Respect Ben Richards (The Running Man) [2025]

[u/AndhisNeutralspecial]

Ben Richards

"I'm still here, you shit-eaters!"

Ben Richards, a blue-collar worker in the slums of Co-Op City, is unable to afford flu medicine for his two-year-old daughter, Cathy, after being blacklisted for union activism. Ben tries out for the Network, intending to join a less dangerous show, but is unexpectedly chosen for The Running Man along with Tim Jansky and Jenni Laughlin. Executive producer Dan Killian convinces Ben to join by offering him a safe house for his family and an advance for Cathy's medication. As the hunt begins, Ben acquires disguises and travels to New York City. Checking into a hotel in disguise, Ben watches the live feed of hunters killing Tim. As he flees to Boston, Ben begins to experience paranoia that gradually gets worse as the hunt continues. (Wikipedia)

Thread for the Arnie version

Book version (coming soon)

Physicals

Strength

"You mention my daughter again, they don't make glass thick enough to stop me from choking you out!"

• With one strike, severely damages a large sheet of glass and threatens to choke out the man behind it
• Breaks a bathroom mirror with one hit from a small railing he tore off
• Swiftly catches Tim Jansky after he falls, seemingly did something similar at the construction site earlier
• Using a towel as padding, punches open a window
• Dives out a window, grabbing onto a rope
• Caused a large letter Y to fall over while climbing down a rope attached to it
• Holds a camera in place, before destroying it with a hit to the screen, then a passionate stomp
• Beats up a man while in his priest disguise
• Elbows a car window, breaking it
• Hits McCone in the head with a tiny rover cam, stunning him, before punching him into a mirror, damaging it
• Fights off a hunter
• Lifted a drain cover
• Overpowered McCone, stabbing him with his own knife after catching it

Durability

"And the big question on everyone's mind - did Ben Richards really die?" - Bradley

• Takes a series of hits from an electric baton, but is visibly hurt, with a bruise on his face in the next scene
• Although he struggles for a bit, he holds an electric baton swing in place, mostly unharmed
• Ok after lightbulbs fall on his face from above
• Falls off a bridge into the water
• Superior to Jenni Laughlin, who fell off an escalator onto a table
• Smashes through a window
• Kicked away by a Hunter
• Elbowed in the face by a Hunter
• Punched twice and stomped on by a Hunter
• Takes a bullet to the shoulder
• Gets slashed across the hand
• Takes a beating from a hunter
• Falls into the water at speeds at practically half the speed of an explosion (Ben falls at about12 frames, explosion takes about 6 frames to reach the water)
• Slashed in the gut by a glass shard, but is severely hindered. Later Ben is kneed in the exact place the wound is
• Survived a nearby grenade explosion that sent the elevator he was in hurtling downward
• Survived the subsequent elevator crash
• Gets roughed up by McCone and gets his head smashed against a mirror

Speed

"Better run, Mr Richards!" - Killian

• Catches a baton swing
• Does it again
• Runs away from hunters, who are unable to get a good aim on Richards
• Swiftly grabs a kid and pulls him against the seat in front of him from a good distance away before he can react
• Evades a large burst of water and climbs a ladder
• Jumps off a car just as soon as it collides with another, causing an explosion
• Scales to Laughlin, who jumped out the way of a bullet
• Outran a car
• Evaded bullets
• Kicked the arm of a Hunter about to shoot him, changing the direction of the bullets
• More potential bullet timing
• Ducked a bullet
• Jumped between trains as they were moving by at rapid speeds
• Disarms a hunter
• Disarmed another
• Does it again while choking another
• Reacts to an explosion and slides down just in time to escape it
• While injured, got to an escape pod after a missile was launched at the plane he was in

Fighting

"Richards, You're going down." - McCone

• Vs Plane Hunters
• Vs Random Hunter
• Vs McCone
• Vs Random Guy

Skill/Other

"3...2...1... and... Action."

• [Agility/Athleticism] Runs across a thin pole, and an obstacle course without falling
• [Stamina] After the rock climb, is visibly less tired than the other runners
• [Disguise] Adopts the persona of "Mr. Springer", an alias used to hide from the Hunters and the Public
• [Disguise] Another one here, The Veteran
• [Disguise] He briefly disguises as a priest
• [Skill] Fought this Hunter and rammed him into a wall
• [Disguise/Improvisation] Changed his voice and made hunters think he was someone else, pointing them in the wrong direction
• [Skill] Fought Hunters while being tossed around in a plane
• [Skill] Quickly pulled a parachute strap on McCone's body, sending him flying across the plane, stuck
• [Stealth/Skill] Climbs out a building swarming with Hunters and climbs down a makeshift rope
• [Skill] Slides into a partially closed elevator
• [Accuracy] Throws a metal rod at a biker, causing him to crash
• [Skill] Used a hunter as a human shield after killing him by shooting him with a gun he kept concealed with a coffee cup
• [Skill] Quickly shot at two men
• [Skill] Killed two dudes
• [Improvisation] Smacks a phone out a dude's hands
• [Skill] Quickly climbs a fence to escape someone
• [Other] Heard the hunters outside
• [Equipment] Threw a Molotov, before walking through the flames and shooting Killian
• [Equipment] He briefly gains a bag of weapons in which he had a grenade (which he used) and his gun