Spoilers forThe Terminator #2!
The Terminatoris a decades-old sci-fi film franchise that has expanded into television, video games, merchandising, theme park rides, and more, with the series’ latest foray into the world of comics kicking off the next era of Skynet stories in earnest. Most commonly associated with the skeletal image of a nigh-unstoppable T-800 model wreaking havoc across the timeline,The Terminatorcomic hasreinvented the T-800in a brand new time and location that has never been seen before.
Released to widespread success both critically and financially in 1984’sThe Terminator, writer/director James Cameron took audiences by surprise with an intense game of cat and mouse that pitted an unstoppable T-800 killing machine against Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese, the future parents of the world’s eventual savior.
Turning back the clock ina comic-exclusive storyset in 1976 — a year after the Vietnam War ended —The Terminator #2shows a T-800 as it disguises itself as a member of the Vietnamese army, bringing with it a fresh character design that reflects the country’s culture and time period.
The Latest T-800 Terminator Model Uses a Vietnamese Soldier as a Disguise
The Terminator #2- 2024 (Declan Shalvey and David O’Sullivan)
Arriving in Saigon in the middle of a Vietnamese encampment, this T-800 is tasked with taking out Edward Duggan, an American soldier whose detail is on the verge of being pulled out of the country. Needing a fresh set of threads to wear as per usual,the T-800 immediately makes contact with a local Vietnamese soldier, and after the soldier attempts to kill the T-800, relieves the man of his fatigues, reinventing this murderous robot assassin with a nón lá and a handy assault rifle that he subsequently uses to gun down the rest of the soldiers in the area.
If Terminator Wants to Survive, It Must Follow Predator With Some Reinvention
Predator franchise reinvented itself with Prey, making it more popular than ever, & Terminator needs to do the same (& 1 comic is a perfect example).
Almost always seen sporting sunglasses and a leather jacket, all Terminator models, specifically Arnold Schwarzenegger’s portrayals of the T-800, are meant to blend in upon arrival yet always stand out no matter the situation. Featuring a more slimmed down T-800 in this issue,thiscomic book Terminatorcan integrate itself more easily in this time period, with the utter eradication of the military outpost it lands in proving that while this Vietnamese disguise is a smarter and more strategic one than usual, it’s still just a piece of cloth hiding the true nature of this futuristic murder machine’s time-traveling intentions.
New Vietnamese T-800 Is a Never-Before-Seen Design Exclusive toTerminatorComics
It’s worth noting thatthis franchise is no stranger to introducing new Terminators as needed both in the live-action and comic book space—like the comic-exclusive T-1002, T-Infinity, and Xenomorph/Terminator hybrid models, for example — with each iteration finding unique and often hilarious ways to cloth themselves when they arrive buck naked on the street in present day. It remains to be seen what other periods and designs will be introduced for the T-800 or any other Terminator in this series, so fans should be sure to check outThe Terminator’s third issue when it hits stands later this month.
The Terminator #2is available from Dynamite.
Terminator
The Terminator franchise, launched by James Cameron in 1984, explores a dystopian future where intelligent machines wage war against humanity. The relentless pursuit of key human figures by time-traveling cyborg assassins known as Terminators is central to the narrative. John Connor, the future leader of the human resistance, is the core target of the malicious machines.
