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| “ | Richter, do you know why I'm such a happy person? Because I've got the greatest job in the solar system. As long as the turbinium keeps flowing, I can do anything I want. Anything. In fact, the only thing I ever worry about is that one day, if the rebels win, it all might end.... AND YOU'RE FUCKING MAKING IT HAPPEN!! | „ |
| ~ Cohaagen to Richter. |
Vilos Cohaagen is the main antagonist of Paul Verhoeven's 1990 Science Fiction film Total Recall. He is the tyrannical dictator of Mars, who controls the planet's air supply.
He was portrayed by Ronny Cox, who also played Richard Jones in RoboCop, and Walter Kenney in Dexter.
Biography[]
| “ | Quaid: This whole thing is one big reactor made out of terbinium. And Cohaagen knows it makes air. The BASTARD won't turn it on! Melina: Of course not, if Mars had a breathable atmosphere, he'd lose control. |
„ |
| ~ Quaid and Melina commenting about Cohaagen's true plot for power and greed. |
Decades ago before the film, Cohaagen founded and established the colony of Mars as a new settlement and tourist attraction, but it was not without the usual pitfalls of colonization and interplanetary conflict, all filled through greed, power, deception, and government cover-ups. As it turns out, Cohaagen had the first settlers to build up cheap domes before scamming them out of their money by leaving them to die. He also found out that a certain element called terbinium ore can be used to create oxygen, so he authorizes multiple mining operations of the terbinium. The radiation from the toxic Martian atmosphere was able to seep through the domes, exposing more settlers and their descendants to become mutants. As Cohaagen establishes his reign by creating the Mars Colony Security Force and a new monopoly in selling air to the citizens, the mutants have developed supernatural powers, including psychic abilities. Having caught wind of Cohaagen's greedy nature, the mutants formed a resistance (under the leadership of their spiritual leader Kuato, who is conjoined to his brother George) against his reign, and Cohaagen's efforts in taking them down proved to be futile. Determined to wipe out the resistance, Cohaagen hatches a plan with his most trusted friend Carl Hauser to have their forces to rid Mars of the mutants forever.
Hauser essentially had his identity erased from the world and from his own mind, and a new one was injected. He walks the Earth now as Douglas Quaid, a mild-mannered husband with incredibly huge muscles and a strange accent. And through a series of coincidences (he thinks), Quaid finds himself on the run from the government, having discovered his whole life has been a sham. During the beginning of the film, Cohaagen is addressing about the importance of the terbinium ore needed to make oxygen for the planet, stating that he will not let Kuato and his 'terrorists' threaten the operations. He later contacted his right-hand man Richter on Earth, after learning from Richter's wife Lori that Quaid has went to Rekall and has popped his memory cap before killing Harry and his friends. Despite Richter's attempts to kill Quaid, Cohaagen angrily demands him to take Quaid alive, threatening to 'erase his ass' if he defies his orders again, much to Richter's dismay, even after Lori and Dr. Edgemar end up being killed by Quaid as they attempted to take him into custody.
As Quaid travels there to discover more clues to his true identity, he hides away in Venusville, where Richter orders his men to kill several people when they refuse to speak of Quaid's whereabouts. Eventually, Cohaagen shuts off Venusville's ventilation following the death of Ritcher's right-hand man Helm, so Richter has Captain Everett to call all their men back. With the help from Melina, Quaid encounters the mutants and eventually meets Kuato. The psychic stresses to Quaid the importance of unlocking the memories trapped in his mind, and through deep meditation, they found out an important secret: deep underground, a giant alien reactor made out of terbinium - perhaps half a million of years old - was discovered by Cohaagen and his men. As it turns out, the aliens built the reactor as a means to melt down a huge glacier of ice below, which will release the oxygen that will be enough to neutralize Mars' toxic atmosphere and rendering it breathable for the entire planet, even though some of Cohaagen's scientists have mistakenly theorized that it would just ignite all the terbinium on the planet and send it into a planetary meltdown. Because of his desire to maintain his abusive monopoly of selling air to the citizens of Mars through expensive prices, the greedy Cohaagen refuses to turn on the reactor and instead plans to blow it up before the resistance can get to it.
Eventually, Cohaagen's forces manage to track down Kuato and the entire Resistance and eliminate them (with the help from the treacherous Benny) before capturing Quaid and Melina. A victorious Cohaagen then explains of his plot to Quaid about being used by both him and Hauser to lead them to the resistance, right before he orders Hauser's memory to be reimplanted back into Quaid and Melina to be programmed as Hauser's mistress. Even when being told that the citizens in Venusville are slowly suffocating due to the ventilation cut off, Cohaagen refused to care and instead decides to let them die so that he can use it as an example to force the other cities of the colony to submit to his high prices of oxygen. However, this only prove to be his biggest mistake as this drives a furious Quaid, now fully committed to defeating Cohaagen and his vile plans for planetary domination, to free himself and Melina from custody. Upon hearing of Quaid's escape, Cohaagen is very upset as he reluctantly orders his men to kill Quaid.
After Quaid and Melina kill the rest of Cohaagen's men (including Benny and Richter), Quaid heads over to the reactor, but Cohaagen arrives with a gun, preparing to kill him and blow the reactor up with a bomb. An arriving Melina shoots Cohaagen, who eventually activates the bomb, which Quaid throws away into a tunnel, causing an explosive decompression. As Cohaagen hangs on for dear life, he angrily forbids Quaid to activate the reactor, but Quaid has had enough and furiously throws Cohaagen out of the room. As a result, Cohaagen is jettisoned onto the planet's surface, where he painfully gasps and chokes to an ugly death before Quaid finally activates the reactor, causing the oxygen to be released into the atmosphere, rendering it breathable and freeing the entire Mars colony from Cohaagen's control.
Remake timeline[]
- Main article: Vilos Cohaagen (remake)
Gallery[]
(NES)
(NES)
Quotes[]
| “ | If I wanted him dead, you moron, I wouldn't have dumped him on Earth! | „ |
| ~ Cohaagen berating Richter for trying to kill Quaid against his orders. |
| “ | Cohaagen: First you try to kill Quaid, and then you let him get away?! Richter: He had help from our side, sir. Cohaagen: I know that. Richter: But I thought- Cohaagen: Who told you to think?! I don't give enough information for you to THINK!! You do what you're told, THAT'S what you do!! |
„ |
| ~ Cohaagen berating Richter for defying his orders not to kill Quaid. |
| “ | Cohaagen: Now... let's get down to business. We;'ve got a tricky situation here: Kuato wants what's in Quaid's head, and he might be able to get it 'cause they say he's psychic, and I have a plan to keep this from happening... do you think you can play along? Richter: Yes, sir. Cohaagen: Great... 'cause otherwise, I'll erase your ass! |
„ |
| ~ Cohaagen filling in about his true plan for Quaid and the Resistance before threatening to kill Richter if he defies his orders again. |
| “ | So this is the great man..... no wonder he kept out of sight. | „ |
| ~ Cohaagen upon seeing George and Kuato's corpses after capturing Quaid and Melina and wiping out the resistance. |
| “ | Cohaagen: You see, Quaid. None of my people could get close to Kuato. Fucking mutants could always sniff us out. So Hauser and I sat down and invented you: the perfect mole. Quaid: You know you're lying. Hauser turned against you! Cohaagen: That's what we wanted you to think. The fact is... Hauser volunteered to become Douglas Quaid. It was the only way to fool the psychics. |
„ |
| ~ Cohaagen revealing his successful plan of using Quaid as a patsy to lead him to the resistance and wipe them out. |
| “ | Cohaagen: We gave you lots of help: Benny, here. Benny: My pleasure, man. Cohaagen: The guy with the suitcase, the mask, the money, the message from Hauser. All of that was set up by us. |
„ |
| ~ Cohaagen admitting how he and his forces formulated everything in having Quaid lead them to the resistance. |
| “ | We're having you fixed! You're gonna be respectful, compliant, and appreciative... the way a woman should be. | „ |
| ~ Cohaagen planning to have Melina reprogrammed as Hauser's loyal mistress using another Rekall machine, much to her disgust. |
| “ | Cohaagen: Don't do anything. Technician: But they won't last an hour, sir! Cohaagen: Fuck 'em. It'll be a good lesson to the others. |
„ |
| ~ Cohaagen deciding to let the citizens of Venusville suffocate to death as a reminder to force all other cities in the colony to submit to his high prices of selling air. |
| “ | My friend... in about 5 minutes, you won't give a shit about the people. Fire it up, Doc. | „ |
| ~ Cohaagen planning to have Quaid reprogrammed back as Hauser by using the Rekall machine. |
| “ | Kill him. | „ |
| ~ Cohaagen reluctantly ordering Richter to finally kill Quaid when the latter escapes and refuses to return back as Hauser. |
| “ | Cohaagen: Don't touch that! Get away, get back! Quaid: What are you afraid of? Turn it on! Cohaagen: Impossible! Once the reactor starts, it'll spread towards the other terbinium in the planet, and Mars will go into a global meltdown! That's why the aliens never turned it on! Quaid: And do you expect me to believe you?! Cohaagen: Who gives a shit what you believe?! In 30 seconds, you'll be dead, then I'll blow this place up and be home in time for corn flakes! I didn't want to end it this way. I wanted Hauser back, but nooo!! You had to be Quaid! Quaid: I am Quaid! Cohaagen: You're NOTHING! You're nobody! You're a stupid dream! Well, all dreams must come to an end. |
„ |
| ~ Vilos attempting to murder Douglas Quaid and destroy the alien reactor. |
| “ | NO! DON'T DO IT!! WE'LL ALL DIE!!! EVERYBODY WILL DIE!!! NO!! NOOO!!! | „ |
| ~ Cohaagen's last words before he is jettisoned out by an angry Quaid to the toxic Martian atmosphere, where Cohaagen chokes to a painful and ugly death. |
Trivia[]
- In the DC comic book adaption, Vilos is fairly the same as his film counterpart, except that he lacks any friendship he had with Carl, as well any remorse for his actions against him.
- Apparently Vilos Cohaagen hid the existence of a reactor that could create an atmosphere on Mars even from the earth government in order to maintain your power on Mars.
- Vilos Cohaagen also appears in the NES adaptation of Total Recall. Here, he is the final boss and guards the reactor device. He must be shot at while also not damaging the reactor with gunfire. He is capable of jumping over shots aimed at him. His image is also depicted at the Game Over screen, stating (to the player) "Your game has been terminated."
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