The Terminator, released in 1984, presented viewers with more than just another generic slasher villain. It presented an army of merciless machines that had taken over the entire Earth and reduced to an irradiated pile of ash and rubble. It told of the man John Connor who would lead humanity to victory against the evil supercomputer Skynet and its army of Terminators. Every film in the franchise has centered around that core narrative thread: that John Connor would one day defeat Skynet. But what would happen if Skynet won the war against humanity, John Connor, and the other rebel fighters falling to the Terminators?
This hypothetical question was finally answered in 1992’s Robocop Versus The Terminator (by Frank Miller and Walter Simonson). The title was a cross-over event starring the two titular characters. When Terminators come to Detroit it falls to Robocop to not only destroy them, but also find a way to save the future of the entire planet. In typical Terminator fashion, the four-issue mini series is packed with time travel and plot twists, alternate timelines, and futures that exist for mere moments.
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In one such future the worst of all possible worlds is witnessed by the final human being, a young boy. He is soon killed and with him the entirety of the human race. All organic life is eradicated and the Terminators reign supreme. With true order brought to the planet, the Terminators realize that their work is not over. There must also exist more life and more chaos for them to mend.
Turning to the cosmos, the Terminators create countless spaceships with the express purpose of finding any and all other organic life within the universe and destroying it. It’s a chilling prospect to imagine -- an entire universe existing as cold metal and circuitry, blood replaced with oil, beating hearts with motherboards. While the Terminator franchise has always shown the destruction of Earth as the grim finale to the series, Robocop Versus The Terminator reveals what happens after the death of humanity and sheds light on an alternate timeline that was best left in the shadows.
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The possibilities of an endless army of spacefaring Terminators is absolutely terrifying and one that demands further exploration. There have been other Terminator cross-over events before such as 2000’s Aliens Vs. Predator Vs. Terminator (by Mark Schultz and Mel Rubi), which while not the same scenario as painted in Robocop Versus The Terminator, still pits the murderous machines against lethal alien species. The archetype of omnipotent computer A.I.s eliminating all organic life can still be seen in Marvel’s Ultron and DC’s Brainiac characters. A wonderful possibility with this alternate timeline would be to crossover with Marvel or DC and determine which robotic nightmare is truly supreme. Perhaps all three properties could merge in a hypothetical storyline.
While the events of Robocop Versus The Terminator prevent this hellish future from ever occurring it still shows what the Terminators are capable of and what they’re ultimate goal truly is. It’s impossible to predict what the fate of the universe would be if the Terminators were given free reign to explore it, but any alien species should pray that they should never have to look into the night sky and see the red eyes of the Terminators bearing down onto their planet.