List of Starship Troopers Characters - Major Characters

Major Characters

• Juan "Johnnie" Rico

Actor: Yasunori Matsumoto (OVA, voice), Casper Van Dien (1997 film, Marauder), Rino Romano (Roughnecks, voice), David Matranga (Invasions, voice)

Son of a wealthy Filipino family who volunteers for "Federal Service". He ends up in the Mobile Infantry. He does his basic training at Camp Arthur Currie in Western Canada, and then he is assigned as a Private to "Willie's Wildcats". His first big combat experience (other than raids) is the Battle of Klendathu. He is then transferred to the platoon called "Rasczak's Roughnecks" aboard the spaceship Rodger Young, where he earns the rank of corporal and survives several battles. He later is promoted to Sergeant and enters an Officer Candidate School upon the encouragement of his friend "Ace". Rico eventually became a lieutenant after commanding a platoon (as an intern) during the successful "Operation Royalty". At the end of the novel, he is in command of Rico's Roughnecks, back on the Rodger Young, with his father as a sergeant there.

• Sergeant "Jelly" Jelal

A career "Ship's Sergeant", he is Juan Rico's platoon sergeant aboard the spaceship Rodger Young, and the "de facto" platoon leader after Lt. Rasczak's death. He eventually is made a captain, but he loses his legs in an unspecified battle. He was nicknamed "Jelly" and anyone who has made a "combat drop" could call him this to his face. After the Lieutenant's death, the Roughnecks vote unanimously to rename themselves "Jelly's Jaguars", after their new lieutenant, but Jelal vetoes the notion.

• Charles "Charlie" Zim

Actor: Akira Kamiya (OVA, voice), Clancy Brown (1997 film, Roughnecks)

John Rico's boot-camp training instructor and a company commander at Camp Currie. Originally a career "Ship's Sergeant", he becomes the Company "First Sergeant" of Rico's unit during "Operation Royalty", and he voluntarily drops in rank to become Rico's "Platoon Sergeant". Zim takes the initiative to raid an Arachnid "bughole", and he captures the first "brain bug" taken by the MI. He was given a field commission, and he rises to the rank of brevet captain with the permanent rank of first lieutenant by the end of the book.

In the OVA, Zim is depicted as a black, while in the 1997 film and Roughnecks, he is depicted as a Caucasian.

In Roughnecks, he joins the Roughnecks during the final stages of the Homefront campaign. Revealed to Rico that due machinations between him and Razak guided him to his potential as they recognized something great in him.

It was intended for Zim to appear in Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation, but Clancy Brown was unavailable due to Carnivàle, so the character Captain Dax was created.

• Fleet Sergeant Ho

Actor: Robert David Hall

Federal Service recruiting officer who had lost his legs and right arm while serving. He swears-in Juan Rico and Carl. He appears without his prosthetics to administer the oath to new recruits, as a demonstration of the possible consequences of service.

In the film, he is simply credited as Recruiting Sergeant.

• Carl

Actor: Yūji Mitsuya (OVA, voice), Neil Patrick Harris (1997 film), Rider Strong (Roughnecks, voice), Justin Doran (Invasions, voice)

Juan Rico's best friend in high school. His example is one of the influences that prompt Juan Rico to enlist. The two of them enlist on the same day, and Carl is assigned to the "Starside Research & Development" installation on Pluto. Later in the novel, Carl is killed when the Pluto research facilities are destroyed by the Arachnids.

In the 1997 film and Roughnecks, his name is Carl Jenkins. His last name apparently comes from Al Jenkins, another character in the novel.

In the film, He is Rico's best friend in high school. He, Carmen, and Rico are vowed to be best friends forever. He has psychic abilities and joins military intelligence as opposed to research and development. (There were unnamed people with some psychic ability in the novel, and so, that was merged in with this character.) He promotes Rico later and is indicated to have telepathically assisted Rico in his rescue of Carmen. In Invasion, now a general, Carl is the Minister of Paranormal Warfare and the lead scientist of a top secret research.

In Roughnecks, he is a Special Operations Tactician. He is a psychic friend of Rico's and Dizzy's from high school, the other Roughnecks avoid Jenkins because his telepathic powers worry them. He destroys the Hydoran Brain Bug with a Mind-Bomb but suffers mental trauma in the process. Jenkins grows weaker and his powers become less stable during the Tophet Campaign, when T'Phai's Control Bug breaks loose and it attempts to attach to Jenkins. He destroys it with a telekinetic blast, but falls into a coma and is spirited away by Military intelligence. Jenkins returns later on in the series, the mental experimentation performed on him by Military intelligence neurosurgeons has increased his powers but made him cold and harsh. What was left of his old self was rekindled when Rico saved him during the Klendathu Campaign.

• Carmencita "Carmen" Ibañez

Actor: Rei Sakuma (OVA, voice), Denise Richards (1997 film), Tish Hicks (Roughnecks, voice), Luci Christian (Invasions, voice)

One of Juan Rico's high school classmates. Rico had a crush on her, and she is a major influence on his decision to enlist, joining on the same day that she does. Since she excels in mathematics and gymnastics, she becomes a (Space) Navy spaceship pilot. While combat troops are universally male, the Navy can and often does recruit women as ship crewmen, both because women make better pilots, and for reasons of morale.

In Invasion, she has became the captain of John A. Warden.

In Roughnecks, her rank is Lieutenant/Ensign. She is a pilot in the SICON fleet. Rico joined the military just because Carmen said that she wanted to be a pilot, and Rico blindly attempts to follow her. Carmen is smart, calm, and rarely lets her emotions get in the way of her tasks. Whenever a drop ship she's piloting is crash-landed due to whatever circumstances, she often helps the Roughnecks carry out their missions. While reminiscing about the past, Carmen admits that she had a big crush on Rico during the sixth grade, but didn't tell him. It is not clear if she feels the same way about Rico after Dizzy tells Carmen that she's the reason Rico enlisted. She is apparently demoted to Ensign either for crashing the ship in the Zephyr Campaign or for insubordination in the first episode of the Klendathu Campaign.

• Yvette Deladrier

Actor: Mika Doi (OVA, voice), Brenda Strong (1997 film)

Captain of the Troop Transport ship Rodger Young. She is a masterful pilot who manages to retrieve the Roughnecks from orbit even when they are late for rendezvous (described as "impossible" in the book), thus saving all their lives. At the end of the book, it is presumed she is still captain of the Rodger Young.

In the 1997 film, her name is changed into Deladier. She is killed while trying to escape the ship after it was hit by a bug plasma, she was fatally injured when she fell beneath the closing emergency fire door, pinning her down.

• Captain "Blacky" Blackstone

A Captain in the Mobile Infantry, Blackstone is Rico's evaluating officer, who oversees his field training exercises once Rico becomes a Third Lieutenant. Blacky is the company commander of "Blacky's Blackguards", and participates in the raid on Planet P. During that battle, he is temporarily incapacitated due to a power failure in his suit, but soon recovers. He gives Johnny the benefit of the doubt and gives a pass on Johnny's evaluation forms, thus allowing Sergeant Rico to become Lieutenant Rico.

• Lieutenant Colonel Jean V. Dubois

Rico's high school instructor in so-called "History and Moral Philosophy". He had retired as a lieutenant colonel in the Mobile Infantry after he lost an arm. A letter to Rico during Basic Training boosts Rico's spirits and helps to keep him from resigning (and thus losing the opportunity to become a full Citizen). Dubois follows Rico's career with great interest.

Many readers have felt that Dubois serves as a stand-in for Heinlein throughout the novel.