Megatron (Transformers Film Series)

"You still fight for the weak. That is why YOU LOSE!"

- Megatron taunting Optimus Prime

"Even in death, there is no command but mine."

- Megatron to Starscream after finding out he took over the Decepticons in his death

"All hail Megatron!!"

- Megatron to the Decepticons in Africa "(Optimus: You have no soul!) That is why I have no fear!"

- Galvatron whilst fighting Optimus

Megatron, later Galvatron, is the main antagonist of the Transformers film series. He is an extremely powerful and warmongering Decepticon hell-bent on Decepticon rule over humankind and their world; the Earth. He is the main antagonist in Transformers (2007), the secondary antagonist in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and Transformers: Dark of the Moon, and the tertiary antagonist in Transformers: Age of Extinction​. He will return as one of the main antagonists of the upcoming Transformers: The Last Knight.

Megatron is the evil twin brother of Optimus Prime and a former student of Sentinel Prime, appointed to be Cybertron's Protector and commander of its defense force. But Megatron resented his comrade, knowing he was a Prime and therefore Sentinel's favored student. This anger allowed The Fallen (the true founder and leader of the Decepticons) to ensnare him and led to the revival of the Decepticons.

He is voiced by actor Hugo Weaving, who also portrayed V, Agent Smith and Red Skull. He is voiced by Frank Welker in most video games and as Galvatron.

IDW Publishing Prequel Comics
The back story of Megatron is told in both Transformers: Defiance and issue #1 of the Transformers: Movie Prequel comic. In the comics, Megatron is revealed to have co-ruled Cybertron together with Optimus Prime, serving as Lord High Protector. Megatron and Optimus learned of an alien force coming to their planet for the All Spark, just as a mysterious artifact was unearthed. Megatron is gravely injured, but the artifact (containing the Fallen) awakens and heals him, swaying him with promises of power. Megatron soon desires power over the All Spark, and under the Fallen's influence, forms the Decepticons, sending the bulk of his soldiers in a craft, the Nemesis.

The Autobots attempt to hide the All Spark, but Megatron sees through the ruse and launches a full-scale attack, during which the All Spark is launched into space. Megatron almost catches up with the All Spark as it lands on Earth. In his reckless desire to possess it, Megatron pursues it right into Earth's atmosphere and falls into the icy waters, resulting in his being frozen in stasis lock. In the late 19th century, Captain Archibald Witwicky discovers the Decepticon during an Arctic expedition. At the turn of the 20th century, a crew of men later take his body — dubbing him the "Ice-man" - and keep him in storage up until the present day, eventually relocating him to Hoover Dam in Nevada.

Transformers
Megatron appeared as the main antagonist in the live-action Transformers film.

In the live-action film, Megatron was the cause of Cybertron's destruction when Decepticons and Autobots have started a war that has destroyed much of Cybertron. The All Spark was fought over by both sides until it was lost in space, then landed on Earth at an unknown time, then humans found the cube and a human organization that investigates extraterrestrials called Sector 7 kept the All Spark in its' base for over a century. Megatron followed the All Spark to Earth, but crash landed in the Arctic where Captain Archibald Witwicky and his crew of men were. Captain Witwicky fell in an arctic hole and found Megatron who was frozen. But when Captain Witwicky touched the tip of Megatron's fingers, he also re-activated Megatron's navigation system, and Megatron (still frozen) flashed his eyes that imprinted the All Spark's location onto Captain Witwicky's eye glasses. The Decepticons and Autobots searched for the eye glasses when they found it on the web site eBay. Sector 7 took Megatron who was still frozen to the same base where the All Spark was.

When Decepticons Frenzy and Starscream freed him, he rose again and went into Mission City fighting the Autobots. Decepticons Blackout, Brawl, and Starscream where also in battle against Autobots Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Ironhide, Ratchet, and Jazz. He killed Autobot officer Jazz by ripping him in half. Soon afterwards, Optimus Prime came in and the two long-time rivals fiercely dueled each other. Megatron and Optimus fought over their opinion of the human race: Megatron believed humans didn't deserve to live, while Optimus believed that humans deserved to choose for themselves. Hearing this, the rage-filled Megatron ordered Optimus to join the human race in extinction and tossed him aside. Megatron then formed his fusion cannon, but before he could fire, Optimus fired a shot from his ion blaster, hitting the Decepticon in the shoulder. Megatron shrugged off this attack and fired his fusion cannon, sending Prime flying into a building.

With Optimus knocked out, Megatron was able to chase Sam Witwicky when he carried the All Spark that gotten much smaller because of Autobot Bumblebee touching it. Megatron stalked him through a tall building, with Starscream destroying the helicopter that was supposed to carry Sam. Megatron offered Sam a chance to live "as his pet," if he gave him the cube, but Sam refused. Angered, Megatron used his fail to knock Sam off the building. Unfortunately, the human was saved by Optimus, who then re-engaged Megatron. Blackout attempted to aid Megatron in defeating Optimus, but was destroyed by the US Military. The Air Force then blasted several missiles and human soldiers used guns to shoot sabot rounds at Megatron. Despite suffering damage, Megatron could not be killed by human weaponry. Megatron attempted one last time to attack Sam, but the human pushed the All Spark into Megatron's chest, and the Decepticon was finally destroyed.

Afterwards, the bodies of Megatron, Blackout, and Brawl where dumped into the Laurentian Abyss.

The Reign of Starscream
In a flashback in the movie sequel comic Transformers: The Reign of Starscream, Megatron's negative relationship with Starscream is shown to be a result of Starscream failing on a mission.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Megatron returns as the secondary antagonist in the sequel Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

In the film, Megatron was resurrected by the Constructicons Long Haul, Rampage, Mixmaster and Ravage using a stolen piece of the All Spark. It is revealed that Megatron is the lieutenant and apprentice of The Fallen, who is the true leader and founder of the Decepticons. It also turns out that the reason why Megatron is so ruthless and power-hungry is because the founder of Decepticon corrupted him into serving him, thus making the Fallen responsible for the war between the Decepticons and Autobots that destroyed much of Cybertron. Though Megatron remains very powerful, he is not as strong as he was in the first movie, because his original body parts were unusable since he was killed off by the AllSpark before being brought back to life. Instead, much of his original body parts were replaced by the parts of a relatively weak Decepticon, named Scrapmetal (called "ze little one" by The Doctor).

Upon being resurrected, Megatron headed to the crashed Decepticon ship, the Nemesis. There, Megatron was reunited with his master, who ordered Megatron to capture Sam Witwicky as the human now had some information placed into his mind by a shard of the All Spark, and to kill Optimus, who, being the last living Prime, was the only Transformer who could defeat The Fallen. Megatron then ordered Grindor to capture Sam. Grindor then captured Sam and his friends and brought them to an abandoned factory. Megatron then started to interrogate Sam until Optimus and Bumblebee arrived to save Sam and his friends. Megatron and Optimus briefly dueled in a cannon-fight, when Optimus used a cannon to blast the Decepticon through several walls, into the open.

Megatron then chased Optimus and Sam until he caught up with them. Megatron and Optimus then battled violently through a forest, ripping through several acres - even using them as melee weapons. However, whilst Megatron's durability was enough to withstand Optimus's missiles, he was not physically enough to match the Prime in a fight. Therefore, Optimus quickly got the upper hand and Megatron called upon Starscream and Grindor to help him. Despite being outnumbered, the Autobot leader eventually managed to fight off all three Decepticons, stabbing and punching Megatron multiple times, severing Starscream's right arm, and killing Grindor by ripping his head apart. However, as a weary Optimus tried to find Sam (who had been hiding during the battle), Megatron caught Prime off-guard and stabbed him in his spark core, killing the Autobot leader. He and Starscream then retreated when Autobot reinforcements arrived.

With Optimus Prime now dead, Megatron was quite pleased until Starscream informed him that they lost Sam. Furious with his lieutenant's failure to capture a simple "insect," Megatron brutally tortured his lieutenant. Starscream then replied that there were seven billion insects on the planet and Sam was just one among them and that he could be anywhere. Megatron then decided to force the humans into finding Sam for the Decepticons and also decided to come out of hiding and reveal their existence to the Earth. He then broadcasted a message from the Fallen by using the Empire State Building's radio tower. He and the Decepticons then headed to Egypt where the Sun harvester, a machine used to harvest Energon out of suns hidden was in a one of the pyramids of Giza. Starscream then informed Megatron that Autobot's human allies had brought Prime's body. Megatron then realized that Sam had the Matrix of Leadership and can revive Optimus with it. Megatron told Starscream that they cannot let Sam get to Optimus, then ordered the Decepticons to begin their assault.

Megatron then took part in the battle against the Autobots and nearly killed Sam, but then he was suppressed by human firepower and was forced to retreat. Megatron was then seen on top of the pyramid, and watched as The Fallen activated the Sun Havester. However, a revived and super-powered Optimus, now fused with Jetfire, destroyed the Harvester and knocked Megatron and the Fallen off the pyramid. The three Transformers battled destructively, but Optimus eventually gains the upper hand. Megatron attacked Optimus from behind in an attempt to help his master. However, he was quickly overwhelmed and got half of his face blown by his own fusion cannon. Optimus then severed Megatron's right arm with his energon sword and used his afterburners to send Megatron flying through a wall. Megatron, being severely damaged, called out to Starscream for help and then watched helplessly as the Fallen was slain by Optimus. Seeing this, Starscream suggested that he and Megatron retreat, to which he agreed, but vowed that "This isn't over".

Transformers: Dark of the Moon
"Cybertron... you are saved, at last."

- Megatron

Megatron returns as the secondary antagonist of the film.

Severely weakened by the injuries he sustained fighting Optimus Prime in Egypt, Megatron was revealed in Transformers: Dark of the Moon to be hiding in the African Savannah along with Starscream, Soundwave, Igor and Laserbeak, currently serving as the new leader of the Decepticons. Unable to challenge Optimus directly, Megatron arranged for Shockwave to reveal the location of a long lost Autobot ship, the Ark, to the Autobots, as well as its captain, Optimus' mentor and former Autobot leader Sentinel Prime, on Earth's moon. Unknown to Optimus, during the war on Cybertron, Megatron had convinced Sentinel to betray the Autobots under the pretense of ending the war for the sake of preserving their homeworld. In order to do so, Megatron and Sentinel Prime plotted to use a space bridge to transport Cybertron into Earth's Solar System, intending to use the humans as slaves. However, shortly after Sentinel's treachery was revealed, Megatron himself was betrayed by his alleged ally as Sentinel secretly overthrew him and took command of the Decepticons for himself.

During the Decepticon attack on Chicago, Megatron lay on a throne of junk, sulking. Sam's girlfriend Carly Spencer, arrived and pointed out to Megatron that as long as Sentinel was around, he would be less than nothing, saying to Megatron that in the end, he would became the Sentinel's "bitch." This goaded Megatron into action; just as Sentinel was about to deliver the deathblow to Optimus, Megatron turns against Sentinel by viciously attacking and wounding him, declaring Earth was "his" planet to rule. After seeing the space bridge being destroyed, Megatron tossed the crippled Sentinel aside and attempted to make a false truce with Optimus, mockingly asking Prime who he would be without him. But Optimus, knowing that the Deception leader would not give in so easily, responded "time to find out" and attacked Megatron, quickly tearing off his nemesis's head with a battle axe, finally killing him. Optimus then used Megatron's fusion shotgun to finish off Sentinel for his crimes.

Transformers: Age of Extinction
"That is why I have no fear!"

- Galvatron's most famous line to Optimus Prime

Megatron reappears as the tertiary antagonist of Age of Extinction, and is now known as Galvatron. Towards midway over the course of the film, he takes over the 50 man-made Transformers and converts them into his new army, although he only has one battle with Optimus which is his only battle in the whole film and he retreats before he is defeated.

Unknown to all, Megatron's mind actually survived his destruction and was in a stasis inside his severed head. A few years after the battle of Chicago, KSI salvaged Megatron's remains, where CEO Joshua Joyce had them use it to create a new Transformer that intended to resemble Optimus Prime. However, unknown to any of the humans, their tampering re-activated Megatron's spark within, and he began to influence the humans to create an entire army of Transformers so he would eventually hack them and rebuild his Decepticon army. He also learned of an ancient Cybertronian weapon called a "seed" which could cyberform an entire city on its own. He planned to take the seed for himself, desiring to use it to destroy Hong Kong and build more Decepticons. Megatron eventually took over the body of a KSI transformer, Galvatron, accepting the name as his new identity. Although Galvatron intended to steal the seed, he pretended to be a remote-controlled drone for the time being.

Galvatron was first unleashed when he was ordered to chase Optimus Prime and his allies - human and Autobot alike. He pursued them along the outskirts of Chicago, before transforming into Decepticon form to attack them. He launched a series of missiles at the Autobots, going on a rampage and deliberately massacring human civilians - he had originally been designed to be under Joshua Joyce's control but had broken free completely. The humans are horrfied at what Galvatron is doing, as they did not programme him for this. After removing several Autobots, and the humans, from the battle, Galvatron came face to face with Optimus Prime.

An intense brawl broke out, destroying much of the road. Every single attack Optimus executes is effortlessly, violently and furiously redirected against him by Galvatron. The two Transformers' fighting forces the human Tessa into cover, and every single time she tries to escape the fight accidentally obstructs her, pinning her down. In a desperate attempt to end the fight, Optimus Prime stabs Galvatron in the chest, but when the blade hits home, it is shredded - Galvatron has no soul, and thus has no fear. After Optimus exclaims at this, Galvatron sneers at him - actually speaking, which renders the humans at KSI speechless and incredulous. After this, Galvatron easily gains the upper hand on the Autobot, becoming more violent and unpredictable even for Optimus. However, the fight is inadvertently ceased when Lockdown appears and disables Optimus Prime. After this, Galvatron is immediately pulled back.

Galvatron later freed himself permanently, but not before he controlled the other fifty Transformers in KSI's facility in Hong Kong so they became his new army. However, the new Decepticon army was destroyed. In the end, Galvatron was forced to retreat with his remaining minions and claimed that he and Optimus will meet again one day, as he left for parts unknown.

Transformers: The Last Knight
Megatron is set to return in Transformers: The Last Knight, returning to his original name, and he will finally be the main antagonist again along with The Creators. In this film, he dons new battle armor including a helmet that partially covers his mouth as well as an arm cannon and sword, making him even more powerful than before and likely the strongest he's ever been. He is now transforms into a Cybertronian jet, like in the first film.

Personality
Megatron is a warlord, feared for his ruthlessness and brutality, traits that made even Optimus Prime wary of him. He was a complete megalomaniac, as when he wanted to control over Cybertron but ended up destroying it after a countless year war with the Autobots and Decepticons and then wanted the subjugation of the universe by attempting to seize power over the AllSpark. Megatron was somewhat of a social Darwinist, especially towards humans whom he considers insects and would have destroyed the entire Earth just to fulfill his goals. When he was resurrected for the second time in his life, and unleashed by KSI, he became extremely violent and uncontrollably aggressive, massacring every human who came close to him.

As a leader of the Decepticons, Megatron faced no problems while in command, his followers possessed the utmost loyalty towards him and his cause. In fact, the only Decepticon that Megatron did not trust was his second-in-command, Starscream, who had opted for his command, but Megatron is able to keep his loyalty in check using violence and intimidation. He also did not tolerate failure from Starscream and would brutally beat him and even just insult him if he was irritated by his second-in-command's sycophantic groveling. But despite this, Megatron himself answered to a higher power and was a willing servant to his master The Fallen, who he was very loyal towards on Cybertron; the renegade Prime was able to heal him when Megatron had been badly injured.

However, Megatron wasn't always a warmonger; back on Cybertron he co-ruled his native planet with his twin brother and future rival Optimus Prime, but after hearing word of an ancient alien force coming to their planet to seize the Allspark and after this force was unearthed he was left severely injured, but was healed by the Fallen who was in the artifact and was able to manipulate Megatron with the promise of power and then began to desire the AllSpark which began him to create an army of Cybertonians called Decepticons.

Megatron is also narcissistic and arrogant. When he first fought Optimus Prime in the first film, and Optimus said it was just the two of them in this fight, Megatron retorted No, it's just me, Prime! Also, after being killed by Sam Witwicky, Starscream his first lieutenant took command of the Decepticons in his absence, he was enraged and came close to actually killing Starscream while claiming "even in death, there is no command but mine." This also shows when Megatron savagely beat Sentinel Prime half to death as when he was goaded by Carly Spencer by being called Sentinel's "bitch" and claimed that Earth was his and wanted to be in charge of the Decepticons once more.

As revealed in Transformers: Age of Extinction, Megatron is also extremely intelligent and manipulative; after being decapitated by Optimus Prime, KSI used his head to hack Cybertronian encryptions but this ended up reactivating him and this allowed Megatron to trick KSI into building him a body called Galvatron and an entire army of Transformers so that he could seize the Seed and arise a larger one. But despite this high IQ Megatron can also be single-minded at times. For all his faults, the only thing that Megatron loved was his home world Cybertron, so much so that he struck a deal with Sentinel Prime to revive it if only so he could be the one who ruled it.

Games
NOTE: The games are in a different canon compared to the movies. Each campaign is also in a different canon.

Decepticon campaign
After Blackout and Starscream destroyed Hover Dam's freezing system, Megatron awoke before thawing out of his icy prison. He then demolished Mission City with his fire power alone in order to draw Optimus Prime out, which was successful. The Autobot leader rose from his shadows and battled his brother to the death, and though he put up a valid fight, Megatron eventually defeated Optimus. The Decepticon leader then brutally murdered the crippled Autobot by slamming his flail into his "skull". With Prime dead and Allspark within his cold hands, Megatron merged the Allspark with his spark, somehow granting him universally unstoppable power. The game fades out as Megatron, who is using the Lincoln Memorial as his throne, orders the remaining Decepticons to finish Earth (which is now just a fiery wasteland) off before continuing on to the next galaxy.

Autobot campaign
When Bumblebee arrived at the Hover Dam, Megatron was already awake yet incapacitated by the block of ice around him. Bumblebee managed to retrieve the Allspark even with an angry Megatron firing upon him, yet the Decepticon commander still broke out and re-established his reign over his military. Megatron tried to take the Allspark from Sam, but was confronted and eventually defeated by Optimus Prime. Weakened, but still alive, Megatron tried to attack his enemy one last time, but Optimus rammed the Allspark into Megatron's chest, killing him.

Decepticon campaign
The Decepticons finally managed to resurrect their fallen leader where he then took back control over them. His first mission in his new, stronger body was to, of course, find and kill Optimus Prime who was residing in a city block with a squad of Autobots protecting him. The one who gave him such a task was his enigmatic master, the Fallen, as the two planned to harvest the sun's energy via a primordial device built by the ancient Transformers and use the overwhelming power to become gods. After defeating Prime, the Decepticons were successful on recovering the Sun Harvester. However, the Fallen unwittingly betrayed Megatron and hogged the sun's energy for himself, becoming an omnipresent deity capable of anything. Despite the Fallen's power, Megatron used his rage and murdered his traitorous former master before taking the power for himself, raising an army of brand new followers, and seemingly succeeded his goals in universal conquest.

Autobot campaign
In the Autobot campaign, Megatron still escaped his watery grave and attempted to recover the harvester with the Fallen in Cario. Megatron and a supporting Starscream then ran into Optimus and Jetfire, where the four then had a brawl. Though Megatron and Starscream were defeated, it ultimately ended up in the death of Jetfire. However, the Decepticons were still unsuccessful, as in the film, as Prime used Jetfire's shared power to kill the Fallen and save Earth yet again.

Dark of the Moon
As the Dark of the Moon game is the apparently canon prequel to its film adaptation with the same name, it takes place three years after Revenge of the Fallen where Megatron retreated to a Decepticon barrack housed in a missile silo. He led several Decepticon invasion and raids on Autobots bases before confronting the Autobot officer Warpath and scanning a new vehicle mode. Afterwards, Megatron faced Optimus Prime himself, and finally defeated his heroic brother. However, instead of killing him, the Decepticon commander simply locked Prime in a cryo chamber before thawing out the Decepticon assassin known as Shockwave from his icy sprison. With one of his best warriors under his control, Megatron commanded Shockwave to invade a Chernobyl nuclear plant before constructing a camp in Africa, setting up the events of the film.

Trivia

 * Despite his undeniable hatred for humans, Megatron is the only Decepticon who fluently speak English instead of Cybertronian, which almost all other Decepticons do at the beginning of the first film.
 * Megatron is arguably the most powerful Decepticon of all time - even though he serves other beings in most of the films, he is renowned as the one who gets his hands dirty, as well as the one cunning enough to have a backup plan. Also, whenever he and his fellow Decepticons are in battle in any way with Optimus Prime, Megatron is the one who always comes into direct combat with Optimus for a broad time and so much as lasts a minute:
 * In the first film, Megatron slays Jazz effortlessly and, when he battles Optimus, he is shown to be significantly stronger and overwhelms the Autobot leader rather easily. Megatron is the largest of the Transformers that appear in the film, matching only Optimus Prime, and is incredibly powerful. This incarnation is completely relentless and doesn't yield in a fight even after being repeatedly shot by human fighter jets.
 * In Revenge of the Fallen, when he confronts Optimus Prime a second time, the brawl destroys huge amounts of their surroundings, but Optimus still gains the upper hand, forcing Megatron to call for reinforcements so that he can recover before reentering the clash. In the end, he defeats Optimus through cunning rather than combat skill. At the climax of the film, he pairs up with the Fallen to duel Optimus, but is overpowered due to the Autbot leader's upgraded power mode.
 * In Dark of the Moon, during the Battle of Chicago, he brutally injures Sentinel Prime, but is soon defeated by Optimus.
 * Finally, in Age of Extinction, where Megatron is now in a far more powerful and advanced body than any of his predecessors. He is shown to have much more destructive weaponry as well. During his fight with Optimus Prime, he is shown to match Optimus in a fight relatively easily, and his durability and dexterity means he has an unprecedented but overwhelming advantage. Also, because this incarnation of Megatron does not have a collective 'soul', he is completely incapable of fear and is much harder to kill - he is immune to fatal stab wounds or being thrown over vast distances. The only reason he did not defeat Optimus properly was because Lockdown intervened.
 * Megatron scans and transforms into a trucker in the third film in order to blend into the human's every day lives. This can notably be compared to Optimus's trucker vehicle mode.
 * Megatron in the first three films is voiced by Hugo Weaving, who also played Agent Smith from The Matrix franchise and Red Skull from Captain America: The First Avenger.
 * As Galvatron, he is voiced by Frank Welker, who also voiced Megatron's original incarnation as well in the video game adaptations of the film series.
 * In the second film's old script, Megatron was promised to become a Prime by the Fallen only to be betrayed, as Optimus states primes are born, not made. Megatron then wipes himself off the radar where he goes back to the Nemesis and raises his hatchlings, enraged. This conclusion was instead used in the Decepticon campaign of the Revenge of the Fallen console games. However, it is slightly altered as, after the Fallen's betrayal, Megatron slays the Fallen himself before nurturing his hatchlings.
 * Megatron was originally going to named Galvatron after his resurrection in the second film, but he eventually retained his original name to avoid confusion.
 * Galvatron, however, appeared in Age of Extinction, where he appears as a human-made Decepticon designed by Joshua Joyce whom made from Megatron's remains. This practically explain why Joshua ended up revived him in a new body like his other incarnation whom evolved/revived with Unicron's influence.
 * There were originally going to be scenes and mentions of Megatron actually eating the sparks (hearts) of his fallen foes, but was cut for time issues. He also apparently injests the innards of his enemies in the DS version of the game and such an action was performed by him in a book based on the first film.
 * Elements from Megatron's appearance, especially in the first movie while his alt-mode is a cybertronian jet, are added into his Transformers Prime version.
 * As Galvatron, he bears more resemblance to Nemesis Prime than most of his incarnations, as both robot villains are evil "clones" of Optimus Prime.
 * Megatron is the most recurring villain in the film series, and while there are villains who take his role as main antagonist for a single movie, he always outlives them and comes back stronger than they were, making him the Big Bad of the entire franchise.