"See, I got this problem: cops don't like me. So I don't like cops."[src]
Clarence J. Boddicker was a crime boss and leader of a gang who brutally murdered Officer Alex Murphy, who was rebuilt as RoboCop.
Biography[]
Cop killings[]
Boddicker was under suspicion for the murders of thirty-one police officers in the Old Detroit area, including those of O'Donnell, Jenkins, Frank Frederickson, and Alcott.[1]
Bank robbery[]
On the run from a robbery, Boddicker and his gang blazed along Industrial Way in a beat-up van. After checking their haul - a huge clutch of banknotes - Clarence was enraged to find that much of the money had been burned and made useless by Bobby's incompetence with explosives. Before he could react further, Emil, the driver, warned the gang there was a police car following them. Warned by Emil that the van couldn't possibly outrun a police cruiser, Clarence instructed Emil to slow down so that they could exchange gunfire with the pursuing officers. The battle was brief and intense, with Clarence and his gang quickly gaining the upper hand. During the gunfight, Bobby was shot in the leg and incapacitated by Officer Alex Murphy. Clarence instructed his gang to throw Bobby out of the van and into the police car's windshield, killing Bobby and temporarily hindering the chase. Murphy and Lewis would track the criminals to a nearby steel mill.[1]
Murder of Officer Murphy[]
Murphy and his partner, Anne Lewis, soon reached the mill, however Lewis was temporarily incapacitated by one of the gang. Murphy entered the mill and was soon cornered by the gang, whom were preparing to kill him. Clarence ordered them to back off, wanting to deal with Murphy himself. Clarence questioned Murphy as to the location of his partner while beating Murphy with a sawed-off shotgun, stopping only when Joe Cox joined them, announcing that he had taken Lewis out. With no reason to continue torturing Murphy for information, Clarence tortured him for fun. Taunting him about his partner and engaging in a brutal bit of entertainment, Boddicker trapped the officer's right arm beneath his foot and tracked Murphy with the muzzle of his sawed-off shotgun. Clarence reached a crescendo and fired, blowing Murphy's hand off at the wrist. Clarence's attitude to this sort of torture was summed up by a casual joke, "Well give the man a hand!"[1]
He then left Murphy to the gang, who all opened fire. After Clarence's gang run out of ammo, Emil called his boss over, announcing their victim was still alive. The psychopathic Boddicker strode over and produced his weapon of choice. He casually announced "fun's over," and shot Murphy through the head. He then ordered his men to depart and led them from the steel mill.[1]
Assassination of Bob Morton[]
"Bitches leave!"―Clarence Boddicker[src]
Clarence about to kill Bob Morton because "he made a mistake"
Clarence was later sent by Dick Jones to kill Bob Morton. He forced Morton into his living room and ousted the women Morton was entertaining. Clarence then attached a custom suppressor onto his pistol, immediately opening fire, catching Bob in the leg. He collapsed in shock and pain, and Clarence coldly unloaded several more shots into his kneecaps and shattered them, rendering him crippled and pleading for his life. Slowly, with no hurry, Clarence slid a computer disc into Bob's entertainment system, then moved around to the discarded cocaine, helping himself as a mockingly cruel message from Dick Jones played to Bob. Bob looked up at Clarence, who waved a grenade at the helpless man. Disregarding Bob's pleas for mercy, Clarence slowly pulled the pin with his tongue, starting an electronic countdown. He then placed the grenade on the coffee table not far from Bob's reach, and made his way unhurriedly out of the home, even taking time to close the door behind him shortly before a huge explosion tore the home - and Bob Morton - to pieces.[1]
Sal's drug factory[]
Later, at a drug factory belonging to Sal, Boddicker forced the drug baron into business with him, offering him a large clutch of used notes. Sal tossed the money back to Clarence and reminded the unofficial crime boss of Old Detroit what the score was, that if Sal were to "put him out of business," as he called it, lots of people would be grateful. Clarence did not take this veiled warning lightly, retorting that he had the contacts, organization, and the muscle to destroy Sal and his business. Sal immediately told his men to kill him, but Joe and Steve were ready and instantly had guns in Sal's face. In the ensuing standoff, Clarence announced that the Detroit Tigers game are playing tonight and says that he "never misses a game." When Joe cocked his gun, Sal backed down, and the two criminals relaxed.[1]
Suddenly, the heavy main door to the factory was violently shaken, alerting everyone in the place. They all readied weapons and took up positions, with Clarence and his gang on an elevated position. In seconds, the door was smashed right off its hinges and came crashing down in a cloud of cocaine. RoboCop strode into the room and ordered everyone to surrender. Steve Minh opened fire, joined seconds later by everyone else in the room. RoboCop marched in, shooting anyone putting up a fight, including Minh, leaving Clarence the only one left on his feet. Panicking, he leapt from the catwalk and smashed through the ceiling of a small office.[1]
RoboCop seized the criminal immediately, throwing him first through one window, then another, fiercely reading Clarence his Miranda rights. As the ordeal progressed, Clarence began to crack, screaming at the cyborg that he has protection and divulged information on Dick Jones, but RoboCop did not seem to care, hurling Clarence through yet another window. Clarence, bleeding and his face lacerated, became quite frantic, picking himself up as he bellowed a series of curses at the determined machine, including something extremely vital, revealing that he worked for Dick Jones, the "number two guy" at OCP.[1]
RoboCop wrapped his hand around the weaselly criminal's throat just as Clarence reminded him that he was a police officer. His eyes bulging and his oxygen supply slowly being cut off, he mouthed the word "cop." RoboCop was compelled to release him and with an emotion almost that of disappointment, RoboCop grudgingly acknowledged, "Yes. I am a cop."[1]
Arrest and release[]
RoboCop brought Boddicker to the Metro West precinct as Sergeant Reed was in the station, shouting down his men's demands for strike action. The cyborg shoved his arrestee roughly into Reed's desk, remarking that Clarence was a cop killer, and left him to the fuming officers inside. An irate Clarence spat blood out of his mouth onto a form on the desk and profanely demanded a phone call.[1]
Clarence strode into Dick's office the following day, a free man. Dick, less than pleased, remarked that RoboCop was a cyborg and not only did he record everything Clarence said, but that his memory was admissible as evidence. Dick ordered him to kill RoboCop, to which Clarence simply refused, rationalizing that OCP built RoboCop, so OCP could deal with him themselves. However, Dick reminded him that Delta City began construction in two months and two million workers would be brought into the area, lots of potential for selling drugs, hookers and whatever other services Clarence could manage. Unable to resist such a tantalizing offer, Clarence relented, agreeing to Dick's offer, and addressing him in a more respectful tone. Tossing Clarence a tracking device, Clarence asked for military grade weaponry and was provided with several Cobra assault cannons.[1]
Hunting RoboCop[]
With all of his captured gang members out of jail, the men enjoyed an orgy of devastation as they familiarized themselves with their new heavy weapons. Joe Cox saw first hand the raw power of the Cobra when Clarence destroyed his brand new 6000 SUX. After a few more shots that destroyed a few parked cars, some local storefronts and a fire hydrant, the gang was reeled in and directed to the old steel mill, where RoboCop was holed up with Anne Lewis after being nearly destroyed at OCP headquarters by Lt. Hedgecock.[1]
"Bye bye, Baby."
Despite outnumbering their target and possessing superior weaponry, one by one the gang fell apart. Clarence tried to cut RoboCop off by circling around the site on the service road as Emil went the opposite way, but Officer Anne Lewis intercepted Clarence in the police car, following him closely. Glancing over his shoulder at just the wrong moment, Clarence failed to notice Emil, smoking and wailing as toxic waste ate away at him and he staggered onto the service road. Clarence ran Emil down, his comrade erupting in bodily fluids, coating Clarence's windshield. Unable to see, and before he could operate any controls, the 6000 SUX left the road, leapt over a mound of scrap and came down roof first in a shallow drainage canal.[1]
Lewis pulled up a second later and got out, surveying the scene. With cat-like reactions, Clarence was suddenly up and fighting, pumping rounds in Lewis's direction with his handgun, striking her at least once, dropping her down the embankment and into the reddened, rusty water. As Clarence prepared himself for the final shot, RoboCop's voice made him turn. However, unseen to them and high above, Leon Nash was still alive and well, and, seeing the situation unfold below him, sprints up to the control room of a huge crane, a massive load of scrap metal still held in its jaws. Clarence feigned defeat, tossing his pistol into the water and raising his hands as RoboCop had other ideas, advancing on Clarence with his pistol leveled and ready. Clarence continued to barter as Leon reached the controls. As he looked between Leon and RoboCop, he began to grow nervous as the cyborg approached him.[1]
Death[]
Clarence bleeds to death
Leon's calculations were masterfully accurate and sent tons of girders, slabs and chunks of metal raining down, piledriving RoboCop into the water. The pair cheered, but, as they shouted and whooped to each other, Lewis fired a shot from Clarence's Cobra, obliterating the crane control room, killing Leon. Shocked at the sudden death of his last henchman, Clarence directed his rage at RoboCop, taking a large, pointed railbar and leaping over to him, battering the cyborg, then plunging the bar through RoboCop's breastplate, causing obvious pain.[1]
However, while leaning in for the coup de grace, he made the mistake of getting too close to the machine, taunting "Sayonara, RoboCop!". The cyborg extended his data spike and lunged for Clarence, stabbing him through the neck and severing his carotid artery. The grisly wound caused a spout of blood to pulsate from Clarence's neck as he collapsed into the rusty water and died.[1]
Behind the scenes[]
Clarence was portrayed by Kurtwood Smith. According to Paul Verhoeven, he had the character wear glasses because Smith resembled Heinrich Himmler when he did so.
Clarence was briefly seen in the RoboCop arcade game, featured in a cutscene depicting Murphy's murder. He was also an enemy, but not a boss, in the third stage, where he is attacking RoboCop with a Cobra gun. Killing Boddicker allows RoboCop to claim the Cobra gun for himself.
He also appeared during a flashback in RoboCop 3, when RoboCop speaks to Nikko Halloran.
Kurtwood Smith is also well known for his prominent role as "Red" Forman in the comedy series That '70s Show. In the episode "Cat Fight Club", Red imagines a problematic retro-futuristic version of the year 1997, where his daughter, Laurie (Lisa Robin Kelly), marries Michael Kelso (Ashton Kutcher). In this imagined turn of events, he imagines having a robotic servant, which appears as the foreign exchange student "Fez" (Wilmer Valderrama). As Red greatly dislikes Fez, the android sharing his likeness is depicted as constantly making mistakes, resulting in future Red affirming his hatred for robots. While this is obviously meant as a nod to Red's disdain for Fez, it could also be a subtle double reference to Smith's role as Boddicker, who was the nemesis to a cyborg.
Appearances[]
- RoboCop (1987)
- RoboCop 3 (flashback only)
- RoboCop: The Series
- "The Future of Law Enforcement" (flashback only)