Alien vs Predator 3: Retribution (2025)
Genre: Science Fiction | Action | Horror
Directed by: Gareth Evans
Starring: Florence Pugh, Hiroyuki Sanada, Boyd Holbrook, and Andy Serkis (voice and motion-capture)
Alien vs Predator 3: Retribution plunges audiences into the blood-soaked, battle-scarred finale of the ancient war between two of cinema’s most terrifying species—the Xenomorphs and the Yautja Predators—in a desperate fight that reaches Earth’s last frontier: the frozen wilderness of Antarctica’s Hollow Zone.
Set fifteen years after the events of AVP: Requiem, humanity has tried to cover up the nightmare that unfolded. Governments deny the incident in Gunnison, Colorado ever happened. But deep beneath the ice caps, a secret archaeological team discovers a buried Yautja dreadnought ship, sealed under the ice for over 10,000 years—along with a warning carved in an ancient language:
Dr. Lila Mercer (Florence Pugh), a xenolinguist and military contractor, is assigned to the expedition. When her team activates the dormant ship, it sends a distress signal across the galaxy—a call for help… and vengeance.
But it’s too late.
Inside the vessel, cryo-chambers open, and a new strain of Xenomorphs is unleashed—faster, smarter, with biomechanical armor. These are the Queen’s Chosen, bred from ancient experiments between Yautja and Xeno DNA. Once created by rogue Predators for war, they were sealed away by their own kind.
Now, they’re free.
Across the stars, three elite Yautja warriors receive the signal. Among them is T’Kar, an aged Predator war-chief (played by Hiroyuki Sanada), who carries a vendetta against the hybrid beasts that slaughtered his clan centuries ago. With him: a young blooded warrior, and an exiled predator known only as The Betrayer—a former enemy of the clan, now seeking redemption.
As Earth’s military responds to the crisis, a covert unit led by hardened soldier Captain Roan Vega (Boyd Holbrook) is deployed to contain the outbreak. But they are unprepared for the hell that awaits.
Beneath the ice, massive caverns open—revealing a buried temple city, once a Yautja hunting ground. The Predators land, cloaked and ruthless, hunting both humans and Xenos with no regard for alliances. But when T’Kar sees Mercer use an ancient predator weapon to protect a child survivor, he hesitates.
An uneasy alliance is forged.
Dr. Mercer deciphers the prophecy: if the Queen’s Chosen reach the Core Nexus, they can activate a terraforming device hidden beneath the ice, turning Earth into a hive world—forever poisoned for humans, and ruled by the Xenomorph Queen.
The final act is a brutal three-way war: humans, Predators, and Xenos clashing inside the Nexus. Captain Vega sacrifices himself in a last stand, blowing up a Xeno tunnel with a tactical nuke. T’Kar duels the Queen herself in a battle of honor, sustaining mortal wounds but crippling her.
Mercer activates the self-destruct sequence of the dreadnought, forcing everyone to escape as the entire complex collapses in a fiery inferno. But as they flee, The Betrayer remains behind, holding off the remaining hybrids and detonating his gauntlet bomb—redeeming himself in fire.
T’Kar dies from his wounds, handing Mercer his gauntlet. “You… are worthy prey,” he says in a final growl.
Back on the surface, only a handful of survivors remain. Mercer is taken in by a black-ops program called "Project Horizon", which reveals they’ve been tracking Predator activity for decades—and now, they want to train her.
The final shot: deep in space, a Yautja council receives word of Earth’s battle… and a chilling message from the Queen’s hive:
“Retribution was only the beginning.”“The war was never over. It was waiting for us to find it.”
On a barren moon, a lone Xenomorph egg cracks open. A shadow looms overhead.
It’s not a Predator.
It’s a synthetic, played by Andy Serkis, whispering, “Let’s begin again.”
