Who the Clix? is a series of articles featuring information on comic book characters that have been made into figures for the popular tabletop game Heroclix. These articles are meant to help Heroclix players learn more about the characters behind their favorite pieces.
Today we look at THE LAW: Judge Dredd
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Appearances in Heroclix: Indy
First Appearance: 2000 AD #2
Team Affiliations: 2000 AD
Created By: John Wagner, Carlos Ezquerra, Pat Mills
Judge Joseph Dredd and his brother Rico Dredd were cloned from Chief Judge Fargo, the very first Chief judge, in 2066. They were artificially aged to approximately five years old with all the appropriate physical and mental characteristics. The surname Dredd was chosen to instill fear in the population. They distinguished themselves as cadets during the Atomic Wars of 2070 and were temporarily made full judges to restore order before taking part in the Justice Department assault on the White House to depose President Booth. The brothers were fast-tracked through the Academy of Law and Joseph graduated second in the class of 2079, only behind his brother. During their first year on the job, Joseph has to arrest Rico on murder and corruption charges. Rico returns 20 years later to exact revenge, force Joseph to kill him in self-defense, becoming the only Judge Dredd.
Dredd quickly becomes a Senior Judge and is instrumental in many adventures. He helps his fellow Judges face and defeat an uprising by the city’s robot servant workforce. He acts as Judge Marshall of a penal colony on the moon, Luna-1, governed by judges from all three Mega-Cities. Dredd leads a small contingent of Judges across the Cursed Earth to Mega-City Two, delivering a vaccine that saves millions of lives. He battles the extra-dimensional alien Judge Death, who believes that life is a crime and attempts to punish all the criminals, aka the living. Though Death is swiftly defeated, he returns many times with his brothers, the Dark Judges.
Dredd is eventually offered the role of Chief Judge in 2101 but declines, as he prefers to serve on the streets. He does go on to eventually take on greater authority as well as influencing his superiors. He even threatens to resign in 2129 in order to force a chief judge to rescind the city’s anti-mutant apartheid laws.
In 2130, Dredd is forced to face his own mortality when he is diagnosed with cancer. The tumor ends up being benign, allowing Dredd to continue to enact justice.