On January 26th, 2021, AVPGalaxy reported on the exciting news that a new anthology book, Aliens vs. Predator: Ultimate Prey, would be released later in 2021, with author Bryan Thomas Schmidt (who worked on the Predator: If It Bleeds anthology book) working together with Jonathan Maberry (who worked on the Aliens: Bug Hunt anthology book) and announcing the following;

"I am pleased to announce my return to the world of my beloved Yautja movie universe. My seventeenth anthology as editor, and 4th for Titan will be my latest collaboration with Jonathan Maberry:

ALIENS VS PREDATOR: ULTIMATE PREY, Edited by Jonathan Maberry & Bryan Thomas Schmidt is a collection of all original stories that bring these two powerful franchises into collision. These stories will be more than bug hunts or monsters fighting one another. We’re amassing a slate of diverse writers who will elevate the themes to feature tales of racism, intolerance, culture clashes, and the horrors of war. Stories will run the gamut from intense psychological drama to nail-biting paranoid horror to humor to poignant tales of people and cultures caught in the grip of war.

Authors: David Barnett – Roshni “Rush” Bhatia – Maurice Broaddus – Curtis Chen – Delilah Dawson – Jess Landry – Jonathan Maberry & Louis Ozawa Changchien – Susanne Lambdin – Seanan McGuire – E.C. Myers – Yvonne Navarro – Chris Ryall – Bryan Thomas Schmidt – Steven Sears – Scott Sigler

15 new stories set in the movie universe, coming in December 2021 from Titan Books. It’s the one anthology fans have most been requesting and Jonathan and I have wanted to do it for 3 years, ever since he did Aliens: Bug Hunt and I did Predator: If It Bleeds, both for Titan, which were great successes.

These are studio approved tie-ins. We’ll reveal more details when the time comes but this exciting project has been fast tracked for quick release and we look forward to bringing it to fans." (See; Announcement—Coming December 2021)

However, fans noted to their concern the part about the new anthology being influenced by "social justice politics" (also known as "wokeness" or "woke politics") with the mention of "tales of racism, intolerance, culture clashes" and arguments rapidly arose centered on whether such social justice politics should actually have a place within the entertainment we consume (often noting that people turn to entertainment to escape reality and politics). Needless to say, a lot of people view social justice politics, political correctness (PC) and "social justice warriors" (SJW) in a very negative light, and that is surely for good reason and a legitimate concern to the quality of the product and the future of the franchise. Noting the comments by "Bug hunt wilson" below;

"Was pump to hear that a AVP short story collection was finally coming out took them long enough.Then I hear it will talk about racism,culture intolerance and all that other stuff this is alien vs predator not a political discussion unless you do it subtle and make the story still fun like old school x-men don't do it at all it.People read comic books and novels to escape from reality. [...] I think companies should focus about good stories instead of diversity majority of people buy stories to be entertained not because the main character or the author has the same skin color,sexuality as them or politics.But what you're saying makes me hopefull for this book.So i will wait to see how good this book is.But why would titan books put all this stuff just put a summary of some of the short stories that will get people excited for this book not this stuff.Also why did y'all wait till now to make this book now why not after the last anthology book when there would have been a lot more hype for this book. [...] Thing is these character gender,race,and sexuality didn't define who they were people like them due to their personality or flaws they were human.Most SJWS seem to think there character being gay is enough character development.Also to like star wars the last jedi you must really hate the orginal star wars and it's EU [...] You're right I had no problem with the diverse characters my favorite character was the Indian dude in predator gameworld he grew up in a poor area and he was fighting in there so his kids didn't had as much of a hard life as him if I remember correctly.The problem I have with this summary is that you seem to be worrying about diversity first and good story telling second all you to do is make it naturally flow and then make it subtle boom you have a good book."

Scott Middlebrook (having some involvement with Alien/Predator properties) notably defended the inclusion of social justice politics, stating the following;

"I dug The Last Jedi, and 'PC' generally just means being more inclusive. If the story telling is good - what's the issue? Or did some suddenly forget that Ripley was a woman, as was Machiko. A Japanese woman no less. Lex was African-American. Lope and Hallett in Covenant were a gay married couple. Olivia in Echo was a lesbian. And Anne in Cold Forge liked shagging a male android that was remotely piloted by a terminally ill crippled black woman. Heavens! My pearls!!!"

In response to this particular comment, political correctness and social justice politics/warriors has become much more of a destructive disease than a means to be genuinly more inclusive and diverse (noting of course that even inclusivity and diversity has its limits, but this fact is somehow lost on social justice warriors and has a tendency to turn into pure-bred hypocrisy), and barely anybody cares about their sexual preferences or skin color being featured in a work of entertainment. If the storytelling is good, then no harm done, but social justice politics rarely if ever result in products of good quality. Ripley being a woman had nothing to do with social justice politics, but that was nothing but a genuine fun idea on the part of the creators behind the original Alien movie, and her character was very human, very believable, and very well-developed, and not as out-of-touch with the audience and reality as SJW's tend to be. Machiko was herself probably a callback inspired by Ripley's character, much like Lex. The inclusion of a female protagonist, regardless of ethnicity, has never been an issue, and a common problem with social justice politics is that it seeks to force diversity and make it all too obvious to the point that it neither entertains nor educates, but instead results in sheer pandering to a particular political group and mindset.

Regarding Lope and Hallett (and Olivia for that matter), their homosexual relationship was consistently criticized (apart from its moral implications and the serious problems with the sexual revolution) because it seemed to have no place in the story, and that especially with regards to them being part of a colonization mission filled with married couples intended to continue propagating the human species in space, and them being in a homosexual relationship blatantly contradicts the purpose of the operation and contributes nothing to the story, and it stands out as a clear SJW-move which just placed them there for no other motivation than to be "inclusive" (and noting that this agenda is prevalent throughout the Ridley Scott Creative Group/Scott Free Productions). Audiences will naturally react and respond when something isn't right. I won't even comment on the sheer nonsense of Anne the android shagger, as that ought to speak for itself as you read that disturbing silly sentence.

Thankfully, Schmidt sympathizes with audiences concerned with the inclusion of social justice politics, stating the following with a spirit of comfort and assurance;

"Folks, the fact is we had each pitched AvP anthos since 2017 when Bug Hunt and If It Bleeds came out, and Titan finally decided to do it by having us work together but they said they want diversity, because that is what everybody is focused on right now. We asked the authors for stories that are not in your face but the usual AvP fare that just happen to touch on those themes. They also wanted diverse protagonists and not just all white males squaring off against the alien monsters. So that is what we are delivering. I am not a preachy fiction fan either, but the fact is this is what the publisher and studio want to do the book, so that is what it is. Writing it off and dismissing it before you see it is silly. I hated Last Jedi. I will do everything I can to ensure it does not go that way. Anyone who knows anything about me knows I am not SJW nor am I a PC fan, so you’ll just have to wait and see."

On a different yet related note, I want to note the video below of George Lucas touching on the integration of politics into an entertainment franchise such as Star Wars, something he arguably executed properly and intelligently (something which perhaps cannot be said about later Star Wars projects), and it's a great thing to hear him speak on this subject. YouTube channel Mr H Reviews also featured a very relevant discussion on this topic in regards to the upcoming Predator 5 (a.k.a. Skulls) and its own SJW concerns. Arguably, social justice politics have no place in the entertainment industry (and should not be promoted to begin with considering its problematic, chaotic, radical, anarchist tendencies).