What are the giant 4-limbed statues seen at the beginning of Predator: Badlands on Yautja Prime? Seen only briefly during the opening shots of the film, these massive, towering statues are of an ancient alien race which once ruled over the Yautja. Badlands director Dan Trachtenberg confirmed during a Reddit AMA the name of these beings and solidified their existence in Predator movie lore.
They're called the Amengi and they enslaved Yautja ancestors
The massive Amengi were once a powerful alien species which had actually managed to enslave the Yautja and their ancestors. While their statues remain on the Yautja homeworld of Yautja Prime, the Amengi have all been wiped out as far as we know. At some point in Yautja history, there was an uprising and the enslaved Predators rose up to combat their Amengi overlords. After a massive war, the Yautja managed to overthrow the Amengi, freeing themselves from enslavement and took over Yautja Prime as their homeworld.
The Yautja used the Amengi to advance their technology
In expanded lore, derived from Predator comic books, it's revealed that the Yautja actually adopted their advanced technology by overthrowing the Amengi and stealing it for themselves. The advanced weaponry, armor and unique technologies the Predator are known for using actually come from their former masters. Harnessing the Amengi technology allowed the Yautja to advance their position in the galactic hierarchy, making the Yautja infinitely more dangerous and formidable.
While Dan Trachtenberg has confirmed the name of these ancient Predator overlords, beyond what the comics have revealed, we don't know much else about the Amengi culture, where they came from and how they were able to be overthrown by the (primitive by comparison) Yautja. However, the acknowledgment of their existence opens many new doors to explore in later films and additional literature. As new information about the Amengi become available, this record will be updated with the latest information.
