Judge Dredd initially appeared in the second edition of the British Anthology Sci-Fi comic magazine 2000AD in 1977, and the rest is history. It was unusual for British comic plots to last more than 12 to 16 episodes, and Judge Dredd’s lie detector did not add to the story’s length, instead of serving swift justice.
Judge Dredd is set in the distant future of the 22nd century in Mega-City One. Only a few cities, including Mega-City One on the west coast of the United States, are habitable in the post-apocalyptic world, with the rest being a toxic wasteland known as the cursed earth, populated by the less desirable and mutants. Judge Dredd is the law, and that is all you need to know about him.
The dystopian city’s laws are enforced by clones of former chief judges who function as cops and serve as judge, jury, and executioner. Each of them carries the Lawgiver, a handgun that is activated by their DNA and will explode if it falls into the wrong hands.
We will go over a lot more about the character in today’s video, including the Anthrax song devoted to him and the on-screen adaptations. We will also talk about his comic book origins, as well as what worked in the 2012 Karl Urban film Dredd and what did not in the 1995 Sylvester Stallone film Judge Dredd.
Judge Dredd Started As A comic book series
Forty years back, a new hero was introduced in the 2000AD British Science Fiction Comic anthology and Judge Dredd has been the law since 1977. He was first introduced as a hardened street judge in the dystopian future of 2099. Since then, Dredd has fought many battles, including one against his cloned brother Rico, who tried to frame him.
There was also the menace of the robot uprising and a mega epic chronicling his days on the Cursed Earth. As crime never sleeps, neither does Judge Dredd. He recharges for the whole day by spending ten minutes in the sleep machine. In the Cursed Earth mega epic that spanned for 25 weeks, Dredd was up against numerous maniacs who were a threat to Mega-City Two. He was able to defeat his foes but the battle left him tired.
And by the time he returned home, Mega-City had been corrupted by the mad Judge Caligula, who had also taken over the city. As they say, there’s no rest for the wicked, it was upon Dredd to bring back order to the city and he did so through rebellion. When he’s not fighting against criminal mega minds, he makes an example out of law-breaking punks by bringing them to justice single-handedly.
Over the decades, Judge Dredd has been published by IDW. While Marvel and DC continue to dominate the world of comics and cinematic universes, Judge Dredd had his fair share of crossovers in the DC universe and Dark Horse. There was a crossover with Predator, several storylines with Batman, and a Lobo story back in the nineties. In the early days of the comics, Dredd’s niece Vienna was introduced to the readers, but alas, as duty calls, Dredd has no time for family. When Rebellion took over the publication of 2000AD and Judge Dredd Magazine, it turned things around for the franchise. Judge Dredd is now over 80 years old as he ages in real-time. In the early years of the comic, they explored the storyline of Judges who are old enough to retire.
Judge Minty’s advanced age and degrading health made it difficult for him to perform his duty as the ultimate word of law. But Judge Death turned out to be more menacing than old age. However, even an army of Dark Judges wasn’t invincible for Judge Dredd. Judge Dredd has never been one to follow orders blindly and we witnessed that when defied his orders and left the judge child behind upon realizing his evil nature.
Judge Dredd was created by John Wagner, a major contributor to the storyline, and co-created by the late Carlos Ezquerra who contributed to the art for a long time. On occasions when Wagner was taking a break from Judge Dredd, other writers would take over the title. But none of them had the same impact as the original creator did.
Judge Dredd Origin
Set in the 22nd century, where the world has been reduced to a post-apocalyptic nightmare, Mega-City One is one of the few inhabitable places near The Cursed Earth. The Cursed Earth is basically a nuclear wasteland that covers most of America. Around 400 million citizens reside on the wasteland, crammed into the congested concrete jungle.
The citizens are living in desperate times as unemployment is through the roof, and so is overcrowding and boredom. In such chaotic times when ordinary citizens are tempted into a life of crime, it is upon the Judges to keep them in order.
Amongst one of those judges is Judge Joseph Dredd, a clone of Eustace T. Fargo, the father of Justice. It is a well-known fact that Judge Dredd is the law, and so are the other judges. They not only have the power to enforce the law, but also the authority to act as the judge, jury, and executioner.
Joseph Dredd has been a member of the council of Five, since 2132, which is the ruling body of the Justice Department in Mega-City One. He carries a weapon known as the Lawgiver, a handgun that can only be activated with his palm print. It has been DNA coded so that it explodes if it ever ends up in the wrong hands. Joseph, as well as his twin brother, were cloned after Chief Judge Fargo, and it was only a matter of months before they emerged as five-year-olds from the cloning facility in 2066.
Both of them graduated from the Academy of Law in 2079. Later on, Dredd declined the position of Chief Judge as he prefers serving his brand of rough justice on the streets. Just like other superheroes looking after their cities and saving the world from destruction, Judge Dredd too has single-handedly saved the world from being destroyed during the fourth world war.
You know that a character is nothing short of iconic when trash metal band Anthrax writes a song dedicated to them. The song “I am the law” was a clear tribute to the street judge as he also appeared on the covers of their disk tracks.
No crime is too small for Judge Dredd and he doesn’t let the citizens escape even with minor crimes. By nature, Judge Dredd is more cop than a soldier and that is how he was created. John Wagner had come up with the concept behind the character after a request from Pat Mills, and Carlos Ezquerra designed him. He was the most popular and influential character to come out of the 2000AD comics. Before self-driving cars were a reality, Dredd was driving a motorbike powered by AI. The Lawmaster bike came equipped with a centrally mounted laser and two powerful side cannons.
Before there was a surge of multiverses in the MCU, Judge Dredd too had its alternate versions. In Helter Skelter, where the multidimensional rogue’s gallery was located, all of them hailed from worlds where Dredd was dead. The presence of a world where Dredd was alive infuriated them enough to invade it in a fit of rage.
In one of the versions, Dredd was not only killed but also resurrected as a zombie slave. What remains constant throughout the chaos is the helmet covering Judge Dredd’s face. There are flashbacks to the Judge’s childhood where he can be seen without the helmet covering his face. But other than that, his face remains a mystery, just like Kakashi Hatake’s in Naruto.
What’s Under The Judges Mask?
John Wagner wanted to reflect the facelessness and soullessness of justice and felt that it wasn’t necessary for the readers to know what Dredd looked like. When Sylvester Stallone took off his helmet for the 1995 film adaptation of the comic, it didn’t sit well with the fans as well as the creators of the comic.
Wagner originally didn’t want to show Dredd’s face to the fans, however, it ended up being a trend. In prog 8, Dredd was supposed to be unmasked. But Massimo Belardinelli wasn’t able to pull it off with his artistic skills, as Dredd’s face was supposed to be so impressive that it scared the perps.
A censored bar was used as a quick fix and the dialogues were changed to imply that something horrible had happened to Dredd’s face. As Dredd and Rico were the clones of Eustace Fargo, it can be assumed that their face resembles his. When Ron Smith drew the character of the chief judge in Dredd Angel, he accidentally gave away the face hiding behind the helmet.
Judge Dredd Live-Action Adaptations
Judge Dredd (1995)
When a comic book gets a film adaptation, the fans are bound to be critical of it, especially if it deviates from the source material. The Judge Dredd film adaptation of 1995, starring Sylvester Stallone is no exception to that. While it does integrate multiple storylines from the comic into the screenplay, it fails to live up to the expectations of its fans. The story is set in the same world as the comic, in a dystopian future wasteland.
The remaining human population inhabits the overcrowded Mega Cities where the law is governed by the Judges, who play jury, judge, and executioner. Amongst the judges, the most dedicated of them all is our beloved Street Judge Joseph Dredd, played by Sylvester Stallone.
Dredd assists Judge Hershey in ending a block war and also arrests Herman Ferguson, a hacker who has been recently released from prison and later on becomes his loyal sidekick. Originally, Stallone wanted the role to be played by Oscar-winner Joe Pesci, but he turned it down as science fiction wasn’t his cup of tea.
Afterward, Stallone approached Rob Schneider of SNL fame for the role, and he accepted the part. The two had briefly worked together in Demolition Man and Schneider could bring in the comic relief Stallone wanted in the film. Joseph Dredd had a clone brother who chose the path of evil.
Rico Dredd, a psychopathic murderer, and the former judge had escaped prison and gained access to his old judge’s uniform and lawgiver gun. When a news reporter, who was critical of Dredd is found dead, all the evidence points towards Judge Joseph Dredd. Almost everyone involved in the film had a different vision and needless to say, the conflicts didn’t help the film.
Even Disney and director Danny Cannon had different ideas about the film, and Stallone’s rift with the director regarding the tone of the film was infamous. While Stallone envisioned the project as an action movie with comedic overtones, Danny Cannon wanted to give the film a dark and gritty undertone.
Despite having Hershey as his defense attorney, Joseph Dredd was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment. As a corrupt judge now comes to power and encourages Rico to create havoc throughout the city, Dredd co-incidentally reunites with the hacker Herman Ferguson, whom he had sentenced to prison for the destruction of public property.
But their reunion is short-lived as they are attacked by Angel Gang, a cannibalistic mutant scavenger family. During the Angel Gang’s battle with the judges, Fargo sacrifices himself to save Dredd. In his dying moments, he reveals the truth about Rico’s and Joseph’s origin and how they were created and implanted with false childhood memories.
It doesn’t take long for Dredd to realize it was his brother who framed him for the murder of the reporter, as the two share identical DNA. It wasn’t only the fans who were disappointed with the film, even Stallone didn’t feel that the film lived up to its potential. The original creator of the comic shared mixed reviews about the film but thought that Stallone played Judge Dredd in the wrong movie.
Stallone removing the helmet for a major portion of the film was not the only factor that disappointed the fans. The overall result was so underwhelming that Mighty Morphin Power Rangers beat the movie at the box office in their opening week. While Stallone was a good fit to play Judge Dredd, the movie failed to capture the essence of the 2000AD comics that makes the characters and the storylines endearing to many.
Dredd (2012)
Unlike the 1995 screen adaptation, Alex Garland’s script for the 2012 version was loyal to the source material and not all over the place. Set around in the near future of the 2100s, it is up to Judge Dredd and his colleagues to maintain law and order. It was just another day at work and Dredd was tasked with training and evaluating the new psychic rookie Judge Cassandra Anderson.
When a triple homicide occurs at a shady neighborhood where the judges are hesitant to venture, Dredd and Cassandra head to inspect the scene. The troubled neighborhood in question was under the control of Ma-Ma, a drug lord and her gang who had a thirst for mindless violence. They ruled over Peach Tree Block, a 200 story vertical slum. Ma-Ma was played by Lena Heady, she wanted to play the role so badly that she convinced Alex Garland to alter the character to fit her description.
The character in the original script was an older lady but the character was re-written as a middle-aged lady. After their investigation, the judges find that the victims of the homicide were aspiring drug dealers and they were brutally killed by Ma-Ma’s gang members to serve as an example for the Peach Tree block.
As if being skinned alive wasn’t punishment enough, they were dosed with the drug slo-mo so that suffering appeared to last longer. As judge, jury, and executioners, the street judges head into the den of the druggies and kill the armed thugs and arrest the rest of the dealers. The 1995 movie received criticism from the fans as Stallone had removed the helmet, while the character has famously never done so in the comic pages.
Karl Urban, being a huge fan of the comic, refused to take off the helmet and stayed true to the source material, despite the director wanting a shot of him, minus the helmet. Anderson uses her psychic powers while arresting the dealers and she gets to know that it was Kay who was behind the triple homicide.
When he is taken in for questioning, Ma-Ma feels cornered and fears that her entire operation is about to be jeopardized. In order to save her narcotic empire, she places a bounty for the head of the rookie judge as well as Dredd. This isn’t enough to make the judges back down as Judge Dredd is the law and anyone who breaks it must be brought to justice.
As a fan of the comic, Karl’s contribution wasn’t limited to refusing to remove the helmet, he also refused to use a stuntman and performed most of the stunts on the Lawmaster motorcycle by himself. The prop team had developed the motorcycle by customizing a regular bike and no CGI was used for those scenes.
They added custom fairings and extended the chasings to create the motorcycle. Many of the scenes were shot in practical locations and the entire project was pulled off on a shoestring budget.
Even though the film wasn’t a hit at the box office after its release on home video it gained the status of a cult classic. While the 1995 adaptation was conflicted about its tone, the 2012 adaptation took on an ultra-violent tone. It successfully managed to undo all the damage committed by the Stallone starrer and served as a justified screen adaptation for the comic book character.
Is There Going To Be A New Judge Dredd Movie or Tv Series
Rumors about a possible Dredd tv show started doing the rounds around 2017. As there’s no smoke without fire, Jason Kingsley, the CEO of Rebellion confirmed that the script for the show is ready and once the pandemic is over, they will secure the funding and go into production.
The show is titled Mega-City One and it will follow the journeys of various Judges Dredd himself would be a recurring guest character.
And it does sound similar to the TV show Gotham. Karl Urban has expressed his interest in reprising his role as Judge Dredd and Kingsley has also made a passing comment about bringing Stallone back in the show. And having two of the actors who brought the character to life in different eras does sound like exciting news. As of now, there’s no news about when the show will go into production but we do hope that happens very soon.