Predator Weapons

Wrist Blades

The Wrist Blades are a standard weapon and every Predator in every movie has them. A Predator has two blades located on both wrists which are retractable. It’s unknown what the blades are made out of but I suspect it’s some form of strong metal. The wristblades are pretty much the last form of defence for the Predator and are especially useful in melee combat. In the first Predator movie, one of the commandos (Dillon) is definitely killed by the Predator’s wristblades while possibly another two were killed by them too (Hawkins and Billy). In Predator 2, quite a few people would have been killed by the wristblades.

In AvP, both Scar and Celtic can extend their wrist blades to double the length. They’re much longer than seen in the previous two Predator movies. The Predators can also revert their wrist blades to point the other way as proven by the Celtic Predator when he sliced off part of the Grid Alien’s tail. Lastly, the blades can also be fired as a weapon as shown by the Scar Predator when he fired the blades at the Queen Alien. This is most likely a last resort kind of use.

The blades feature in AvP Requiem and Predators. In Predators, the Super Predators have only one blade on their right arm. The Tusk Predator kills Nikolai by impaling him with a blade and the Falcon Predator kills Hanzo with the blade. The Black Super Predator also decapitates the Classic Predator with the blade. The blade can also be fired as a weapon as seen in AvP. Near the end of the movie, the Black Super Predator fires it at Isabelle after she shoots him with the sniper rifle.

Arm Blades

The Arm Blades are featured in AvP. Only the Gill Predator has these arm blades. They’re much longer than Scar’s or Celtic’s wrist blades but they can be retracted or extended at will.

AvP

The Shoulder Cannon

The Shoulder Cannon is featured in all five movies. The shoulder cannon is the Predator’s signature weapon and is the one everybody remembers after watching the film. It’s also the most powerful weapon at the Predator’s disposal. Essentially, what it is, is a gun mounted on the Predator’s left shoulder. At the Predator’s will, it fires powerful blue balls of plasma at a target. It’s also extremely accurate because of features on the Predator’s mask. Firstly, the shoulder cannon is connected to the Predator’s vision mode. When an object is in motion, a red triangle focuses in on the target in its vision which is responsible for the great accuracy of the weapon. Secondly, there’s a targeting laser which is beamed from the Predator’s mask onto the target. It’s unknown if this laser works seamlessly with the vision modes but I assume so. In Predator…

In Predator 2, the cannon is most likely used at the beginning in the Colombian hideout. The first time we actually see it in use is in the meat locker when the Predator fires at Agent Keyes. A bit later, Harrigan shoots at the Predator, damaging the cannon in the process and forcing him to remove it.

In AvP, the three teenage Predators don’t start off with their shoulder cannons. Instead they have to go find them in the pyramid but the humans take them and the Predators pursue them. The three cannons are of different sizes with Scar’s being the biggest out of the three. The Shoulder Cannon does still fire blue plasma bolts however the special effects are of course different. The sound effects are different too.

In AvP Requiem, when the Wolf Predator explores the crashed Predator ship, he picks up a dead Predator’s shoulder cannon and attaches the cannon to his other shoulder. This is the first time, a Predator in any movie has been able to use dual shoulder cannons at the same time. We first see the cannons in use in the underground sewer and takes out two Aliens with them. Next up, it’s used at the power plant and the Predator inadvertently causes a city-wide blackout. In the Unrated cut, there’s a scene in the cemetery where he decapitates somebody. Next, the cannon comes in use at the Sporting Goods store, decapitating two guys and killing a couple of Aliens. A bit later in the film, the Predator removes both cannons and turns them into a hand-held gun. The only downside of this, is there’s a charging time between each use. The gun comes into play at the Hospital killing two Aliens but the Predator later uses it the battle. Dallas picks it up and uses it on the rooftop against the Aliens. The cannon later ends up in the hands of Ms. Yutani (of Weyland-Yutani) and it’s implied they use the technology to enable the space travel seen in Alien.

In Predators, Mr. Black and the Tracker Predator are armed with shoulder cannons mounted on their left shoulders. It differs in design as it is much smaller and the firing mechanism works slightly differently in that the gun splits into two components, each rotating around the other in a clockwise direction. The shoulder cannon can be charged up so that it can fire shots of varying damage. A well-charged shot is enough to blow Noland to pieces, while a quicker, rapidly fired shot is enough to knock Stans off his feet or puncture a hole through Nikolai’s chest. As with the regular Predators, the shoulder cannon is also connected to the Berserker Predators’ vision modes. The Classic Predator also has a cannon but he never gets a chance to use it.

Spear

The Spear can be seen in Predator 2, AvP, AvP Requiem and Predators. It’s another retractable weapon. It starts out short and extends by a couple of metres. It’s a great weapon for close combat and it can also be thrown at a target. In Predator 2, the Predator uses it to kill Jamaicans in the apartment and also to kill all of Keyes’ team with it in the meat locker.

In AvP, the Celtic and Scar Predators both have this weapon and use it quite a lot. One of the Predators uses his spear to kill one of the mercenaries on the surface, then again kills Bass with it. Celtic uses his spear to kill Stafford a little later on. Lex uses Scar’s spear to kill an Alien later too. In AvP Requiem, the Wolf Predator first uses a spear to kill an Alien at the swimming pool and then it’s seen later in the movie.

Disc

The Disc weapons makes its appearance in Predator 2. This can be thrown by the Predator and can cut through almost anything. The disc can also return to the Predator after it has been thrown which suggests it has some form of tracking technology built in. It’s unknown if the disc works with the auto-targeting system on the mask since the Predator wasn’t wearing his mask when he threw it. (In the video game AvP2, the disc weapon works just like the shoulder cannon and a red triangle appears on the screen when a target is close – this is not canon however). In the movie, the Predator throws it at Keyes and cuts him in half and then it returns to the Predator.

Predator 2

Speargun

You never actually see the Speargun in Predator 2. Instead, we see the Spear itself. In the film one spear kills one of the Jamaicans in the apartment and another one is lodged in a wall near the ceiling. When the scientist examined the spear, she said it doesn’t correspond to anything on the periodic table and it has almost no weight but can cut through steel.

Predator 2

A similar Speargun is in use in Predators. Like in Predator 2, the gun is never actually seen but the Spear is seen. It’s completely different in design to the one we saw in Predator 2. The Spear expands when it’s fired into someone’s body, jutting out in two directions. This is only used once in the film, when the Berserker Predators kill Mombassa.

Predators

Sword

In Predator 2, the Elder Predator in the spaceship is carrying a sword.

Predator 2

Net Gun

The Net Gun features in Predator 2, AvP and AvP Requiem. The Net Gun fires a razor-sharp net capable of pinning a target to a wall. The wires are so sharp that it begins cutting through the flesh of the victim. On the outer rim of the net, there are numerous spikes which impale the wall to hold the enemy in place. The net is presumably indestructible but it can be seen at the end of Predator 2 that another Predator weapon, the disc, is capable of cutting through the net. The Net Gun is used twice in Predator 2 – the first time to pin one of the Jamaicans to a wall and another time to pin Harrigan to part of the Predator ship.

Predator 2

In AvP, there’s two instances where the Celtic Predator uses his net gun. Firstly, to net Stafford and it proves that it is really strong. It cuts up Weyland’s gloves when he touches it. Sebastian also can’t tear it open with his knife. The second time he uses it is against the Grid Alien. Grid can’t seem to break free from it by just using its claws. Instead the acid from the Alien’s head burns through the netting allowing it to escape. It also should be noted that when a net impales someone to a wall, the net gets much tighter because of instruments connecting the net to the wall.

AvP

Wrist Gun

The Predator uses this weapon in the meat locker in Predator 2 and fires off a powerful rocket from his wrist which hits Harrigan. The Predator used this after its shoulder cannon was destroyed which suggests the wrist gun is a sort of backup weapon to the shoulder cannon.

Predator 2

Shuriken

In AvP, the Scar Predator uses shurikens. The star starts out all folded and compact and when the Predator uses it, many blades pop out. Only the Scar Predator uses this weapon in the film. The first time he takes a shot at Sebastian, then slices a Facehugger in half and then kills an Alien with them. One thing about the shuriken weapon is that it can return to the Predator so maybe there is some kind of tracking ability built in. The shurikens are also used to fight the Queen. The weapon makes a return in AvP Requiem when the Wolf Predator is at the hospital. He kills two aliens and then pins Jesse to the wall with one.

Ornamental Dagger

The Dagger is featured in AvP. The Celtic and Scar Predators both have this weapon. Celtic uses it against the Grid Alien but instead it is knocked out of his hand. Later in the film, Scar Predator uses the knife to cut into a dead alien to make a shield for Lex to use. He also fastens part of its tail onto the knife too.

AvP

Noose

I wouldn’t really classify this as a weapon per say but it was seen in AvP. The Scar Predator uses some form of wire to kill one of the mercenaries when the team is walking down a corridor. The Predator hangs it down from above, the mercenary’s head gets caught in it and the Predator pulls him up. In a similar vein, in AvP Requiem, the Wolf Predator hangs up Dallas with some rope but doesn’t kill him.

AvP

Razor Whip

The Whip was featured in AvP Requiem. When Wolf receives the distress call one of the weapons he picks up and new to the franchise is the whip. Although not stated in the movie, the directors have said that it is in fact made out of Alien tails which is the reason the blades easily split the creatures in half and are unaffected by the acid.

AvP Requiem

Laser Trap

In AvP Requiem, when he first enters the sewer’s, Wolf deploys yet another new weapon. Throwing these strange, triangular shaped objects at the concrete walls, they quickly screw themselves in and lights appear from them. He places many of these in the tunnels and we find out later that these are traps for the Alien’s, deadly red lasers that cage them in with the hunter, allowing to space to escape and set ambushes.It’s shown that the laser’s this thing emits are incredibly powerful as it spits an unfortunate Alien clean in half.

AvP Requiem

Self-Destruct Mechanism

The self-destruct mechanism is a standard weapon on every Predator. The self-destruct mechanism is a Predator’s last resort. When it feels that it’s close to death, it activates its control panel causing the self-destruct to count down. As seen at the end of Predator, the final explosion is huge and destroys a big part of the jungle. It was never used in Predator 2, however the Predator did activate it when he was hanging on the ledge right before Harrigan sliced his arm off.

In AvP, the self-destruct mechanism is used in the flash-back sequence when the three predators on top of pyramid are battling thousands of aliens and they have no other choice but to self-destruct. It’s much larger than the self-destruct used in the first film. Not sure why, probably another director’s oversight. The mechanism is also used at the end of the film when Scar takes off his self destruct device in the Egg Chamber and sets it to go off in a few minutes. Lex and Scar escape just in time and the device destroys everything and causes the surface to collapse. In AvP Requiem, the Wolf Predator activates the self-destruct device on a dead Predator which destroys the Predator ship.  It’s never used in Predators but it’s assumed all Predators have the self-destruct mechanism.