Ever sat through the first Starship Troopers and thought, "Man, I need more of this, but maybe with way more CGI and slightly fewer human faces"? Well, you're in luck. Or maybe you're not. It honestly depends on how much you value the satirical bite of the 1997 original versus the sheer chaos of power-armored soldiers shooting bugs in space.
Most people don't even realize there is a Starship Troopers 4 movie. It’s officially titled Starship Troopers: Invasion, and it’s a bit of a curveball. Released in 2012, it skipped the live-action sets for full-blown Japanese-style CGI. If you were looking for Casper Van Dien's actual face, you're out of luck here—though he did executive produce it.
What is the Starship Troopers 4 movie anyway?
Basically, Invasion is a direct-to-video animated flick directed by Shinji Aramaki. You might know him from Appleseed. He’s got this very specific style where everything looks like a high-end video game cutscene from the early 2010s. It’s gritty. It's dark. The armor looks fantastic.
The story kicks off on an asteroid called Fort Casey. Bugs are everywhere. Standard Tuesday for the Mobile Infantry. The real hook is that it brings back the "Big Three" from the first movie: Johnny Rico, Carmen Ibanez, and Carl Jenkins. But since it's animated, they’re voiced by different people. Luci Christian takes over as Carmen, and David Matranga voices Rico. Honestly, seeing a CGI Rico as a grizzled General with an eye patch is a vibe, but it’s definitely a shift from the "gee-whiz" soldier we met in high school.
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The plot is kinda wild. Carl Jenkins, who is now the Minister of Paranormal Warfare (coolest title ever, right?), goes missing on a secret mission. He was piloting a ship called the John A. Warden—which, naturally, gets hijacked by an Arachnid Queen. Yes, a Queen on a starship. She’s heading straight for Earth.
Why fans are still divided on this one
Here is the thing. The original Paul Verhoeven movie was a sharp, mean satire of fascism and military propaganda. The Starship Troopers 4 movie... isn't really that. It’s more of a straight-up military sci-fi action movie. If you love the Halo games or Warhammer 40,000, you’ll probably dig the aesthetic. The troopers actually wear the powered suits from Robert A. Heinlein’s original book, which the first movie famously ignored because of budget and "creative vision."
But if you’re here for the "Would you like to know more?" social commentary, you might feel a bit empty. It feels a lot more like a "Let's kill some bugs" romp. The pacing is fast, the violence is over-the-top, and there’s a weirdly high amount of nudity for an animated movie about giant space ants. It’s definitely not for kids.
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Is it actually canon?
Yeah, it is. It fits right into the timeline after the first three live-action movies. In fact, it does a better job of connecting to the original than Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation ever did. That second movie was basically a low-budget horror film set in a single building. Invasion feels big. It feels like a galactic war.
Actually, it’s the first part of a two-movie animated arc. It was followed by Starship Troopers: Traitor of Mars in 2017. If you’re going to watch the Starship Troopers 4 movie, you basically have to watch the fifth one right after. In Traitor of Mars, Casper Van Dien actually returns to voice Rico, which makes the whole thing feel much more "official" for the die-hard fans.
Production Quirks
Shinji Aramaki and the team at Sola Digital Arts really went all-in on the "Mecha" influence. You can tell they loved designing the ships and the weapons. The Alesia—the main ship the troopers use—is a beast.
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- The Armor: This is the first time we see the iconic Jump Jets in action.
- The Queen: She isn't just a big bug; she's a psychic computer hacker.
- The Tone: It’s much more "military porn" than "political satire."
It’s worth noting that Edward Neumeier, the guy who wrote the first three movies, wasn't the lead writer here. Flint Dille handled the screenplay. That probably explains why the "Verhoeven touch" is missing. It feels like a different universe that just happens to have the same characters.
How to watch it today
You won't find this one playing on cable much. It's tucked away on digital storefronts like Amazon or Apple TV. Occasionally it pops up on streaming services like Hulu or Netflix, but it’s a bit of a nomad.
If you're a completionist, you’ve gotta see it. Just go in with the right mindset. Don't expect a deep dive into the philosophy of citizenship. Expect Rico with a scar, Carmen being a badass pilot, and a lot of green bug blood splashing onto visors.
The Verdict on Starship Troopers 4
Is it a masterpiece? No. Is it better than the second and third movies? Honestly, yeah. It has a scale and a level of action that those low-budget sequels couldn't touch. It’s a fun, 89-minute distraction that lets you see the "future" of the franchise before everyone started talking about a reboot.
If you want to dive back into the Federation's war effort, your next step is to track down a copy of Starship Troopers: Invasion. Watch it as a double feature with Traitor of Mars to get the full story of General Rico’s later years. It’s the closest we’ve gotten to the original book’s tech, even if it loses some of the movie’s soul along the way. Grab some popcorn, ignore the weird CGI faces, and enjoy the bug hunt.