Origins and Evolutions: RoboCop

In 1987, the sky opened up and we as a people were given one of the greatest films and cinematic characters directly from heaven, RoboCop. The child of screenwriters Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner and director Paul Verhoeven, RoboCop has had a considerably fruitful life and become a long-standing pop culture icon due in part to his looks and his signature quotes. With that in mind, and to mark the release of the latest incarnation of the character, we wanted to go back and present the world of RoboCop from its first robots to its most obscure.

While you’re at it, check out our previous Origins and Evolutions pieces for Rhino, Green Goblin, the Sentinels, Frankenstein and Jack Ryan.

Hit Full Screen below to check out Origins and Evolutions: RoboCop!

RoboCop Origins and Evolutions

ED 209

The first actual robot revealed in the 1987 film is the Enforcement Droid series 209, or ED-209 for short. Presented as a hulking behemoth of a robot, the ED-209 was designed by Craig Davies and animated by legendary stop motion animator Phil Tippet. ED-209 is known for being both a destructive force in the film and providing much of the comedic relief. In addition to utilizing a lion's roar and a pig's squal, the ED-209 also featured the voice of RoboCop producer Jon Davison.
RoboCop (1987)

Played by Peter Weller, Officer Alex Murphy is transformed into RoboCop after suffering fatal injuries in the line of duty. Rebuilt with a titanium body, RoboCop's official title is "OCP Crime Prevention Unit 001." The three governing principles in his programming are the "prime directives" that include: "Serve the public trust, protect the innocent, and uphold the law." His visor is capable of switching to a heat vision, as well as facial recognition in conjunction with the Detroit Police records.
RoboCop (1987)

RoboCop's primary weapon is the Auto-9 pistol, a 9mm handgun that shoots in three round bursts and is housed inside his right thigh. Before dying, Alex Murphy is shown attempting to swing his pistol around like the fictional TV hero "T.J. Lazer," whom his son is quite fond of, and later does the same twirl at the end of the first film.
RoboCop (1987)

RoboCop is also equipped with a "data spike" in his right hand which he can use to access the computers at the Metro West Police precinct, in addition to using it in a threatening manner.
RoboCop: The Animated Series

The first of two animated series based on RoboCop, this series featured Dan Hennessey as the voice of RoboCop and Susan Roman as his partner, Anne Lewis. A number of things from the film, including "The Old Man" at OCP and an upgrade of ED-209, were included in the series, but it unfortunately never caught on and ran for just 13 episodes.
RoboCop 2 (1990)

Co-written by comic book legend Frank Miller, RoboCop 2 features very few physical differences or upgrades to Murphy's outfit except for the blue hue that it has instead of the glossy silver from the first film.
RoboCop Two Version 1

After the events of the first film, OCP is eager to improve on RoboCop so they begin work on a second model. The first RoboCop 2 we're shown is a stockier robot that draws immediately its weapon and fires it at two OCP workers before shooting itself.
RoboCop Two Version 2

The second RoboCop Two looks more like a police officer in riot gear, but it too quickly neautralizes itself by ripping its helmet off and revealing a human skull inside.
RoboCain

The primary antagonist for RoboCop 2, the drug lord Cain played by Tom Noonan, undergoes an accident in the film and has his brain and nerological system put inside another RoboCop 2 exoskeleton.
RoboCain

Nicknamed RoboCain by fans, the robot featured a number of exterior lights, arms, claws, and machine guns, and managed to wreak a lot of havoc in Detroit.
RoboCain

The most interesting thing about the RoboCain is that it featured a screen where a digital version of Cain's human face would appear to communicate with persons, though it could no longer speak.
RoboCop vs. Terminator

A four part mini-series from Dark Horse comics, RoboCop Versus Terminator sees Murphy discovering that he is partially the basis for what allows Skynet to take over the world in the future. Using this knowledge, he hatches a plot to take them down from the inside, as his consciousness sits dormant inside Skynet. In the future, he fashions himself a RoboCop looking body form Terminator parts and teams up with the human resistance to defeat the threat once and for all. The series was later adapted into a video game of the same name.
RoboCop 3 (1993)

Though dismissed by many fans due to being the first PG-13 RoboCop film and the only sequel where Peter Weller didn't reprise his role, RoboCop 3 featured the most updates to the character since the series began. Played by Robert John Burke, the first modification to Murphy was the gun arm wherein he removed his left hand and replaced it with a weapon containing a machine gun, a flame thrower, and a rocket launcher.
The Flight Pack

The other upgrade he received? The infamous “Flight Pack” that allows RoboCop not only to fly but a second source of energy for his batteries. You'd think they would have figured out a way for him to not run on batteries by now.
RoboCop 3 (1993)

When fully assembled with all his upgrades in the film's climax, he looks like a rather ridiculous albeit awesome action figure.
RoboCop: The Series

Just a year after the release of RoboCop 3, RoboCop: The Series debuted on television. Ignoring the events of the second and third films in the franchise, the series was set just two years after the first movie and featured Richard Eden in the title role. It ran for just 22 episodes before getting canceled.
RoboCop: Alpha Commando

Four years later, another animated series based on RoboCop emerged in the form of RoboCop: Alpha Commando, a more kid-friendly version of the property. The series takes place in the year 2030 and sees RoboCop reactivated after being offline for five years to help federal officials fight a terrorist organization. Many of the same staff members from the original animated series returned to help with “Alpha Commando” which ran for forty episodes before concluding. Renowned voice actor David Sobolov provided the voice for RoboCop in the series.
RoboCop: Prime Directives

In the year 2000 came the first continuation of the entire RoboCop films in the form of the television mini-series RoboCop: Prime Directives. Consisting of four feature length "episodes," the series saw Page Fletcher playing the title character in a story set ten years after the first film.
RoboCable

One of the new characters created for Prime Directives was police officer John T. Cable as played by Maurice Dean Wint. In the series, Cable was Murphy's former partner long before he transferred to Metro West in the first film. Cable is subsequently murdered and turned into another "OCP Crime Prevention Unit" as a way for OCP to combat RoboCop. The pair dueled several times before RoboCop convinced him to become his partner, once again. The primary differences in "RoboCable" and RoboCop was the color of their metal and RoboCable carried two side arms.
RoboCop (2003)

A first person shooter video game was released based on the property in 2003. It featured a number of references to the previous series, including ED-209 and the arm gun from RoboCop 3. It was not well received by critics.
Frank Miller's RoboCop

In 2004, Avatar Press gained the comic book rights to RoboCop and the first project that they decided on trying was to publish Frank Miller's "lost" RoboCop 2 screenplay, which was deemed unfilmable by the producers. Miller agreed to it and a nine issue series was written by Steven Grant with art by Juan Jose Ryp.
The RoboCop Statue

A Kickstarter campaign debuted online in 2011 looking to create a bronze statue of RoboCop to put in Detroit. It was successful and the creators estimate it will be completed and ready for display sometime this year.
ED-209 (2014)

The remake of RoboCop introduces us to the ED-209's at the start of the film. They appear similar in design to the original robot, though they can be seen with different color schemes throughout the film.
EM-208 (2014)

The film does introduce a new robot into the mix, the EM-208, which is a humanoid robot we see patrolling the streets of Tehran in the film. They're also used as Murphy's targets in several training exercises.
RoboCop (2014)

When he first emerges as RoboCop, Murphy's design is similar to what we've known for all these years. The primary difference is that he now features two weapons, a tazer pistol and a machine pistol. After some focus group results from Omnicorp he undergoes another change...
RoboCop (2014)

… to the tactical black suit. Though entirely a cosmetic difference from the original design, the black suit does go well with his brand new motorcycle.