The Robocop and Terminator franchises are two beloved sci-fi classics of the 80s, but bringing them together would likely be a big disappointment. While this has technically come to fruition in a videogame and in comic form, Robocop and the beloved T-800 series Terminator have never properly met on the big screen. Both franchises now struggle to continue capturing audiences, with the Terminator sequels after Judgement Day all being met with critical failure and the Robocop (2015) reboot not finding success the way its predecessor did. However, it’s impossible to deny that seeing these two cyborg juggernauts together would generate buzz.
The problem with getting Robocop and Terminator to fight is that the nature of the two franchises leads to the logical conclusion that the long-term outcome would likely be dull. The initial battle would, in all likelihood, be over far more quickly than perhaps anticipated, given the specs of each respective character. However, the result of Robocop and Terminator’s crossover would bleed well into the future of both franchises, and that future would look especially bleak. Unlike in other big-budget crossovers like Godzilla vs. Kong, there’d likely be no teaming up in the end to save the day from a mutual enemy.
Robocop Is Vastly Superior To The T-800
ers of the Terminator franchise may not be too thrilled with the outcome of a battle between these two cybernetic cinema giants. To put it bluntly, it’s clear just from watching both movies that Robocop is better than the classic T-800 in nearly every way that matters. While the T-800 has the advantage in mobility, Robocop is harder to kill by virtually every measure. In the final fight of James Cameron’s The Terminator, T-800 was blown apart by a pipe bomb and destroyed in a hydraulic press. Meanwhile, Robocop was left largely fine by similar circumstances. He’s also far more resistant to heavy-duty firepower.
The Terminator would be in for a bad time as the battle between the T-800 and Robocop would be woefully one-sided. Even the sometimes pathetic, sometimes deadly ED-209 could arguably prove too much for the T-800 as Robocop is clearly stronger than the latter but struggled against the former the first time he was made to fight one. Perhaps the biggest Achilles heel for the T-800, however, comes from its own series. The Terminator franchise itself has stated that one of the reasons for humanity’s continued survival and ability to outwit and defeat Skynet’s Terminators is the unpredictability of human nature, which Robocop still possesses and displays on numerous occasions.
More Advanced Terminators Could Take Robocop Down
Despite the fact that Robocop would be more than capable of defeating a basic T-800, the Terminator franchise is filled with countless other machines. As tempting as it may be to simply pretend that none of the films after Terminator 2 exist, many of the more dangerous machines show up in later installments, such as the T-X, which was specifically designed to destroy other Terminators and has the ability to hack into and remotely control other technology. Given that the machine hails from the future, it’s unlikely Robocop would be equipped to resist being hacked by a presumably more advanced computing system.
Even more dangerous than the T-X, however, are later Terminator models like the Rev-9. Not only does the Rev-9 have better hacking capabilities, but it has the same shape-shifting qualities as its predecessor, the classic T-1000. There is nothing in Robocop’s arsenal that would properly prepare him for a machine made of liquid metal capable of transmuting its body into virtually anything. On top of the T-X, Rev-9, and T-1000 all being vastly more agile than the standard T-800 and leagues beyond the maneuverability of Robocop, they also all have a varied enough range of tools to put Robocop down more permanently than a handful of thugs could.
Robocop Would Be A Gateway To Better Terminators
Robocop would be able to defeat one measly T-800 and probably a T-850 without issue. If he doesn’t stop Skynet, it’s not really a victory. Worse yet, it could actually be the key to his downfall. Terminator 2 explains that Skynet’s unwitting creator reverse-engineered the technology from the destroyed remains of the Terminator sent back in time to kill Sarah Conner. This grandfather paradox becomes exceedingly more complicated and dangerous if Robocop is involved. Unless Robocop somehow meets Sarah Connor, and she tells him everything, he’d have no way of knowing about Skynet. Skynet, however, would have plenty of grounds to learn about him.
With access to time travel and plenty of data from the battle with Robocop, as well as official Robocop records, Robocop could be sealing humanity’s fate unintentionally by interacting with the Terminator at all. Skynet would have data on a far superior cyborg, which it could then use to improve all of its designs much faster. By taking into all the areas where Robocop outclasses the T-800, including strength and durability, Skynet could make the T-800 models far better or even make a strong new model. While it wouldn’t be as deadly as some of the later models, a Terminator with Robocop’s resilience would doom Sarah Connor.
Skynet Would Have No Reason To Send Terminators After Robocop In The Past
The true ace for the Terminator side is in Skynet, which Robocop would have no reason to know about, save for an assist from the human resistance. Robocop has never had to contend with such advanced adversaries before. While he’s fended off the ED-209 and RoboCain, both of those pale in comparison to the deadliest Terminators. Not only that, but while Robocop may be able to overcome his machine adversaries individually, the entire premise of the Terminator franchise means he’d be up against legions of Skynet’s killer robots. Superior or not, even Robocop would fall to an entire assault force of T-800 models, let alone a single T-1000 model Terminator.
With Skynet being a logic-driven AI, sending anything back in time to destroy Robocop would be bizarrely illogical. Why risk alerting Robocop to the existence, present or eventual, of Skynet? The ruthless AI literally has all the time in the world. Assume Robocop survives Judgement Day, which isn’t exactly a reach, considering that ordinary humans survived it, Skynet would be far smarter to play the long game, assembling its machine uprising to eventually send Terminators after Robocop in the future rather than the past. With Robocop unable to stand up to that kind of offensive, Skynet would be free to study and use his technology to make newer, deadlier Terminators.
With a new legion of infiltration units acting as a fusion of Robocop and T-800 series Terminators, the human resistance would be utterly doomed in their war against Skynet and its Terminators. Skynet could easily armor up its early ground forces to the same degree as Robocop or even replicate the armor’s alloy for the endoskeleton. That would allow these murderous machines to travel back in time. If one of these upgraded T-800 style Terminators is sent after Sarah Connor, there really would be nothing stopping it from completing its mission. In the end, both the Robocop and Terminator franchises may actually be better off if they never meet.
