In the grim world of Judge Dredd, the line between law and cruelty has long vanished.
The eponymous Dredd and his fellow Judges patrol a swarming Mega-City bursting with overpopulation and inequality, armed to the teeth and acting very literally as judge, jury, and executioner.
It seems like pure science fiction, but one scroll down a social media feed or glance at a news website will suggest that this future is closer than you might think.
Judge Dredd – I am the law
Conceived in the pages of the weekly British anthology comic 2000 AD in the 1970s, Judge Dredd was created as a satire of extreme law and order, a tough cop like Dirty Harry taken to the extreme. However, many of its dystopian elements have come to mirror our reality in 2025.
Policing worldwide has grown progressively more militarised, with the line between protecting the innocent and exerting control becoming increasingly blurred. In cities across the US, the presence of armoured vehicles, robotic policing technology, and facial recognition software has a chilling resemblance to Mega-City One’s ever-vigilant Judges.
Justice has a price. The price is freedom
The economic make-up of Mega-City One will also feel eerily familiar to many. Within the vertical sprawl of the Mega-Cities, unemployment is rampant and corporations shape the lives of the weak. The residents of Mega-Cities are trapped, stuck in basic jobs as automation runs rampant, and outside of work, most citizens live in overcrowded tower blocks, numbing themselves with junk food and banal entertainment.
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By GlobalDataThough it resembles a grotesque mirror image of our own world, it is not miles away from the gig economy of modern life, or the mad scrambles for dopamine many seek through social media. In the real world, mega developments are built for the rich, while affordable housing is an afterthought. Like the Mega-Cities of Judge Dredd, cities are becoming increasingly cold and unlivable for most.
It was never meant to be forever
In the world of Judge Dredd, life gets even more difficult outside of the city. Beyond the walls of the Mega-Cities lies the Cursed Earth: a scorched and barren wasteland, the result of devastating nuclear war and environmental collapse. Thankfully, the desolate nuclear wilderness remains fiction, but its spirit can already be seen across our planet. Whole regions are becoming uninhabitable due to climate crises, pollution, and widespread conflict. As a result, climate migration is accelerating as people seek an escape.
While we are not there quite yet, certain aspects of climate poverty and warfare—from the wildfires in Los Angeles to the devastating conflict in Gaza—are beginning to resemble the wasteland of the Cursed Earth. Not just visually, but in the indifference they receive from many around the world.
As a result, it is not simply the setting of Judge Dredd that is becoming eerily familiar; it is the widespread apathy and normalisation of injustice. Unlike the exploited citizens of Mega-City One, we must be careful not to accept the chaos and devastation around us and continue to tackle its causes.
