Megatron, briefly known as Galvatron, is the main antagonist of Michael Bay's Transformers franchise.

He is the extremely powerful, destructive, and warmongering Decepticon leader hell-bent on ruling over humankind and the Earth. His cause has led to him come in conflict with his former brother-in-arms and archenemy, Optimus Prime. Once a former student of Sentinel Prime, he appointed to be Cybertron's Protector and commander of it's Defense Force. However, Megatron resented Optimus, knowing he was a Prime and therefore Sentinel's favored student.

This anger allowed The Fallen to ensnare him and led to the revival of the Decepticons. Following the demise of both the Fallen and Sentinel Prime respectively, 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 destroying the Earth after learning that the planet is in fact Unicron.

Background

Being born some point during the Dark Age of Cybertron as depicted in the prequel comic Transformers: Foundation, Megatron became a follower of Sentienal Prime, and helped him in his goals to find and energize the AllSpark to bring a new age of life on Cybertron. While defending the AllSpark facility from the Thetacons, Sentinel finally succeeded, making the Thetacons lay down their arms, but Megatron resented that so many of his comrades had died before Cybertron's new dawn, and it was only by Optimus' persuasion that Megatron found it within himself to forgive his enemies.

That evening, Megatron eavesdrop on Optimus and Sentinel's conversation where the latter claims the former to be a descendant of the Dynasty of Primes, making Megatron become jealous of his brother-in-arms. The next day, Megatron grumbles about it to Shockwave until they came across a Driller attacking a hatchling field trip, and successfully shot the creature to pieces. It is there where Megatron meets Starscream.

Three days later at the capital city of Trypticon, Sentinel officially declares Cybertron's unification, announcing that the planet would be governed by Optimus' Science Division, and Megatron's Defense Force. For two generations, Optimus and Megatron ruled Cybertron successfully, creating a balance of fair and firm leadership. When Malcontent activity increased on Cybertron, Megatron met with Optimus and requested supreme authority in protecting the planet. Optimus obliged. Megatron then requested to be called Lord High Protector and to be addressed as "sir".

Megatron eventually succeeded in tracking the AllSpark to Earth, where he rather embarrassingly crash-landed in the Arctic Circle and was frozen solid for thousands of years. In 1897, some 100 Earth-years before the arrival of the other Transformers, he was discovered by an explorer named Archibald Amundsen Witwicky. Captain Witwicky accidentally activated Megatron's navigation system and caused the coordinates of the AllSpark to be etched onto the explorer's glasses. Megatron remained imprisoned in the Arctic until the 1930s, when he was dug out by the United States government and moved to a secret Sector Seven stronghold inside Hoover Dam. In the years that followed, many modern devices (by Earth standards) were reverse-engineered from his frozen body.

Personality and traits

Megatron is a ferocious, egomaniacal and warmongering warlord, feared for his sadism, brutality and destructive behavior, all aspects that made even Optimus Prime growing 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 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.

Like The Fallen himself, Megatron despised the human race as he considered them as fleshlings, insects and an inferior race. Megatron shown his disgust of a human when he fling a man. Despite of his dislike for humans, he is willing to either spare them to make them as his "pets" such as Sam Witwicky, or to give them what they want in exchange for their help if they're power-hungry like him such as Dylan Gould. After being revived, he hates Sam for pledging the All-Spark cube into his chest would have killed Megatron. He wants to strip Sam from the very flesh of his body. He declare he will kill Sam slowly and painfully.

As the 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 (this gets subverted in the novelization and comic adaptation of Revenge of the Fallen after he found out that the Fallen lied to him about making him a Prime, however). Also, when he discovered Starscream's head, he mourned him, showing despite the abusive treatment on him, he genuinely liked him.

However, Megatron wasn't always a belligerent and militaristic warmonger; back on Cybertron he co-ruled his native planet with his brother-in-arms and future rival Optimus Prime, but after hearing word of an ancient alien race known as the Ejoornians coming to their planet to seize the Allspark and after their force was unearthed he was left severely injured, though was later 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 extremly determined in his objectives, pursuing them with great perserverance. Even after being killed and revived, he does not renounce and is willing to restore Cybertron at all cost.

Megatron is above all 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 "b****" and claimed that the Earth was his and wanted to be in charge of the Decepticons once more.

As revealed in 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 Cybertronians 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 throughout his life 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. As shown in The Last Knight, he's even willing to make deals with humans if it means returning home and possibly rebuilding Cybertron despite his extreme hatred for humanity. Also in the novelization and comic adaptation of Dark of the Moon, Megatron proposed a truce to end the war, showing that he's willing to leave humanity alone if it means he and all surviving Decepticons can leave the Earth in peace.

Appearance

In the second film, Megatron gains an alternate mode, that of a Cybertronian flying tank. In the third film, Megatron receives another alternate mode, that being a Mack 10-wheeler tanker truck (a demented version of Optimus Prime's alternate mode) with a tarp which may act as a cowl to partially hide Megatron's face due to extensive damage he received in the second film. After his death in the third film, he returns in the fourth movie, where his consciousness possesses Galvatron, a man-made Transformer created by KSI, and transforms into a 2014 Freightliner Argosy cab over truck.

Powers and Abilities

Powers

• Cybertronian Physiology: As a Cybertronian, who are naturally large, physically imposing and powerful race of machines with the characteristics of transforming into their alternate modes, and appear god-like to the human race. Being the vicious leader of the Decepticons, Megatron is one of the most powerful Cybertronian in Cybertron's history. with seemingly only Optimus Prime, formerly his brother-in-arms, and as well both his masters, Sentinel Prime and The Fallen, one of the original Primes, to be his only equals. Following his resurrection as Galvatron he was nearly invincible as he used his heat core chest to burn parts of his body to have a higher heat than usual. In the chest it has a particle weapon that disintegrates anything that goes trough it, including Optimus’s Energon Swords. He also was able to release the KSI Drones by transferring his essence into them.
  • Cybertronian Strength: Due to his imposing size and stature, Megatron possess immense superhuman levels of strength, able to completely dominate any other lesser beings such as Humans, destroying large structures and skycrapers with relative ease. Even among Cybertronians, Megatron's strength is unparelled, as he could physically overpower any Autobots, including ripping one in two pieces. In the first film, he was able to physically dominate Optimus Prime in a fight, forcing his opponent to his knees. In the second film, despite being resurrected in an inferior body, he was still able to somewhat contend with a much more experienced and stronger Optimus, even killing him though admittedly in an unfair way. However, at the end of the movie, he was outclassed and brutally mauled by Optimus. In the third film, due to his injuries, he largely distance himself from physical confrontration from Optimus, knowing he is far too strong. Despite this, he caught Sentinel Prime off guard and viciously beaten his former master in response to his betrayal however he was killed by very injured Optimus Prime with little difficulty. In the fourth film, Megatron was rebuilt by KSI, in the form of Galvatron. In his new body, reminiscient of his original design, he became vastly stronger than before, and later even match and overpower Optimus Prime. In the fifth film, Megatron again changed his appearance, though still possessing extreme levels of strength, still able to overpower the Autobots in the majority of their fights. In the final battle, even with his arm being cut off, he still dominates Optimus, with Optimus barely able to defeat him after Megatron was caught off guard.
  • Cybertronian Speed: Megatron posses considerable superhuman speed in his Cybertronian form, to the point he is able to match Optimus in combat speed in their confrontation. In his Cybertronian alternate mode, Megatron in the form of a jet move at immense speed, as he was able to traverse through the stars alone from Cybertron in his search for the Cube. In the second film, his alternate mode which seems to be a hybrid of a jet and a tank, was able to caught up with Optimus in his alternate mode when the latter was driving at full speed. In the third film he manage to move so quick that he also manage to catch Sentinel off guard, allowing him to deliver a strong and fast beat form to his former master.
  • Cybertronian Healing: Due to his cybertronian physiology, Megatron's body is composed of living transformium metal, which has the ability to regenerate and heal itself, even after a serious wound to a certain extent. Optimus inflicted numerous blows and cuts into Megatron with his blade, which while it inflict significant harm on Megatron, he was able to fully recover later on. However, there are limits to this as when Megatron was badly mauled by Optimus at the battle in Egypt, he wasn't able to fully recover as there are many visible wounds on him.
  • Cybertronian Durablity: Megatron is extremely durable. Megatron's body is virtually immune to small arms fire from human weapons. He is able to take numerous punches and blows from other cybertronians such as Optimus during their confrontations with relative ease considering a punch from a cybertronian would be on the level of superhuman to a degree. More impressively, in his encounters with the Military, Megatron was still able to fight on despite being bombarded by missile strikes by F-22 Raptor fighter jets, and concentrated fire from Main Battle Tanks, however his armor and body became a shattered mess and the prolonged engagement contributed to his first death.
  • Transformation: As a Cybertronian, Megatron can transform into various alternate modes. In the first film, his alternate mode is a Cybertronian jet. In the second film, it combines features of both a jet and a tank. In the third film, to blend in on Earth, he takes the form of a rusty Mack Titan 10-wheeler fuel tank truck. In the fourth film, his alternate mode changes to a Freightliner Argosy truck. Additionally, in the fourth film, while in his new form as Galvatron, he has the ability to break down into molecules to alter his appearance. In the fifth film, he returns to the alternate mode of a Cybertronian jet, similar to that of the first film. He can also additionally manifest a battle mask for extra protection.
• Molecular Manipulation: As Galvatron, Megatron's body was constructed out of Transformium, a human-made variety of programmable matter derived from the living metals that Cybertronians are comprised of. Having spread his own code throughout every molecule of Transformium like a virus, Megatron was theoretically capable of transforming into anything he wished, though his only alternate mode in this body was that of a 2014 Freightliner Argosy cab over truck. He is also capable of transmitting his own code to other Transformium-based devices; this allowed him to seize control of every robot KSI had built from the material.

Abilities

• Master Hand-to-hand Combatant: Being formerly the leader of Cybertron's military forces and later, leader of the Decepticons for thousands of years, Megatron possess extreme skills in martial arts and combat prowesness. He was feared by both Decepticons and Autobots alike, not just due to his cunning and power hungry nature, but also as a warrior. Megatron is one of the most skilled cybertronian combatants in history with only a few was able to match with him, such as Sentinel Prime and more prominently, Optimus, his rival.
• Swordsmanship: Although largely inferior to Optimus, Megatron still possess a degree in the skill of a blade, primarily in his second body after his resurrection in the second film, although he use it in a minimal way. He was able to temporary kill Optimus when he snuck behind him and pierce his spark with his blade. As Galvatron in the fourth film, he possessed wrist blades which he used during his fight with Optimus in the highway and was quite proficient in them. In the fifth film, he acquired an Ikakalaka sword, which he used with the same level of proficiency as the wrist blades.
• Master Marksman: Megatron is quite proficient in handling firearms, most notable his signature and dreaded weapon, the Fusion Cannon. With the use of his extremely potent weapon, he was able to blast Optimus Prime in point blank range, sending him to fly away and crash into the building. He would continue to use his Fusion Cannon throughout the films with potent results.
• Expert Driver: Naturally having being created with an alternate mode, Megatron is proficient in utilizing his vehicle modes whether in the form of aircrafts or ground vehicles.

Equipment

• Spear (2007; flashback only)
• Cybertronian Mace (2007)
• Fusion Hand Gun (2007)
• Fusion Canon Claw Mode (ROTF)
• Fusion Canon Gun Mode (ROTF)
• Fusion Shotgun (DOTM)
• Wrist Blades (AOE)
• Fusion Hand Gun (AOE)
• Fusion Cannon (TLK)
• Ikakalaka sword (TLK)

Voice

Actor Hugo Weaving provides the voice of Megatron in the first three films. His voice in the series seems to have been modulated to give it a deeper, growling tone as well as the other voice actors. The original voice of Megatron, Frank Welker, provides his voice for the 2007 and 2009 video games, the exclusive animated prequel and The Last Knight.^[1]

Development

In the 2007 live-action Transformers film, Megatron's alternate mode is a Cybertronian jet. The apparent explanation for the departure from his gun form is that director Michael Bay does not want to include any sort of size changing in the transformations, which the writers described as "cheating".^[2] (This significant change in size is known in Transformers fan communities as "mass shifting" and "mass displacement".) In one of the special features on the DVD, G1 Megatron's transformation was likened to Darth Vader turning into his own lightsaber to be wielded by another person. Additionally, Bay states in the DVD that Megatron's face was originally different from the one shown in the film, but he asked it to be redesigned due to fans reacting with strong opposition to it once Megatron's design was unveiled before the film was completed.^[3]

Like all characters in the film, Megatron was redesigned for purposes of realism and focus on the alien aspect of the Transformer race. However, he still retains some minor aspects of his Generation 1 design. As shown in the first film, he can transform his right hand into his iconic fusion cannon, and can also transform his right arm into a steel flail. In the second film, after Megatron's resurrection, his right arm could transform into a fusion cannon, coupled with a lobster claw-like blade/crushing device. In the third film, Instead of using a fusion cannon integrated into either of his arms, he uses a handheld version of it, which resembles a human shotgun, specifically a Lupara. In the fifth film, Megatron once again uses a fusion cannon integrated into his right arm as well as utilizing a handheld sword resembling a Congolese short sword.

According to an early interview with Michael Bay, Megatron stands at 41 feet (12 m) tall,^[4] but according to his profile in the second issue of the Transformers UK comic Megatron stands "35 feet (11 m) tall" and weighs 8.6 tons. Additionally, the magazine and the Movie Guide states he is powered by a self-regenerating dark matter power core. Hasbro has now said that Megatron officially stands 35 feet and weighs in at 5.7 metric tons.

BotCon Malaysia 2007 featured a parking space which was "Reserved for Megatron". A car parked in the space had been totaled, presumably by the Decepticon leader for taking his spot.^[5]

Appearences

Transformers (2007)

In the present day, having searched the galaxy for the AllSpark and being drawn to Earth, the remaining Decepticons learned of Witwicky's glasses. Through the Internet, they determined the location of both Megatron and the AllSpark inside Hoover Dam. Frenzy infiltrated the dam and shut down the power systems, while Starscream attacked the external powerlines, resulting in Megatron's thawing out. Once again online, the leader of the Decepticons informed the worthless insects of his true name, shouting "I am Megatron!" (to clear up all that N.B.E.-01/Ice Man nonsense), randomly killed a few of them while destroying his former prison, then transformed and flew off after the AllSpark again. He met up with Starscream for the first time in thousands of years on the outside, and, never one for pleasantries, immediately demanded to know where the Cube was. Upon learning that the humans had moved the AllSpark, Megatron berated Starscream for yet another failure.

After Starscream and Brawl's opening attacks in Mission City, Megatron arrived, and again declared his name (he really wants people to know who he is). The Autobots were so panicked by the sight of their long lost nemesis that Jazz called for a temporary retreat. Megatron blasted Jazz backwards when the diminutive Autobot attempted to attack, then threw him into the air before crushing him on top of a tower with his clawed talons. Jazz valiantly fought on, asking if Megatron wanted a "piece" of him, but doing little damage to the Decepticon leader. Megatron viciously killed the Autobot by tearing him in half, callously declaring that he wanted "two".

As the human boy ran off with the AllSpark, Megatron ordered the Decepticons to attack. Brawl attacked the armed insects, while Starscream and Blackout fought Ironhide and Ratchet for the AllSpark. At that moment, Optimus Prime appeared and challenged Megatron. Millennia in the ice had done nothing to lessen the animosity Megatron felt for his brother, however. Barely managing to growl out Prime's name, he discarded Jazz's body and then transformed and flew at Prime at full speed. The Autobot leader leapt and grabbed a hold of Megatron, who slammed him into a building before flying right through a skyscraper. Both leaders landed in the middle of an intersection, but Megatron was the first to recover and leaped upon his brother, snarling that the humans were undeserving of life. Optimus Prime replied that they had the right to choose for themselves. Hearing this, the snarling Megatron tossed Optimus aside. Megatron declared that if Prime wished to defend them, he should "join them in extinction", forming his fusion cannon. Before he could fire, the Autobot leader drew his ion blaster and fired, hitting Megatron. The Decepticon leader shrugged off this attack, spun around from the momentum and fired his cannon, sending Optimus Prime flying into the side of a building.

Megatron pursued the young human who had removed the AllSpark from Hoover Dam, destroying everything that stood in his way. The boy ran to a dilapidated building that was the designated coordinates for a human military evacuation team, and Megatron smashed his way through, yelling that he could smell the human maggot. Starscream destroyed the helicopter intended to take the AllSpark, and Megatron burst through the floor, inquiring if it was courage or fear that compelled him. Finally cornering him on a ledge, Megatron offered that if the human gave him the AllSpark, the boy might live as his pet. The Decepticon leader relished the human's defiant refusal and destroyed the ledge the human was standing upon, sending the boy tumbling to the ground.

Unfortunately, the human was caught by Optimus Prime, who then tried to escape down the side of the building before Megatron tackled him and sent all three slamming into the pavement. As a nearby human bystander attempted to crawl away, the Decepticon expressed his disgust at the insect's proximity and flicked it away. Protecting the young boy, Prime declared that their war would end here and it was now just between the two brothers. Though lusting for the AllSpark, Megatron decided to indulge his brother's obvious death wish, declaring that only he was in this fight. Despite Optimus Prime's best efforts, Megatron was relentless, matching the Autobot leader with blow after devastating blow until he collapsed. Adding insult to injury, Megatron informed Prime that his defense of the "weak" was the real reason he lost.

The Decepticon leader turned his attention back to the human boy, but was suddenly attacked by the human fighter jets and Captain Lennox's ground soldiers firing sabot rounds. Optimus took this chance, striking Megatron and knocking him down. His armor a damaged, shattered mess, Megatron ignored the punishment and focused on the human boy, growling that he would kill the boy and that the AllSpark was his. As Optimus Prime ordered the boy to place the AllSpark into his chest, the human instead pushed it into the now-exposed spark in Megatron's chest, overloading him with energy and extinguishing the Decepticon's life force. As Optimus Prime stood over Megatron's lifeless shell, watching the light flicker out of his brother's optics, he remarked somberly, yet remorsefully, that Megatron had left him no choice, and removed a shard of the AllSpark from his brother's spark core.

Megatron's body was dumped into the Laurentian Abyss at its deepest point, along with the remains of the other Decepticons, where the near-freezing temperatures would, hopefully, keep them dormant indefinitely.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)

Megatron appears as the secondary antagonist in this sequel.

Megatron's death would not last long, however. Soundwave tapped into a conversation between NEST and General Morshower, listening to Director Theodore Galloway mention that 1) a shard of the AllSpark was in storage in Diego Garcia and 2) Megatron's body lay in the Laurentian Abyss. Ravage was sent to steal the shard, and swam to the Abyss with Scalpel, Long Haul, Mixmaster, Rampage and Scrapmetal. Scalpel ordered spare parts be used to repair Megatron's body with "ze little one", who was torn apart by his larger brethren, and then struck Megatron with the shard: the Decepticon leader was reborn as a Cybertronian tank with flight capabilities and a death-lock pincer. Megatron flew up to the surface, striking a submarine on his way, before journeying into space to find the Nemesis.

On the ruined ship, Megatron met up with Starscream, and berated his subordinate for leaving him to die on Earth. Starscream defended his actions by saying that he had to take care of the hatchlings, who were dying without energon, as someone had to take command in Megatron's absence. Furious, Megatron bashed Starscream into a wall containing protoform sacks, and told Starscream that even in death, there is no command but Megatron's. Megatron met up with the Fallen, who was weakened and in a life support chair. Megatron told his master he had failed and allowed the AllSpark to be destroyed, but the Fallen told Megatron that the knowledge of the AllSpark had instead been transferred to the human boy who killed him, Sam Witwicky. With the knowledge within Sam's mind, they could find another energon source, hidden away from The Fallen eons ago. Already eager to avenge himself, Megatron begged the Fallen for the chance to strip the flesh from Sam, but the Fallen asked for patience. Before they could act, Megatron was to kill Optimus Prime, who was the last of the Dynasty of Primes and the only one that could defeat the Fallen. Megatron knew that Optimus would protect the boy, and ordered him captured.

Megatron sprang a trap, dispatching Grindor to take Sam Witwicky, Mikaela Banes and Leo Spitz to him at an abandoned factory. Although Megatron would have rather killed Sam slowly and painfully, Sam had valuable information as to the energon source's location in his mind, which he had received from his own AllSpark fragment. Megatron held the boy down while Scalpel performed several invasive probes of Sam's mind. Scalpel's probes confirmed the Fallen's claims, and Scalpel declared that they needed Sam's brain on the table, something Megatron had no objections to. Just as Scalpel was ready to remove Sam's brain, Optimus and Bumblebee burst in to rescue the humans. Megatron attempted to attack Optimus, but was shot out of the factory as he pounced. Optimus drove Sam to a forest, with Megatron in hot pursuit. The Autobot and Decepticon leaders transformed and battled as Sam fled. Optimus was pretty easily dominating the fight, trash talking Megatron all the while, eventually forcing Megatron to call his Decepticons for help.

Starscream and Grindor immediately arrived to aid their leader. Megatron told Optimus that Sam could lead them to another energon source, then counterattacked his foe, kicking off Prime's mouthplate and blasting him backwards. Appearing to have a slight advantage, Megatron taunted the Autobot leader, asking if one boy was worth the future of the Cybertronians. Prime replied that he'd never stop at killing just one, then took on all three Decepticons. Surprisingly, he was winning, punching and stabbing Megatron multiple times, ripping off Starscream's right arm, and tearing Grindor apart. However, as a weary Prime tried to find Sam, Megatron stabbed him in the back and blasted through his spark: Prime fell, mortally wounded. As Megatron moved for the boy, the rest of the Autobots arrived and provided enough cover for Bumblebee to spirit Sam away. Already injured from the battle with Prime, Megatron and Starscream were forced to retreat.

With Prime dead, Megatron was quite pleased, until Starscream informed him that the boy had escaped. Furious, Megatron smacked his lieutenant with his own severed arm and ran his treads on him for a moment for losing track of a single insect, but Starscream countered that he was one of seven billion, and could be anywhere. Considering the situation, Megatron decided it was time to end their secret war, and that if they couldn't find the boy, they'd have the humans bring him to the Decepticons. Soundwave used his scanning abilities to locate the boys parents, the rejuvenated Fallen broadcast a message to deliver Sam to them across the planet. Megatron himself broadcasted the Fallen's message by rewiring the Empire State Building's radio tower.

He then flew to Egypt, where nineteen thousand years before, the Fallen had built a Star Harvester to harness the Sun for energon. Starscream informed him that the human soldiers had brought Prime's body with them, and Megatron surmised the boy's intentions. Commanding the rest of the Decepticons to begin their assault, Megatron ordered Devastator to destroy the pyramid that was built over the harvester, while he himself chased Sam for the Matrix of Leadership, which would activate the harvester. Megatron almost killed Sam, but was overwhelmed by human gunfire, and flew off.

Trivia

• The earliest concept designs for Megatron were heavily inspired by his Generation One counterpart. Unlike the Cybertronian jet featured in the first movie, this version of Megatron was intended to transform into an army tank (see the Gallery page).
• The prototype photographs included on the packaging of Fast Action Battler, Leader, and Voyager class Megatron show him with a completely different head design based on an earlier CGI version that was ultimately discarded due to negative fan reactions. The Legends class Megatron retains this initial head shape, as do several children’s picture books (see the Gallery page). IDW later attempted to canonize this design in "Transformers: Defiance" by depicting it as Megatron's appearance before he was corrupted by The Fallen. However, this was disregarded in "Transformers: Foundation", which consistently depicts Megatron in his finalized look throughout the comic, even in segments that take place during the events of "Defiance".
  • His redesigned head was further modified for the final film. The finalized design retains the same basic shape as the interim design, but is more streamlined, is more expressive, and has uneven teeth. The interim design can be seen in the last batch of promotional CGI renders released for the movie as well as the introduction cutscene and campaign ending cutscenes in Transformers: The Game. The rest of the game utilizes the finished design.
• According to The Movie Guide, Megatron is one of the few Cybertronians capable of space travel without reverting to a Protoform state. This explains how he was capable of chasing the AllSpark immediately after it's launch.
• The opening paragraph of The Quest for the AllSpark's paperback says: "...Most revered were Optimus and Megatron. They were twin brothers of the Prime dynasty.", implying that Megatron may have also had the surname "Prime" at one time. Similarly, in the Transformers Autobots game for DS, it is noted that Megatron "took the spark" of his and Optimus' father. However, in the twelfth issue of Titan's Revenge of the Fallen comic, Barricade informed readers that Megatron and Optimus weren't related, the term "brother" was just because they'd known each other for so long. However, the Foundation comic series sheds more light on this, with Optimus and Megatron being like brothers and Sentinel being like a father to them and his supposed death on Megatron's order bringing the whole scenario full circle.
  • The concept of Megatron being once best friend of Orion Pax/Optimus Prime thus making their feud more personal would be revisited in Aligned, Cyberverse, and Transformers One.
• Early script drafts and a children's picture book featured Megatron consuming the sparks of his fallen foes, but this didn't make it into the final film due to time constraints. The novelization and comic adaptation, on the other hand, sees him chow down on Jazz in the final battle; similarly, although not outright stated in dialogue, his animalistic pouncing on the fallen bodies of various characters (including Optimus Prime, Starscream, Jazz and the Decepticon Create-A-Bot) in the films Nintendo DS games, following by what appears to be rooting around in their innards, seems to suggest he's doing the same there.
• Detroit Lions American football player Calvin Johnson has earned the nickname Megatron, due to his large stature and unstoppability. Since he got the nickname around the same time as the movie was in theaters, we assume he was named for this Megatron. Johnson has worn a hat with the Decepticon logo on it. Nike came out with a limited edition line "Megatron" styled sports gear for the 2012 Thanksgiving Day game.
• The Megatron computer generated model consisted of 2411 individual pieces, 433,949 polygons, 8924 rig nodes, and 1437 texture maps. The pieces combined gave a volume of 10,325 cubic feet.
• The Milton Bradley Transformers Battling Card Game depicts a couple of unique attacks for Megatron's original form; one card gives him a pair of forearm-mounted blades as an "Arm Sword", and another shows him firing a swarm of missiles from his chest in a "Missile Attack".
• Blackout and Megatron are the only two Decepticons shown being dumped in the Laurentian Abyss at the end of the first film. Megatron is shown missing his left arm and his right leg, while Blackout has been dismantled entirely into smaller pieces.
• Producers of Revenge of the Fallen decided that Megatron would not rename himself Galvatron, after his resurrection in said film so that general audience wouldn't get confused.
• While Revenge of the Fallen: The Movie Universe and the comic adaptation created the idea that Megatron is a Triple Changer that alternates between his robot, jet, and tank modes, there is absolutely nothing to support this in the movie. Throughout the entire film, he only transforms into a winged tank portrayed by the voyager figure and is more than capable of flying in said mode.
  • Coincidentally, Megatron re-accesses his alt mode as the Cybertronian Tank in the movie novelizations of Dark of the Moon. Right after forming a truce with Optimus Prime, while orders any surviving Decepticons to leave the Earth peacefully.
• According to his bio on the Hasbro sticker sheets, Megatron weighs in at 5.7 metric tons; is 35 feet tall; uses an "Ion-fused chain whip" for his primary weapon; has a "Strength power level" of 10; and changes into an "Interstellar jet". The mention of a chain whip and a jet mode seem to indicate the card's stats were based on his original form, rather than his Revenge of the Fallen tank mode. The card also surmises that Megatron's might will "make the Earth quake, and the stars fall from the sky". The two-disc special edition of the film's DVD also gives him a height of 35 feet.
• In the Revenge of the Fallen: The Movie Universe guidebook, it states that Megatron possesses an internal self-regenerating dark matter power core which is possibly of alien origin.
• Megatron's story was altered significantly during development of Revenge of the Fallen: the climax of the film would have revealed Megatron served the Fallen under the pretense of becoming a Prime, which Optimus exposes a lie, explaining Primes are born, not made. An angered Megatron refused to aid the Fallen in his final battle, and returned to Soundwave's Nemesis via the Fallen's Space Bridge to raise an army of hatchlings. In the final film, he is removed from the battle by having Optimus disfigure him with his own cannon, which would lead to his introduction in the third film.
• The headshot image on the package art for Megatron's toys uses the design of his head from the first movie rather than the updated design for Revenge of the Fallen.
• The comic book cover art used for his page on TFWiki was originally drawn by Josh Nizzi with his Revenge of the Fallen design (see the Gallery page), but he was asked to redo the artwork with the 2007 design to avoid spoilers.
  • A similar thing happened with the comic book cover art for the 4th issue of Defiance, though that one was repurposed as the final issue of the film's comic adaptation (see the Gallery page).
• His weatherbeaten Mack tanker truck mode and Cybertronian sawed-off shotgun as seen in Dark of the Moon are fairly straightforward nods to the 1981 film Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior.
• The whole notion of him even being a tanker truck in the third film in the first place might be a nod to executive producer Steven Spielberg's first movie, Duel, where a similar truck is the main "bad guy".
• An early concept art for Dark of the Moon showed that Megatron would maintain his ROTF form during the film's events (see the Gallery page). Early concept arts of Megatron's design in the film called him "Cyclonus" in an attempt to curb leaks and spread misinformation.
• A concept art for "Galvatron" was created by Massive Black artist Bruno Gore (see the Gallery page). It's unknown if Galvatron was intended to be an upgraded Megatron or a separate character.
• In Dark of the Moon, Megatron gets a new right hand that looks more humanoid than his old right hand.
• In Dark of the Moon, Megatron begins to develop a sympathetic side. Where he has a paternal instinct such as feeding the hatchlings. And also his desire to end the rivalry between the two factions in order to rebuild Cybertron, as shown in IDW movie comic and movie novelizations.
• In both the semi-canon prequel video game prequel of same name for the third film and Transformers: The Ride – 3D, Megatron appears in his DOTM body, but with the "murder arm" used in ROTF. The reason for this was most likely Megatron prefers his built-in Fusion Cannon over the handheld Fusion Shotgun.
• Ideas from the earlier version of the script for the film, which were kept in the novelization and comic adaptation, significally changed Megatron's story in said film:
  • Megatron was originally intended to kill one of the elephants by shooting it with the Fusion Shotgun. This explains why the elephants appeared scared during the scenes in Africa.
  • Megatron was originally going to be falsely accused by Sentinel Prime of doing nothing to prevent Optimus Prime from shooting at the Control Pillar and, after calling Sentinel out for not allowing him to fight Optimus, Megatron would be knocked from the top of 35 East Wacker, thus explaining why he was on the alley when Carly found him.
  • Megatron was going to redeem himself by helping Optimus kill Sentinel for his betrayal, and offer a much more sincere truce which Optimus agress, allowing him and all surviving Decepticons (presumably including those from the tie-in novels and comics such as the Crab Spy, Flatline, Space Case, etc.) to leave Earth in peace to rebuild Cybertron. According to Michael Bay's website administrator Nelson Lauren, the ending was changed because the studio didn't want the adaptations to share the same ending with the film.
• In Age of Extinction, the "axe wound" in Megatron's head has shrunk considerably since the previous film; although, if Megatron was alive, then he may have been able to heal his wounds to some degree.
• Galvatron's toy bio claims that he's a new adversary the Autobots have to face following the Battle of Chicago, essentially portraying Galvatron as a separate character from Megatron just like his original IDW G1 continuity incarnation. It was presumably done to hide spoilers from the film.
• The creation of Galvatron as a counterpart to Optimus Prime takes cues from Nemesis Prime's incarnation in the Aligned continuity. This is even more supported by a concept art which represents Galvatron with a modified Prime-like head (see the Gallery page).
• Hasbro's website says that Galvatron's chest contains a Vortex Grinder just like Devastator, thus explaining why Optimus Prime's Energon Sword shattered inside of Galvatron's chest.
• Attinger's playing card of Megatron was revealed in a prop auction for the original film series held in 2019.
• The customized 2014 Freightliner Argosy, used as Galvatron's alternate mode, was later reused as Dr. Robotnik's mobile base in the 2020 Sonic the Hedgehog film.
• There are a few moments in the fourth film that foreshadows Galvatron being controlled by Megatron's consciousness:
  • When Joshua Joyce explains that he wants to base Galvatron on Optimus Prime but it keeps looking like Megatron, he states this is the fifth time this happened with the Galvatron drone while all the other drones came out the way he wanted with no problems. This means that Megatron was tempering on Galvatron's creation so it could look like him.
  • The purple image of Megatron in cryogenic hibernation that can be seen on screens in the background inside Hoover Dam in the 2007 film appears on a screen in the background at KSI Headquarters when Cade first gets chased by security guards. While this seems as either a continuity nod/call-back to the previous films or the production team re-using stock footage instead of creating original ones out of lazyness on first glance, it actually means that Megatron based Galvatron's design on his original body.
  • When Galvatron transforms for the first time during the chase, the way it does seems deliberate, down to the point it causes collateral damage.
  • While fighting Optimus, Galvatron speaks. Later dialogue in the film reveal that no KSI Drone are programmed to do so.
• The red "scar" on Megatron's face came about one day when Michael Bay went into ILM and asked the animators to add red markings to Optimus Prime and Megatron's faces and come up with an in-universe explanation for them. Visual effects artist Chris Zammit came up with the idea that the markings were the use of Dark Energon due to it's mind-control abilities and the presence of Unicron in the film. The idea was scrapped, leaving the red markings as some kind of "paint".
  • The simple fact his optics were still red instead of purple like Optimus/Nemesis' suggests he was working with Quintessa by his own accord.
• Megatron is the only character appearing in all five installments of the original continuity of the film series to have received a distinctly different body design and alternate mode for each film. While each of the changes he undergoes in prior films is given an explicit in-universe explanation, his body in The Last Knight is left unexplained. However, there are enough context clues in the film (from the red markings to his knowledge of the Talisman and Unicron) to figure out that Quintessa may be responsible for his latest body change.
  • This might even have something to do with why he's calling himself "Megatron" again instead of "Galvatron", or why he no longer transforms via a cloud of Transformium.
• Concept art for The Last Knight reveals that Megatron was originally intended to transform into a Cybertronian dragon, similar to his Beast Era incarnation. In this design, his Ikakalaka sword would serve as his tail, and he would have the ability to breathe fire in robot mode (see the Gallery page). Ultimately, this capability and alternate mode were scrapped in favor of having him shoot flames from his Fusion Cannon and adopt a new jet mode, which was initially designed as a fighter jet for one of the Guardian Knights. This change may explain why his final design features virtually no jet kibble.
• Megatron has an engraving of himself in his 2007 body wielding a sword and commanding an army on the right side of his head. While unseen in the film itself, similar artwork of Optimus Prime is engraved on the opposite side of his head. The full artwork can be seen on an IMAX poster for the film.
• In Shadows Rising, Megatron returns in his second form along with his Cybertronian Tank alt mode. After his spark was brought back to life by KSI company.
• This incarnation of Megatron is arguably among few whose reformation/evolution into Galvatron is at the hands of another party besides Unicron.
  • Additionally, this is one of two incarnations of Megatron to revert from Galvatron back to Megatron, alongside his Unicron Trilogy incarnation.
• Megatron is the only villain in the original film series to have appeared in all five films.
• This is the only incarnation of Megatron who uses a battle mask.
• Megatron's design and roles from the films and tie-in novels and comics by IDW shares some similarities with his Aligned continuity incarnation, which no surprising as the former being one of two inspirations for the latter (the other being his G1 counterpart):
  • Both possessing a Cybertronian jet mode.
  • Both being armed with Fusion Cannons in their arms.
  • Both being armed with a powerful sword (in the live-action, it is handheld, while in the Aligned, it is built-in).
  • Both being responsible for causing Bumblebee to become mute by damaging his voice box.
  • Both revealed to be Optimus Prime's former brother-in-arms.
  • Both have massive sharp teeth.
• The way his Transformers One counterpart kills Sentinel Prime is similar to how this Megatron kills Jazz, with the only difference is that Jazz is a sympathetic scapegoat, unlike Sentinel who deserves to die.
• Bayverse Megatron's appearance served as inspiration for several incarnations of Megatron.
  • In Transformers Animated, Megatron in his Cybertronian form was inspired by Bayverse Megatron.
  • In Transformers Fall Of Cybertron, Megatron's body design after being resurrected by Soundwave also takes some aspects from Bayverse Megatron.
  • In the Transformers Prime series, Megatron's appearance took heavy inspiration from Bayverse Megatron.
• In Dark of the Moon, when Megatron is sitting on the Lincoln Memorial, his left foot can be seen clipping through the steps.

References

External links

• Official website
• Transformers wiki
• Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optimus_Prime#Transformers_film_series_2

v - e - d

Media Films The Transformers: The Movie • Transformers • Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen • Transformers: Dark of the Moon • Transformers: Age of Extinction • Transformers: The Last Knight • Bumblebee • Transformers: Rise of the Beasts • Transformers One Shows Transformers: Robot in Disguise (2001 TV series) • Transformers: Robots in Disguise (2015 TV series) • Transformers: Rescue Bots • Transformers: EarthSpark Games Transformers: The Game • Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen • Transformers: Dark of the Moon Characters Optimus Prime • Bumblebee • Megatron • Darkscream Locations Earth Group Autobots • Dinobots • Decepticons