In Aliens, Bishop serves as the android executive officer aboard the USS Sulaco, a military ship transporting Colonial Marines ordered to destroy the xenomorphs that have infested a colony on exomoon LV-426. Unlike his predecessor, Ash, in Alien, Bishop's artificial intelligence is never a secret.
26. Kelex
25. ED-209
First seen in 1987's RoboCop, the ED-209 is the first, but less effective, policing robot created by mega-corporation Omni Consumer Products (OmniCorp in the 2014 remake) before they hit pay dirt with RoboCop. The updated ED-209s are the only good thing about the remake.
24. BB-8
Introduced in The Force Awakens, BB-8 is a late model astromech droid, who communicates largely by using beeps and whistle sounds and travels by rolling. Let's keep it 100 -- he's the remixed R2D2. But he does have a unique design -- with the rolling and all.
23. C-3PO
As he's fond of boasting, C3PO is a protocol droid fluent in over 6 million forms of communication. First introduced in 1977's Star Wars, Threepio's "partner-in-crime" is R2D2, with whom he attempts to bicker almost non-stop. Neurotic and cowardly but prone to bursts of criticism directed at Chewbacca, who could destroy the droid without breaking a sweat, C3PO has an uncanny tendency to wind up in the last place he'd ever want to be -- at the center of a battle.
22. Devastator
21. Rumble
The Transformer with a Napoleon complex, Rumble's fearlessness and inability to hold his tongue are evident in 1986's Transformers: The Movie. Small enough to transform into a cassette tape, Rumble has no qualms about attacking Transformers 10 times his size. And the Jersey-accented robot was the first to speak after watching Galvatron assume control of the Decepticons by destroying the newly-crowned Starscream in front of the entire D-con army.
20. Optimus Prime
Though he was killed in 1986's Transformers: The Movie, Optimus Prime, the greatest Transformer hero, finally got the live-action treatment in the 2007 reboot. Upgraded from a Freightliner FL 86 cab over semi truck to a 1994 Peterbilt 379 semi-trailer truck, Prime retained his red-and-blue color scheme and his signature gravelly voice (supplied by his original voice actor, Peter Cullen). Optimus leads his Autobots in their mission to stop the Decepticons from taking over the Earth. While there weren't many (if any) robot deaths in the 1980s animated television series, 2007's The Transformers (like the 1986 version) depicts a lethal Prime who takes no prisoners and shoots to kill.
19. Atom
In Pacific Rim, colossal aliens, named Kaiju by the Japanese, begin emerging through a breach in the floor of the Pacific Ocean and proceed to destroy the nearest metropolitan centers, including Hong Kong and San Francisco. It takes so long to bring these bitches down with conventional weapons that world leaders decide on an alternate course of action. Embracing the concept "size matters", various countries construct ginormous Voltron-style robots called Jaegers, requiring human pilots, intended to go toe-to-toe with the aliens.
When a Kaiju disables the newer Jaegers with an EMP blast, Gipsy Danger, the only operational older model, is left to save the day.
17. K
KD6-3.7, a replicant working for the LAPD, is just one of the reasons that Blade Runner 2049 is way more exciting than the original movie. Viewed as a traitor by his kind and despised by humans, K, a Nexus 9 model, is ordered to hunt down and destroy older model replicants. While plenty cinematic heroes are loners, K doesn't really have much choice in the matter.
16. Gumps
According to Outside the Wire, the US military will include robotic troops, known as Gumps, by the year 2036.
15. Blackout
Blackout was wisely chosen to be the first robot we see in 2007's Transformers because he starts things off with a bang. After landing at a U.S. military base disguised as a Sikorsky MH-53 Pave Low helicopter, he transforms and unleashes hell on the troops stationed there.
14. Ultron
Ultron doesn't get nearly enough credit as an MCU villian. He made for an interesting adversary and owing to James Spader's extremely charismatic characterization, should eventually enter the pantheon of top-notch cinematic automatons. Although he was invented by Dr. Henry Pym (Ant-Man) in the comics, his origin was changed in Age of Ultron so that his creator is Tony Stark (Iron Man) -- with an assist from Dr. Bruce Banner (The Hulk). Displaying Stark's flair for shit-talking and his megalomania, Ultron is essentially the evil version of Iron Man/Tony Stark with much more firepower.
13. TARS
Interstellar's TARS and CASE comprise the best robotic duo since R2D2 and C-3PO in the original Star Wars trilogy. And like R2D2, TARS far outshines his partner. A former USMC tactical robot sent with the crew of the Endurance to find an inhabitable alternative to Earth, TARS is capable of piloting the ship, data-collection and human rescue. On top of all that, he's programmed to be sarcastic.
12. Captain Leo
Outside the Wire's Captain Leo, a USMC officer in the not-too-distant future, is also a 5-year-old highly classified military asset: an artificially intelligent combat operative.
11. Unicron
10. WALL-E
Like many space stories, our hero endures more than his share of isolation and loneliness. At its core, WALL-E is about an unassuming guy living in a desert wasteland, stuck doing menial labor, who travels to outer space for the first time in order to rescue a sophisticated female clad in white. Said female also happens to be pretty handy with a gun. He soon realizes that he, and she, are part of something much bigger than he ever imagined. Sound familiar? The difference is that instead of ending up in one, the hero is a trash compactor.
He barely talks, he looks like he belongs in the landfill in which he resides, and yet, you can't stop watching him. If he were a person, that little dude would be a great one.
9. Starscream
The 21st century version of Starscream, first seen in 2007's Transformers, is still Megatron's right-hand flunky but he doesn't seem to be as cowardly as his original incarnation.
8. Grimlock
Age of Extinction is not a good movie. But it's almost worth watching just to see Grimlock, leader of the Dinobots and self-proclaimed king. Who's gonna argue with him? A robot that can transform into a fire-breathing T-Rex. You can't say no to that.
7. Marcus Wright
In the opening of Terminator: Salvation, convicted killer Marcus Wright donates his body for medical research before his 2003 execution. But when he "wakes up" 15 years later, he discovers that he's actually a cyborg programmed to believe he's Marcus Wright and designed to aid Skynet in its mission to eradicate all human life.
6. Robocop
When Detroit Police Officer Alex Murphy is killed in the line of duty, mega-corporation OCP use his remains, including his brain, for their new project. Now designated RoboCop and programmed to act in the interests of OCP, Murphy's brain retains memories from Murphy's life and compel him to continue to serve justice above all else -- including corporate directives. A remake was released in 2014 but that Robo-peacekeeper wasn't half the man -- or the machine -- that the one in 1987's Robocop is.
5. K-2SO
Every Star Wars movie features at least one droid and K2SO nearly stole the show in Rogue One. The reprogrammed Imperial robot is almost as talkative as C3PO but nowhere near as annoying. And, to date, he's also the most handy droid in a gunfight.
4. Megatron
The Megatron that appears in the 21st century Transformers movie series has a completely different look and voice from the one made famous in the 1980s cartoon series and movie. But he's even more badass.
3. Galvatron
First seen in 1986's Transformers: The Movie, Galvatron is the refurbished and glowed-up version of Decepticon leader Megatron. After Megs was fatally injured in mortal combat with Autobot chief Optimus Prime, he got a brand new body, name, troops -- and voice.
2. R2D2
A man's best friend is his dog. But since canines seemed to be unavailable in Luke Skywalker's part of the galaxy, a little blue-and-white astromech droid with an unlimited supply of beeps and a complete lack of fear turned out to be the best ally that a young jedi could ever have. And how many dogs can fix spaceships?
1. The T-800
There's a reason that The Terminator series is the longest-running franchise about robots -- and it's not the human characters. The T-800 wouldn't be the only robotic killing-machine to hunt humans down in the Terminator saga but it remains the most intimidating -- as John Connor learned first-hand in Terminator: Salvation.
Originally Posted 11/26/18
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