20 Recent Movie Villains Who Were Instantly Iconic

If you took only a passing look at the marketing for Predator: Badlands, you might not have even been aware that Elle Fanning was pulling double duty in the movie, starring as not only synthetic protagonist Thia, but also her "sister" Tessa.

A damaged Tessa is retrieved by Weyland-Yutani, repaired, and tasked with completing the mission she and Thia were initially charged with - capture the apex predator known as the Kalisk.

Tessa's unrelenting drive to finish the job is easy to understand given that Weyland-Yutani will decommission her if she fails, and Elle Fanning brings an overpowering intensity to the part, rendering her entirely distinct from Thia in the process.

While Thia is the most emotive synthetic we've ever seen in the Alien franchise, Tessa consequently sees that feeling as a weakness to be stamped out, while remaining surgically focused on the take of ensuring her own survival.

That a Predator movie managed to center around a non-Yautja villain without it feeling like a massive cop-out is honestly a staggering achievement.