Megatron (Transformers Film Series)


 *  NOTE: This article is about the incarnation of Megatron from the Transformers live-action film series. The mainstream version can be found here: Megatron. 

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

- Megatron taunting Optimus Prime.

Megatron is the main antagonist of the Transformers Cinematic Universe. He served as the main antagonist of Transformers, the secondary antagonist of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and Transformers: Dark of the Moon, a supporting antagonist of Transformers: Age of Extinction within his prototype identity Galvatron, and one of the two main antagonists of Transformers: The Last Knight (alongside Quintessa).

He is an extremely powerful, destructive, and warmongering Decepticon hell-bent on Decepticon rule over humankind and the Earth. He is also the evil twin brother and arch-nemesis 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 brother, 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. Following the demise of both The Fallen and Sentinel, Megatron was brought back to life thanks to the machinations of Cemetery Wind KSI and Lockdown, and eventually teamed up with Quintessa to revitalize Cybertron by killing Earth (which were, in reality, Primus and Unicron).

Personality
Megatron is a ruthless and treacherous warlord, feared for his ruthlessness and brutality, traits that made even Optimus Prime wary of him. He was completely megalomaniacal, authoritative, and power-hungry, 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 easily 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 and respectable towards on Cybertron; the renegade Prime was able to heal him when Megatron had been badly injured.

However, Megatron wasn't always a belligerent and militaristic 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, overconfident, egotistical, 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 and pertinacious at times. For all of 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 Hoover 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 Hoover 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 Cairo. 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 prison. 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.

Quotes
"You still fight for the weak. That is why you lose."

- Megatron during his fight with Optimus in the first film.

"I am Megatron!"

- Megatron escaping his prison in the first movie.

"We were brothers once."

- Megatron during his fight with Optimus in The Last Knight.

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

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

"Today we hunt…"

- Megatron in a trailer for Transformers: The Last Knight.

"I want my crew…"

- Megatron in a Japanese TV spot for The Last Knight.

Portrayals

 * In the first three films, he was voiced by, who also played V, Agent Smith, and Red Skull.
 * In the video games for the first two movies and later films, he was voiced by legendary voice actor Frank Welker, who also voiced his Generation One cartoon counterpart and Soundwave.
 * In the video game for Dark of the Moon, he was voiced by Ted Tatascoire, who also voiced his "Aligned" counterpart in the video games War for Cybertron, Fall of Cybertron, and Rise of the Dark Spark, and Solomon Grundy.

Trivia

 * Megatron is one of the most powerful Decepticons of all time rivaling his former late master The Fallen. 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 a battle in any way with Optimus Prime, Megatron is usually the one who always comes into direct combat with Optimus for a broad time and usually the only one who so much as lasts a minute or even dominates his opponent:
 * 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 one of 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 re-entering the clash. In the end, he defeats Optimus through cunning tactics rather than combat skill. He snuck up on the Autobot leader while he was searching for Sam, impaled him with his blade and blew his spark out simultaneously with his cannon ultimately killing him. At the climax of the film, he pairs up with the Fallen to duel Optimus, but is overpowered due to the Autobot leader's upgraded power mode.
 * In Dark of the Moon, during the Battle of Chicago, he brutally injures Sentinel Prime but is soon decapitated by Optimus due to being severely battle-damaged from the prior film.
 * In Age of Extinction, 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 that Lockdown intervened.
 * Finally, in The Last Knight, although he has presumably ditched his Transformium ability, his new body has extreme durability and while several explosions or rapid machine gunfire may stagger him, he suffers no wounds, only Optimus' sword being able to damage him. In the end, it took all the Autobots combined and Viviane distracting him to defeat him, although they couldn't finish him off, and he presumably survived even his fall from Cybertron and reentry into Earth.
 * Megatron scans and transforms into a truck in the third film in order to blend into the human's everyday lives. This can notably be compared to Optimus' truck vehicle mode.
 * 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 made from Megatron's remains. This practically explains why Joshua ended up reviving him in a new body like his other incarnation who 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 ingests the innards of his enemies in the Nintendo DS version of the game and such an action was performed by him in a book based on the first film.
 * During the events of The Last Knight, Megatron has the same red mark as the one that Optimus had when Quintessa put him under her control. It is, therefore, possible that he was either controlled or simply made allegiance to Quintessa with the mark as evidence. Evidence suggests he was working willingly with her, his eyes retaining their natural red color, while Optimus (as Nemesis Prime) had purple optics.

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Megatron (filmy)