot contrivance because why would his wife be any less prone to open his mail than anyone else? And in fact, Rory does open the box so the plan didn't even work. McKenna hides the tech from the military because he wants the credit for discovering alien life, and he also fears the government will try to cover up the discovery, which of course they do.
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Answer: Well, in the case of Predators, it was violent criminals, mercenaries and military being randomly kidnapped and dumped on an alien planet. From the perspective of humans, it would appear that the criminals and mercenaries had gone missing in a more mundane fashion or simply died. If the Predators were covert about it, the Predator researchers would not be suspicious at all. So it's entirely possible it's canon.