The RoboCop timeline spans multiple continuities that share a core premise but tell very different versions of it. At the centre of all of them is the same idea: a near-future city, usually Detroit, in which corporate power has overwhelmed civic institutions, crime has become unmanageable through conventional means, and the response is a law enforcement officer rebuilt as a machine. The details of how that happens, who controls the result, and what it costs differ significantly depending on which version of the story you are following.
The original 1987 film presents a Detroit that is essentially ungovernable. Omni Consumer Products has taken over management of the city's police department and is developing the next generation of law enforcement technology. The city in this version is a portrait of extreme privatisation, where profit and public safety have become impossible to separate. The three original films move through this world in sequence, tracking how the corporation's ambitions evolve and how the city's resistance to those ambitions grows.
The 2014 reboot approaches the same material from a different angle, setting its story explicitly in 2028 and framing the RoboCop programme against a backdrop of international drone warfare and domestic political debate about robotic policing. It is not a continuation of the original trilogy but a reimagining that uses the same basic situation to examine different questions. Both continuities are documented here as separate historical records, with approximations noted where exact years are not stated in the source material.
In a Detroit handed over to corporate management, a police officer is shot and rebuilt as a law enforcement machine by Omni Consumer Products. The result exceeds the company's expectations in ways it did not anticipate.
Open record →One year after the original, Detroit continues to deteriorate. OCP pursues the next stage of its programme while the city's addiction crisis worsens and RoboCop operates under new constraints imposed by the corporation.
Open record →OCP's plans for Detroit face organised resistance from residents facing forced relocation. RoboCop's response to corporate orders places the programme in direct conflict with the interests of the citizens it was built to protect.
Open record →The television series continues the story of the original continuity in loosely canonical form. RoboCop operates in a Detroit that is slowly rebuilding while new threats from criminal organisations and corporate interests continue to emerge.
Open record →Set in an alternate version of 2020, this miniseries returns to the RoboCop concept with an older unit facing a new generation of threats. It operates in a separate continuity from both the original films and the 2014 reboot.
Open record →Explicitly set in 2028, this version presents a world where robotic military units are already deployed internationally. The Murphy case represents the first domestic application of the technology, with significant political and ethical opposition to overcome.
Open record →Q: What is the RoboCop timeline in order?
The original continuity runs: RoboCop (1987 film, set approx. 1990) → RoboCop 2 (1990 film, set approx. 1991) → RoboCop 3 (1993 film, set approx. 1994) → RoboCop: The Series (1994 TV, set approx. 1995). Separately, RoboCop: Prime Directives (2001 miniseries) is set in an alternate 2020, and the 2014 reboot is set explicitly in 2028 and unconnected to the original films.
Q: What year is the original RoboCop set in?
The 1987 film does not state an explicit year. Based on contextual clues, most sources place it in approximately 1990 to 1991, presenting a version of that era with more advanced robotics and a city in severe economic and social decline.
Q: What year is the RoboCop 2014 reboot set in?
The 2014 reboot is explicitly set in 2028. It states its year clearly and presents a world where robotic law enforcement is already deployed overseas, with the Murphy case representing the first attempt to introduce it domestically in the United States.