Dead or Alive, His Brain Is Coming With Us: Cain Enters the Hall of Killers
The Hall of Killers has welcomed serial killers, monsters, maniacs and assorted individuals you’d probably avoid sitting next to on public transport. Today, however, we have a slight logistical problem. Our latest inductee weighs considerably more than the average murderer, is heavily armed and technically doesn’t have a body anymore. Cain from RoboCop 2 has officially entered the Hall of Killers, taking his place in the Third Class Tier, and we’ve reinforced the floor accordingly.
Played in human form by the brilliantly unsettling Tom Noonan, Cain begins the 1990 sequel as Detroit’s resident drug lord, murderer and self-appointed messiah. He controls the manufacture and distribution of Nuke, an extremely addictive designer drug, while treating his criminal organisation like a religious movement. His followers are his “flock”, Nuke offers them an artificial paradise, and Cain behaves less like a conventional dealer than a cult leader who has somehow discovered that salvation is considerably more profitable when sold by the dose. Unfortunately, Cain is also addicted to his own product, which is generally considered poor practice when operating a successful narcotics empire.
Cain’s organisation includes Angie and the disturbingly young Hob, but anyone tempted to mistake his calm personality for kindness quickly discovers otherwise. When corrupt police officer Duffy’s betrayal is exposed, Cain has him strapped down and surgically opened while the unfortunate man is still conscious. Noonan’s performance makes the sequence particularly nasty because Cain rarely needs to rant or scream. He can discuss paradise with the soothing demeanour of someone introducing a mindfulness podcast while somebody is being vivisected ten feet away. We did have some constructive criticism prepared for his management style, but after reviewing the Duffy incident we’ve decided to keep it to ourselves.
Cain also earns serious Hall of Killers points for accomplishing something relatively unusual: he actually defeats RoboCop. When Murphy tracks down the Nuke operation, Cain and his gang overpower him and systematically dismantle the cyborg. What’s left of RoboCop is dumped outside the police station, presumably without a receipt, leaving OCP to put its extremely expensive policeman back together. Cain is eventually defeated during a later confrontation, seriously injured and left comatose. At this stage, a normal company might conclude that the murderous drug lord’s involvement in proceedings had reached a natural end. OCP, unfortunately for everyone living within several miles of Detroit, is not a normal company.
The corporation has been attempting to create RoboCop 2, a replacement for Murphy, but its previous candidates haven’t responded particularly well to discovering that their humanity has been replaced by several tonnes of machinery. Dr Juliette Faxx decides criminals might make better candidates, spots the comatose Cain and essentially concludes that the homicidal, drug-addicted cult leader is perfect for the job. His life support is disconnected, his brain and associated biological material are removed, and Cain is installed inside an enormous heavily armed cyborg. Usually known as RoboCain, the machine towers over Murphy and looks less like the future of law enforcement than something you’d deploy after law enforcement has been completely vaporised.
In a development that somehow surprises OCP, putting a homicidal drug lord’s brain inside a gigantic weapons platform doesn’t improve his personality. Cain massacres members of his former organisation and eventually goes berserk during OCP’s public unveiling of its shiny new creation. The corporation’s clever plan is to exploit his continuing Nuke addiction as a method of controlling him, apparently overlooking the minor problem that maintaining a drug dependency inside an enormous walking arsenal might produce complications. When Cain sees Nuke, the presentation rapidly changes from a celebration of technological progress into an extremely expensive demonstration of why OCP should never be allowed to make decisions without adult supervision.
That same addiction ultimately provides RoboCop with the means to stop him. During their final confrontation, Cain’s huge mechanical body proves capable of taking tremendous punishment and frequently overpowering Murphy. Anne Lewis eventually uses Nuke to distract him, demonstrating that millions of dollars of armour, weaponry and advanced robotics can apparently be compromised by holding up something the human brain inside desperately wants. Murphy takes advantage of the distraction, climbs onto Cain’s mechanical body, tears out his brain and destroys it. For all OCP’s technology, Cain is ultimately defeated by exactly the same weakness he possessed when he still had arms, legs and significantly fewer cannons.
Cain therefore earns his place in the Third Class Tier because RoboCop 2 effectively gives us two villains for the price of one. As a human, he’s a sadistic drug kingpin and cult leader who manages to dismantle RoboCop. As a machine, he’s an enormous mechanical nightmare specifically created to replace Murphy. What prevents him climbing higher is straightforward: his reign of terror is largely confined to one film, without the franchise longevity or wider cultural recognition enjoyed by the Hall’s upper-tier residents. Still, few inductees can boast a CV containing cult leader, drug lord, murderer, RoboCop destroyer, coma patient, disembodied brain and giant robot, so Third Class seems a perfectly respectable place to park him.
Welcome to the Hall of Killers, Cain. Your Third Class membership card is ready, your reinforced display area has been prepared, and we’ve removed every trace of Nuke from the building. Given OCP’s track record, however, we’re keeping RoboCop’s number beside the phone.
