| “ | Baby, free at last! Thank Megatron, I'm free at last! | „ |
| ~ Nitro Zeus |
Nitro Zeus is a supporting antagonist of the 2017 film Transformers: The Last Knight. He is a Decepticon Air Commander who serves for Megatron.
In the finalized, theatrical release of the film, he was voiced by John DiMaggio, who also played Bender, Igner, and Joey Mousepad in Futurama, Dr. Drakken in Kim Possible, Socktopus in The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants, Dagon in Ben 10: Ultimate Alien, Arthur in Ralph Breaks the Internet, Hannibal McFist in Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja, Lobo in Justice League: Action League, Brother Blood in Teen Titans, General Grievous in Star Wars: Clone Wars, the Joker in Batman: Under the Red Hood and Fung in Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness. In the digital releases of the film, he is voiced by Steven Barr.
Profile[]
Nitro Zeus was known for using his vast arsenal and formidable tracking skills to locate and capture whatever targets that Megatron has asked for demands. He is also close to Shockwave, as the latter's death on Earth greatly angered him and made him vow revenge on both humanity and Autobots for this.
Unlike Shockwave (who acts as a hunter and assassin), Nitro acts more of a stalker as he tends to make his business to know everything about his enemies and those who are closest to them; even when being taken into custody by humans, he has been passing the time by tracking his captors' families, an act that makes him unlikeable to his human captors.
History[]
Nitro Zeus was among the Decepticons in TRF custody. When the T.R.F opted to work with Megatron and release some Decepticons to be part of his "crew", Nitro Zeus was among those who were cleared for release and joined the Decepticons (along with Mohawk, Dreadbot and Onslaught) on their hunt for Cade Yeager. Although, under direct orders from the U. S. Government, Nitro Zeus could not leave the county.
Though the Decepticons discovered Cade's location, he managed to evade them initially. They followed him to an abandoned town, where they were met with some not-quite-unexpected resistance thanks to some Autobots (Bumblebee, Drift, and Crosshairs). Unbeknownst to the Decepticons, Cade has also rigged the entire town with traps for just such a situation. While many other Decepticons perished in the resulting chaos, Nitro Zeus survived the encounter alongside others. When Cade traveled to England, Nitro Zeus followed there with Megatron and Barricade.
Megatron eventually betrayed the TRF and began working with Quintessa to destroy Earth and restore Cybertron after a corrupted Optimus Prime broke free of Quintessa's control. Nitro Zeus was at Megatron's side as the two planets began colliding, and he participated in the final battle against the Autobots. Unfortunately, Nitro Zeus met his demise via a swift blast to the head by Bumblebee.
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Trivia[]
- Nitro Zeus bears some resemblance to Six Shot from Transformers Energon, in both his resemblance to Shockwave, and wishing to avenge his death.
- Nitro Zeus was designed by Jeremy Hollingsworth. He reuses the main design of the KSI Boss from Transformers: Age of Extinction and a slightly modified version of Shockwave's head from Transformers: Dark of the Moon.
- The concept art features Nitro Zeus with a similiar, but much more different head from Shockwave's. This head design was the one used for the official voyager-class figure.
- Nitro Zeus is named after a cyber attack plan against Iran's computer networks. For presumably safety reasons, Hasbro trademarked the name "Nitro" when releasing figures for the character.
- Because Nitro Zeus's voice actors vary depending on the versions of the film, Nitro Zeus's dialogue tend to vary as well. Some lines said by John DiMaggio, such as "You blew your chance to kill Unicron", were left out entirely in different versions that featured Steven Barr's portrayal instead. Nonetheless, both actors were credited for their performances.
- An alternate death scene, though not filmed, was present during the storyboards. In this scene, Nitro Zeus would die at the hands of Cogman, who would tear his head off and take over his body, showcasing his abilities as a Headmaster. The official voyager-class figure for Nitro Zeus features this gimmick with a removable head.
