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This article is about The Transformers' leader of the Decepticons, for other meanings, see Megatron (disambiguation).
Template:Transformers characterMegatron is the primary villain of the Transformers franchise throughout the various "Generation 1" series. Megatron is a Transformer robot, giving him the ability to modify his body's structure into other objects, the most common "alternate modes" being a gun or a tank.
Megatron is an iconic Transformers character alongside his rival, Optimus Prime, primarily because of his large exposure in the comics and television series as well as his function as the leader of the villainous Decepticons, opposite the heroic Autobots.
Fiction
Megatron is powerful and ruthless. His imposing robot form is dominated by his primary weapon - his arm-mounted fusion cannon, capable of leveling a city block in one blast, which he can sub-dimensionally link to a black hole, generating even more powerful antimatter blasts. He has a secondary weapon barrel mounted on his back, and can retract and replace his right hand with an energy flail. He can fire electrical blasts from his hands, laser blasts from his eyes on at least one occasion (The Autobot Run) and can reprogram computers with a port in his head. Megatron transforms into a Walther P38pistol, delivering more focused energy blasts. He can shrink and reduce his mass as he transforms, assuming sizes that comfortably allow either another Transformer or even a human being to wield him. In one instance (the episode Dinobot S.O.S), he retained his full size and connected to jet-mode Starscream's underside.
There have been several interpretations of his character; some see Megatron as a strategic leader who calls the shots from afar, whilst others see Megatron as a tactical battlefield commander who leads by brutal example. Unlike many other villains in popular fiction, Megatron was not generally depicted as overly chaotic or insane. He was highly aggressive and megalomaniacal, but there was usually a consistent rationale behind his actions, albeit that Megatron was often the only one who could perceive this.
There have been some sparing occasions where Megatron displays a personal sense of fair play and even honor, a complexity that is most evident in his complicated relationship with Optimus Prime. There is an unspoken mutual respect between the two leaders, born of each knowing the other better than anyone else. Megatron at times seems to derive enjoyment from the perpetual conflict that exists between them - the pleasure of ending the life of Optimus Prime will be Megatron's and Megatron's alone, and to ensure this, he has aided Prime in the face of greater threats, such as the Combaticons or Jhiaxus's second generation Cybertronians. In instances such as these, the two have come to face the fact that were it not for their diametrically opposed ideology and views, in another life, the two could be comrades - a fact that Optimus Prime views as a tragedy, but which provides Megatron with amusement.
According to his original tech spec, Megatron has no known weaknesses (some fans believe that, due to certain episodes and comics like US Transformers #21, he is incapable of firing himself in his gun form, but he has done it several times). This does not prevent him from losing the majority of the battles that he fights. For all his famed battle prowess and tactical ability, Megatron often overlooks some significant detail, and has a bad habit of ordering a retreat as soon as tables start to turn against him. However, despite his lust for galactic domination, one of Megatron's key priorities remains the safety and health of Cybertron; in his mind, the best way to accomplish that is for him to conquer it.
Megatron is a Decepticon, one of the lineal descendants of the military hardware robots created by the Quintessons on their factory world of Cybertron. Following a war between the Decepticons and the other robot race, the Autobots, the Decepticons were defeated by the Autobots' invention of transformation, which allowed them the advantange of stealth. The Autobot victory in the war began the Golden Age of Cybertron, but a viper lurked within this paradise, as the Decepticons too eventually developed transformation, eventually leading to the creation of Megatron. Gathering a small number of troops together, Megatron made a small strike on an outer city, killing the current Autobot leader. However, this event was not made public knowledge, and young robots like the naive Orion Pax still looked up to Megatron and his followers because of their new robot-mode flight powers. Pax soon learned the error of his ways when Megatron duped him into allowing him access to energon warehouses, and Megatron fatally injured him in a scuffle. However, the ancient Autobot, Alpha Trion, reconstructed Pax into a battle hardy configuration - now, he was Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots and Megatron's sworn opponent as the civil war erupted again (War Dawn).
Eventually, the war drained Cybertron of most of its energy, necessitating that both factions seek out new worlds and new sources of power. Megatron and his elite forces pursued the Autobots' craft, (referred to as the Ark in Beast Wars, following the ship's name from the G1 Marvel Comics) in their star cruiser (referred to as the Nemesis in Beast Wars) and attacked and boarded the craft, causing it to crash on prehistoric Earth, entombing all on the ship in emergency stasis as it crashed into a dormant volcano.
In 1984 (again, cited from Transformers: Beast Wars, based on the Marvel comic; no date was used in the first two seasons of the show), a volcanic eruption jarred the Ark's computer, Teletraan I, back to life, and it proceeded to repair the Autobots and Decepticons, re-igniting the war on the energy-rich world they found themselves upon: Earth. After their first series of battles, the Autobots believed Megatron and the Decepticons destroyed when their new space cruiser crashed into the Pacific Ocean, but in reality they survived and reconstructed the cruiser to serve as a sub-oceanic staging base and bunker.
Megatron re-established contact with Cybertron, and began construction of an intergalactic transport system called a "space bridge", although the early tests nearly resulted in his destruction when he was sucked into the portal and teleported to Cybertron. The technology was eventually stabilized, however, and used in a grand scheme to transport Cybertron through space into Earth's orbit, where the natural disasters its gravity wreaked created tremendous energy that Megatron and the Decepticons gathered. The Earth was saved, however, when Megatron's stockpiles of energy were detonated by the Autobots, the explosion forcing Cybertron out of orbit. Again, however, Megatron was able to cheat death, and was forced to team up with Optimus Prime in order to stop the machinations of his treacherous lieutenant, Starscream.
In his next scheme, Megatron absorbed all the separate powers of the other Decepticons into himself, and challenged Optimus Prime to one-on-one combat. With the added abilities of all his minions, Megatron easily defeated Prime in the battle, but when his deception was revealed, he and his followers were defeated in a group attack.
Over the following years, Megatron's schemes to obtain Earth's energies continued. His assorted plans included various attempts to harness the power of Earth's core, thefts of several unstable energy devices from human scientists, the draining of energy from a time-lost prehistoric island, forming a partnership with a corrupt human politician that allowed him to force the Autobots off Earth and briefly conquer Central City, co-opting Earth technologies, reprograming the robotic ninja Nightbird, and many others.
Eventually, however, Megatron turned his attention away from Earth, and succeeded in completely conquering Cybertron by the Earth year 2005. Learning the Autobots were preparing a strike against the planet, Megatron and the Decepticons intercepted the shuttle sent to Earth to acquire energy to power the raid, and unleashed a mighty assault on Autobot City. In the course of the conflict, word was sent to Optimus Prime, who arrived the following morning after the slaughter and confronted Megatron in another one-on-one struggle. Megatron appeared beaten, but spying a discarded pistol, stalled for time by pleading for mercy as he attempted to reach it. The young Autobot Hot Rod then intervened, tackling Megatron, but the Decepticon was too powerful for him, seizing him and using him as shield as he grabbed the pistol and opened fire on Prime. The wounds were fatal and led to Prime's death - but not before Prime delivered his own final blow to Megatron, seriously damaging him and forcing the Decepticons to flee.
File:Megatron0000.jpgFirst animated Megatron, this early design was used in the first 2 issues of the US Transformers comics. Oddly, this color scheme was kept during the entire Marvel TF comics run.
On the return trip to Cybertron, it became necessary to jettison excess mass, or else the Decepticons would be unable to reach the planet. At Starscream's instigation, the wounded Decepticons were voted out, and set adrift in space, including Megatron. This was not to be the end for the great slag-maker, as the world-devourer, Unicron, offered Megatron a new body and new troops in exchange for Megatron's cooperation in hunting down the Autobot Matrix of Leadership. Thus, Megatron was reborn as Galvatron, while the rest of the wounded Deceptions became Galvatron's new warriors.
With his transformation into Galvatron, Megatron departed from the animated continuity, until five years later, in the Japanese-exclusive storyline, Battlestars: The Return of Convoy, which, although not animated itself (told instead through one chapter of manga and color magazine spreads), continues the tale of the cartoon Universe. In the previous Japanese-exclusive animated series, Headmasters, Galvatron had been apparently destroyed when he was buried on an iceberg. In the Return of Convoy storyline, a new evil force named Dark Nova recovers Galvatron's body, and restores him to life as Super Megatron (who transformed into a futuristic jet), pitting him against Star Convoy (the reborn Optimus Prime) and his Autobots. Super Megatron subsequently gets an upgrade to Ultra Megatron, and for the final battle, merges with Dark Nova himself, becoming Sei no Kyojin (星の巨人) which translates as Star Giant.
Marvel Comics
File:Comicmegs.gifMegatron's Comic Book design - note the dark blue helmet and additional red detailing in comparison with his cartoon model.
Megatron's beginnings are much simpler in the world of Marvel Comics - here, rising from his beginnings as a gladiator for the city-state of Tarn, Megatron and the Decepticons were the ones who developed transformation first, using it to begin the war against the Autobots, who fought back by mimicking the technology. Megatron is known to have competed with Sureshot and Optimus Prime in a sharpshooting competition some time in his past.
In time, the war grew so fierce that Cybertron itself was shaken from its orbit, and set adrift in the cosmos. Eventually, four million years ago, the planet fell into the path of an asteroid cluster in the Sol system that threatened to destroy it, and so Optimus Prime led a contingent of his troops in the Ark to reduce the asteroids to rubble, saving Cybertron. The plan was a success, but immediately afterwards, Megatron and his troops attack, forcing Optimus Prime to crash the Ark into prehistoric Earth.
Four million years later, in 1984, the Transformers were reawakened, and Megatron immediately set about trying to locate a source of fuel for the Decepticons. Unable to ingest common Earth gasoline, the Decepticons kidnapped Sparkplug Witwicky and forced him to develop a conversion process, but this only afforded him the chance to poison their fuel, deactivating them all. The Autobots were not saved, however, as Shockwave then defeated them all and brought the Decepticons back online to serve him - including Megatron. Chafing under his command, Megatron battled Shockwave, but was soundly defeated, forcing him into an alliance with Ratchet, who located and reactivated the Dinobots, who had defeated Shockwave in the past. However, Ratchet unleashed them on Megatron after convincing him that the recordings of their previous battle with Shockwave were the real thing. Even not at full strength Megatron easily defeated the Dinobots, forcing Ratchet to attempt a near suicidal move to knock Megatron off a cliff. While Ratchet survived, Megatron disappeared for some time.
Soon, however, Megatron re-emerged, trapped in pistol mode, his higher brain functions disconnected. Used as a weapon by wannabe gangster, Joey Slick, Megatron eventually restored himself, and was impressed enough with Slick for standing up to him that he allowed him to live. At this point, Megatron was desperately low on fuel, and attacked a coal mine, attempting to locate some, when he eventually completely ran out, and froze in place. He was soon located by Soundwave, who brought him back online, and they subsequently entered into an alliance with the human Donny Finkleberg, who used the alias of "Robot Master" to con humankind into thinking the Transformers worked for him. After a communication from Lord Straxus on Cybertron, Shockwave and Megatron entered into a period of shared leadership; but when a two-pronged attack by the Autobots saw Megatron defeated by Omega Supreme, and Shockwave allowing the Autobots to capture the secrets of Devastator, Megatron was able to spin the situation and reclaim his leadership.
In order to attain possession of a new energy-generating device, the hydrothermacline, Megatron battled Optimus Prime in a video game duel, using a cheat code to continue the fight after he had lost. Prime defeated him again, but at the expense of some of the game's characters, and ruled himself the loser because he would not have committed such an act in real life. Prime was destroyed, and Megatron's elation soon turned into paranoia, as he had not killed Prime with his own hands, and believed he could still be alive. Eventually descending into insanity, Megatron boarded the spacebridge to Cybertron and detonated it with his fusion cannon, apparently killing himself.
That would be all the US comics saw of Megatron for quite some time, but their sister title in the UK, which produced its own material, interspliced with the US stories, soon brought back the great slag-maker for more adventures. Prior to Megatron's seeming death, there had been a story which had seen both him and Prime transported to Cybertron, where the disembodied local Decepticon leader, Lord Straxus, attempted to possess his body. The attempt failed, but Straxus made another attempt with a specially-crafted clone of Megatron created from a regular trooper, which was transported to Earth soon after the real Megatron vanished. The clone believed itself to be the real thing - as did the comics' readers, thinking that the spacebridge explosion had transported Megatron elsewhere on Earth - and after a battle with the mechanoid, Centurion, it was salvaged by Shockwave, who brainwashed it and unleashed it on Galvatron, a recreated future version of Megatron who had travelled back in time from the year 2006 and posed a threat to Shockwave's leadership. The clone Megatron, however, saw a possible partner in Galvatron, and the two teamed up to battle Autobots and Decepticons from both present and future in the apocalyptic "Time Wars". Subsequently, the clone returned to Cybertron, where it defeated the ruling Decepticon triumvirate, but was then confronted with the real Megatron - the Spacebridge explosion had deposited him in the Dead End region of Cybertron, where he had wandered, with no recollection of who he was, until he had saved a Decepticon from Autobots and regained his memories. The clone Megatron subsequently destroyed itself to prevent Straxus, buried inside its mind, from taking over.
The stage was now set for Megatron's return in the US comics, as he had his Micromaster Sports Car patrol capture the Autobot medic, Ratchet, and forced him to recreate Starscream as a Pretender with his personality reprogrammed to serve Megatron without question. Ratchet did so, but also restored Grimlock, Jazz and Bumblebee as Pretenders in the same manner, as well as arranging for Starscream's old personality to resurface, thwarting his scheme. When Megatron then attempted to flee through a trans-time dimensional portal, Ratchet tackled him as his base then exploded around them, apparently killing them both.
Soon after, however, Autobot detectiveNightbeat discovered that the explosion had actually blown them through the portal, and he dispatched a probe to pull them back from the gaps between reality. However, when they rematerialised, it was revealed that the explosion had fused the two enemies together, into a hideous, twisted mockery of a being, which ran rampant through the Ark. The half that was Ratchet begged Optimus Prime to kill them, but Prime could not, and had the Micromaster, Fixit, separate their bodies. Unfortunately, Fixit could not separate their minds, as the two discovered when they were reactivated with Nucleon - sharing each other's thoughts, feeling, sensations and sights. When the Ark was stolen by Shockwave and Starscream (as well as a stowaway Galvatron from an alternate Universe) in order to escape Cybertron's destruction both Megatron and Ratchet were reactivated. A confused and disorientated Megatron soon encountered Galvatron and the two attacked each other - Galvatron wanting to end the madness of Megatron buried within himself, while Megatron thought he was fighting Ratchet. The mental link with Ratchet nearly proved his undoing - Ratchet's return to consciousness and the horror of his previous bond froze Megatron and nearly allowed Galvatron to kill him. Galvatron realised just in time that killing Megatron could mean he was, in effect, killing himself. Shockwave then appeared and attempted to kill Megatron, but a hiding Galvatron stopped him, as Galvatron and Megatron teamed up once again. But matters were soon taken out of their hands, as Ratchet, desperate to escape the cycle of death and insanity being bonded to Megatron brought him, and eager to stop a renewed Megatron/Galvatron alliance, crashed the Ark on Earth, supposedly killing all aboard.
A few years later, Transformers was given a shot in the arm with the launch of the Generation 2 toyline and comic book series. To go along with his return to the toyline with a new tank alternate mode, Megatron also returned in the comics, despite his seeming demise. Although thought dead for a year or two, Megatron had actually survived the Ark crash, and had quietly worked to repair it, concealing it beneath the ground (apparently, Ratchet died in the crash, as their shared mind does not come up in the story). Tracking a transforming signal mistakenly believing it was another Transformer, Megatron came across the shape-shifting castle of the terrorist organisation, COBRA, and entered into a bargain with its leader, Cobra Commander, offering him the technology of the Ark in exchange for the new weapons his organisation was developing. Reconstructed into a new tank body, with a powerful rail gun, Megatron defeated a squad of Autobots sent to stop him, and then turned on COBRA, capturing the scientist who had developed his gun, Doctor Biggles-Jones, and escaping in the airborne Ark.
Following a climactic battle with Fortress Maximus, Megatron then battled and killed Bludgeon, reclaiming leadership of the Decepticons and stealing the Matrix from Optimus Prime, using it to bring his newest warriors online - only to have his faction bested by the forces of Jhiaxus and his second-generation Cybertronians. Megatron then entered into an alliance with the Autobots to defeat Starscream, who had seized control of the Decepticon ship, the Warworld, through the power of the Matrix, stop Jhiaxus and halt the spread of the Swarm . The tale ended with the Autobots and Decepticons uniting. The final page implies that Megatron is in fact a direct offspring of the Liege Maximo through the same replication process that created the Generation 2 Cybertronians of the story.
Other comic stories
In the course of its run, the UK comics produced several stories which do not fit into the continuity of the G1/G2 storyline, branching off in their own direction. For example, after the first disappearance of Ratchet and Megatron, a disparate continuity of storylines based around the "Earthforce" - a team of Autobots based on Earth - began, which saw Megatron and Shockwave establishing a joint leadership of the Decepticons, only to have command usurped by Starscream and Soundwave.
Also, after the end of the G1 comics, the final UK annual printed a text story entitled "Another Time And Place", which followed up on the events of the Ark crash, and saw Bludgeon and his followers locate Megatron's body and revive it with Nucleon (reflecting the release of Megatron as an Action Master figure in 1990). The process only barely succeeded - Megatron was deranged and animalistic, and was ultimately defeated by Optimus Prime and Grimlock. This conflicts with the Generation 2 comic, but does not conflict with the rewritten UK Generation 2 comic by Fleetway, in which Megatron simply attributes his new body to human scientists, with no further explanation to contradict the events of "Another Time and Place". This tale, somewhat concurrent with the Earthforce tales, has Optimus Prime arriving on Earth in response to a distress call from Grimlock. Bludgeon has attacked Earth in order to draw Prime into the open. The Decepticons, low on energon, are defeated. Megatron then arrives and battles Prime. He is attacked by both Autobots and Decepticons, holding them off until Starscream arrives to bail him out. After this point it switches to reprints of the US material. The most notable difference between the two is that Bludgeon is not killed by Megatron, and Bludgeon and Prime actually meet (although Bludgeon would later be killed by Megatron in the US reprints).
Convention Comics
Megatron would also appear in several Botcon comic sagas, written principally by Simon Furman. His story "Reaching the Omega Point" indicates that the Autobot-Decepticon alliance established in the Generation 2 comics didn't last and that he eventually became Galvatron. In a prelude story "The last days of Optimus Prime", Prime, feeling that there is no longer a place for him within the new Cybertron journeys to J'nwan, a quasi-mystical realm and is greeted peacefully by Megatron. In the Beast Wars future in which the story takes place the greatest Autobots and Decepticons have passed on to J'nwan, a quasi-mystical realm where they can finally live in peace. A Predacon called Sandstorm, one of the Covenant of Twelve created by Primus, journeyed to this realm in order to get them to help against Shokaract, an evil being created from a Predacon fusing with Unicron's essence who was attacking the Beast Wars Transformers including Optimus Primal and ruled the universe in their future. They refuse, but later in the story a group of these Transformers including Megatron, Optimus Prime, Grimlock and Soundwave distracted Shokaract long enough for Primus to deal the killing blow.
He also featured prominently in "Alignment", Simon Furman's take on what happened after the Generation 2 comic. In this story Megatron was defeated for command of the Decepticons by Galvatron II (the U.S comics version) and left for dead. Galvatron then constructed a fleet of Warworlds and attacked the Autobots before being killed by Optimus Prime. The Decepticons then retreated to their base, a conquered replica of Cybertron, before being attacked by the Liege Maximo's troops. Unbeknownst to all Soundwave had retrieved his master's body and had it rebuilt and improved on, finally resurrecting Megatron's Spark via Unicron-inspired dark science with his fellow conspirators Direwolf, Ramjet and Ravage. Megatron then killed the entire Decepticon High Council for their failure to lead, save for Shrapnel who pledged his allegiance once more. Megatron then made a sacrifice play, destroying the now evacuated planet and annihilating the Liege Maximo's fleet with it. Taking a fleet of scavenged Warworlds to face the Liege Maximo and thwart his plan to become a god, Megatron was finally destroyed for good when he unleashed a massive energon fueled blast that actually hurt the Liege Maximo. In retaliation, the Maximo used his arm cannon to obliterate Megatron. However, his sacrifice was not in vain, as this caused the Liege Maximo to flee too soon and be destroyed when his energy gateway collapsed, shredding him between the physical realm and the realm he wanted to ascend to. This sets up the Pax Cybertronia and the evolution of the Autobots and Decepticons into Maximals and Predacons. Whether this story is reconcilable with "Reaching the Omega Point", or whether it is even part of the Transformers canon is unknown.
Beast Wars
File:Megsdisk.jpgG1 Megatron's message on the Golden Disk is played.
The Predacon leader known as Megatron from the Beast Wars and Beast Machines animated series is a separate character from the original "Generation 1" Megatron, and should not be confused with him. This was not the original intent for the character, however, as the original pack-in mini-comic and biographies released with the earliest Beast Wars toys indicate that the character was supposed to be the original Megatron, in yet another new body. With the advent of the animated series, however, the fiction of Beast Wars was re-imagined and eventually applied to the toyline, establishing its Megatron as an independent character. But that is not to say, however, that the original Megatron did not play a role in his namesake's rise to power.
At some undefined point during the Autobot-Decepticon war, the original Megatron acquired the Voyager probe's golden record and inscribed a secret message into it, intending for future generations of Decepticons to uncover it, and follow its instructions should he fail- to use transwarp technology to travel back in time and kill Optimus Prime while he lay in stasis aboard the Ark, thus ending the great war early with the Decepticons the victors. Around three centuries after the eventual end of the "Great War," the Predacon Megatron uncovered this message and quickly stole a Predacon transwarp cruiser called the Darkside with the aid of a small like-minded army, heading to prehistoric Earth. Pursued by a crew of Maximals, both crafts crashed on the planet, with only Megatron truly aware of when and where they were. Megatron, however, found himself loathe to carry out the instructions of his ancestor, instead attempting to amass power through the huge reserves of energon and portions of mysterious alien technology that littered the planet. Systematic defeat by the Maximals eventually left exhausted all his options, and he proceeded to strike at Optimus Prime, only to be once again thwarted by his enemies.
This would not be the last time G1 Megatron's influence would be felt. Observing how Primal boosted his own strength and form by holding the spark of Optimus Prime within his body, Megatron made the same move, purloining the spark of his ancestor and taking it into his own body, transforming as a result into a monstrous dragon. When he was finally defeated by the Maximals, the original Megatron's spark was returned to his body (in a deleted scene from the television series), and history carried on as before.
Although the producers attempted to get Frank Welker to reprise his role as Megatron for his recording on the Golden Disk, he was unavailable. As a result, during his cameo appearance in Beast Wars, G1 Megatron was voiced by Gary Chalk.
In the 21st Century reimagining of the Generation One Universe by Dreamwave Productions, Megatron was envisioned as an ancient gladiatorial combatant in the depths of Cybertron’s underworld. As victory upon victory mounted he began to realize that the games were nothing more than an elaborate attempt by the Cybertronian elders to hide the truth of Cybertron’s history from the masses. When Megatron attempted to gain access to that knowledge through exploration and research, the Cybertronian elders attempted to have him assassinated - a plan that only resulted in stirring up even more discontent among Cybertronians which allowed Megatron to begin recruiting for the Decepticon movement.
Megatron's forces began a civil war of Autobot against Decepticon in order to mask his reactivation of the ancient planetary engines buried beneath Cybertron’s surface, as part of this ultimate intent for the planet - it would be transformed into a massive Warworld that would cut a swath of destruction through the galaxy. This plan initially failed as during a conflict with Optimus Prime, Megatron's lieutenant Starscream activated the planet mechaforming process too soon resulting in the destruction of the machinery.
Approximately 7.4 million years BC, Megatron and Optimus Prime disappeared in an early test of the new unstable Spacebridge matter-transport system. Spending an undisclosed time on the planet Quintessa, Megatron returned with an overwhelming army of lifeless Seeker clones, quickly subjugating Cybertron. However, this story was never finished due to the closure of Dreamwave.
Four million years BC, when Cybertron was threatened by a massive approaching asteroid, Optimus Prime led a contingent of Autobots aboard the Ark to blow the rock to fragments, which were transported away by an orbital Spacebridge network. When this task was completed, Megatron chose this moment to strike, attacking the Ark with his troops. Crippled, the craft flew through one of the Spacebridge portals, and was transported to prehistoric Earth, where it crashed, entombing the occupants in stasis for four million years.
The Autobots and Decepticons were reactivated in 1984, but specific details of the battles were unrecorded until 1999, when an Autobot/Human military alliance succeeded in capturing and deactivating the Decepticons. However, the Ark II, spaceship carrying them back to Cybertron, exploded shortly after liftoff (sabotaged by rogue elements of the military, unwittingly being manipulated by Shockwave), and the Transformers were believed destroyed - but in actuality, they had been scattered back to Earth, where they lay in Stasis lock across the globe for three years. This slumber was brought to an end when Adam Rook, a rogue military scientist who had devised a method of controlling Transformers, salvaged many of the fallen Cybertronians and reprogrammed them as mass killing machines, which he then attempted to sell on the black market. Megatron was first to break free of the human's control, overriding the new programming and capturing Rook during an auction. Megatron forced Rook to watch as he unleashed a technorganic virus designed to transform all of Earth into a new Cybertron. It also served to lure Optimus Prime and the Autobots, also now reactivated, to his location, where Megatron, tired of the war, continuously asked Prime to join him. After his first failed attempt, Megatron unleashed Devastator on San Francisco in a mass slaughter, in an attempt to show Prime the humans were not worth fighting for. However, the selfless sacrifice of several firemen restored Prime's faith in humanity and allowed him and the Autobots to beat back Megatron.
Several months later. Megatron was subliminally summoned to a remote area in Alaska along with the other Earthbound Transformers. There they battled until Megatron's former second-in-command, Shockwave, arrived and revealed that in their absence, the war on Cybertron had ended, arresting Megatron, Prime and their troops as war criminals. Megatron, weakened by battle, was quickly defeated by Shockwave and loaded aboard his shuttle for return to Cybertron, only to have Starscream seize the opportunity to be rid of him by jettisoning him into space on the return trip. Megatron used the time floating in space in stasis lock to contemplate his existence and the Decepticon goal. Realizing that he had wasted millennia in his feud with Prime, Megatron resolved to once again conquer Cybertron as a means to enhancing the Transformer race and strengthening it from outside threats. It seemed as through he would not live to accomplish this goal, however, as death closed in on him... only for him to be retrieved by the Junkion Wreck-Gar, who took him to the planet of Junk and repaired and re-armed him, only to be killed in return.
Travelling to the Planet Beest, Megatron defeated the exiled Decepticon warlords, the Predacons, and rebuilt them into the mightiest of all combiners, Predaking, to serve as his ace in the hole in his quest to reclaim leadership of the Decepticons. Moving in stealth on Cybertron, Megatron defeated Shockwave, severing his arm and forcing him into servitude. He then returned to Earth to collect the remaining Decepticons under Starscream's command, and to teach Starscream a lesson long in coming.
While it was alluded that Megatron had a grand goal in mind that also included the subjugation of the Quintessons, the remainder of the story has yet to be told due to the closure of Dreamwave. However, it has been stated by representatives of IDW Publishing, the current holders of the Transformer comic license, that once Dreamwave has exited bankruptcy court, they intend to finish the story.
The Dreamwave G1 version of Megatron would also appear in a trilogy of iBooks by David Cian set in the main Dreamwave G1 universe -Hardwired, Annihilation and Fusion, where he and Prime were abducted by the alien Keepers and forced to fight in gladitorial battles, before working together to get back to Earth, where he would predictably attempt to seize their power for himself. While this trilogy is set in the same universe as the Dreamwave stories, whether they fit into the continuity is unclear.
Megatron would also appear in Dreamwave's Transformers/G.I Joelimited series. Unlike many of the other Transformers (who were given World War 2 vehicle alternate modes) Megatron would keep his basic Walther handgun transformation.
Devil's Due Comics
In the Transformers/G.I. Joe comics printed by Devil's Due Publishing, Megatron was again among the Decepticons who crashed on in the Ark on Earth, but this time the Ark was discovered by the terrorist group Cobra, who reformatted the Autobots and Decepticons inside into weapons and vehicles for themselves called Battle Android Troopers controlled by the Televipers.
Megatron was locked in gun mode, and kept by Cobra Commander as his personal sidearm, as it amused him to allow Megatron to speak and advise him. When Optimus Prime broke free of the controls Cobra had placed on him and attacked Cobra Commander, Megatron convinced his keeper to free him and fight Optimus. While Megatron did fight Optimus Prime, he also attempted to take over the Cobra installation and use it to manufacture Energon cubes to power the other Decepticons and eventually take over the Earth. Wounded by the Autobots and a malfunctioning orbiting weapons system, Megatron was eventually defeated and believed destroyed. In reality much of his body remained and the U.S. government studied his workings to advance their own projects in military super computers.
In the third volume, the android Serpentor (or, as he is called here, Serpent O.R., standing for Organic Robot), created with computer systems salvaged from Megatron, downloaded information on the history of Cybertron from Soundwave. Mentioned among that information was the Quintessons, Alpha Trion, Megatron and Soundwave, the planet of Junk, a warrior named Optimus Primal and the Autobot Matrix of Leadership. Seeing himself as Megatron's son and heir, he set out on a quest to gain the Matrix for himself, believing it would grant him the power he needed to rule. Journeying to Cybertron, he used Megatron's memories to convince the Predacons and Seacons to become his first troops.
He manages to capture a group of G.I. Joes and Autobots, killing Bumblebee in process. It is explained that the program of Serpentor was overridden by the elements of the programming that were Megatrons (the scientists using Megatron's personality template to base Serpentor's on) .Calling all the surviving Decepticons (including the Stunticons, Terrorcons, Triple Changers and Sixshot ) together, Serpentor is at first mocked due to his size but convinces the Decepticons to rally against the Autobots using Megatron's memories. His attack comes during the Autobots' celebration of peace following the Decepticons defeat. The attack was successful and Serpentor succeeded where Megatron had failed, and captured Optimus Prime. But Serpentor's exposure to the Matrix, posession by Cobra Commander and subsequent destruction left Megatron's legacy unfulfilled.
Optimus Prime notes that only Megatron was capable of launching such an effective and coordinated Decepticon attack. It is interesting to note that the Decepticons here venerate Megatron as an almost mythical heroic figure.
IDW Comics
After Dreamwave's closure, the rights to the Transformers comics were taken over by IDW Publishing. In their debut mini-series, Infiltration, Megatron retains his role as supreme commander of the Decepticon army, although in this continuity, they are no longer based on Cybertron (which was rendered uninhabitable by Thunderwing) and are fighting to conquer multiple worlds simultaneously; in fact, he barely seems to care about Cybertron and was willing to order its total destruction to stop a reanimated Thunderwing. Angered by Starscream's Earth-based unit breaking cover far too early, Megatron personally journeys to the planet, only to be attacked by Blitzwing and Skywarp, both of whom he nearly killed in response to their perceived treachery. Journeying to the Decepticon's Earth base, Megatron offered Starscream's troops the chance to stand down and not be scrapped (which they accepted) before engaging in a titanic struggle with an ore-13 (a derivative of energon) enhanced Starscream, who he eventually defeated, ominously informing the watching Autobots that events were moving into "phase 2".
Unlike previous incarnations of Megatron on Earth, this Megatron (referred to by Runabout and Ironhide alike as "the Big Meg") is still in his Cybertronian tank mode (although it should be noted that it is of a different design than The War Within). However, it appears this incarnation of Megatron is more powerful than many other incarnations. He shrugs off multiple blasts from a supercharged Starscream before blasting him through the chest and assumes direct command of the Earth-based Decepticon unit, in one move turning the planet into a possible frontline and forcing the Autobots to call on Optimus Prime.
Stormbringer revealed Megatron and Optimus fought side by side in the battle against Thunderwing. However, after Thunderwing was defeated, Prime stopped Megatron from calling on his forces to destroy the planet to eliminate the creature for good - a decision that would have dire consequences in Stormbringer. With the reappearance of Thunderwing, he gave the order for the Decepticons to destroy as many worlds as it takes, including Cybertron, to stop him, although this was not necessary in the end.
He was also seen briefly at the end of Spotlights: Shockwave, directing Bludgeon to quarantine Shockwave's laboratory, implying that this is how Bludgeon has gained the knowledge he has in Stormbringer. Oddly, his helmet here is blue in the style of his Marvel rendering (see above) rather than the grey-white helmet of Infiltration and Stormbringer.
Evolutions
Megatron is also set to appear in the new IDW mini-series Evolution: Hearts of Steel. Setting the Transformers in the Industrial Revolution, early sketches indicated Megatron would be a cannon. Despite this Megatron did not actually make an appearance and was only mentioned by Starscream as powered down. Starscream is in charge of the Decepticons and plotted Megatrons' demise using an electical generator in New York. However, his scheme was thwarted by John Henry and Bumblebee, ensuring that Megatron remained dormant. link
2007 film
In the upcoming live-action film, Megatron will allegedly appear as an alien 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, with the writers describing it as cheating .
Work in progress images of Megatron were leaked on August 24th 2006. There were complaints about the Megatron design and they have also been removed by request of the source. The president of Hasbro stated online that Megatron was still a work in progress, indicating that further changes to the design may still take place. Brian Goldner: "Megatron is an early style board. Without revealing too much of the story, there is a very important reason for his look to have evolved from pure G1; although the final look is a work-in-progress--ILM has just recently begun all their CGI development. Megatron has a iconic personality, and approach that dates back to G1. Throughout time he has had a very big gun...."
Like all characters in the film, Megatron was heavily redesigned for purposes of realism and focus on an alien aspect of the Transformer race. He appears very biomechanical. Nonetheless, he is still silver, has a helmet, heavily built shoulders and large legs that faintly mirror the G1 look. However, Producer Don Murphy noted in a recent interview that Megatron's head design has been changed.
Original Megatron voice actor Frank Welker has sent in audition tapes for the role. He currently is in the lead for the role. If selected, this would make it the first time he and Peter Cullen (Optimus Prime) have played the two Transformer leaders in 20 years.
Toys
Through the years, there have been many toys representing the original Generation 1 incarnation of Megatron, some of which have appeared in fiction, others of which have not.
Generation 1 (1984)
File:P-Megatron.jpgMicroman Megatron toy prototype. Early cartoon/comics design was based on this prototype.The Megatron toy is based on the earlier MC-12 Gun Robo, a toy released as part of the pre-Transformers Microman line. The Microman toy was in turn based on a customised Walther P38 handgun used in The Man from U.N.C.L.E., a popular 1960s television spy series. Megatron was more specifically based on a special edition of the MC-12, called the "MC13 Gun Robo - P38 U.N.C.L.E", which included a mock telescopic sight, barrel extension/silencer, and a shoulder stock, which could be combined to form a gun emplacement or giant over-shoulder mounted laser. His original Japanese release, however, did not include these extra components (not even the fusion cannon, despite its appearance in the animated series), and all red inner surface parts of the toy's limbs were instead colored blue. The japanese version also lacked the chrome finish of the US version, being matt gray instead. It was only packaged with a chromed silver sword and the hand-held gun the American release featured. Additionally, the Japanese version could fire small plastic pellets. A later two-pack of the Megatron toy sold with the Convoy toy had the toy with red inner surfaces, and the sight/fusion cannon, but still had no chrome or the other extensions. Good Bye Megatron was identical to this release, but included the Starscream toy.
Megatron was reissued in Japan in 2000, and included all the components and features of his western and Japanese releases (all extensions, sword weapon, chrome surfacing, and pellet-firing mechanism), as well as a second fireing mechanism that allows the combined gun emplacement or shoulder laser to fire the plastic pellets also. The Collection version of Megatron, issued again in 2003, included yet another new accessory, his energy flail from the animated series. This reissue was recolored into Megaplex as an exclusive for the online retailer, eHobby.
Decoy (1986)
A small, purple rubber model of Megatron, part of a large number of similar figures of other Transformers that were packaged as promotional items with figures in the 1986-87 toyline. Japanese in origin, the sculpt of the figure did not include the character's fusion canon, and had him brandishing his Japanese-only sword accessory.
Action Master (1990)
Part of the new sub-line of Transformers figures which did not actually transform, Action Master Megatron is a poseable action figure resembling his animated appearance. Instead of transforming himself, he came packaged with the "Neutro-Fusion Tank," a large tank which could transform into a battle station and an aircraft. For no discernable reason, this figure also lacked the character's fusion cannon.
Generation 2 (1993)
With the advent of new toy safety laws, Megatron's return in the Generation 2 toyline meant that, unlike Optimus Prime, he could not simply be a slightly modified version of his old Generation 1 toy. Reimagined with an entirely new body, Megatron was now a huge LeClerk tank, with lots of gimmicks, inclding an auto-loading missile-launching cannon with lock-and-load electronic sounds, laser noises, rumbling treads, and speech - when the figure's head was pressed, it would drawl "Megatron attack!"
This figure was slightly redecoed to become Megastorm for Japan's Beast Wars II in 1998.
The primary feature of this new figure was an air-pressure cannon that shot rubber-tipped missiles by pressing a small plastic bellows, but for many, it's more notable decoration is the loud-and-proud sticker on its chest which reads "MEGATRON RULES!" A redeco of the figure in a white and grey camouflage deco was planned, but ultimately never released.
Part of the large sub-line of simplistic free-wheeling "Go-Bots" figures, Megatron was a repaint of an earlier figure named Blowout, and transformed into a silver Porsche. The Japanese version of the toy featured a blue Transformers logo across the figure's chest.
This figure was later redecoed in black and translucent plastic to become the Autobot Hot Shot for Robots in Disguise.
ATB Megatron (unreleased)
A proposed redeco of Generation 2Dreadwing in grey, black, purple and yellow, this figure would have featured Starscream as the redecoed Smokescreen. This mold would next be released as BB, a Japanese exclusive Predacon. BB is almost identical to ATB Megatron, with the excepticon of his stickers. This had lead to fan-made sticker sets which make BB look like ATB Megatron.
Although, as discussed above, the later storyline of Beast Wars would go on to depict its Megatron as a different character than the original holder of the name, the comic which shipped with the original Beast Wars toy versions of Optimus Primal and Megatron depicted them as new incarnations of Optimus Prime and the original Megatron. Presumably these forms - Primal as a bat, Megatron as a crocodile - were their new bodies post-Generation 2.
This toy was redecoed in purples and blacks for an exclusive release in Japan as Megalligator.
Machine Wars (1997)
File:Mwmegatron.jpgMachine Wars Megatron box art.Originally proposed for release during the Generation 2 line, this unusual new incarnation of Megatron was eventually made available through the small KB Toys exclusive Transformers toyline, Machine Wars. Megatron was now a teal and grey basic-size jet, and although the lack of any supporting fiction for the line makes its place in continuity hard to define, in all other regards, this Megatron seemed very much to be the Megatron of old. Taking the skies in disguise, Megatron's new body is composed of stealth deflector shields for invisible attacks, and can attain speeds of 600mph via twin turbo thrusters.
This figure was also redecoed within the Machine Wars line itself, simply swapping the teal and grey around, and released as Megaplex, a clone of Megatron designed to serve as a decoy for the Decepticon leader in battle. Megaplex also later inspired the above-mentioned redeco of the original G1 Megatron toy in 2003. Claimed to be one of numerous dopplegangers created to dupe the Autobots and protect Megatron against Decepticon traitors, Megaplex has the same abilities as Megatron, although they are restricted by a failsafe device.
After the conclusion of the Beast Machines series and toyline, Hasbro's initial plans were for a follow-up series entitled Transtech, which would supposedly bring back some deceased Beast Wars characters, as well as some older Generation 1 characters, all in new, more organic-looking bodies, except with vehiclular alternate modes instead of the animal forms which had dominated the two recent series. Although the idea was eventually scrapped in favor of Transformers: Armada (with Transformers: Robots in Disguise being imported for the "filler" year in between), Toronto-based design studio Draxhall Jump produced many concept sketches (from which even a few toy prototypes were produced), among which was a new incarnation of Megatron. Precisely which Megatron, G1 or Beast Wars, is not clear, but it is generally accepted that the design inspired the Megatron of Transformers: Armada.
20th Anniversary Optimus Prime with Megatron (2004)
Released in 2004 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Transformers franchise, this 12" tall version of Optimus Prime strives to reproduce his cartoon appearance in the most intricate detail, he even carried a gun-mode Megatron. When this figure was repainted as Ultra Magnus in Japan, it also came with Megatron. The re-release of the figure in 2006 for the 20th anniversary of the 1986 movie also came with Megatron.
Smallest Transformers (2004)
A miniature, two-inch-high version of the original Megatron figure sold in the second wave of the blind-packaged "Smallest Transformers" series (often incorrectly called "World's Smallest Transformers," or "WSTF").
Robot Masters (2005)
File:Rmrebirthmegatron.JPGRebirth Megatron from the Robot Masters on-line comic tie-ins. In the exclusive Japanese toyline, Transformers: Robot Masters, whose story began in the timeline of the G1 animated series, but branched off at some point in the twenty-year interim between seasons 2 and 3, Megatron was lost in an undisclosed accident, leaving his time-displaced Beast Wars descendant to take his place as Decepticon leader (the toyline applied the qualifying titles of "G1 Megatron" and "Beast Megatron" to the characters to distinguish them). As events progressed, it was revealed that G1 Megatron's consciousness took possession of the body of a "Convoy" (an Autobot leader) known as Reverse Convoy, leader of the planet Vehicon, and then used it to pose as an ally to the Autobots, only to betray them by revealing himself as the aptly-named "Rebirth Megatron."
The Reverse Convoy/Rebirth Megatron toy is a remolded version of the Generation 2 "Hero Megatron" figure, with a new cannon and gun, and two interchangeable heads - one Convoy, one Megatron.
Transformers: Titanium Megatron (2006)
A 6" tall transforming figure composed heavily of die-cast metal, this incarnation of Megatron is a brand new design by artist Don Figueroa. Equipped with a new tank alternate mode, the tech spec on the packaging of this figure credits the body as the work of COBRA, in a reinterpretation of the Generation 2 Transformers/G.I. Joe crossover.
Transformers: Classics Megatron (2006)
In the upcoming Transformers Classics toy line , Megatron will once again be a gun (called a "blaster" by Hasbro). Due to laws regulating the appearance of toy guns in the United States, his color scheme will include some brightly colored parts.
Ultimate Batte Megatron (2007?)
Not officially part of the Classics line, but sold in a box with a similar style. Also includes a Ultimate Battle Optimus Prime and a DVD. This toy is Deluxe sized and is made in the style of his original Generation 2 toy.
Masterpiece (2007?)
It is being rumored that Megatron will appear in the Masterpiece line by next March, returning to a firearm alternate mode. However there is little verified information and is still liable to change or even possibly a hoax. Recently confirmed that Megatron will be a over sized Walther P38 handgun. Price is undetermined. However, a custom made "Masterpiece Megatron" can be found here.
Other incarnations of Megatron
As the Transformers franchise has grown, more characters bearing the name of Megatron have come into existence, some existing in separate continuities to the original G1 iteration of the character. For articles on these characters, see:
