It’s been 11 years but on February 7th, 2014, we will finally be seeing ‘RoboCop’ return to the big screen! While that statement alone would be exciting news, we’re going to be experiencing a reboot and not a continuation of the original story. How is one to feel about that? Personally I am full of mixed emotions and last week’s Comic-Con panel hasn’t changed that. A lot of the information that we’ve been teased with sounds fantastic, while a lot of it has me worried that much of the heart and soul of what made Murphy into RoboCop won’t be there.

We had a lot of information come out of this panel, from how he becomes RoboCop to costume changes and more! As with nearly any Comic-Con panel we do have to warn you – ahead there be spoilers! Without further ado let’s dig in!

For starters we know that the film is already going to be PG-13. I’m not sure if this is the cause of many of the changes (most likely) or not, but I’m going to blame the studio’s insistence on a non-R rating for some of these. First up being that Murphy doesn’t die.

That’s right. Alex Murphy. RoboCop. Doesn’t die in the film. He isn’t brought back to life as a corporate warrior with a conscious because he never dies in the movie. So what happens exactly? Instead of being executed by Clarence Boddicker and his gang members in an absolutely heartless scene (that alone would have made this movie an R if included), he is the victim of a car bomb. That’s right, there’s no feeling bad for the brutality he suffers and dies from – a car bomb explodes outside of his house. This bomb doesn’t kill him but leaves him paralyzed from the neck down. So instead of a reanimated corpse-like zombie Robocop, we instead have someone who is paralyzed and given a means to go on.

Being alive the entire time removes the inner struggle Murphy felt in the movie about free will and what he should have. While I’m sure remnants of that thought process will still creep up, I have a feeling it won’t be as poetic as it was in the original film when he finally takes matters into his own hands.

That’s RoboCop the man. How about RoboCop the machine parts? Well, we’ve all known for quite some time that there was a new suit. However, it looks like we’re going to see a nod to the original suit in the film as well. Both in plan form and possibly,  just possibly, some on screen time. It is the suit that I think will be the focus of the idea of controlling his free will as I’m sure there will be an auto pilot or remote control that will cause his body to betray him at some point in the movie.

Past the suit and into other technology, we are going to be seeing the ED series of automated police force back in action. How far thinking was the original film? We’ve got Drones being used by the military these days and the original RoboCop shot back in 1987 was already past that point and prepping to use them as their police force. People, they predicted this 26 YEARS AGO. Go go science fiction!

You can watch the panel below courtesy of Geek Tyrant:

RoboCop will be released on February 7th, 2014. It is directed by José Padilha (‘Elite Squad’) and will star: Joel Kinnaman (”The Killing’) playing Robocop, Gary Oldman (‘’The Dark Knight’ trilogy), Samuel L. Jackson (‘The Avengers’), Michael Keaton (the other Batman), Abbie Cornish (‘Sucker Punch’), Aimee Garcia (‘Dexter’), Michael Kenneth Williams (‘The Wire’) and Jackie Earle Haley(‘Watchmen’).