In a 1995 interview, Wagner said: 'When Pat was putting together 2000 AD, we realised from the success of 'One-Eyed Jack' this was the kind of story the paper should have – a really hard, tough cop.' Wagner had written a Dirty Harry-style 'tough cop' story, ' One-Eyed Jack', for Valiant, and suggested a character who took that concept to its logical extreme. When comics editor Pat Mills was developing 2000 AD in 1976, he brought in his former writing partner, John Wagner, to develop characters. In audio dramas by Big Finish Productions, Dredd is voiced by Toby Longworth. Later, he was portrayed by Karl Urban in the 2012 adaptation Dredd. Judge Dredd made his live-action debut in 1995 in Judge Dredd, portrayed by Sylvester Stallone.

In 2011, IGN ranked Judge Dredd 35th among the top 100 comic book heroes of all time. Over the years, Judge Dredd has been hailed as one of the best satires of American and British culture with an uncanny ability to predict upcoming trends and events such as mass surveillance, the rise of populist leaders, and the COVID-19 pandemic. In Great Britain, the character of Dredd and his name are sometimes invoked in discussions of police states, authoritarianism, and the rule of law. He is a ' street judge', empowered to summarily arrest, convict, sentence, and execute criminals.

Judge Dredd is a law enforcement and judicial officer in the dystopian future city of Mega-City One, which covers most of the east coast of North America. He also appears in a number of film and video game adaptations. He is the magazine's longest-running character.

He first appeared in the second issue of 2000 AD (1977), which is a British weekly anthology comic. Judge Joseph Dredd is a fictional character created by writer John Wagner and artist Carlos Ezquerra.

Bionic eyes grant 20/20 night vision and reduced blinking rate.

Essential judge dredd origins