Unicron/Synopsis

The story of the planet-consumer Unicron from the Transformers series.

The Transformers: The Movie
Unicron is the main antagonist of the 1986 film The Transformers: The Movie. He is known and feared by mechanical life forms (and all Transformers are tiny compared to him).

At the beginning of the film, he devours the planet Lithone, leaving only one survivor (Kranix). Later, he recruited a mortally-wounded Megatron to destroy the Matrix of Leadership, transfiguring and upgrading Megatron into Galvatron while turning his injured Decepticon minions into Cyclonus, Scourge & the Sweeps.

Galvatron destroyed Ultra Magnus and took the Matrix for himself, planning to betray his master. But when Unicron devoured Cybertron's moons, Galvatron was enraged, claiming they and the planet itself belonged to him. He defied Unicron, trying unsuccessfully to use the Matrix as a weapon, but was tortured into obedience by him. Galvatron even tried to ally with his mortal enemies, the Autobots, in order to save Cybertron from being destroyed.

However, Galvatron was unable to withstand Unicron's torture, and obediently attacked Hot Rod - a young Autobot and the main protagonist of the film. Hot Rod took back the Matrix of Leadership - turning him into Rodimus Prime - and after despatching Galvatron by throwing him out into space right through Unicrons armored skin, opened the Matrix container, allowing its energies to radiate freely. Unicron was then torn apart from the inside, finally blasting into debris, with his head torn free relatively intact to orbit Cybertron as a new moon.

He was voiced by the late Orson Welles, who played the villainous Henry Potter in the 1977 TV-Movie remake of It's A Wonderful Life. Welles' voice also provided direct inspiration for the ever ambitious lab mouse, The Brain.

G1 Transformers (Season 3)
After the events of the movie, Unicron made a brief appearance in the first part of Five Faces of Darkness, wherein Cyclonus, Scourge & the Sweeps visited Unicron's head to look for the whereabouts of Galvatron. They were able to pinpoint his location after replaying the footage of the final battle on the movie on his databank.

He was briefly mentioned by Astrotrain in the episode "Chaos" by claiming Galvatron will be more famous than him in history.

Later, Starscream's ghost, as well as a kidnapped & possessed Scourge, confronted Unicron by reactivating him in the episode "Ghost in the Machine". The deceased Decepticon made a deal with Unicron by resurrecting him in exchange for giving the Chaos Bringer a new body. The first task is giving Unicron a set of eyes from the Autobot City Metroplex. Starscream & Scourge succeeded but unfortunately were caught by the Autobots, causing one of the eyes to shatter. They soon left, while leaving a blind Metroplex to attack the Aerialbots out of confusion. They went to Chaar instead and took one of Trypticon's eyes as a replacement. After completing the first task, Unicron assigns them the second task: Trypticon's transformation cog, much to their annoyance. Starscream & Scourge returned to Trypticon, were he possessed the colossal Decepticon and kidnapped him. After completing the second task by installing Trypticon's transformation cog in him, Uncron assigns the final task: Connect him to Cybertron. Scourge was stunned by this and left, leaving Starscream to continue the task. He, while posessing Trypticon, brought Unicron to Cybertron to complete the final task, only to be interrupted by both sides, until the Decepticons successfully rid Trypticon of Starscream's control. Leaving no other choice, Unicron was forced to resurrect Starscream immediately for him to easily connect him to Cybertron. The Faustian bargain ended in betrayal - naturally - when Starscream abandoned Unicron, telling him to connect to Cybertron by himself and left. Unicron was driven from Cybertron when the Autobots planted Energon bombs on his head, causing him to launch into space, with Starscream in turn suffering the same fate as well.

Galvatron and the Decepticons returned to Unicron's head again in the episode "Grimlock's New Brain", searching for a dangerous element known as the anti-electrons, only to be attacked by his defenses. Grimlock - who had had his intelligence greatly enhanced at the time - arrived on the scene after the Autobots arrived to stop them by creating the Technobots out of some of the parts of the Chaos Bringer's head. The newly created Strafe disabled Unicron's internal mechanisms to deactivate his systems.

Unicron was last seen in the (noncanonical) episode "Calling All Primitives" in his final days of composition. Primacron, Unicron's "creator", made him a new "brother" and successor known as Tornedron who was even more powerful and successful than him. His creation was also revealed by the Oracle to the Primitives, Primacron's former assistant, as well as the one responsible for the Oracle's death.

G1 Transformers (Marvel Comics)
Unicron is introduced when a group of Transformers accidentally ends up in the core of Cybertron and stirs Primus awake. The god, who has been sleeping for an eternity, responds to his rude awakening with a mind-shattering cry which echoes across the gulf of the cosmos. The Autobots had been direly warned by the ancient guardian of Primus that the god would have to remain asleep, for if he awake his counterpart would surely be drawn to his ancient enemy.

The guardian also tells all that he knows about Unicron: that he is the last and most dreaded of the gods of darkness, who had been destroyed at the dawn of time by the gods of light; and that it was Primus' task, as a light-god, to defeat him. But as their struggle raged through endless worlds and dimensional planes, it became clear that Unicron was the more destructive of the two, and would ultimately prevail. Primus resorted to trickery: he lured Unicron to the base material level, but upon arrival managed to trap both of their spiritual essences in lifeless, metallic asteroids. Over the eons, the asteroids were seperated from each other; but the two gods still shared a mental connection. As a consequence, when one of them learned to manipulate the material of his body into a living body, the other did as well; and when Unicron learned to transform his living planet body into the shape of a giant warrior which resembled his original appearance, Primus also mastered the concept of physical transformation.

But Primus was frightened. He no longer believed he could defeat Unicron on his own. Instead, he created a race of robotic warriors, the first Transformers, and bestowed on the first of them the Matrix of Leadership, which contained the vast reserves of his power. He then entered a long hibernation, so that Unicron was unable to use their mental connection to find him, and hoping that his robotic creations would become powerful and formidable enough to defeat Unicron.

Now, this period was at an end; Unicron had become alert to Primus' location, and was coming to destroy him once and for all. However, he suspected trickery; so, he created three servants and sent them down one of the many timelines that he perceived stretched ahead of him, to retrieve for him a worthy servant. This servant, abducted by force from his rightful time, was none other than the fearsome Galvatron. Unicron compelled Galvatron to travel to the Cybertron of the present to destroy any opposition he might face and any threat that might impede Unicron's victory. But Galvatron was furious to be enslaved by Unicron again and sought revenge against him, seeking out Emirate Xaaron, an Autobot sage, to awaken Primus once again. Unicron, upon reaching Cybertron, met great resistance from the resident Transformers, who were inspired by Galvatron's own initial attack; even some humans with extranormal powers fought him, until, it seemed, Primus manifested again. Xaaron had managed to conjure Primus' consciousness, which was now inhabiting his body; but his power, divided across so many, was insignificant compared to that of the Chaos-Bringer, who readily destroyed Xaaron, seeming scattering Primus' spirit as well.

As all seemed lost, one other, improbable warrior stood against Unicron - Thunderwing, a Decepticon with a unique (for his kind) affinity with the Matrix of Leadership, had become possessed by the object after it had become corrupted and tainted by evil. The massive ethereal Matrix-demon attacked Unicron, and its dread dark power seemed to overwhelm even him; but then, the planet-eater proved the master of evil. In darkness, he has no equal, and so he destroyed even the Matrix-beast and Thunderwing.

Unicron transformed into planet mode and prepared to devour Cybertron and finally end billions of years of waiting for his ultimate victory, when one final warrior raced towards him. The Matrix, fallen to Cybertron's surface, seemingly lost to darkness for good, had been recovered by Optimus Prime; and he, through his thousands of millennia of carrying it within him, had a stronger bond with it than anyone. He overcame the darkness and banished it, and once again lay bare the essence of Primus himself - the god of light. Brandishing the now newly pure Matrix, he launched himself at Unicron and plunged it and himself into the great devourers hungry maw.

The effect was utter annihilation as light and darkness ultimately cancelled each other out... and Unicron exploded into nothingness. He, and his counterpart Primus, had finally fulfilled their destinies and perished.

T.V. series
Unicron does not physically appear in the series, but was briefly mentioned several times. He was first referenced by a Starscream-possessed Waspinator by "explaining" he was "killed" by him, though it truth it was Galvatron. The Vok also took the form of Unicron's head when he talked to Optimus Primal, claiming they had scanned his mind and chose him as an "authority figure". Megatron later would refer a now traitor Tarantulas as a "spawn of Unicron".

Japanese anime
Unicron does not physically appear in the (noncanonical) Japanese anime continuity Beast Wars II but however left presence of his life force known as "Angolmois", which cause the the destruction of humanity in a post-apocalyptic future & Earth being known as Gaea. After thousands of years of the great wars between the Autobots & Decepticons, the Decepticon (later Predacon) leader Galvatron (a different Galvatron who had no connection to the original one or his alternate counterparts) attempted to harvest Angolmois for himself by using his artificial planet Nemesis & attempted to suck all of the Angolmois energy out of Gaea & into the craft. However, with the interference of Lio Convoy & Lio Jr., all of the Angolmois energy was sealed into capsules & ejected from Nemesis into space as it seftdestructs, while killing Galvatron in the process, as well as trapping the Maximals into a wormhole & the Predacons being sent adrift into space.

Unicron then made an appearance on its sequel Beast Wars Neo, playing a much more larger role than before. He created a group of freakish Beastformer servants known as the Blendtrons consisting of Elephorca, Rartorata & Drancron & engineered his rebirth. They confronted a forces of Maximals (led by Big Convoy) & Predacons (led by Magmatron) who were tasked of collecting the Angolmois capsules scattered across the galaxy that were wrecking havoc on the planet their in & interrupt them by the stealing the Angolmois capsules from them.

After successfully stealing the Angolmois from them, they released the Angolmois energy into the dead Galvatron's body, allowing Unicron to possessed him. A newly ressurected Unicron then abosorbed all the remaining strain of Angolmois back into him, including the Blendtrons as well, & left to confront Cybertron once again. Great Convoy & his Maximal armada attempted to stop him, only to be defeated & killed in the process after Unicron took the form of a fiery serpentine dragon.

He then possessed Vector Sigma & successfully turned Cybertron into his new body. He becomes fully unstoppable but was then fought by the conjoined forces of Big Convoy, his Maximal team, Lio Convoy, Magmatron & his Predacon team. Big Convoy then finally defeats him by installing his Matrix on his own Big Cannon, turning it into the Matrix Buster & shot Unicron with it, destroying him for good. With Unicron gone from Vector Sigma, the Maximals and Predacons set aside their differences and help each other rebuild Cybertron.

Unicron Trilogy
Unicron serves as the Bigger Bad and central antagonist of the Unicron Trilogy, being a trio of three anime television series: Armada, Energon, and Cybertron.

Transformers: Armada
Unicron served as the main antagonist of Transformers: Armada, where he was defeated by the Autobot warrior Omega Supreme during the past. Following his defeat, Unicron hid himself in plain sight of the Transformers, disguised as the moon of their home planet Cybertron. He was also revealed to be the creator of small robots known as Mini-Cons, as he intends to re-energize himself by using the Mini-Cons to feed off the hatred that the Autobots and Deceptions showed to each other during the war on Cybertron.

However, several human children (who were dispatched from the 21st century) caused an interference that led the Mini-Cons to develop sentience within themselves and lay dormant for millions of years. Following the Mini-Cons' awakening, Unicron took the opportunity to heighten the conflict between the Autobots and Decepticons. He also created a new being known as Sideways to serve as his agent with the purpose of manipulating both sides. Following the fourth season, Sideways was able to obtain all three Mini-Con weapons (the Star Saber, Requiem Blaster and Skyboom Shield) to reactivate Unicron, shedding off his lunar disguise and revealing his true form to the universe.

With the threat of Unicron at hand, the Autobots and Decepticons are forced to enter an alliance together to fight against Unicron, who fights back while transforming into robot mode. As Optimus Prime, Galvatron and the human kids enter into Unicron's body to free the Mini-Con weapons, Unicron addressed them through Sideways's form, absorbing all but Optimus into his collective consciousness and bringing the Mini-Cons back under his control. However, the kids were able to convince the Mini-Cons to free themselves from Unicron's control, deactivating him and freeing the Mini-Con weapons.

With the threat of Unicron seemingly over, Galvatron entered into a final battle with Optimus, but they both soon realize that hatred of each other is stirring Unicron back to life. Realizing his mistake, Galvatron plunges himself into Unicron's maw, destroying Unicron for good.

Transformers: Energon
Unicron appeared again as the main antagonist in Transformers: Energon, where it turned out that he has survived his defeat and continued consuming more planets. However, several inhabitants of a planet known as Planet Q were able to defeat Unicron by setting their planet's core to explode on Unicron's face, sending him to a state of dormancy. Despite being defeated, Unicron's life essence passed on to the planet's ruler Alpha Q, corrupting him and having him to recreate armies of Terrocons.

As Galvatron managed to revive himself by having his spark remain inside Unicron, Alpha Q was forced to escape, leaving Galvatron to round up the Decepticons of his new plan to revive Unicron and take over the universe. To that end, the Decepticons manage to raid Alpha Q's planets of enough Energon to successfully revive Unicron to his powerful form. With that in mind, Megatron directs himself to Unicron's head, extinguishing the Energon Sun and killing Alpha Q in the process. However, Unicron's power proved to be too powerful for Galvatron to control, and Galvatron ends up being controlled by Unicron.

Unicron proceeds to battle against the Autobots, but Optimus (being enhanced with the power of Primus) manage to defeat him and free Galvatron from Unicron's control, encasing Unicron's spark into a sphere. An angry Galvtron attempts to destroy Unicron's spark, but it soon merged with him again, much to his horror. Meanwhile, Primus merged with the Super Energon to create a new sun which arrived at the site of the battle. In a brief moment of conscience, Galvatron decides to plunge himself into the infant sun to rid himself of Unicron's possession. The super energon mass, having now received Unicron's spark, ignited into a powerful red sun which gave new life to Alpha Q's worlds.

Transformers: Cybertron
Although Unicron doesn't appear in Transformers: Cybertron, he left a huge presence of his darkness in the series after his death. Primus had attempted to trap Unicron forever in the heart of the new sun, but failed to do so after it collapsed, turning it into a massive black hole, known as the "Grand Black Hole", consuming every planet on its path. The collapse of the sun also allowed Galvatron to escape alive, as well as upgrading himself with Unicron's remains into an armor, which gave him the ability to warp through reality, a devastating Energon aura, an ability to create new Decepticons, upgrade and repair fallen comrades and tap into the power of the Cyber Planet Keys. It is also revealed that Unicron's actions towards Galvatron has already twisted the latter to share the same goals as Unicron's, particularly using the Cyber Planet Keys to accelerate the black hole's growth and destroy the entire universe, as well as recreating it in his own image afterwards.

However, this plan failed after the Autobots, as well as several reformed Decepticons, successfully restored Primus' full power, and Galvatron ends up being destroyed in his final battle against Optimus Prime, destroying the last traces of Unicron forever.

Transformers: Prime
"Yes, disciple of Primus, on this very day, for Unicron may be one, but we all are Unicron!"

- The several life forms resembling Unicron who have the same soul as the real Unicron

Unicron was first mentioned by name in The Hub TV show Transformers: Prime, who is called "The Destroyer" and "The Chaos Bringer". Megatron obtains Dark Energon from Unicron which helped Megatron survive a space bridge explosion.

Unicron made his first physical appearance where Megatron was guided to an Earth volcano that is erupting Dark Energon. Megatron wanted Unicron to accept him as his humble servant, but Unicron refused and decided to kill off Optimus Prime himself instead of waiting for Megatron to do so. It is also stated that Unicron is responsible for Earth's creation, thus also creating Earth's biological life forms.

Humans all over the world were suffering natural disasters such as floods, tornadoes, and hurricanes, with no where on the planet being safe. There were duplicated clones of Unicron arising to kill Optimus Prime, from nearly slighty taller to much bigger than the Transformers. The real Unicron is actually in the core of the Earth with bat-like robots guarding the real Unicron's body. Megatron could not resist being possessed/ brainwashed by Unicron into killing Optimus, as the Autobots and Megatron teamed up against Unicron.

Optimus uses the Matrix of Leadership to destroy Unicron, since the Matrix contains the essence of Unicron's twin brother, Primus. After Unicron was destroyed, Optimus's memories after being known as Orion Pax were erased.

Unicron returns as the primary antagonist in the series finale, Predacons Rising. Awakened by the restoration of Cybertron, Unicron cast around for a new vessel for his anti-spark, and found Megatron's body at the bottom of the ocean. Reconstructing and reviving Megatron, Unicron took possession of his body and flew to Cybertron with the aim of destroying Primus once and for all.

He arrived at Megatron's old fortress of Darkmount, where he fought four Autobots. Dissatisfied by his new body's performance in battle, he tracked down Predaking, whom Megatron claimed was a loyal warrior. After a brief fight, Unicron prevailed and learned of the existence of a burial ground of Predacon remains.

He used his Dark Energon to revive the Predacons as an army of Terrorcons, and led them across the Hydrax Plateau to the Well of All Sparks, forcing both Autobots and Decepticons to work together to stop Unicron. While the Terrorcons poured into the Well, Unicron felt the return of the AllSpark, which Optimus Prime had just brought back to the planet. Unicron easily bested Prime in battle, and obtained the vessel, only to find it empty. The vessel instead drew Unicron's anti-spark into itself, sealing the dark god inside and freeing Megatron from his will.

In this version, Unicron is voiced by John Noble.

Transformers Cinematic Universe
Unicron is the Bigger Bad of the Transformers Cinematic Universe, as he was known to be the ancient enemy of the Cybertronians and the Creators eons ago. As such, the Creators planned on destroying Unicron to preserve life of Cybertron by any means necessary.

Transformers: The Last Knight
Unicron doesn't appear in The Last Knight, but is mentioned several times by the Creator sorceress Quintessa, who believes that Earth is the dormant body of Unicron. Following the deaths of Lockdown and Harold Attinger, Quintessa moves the planet Cybertron into Earth's atmosphere, hoping to use an ancient Cybertronian machine that will allow Cybertron to collide with the Earth and drain all of its energy. Quintessa even formed up a deal with Megatron (the former protege of The Fallen and current leader of the Decepticons) to help activate the machine so that the Creators and Decepticons can rule Cybertron in peace.

However, this failed when Optimus Prime (the former protege of Sentinel Prime) leads the Autobots to defeat the Decepticons and deactivate the machine to stop the collision. After Optimus finishes off Megatron by sending him flying back to Earth, Quintessa is forced to exile herself in Earth after being seemingly vanquished by Bumblebee. During a mid-credit scene, when several scientists discovered a giant spike of Unicron, Quintessa (in her human disguise) tells them to not touch it, saying that he doesn't like it. She also offers to help the scientists on how to destroy Unicron.

Transformers 6
Unicron might possibly appear in Transformers 6 as the main antagonist, as he may be awakened from his slumber and become a more dangerous threat to the Transformers, the Creators, and humankind altogether.