Captain Daniel Holland

The captain of the Palomino.

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• Big Damn Heroes: To Kate when she is in the "hospital" being forcibly lobotomized.
• The Hero: As was standard at the time.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Keeps his impulsive crew in line, is suspicious of Reinhardt almost immediately but gives him the benefit of the doubt until he has proof.

First Lieutenant Charles Pizer

The helmsman and First Officer of the Palomino. The youngest member of the crew, he has a feisty ego and an eagerness to jump into the thick of the action.

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• The Cavalry: When Dan, Kate, V.I.N.CENT, and Old B.O.B. are pinned down by laser fire from sentry robots on their way to the Palomino, Charlie singlehandedly ambushes the sentries from behind and takes them out.
• Disobeyed Orders, Not Punished: In the aforementioned The Cavalry incident, Dan had instructed Charlie to leave him, Kate, V.I.N.CENT and Old B.O.B. aboard the Cygnus and take Harry and Palomino and get out of Dodge. Charlie instead leaves the Palomino to rescue his friends. Rather than be upset that Charlie disobeyed a direct order, Dan is relieved to see him.
  Charlie: Yah-haaaaa! [destroys the sentry robots]
  Dan: Way to go, Charlie!
  • Even after Harry is shot down and killed trying to escape the Cygnus in the Palomino, Dan doesn't yell at Charlie for leaving his post, but instead says that Harry might have done them a favor because the remaining crew are still alive.
• The Lancer: Given the rather by the numbers nature of the crew, he falls into this category.
• Smoking Barrel Blowout: Makes this motion with his weapon early in the film.

Doctor Alexander Durant

An astro-physicist serving as the ship's navigator and science officer. Seeing several of his scientific contemporaries achieve promotions and tenures has left him feeling he has hit the glass ceiling in his own career.

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• Cruel and Unusual Death: Maximillian eviscerates him with his spinning blades.
• Hero-Worshipper: Is this to Reinhardt, to the point that he refuses to return to the Palomino, despite Dan's orders.
• Horrible Judge of Character: He misjudged Reinhardt pretty badly.

• Too Dumb to Live: He ignores some pretty obvious signs that Dr. Reinhardt is less than sane until it's too late.

Doctor Katherine McCrae

The Palomino's medical officer and empath. She is the daughter of Frank McCrae, the First Officer of the Cygnus.

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• Damsel in Distress: On Reinhardt's orders, after Alex is killed by Maximillian, she is taken to be lobotomized.
• Psychic Powers: She has a telepathic link with V.I.N.CENT. According to the novelization, it comes from a cybernetic implant in her brain.
• The Smurfette Principle: The only woman on the crew.

Embedded Journalist Harold Booth

A civilian news reporter aboard the Palomino.

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• Asshole Victim : Is shot down after abandoning his allies to die.
• The Complainer Is Always Wrong: Granted, he was right about Reinhardt, but in nearly every scene he is objecting to the wisest course of action and is suggesting a course of action that would probably make things worse.
• Dirty Coward: He talks big about rebelling against Reinhardt and his drones, but he quickly backs down on finding out the Awful Truth. And then he tries to escape on the Palomino, leaving his friends behind.
• Intrepid Reporter: Implied to have been one in his youth, but his actions in the story proper make it come across as more of an Informed Ability.
• Too Dumb to Live: He attempts to escape by himself in the Palomino, despite not knowing how to fly it.

LF-396 (V.I.N. CENT.)

A late-model Labor Force utility droid, LF-396 is outfitted with a Vital Information Necessary Centralized learning computer. Consequently, the crew of the Palomino informally refer to him as V.I.N.CENT. Something of a jack of all trades, V.I.N.CENT serves as the ship's mechanic and engineer, while also outfitted with some limited combat protocols.

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• Badass Adorable: He almost looks like a toy robot and he's also one heckuva crack shot able to hit targets while spinning.
• Do-Anything Robot: Can float and has the usual deployable tools.
• Expy: A more competent and less effeminate C-3PO, with the body and snark of R2-D2.
• Fantastic Racism: Claims not to get along with other robots except from his own model, whom he regards as superior.
• Fun with Acronyms: His name stands for Vital Information Necessary CENTralized
• Hover Bot: V.I.N.CENT is a spherical floating torsos with retractable arms, legs, and a head.
• Leitmotif: A somber tune.
• Snarky Non-Human Sidekick: Lampshaded:
  Charlie Pizer: V.I.N.CENT, were you programmed to bug me?
  V.I.N.CENT: No sir, to educate you.

Commander Hans Reinhardt

A brilliant but eccentric German scientist who was placed in command of the Cygnus. Sent on the same mission as the Palomino - to explore deep space and search for intelligent life in the cosmos - Dr. Reinhardt took the Cygnus farther outside of known space than any previous vessel. When this expedition does not appear to bear any fruit, the Cygnus is ordered to return to Earth. Reinhardt failed to respond to this order, and twenty years later, he and the crew of the Cygnus are missing and presumed dead.

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• And I Must Scream: After traveling into the black hole he is left encased in Maximillian's body, trapped in what appears to be Hell.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: His sole obsession is to find out what happens when you go through a black hole...
• Dragged Off to Hell: He's last seen merged with Maximillian and trapped in a fiery landscape resembling Hell.
• Fusion Dance: Merges with Maximillian after traveling into the black hole.
• Herr Doktor: The requisite doctor with a German accent and grandiose ambition.
• Insufferable Genius: Booth describes Reinhardt as "arrogant, pompous, and utterly heedless of the value of taxpayers' money".
• Large Ham: Reinhardt is described as 'theatrical,' and he definitely lives up to that description.
• Manipulative Bastard: He tries to play as if Maximillian is the one pulling the strings after he kills Durant, but he's lying through his teeth to keep Kate on his side. It doesn't work.
• Mad Scientist: Reinhardt ticks all the boxes: great genius, huge ego, Large Ham, refusal to accept the boundaries of society, morality or physics as we know it. The only person he shows genuine empathy for is a fellow scientist who shows unquestioning awe of his genius.
• Non-Action Big Bad: Reinhardt isn't a fighter himself, relying on Maximillian and his robots to do his dirty work.
• Tim Taylor Technology: Implied in the film and spelled out in the novelization: After the antimatter engines are damaged by the meteor storm, Reinhardt orders the remaining engines to maximum power. Maximillian gives Reinhardt an aside glance indicating he thinks this is a bad idea. Sure enough, this strains the Cygnus beyond her limits, and she begins to break apart under the stress.

An experimental droid built by Dr. Reinhardt. It serves as the Master-At-Arms for the Cygnus.

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• Cyber Cyclops: In order to make it more ominous.
• Death Glare: Gives off quite a few of these, evidenced by his red eye ominously pulsating at whoever his stare is fixed at.
• Do-Anything Robot: It can deploy various tools, usually lethal.
• The Dragon: For Reinhardt. Reinhardt tries to act as if he's gone Dragon Ascendant in order to seem innocent, but it's clearly a bald-faced lie.
• Dragon Their Feet: Reinhardt is mortally wounded when his bridge falls on him, but Maximillian leaves him to confront the heroes as the final obstacle.
• The Dreaded: Everyone's wary of him, and even his creator may be afraid of him. V.I.N.CENT. claims not to be but that's likely bravado.
• Fusion Dance: In the end he is merged with Reinhardt, and is last seen surveying a hellish landscape.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: He attempts to latch onto and shock V.I.N.CENT, but this only gives the smaller robot the perfect opening to drill into Max's chest and beat him.
• Karmic Death: Maximillian killed Durant with a weaponized drill through his chest. V.I.N.CENT returns the favor with his own repair drill into Maximillian's chest.
• Killer Robot: He's a little too eager to deploy his whirling blades on targets.
• Rage Helm: Maximillian has a bright red eye with a furrowing brow sculpted/painted above it, making it look like he's permanently scowling.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: It's kind of one eye, but it stays red the whole time.
• Silent Snarker: Several of the aside glances he gives to Reinhardt indicate that he would be a Servile Snarker if he had been programmed to speak. When Reinhardt is in "What Could Possibly Go Wrong?" mode, Max gives the good doctor a look that seems to suggest "Don't tempt fate, dude." And when the bridge starts falling apart, he turns to Reinhardt again, as if to say "I told you so."
• Turned Against Their Masters: Leaves Reinhardt to die, ignoring his pleas for help. He only comes back for him in order to merge with him in the black hole, acting equally as life-support and a prison for his master.
• The Voiceless: Maximillian does not appear to be programmed to speak. The general implication is that he is networked to the Sentry Robots, while also having a neural link with Reinhardt similar to the one Kate has to V.I.N.CENT. As such he is able to communicate at a rate much faster than human speech.

LF-28 (Bio-Sanitation Battalion)

An earlier model of Labor Force droid, LF-28 was built in Houston, Texas and assigned to the Cygnus as a janitor and maintenance technician. Well-liked by the original crew, who named him B.O.B., since the creation of Maximillian and the Sentry Robots he has languished in storage.

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• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: The villains underestimate or ignore him until he takes out several of sentry robots.
  B.O.B.: First fighting I've done in thirty years! I just wish it'd been Reinhardt and Maximillian out there!
• Fun with Acronyms: His name stands for BiO-sanitation Battalion.
• Killed Off for Real: Fatally wounded by Maximillian in the final battle.
• Leitmotif: A somber tune.
• Tin-Can Robot: Albeit an extremely battered version.

Captain S.T.A.R.

A military droid who served as the original Master-At-Arms for the Cygnus before Reinhardt created Maximillian. He is the prototype for the Sentry Robots.

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• Cheaters Never Prosper: Bumps B.O.B. to throw him off his shot. V.I.N.CENT. richochets a shot into his chest, then makes him blow a fuse.
• Dark Is Evil: The regular Sentry Robots are all Palette Swaps of him, but S.T.A.R. is distinguishable by his black color scheme.
• Fun with Acronyms: His name stands for Special Troop, Arms Regiment.
• Guns Akimbo: Wields two blaster pistols simultaneously.
• Gun Twirling: Does this after successfully neutralizing a target.
• Sore Loser: He literally blows a fuse when V.I.N.CENT beats him in a shooting competition.
  V.I.N.CENT: If there's one thing I cannot stand, it's a sore loser.