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Predators: Beating the Bullet, also known as Predators: The Movie Adaptation, Predators: The Official Adaptation or simply Predators, is a one-shot comic book based on the film of the same name that was first published by Dark Horse Comics in July 2010. It was written by Paul Tobin, based on the original screenplay by Michael Finch and Alex Litvak, and was pencilled by Victor Drujiniu, inked by Tony Kordos and David Rivera, colored by Cirque Studios, lettered by Nate Piekos, and edited by Scott Allie, Sierra Hahn, Freddye Lins and John Schork. While ostensibly an adaptation of the movie, it is presented entirely from the perspective of Isabelle and features several scenes not included in the film, including flashbacks to Isabelle's life prior to the events of the movie.

Predators: Beating the Bullet was one of four comics published to tie into the 2010 film, the others being the prequel stories Predators: Welcome to the Jungle and Predators: A Predatory Life, and an official sequel, Predators: Surviving Life.

In Dark Horse's Predator comics line, Predators: Beating the Bullet was preceded by Predators, published concurrently with Predators: Surviving Life, and was followed by Predator: Fire and Stone.

Publisher's Summary[]

A group of individuals — each a different type of elite combatant, killer, or warrior in their own lives — have been mysteriously transported to a strange jungle planet where they are hunted by fierce aliens. But these individuals aren't ready to become prey-they still want to be hunters...

Based on the Predators film coming July 9, 2010, by Robert Rodriguez, and told through the eyes of Isabelle, a genuine, hard-hitting woman, and the only female brought to the planet, we bring you the official film adaptation — with a twist on perspective!

Differences from the Film[]

The comic presents a fairly faithful adaptation of the film, the most significant differences being a series of sequences that elaborate on Isabelle's actions in the hours before she was kidnapped by the Super Predators on Earth.

  • The comic opens in the jungles of Guatemala, with Isabelle and two comrades on a mission to assassinate Alvaro Otti, a member of the Lord's Resistance Army. After quietly eliminating the guards at a camp, the team is ambushed and Isabelle is forced to flee into the jungle. By the time she kills the two men pursuing her and makes it back to the camp, she finds her comrades are dead. She is then captured by a Super Predator and awakes falling from the sky over the Game Preserve Planet.
  • After revealing to the others that she is a sniper, Cuchillo mocks Isabelle, saying, "I thought bitches weren't allowed to be snipers?" She responds by asking if that is why they would not accept him. This dialogue was filmed but cut from the movie.
  • When the group finds Stans and Mombasa fighting, Stans is about to bludgeon Mombasa with a log, but Isabelle blasts the wood in two with her rifle, knocking it from his hand.
  • The scene where the group discovers several empty crates that have been dropped into the jungle just like them does not appear in the comic.
  • In the film, Hanzo is armed with a customised Beretta. However, in the comic he carries two pistols, typically firing them akimbo.
  • The Hell-Hounds attack the group immediately after they see the alien skyline from the cliff top, whereas it happens a little later, after they have moved on, in the film.
  • In the film, Isabelle mentions that her spotter was killed on a mission shortly before she was brought to the Game Preserve, captured and executed while she watched helplessly through the scope of her rifle. In the film, she states that his name was Isaac, but the comic names him Archuletta.
  • When Isabelle puts her pistol to her head, intending to kill herself rather than let the Hell-Hound maul her, she has a brief flashback to the death of Archuletta, revealing that he was shot in the head in Guatemala.
  • When Isabelle mercy-kills Cuchillo, she shoots him in the head, not through the back as in the film.
  • During the first contact with the Super Predators at the hunting camp, Isabelle shouts out advice to the other team members, explaining their their foes are invisible and they should watch for footprints (information she knows because she has knowledge of the Predator incident in Guatemala). In the film, it is not revealed that she knows about the creatures until later, after the team climbs out of the river. In the comic, Royce also fires into the ground at the camp to create a dust cloud, making the Predators visible.
  • When confronting Royce about using the rest of the group as bait at the hunting camp, Isabelle goes so far as to point her rifle at him, suggesting he walk away if he's prepared to risk their lives for his own gain.
  • When Isabelle mentions the previous Predator incident in South America, a single-panel flashback of Dutch fighting the Jungle Hunter appears.
  • Following this, Isabelle goes into more detail about how she knows of the Guatemala incident, explaining that she and Archuletta specifically joined a mission hunting rebels there so that she could investigate the reports. They found the crater caused by the Jungle Hunter's Self-Destruct Device, but soon afterwards Archuletta was captured by the rebels and executed, while Isabelle watched from nearby, unable to help him. As she narrates these events, they are shown in the form of a flashback.
  • The River Ghost does not appear in the comic, and the team simply stumble into Noland in the jungle.
  • While talking with the others inside his hideout in the abandoned drill, Noland explains that he has never killed a Predator, but merely scavenged his equipment from a dead one that was killed by the Super Predators. This contradicts the film, in which he claims to have killed "two, maybe three" Predators.
  • Noland attempts to kill the group with poison gas in the comic. In the film, he simply tries to asphyxiate them with smoke from a fire.
  • When Berserker drags Isabelle and Edwin back to the hunting camp in the net, they see Mombasa's decapitated head lying nearby.
  • After he has paralyzed Isabelle, Edwin cuts a small piece of skin from her shoulder and eats it, revealing himself to be a cannibal as well as a serial killer.
  • For his final confrontation with Berserker, Royce does not strip to his waist or cover himself with mud as in the film. He also enters the fight still armed with his shotgun, although Berserker destroys it with his Plasmacaster before Royce can use it.
  • Instead of firing his Wristblade at Isabelle, Berserker throws a conventional dagger, which hits her square in the chest rather than impaling her shoulder.

Reprint History[]

Dark Horse Comics[]

All three Predators comics — prequel series, adaptation and sequel — were later collected into a single trade paperback released in October 2010.

Marvel Comics[]

Following Marvel Comics' acquisition of the rights to Predator comic books, the comic will be collected as part of Marvel's Predator: The Original Years Volume 2 collection, alongside many other early Dark Horse stories. The collection is set to be released in March, 2024.

Goofs[]

  • During the brief flashback to Dutch fighting the Jungle Hunter, Dutch is seen to be armed with an M16 fitted with under-mounted Mossberg 500 shotgun. This weapon actually belonged to Billy in the film, and Dutch never touched it; his own M16 was fitted with an M203 grenade launcher.

Trivia[]

  • The circumstances of Isabelle's capture in the comic contradict the scenario presented in the tie-in motion comic Moments of Extraction. Most obviously, Moments of Extraction states that she is abducted by the Super Predators while on a mission in Afghanistan, yet the film adaptation places her capture as taking place in the jungles of Guatemala — quite literally on the other side of the world.

See Also[]

External Links[]

Online Preview of the issue at www.darkhorse.com

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