The Predator, being as it is a reflection of Carol Ferris’ “inner masculine drive,” is sort of the first transsexual supervillain, albeit only in a weird Bronze Age sort of way where issues of gender had to be addressed with space magic. (Marvel would later refine the concept with Vamp, the pretty girl who turns into a male monster thing, and make the whole gender-changing thing a lot more explicit.)
What’s weird about the Predator is that, when Carol Ferris split off into herself and the Predator, the Predator immediately started trying to get with her. Is that supposed to be a reflection of her masturbatory urges or something? I hate it when supervillains make you want to check psychology textbooks to see if they make any sense. (Invariably they don’t.)
And of course, this being a Green Lantern villain, he is woefully underequipped to fight Green Lantern. No superpowers, no awesome weapons, not even anything made of yellow. Hell, at least Javelin had a yellow costume. Predator doesn’t even have that. Which means that in order for him to have ever posed a threat to Green Lantern, someone’s going to have to come along and revamp him.
What I’m saying is that I live in dread of the day Geoff Johns decides to revamp the Predator for the modern era.
Related Articles
32 users responded in this post
Dude, you do know that the Star Sapphire’s equivalent of Parallax and Ion has been dubbed ‘Predator’, right? 🙂
Well, that’s just horrific.
Oh, hush. You also complained about Nekron not being used in Blackest Night and then it turned out he’s the big bad of Blackest Night, which everyone but you saw coming, so… perhaps you have a bit of a blind spot in this area?
yea, think you missed the fact that Geoff Johns already revamped this guy (he’s (or something with his name) is seen being held captive by the zamorans as a power supply for their star sapphires is 1 panel of the recent tales of the corps mini)
I hope Javelin’s inner feminine aspect becomes personified and calls herself Javalina. That would be a formidable foe for Hal, as he’d have to stop laughing long enough to get the ring working.
seems they’re not even admitting Predator has anything to do with Carol Ferris
Plus in the latest issue of GL the Zamarons explicitly state that Carol seems perfectly suited to be the host for the Predator.
Horror is approaching!
…Does Darkhawk know they stole his costume?
What I’m saying is that I live in dread of the day Geoff Johns decides to revamp the Predator for the modern era.
Oh come on, July 8th, 2009 wasn’t that bad.
THIS IS HARDLY A COMBINATION OF THINGS I LIKE!
So if you have sex with your psychically dissociated opposite sex aspect made corporeal is that cheating, or some sort of transcendental masturbation?
John, all that sounds like is a good Friday night.
The only thing that really sucks about this character is its origin. I mean there are convoluted characters, but the quality of the character must match the quality of the backstory. In this case, the convoluted origin produced a really mediocre villain…
… with shiny claws and cylon battle armor.
As far as his addition into the whole Rainbow Rangers/DC Zombies thing, I don’t even want to think about having an opinion. This whole damn thing is stupid.
Hey, MGK… think we can get a WHO’S WHO of Nekron next? 🙂
You know, if you throw in Time Travel, I think you just gave us the plot for the classic Whitest Kids You Know skit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAD7ZJ6UPeg
GET TO THE CHOPPA!
Geoff Johns gets a lot of shit, some deserved some not, and even if every single molecule of that shit was deserved Predator is still so fucking retarded anything Geoff did to revamp him would have to be an improvement. He could be redefined as the manifestation of Carol’s secret evil butch lesbian side, and you could say “I’m still offended, but I can follow the logic behind this.”
Carol Ferris’ inner masculine drive looks like a Bronze Age Darkhawk.
This sounds like Grant Morrison, only stupid
To be fair, I actually like the design of the costume–silver and black go together well as colors, and it does look “predatory” enough to live up to the name (which is catchy, if somewhat generic.) It’s only the bizarre, fanwanky origin that drags this character down…
Well, that and his choice of opponents. Why do the guys who have no superpowers to speak of all go fight Green Lantern instead of Batman?
Because they all know that Batman would f*** them up, of course.
“The Predator, being as it is a reflection of Carol Ferris’ “inner masculine drive,” is sort of the first transsexual supervillain, albeit only in a weird Bronze Age sort of way where issues of gender had to be addressed with space magic.”
You’re forgetting the Ultra-Humanite, who transplanted his brain into the body of a woman.
That’s right in the midst of the Englehart run I like where John Stewart just went public with his identity and Hal’s running around like Indiana Jones without any power (thus making him surprisingly tolerable).
Granted, I’m not a huge fan of the Predator stuff and it’s followed almost immediately by the creepiness of Arisia aging herself with the ring, but the only tolerable Hal, in my mind, past Emerald Night era Pallarax is powerless Hal.
Also, yeah, it’s hilarious that you posted this when Johns has been messing with it for a couple of months.
When I read things like this it makes me wonder if I would have been a more will adjusted person if I’d never read comic books. I doubt it, but it makes me wonder.
Comics books….even when you parody them, they have ALREADY DONE IT!
“And of course, this being a Green Lantern villain, he is woefully underequipped to fight Green Lantern. No superpowers, no awesome weapons, not even anything made of yellow. Hell, at least Javelin had a yellow costume. Predator doesn’t even have that. Which means that in order for him to have ever posed a threat to Green Lantern, someone’s going to have to come along and revamp him.”
Yes, but against anyone else but Green Lantern, Predator looks better equipped than Javelin. Javelin relies on his ranged weapons, while Predator has those and also melee weapons, glider wings and claws.
Could Javelin survive meeting Eclipso? Because Predator did, and with a better costume too. The screwy gender-switching gimmick just adds zing, really. Throw this Predator against Green Arrow or Batwoman and you might find more than 19% of potential. 😉
I was going to mention the Ultra-Humanite, but someone beat me to it. A transexual super-villain from the ’40s!!
ObPedant: actually, Vamp came before Predator, being a late seventies creation.
Personally, I love the fact that even WITHOUT powers and stuff he apparently picked up at a Foot Locker, Hal STILL fought him to a standstill.
“What I’m saying is that I live in dread of the day Geoff Johns decides to revamp the Predator for the modern era.”
Somewhere Geoff Johns is reading the August ’10 solicits, wondering one thing. “HOW DO YOU LIKE ME NOW!!!”
“What I’m saying is that I live in dread of the day Geoff Johns decides to revamp the Predator for the modern era.”
Today’s the day to dread. http://dcu.blog.dccomics.com/2010/05/14/brightest-day-solicits-for-august/#more-9100
Fuck. Beaten.