From 'Terminator' To 'The Avengers 2': 30 Years Of Bionic Heroes And Villains In Movies

Bionic robots on screen — ranging from the Terminator, R2-D2, and WALL-E — give us a glimpse of what may come from artificial intelligence in the future.

Since 1927's "Metropolis," these film characters have been built using a mix of costumes, practical machinery, and animatronics. Over the past few decades, technology has leapt forward, allowing filmmakers to create these same machines via computer graphics.

We've compiled a list of the best bionic characters in film over the past three decades to see how far our technology has come.

While this list excludes many that required no visual effects (like the many androids and artificial intelligences on screen over the years), it highlights the creation of some of the bots we've grown to love.

"The Terminator": T-800 (1984)

Director James Cameron could have never imagined that the robot he saw in a fever dream would one day help create a movie franchise that has generated $1.4 billion worldwide.

Yet, thanks to his vision of the T-800, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger, that's exactly what happened.

The unstoppable villain from the film was created by visual effects artist Stan Winston via stop-motion photography and puppeteering.

This included crewmembers carrying around a puppet of the T-800's metal exoskeleton as it was shot from the waist up.

"Short Circuit": Johnny Five (1986)

A random strike of lightning rewires Johnny Five, originally conceived as a weapon, into the fun robot who is at the center of the comedy/sci-fi film.

Twenty-seven robots, ranging from full-size animatronic robots to small puppets of the character, were created to bring the personable robot to life. The team focused working on the facial features of the bot to give it more human-like personality and expressions.

"RoboCop": RoboCop (1987)

Thanks to Peter Weller's steely performance as the human-robot hybrid in 1987's "RoboCop," the film has grown a legacy as an action classic.

Though the movie may be best remembered for tagline "I'd buy that for a dollar," the RoboCop suits worn by Weller in the film were actually some of the most expensive objects on set, coming in at $1 million for the six suits combined.

A statue of the famed cyborg officer was recently commissioned in Detroit, the film's setting. The movie also received a reboot by Sony Pictures this year, though it wasn't as well received as the original.