History JudgeDredd / TropesQToZ

* StartOfDarkness: The supervillain Judge Death has his origin given in "Young Death -- Boyhood of a Superfiend". This shows (with some incredibly black humour) how a nasty and psychopathic child develops into a monster that wipes out his whole world. (Although, to be fair, the reoffending rate is to all intents and purposes negligible.) Darkness hardly begins to describe it....

** Justice Department's history with robo-judges is... complicated. Most of the Mechanismo projects have failed becsause of [[AIIsACrapshoot bad AI]], and even after the Day of Chaos, when they finally got most of the problems ironed out, they're still only used as back-up for human Judges. Some Judges are cyborgs, having lost one or more bodyparts in the line of duty, though these don't always afford superpowers.

* TheSyndicate: The seedy underworld of the Mega-Cities and off-world colonies are known to be controlled by various powerful organisations:
** Mega-City One had the [[TheMafia Mega-City Mafia]], who ruled the criminal underworld alongside various rival organisations such as the Frendz Mob, the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Syndicate]], the Big Man's Organisation, Bludd Group and other smaller groups like the Danforth Syndicate and the various Block Syndicates. Since Chaos Day, with the downfall of both the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Syndicate]] & Big Man and with the Mafia now in decline, [[TheAssimilator the Kindred]] has since taken over all organised crime throughout the City alongside the Red Queen's organisation. The Jungle , meanwhile, has its own organised crime groups such as the Ape Gang and Berlusconi Crime Family.
** Other organised crime groups include Luna City One's Moonie Corp, the Hondo-City Yakuza, the Hong Tong Triads, Efil Drago San's Brit-Cit based organisation and Euro-City's La Reine Rouge, Gruber Combine and for a brief time, Die Weiss Russe. Meanwhile, other Mega-Cities such as the Pan Andes Conurb, Cuidad Barranovilla and Vegas City had their crime syndicates also act as both their Government and Law.

** Mega-City One had the [[TheMafia Mega-City Mafia]], Frendz Mob, the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Syndicate]], the Big Man's Organisation, Bludd Group and other smaller criminal groups such as the Danforth Syndicate and the various Block Syndicates, though since Chaos Day and the fall of most organised crime syndicates, [[TheAssimilater the Kindred]] has since taken over all organised crime throughout the City. The Jungle , meanwhile, has its own organised crime groups such as the Ape Gang and the Berlusconi Crime Family.
** Other organised crime groups include Luna City One's Moonie Corp, the Hondo-City Yakuza, the Hong Tong Triads, Efil Drago San's Brit-Cit based organisation and Euro-City's La Reine Rouge, Gruber Combine and for a brief time, Die Weiss Russe.
** Other Mega-Cities such as the Pan Andes Conurb, Cuidad Barranovilla and Vegas City had their crime syndicates also act as both their Government and Law.

* RoboticReveal: After saving the city in Necropolis, Judge Dredd investigates a theater after reports of multiple Judge Death sightings. It turns out they were all just robot duplicates of the real article.

* TheReptilians: The Kleggs, who are thuggish and dim crocodile-like mercenaries who accept payment in meat.

* SympatheticMurderer: A small number of the murderers that Judge Dredd has faced had some sort of understandable motive for their crimes. For instance, Nate Slaughterhouse was an ex-SpaceMarine cyborg who had settled with his wife and daughter in Mega-City One, but soon lost both of them to the city's astronomically violent nature. He finally snaps and goes on a [[VigilanteMan one-man killing spree against all criminals]].

* RobosexualsAreCreeps: Lifelike sex robots are both widespread and legal in Mega-City One. However, they're still just that: [[JustAMachine robots]]. One curious case Judge Dredd investigated had a nerdy teenager whose rich parents bought him a sexbot because he couldn't get a real girlfriend subsequently murder his stepfather for using it without his permission and then attempted to run off with his "girlfriend". When it's destroyed in the process, he's heartbroken, much to the confusion of the judges.

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Since ''Day Of Chaos'' has left the department, and the city as a whole, depleted, standards for the Full Eagle appear to have dropped. Dredd notes this in several cases where he's assigned young partners who are clearly not up to the task. It's gotten to the point where Mega City One has begun to recruit judges from other megacities as retrainees.

** Exactly what training at the Academy of Law is like. A fifteen year program beginning at the age of five, cadets are expected to learn the basics of the Law very quickly. To best replicate city street conditions in training courses, only live ammunition and explosives are used. Assuming a cadet even survives, making the smallest mistake in training results in his/her expulsion - no matter how long they've been in training. Only two out of every seven cadets ever graduate from the Academy, and that's before their final assessment (frequently nicknamed, "the hotdog run") in which the graduated cadet has to earn the satisfaction of a serving Judge (this may or may not involve a SecretTestOfCharacter). Only after the serving Judge is happy with a cadet (''IF'' they're happy with a cadet) can he/she finally earn a full badge and begin active duty.\\

* UndercoverCopReveal: Subverted in a story when Dredd inspects a PenalColony in the Cursed Earth where standards under the new warden have dropped considerably and the prisoners have free rein. Their leader claims to be an undercover Judge in the warden's office, which Dredd "accepts" for the moment while he does a background check. He knew that Dredd would find out the truth anyway, he was just stalling for time.

** During the "Apocalypse War" arc, Mega City One is forced to launch a barrage of 25 [[{{superweapon}} Mega-City busting nukes]] at Sov-Cit One in the hopes that at least one will get through and destroy it. The Sov-Judges however unleash their secret defence shield that relocates the missiles to another dimension entirely. For black comedy purposes, this ends up being a version of Earth ruled by pacifists who end up being annihilated.

** During the "Apocalypse War" arc, Mega City One is forced to launch a barrage of 25 [[{{superweapon}} Mega-City busting nukes]] at Sov-Cit One in the hopes that at least one will get through and destroy it. The Sov-Judges however unleash their secret defence shield that relocates the missiles to another dimension entirely. For [[redirect:blackcomedy]] purposes, this ends up being a version of Earth ruled by pacifists who end up being annihilated.

** During the "Apocalypse War" arc, Mega City One is forced to launch a barrage of 25 [[{{superweapon}} Mega-City busting nukes]] at Sov-Cit One in the hopes that at least one will get through and destroy it. The Sov-Judges however unleash their secret defence shield that relocates the missiles to another dimension entirely. For black comedy purposes, this ends up being a version of Earth ruled by pacifists who end up being annihilated.

** During the "Apocalypse War" arc, Mega City One is forced to launch a barrage of 25 {{superweapon Mega-City busting nukes}} at Sov-Cit One in the hopes that at least one will get through and destroy it. The Sov-Judges however unleash their secret defence shield that relocates the missiles to another dimension entirely. For black comedy purposes, this ends up being a version of Earth ruled by pacifists who end up being annihilated.

** During the "Apocalypse War" arc, Mega City One is forced to launch a barrage of 25 [[superweapon Mega-City busting nukes]] at Sov-Cit One in the hopes that at least one will get through and destroy it. The Sov-Judges however unleash their secret defence shield that relocates the missiles to another dimension entirely. For black comedy purposes, this ends up being a version of Earth ruled by pacifists who end up being annihilated.

* TookALevelInJerkass: Although it's partly due to NeverLiveItDown, Judge Dredd is actually a ''lot'' more compassionate and idealistic in the early progs than he eventually becomes. This is justified InUniverse by the fact Dredd has, since those early days, seen far-reaching corruption amongst the Judges and been through multiple terrible events, such as the reign of Judge Cal, the successive invasions by both East Meg and the Dark Judges, and a zombie plague.

* SwallowTheKey: Judge Dredd does this in the comic where he fights the devil.