Social media has recently been buzzing as many have debated whether 100 men could overpower a gorilla in a fight. A similar spirit of competition and hypothetical showdowns is captured in director Dan Trachtenberg’s intense animated feature, “Predator: Killer of Killers.” This spin-off showcases the iconic movie monster in fierce battles against legendary warriors from various eras, stripped down to pure confrontational glory. For those who found previous live-action “Predator” films (including Trachtenberg’s own “Prey”) heavy with plot and light on the action, this version cuts straight to the chase with three concise stories.

I personally didn’t share the overwhelming admiration many critics had for 2022’s straight-to-streaming “Prey.” While it introduced a new historical setting, the film fell short for me, lacking the much-heralded period authenticity, and coming across as just as fabricated as the creature itself. “Killer of Killers” faces similar critiques, but its episodic format works to its advantage. Each segment runs around 25 minutes, focusing on a major fight that culminates in a decisive blow. There’s no time to dwell on historical inaccuracies, and the relentless pace is a welcomed diversion.

The first segment, “The Shield,” effectively lays the groundwork. Set in 841 AD, it follows a Viking mother and son seeking revenge to claim a throne they consider theirs. Before the Predator even enters the fray, danger is already omnipresent; flaming arrows and vigilant guards create an atmosphere brimming with tension and bloodshed. The animation is stunning and imaginative, transforming the bleak Nordic environment with splashes of vivid violence through inventive use of swords and shields. Although maintaining this speed sometimes compromises visual clarity in the action sequences, a common issue in live-action productions, the introduction of the Predator diversifies the character designs enough to mitigate this flaw.

Why the Predator has chosen to reappear in each distinct period isn’t revealed until an epilogue that manages to tie in “Prey” without resorting to distracting fan service callbacks. Until then, however, the film really does function as a dramatization of eternal playground debates as to whether a Predator could beat Vikings, samurai, or a WWII pilot in a fight, in brutal, brief segments that are like this franchise’s cousin to Marvel’s “What If?” series.

I don’t mean it as a negative when I say that, if you removed the most violent moments, this could function as the kind of animated TV spin-off to a more adult-skewing franchise that used to be commonplace in the 1980s and 1990s, when even films as nihilistic as “Robocop” were reimagined for a Saturday morning audience not old enough to see the real thing. I don’t think for a second that Dan Trachtenberg and screenwriter Micho Robert Rutare were aiming for this necessarily, but it’s an unintentional achievement on their behalf to help foster a sense of nostalgia for that era of tie-in without watering down what fans want from the source material itself.

Following the first segment, we jump forward to 17th century Japan and a decades-spanning sibling rivalry between a samurai and a ninja who both have regal aspirations. As with the first story, the greater specifics behind this familial relationship and each character’s aspirations of power aren’t fleshed out enough by the screenplay to sustain more than a 25-minute segment, and once again, their distinct emotional journeys become an afterthought when our old friend the Predator shows up. Again, this isn’t necessarily a problem for fans, who aren’t coming to this franchise in the hope of profound depth and a vivid recreation of several distinct historical periods, but I felt like this section in particular put too much weight on character journeys that have been written too broadly by design. The intrigue of these stories are the specific fights, and nuanced characters aren’t a necessity to make those pack a punch — the illusion of a more fleshed out character drama just made this segment feel lacking even with some of the best action of the three entries.

The third chapter takes us to WWII as an aspiring pilot finds himself up in the air and in the crosshairs of the Predator’s spaceship, wasting little time in getting its protagonist to take to the skies. In terms of action mechanics, it’s the simplest — even if it does make liberal use of the laws of gravity in a manner that’d fit right at home in the Looper-reviewed “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.” But those narrow parameters for the action makes for the most exciting of the three stories, embracing the constraints that can come with aerial fight scenes. Even in animation, where anything you can conceive of can become a possibility, Dan Trachtenberg quite ironically ensures this is the most grounded story of the three; a viewer who wouldn’t be able to suspend disbelief for the previous segments might be pleasantly surprised by this, keeping the action simple and concise without being a stickler for realism.

“Predator: Killer of Killers” has been developed in tandem with Trachtenberg’s own live-action sequel “Predator: Badlands,” which is released in theaters this November. But an animated series could easily continue to exist outside of the franchise timeline he’s establishing — even if the closing shot suggests everything we’ve seen in both mediums so far is intertwined. Personally, I’ll take stripped-down, high-concept fights over the development of an expansive cinematic universe any day; I wouldn’t be surprised if, even with all its flaws, this ends up being the finest “Predator” film we see this year.

“Predator: Killer of Killers” lands on Hulu on June 6.