Robocop, Total Recall, Startship Troopers: A shared universe?

Robocop, Total Recall, Startship Troopers, three classic scifi films that share
Paul Verhoeven as their director.
The three films have gained considerable acclaim along the years, both for its d
epiction of dystopian futures and for its themes, but only until recently the po
ssibility that they take place in a shared universe has been brought up.
Personally I
ot enough to
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uture, going
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don't find enough evidence to sustain the theory but also there's n
deny it either, so it could be agreed that the shared universe coul
thematical way since Verhoeven progressed with his visions of the f
further ahead in time in every film, but keeping an estetical and p
consistency that led them to explore the growth of manking along th

Also, I know the three movies come from different sources which in its origins d
o not share a commont universe, but I'm bypassing that and keeping the attention
only on the adaptations as indepent entities from the works that originated the
m.
Robocop: 1987- Presents a distopyan near-future where mankind is taking its firs
t steps into cybernetic implants, memory modification and where the corporate po
wer of private enterprise is starting to take over the failing democratic govern
ments.
Economy is based on the acquisition of capital and money is the currency of use.
The main theme seems to be how a fallen and dedicated police officer gets resur
rected as a law-enforncing machine, only to recover its humanity through sheer f
orce of will.
The failure of democratic institutions is something that gets mentioned later in
Starship Troopers and also sets the basis for the failure of society as we know
it, before it gets transformed into a totalitarian fascist federation and seems
to enjoy a great degree of stability and prosperity.
Total Recall: 1990- Talks us beyond into a distopyan future where mankind has st
arted to colonize other planets. Democracy doesn't get mentioned but and the con
cept of government and private institutions seems quite fuzzy since Cohaagen is
able to order his goons to persecute Quaid with almost complete impunity.
Total Recall's ending is discussed to this day, but even if everything that happ
ened after Quaid went to Rekall was a dream, it still provides enough ground to
showcase the evolution of mankind in this universe.
Finally Recall also could explain some elements that may have been created inadv
ertenly by Verhoeven by simply recasting Ronnie Cox, but that also could have an
ulterior and implicit meaning. Cox, that played the corrupt executive Dick Jone
s in Robocop, plays another corporate leader, Vilos Cohaagen. Although Cohaagen
has the title of "governor" his vast economical power and resources imply that h
e's also the corporate leader of the colony, reflecting the evolution of the cor
porate model to the point of replacing democratic institutions as we know it.
His presence could be explained by cloning, which would symbolize the ultimate c
orporate enslavement, since Jones would have been recreated to serve a corporati
on once again to fullfill his contract and keep serving the capitalist ideals hi
s "original" version spoused.
Starship troopers (1997): This is the film that ties everything together by expl

aining that the failure of democracy led to "veterans" to establish a sort of pe

ace. Starship troopers takes place an undertermined number of years into the fut
ure, but by the simple examination of the technology available its rational to a
sume its further than Robocop and Recall.
The word veterans offers the key to understandting the situation that led to the
downfall of democracy. A veteran is somebody who served in a military conflict
only to see it ended. The conflic isn't specified but could be related to a numb
er of factors Verhoeven and Neumeier laid in their previous films.
Corporate attempts to subvert democracy, international conflicts and finally...M
ars. The planet that gives Total Recall some of its most memorable moments could
have perfectly been the scenery of a conflict between itself and Earth.
Even if Mars never gained its atmosphere in Recall, the planet continued to exis
t but something happened that left it reduced to a target of small importance si
nce the bugs never attacked it (reportedly).
Personally, another factor that leads me to believe the conflict took place on M
ars is the following. If Mars had gained an atmosphere and a war was fought ther
e, the planet would have become an important colony and a most likely first targ
et.
If the bugs had attacked it previously, the war would have erupted much sooner.
Why didn't they? Two reasons.
Either Mars had been abandoned long ago or it remained what it was on the beginn
ing of Recall, a mining outpost.
Even if the ending of Recall stands true and not a dream, a war between mankind
for the control of Mars (a new planet with a fully breathable atmosphere) could
have rendered the planet uninhabitable once more and also affected the soldiers
giving them the mutations that would manifest themselves as physic powers on lat
er generations.
The soldiers would have also been genetically modified, which would explain Rico
's superior athletic skills in Starship Troopers and the ability of women and me
n to go head to head in full contact sports and physical confrontations (Dizzy a
nd Zed) without any mention of a disparity of forces among them.
Finally, Racszek is the final link between Recall and Troopers, symbolizing how
one era evolves into the next.
Like Jones/Quahagen, Rasczek/Vaz would be a clone created to use the "original"
mercenary's skills in the benefit of the federation.
The loss of one of his arms reminds the audience of his violent past and the ten
dency of this clone and his ancestor's to be involved in violent conflicts. Unli
ke Jones/Quahagen, Raszcek talent's are still useful in the new era and has been
deemed "worthy" or "necessary" and is allowed to exist while the corporate
In both films Ironside's character dies a violent death in combat, doing what he
was born to do, fight. The corporate executive on the other hand, dies on both
ocassions after a "violent" expulsion from the corporate enviroment where his po
wer resides, symbolizing he can't exist outside the world he has carved for hims
elf inside the corporation.
It is unknown if the Federation simply took over the corporation's cloning progr
ams or they continue to exist. The status of the private corporate entities is u
nknown in troopers, but we know that wealth still exists even though there's no
use of any form of currency in the entire picture.
Finally, the hand implants displayed by the veterans could have perfectly evolve
d from the robocop technology while leg implants would remain to cumbersome to a

llow speed and agility in the battlefield.

Robocop: Anarchic capitalism where the corporation is still consolidating its po
wer over the ancient democratic institutions.
Total Recall: Corporate capitalism where the private corporation has become so p
owerful it now rules an entire world and the air they breath.
Starship Troopers: Fascist capitalism where a totalitarian government controls t
he economy and the corporate entities status is unknown and probably not as powe
rful as it once was.