Tyler Swain was a private contractor who survived a Predator attack on his supply convoy in Afghanistan and later joined Jaya Soames's team of Predator hunters. He appeared in Predator: Hunters and Predator: Hunters II, published by Dark Horse Comics from 2017 to 2019. For years he claimed that a mortar round had knocked him out during the convoy massacre, until he admitted that he had hidden while the creature killed his friends. He redeemed himself on the islands of the South Pacific and in the mountains of Afghanistan, where he lured the Djinn Predator onto a land mine and died of his wounds.
Biography
The Kandahar Convoy
Swain worked in Afghanistan for a private outfit called KRB Security, hauling supplies to a forward base in Kandahar. When Taliban fighters ambushed his convoy, a Predator joined the slaughter and killed everyone around him. Swain hid behind the wheel of a truck with his rifle in his hands, and although he had a chance to shoot the creature, he froze and stayed hidden while it took trophies from the dead. He was the only survivor, and afterward he told everyone that a mortar round had knocked him out and left him too hurt to fight.
Joining The Hunters
Swain became one of the hunters recruited by Jaya Soames, the heir to a family that had fought Predators for generations. He was with Soames and Raphael Herrera when they drove a black SUV to the Snake Pit gas station to recruit Enoch Nakai, a veteran who had killed a Predator at Cole Army Base. While Soames made her offer, Swain mocked Nakai with racist taunts until the veteran squared up to him. On the drive back, he repeated his story of the convoy ambush, and he told Nakai that he had joined to collect some trophies and get paid.
Aboard The Durga
The team flew out by helicopter to Soames's ship, the Durga, where Swain met Mandy Graves, another survivor of a Predator attack. When he grabbed her, she threw him over her shoulder onto the deck. In the gym he mocked Nakai as Grandpa, and at a dinner hosted by Dr. Henry Bunting on Amelia Island, he joked to their host that the job paid better and that nobody shot at him. Before the raid on Kehua, Soames told Nakai to hang back, and Swain teased him that every star needed an understudy.
The Raid On Kehua
On Kehua, the strike team killed one of the Exiles, a primitive Predator armed only with a spear and a wooden mask. Swain complained that there was nothing worth taking from it, but the freed prisoner warned them that three more of the creatures were still on the island. When the Exiles attacked, Swain was ordered to cover Herrera during the retreat to the boats. Instead, he watched the creatures kill a soldier named Bradford and tear him apart, and when one of them looked straight at him, he froze. The survivors reached the Durga without Herrera, and Swain could not explain what had happened to him.
Swain's Confession
On the deck of the Durga, Mandy Graves attacked Swain for leaving Herrera to die, and Nakai had to pull her away. Pressed by Soames, Swain admitted that he had never seen Herrera, but had frozen after one of the Exiles looked at him, just as he had in Afghanistan. He then confessed that his convoy story was a lie, and that he had not been injured at all. He had been hiding behind a truck, he had a chance to kill the creature, and he chose to save his own skin. Soames told him that the whole team had counted on him, and that Herrera had counted on him most of all.
Saving Nakai
Dr. Bunting's colonists then seized the Durga, and Swain was put ashore on Kehua with Soames, Nakai, Mandy and the freed prisoner as prey in the colony's hunt. Swain hid in a river while the others fought for their lives, but later, when two Exiles cornered Nakai on a rocky ledge above a waterfall, he charged out of the jungle with a spear and a war cry of Afghanistan. He drove one of the creatures off the ledge, and gunfire from the Durga's helicopter cut down the second. Nakai admitted that he had not expected Swain to come, and Swain confessed that neither had he.
As the helicopter carried them away from the island, Mandy congratulated Swain on his star turn, and he replied that he was getting the hang of it. The rescue did not erase what had happened during the raid, since Herrera and several soldiers had been lost, and Soames still had doubts about him when the team returned to her island. Even so, it was the first time since Kandahar that Swain had faced a Predator instead of hiding from one, and the man he saved was the same teammate he had taunted at the Snake Pit.
A Second Chance
Back at the Soames family island in the Indian Ocean, most of the remaining crew resigned after the losses in the islands. Swain admitted that he had failed the team on the Amelia mission and offered to resign as well. Soames told him that she was not comfortable keeping him after his performance, but that she needed every member she had left, and Mandy made it clear that she had not forgiven him. The next mission was a video from Afghanistan, in which a Predator had interrupted the execution of a kidnapped CIA agent, and Swain admitted that the country held bad memories for him but insisted that he could face them again.
Swain And Atal
The team flew to Jalalabad, where their guide Malook drove them to a village in the foothills of the Hindu Kush whose people believed that a djinn protected them. Swain stayed with the truck while the others met the village elders, and a boy on a crutch came over to talk to him in English. The boy, Atal, had lost his parents in a mortar attack and his leg to an old Russian mine. Swain told him that he had lost many friends in Afghanistan and that he was no longer sure what he was, and Atal confided that he dreamed of going to Canada.
Atal later told the hunters that the creature in the mountains was no protector, and he offered to lead them to its lair. Swain promised to help him reach Canada in return, as long as he told nobody. When Soames said that she was uncomfortable using a young boy, Swain reminded her that she had done the same kind of favor for Artemis, the island woman who had helped her escape the colonists. From then on, he was the boy's strongest supporter among the hunters, and Atal came to call him his friend.
Into The Mountains
When the hunters set out on foot for the lair, leaving Malook with the truck, Swain struggled with the altitude during the climb while Atal teased him. When Mandy and Nakai doubted the boy, Swain said that he believed him and would follow him himself. Along the way, Atal explained that he had found and marked many of the Russian mines in the valley so that no other child would suffer as he had, and Swain admired him for it. Just before the cave, Soames told Swain that it was time to send the boy home, and Swain sent Atal back to the truck.
The Trophy Cave
Inside the cave, the hunters found the Predator's ship and a vast trophy room of skulls, weapons and wrecked vehicles. Among the trophies, Swain found a KRB Security cap and other gear from his old outfit, and he realized that this was the same creature that had killed his men in Kandahar. He put the cap on before the team wired the cave with explosives and took up positions above it. When the Djinn returned at sunset and pinned them down with its plasma weapon, Swain shouted at it to show itself, and with their ammunition running low, he told Soames to blow the cave.
The Minefield
Atal had come back for his friend, and he offered to lead the hunters out through the valley of marked mines, perhaps drawing the Djinn to its doom. Swain taunted the creature to draw it away from the boy, and he told Atal to keep running no matter what happened. When his ammunition ran out, he drew his knife and challenged the hunter to settle the fight with him at close range. The Djinn struck him with its wristblades, and as it closed in for the kill, Swain urged it on and the mine exploded beneath them both.
Death On The Mountain
The blast killed the Djinn, but Swain was mortally wounded. Atal found him alive and promised to get him to a doctor, but Swain told him that it was too late. He said that the creature had killed a lot of his friends, and that he had been meant to die in Afghanistan with his brothers, joking that they would be annoyed that he was showing up late. He asked Atal to stay quiet and listen to the wind with him, and he died beside the boy on a mountain ledge at sunset.
Swain was buried beneath a cairn of stones on the mountain, and Atal was sad to leave his friend alone without the proper rituals, though he trusted that God would watch over him. Soames offered him a home by the sea or a place wherever he wanted, as Tyler had promised. Atal thanked her but chose to stay in Afghanistan, explaining that his friend was staying there and that he would stay too, so that he could visit his grave.
Personality And Traits
When Swain first joined the hunters, he was a loud, crude joker who taunted Nakai, grabbed Mandy and talked about trophies and money. Beneath the bravado, he was ashamed of what had happened in Kandahar, and his lie about the mortar round hid the fact that he had frozen when it mattered. His failure on Kehua cost him the trust of the team, but it also forced him to confess, and in Afghanistan he set out to make up for both failures. In Afghanistan he was quieter and more humble, and his friendship with Atal showed a protective side that the others had not seen before.
Behind The Scenes
Tyler Swain was created by writer Chris Warner for Dark Horse Comics. Francisco Ruiz Velasco drew his first appearance in Predator: Hunters, a five-issue series published from May to September 2017, with covers by Doug Wheatley. Agustin Padilla drew Predator: Hunters II, a four-issue series published from August 2018 to January 2019, with colors by Neeraj Menon, letters by Michael Heisler and editing by Randy Stradley. Swain died in the final issue of the second series, which ended with the return of Raphael Herrera, the teammate he had failed on Kehua and whom the hunters had believed dead.
Both series were collected by Dark Horse in trade paperback, Predator: Hunters in January 2018 and Predator: Hunters II in June 2019. After the Predator comics license moved to Marvel, both stories were reprinted in Predator: The Original Years Omnibus Vol. 2, a hardcover released in May 2024. Writer Chris Warner continued the hunters' story in Predator: Hunters III in 2020, but Swain did not return, since he had died in the second series. His story is part of the war in Afghanistan entry of the Predator timeline, which covers both his convoy and his final hunt.
Conclusion
Tyler Swain was the private contractor who hid while the Djinn Predator wiped out his convoy near Kandahar, then lied about it for years. He joined Jaya Soames's hunters, froze again on Kehua and lost Herrera, but confessed the truth and saved Enoch Nakai from the Exiles. In Afghanistan he befriended Atal, found his old outfit's gear in the Djinn's trophy cave and lured the hunter onto a mine that killed them both. He died on a mountain ledge with Atal beside him, and the boy stayed behind to tend his grave.
Appearances
- Predator: Hunters #1–5 (Dark Horse Comics, May to September 2017)
- Predator: Hunters II #1–4 (Dark Horse Comics, August 2018 to January 2019)
Tag Categories: Predator Universe Characters | Predator Lore
