Megatron (Transformers Film Series)

"Is the future of our race not worth a single human life?"

- Megatron

"It feels good to grab your flesh! I am going to kill you slowly, painfully, but first, we have some delicate work to do. How could I snap your limbs off!"

- Megatron before torturing Sam

Megatron is the main antagonist of the live action Transformers trilogy, being based off his original incarnation with the same name. Formerly the ballistic High Lord Protector of Cybertron, Megatron's already psychopathic mind when into action and seized galactic conquest before the heroic Autobots waged war on his newly formed Decepticon military.

In all three films, he is portrayed by Hugo Weaving. In the games, however, iconic voice actor Frank Welker reprises his role as the sociopathic mechanical commander.

Transformers Live Action
"You fight for the weak. That is why YOU LOSE!"

- Megatron taunting Optimus Prime



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 are also in battle against Autobots Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Ironhide, Ratchet, and Jazz. He kills Autobot Jazz by ripping him in half, then Optimus Prime came in and battles Megatron. At one point, there is actually a conversation where Optimus Prime and Megatron fight over their opinion of the human race. Megatron believes humans don't deserve to live while

Optimus believes that humans deserve to choose for themselves. Hearing this, Megatron orders Optimus to join the human race in extinction.

Optimus could not defeat him and for a period of time, 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 nearly kills Sam Witwicky by knocking him off the building but Optimus rescues him. Blackout was about to aid Megatron in battle with Optimus, but was destroyed by the US Military. The Air Force then blast several missiles and human soldiers use guns to shoot bullets at Megatron. Despite suffering damage, Megatron could not be killed by human weaponry, with the human race determined to destroy him fail. Then, Sam Witwicky pushes the All Spark into Megatron's chest, and the Decepticon is finally destroyed. The war ends with Megatron, Blackout, and Brawl dumped into the Laurentian Abyss while Autobots and humans unite.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
"Even in death, there is no command but mine."

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



In the sequel Transformers: Revenge Of the Fallen, Megatron was resurrected by the Constructicons and Ravage using a stolen piece of the All Spark. He is not the main antagonist in the film but is the secondary antagonist (the main antagonist is The Fallen, Megatron's master and the true leader of the Decepticons). It actually turns out that the reason why Megatron became so ruthless and power-hungry was because the Fallen corrupted him into serving him, thus making the Fallen responsible for the war between the Decepticons and Autobots that destroyed much of Cybertron. Megatron is not as strong as in Revenge of the Fallen as he was in the 2007 movie because his original body parts are unusable since he was killed off by the AllSpark before being brought back to life. Instead, his original body parts are replaced by a weak Decepticon, Scrapmetal (called "ze little one" by The Doctor). Upon being resurrected, Megatron then orders Grindor to capture Sam as the human had some important information from another piece of the All Spark. Grindor then captures Sam and his friends and brings them to an abandoned factory, Megatron then starts to interrogate Sam until Optimus and Bumblebee arrived to save Sam and his friends. Megatron then chased Optimus and Sam until he caught up with them, Megatron and Optimus battled each other, at first Optimus gained the upper hand unlike in the first movie where he could not do anything to harm Megatron. Megatron called upon Starscream and Grindor. Despite being outnumbered, the Autobot leader managed to fight all three Decepticons, severing Starscream's right arm and killing Grindor by ripping his head apart. Megatron then caught Optimus off-guard and stabbed him in his spark chamber, killing the Autobot leader. He and Starscream then retreated when Autobot reinforcements arrived.

With Optimus now dead, Megatron was quite pleased until Starscream informed him that they lost Sam. Furious with his lieutenant's failure to capture a single "insect". Megatron brutally smacked his lieutenant and steped on him. 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 decides to force the humans into finding Sam for the Decepticons and also decides to come out of hiding and reveal their existence to the Earth. He then broadcasts a message from the Fallen by using the Empire State Building's radio tower.&nbsp He and the Decepticons then head to Egypt where the Sun harvester, a machine used to harvest energon out of suns hidden in a one of the pyramids of Giza. Starscream then informs Megatron that Autobot's human allies have brought Prime's body. Megatron then realizes that Sam has the Matrix of Leadership and can revive Optimus with it. Megatron tells Starscream that they cannot let Sam get to Optimus and then he order the Decepticons to begin their assault.

Megatron then takes part in the battle against the Autobots and then he nearly killed Sam but then he was suppressed by human firepower and was forced to retreat. Megatron is then seen on top of the pyramid when a revived Optimus (with parts given to him by Jetfire) destroys the Sun Harvester and knocks Megatron and the Fallen off the pyramid. Megatron then battles Optimus but then gets half of his face blown by his own fusion cannon and then Optimus severs Megatron's right arm with his energon swords and using his afterburners to send Megatron hurling through the ruins. Megatron, being severely damaged, call outs to Starscream for help and then watches helplessly as the Fallen is killed by Optimus. Seeing this, Starscream suggests that he and Megatron retreat, to which Megatron agrees, vowing that "This isn't over".

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

- Megatron



Megatron returns and is the secondary antagonist of the film.

Greatly 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 Savanah along with Starscream, Soundwave, Igor, and Laserbeak. Unable to challenge Optimus directly, Megatron arranged for Shockwave to reveal to the Autobots the location of the lost Autobot vessel the Ark and it's pilot, 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. Once Sentinel's treachery was revealed however, Megatron himself was betrayed by his alleged ally as Sentinel overthrew him and siezed command of the Decepticons for himself. During the Decepticon attack on Chicago at the film's climax, Sam's girlfriend Carly pointed out to Megatron that as long as Sentinel was around, he would be less than nothing. This goaded Megatron into attacking Sentinel just as he was about to finish off Optimus. With Sentinel incapacitated, Megatron proposed a truce with Optimus, arguing that they would be nothing without each other. Optimus however found no agreement in the the truce and promptly decapitated Megatron with his energon battle axe

However, in the film's novelization, after Sentinel Prime is killed, he instead asks Optimus to let him leave Earth and return to Cybertron's remains, saying that he is tired of the war. Optimus is initially skeptical, but after Megatron offers to let Optimus shoot him with Sentinel Prime's gun as an alternative, he allows the badly damaged Decepticon to leave, ending the war.

Games
NOTE: The games are so much more different than the movie that it is considered 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 brutally murdered the crippled robot by slamming his mace into his "skull". With Prime dead and Allspark within his cold hands, Megatron merged the Allspark into his own chest, 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 stopped and killed by Optimus Prime once he got a hold of the spark and shoved it into Megatron's chest, saving Earth.

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.

Trivia

 * Despite his hatred for humans, Megatron is the only Decepticon to only fluently speak English instead of Cybertronian, which almost all other Decepticons do at the beginning of the first film.
 * 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.
 * In the second film, Megatron was originally 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 murders 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.
 * 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.