Detroit has finally raised its long-awaited RoboCop statue, bringing a 15-year plan to life in one of the city’s busiest public markets.
The 3,500-pound bronze statue was installed on Wednesday, Dec. 3, at Eastern Market along Russell Street south of Mack Avenue. The piece stands atop a 1,500-pound base and was produced by sculptor George Gikas and his team at Venus Bronze Works.
The installation marks the end of a long development timeline that began in 2011, when Detroit filmmaker and designer Brandon Walley and members of the arts nonprofit Imagination Station launched a Kickstarter to fund the project. The campaign raised more than $67,000, with nearly $60,000 collected to commission an 11-foot-tall replica.
“Triumph. Relief. It’s a bit of all of it,” Walley said. “We’re just excited about the future, and what the statue is going to bring to the market and to Detroiters.”
How the RoboCop statue came to life
RoboCop became a cultural icon after the 1987 film about a cyborg police officer who protects a futuristic version of Detroit. Although the movie was filmed mostly in Dallas and depicted a bleak fictionalized version of the city, a fan tweet to then-Mayor Dave Bing helped spark the statue concept.
“Philadelphia has a statue of Rocky & RoboCop would kick Rocky’s butt. He’s a GREAT ambassador for Detroit,” the tweet read. The mayor declined, but the idea gained traction with Walley’s group, leading to the grassroots Kickstarter effort.
Gikas agreed to build the statue for $65,000, ultimately completing the sculpture despite losing money on the project. The finished piece is now in place at Eastern Market, closing out years of planning, casting, setbacks, and delays.
Back in March 2025, a province in China brought ‘RoboCop’ to life after deploying a police robot for patrols.
