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Generation 1 Megatron art.
|Action Masters, Go-Bots, Combat Heroes, Voyagers, Basic Beasts
|Decepticon Leader, Emperor of Destruction, Decepticon Supreme Commander, Strongest Emperor of Destruction, Dark Emperor of Destruction
|Skywarp, Starscream, Kremzeek
|"Peace through tyranny!"
"Everything is fodder"
"Lesser creatures are the playthings of my will." (Classics)
|Alternate Modes
|Walther P38 U.N.C.L.E. Special, various tanks, various jets, Nerf N-Strike Maverick REV-6, Porsche, Cybertronian mobile weapon platform, Nissan 370Z
|Transformers: Generation 1
Transformers: Generation 2
Beast Wars
Smallest Transformers
Transformers: Robot Masters
Transformers: Titanium
Transformers Classic
Transformers Attacktix
Transformers: Universe
Transformers: Masterpiece
Transformers: Sports Label
Transformers: Alternity
|English voice actor
|Frank Welker (The Transformers, most other appearances)[2]
Gary Chalk (Beast Wars - Golden Disk recording)
Leonard Nimoy (The Transformers: The Movie - as Galvatron)
|Japanese voice actor
|Seizō Katō
Megatron is a fictional character from the Transformers franchise, created by Hasbro, and based on a toy design by Takara. He is a sentient robotic lifeform from the planet Cybertron. He is also the Supreme leader of the villainous faction (primarily the Decepticons) and primary antagonist in most works of Transformers fiction.[1] He has the ability to transform between his robot shape and various weapons or vehicles, depending on which "universe" he is seen in. Within the fiction, he is often said to have named himself after the legendary Megatronus, and similarly inspired the name of a later villainous character.
Generation 1 Megatron art.
|Action Masters, Go-Bots, Combat Heroes, Voyagers, Basic Beasts
|Decepticon Leader, Emperor of Destruction, Decepticon Supreme Commander, Strongest Emperor of Destruction, Dark Emperor of Destruction
|Skywarp, Starscream, Kremzeek
|"Peace through tyranny!"
"Everything is fodder"
"Lesser creatures are the playthings of my will." (Classics)
|Alternate Modes
|Walther P38 U.N.C.L.E. Special, various tanks, various jets, Nerf N-Strike Maverick REV-6, Porsche, Cybertronian mobile weapon platform, Nissan 370Z
|Transformers: Generation 1
Transformers: Generation 2
Beast Wars
Smallest Transformers
Transformers: Robot Masters
Transformers: Titanium
Transformers Classic
Transformers Attacktix
Transformers: Universe
Transformers: Masterpiece
Transformers: Sports Label
Transformers: Alternity
|English voice actor
|Frank Welker (The Transformers, most other appearances)[2]
Gary Chalk (Beast Wars - Golden Disk recording)
Leonard Nimoy (The Transformers: The Movie - as Galvatron)
|Japanese voice actor
|Seizō Katō
Megatron is the founder of the Decepticon uprising and their most feared leader. Bob Budiansky, the writer for the Marvel Comics series, stated that originally Hasbro took issue with the name, saying it sounded too frightening. Budiansky responded that as the lead villain, that was the point. Hasbro later agreed with his reasoning, and approved the name "Megatron".[3] The name itself probably comes from the Greek word megas (meaning great, grand), although in one of his interviews Budiansky claimed that it is in fact a portmanteau of electronic and megaton (megaton is a scientific term describing an explosive force equal to that of one million tons of TNT).[4][5]
Megatron is able to transform into a Walther P38, delivering more focused energy blasts than he could in his robotic form. He can adjust his size and mass as he transforms, to comfortably allow another Transformer or even a human being to wield him.
His robot form has an arm-mounted fusion cannon. He can retract and replace his right hand with an energy flail. He can fire electrical blasts from his hands, laser blasts from his eyes, and can reprogram computers with a port in his head. Sometimes, Megatron, upon being reformatted into a new body, renames himself Galvatron.
I am alpha and omega, the beginning and the end. I am that which is, which was, and is yet to come... and you will know my name is Megatron when I lay my vengeance upon you!—The Covenant of Primus, "Nemesis Part 2"
|This section's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. (November 2013)
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 advantage 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, 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.
In his next scheme in "Heavy Metal War", 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, recovering the "Heart of Cybertron" power core from the derelict Nemesis, 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, and reprogramming the robotic ninja Nightbird in "Enter the Nightbird".
Fed up with the Autobots ruling the roads, Megatron ordered the creation of the Stunticons, four Decepticon cars and a truck. He even traveled to Cybertron and stole the key to Vector Sigma to give them full cybernetic personalities. Megatron used the Stunticons in many schemes, including sending the Stunticons to sabotage a race in the Middle East to obtain the power source to control weather. Megatron even made a number of temporary alliances with the Autobots - including stopping the Insecticons and his own mind controlled troops, stopping the Combaticons from destroying Cybertron and forcibly making Perceptor cure him of a plague of Cosmic Rust (although most of these alliances ended in double crosses).
Megatron had conquered Cybertron by 2005 in the animated film, The Transformers: The Movie. After hearing of an Autobot supply run, Megatron proceeded with an attack on Autobot City on Earth. Optimus Prime arrived there and confronted Megatron. On the Decepticons' return journey to Cybertron, a mortally wounded, but still functional Megatron was jettisoned into space along with several other fallen Decepticons in order to reduce Astrotrain's mass to reach Cybertron. The end seemed to be near for Megatron—but it was not to be, as he was summoned by Unicron, who made him an offer - in return for Megatron's service, he would give him a new body and new troops to command. Facing destruciton as an alternative, Megatron agreed to Unicron's offer, and was reformatted as Galvatron. Commanded by Unicron to destroy the Matrix of Leadership, Galvatron first returned to Cybertron to settle a score with Starscream, who had set him adrift in space and was now being crowned as the new Decepticon leader in a pompous ceremony. Demonstrating his new power, Galvatron obliterated Starscream with a single blast from his new cannon mode. The other Decepticons quickly accepted Galvatron as their leader. Unicron's subsequent consumption of Cybertron's moons enraged Galvatron, but when Unicron mentally tortured him to put him in his place, Galvatron submitted. Leading another attack on Autobot City, he pursued Ultra Magnus and the Autobots to the Planet of Junk, where he seized the Matrix from Ultra Magnus, and attempted to use its power against Unicron. Unable to open the Matrix, Galvatron was powerless as Unicron transformed and attacked Cybertron with his bare hands. Unicron swallowed Galvatron in contempt, while swatting away Cybertron's Decepticon defenders like flies. Shortly thereafter, a group of Autobots entered Unicron's body, where the youthful Hot Rod encountered the humiliated Decepticon leader. Although Galvatron initially proposed an alliance with the Autobot against Unicron, he was once again tortured mentally by Unicron, who tells him to destroy Hot Rod otherwise Galvatron himself will be obliterated. Galvatron weakly agrees, still accepting Unicron as his master, and then engaged Hot Rod in battle. Galvatron quickly attained the upper hand over the smaller Autobot. However, when Hot Rod seized the Matrix from Galvatron, he was reformatted into the much larger and more powerful Rodimus Prime. Rodimus easily defeated Galvatron and hurled him through Unicron's armor and into the void of space, before unleashing the power of the Matrix and destroying Unicron.
Now leaderless and forced off Cybertron by the Autobots, the Decepticons retreated to the ruined world of Chaar, where they bickered and fought amongst each other over their limited energon resources. Galvatron's Unicron-created lieutenants, Cyclonus and Scourge set out to find their leader's body using the information stored in Unicron's memory banks and traced him to the planet Thrull. They found Galvatron immersed in a pool of lava-like plasma, and rescued him only to discover that the plasma had seeped into Galvatron's head casing and the heat had permanently damaged his "metaprocessor", causing him to go irreversibly insane.
When the Hate Plague began to sweep the universe, Galvatron was able to avoid infection initially, teaming up with the resurrected Optimus Prime in order to recover a protective alloy that would shield the user from the plague's effects. Somewhat ironically, when Galvatron first saw the effects of the Plague at the Morgans' lab, he uttered that the infected Autobots and some of his fellow Decepticons had "all gone mad," and that said lab with the infected Transformers was no place for him. However, he became infected in the process of recovering the alloy, but was eventually cured along with all the other victims of the plague when Optimus Prime unleashed the power of the Matrix. It also seemed that Galvatron may have actually been cured of his own inherent insanity, as he refused to continue the conflict there and then, and shook Prime's hand, saying that he had earned his respect.
A year later, however, in 2007, the short truce ended as Galvatron formulated a new plan. Although appearing quite coherent throughout the scheme, it was truly his most insane yet - rejecting notions of conquest, Galvatron now sought the utter destruction of both Cybertron and Earth. To this end, he dispatched his troops to Cybertron, in order to recover the key to the Plasma Energy Chamber. Spike Witwicky and the Autobot-allied Nebulons were subsequently able to foil Galvatron's scheme and use the excess solar energy to re-energise Cybertron, restoring its Golden Age, but Galvatron was not finished yet, and began his plans for the future, proclaiming that the Decepticons would build a more powerful planet and use it to rule the galaxy. However, as this was the end of the American cartoon series, Galvatron's future plans never came to light.
After the Hate Plague incident, the Decepticons kept a low profile. Galvatron, rationally, pretended to trust the surprise of Zarak as he and his Headmasters would prove useful in the ensuing quest for Energon, and the Decepticons subsequently set out across the galaxy, attacking planets to harvest their energy. Using the amassed energy, Galvatron planned to actually incorporate the planet Earth into his own body, becoming a colossal being of incredible power. Learning of this plan, the Autobot Headmasters engaged him in battle in Alaska, and were successfully able to bury him under an iceberg, which then exploded, apparently killing Galvatron.
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. However, this was not the original intent for the character, 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 a new body. With the advent of the animated series, however, the fiction of Beast Wars was re-imagined and eventually applied to the toy line, establishing this Megatron as an independent character. But that is not to say that the original Megatron did not play a role in his namesake's rise to power.
Another being addressed simply as Megatron is an apocalyptic figure said to bring about death and destruction through alteration of the time stream. Possible interpretations in the book of him are "Alpha and Omega" and "The Great Dragon".
In the interim between the first and second seasons of the Beast Wars animated series, the Beast Wars II anime was produced in Japan to fill the gap, and produced a feature film entitled Beast Wars II: Lio Convoy, Close Call! In this film, the Predacons of the series discover a mysterious transwarp device. The Predacons' leader, Galvatron, attempted to use the time-and-space-warping gate to summon a "Megatron" to his aid. It is unclear whether he was searching for the original Megatron or the Predacon who went by the same name, but regardless, Galvatron's brother Gigastorm screwed up the calculations and instead summoned the titanic Majin Zarak, whom Galvatron proudly declared to be far superior to Megatron.
The short-lived Transformers: Robot Masters line released exclusively in Japan saw the Beast Era Megatron transported through the mysterious "Blastizone" to Earth in the early 21st Century, where he sided with the Decepticons, currently led by Starscream after the disappearance of the original Megatron. Dubbed "Beast Megatron" to distinguish him from his predecessor, Megatron bested Starscream and took leadership of the Decepticons until the original Megatron returned in the form of Reverse Convoy, and the two Megatrons merged their energies to create the "Double Megatron Tornado". This power, however, was thwarted by the "Triple Convoy Tornado Link Attack" formed from the energy of Optimus Prime, Optimus Primal and Lio Convoy.
Megatron appeared in the short-lived online Universe cartoon, where he plots to steal gasoline in order to produce Energon. Notably, his alternate mode of a jet is exactly the same as that of Cyclonus, and he incorporates several elements from his live-action movie design, such as both arms fusing together to form his fusion cannon.
Megatron made a cameo in the pilot of the Transformers: Animated series on a historical video being viewed by Optimus Prime. This historical video was stock footage from the original animated series.
Megatron appeared in the following books:
Megatron was featured in the 1993 Transformers: Generation 2 coloring book "Decepticon Madness" by Bud Simpson.[8]
In the Japanese manga "Big War" #2, the Autobots Rodimus Prime, Grimlock, Kup and Wheelie, along with their human allies Spike Witwicky and Daniel Witwicky send Computron into battle against Galvatron's new warrior combiner Abominus. The Terrorcons spit "corrosive control liquid" against Computron, taking control of him and turning him into a Decepticon. Spike luckily uses his new Exosuit to free Computron with "defense spray." Defeated, Galvatron retreats.[9]
In the Transformers Manga #5, Galvatron and his Decepticons attacked the Prime Energy Tower. Galvatron ordered the Decepticons to form Menasor, Devastator and Bruticus and attack. Rodimus Prime counted this move by ordering in Superion, Omega Supreme and Defensor. Galvatron then ordered in Predaking, knowing that Sky Lynx was elsewhere and couldn't counter them. Rodimus ordered the Omnibots to attack Predaking's legs. Tripping up the giant he fell into the other Decepticon giants, winning the day for the Autobots.[10]
Galvatron also appeared in a series of Japanese Manga comic strips set in continuity with the Headmasters series, where he attempted to destroy the Autobots with such schemes as creating his own army of Megatron clones, attempting to destroy Fortress Maximus and creating a hybrid of the original Megatron and Optimus Prime named Guiltor to destroy Rodimus Prime, although he ended up teaming up with his enemy to destroy it after it went rogue.
After Galvatron's seeming destruction in Headmasters this was all that was heard from Galvatron in the animated continuity for several years until the Battlestars: The Return of Convoy storyline (although not animated in itself, consisting of one chapter of manga and a selection of magazine spreads, it continues the storyline of the animated series). Buried and deactivated beneath the ice, Galvatron was recovered by the evil entity, Dark Nova, and reformatted into Super Megatron, going on to battle Star Convoy (a similarly reborn Optimus Prime).
Super Megatron subsequently gets an upgrade to Ultra Megatron, and for the final battle, merges with Dark Nova himself, becoming Star Giant. In the Japanese Generation 2 manga, he was shown to have survived and, in a body resembling his "Hero" toy, once again opposed Optimus Prime.
In the world of Marvel Comics, Megatron begins by 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. Eventually, Cybertron was shaken from its orbit and fell into the path of an asteroid cluster. This would result in the Ark venturing out and then crashing into prehistoric Earth. Four million years later, in 1984, the Transformers were reawakened, and Megatron was defeated twice by Optimus Prime.
Megatron 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. Soundwave had revived his master. Megatron took a fleet of scavenged Warworlds to face the Liege Maximo. He was destroyed by Maximo's arm cannon; he unleashed an energon-fueled blast which destroyed the Maximo. 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 debatable.
Megatron appeared in the 2006 TransformersCon voice actor play. Voices in the play were performed by a variety of volunteers and the actual voice actors attending the convention. The play itself should be considered unofficial, but was notable because it featured several original voice actors reprising their Transformers roles. In this voice actor play various Transformers from different timelines and realities were swept up in a repeat wave and transported along with Unicron to Earth. The Transformers included Generation 1 Tracks, Ariel, Cosmos and Megatron, Beast Wars Tarantulas, Robots in Disguise Sky-Byte and Beast Machines Tankor.
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. It is known that at one point Megatron attempted to recruit Grimlock as one of his inner circle, but the fellow gladiator refused the position, eventually joining the Autobots.
Megatron would also appear in Dreamwave's Transformers/G.I. Joe limited series. Unlike many of the other Transformers (who were given World War II vehicle alternate modes) Megatron would keep his basic Walther P-38 handgun transformation, which was indeed a WWII German handgun. Forming an alliance with Cobra Commander due to their similar natures, Megatron nonetheless had a bitter personal rivalry with the tyrannical Cobra leader, resulting in Megatron killing several of his troops and Cobra Commander having to use the Matrix to keep him in line. Later, Megatron refused to help the Commander as Bruticus tried to crush him, and allowed the Baroness to use him in gun mode to shoot the helpless Cobra Leader. After battling Optimus Prime, he was deactivated when Snake Eyes opened the Matrix, deactivating all the Transformers.
In the G.I. Joe vs. The Transformers 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 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. When Optimus Prime broke free of the controls, Megatron convinced his keeper to free him to fight Optimus. 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 of the series, it was revealed that the U.S. Government had created the android Serpentor (or, as he is called here, Serpent O.R., standing for Organic Robot) using DNA from great historical war leaders and parts from Megatron. Serpentor succeeded where Megatron had failed, and captured Optimus Prime. But Serpentor's exposure to the Matrix, possession by Cobra Commander and subsequent destruction left Megatron's legacy unfulfilled.
The Transformers Classics comics published in the Official Transformers Collectors Club magazine is set in the Marvel Comics continuity, but in a timeline where the events of Generation 2 did not occur. The story occurs fifteen years after Megatron was presumed dead in the crash of the Ark. Megatron survived, and eventually upgraded his body (based on his Classics toy) and gathered many other Decepticons to him. Soundwave helped him in recovering the body of Astrotrain, who was then used to help locate the placement of other fallen Decepticons around the globe. Those who joined Megatron included Laserbeak, Ramjet, Ravage, Skywarp, Soundwave, Starscream and the Constructicons. Megatron also reactivated Thrust, Dirge and Thundercracker, but the three left him to join up with Bludgeon's troops — mostly because they couldn't work with Starscream, who had killed them once. Megatron's based his command from the wreck of the Ark in the Yukon, where he keeps the fallen body of Ratchet as a trophy and the severed, but living, head of Shockwave as an advisor.
In Crossing Over, when Skyfall and Landquake were presumed killed in the midst of a bloody Mini-Con civil war and attack by Unicron (set concurrently with the events of Transformers: Cybertron), they were, in actuality, transported across universes, from the world of the Unicron Trilogy into the Marvel Comics timeline. Unclear what had happened, they then found themselves staring down the barrel of Megatron's cannon. The two were saved when a group of Robot Hunters in battle suits attacked Megatron. Megatron slaughtered them, only to be confronted by a team of Autobots led by Optimus Prime. Skyfall went with the Autobots, while Landquake was taken by Megatron. Back at the Ark Landquake was interrogated and swore loyalty to Megatron. Scrapper detected an unusual energon reading similar to that of Landquake and the Decepticons went to investigate, only to be confronted by the Autobots again.
In Games of Decepticon, Megatron detects the arrival of Bugbite's ship on Earth and sends Starscream, Skywarp and Ramjet to investigate. The Decepticons capture the Autobot spy Mirage. Returning to the Ark the Decepticons fall under the sway of Bugbite, who is using cerebro shells he stole from the Insecticon Bombshell. Megatron overcomes the shell and destroys Bugbite, as the Autobots under the command of Grimlock raid the Ark, destroying the computer and saving Mirage.
Megatron appears in At Fight's End talking to Ratchet.
Megatron defeated Deathsaurus in combat for leadership of the Decepticons. He orders the combiner technology that he captures from Deathsaurus to be used on the Constructions. Megatron then attacks Iacon with his new weapon, Devastator.[11]
After Dreamwave's closure, the rights to the Transformers comics were taken over by IDW Publishing. IDW would take the opportunity to reboot the Transformers universe, including a revised origin for Megatron detailing how he came to power. Here, Megatron was originally a lowly energon miner. He also formed an uneasy truce with Starscream.
In the IDW continuity, 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 the reanimated Thunderwing. Having now ingested Ore-13, Megatron is able to easily manage mass-displacement and thus turn into an Earth handgun (in Escalation #2), and the newfound power appears to have affected his actions- he personally went on the Brasnya mission and is confident enough to transform & battle Optimus in front of human witnesses, actions that Optimus finds out of character. His instability is also what leads the other Decepticons to awaken Starscream to stand up to him in Devastation.
Megatron features prominently in Transformers: Regeneration One, Simon Furman's continuation of the original Marvel series in which the events of Generation 2 did not occur. Here, Megatron's lifeforce is still linked to Ratchet's, and after waking up on Earth in 1994, he has built what's left of Ratchet into a battle sled. Megatron also creates a zombie army from the mostly-Decepticon victims of the Underbase-empowered Starscream, while lobotomizing the still-living Starscream himself. Megatron proceeds ot devastate the Earth, turning its nuclear arsenal against the population, and destroys Fortress Maximus. The Wreckers discover what Megatron's done in the year 2012, prompting Optimus Prime to bring an assault team from Cybertron. Megatron is defeated when Kup destroys Ratchet, stopping Megatron in his tracks and permitting Optimus to destroy him once and for all.
Although Megatron himself would not make an appearance in the Japanese exclusive Kiss Players line, he would nonetheless have a small role to play. When Rodimus Prime hurled Galvatron out of Unicron at the climax of The Transformers: The Movie, Galvatron hurtled through space, out of control, until he eventually crash-landed in Tokyo, devastating much of the city. Although comatose, Galvatron's Unicron-corrupted cells spread throughout Earth and fused with various creatures. The resultant hybrids, known as the Legion, bore a marked resemblance to Megatron and would menace the Earth Defense Command on several occasions.
Megatron is largely "off-screen" for most of the Binaltech saga, reflecting the absence of a Megatron figure in that toyline. Due to the interference of Ravage (the same future Ravage who appears in the Beast Wars), most of the events of the original animated feature do not transpire; most importantly the Battle of Autobot City does not occur, and Optimus Prime and Megatron do not have their final showdown, meaning that Optimus Prime does not die, and Megatron is never reformatted into Galvatron.
Megatron has appeared in numerous Transformers video games.
Megatron appeared as a final boss in Transformers Battle Circuit, a simple Flash-based video game on the Hasbro web site.[12]
Megatron appeared as a playable character in the fighting games Transformers Battle Universe, a Net Jet game in which four incarnations of the character are playable, and DreamMix TV World Fighters, a crossover between various franchises including Transformers.
The Generation 1 version of Megatron is offered as a downloadable character for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen video game. Despite being a distinct playable character, he is also summoned in gun mode by Generation 1 Starscream as an attack move.
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. Additionally, some toy makers have made unlicensed toys in his image, or accessories for the existing toys.
The original 1984 Megatron toy was released in Japan as part of Takara's Microman line under the name "MC-12 Gun Robo". The toy's characteristics such as the head design and Fusion Cannon have been incorporated in other variants and incarnations of Megatron toys. Today, this toy is on a list of banned items on planes in the U.S., and a special license is required to own this toy in Australia. Despite this, Takara Tomy has reissued this toy numerous times in Japan; mostly to commemorate the anniversary of the Transformers franchise.
Due to stricter laws on toys resembling real weapons, toys of Megatron have undergone different forms of alternate modes such as tanks, cars and jets. In 2006, Hasbro released the Classics Voyager Megatron figure, which transformed into a Nerf Maverick REV-6 replica — the first Megatron toy in over two decades to have a gun mode.
In 2007, Takara Tomy released Masterpiece MP-05 Megatron. While retaining the original concept of a transforming gun, this die-cast figure incorporated modern toy manufacturing techniques for improved detail and articulation, while at the same time, captured the look of the cartoon character.
Megatron, Shockwave and Ravage are the three Decepticon figures available to play in the Monopoly Transformers Collectors Edition game.[13]
Megatron has been parodied by such shows as Frank TV,[14] Scrubs, Robot Chicken, Drawn Together, Family Guy and MAD. Frank Welker reprised his role for some of Megatron's parodic appearances.
In the novel World War Z by Max Brooks, an expandable pistol for use against zombies is called the "Meg"; a footnote points out that it is named after the Megatron toy.
American football player Calvin Johnson is nicknamed "Megatron".[15]
At BotCon 2010, Hasbro named Megatron as one of the first five robot inductees in the Transformers Hall of Fame.[16]
Wizard Magazine rated Megatron the 68th greatest villain of all time.[17]
|Deluxe Beasts, Transmetal, Transmetal 2, Ultra Beasts
|Predacon Commander, Vehicon Leader, Emperor of Destruction
|Arachnid, Waspinator
|"What does not destroy me makes me strong . . . what attempts to destroy me shall be obliterated." (Beast Wars)
"Purification is the key to our salvation!" (Beast Machines)
|Alternate Modes
|Tyrannosaurus rex, European dragon, wolf/dragon, head/spaceship, diagnostic drone, Jet and Land assault vehicle (As Optimal Optimus clone), Hypersonic Attack/Ground Assault vehicle, Missile launcher truck similar to a BTR-80 APC
|Beast Wars
Beast Machines
Transformers: Robot Masters
Transformers: Universe
Transformers: Titanium
Transformers: Timelines
|English voice actor
|David Kaye[18]
|Japanese voice actor
|Shigeru Chiba (Beast Wars and Beast Machines)
Toshitsugu Takashina (Robot Masters)
The Beast Wars and Beast Machines version of Megatron is the main antagonist from the aforementioned parts of the Transformers animated series, toy lines, and multiverse. In the past, a few fans have referred to him as Megatron II to distinguish him from the original character of the same name; in the Japanese Transformers: Robot Masters series, he was named Beast Megatron for this purpose. Usually however he simply referred to as the Beast Wars Megatron. His ultimate goal is the conquest of Cybertron, where he was branded a criminal.[19]
Few pieces of information exist about Megatron before the Beast Wars. The Japanese Beast Wars II toy catalogue claims that he had battled and lost to Galvatron (the villain of that series) in the past, while the 2006 BotCon comics claimed he was previously a commander in the Predacon army who had developed many of the Predacons' tactics.
According to the 2007 CGI movie "Theft of the Golden Disk" Megatron was Cryotek's pupil. It was Cryotek who masterminded the theft of the Golden Disk, but Megatron betrayed his mentor and fled Cybertron with his prize, leaving Cryotek and Dirge to be arrested by Maximals.
In a 2010 interview with Shogun Gamer, David Kaye said that Megatron is the role he's more likely to be remembered for.[20]
Megatron was named the best upgrade in Beast Wars history Topless Robot.[21]
Three centuries after the end of The Great War, when Maximal and Predacon had risen to replace the Autobots and the Decepticons, one Predacon in particular was discontented with the Maximals' control of Cybertron following the Autobot victory in the war. Studying the ancient Cybertronian text called the Covenant of Primus, the Predacon took the name Megatron from a great destroyer of the same name that the book foretold (which may or may not have been also in direct homage to his namesake, the Decepticon Megatron). Searching for energon to power his takeover bid, he stole the legendary artifact known as the Golden Disk, but discovered amongst its data more than the mere location of an energon source - encoded onto the disk was a message from the original Megatron, which contained the co-ordinates of the prehistoric planet Earth. Using transwarp technology this would allow a user to travel back in time and alter history - specifically, to destroy Optimus Prime as he lay in stasis within The Ark, thereby preventing the Autobots from winning The Great War.
In Beast Machines, Megatron's personality underwent a change to become a much darker character.[22] Losing many of his previous personality quirks, he developed a hatred of organics and free will, but oddly saw himself as a savior of Cybertron. His sense of humor vanished, replaced with "Machine Precision" and his plans had evolved to galactic conquest. He even developed some sense of honor, keeping his word to Rattrap in one case where he would have formerly taken advantage of an opponent. However, he still retained his strategic brilliance and manipulative abilities, outwitting the Maximals and other enemies with his plans on nearly every occasion.
The short-lived Transformers: Robot Masters line released exclusively in Japan saw Megatron transported through the mysterious "Blastizone" to Earth in the early 21st Century, where he sided with the Decepticons, currently led by Starscream after the disappearance of Megatron. Dubbed "Beast Megatron" to distinguish him from his predecessor, Megatron bested Starscream and took leadership of the Decepticons until the original Megatron returned in the form of Reverse Convoy, and the two Megatrons merged their energies to create the "Double Megatron Tornado". This power, however, was thwarted by the "Triple Convoy Tornado Link Attack" formed from the energy of Optimus Prime, Optimus Primal and Lio Convoy.
Oddly, the Robot Masters series depicted Megatron standing as tall as original Decepticon characters, when Maximals and Predacons were much smaller. Additionally, he is capable of robot-mode flight, and breathes fire in dinosaur mode, none of which he could do in the Beast Wars TV Series.
In the interim between the first and second seasons of the Beast Wars animated series, the Beast Wars II anime was produced in Japan to fill the gap, and produced a feature film entitled Beast Wars II: Lio Convoy, Close Call! In this film, the Predacons of the series discover a mysterious transwarp device. The Predacons' leader, Galvatron, attempted to use the time-and-space-warping gate to summon a "Megatron" to his aid. It is unclear whether he was searching for the original Megatron or the Predacon who went by the same name, but regardless, Galvatron's brother Gigastorm screwed up the calculations and instead summoned the titanic Majin Zarak, whom Galvatron proudly declared to be far superior to Megatron.
Megatron's sudden development of a transformation-freezing virus, spark-extraction and Vehicon technology and drones went without explanation in the animated series, with the large time gap between his return and the Maximals' left to serve as a grey area in which these innovations occurred. The comics exclusive to the BotCon convention, however, shone some light on this period of time, and revealed that upon his return to Cybertron, Megatron met his former mentor, Cryotek. Cryotek offered to free Megatron of his beast mode by transferring most of it to himself, only to have the transfer send him into a period of stasis lock. Megatron went into seclusion, using Cryotek's plundered inventions to develop the technology that he used to enslave Cybertron.
Megatron's earliest fictional depiction in comics was in a two-part short story told in Dreamwave's Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye series of character profiles. The tale started and finished the series, showing a mysterious figure (who would be revealed at the story's close as Megatron) and his accomplice accessing the supercomputer Vector Sigma through a node in an ancient Autobot library and viewing the profiles of the Autobots and Decepticons of the Great War (in reality the character profiles of the series). As the accomplice dispatched a Maximal security agent his leader obtained the Golden Disk and announced he wished to be addressed as Megatron from now on, implying he took the name after viewing the profile of the original Megatron.
In addition to his surprise appearance in Dreamwave's More Than Meets The Eye series (see above) Megatron was also set to appear in Dreamwave's unpublished Beast Wars comic. Although the company's bankruptcy meant that no issues were released, released art and information have revealed that the second issue would have dealt with Megatron's trial on Cybertron at the hands of Magmatron.[23]
IDW Publishing's 2006 comic book, Beast Wars: The Gathering, saw Megatron's old rival from Cybertron, Magmatron, travel back to the time of the Beast Wars (shortly after Megatron's failed attempt at killing Optimus Prime) at the behest of the Tripredacus Council. Activating all the remaining stasis pods on the planet, Magmatron quickly assembled a Predacon army of his own, including a reanimated Ravage. Although Magmatron had ambitions to stage a coup like Megatron, he did not want to reveal his intentions to the Tripredacus Council yet, and aimed to capture Megatron for them as his mission required, to divert suspicion. Revealing himself to Megatron, the two would-be tyrants battled, but Megatron was captured when Magmatron's lackeys Iguanus and Drill Bit managed to knock Megatron out. Magmatron aimed to send him back to Cybertron, but due to the intervention of Razorbeast, Optimus Minor and Grimlock, Magmatron was sent back to Cybertron instead. Razorbeast left the unconscious Megatron on Earth, fearing an alteration to the time stream if he captured him.
Megatron's presence would be felt in IDW's second Beast Wars series as well, as Ravage (resurrected as a Transmetal by Magmatron) aimed to capture Razorbeast's chronal armband, which would allow him to interfere with the "main" timestream (the Beast Wars of the TV show). He planned to free Megatron from his imprisonment on the Autobot shuttle and ally with him to kill all the Maximals on the planet. His plan was thwarted by Razorbeast. However, in the very last panel of the series, Megatron is seen overlooking a ravaged Cybertron, presumably having just arrived from his long transwarp journey before his Maximal rivals.
Megatron had a biography printed in the Beast Wars Sourcebook by IDW Publishing.[24]
Megatron was featured in the 2006 BotCon tale Timelines: Dawn of Futures Past, which picked up where the Dreamwave story left off. Much more of the background surrounding his theft of the Golden Disk artifacts was revealed. A feared general in the Predacon army, he went rogue from the Predacons after the signing of the Pax Cybertronia, and took the name of Megatron. He swiftly gathered a crew of like-minded individuals and, while Waspinator and Terrorsaur stole a ship, he, Dinobot and Scorponok stole the disk, battling the guards and destroying one, leaving the other to commandeer a ship to pursue them. Picked up by their ship, they fled and were pursued by two ships - one of which was the Axalon. Tarantulas was able to decode enough information from the Golden Disk to set a course through transwarp space. With a little help from Laserbeak and Buzzsaw (secretly sent by Divebomb to ensure Megatron's plan to change history succeeded) they destroyed one of their pursuers, and the newly christened Darkside fled into Transwarp space, with the Axalon in pursuit - thus beginning the Beast Wars.[25] To marry the visual appearance of Megatron's pre-Beast form seen in the first episode of the Beast Wars animated series (indeed, Megatron was the only character whose entire body was depicted, albeit briefly, prior to reformatting into a beast mode) with the toy of the character available exclusively at the convention, the story notes that Megatron adopts a detachable suit of armor that transforms into a missile tank, similar to a Pretender Shell or Ultra Magnus' outer armor in Dreamwave's series. The tank is his toy; the profile given for the character in the widespread release of the comic notes that his original body transforms into a hover tank. Notably, Timelines presents a slightly different version of the disk's theft to the story presented in Dreamwave comics. In Timelines, Megatron seems to already be known to other characters by that name, whereas in Dreamwave's story, he only takes the name after taking possession of the disk. Whether the two are reconcilable is unknown.
Megatron appeared in the 2008 BotCon voice actor play "Bee in the City", voiced by David Kaye. After losing Optimus Prime and Sari to the Transtech incarnation of Shockwave, Bumblebee and Flareup meet Megatron, who goes by the name of "Joe" to avoid any attraction. Learning of the Allspark key on Sari's person, Megatron offers his aid. Once Bumblebee frees his friends, Megatron reveals himself as he uses the key to bring an army to life. However, when his army realize the consequence of their coming to being within Transtech Cybertron, a mutiny ensures as Megatron is dragged off while vowing revenge.
Megatron's story continued in the pages of the biography printed by Fun Publications for the 25th Anniversary Optimus Primal toy. Even his death at the conclusion of Beast Machines would not be the end of Megatron's villainy. Due to the inextricable link that had been forged between himself and Optimus Primal when Cybertron was reformatted, Primal's return to life to lead the "Children of Primus" against the machinations of Unicron meant that Megatron was also brought back to the land of the living. This time, however, the two old enemies found themselves in an uneasy alliance, travelling from universe to universe to wherever the multiversal conflict had spread.
Megatron appears in the 1999 Game Boy Color video game Ketō Transformers Beast Wars: Beast Senshi Saikyō Ketteisen. He is a playable character in the fighting games Transformers Battle Universe, a Net Jet game. He is among the licensed characters in the PC video game Beast Wars Transformers.[26]
Megatron appears among the characters in Re-Unification, the 2010 TFCon voice actor play prelude comic.[27]
He was featured in the Beast Wars Transformers Mutating Card Game by Parkr Brothers.[28]
Transmetal Megatron was voted the 4th strangest Transformers Beast Wars figure by Topless Robots.[29]
|Six Changers, Ten Changers, Ultra Beasts
|Decepticon/Predacon Leader, Dark God of Destruction/Ultimate God of Destruction, Predacon Emperor of Destruction
|"My power is unequaled. My strength is unmatched. My opponents are unworthy. And my presence is that of death."
|Alternate Modes
|Dragon/gargoyle/car/spaceship/hand/jet/twin-headed dragon
Dragon/drill tank
|Beast Wars II
Transformers: Robots in Disguise
|English voice actor
|Daniel Riordan, Tetsuo Komura
This version of Megatron (known as Gigatron in Japan) is a six-changer, powerful enough to transform into five additional modes besides his robot form - twin-headed dragon, bat-gargoyle creature, race car, spaceship and claw (GigaDragon, GigaBat, GigaFormula, GigaJet and GigaHand in Japanese).[30] Each form has its own different frightening capabilities, making Megatron a very unstable and unpredictable fighter. Unlike his namesake, Megatron would often sit back from a conflict and allow his subordinates to do the dirty work. Like his counterparts, he is arrogant, but unlike them, he also was incompetent, as most of his schemes were badly planned and badly executed.[31] Upon his upgrade into Galvatron, he gains additional forms, and gains the ability to absorb energy from other lifeforms.
In the original Car Robots series, the character was developed as a new, unique villain character called Gigatron; however, the name "Megatron" was used in the US dub due to recognition, as well as maintaining ownership of the trademark. In Korea, the character has been established as being the same character as Beast Wars II Galvatron. In this version of the series, each of Gigatron's modes had its own personality.
A Predacon warlord before coming to Earth, Megatron is believed to have decimated numerous planets in his quest for energy. Optimus stated that Megatron left entire planets as "lifeless barren rocks". Needing ever more energy, Megatron targeted Earth's energy; to that end, he kidnapped the human energy-research expert, Doctor Kenneth Onishi, using his psycho-probe to drain information on Earth's energy sources from his mind. But even his subordinates were unaware that Megatron had a greater scheme in motion...
A character called Gigatron Z (known as Galvatron in Japan) would play a big role in Japanese fiction relating to the Beast Era. This character appeared in the Japanese exclusive Beast Wars Second line, unrelated to the G1 character called Galvatron. In the years that followed the end of The Great War, the factions known as the Maximals and Predacons arose to replace the Autobots and Decepticons. In this time, a Transformer called Galvatron was the leader of a group of Predacons who landed on Planet Gaia (a future version of Earth) in search of the power of the Angolmois energy to rule the universe. After many battles, he brought in his Fortress Nemesis to finish the extraction of the energy from the planet. Confronted by the Maximals Lio Convoy and Lio Junior, merged as the Lion of Gaea, Galvatron was defeated, but as the Angolmois energy was sealed in capsules to prevent further use, Galvatron revived, intending to use the self-destruct device in his chest to destroy his foes. With a final blow, Lio Convoy shattered Galvatron's chest, causing a cataclysmic explosion that seemed to kill both of them off and scattered the Angolmois capsules across the galaxy.
Galvatron was a Triple Changer, using a Gaian computer to give him the most powerful forms the planet had to offer. These were an ancient drill tank and a monstrous dragon. This made Galvatron the first Predacon in the series to gain a beast mode, although his was made into a Transmetal-like form because of his tank mode. Galvatron had immense power, to such an extent he often lapsed into stasis until he managed to amass enough Angolmois Energy to be permanently active in the second half of the series.
In the course of the Beast Wars Neo sequel series, it is revealed that the Angolmois energy is actuality the life essence of Unicron himself, which his minions the Blendtrons seek to recover. The Blendtrons also recover Galvatron's lifeless shell, which was then possessed by Unicron as he attempted to transform Cybertron into his new body, only to be defeated by Maximal leader Big Convoy, aided by Lio Convoy and his Maximals.
The character of RiD Megatron made one appearance in Dreamwave comics Summer Special issue before the company went under, sending his bickering lieutenants Scourge and Sky-Byte to steal a nuclear generator while he led the other Decepticons and Predacons to distract the Autobots. There was a contest in the issue as to whether RiD or Beast Wars would be the next Dreamwave comic series, which Beast Wars won. But Dreamwave went bankrupt before the series begin.
In "The Maximal Brainwashing Project" Starscream and BB were able to capture Diver and the Tasmanian Kid, brainwashing them into serving the Predacons. Meanwhile Leo Prime, Apache and Scuba were able to capture Dirge and Thrust. The shock of being damaged in capture had the side effect of making the Predacons think they were Maximals. Diver and the Kid were able to ambush the Maximals, allowing Galvatron to gain the upper hand on Lio Convoy, but the Maximals were aided by Dirge and Thrust. Furious that Lio had seemingly stolen his brainwashing idea Starscream had BB attacked the Maximals. Megastorm found the whole turn of events amusing and planned to use his main cannon to destroy all the Maximals and Predacons in the conflict, becoming the leader of the Predacons. His attack took so long to charge Diver was able to ruin it with a water geyser. The explosion was enough to shock the brainwashed Maximals back to their senses. Galvatron and the Predacons retreated with Dirge and Thrust in tow.[32]
Galvatron had a biography printed in the Beast Wars Sourcebook by IDW Publishing.[33]
Beast Wars Second Galvatron, Megastorm and the technorganic Predacon Waspinator appeared together in the story Wreckers: Finale Part II by the Transformers Collectors Club in 2007. During the invasion of Cybertron by the Quintessons the Predacons worked together to ambush a Quintesson contingent commanded by Overseer Vashik. Vashnik's troops were caught in a pool of molten magma and destroyed.[34]
Galvatron appears in the 1999 Game Boy Color video game Ketō Transformers Beast Wars: Beast Senshi Saikyō Ketteisen.
|Deluxe Beasts, Leaders, Micro Vehicles, Triple Changers
|Decepticon Leader
|Clench, Hardtop, Leader-1, Soundwave
|"My power is your doom!" (Armada)
"Join me and I will send you to battle. Defy me, and I will send you to oblivion." (Energon)
|Alternate Modes
|Cybertronia Tank resembling a M808B Scorpion, Cybertronian Jet, Cybertronian Racer/Jet, Robotic T-Rex
|Transformers: Armada
Transformers: Energon
Transformers: Cybertron
Transformers: Titanium
Transformers Attacktix
|English voice actor
|David Kaye
|Japanese voice actor
|Yanada Kiyoyuki (Micron Legend)
Junichi Endou (Superlink)
Jouji Nakata (Galaxy Force)
The Megatron of the "Unicron Trilogy" (Transformers: Armada, Transformers: Energon and Transformers: Cybertron) is the leader of the evil Decepticons in that universe of the Transformers mythology. In all three animated series, he is modified into Galvatron, reverting to his Megatron name at the beginning of each series. He is voiced by David Kaye, who also voiced the Beast Wars and Beast Machines version of Megatron.
Megatron is a refined, focused general of the Decepticons. He is extremely cruel, ruthless and cunning as well as incredibly strong and intelligent. Only Optimus Prime can be compared with him in force. Megatron will stop at nothing in order to achieve his ultimate object, that is to say, to rule over all the Mini-Cons and over the entire Universe, in the end.
In Micron Legend (the Japanese version of Transformers: Armada) Megatron did not rename himself Galvatron when he received his power boost. Instead, he renames himself when he is reborn in Superlink, using the name "Galvatron" throughout the series. In the American version, on the other hand, he reverts to using the name Megatron again, changing it to Galvatron once more towards the end of the series.
Ten years later, Primus's plan to imprison Unicron's spark at the heart of the sun ultimately failed, leading the star to collapse, creating a black hole which threatened the existence of Cybertron, and the rest of the universe. Escaping his confinement within the sun, Megatron (now known as Master Megatron in Japan[35]) enhanced his powers by merging his body with the remnants of Unicron's shattered form, increasing his power with the dark god's own. In this new form, Megatron became a Triple Changer with the ability to change into a monstrous racing vehicle and a Cybertronian jet plane. His primary weapons consist of two rear-mounted missile launchers and the ability to unleash energy streams from his palms in the shape of lightning bolts. In addition, he can call upon a Cyber Key to activate high speed thrusters in vehicle mode, as well as a battle claw (Named as Death Claw in Japan) in robot mode.
The story of Megatron in the Armada comics would be similar to his animated counterpart, but with an expanded backstory. Attacking various Mini-Con villages to draw the Autobots away, Megatron's forces then declared war and invaded Cyber-City, crushing all resistance and announcing himself as its new leader. The Autobots returned but were no match for the Mini-Con-enhanced Decepticons. However, a handful of Mini-Cons broke into Decepticon headquarters, freed most of their comrades and evacuated the planet. Despite this setback, the few Mini-Cons that Megatron had left were still enough to allow him to conquer Cybertron.
Realizing that the threat Unicron posed was too great to be overcome on his own, Megatron agreed to co-operate with Optimus Prime by pooling resources. Megatron's Decepticons and the Autobots came to a truce for their final battle with Unicron. Megatron returned the Mini-Cons and joined the battle against Unicron, but secretly planned to let the Autobots die and then strike a bargain with Unicron. In the final battle with Unicron, Hot Shot, Red Alert and Scavenger attacked Megatron and knocked him into Unicron's mouth, where he was devoured alive.(Transformers: Armada #18 )
The origin of Energon Megatron was different in the Dreamwave comics. Although Megatron appeared dead, seemingly devoured by Unicron at the end of the Armada comics, it was later revealed that Megatron's mind was trapped within Unicron's bulk, where he existed undetected by Unicron, slowly building himself a new body. However, he could not move his consciousness into the body without being detected by Unicron.
Megatron would also appear in the Energon promotional comic. On Earth, Megatron, with the aid of Snowcat, Shockwave, Mirage and Demolishor, has cornered Optimus Prime and a wounded Hot Shot. Optimus refused to give up despite the odds. The other Autobot reinforcements were over ten minutes away when Wing Saber arrived. Megatron was shocked to learn the power of Optimus Prime when he Powerlinked with Wing Saber and turned back all the Decepticons, and then Megatron himself. The Autobots then arrive and Optimus thanked Wing Saber for his help.
Plucked from his timeline by the power of Unicron immediately after building the Star Saber, Megatron was thrust together with Grimlock and Optimus Primal to battle Striker and Reptilion. Although not specifically shown, it can be safely assumed that Megatron was returned to his own timeline after the end of the conflict.
In the second Transformers: Energon pack in comic Prowl, Inferno and Landmine discover some hills on Earth that are rich with energon and call in to Optimus Prime that they should put an energon tower up. Optimus warns the Autobots that Decepticon activity has been scanned nearby. Megatron attacks with a horde of Divebomb Terrorcon clones. The Autobots attempt by fight back by having Mirage and Inferno Powerlinx while Landmine goes into brute mode, but they are overwhelmed when Insecticon Terrorcon hordes join in the attack. The Autobots retreat and Megatron takes the energon for himself.
Megatron is among the characters appearing in the 2004 Transformers video game for the PlayStation 2 as a boss.[36]
Megatron (in his Cybertron form) appears among the characters in Re-Unification, the 2010 TFcon voice actor play prelude comic.[37]
Megatron as he appears in Dark of the Moon.
|Fast Action Battlers, Leaders, Micro Vehicles, Voyagers, Triple Changers
|Decepticon Leader[38]
|The Fallen, Starscream, Soundwave, Blackout, Barricade, Long Haul, Mixmaster, Rampage, Scrapper, Dylan Gould, Sentinel Prime and Shockwave
|Alternate Modes
|Cybertronian Jet/Cybertronian Flying Tank/Mack Titan Tank Truck
|Transformers film series
Transformers (2010)
|English voice actor
|Hugo Weaving (Transformers films and leader class figures)
Frank Welker (animated prequel, 2007 video game, 2009 video game)
Fred Tatasciore (2011 video game)
Tony Gialluca II (Cyber Missions)
|Japanese voice actor
|Kotaro Nakamura
In the 2007 live action Transformers film, Megatron's alternate mode is a Cybertronian jet. He serves as the main antagonist of the first movie and secondary antagonist of the two sequels. 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".[39] (This significant change in size is known in Transformers fan communities as "mass shifting" & "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 someone else. 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.[40]
In the second film, Megatron gains a different alternate mode, that of a flying Cybertronian tank. In the third film, Megatron receives another different 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.
Actor Hugo Weaving provides the voice of Megatron in the 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 official video games of the movies (with Dark of the Moon as the exception, where he was voiced by Fred Tatasciore), along with the exclusive animated prequel.[41]
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 film, he can transform his right hand into a gun, combine both of his arms to form his iconic fusion cannon, and can transform his right arm into a steel flail. In the second film, after Megatron's resurrection, his right arm can transform into the fusion cannon in its entirety, coupled with a lobster claw-like blade/crushing device. In the third film, Instead of using a fusion cannon integrated into his arm, he uses a handheld version of it, which resembles a human shotgun, specifically a Lupara.
According to an early interview with Michael Bay, Megatron stands at 41 ft (12 m) tall,[42] but according to his profile in the second issue of the Transformers UK comic Megatron stands "35 feet (10.6 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 have 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.[43]
After the events of the Revenge of the Fallen film, Megatron goes into hiding, orchestrating the events from Soundwave getting into NEST headquarters to Lockdown being pursued by Ratchet. Megatron finally reveals himself in Cyber Missions 4, when Optimus and Sideswipe track his spark's signal, which leads them to an abandoned warehouse. The two realize that Megatron is always one step ahead of them, and Megatron slashes at Sideswipe from behind. Megatron starts dueling Optimus, then Sideswipe joins in with him. Realizing that he is outnumbered, Megatron transforms into tank mode and shoots the roof, which collapses on Optimus and Sideswipe. Megatron gets away, but he leaves a trail of tank tread marks that lead out of the warehouse.
Megatron returns 8 episodes later in Cyber Missions #12, where he and Starscream scheme in the Arctic. He reveals to Starscream that he is aware of his ambitions and will punish him if he ever shows it again. Optimus Prime, who tracked them, soon arrives and combats them. When the rest of Optimus' team arrive, Megatron orders Starscream to take care of them, which Starscream agrees to, but not without complaint. Megatron and Starscream are simultaneously defeated, and the Decepticon commander flees after Optimus grants him mercy.
Most of the Decepticons return for the final mission, Decepticons Attack. After receiving a signal from Soundwave emitting from a bullet train, Megatron arrived on the other side of the tunnel the train was emerging from, and derailed it. Ripping open one of the cars, Megatron berated Soundwave for being captured so easily, until it was revealed it was simply a hologram of his communications officer. Megatron declared it a trap, to which Optimus replied that it was a moment later. The Autobots and Decepticons battled for one last time, with Optimus telling Megatron that his alliances were made out of fear, not friendship. The Decepticons are then cornered by the human troops. Optimus Prime then demands that all Decepticons leave Earth. All of the Decepticons, including Megatron, leave Earth, but not before the commander declares that he will return.
Megatron appears in the prequel novel Transformers: Ghosts of Yesterday, where it is revealed that reverse-engineering of his body has produced a spacecraft called Ghost-1. The spacecraftt is sent into space in 1969, where the humans on board encounter Megatron (here referred to throughout as the "Ice Man"), who is briefly reanimated in the middle of a battle between the Americans and the Soviets. However, he is placed in cryo-stasis once again.
The children's book Transformers — Meet The Decepticons by Jennifer Frantz has a slightly different ending than the movie. This book has all six Decepticons leaving Earth together after being defeated by the Autobots, instead of having most of their numbers die.
The novelization for Transformers: Dark of the Moon ends with Megatron laying down his weapons and calling for a truce in earnest. Optimus Prime spares him and the Decepticons leave Earth to rebuild Cybertron.
In the novel, comic and video game adaptations of Revenge of the Fallen, the slightly different ending gives more depth to Megatron's relationship with The Fallen. As The Fallen prepares for the final battle with Optimus Prime, it is revealed that The Fallen's promises of power to his apprentice were lies. Out of anger, Megatron betrays the Fallen and allows Optimus to kill him for good. He then flies back aboard the Nemesis to take command of the remaining Decepticon army. In the novel version of Dark of the moon, Optimus and Megatron work together and defeat Sentinel Prime. Though a fight was teased, Megatron reveals to Optimus he is tired of fighting, and is sueing for peace. He declares he will work to restore Cybertron to its previous glory, and will send for the autobots, so that they may rebuild their planet, as brothers.
The back story of Megatron is told in both Transformers: Defiance and issue #1 of the Transformers: Movie Prequel comic. In the comics, Megatron is revealed to have co-ruled Cybertron together with Optimus Prime, serving as Lord High Protector. Megatron and Optimus learned of an alien force coming to their planet for the All Spark, just as a mysterious artifact was unearthed.[44] Megatron is gravely injured, but the artifact (containing the Fallen) awakens and heals him, swaying him with promises of power. Megatron soon desires power over the All Spark, and under the Fallen's influence, forms the Decepticons, sending the bulk of his soldiers in a craft, the Nemesis.
The Autobots attempt to hide the All Spark, but Megatron sees through the ruse and launches a full-scale attack, during which the All Spark is launched into space. Megatron almost catches up with the All Spark as it lands on Earth. In his reckless desire to possess it, Megatron pursues it right into Earth's atmosphere and falls into the icy waters, resulting in his being frozen in stasis lock. In the late 19th century, Captain Archibald Witwicky discovers the Decepticon during an Arctic expedition. At the turn of the 20th century, a crew of men later take his body — dubbing him the "Ice-man" - and keep him in storage up until the present day, eventually relocating him to Hoover Dam in Nevada.
In a flashback in the movie sequel comic Transformers: The Reign of Starscream, Megatron's negative relationship with Starscream is shown to be a result of Starscream failing on a mission.
All events that take place in the alternate reality where Megatron won the battle at Mission City are in italics.
In Titan Magazines U.K. Transformers magazine, the U.K.-originated strips (written by Simon Furman) reveal Megatron's actions between issues #1 and 2 of the IDW comic. Pursuing the All Spark into space following the events of Movie Prequel #1, Megatron is delayed in his pursuit by a tractor beam from Cybertron. Breaking free and attacking the culprits — Jazz, Ratchet and Ironhide - Megatron realizes that if he engages them, he would be delayed further. Summoning Devastator to deal with them, he resumes his pursuit — but the desperate gamble works and he (temporarily) loses the All Spark's trail.
The character profile the magazine provided sheds a little more light on Megatron's desire to possess the All Spark. He believes that while Cybertronians could already transform into other forms via a scanning process, the All Spark could allow Transformers to simply imagine the form they want and change accordingly. Interfacing with the Allspark directly, Megatron gains his deadly jet mode and now began his plans to obtain it permanently.
In "Twilight's Last Gleaming" part 3, Bumblebee attempts to take on Megatron in the Sector 7 base as Mikaela attempts to free Optimus Prime, but she is attacked by Frenzy. In part 4, Mikaela frees Prime and freezes Frenzy just as Autobot reinforcements arrive and assist Bumblebee in fighting Megatron.
Megatron appears in Transformers as the main antagonist. Several years after being discovered by Captain Archibald Witwicky, Megatron's frozen body is transported from the Arctic Circle to Hoover Dam to be guarded by Sector 7, a secret government organization that studies Non-Biological Extraterrestrials (N.B.E.'s), as well as other alien-related activities. Sector 7 Agent Seymour Simmons explains that the Earth's magnetic field may have interfered with Megatron's telemetry, causing him to crash during the Ice Age. He also explains that his technology was reverse-engineered, producing the world's modern technology. Megatron's location, as well as the All Spark's, is located by a group of Decepticons led by Starscream. After sneaking into Hoover Dam Frenzy thaws out Megatron, who escapes outside and learns from Starscream that the humans and the Autobots have taken the All Spark. Megatron pursues the Autobots and their allies to Los Angeles, where he quickly disposes of Jazz before battling Optimus Prime. He defeats Optimus and then pursues Sam Witwicky up a condemned building, attempting to taunt and threaten the human into giving him the All Spark. Sam declines, prompting Megatron to knock the boy off the roof of the building with his flail. Optimus saves Sam and battles Megatron again. Towards the end of the battle as Megatron and Optimus are fighting, Blackout attempts to help Megatron kill Optimus Prime however, Blackout is killed by Captain Lennox and his team, Megatron attempts to seize the Allspark once again, only to have it shoved into his exposed spark chamber by Sam, killing him. Megatron's body is then dumped in the Laurentian Abyss with the other deceased Decepticons.
Megatron returns in the sequel film, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, as one of the secondary antagonists of the film. In the film, he is revealed to be The Fallen's disciple, and the second commander of the Decepticon armies, as The Fallen is the true commander of the Decepticons. Megatron is revived by Scalpel and the Constructicons with an All Spark shard and now takes on the form of a Cybertronian winged tank. He then flies to the Nemesis, where he is greeted by Starscream (whom he briefly pummels and berates for deserting him on earth). He then reunites with The Fallen, telling of the All Spark's demise before being told by his master that its knowledge (which has been passed on to Sam) is the key for providing Energon, which is needed by the Decepticons in order to awaken their protoform armies. Sam, his girlfriend Mikaela Banes and his dorm mate Leo Spitz are abducted by Grindor into an abandoned factory where Megatron meets them. Pinning down Sam, threatening to torture him after acquiring what he needed, Megatron orders Scalpel to extract the Energon information from Sam's brain (ordering him to actually remove his brain), but they are quickly stopped by Optimus Prime. Megatron and Prime have a brief fight in the warehouse and then have a major battle in a forest, with Starscream and Grindor joining in. The fight ends with Megatron killing Prime by stabbing and shooting him with his fusion cannon, but then being forced to escape due to the intervention of Autobot reinforcements. Megatron then declares to Starscream that the Decepticons must reveal themselves to the humans in order to flush out Sam, and assists The Fallen in ordering the world's humans to find Sam and bring him to the Decepticons. Megatron and Starscream soon arrive in Egypt, and he commands his Decepticons (including several Constructicons and Starscream) to prevent Sam from getting the Matrix of Leadership to Optimus and retrieve it for The Fallen's machine. He then summons Devastator, who destroys the top part of the Great Pyramid of Giza, revealing the Star Harvester. The Fallen soon arrives after Devastator's destruction (see Devastator for more info.), and takes the Matrix of Leadership from a recently revived Optimus. Megatron then greets him, but is blown away by an upgraded Optimus Prime (using the parts of Jetfire to fly). Megatron and his master then battle Optimus. In one brutal move, Optimus grabs Megatron's arm cannon and forces it to fire on Megatron's face, destroying half of it, and then tears off his right arm and shoots him through a wall with Jetfire's afterburners. After seeing The Fallen defeated, Starscream advices that they should retreat, and Megatron vowed that it wouldn't be over.
Megatron returns in Transformers: Dark of the Moon as a secondary antagonist. Michael Bay described Megatron's vehicle mode as the demented version of Optimus Prime. In the three years since Revenge of The Fallen, Megatron has been hiding out in African jungles healing his wounds.[45] In the film Megatron allies himself with Sentinel Prime in an attempt to revitalize Cybertron. He hides out in Africa, recovering from his wounds while taking care of some of the hatchlings by giving them what Energon he can. Soundwave and Laserbeak inform him of the Autobot's discovery of the Ark ship on the moon, and orders them to kill their human allies. When Sentinel reveals his true intentions to the Autobots, Megatron arrives in Washington D.C. to meet with him. After blasting the statue of Abraham Lincoln and using it as a throne, he witnesses Sentinel activate his Space Bridge to bring his Decepticon forces to Earth. During the invasion of Chicago, Sentinel demoralizes Megatron after Megatron makes a suggestion of how they will rule Cybertron together after it has arrived through the Space Bridge, who realizes he's no longer in charge. When Cybertron appears in Earth's atmosphere, Megatron shows a rare example of sadness and regret. Towards the end of the battle, Megatron is convinced by Carly that Sentinel will take all of the power and credit for revitalizing Cybertron for himself. Megatron turns on Sentinel, declaring that Earth is his planet to rule, and severely damages him, allowing Optimus to finish him off. As Cybertron's trip through the Space Bridge fails, Megatron proposes a truce to Optimus, so long as he remains in charge of the Decepticon forces. But the Autobot leader, knowing what Megatron has in mind, denies the offer and attacks him. Megatron proves to be too slow, as he misses a shot with his gun, allowing Optimus to pin him to the ground and embed his Energon axe in his face. Optimus rips Megatron's head off, and drops it to the ground, finally killing him. Shortly after, Optimus uses Megatron's shotgun to execute Sentinel.
Megatron appears in the first film's video game adaptation, Transformers: The Game.
Megatron is among the playable characters in the 2009 Revenge of the Fallen video game by Activision. In the game, he has two modes, Megatron (tank mode) and Megatron Flight (jetpack mode), the latter of which is only used in his fight against The Fallen after being betrayed.
Megatron appears as a playable character in the fighting games Transformers Battle Universe, a Net Jet game.
Megatron is among the characters who appear in the TRANSFORMERS CVBERVERSE Battle Builder Game.[46]
Megatron is one of the Decepticons featured in Transformers: The Ride at Universal Studios theme parks. In the ride, Megatron and the Decepticons invade N.E.S.T. headquarters to steal the AllSpark shard, but the Autobot Evac acquires it and rushes across the city to keep it away from the Decepticons. Ultimately, in a scene similar to the end of the first film, Evac stabs Megatron in the chest with the AllSpark shard, killing the Decepticon leader.
Animated Megatron.
|Activators, Deluxe Vehicles, Leaders, Voyagers
|Decepticon Tyrant, Ultimate Cybertronian Intergalactic Tyrant, Emperor of Destruction
|10 (Takara)
|"The Allspark will be mine, and Cybertron will tremble at my feet.", "Crush the Autobots!", "Peace through tyranny!!"
|Alternate Modes
|Cybertronian Fusion Jet Fighter, Tiltrotor gunship
|Transformers Animated
|English voice actor
|Corey Burton
|Japanese voice actor
|Norio Wakamoto
In Transformers Animated, Megatron was not the main antagonist for much of the first season, but in season two, he took back the role of the primary antagonist. Megatron's Cybertronian design hearkens to the movie version but with more human-like features, while his Earth design bears similarities to the "Super Megatron" form of his G1 incarnation. He wields his trademark fusion cannon (which is much larger than usual in this series), and carries a pair of swords. The swords do not resemble the katana in the image at right, taken from an earlier design. His original alternate mode is an unknown Cybertronian space vehicle, but becomes a tiltrotor aircraft once he is rebuilt to blend in with Earth.
In this series, Megatron has his own catchphrase: "Decepticons, transform and rise up!", contrasting Optimus Prime's classic "Autobots, transform and roll out!" line. A marked contrast between this and other series is that Megatron and Optimus Prime's antagonism is not personal: before their first battle, they had never met, and they continue to clash on the basis that they are on opposite sides rather than on any particularly personal hatred. Megatron does not even bother to remember Optimus's name until the series finale. Unlike several other series, Megatron does not upgrade into Galvatron, he remains as Megatron for the full three seasons.
This version is less tolerant of Starscream's treachery: after gaining his new body, he uses Sari Sumdac's key to slay Starscream, and takes great pleasure in killing him several times once he discovers that Starscream has become immortal due to a shard of the Allspark embedded in his head, and he would later destroy Starscream's replacement body, moments after he got it, once the treacherous Decepticon had outgrown his usefulness.
Megatron is also the most cool-headed among his other adaptations, despite being just as arrogant as his predecessors. Furthermore he doesn't consider Optimus of any actual importance until the climactic final battle on Earth, where Megatron finally acknowledged him as a threat by name. In the end, Megatron is captured and brought to Cybertron.
The scale chart released for the series indicates Megatron stands about 35 feet tall.
In the Japanese translation of Transformers: Animated, the story has been changed to make it a prequel to the 2007 Transformers film. This makes this version of Megatron an earlier version of the film character.
As revealed in "Transform and Roll Out", Megatron had spent 4 million stellar cycles (years) in search of the Allspark. Even though he found it, Megatron was betrayed at the beginning of the series by Starscream, who planted an explosive device on his back. Due to the explosion that crippled the Autobots craft, Megatron's lifeless body crashed on Earth, contracting "space barnacles," while his disembodied head was found in rural Michigan by a young Isaac Sumdac. Megatron's head subsequently became a keystone for Sumdac's various robotic creations, which he used to help convert Detroit into a technological metropolis within the next 50 years.
After the events of the animated series Megatron was placed in detention at the Trypticon stronghold in Kaon city.[47]
If Cyclonus is to be believed, Megatron will become Galvatron, under unknown circumstances, and kill Oil Slick.
Much like the movie version, he is portrayed as larger and more powerful than many other Transformers in the series. Animated Megatron, in an Earth-based tiltrotor mode, appears as a hidden character in the Transformers Net Jet video game by Hasbro.
Transtech Megatron concept art
|"Rehabilitation of these rebels will not be a problem. Slaughter them all."
|Alternate Modes
|Cybertronian Tank
|Transformers: Timelines
The Megatron of the Transtech world works together with his world's Optimus Prime. Shockwave is one of his chief scientific researchers. Shockwave used to work for the renegade Decepticon Jhiaxus as a scientist, but after Jhiaxus was destroyed Shockwave was brought in by Megatron as a prisoner. Initially put on trial for war crimes he was freed by Megatron, who argued to Sentinel Prime that Shockwave's mind would be an invaluable asset to them.
In Withered Hope Megatron and Optimus Prime heard the pleas of six Gobots whose home dimension was being destroyed, but he wasn't interested in helping them.
In Transcendent Shockwave kidnapped Breakaway to examine him under the orders of Megatron. After Shockwave discovered that certain systems in Breakaway were unique and might be useful Megatron requested permission from Transtech Ratbat to take the Autobot apart, even if it may kill him. When Alpha Trion's forces raided the lab to free Skyfall Megatron opposed them, but they escaped to another dimension.[48]
Megatron appeared in Invasion Prologue by Fun Publications.[49]
Shattered Glass Megatron art.
|Club Exclusives, Voyagers
|Decepticon Leader
|Divebomb, Rumbler & Thundercracker
|"Peace will come for all Cybertronians.", "Power is nothing without wisdom."
|Alternate Modes
|Cybertronian jet, rescue helicopter
|Transformers: Timelines
This Megatron, later called Galvatron, is a heroic mirror image of the usual Megatron character from the BotCon exclusive "Shattered Glass" comic, in which the Decepticons are on the side of good and the Autobots on the side of evil. Megatron transforms into a Cybertronian jet. He has a drone partner named Rumbler, who can act act as a cannon for Megatron or form a neutronic blade weapon.
After nearly being killed in an assassination attempt Megatron was rebuilt by Nexus Prime into Galvatron.
According to his Tech Specs Megatron was once a young mathematician who lectured at one of Cybertron's most prestigious universities.
In the Fun Publications story "Shattered Glass" Megatron recruits the Autobot Cliffjumper from an alternate reality to aid him against the Autobots of his world. He later leads an attack on the Autobot's Ark launch site.[50]
Megatron appears in the fiction Dungeons & Dinobots, a text based story. He defends the Arch-Ayr fuel dump from an Autobot attack. He later sends several of his troops to capture and reprogram the rogue Dinobots built by the mad Autobot scientist Wheeljack.[51]
Megatron is captured by the Autobot Targetmasters in Do Over, but was freed thanks to help by the Predacons and Whisper. When confronted by Optimus Prime he attempts to use the Autobot Targetmaster Nightstick to shoot the Autobot leader, but Nightstick takes control of Megatron's arm. Megatron then tricks Optimus into using Megatron's own weapon to cut Megatron's hand off, freeing him from Nightstick. Megatron misses the launching of the Decepticon ship Nemesis, which is taken over by Starscream to counter Autobot ship Ark.[52]
In Reunification, Megatron greets a Quintesson and the dimensional travelers Breakaway, Topspin Skyfall and Landquake after their escape from the Autobot combiner Computron. Megatron introduces the travelers to Heatwave, but then is shot by the traitor Cyclonus, who is working for Alpha Trion. The travelers try to combine their powers with Heatwave to return Megatron to life, but instead have a vision of Skyfall and are combined into Nexus Prime. Nexus Prime resurrects Megatron as Galvatron.
Megatron, getting reformatted into Galvatron, appears in a flashback in The Coming Storm.
Concept Art Megatron for War on Cybertron.
|Deluxe Vehicles
|Dark Lord, Emperor of Destruction
|Alternate Modes
|Cybertronian Tank, Cybertronian Jet
|Transformers: Prime
Transformers: Generations
Transformers: United
|English voice actor
|Fred Tatasciore (War for Cybertron video game)
Frank Welker (Prime TV series)
The being known as Megatron started out as a nameless worker who took the name Megatronus (after a "mythical" character in Cybertronian history) during his days in the Gladiator ring. His name was shortened to simply Megatron by the chanting crowds at one match, and he took it as his own unique name.
Megatron is leader of the main group of Decepticons in the 2010 computer animated series Transformers: Prime. He believes that Earth-style forms are beneath him, preferring to hold onto his frequently-changed Cybertronian forms. After infusing Dark Energon in his system, Megatron's eyes flicker between red and purple.
Megatron appears in the short story Bumblebee at Tyger Pax By Alex Irvine.[53]
Megatron appears in the novel Transformers: Exodus. It shows that he got his name originally from the original name of the Fallen, Megatronus Prime. Later appears in Transformers: Exiles.
Megatron appears in the 2010 video game Transformers: War for Cybertron. In the Decepticon Campaign, Megatron fights to return Cybertron to his version of the "golden age" by any means necessary. He discovers a source of all-powerful dark energon guarded by Starscream in a research station in orbit. Despite warnings from Starscream and his partner Jetfire that dark energon destroys all those who come into contact with it, Megatron obtains it and immerses himself in it. He can now spread dark energon anywhere he wants.
The Generations Megatron toy was picked at the 6th best toy of 2010 by Topless Robot.[54]
|This section consists almost entirely of a plot summary. It should be expanded to provide more balanced coverage that includes real-world context. (November 2013)
Megatron was a regular character in the Transformers: Prime animated series. As portrayed in the Exodus novel, Megatron was once the gladiator-turned-political revolutionary Megatronus, who was a mentor to the young archivist Orion Pax. However, when the High Council favored Orion's peaceful ways over Megatron's violent intentions, Megatron severed ties with Orion and officially started the Great War with his Decepticons, Soundwave being a chief follower. Megatron's actions eventually corrupted Cybertron, rendering the planet uninhabitable for life. After many failed attempts to kill Orion - who eventually was bestowed with the Matrix of Leadership - including a failed assassination attempt from Skyquake, Megatron vowed that only he would be the one who would slay Optimus Prime. After a skirmish on Earth with Optimus, Megatron leaves the planet for a deep-space mission, and is not heard from for three years, leaving Starscream in command.
As the series opens, Megatron returns to Earth thanks to Soundwave and Starscream, bringing with him a crystal made of the fabled Dark Energon and using it on the lifeless body of Cliffjumper to test its ability to revive the dead. Later, bent on obtaining a means of controlling the dark energon's power, Megatron risks his own life by stabbing himself with a shard of it. Now imbued with his new-found power, Megatron tests the dark energon at a burial site of Cybertronians in preparation of his master plan: using the rest of the Dark Energon on Cybertron via a Space Bridge, turning the planets' Cybertronian dead into an army of Terrorcons to help him defeat the Autobots and take over the Earth. Occasionally, his eyes change colors from red to purple. Though he succeeds in seeding Cybertron with Dark Energon, the Autobots manage to destroy the Space Bridge.[55]
In "Masters and Students", Megatron is revealed to have survived the Space Bridge explosion, but just barely. When Soundwave picks up his life signal, Starscream goes to investigate, and tries to kill Megatron by removing the Dark Energon from his chest. However when Soundwave nearly stumbles upon the assassination attempt, Starscream is forced to bring Megatron's body to the life support bay, where he remains in stasis for many weeks under intensive care.[56]
In "Sick Mind" and "Out of His Head" Bumblebee and Arcee stumble upon the unconscious Megatron while searching to cure Optimus of Cybonic Plague, a fatal disease Megatron himself invented as part of his biological warfare program. Desperate to find a cure, the Autobots utilize a mind reading device called a Cortical Psychic Patch in order to obtain the cure from his mind. Bumblebee successfully enters Megatron's subconsciousness, and after sinister negotiations with Bumblebee, Megatron is tricked into showing Bumblebee the cure, after which Arcee cuts the connection. Megatron however, desperate to become functional again, stows away in Bumblebee's mind and then takes control, taking the Dark Energon shard from where he summoned his Terrorcons against Optimus and then heads to the Arctic to revive his body, successfully reviving from stasis to punish Starscream for his failed assassination, inadvertently saving Optimus from Starscream's fatal attack in the process.[57][58]
In "Shadowzone", it is revealed that Megatron brutally beat Starscream, who swears vengeance by taking Megatron's original shard of Dark Energon and using it to revive Skyquake, who had perished during the events of "Masters and Students at Bumblebee and Optimus' hands. Megatron however is secretly aware of this thanks to Soundwave as is revealed in a later episode.[59]
In "Operation: Breakdown" Megatron denies Starscream's proposal to rescue Breakdown from M.E.C.H., a human terrorist organization bent on using cybertronian technology to take over the world, saying that Breakdown does not deserve rescue from those smaller than him. However, Megatron's advice is dismissed by Starscream, who successfully rescues Breakdown without Megatron's knowledge.[60]
In "Metal Attraction", Megatron is approached by Breakdown who hopes to redeem himself by bringing back the Polarity Guantlet, a device that can control metal to the advantage of the user. After failing to bring in the gauntlet, Breakdown returns instead with Airachnid, who joins back with the Decepticons. In "Rock Bottom", Megatron and Starscream traveled to a supposedly stripped Energon mine, where Megatron revealed his knowledge that Starscream had left Energon and digging equipment in the mine for his own use. Tiring of Starscream's treachery-which to him had become boring-he was about to exterminate his second-in-command when Arcee and Jack-her human companion-appeared. The resulting skirmish resulted in the mine coming down on them, and Megatron was trapped until Jack accidentally came across him. He suggested that Jack terminate him while he was helpless, and claimed that Optimus would do so, only to be refuted by Jack. Escaping, he later came across Starscream about to be crushed by a collapsing ceiling that the Autobots had left him holding, and surprisingly rescued the traitor.[61][62]
Megatron soon became suspicious of Starscream again, after learning of a crashed Decepticon warship known as the Harbinger that Starscream had discovered on Earth. He dispatched Starscream and Airachnid to recover a powerful weapon, the Immobilizer, from the wreckage, only to have Airachnid return without either Starscream or the weapon. Megatron was enraged by the possibility of the Autobots gaining access to Starscream's knowledge of Decepticon operations, but Starscream ended up as a renegade.[63]
In "T.M.I.," Megatron would clash with the Autobots next over possession of a formula for synthetic Energon contained in an ancient Cybertronian data canister. Megatron became furious when his men returned with an empty canister, but was later approached by Optimus Prime about receiving its contents, which had been uploaded into Bulkhead. Megatron destroyed the canister and sent Knockout and Breakdown to capture Bulkhead, but the complete formula was lost to them.[64] Ratchet's attempts to produce a completed formula in "Stronger, Faster" resulted in Ratchet temporarily becoming a veritable powerhouse, though he proved unable to defeat Megatron in battle. Megatron ordered Knockout to obtain a sample of Ratchet's formula, which the Decepticon medic did, though the Decepticons lost one of their Energon mines to the Autobots.[65]
In "One Shall Fall" and "One Shall Rise", Megatron's quest for further supplies of Dark Energon led the Decepticons to seek materials for a new spacebridge. While traveling to aid his troops who were being attacked by the Autobots, Megatron fired a blast at Bumblebee that left his human partner, Rafael, in critical condition. Megatron's efforts were spurred by the imminent fulfillment of an ancient prophecy from the Covenant of Primus, which described a "rising darkness" that Megatron took himself to be. Once again receiving Unicron's thoughts through their Dark Energon link, Megatron traveled to an active volcano, where he engaged Optimus Prime in a fierce battle. Optimus gained the upper hand and was about to terminate Megatron when the volcano began to spew Dark Energon, increasing Megatron's power so that he overwhelmed Optimus. Optimus escaped with help from the other Autobots, and as his forces harvested the Dark Energon, Megatron traveled to the volcano's crater to pay homage to Unicron, who was revealed to compose the core of Earth. Pledging allegiance to the Chaos Bringer, Megatron found himself rejected as Unicron dismissed him as an unworthy servant and set out to destroy Optimus himself. Fueled by his desire to conquer Earth-which he could not do if Unicron rose-Megatron came to the Autobots' aid and suggested a truce, in which he would lead them to Unicron's Spark at Earth's core so that Optimus could use the Matrix of Leadership's power to defeat him. The unlikely alliance worked, though Megatron fell under Unicron's thrall briefly, and the Decepticon warlord found himself with an unexpected returning ally: Optimus, whose expulsion of the Matrix's energy had reverted to his old identity of Orion Pax.[66]
Taking advantage of Orion's amnesia, in "Orion Pax" Megatron put him to work deciphering the Iacon database, files that had been seized by the Decepticons in the last days of the war on Cybertron. Unfortunately, despite his memory loss, Orion proved as noble as ever, and Megatron had to work harder and harder to keep him blinded to the truth. An encounter with the renegade Starscream proved a critical blow to Orion's trust in Megatron, and the former Autobot leader soon uncovered his true identity. Megatron ordered him to continue his work, and was informed of an unexpected development: the Autobots had seized his newly completed spacebridge and had used it to travel to Cybertron. Traveling to the spacebridge, he engaged Bulkhead, Bumblebee, and Ratchet in battle, and then prepared to terminate Arcee upon her return, as he expected her to be carrying the Matrix. He was then surprised as Orion appeared, having escaped the Nemesis, and confronted him, though without his Prime fighting knowledge he was at a gross disadvantage. Fortunately, interference from Arcee and Ratchet allowed Jack-whom Optimus had entrusted with the Key to Vector Sigma-to restore Orion's memories, restoring him to his identity as Optimus Prime.[67]
In "Operation: Bumblebee", it was revealed that Optimus had no memory of his brief time as a Decepticon, though he soon learned something of the nature of the contents of the Iacaon database he had been deciphering. It contained the coordinates of relics that had been kept in the vaults of Iacon, from ancient Autobot artifacts to seized Decepticon weapons. Megatron briefly gained one of the latter, the Spark Extractor, only to lose it to Bumblebee. However, he was subsequently successful in obtaining an even more valuable artifact: the Forge of Solus Prime, an artifact of one of the original Thirteen Primes. However, Megatron soon learned a troubling fact: the Forge of Solus Prime's ability to shape raw material into any form was useless unless its wielder possessed the power of a Prime.[68] A new advantage presented itself, however, as Dreadwing-the twin brother of Skyquake-arrived on Earth seeking to join Megatron and avenge his fallen brother. Megatron forbade Dreadwing from engaging the Autobots without his approval, but allowed him to do so after he managed to capture Bulkhead. Expecting never to see the Decepticon Seeker again, Megatron was pleasantly surprised when he returned and foreswore his vendetta against Optimus Prime, pledging himself fully to Megatron's service.[69]
Having learned of an attempt by Airachnid to usurp his authority during the Unicron incident, Megatron called upon Dreadwing to eliminate her in "Crossfire." The exercise was intended to demonstrate Dreadwing's worthiness to serve as Megatron's new first lieutenant, but Airachnid escaped and terminated Breakdown in the process. Hailed by Airachnid, Megatron left to finish the job himself, only to be attacked by Airachnid's surprise Insecticon minion, whom she had discovered in an abandoned Energon mine. Despite being caught by surprise, Megatron proved more savage than the Insecticon, and tore it apart shortly after the Autobots arrived at the scene. Weakened by the struggle, Megatron nearly suffered termination, but was spared by the arrival of Dreadwing and several Vehicons. Megatron ordered the Vehicons to attack, and while escaping informed Dreadwing that he would now serve as first lieutenant.[70] In "Armada", Megatron would be forced to deal with two separate attempts on his life: one by a group of Starscream clones, the other by a hive of Insecticons deployed by Airachnid. Terminating several of the clones, he engaged the Insecticons, only to have them pledge renewed loyalty to him after Airachnid's control was broken. The victory was short-lived, as the Nemesis was brought down by Bulkhead as he escaped the ship.[71]
Determined to get his ship airborne before the Autobots could attack, Megatron turned to a radical solution: powering the vessel up with Dark Energon. The plan worked, and Megatron believed that the warship would obey his very thoughts, but the Nemesis began acting of its own volition. It set out to acquire the Iacon relics-decoding the database far more quickly than the Decepticons had been able to-and froze the entire crew in stasis after they attempted to disrupt its efforts. Megatron was frozen while attempting to eject the Dark Energon and restore the ship to normal, and his plan was completed after the Autobots' human allies boarded the Nemesis. As a result, both sides gained four sets of Iacon coordinates that the Nemesis had decoded, and became determined to beat each other to them.[72] Megatron dispatched Knockout, several Vehicons, and an Insecticon to Manhattan, home of the first relic, while taking the Nemesis to pursue the others.[73]
Megatron also dispatched Dreadwing to the Arctic Circle, Soundwave to a mountainous forest region, and a squad of Insecticons to an active volcano in the episodes "Triangulation," "Triage," and "Toxicity." However, with the exception of Soundwave, all the squads-including Knock Out's-failed to recover their respective relics. As a result, the Phase Shifter was lost to the Autobots, and the Apex Armor of the Primes to Starscream. The Insecticons, under the leadership of the fierce warrior Hardshell, also failed to retrieve a cache of Toxic Energon, also known as "ToxEn," which Megatron had previously been able to refine into a weapon. Hardshell did severely wound Bulkhead, however, and claimed to have eliminated him for good. In "Hurt," however, the Decepticons were informed by Bulkhead's vengeful fellow member of the Wreckers, Wheeljack, that Bulkhead yet lived, prompting Megatron to send Hardshell to meet Wheeljack in battle. Angered by the Insecticon's failure, Megatron made it clear that if he had failed to terminate Bulkhead, he would have to make up for it by killing Wheeljack. Much to his surprise, however, other Insecticons brought back Hardshell's mangled body, and revealed that Bulkhead's human partner Miko was responsible for Hardshell's demise.[74]
Megatron encountered further human problems when Silas, leader of the Transformer-obsessed organization MECH, appeared with the reanimated shell of Breakdown serving as a vessel for his badly injured body. Proposing an alliance with Megatron, he suggested that his human insight could grant the Decepticons an advantage against the Autobots. He also delivered to them Project: Damocles, a satellite capable of firing a powerful destructive beam at any point on Earth. However, Silas' belief that he was an equal to Megatron irked the warlord, who subsequently sent him to Earth to stop Rafael's interference with Damocles' targeting abilities. With his defeat and the satellite's destruction, Megatron turned the horrific blend of human and Decepticon over to Knock Out for dissection.[75] Subsequently, Megatron's forces learned the location of another Iacon relic, and sent Soundwave to distract the Autobots with a false signal. To Megatron's shock, the relic turned out to be the legendary Star Saber, another artifact of the Primes. To his frustration, he was unable to remove it from its stone housing, and resorted to having his forces lift the enormous boulder in which it was embedded using the Nemesis. Unfortunately for Megatron, the Autobots arrived to engage them, and Optimus managed to remove the Star Saber due to being a Prime. He then astonished Megatron by cleaving the boulder in two when the Decepticons dropped it to as to crush him, and then unleashed a wave of power that damaged the Nemesis. [76]
Desperate to find a counter to the Star Saber, Megatron was reminded by Dreadwing in "Alpha; Omega" that they possessed the Forge of Solus Prime. Megatron remarked that the mystical hammer was useless "except in the hand of a Prime," and was inspired. Traveling through the Decepticon spacebridge, he and Dreadwing opened the tomb of a Prime on Cybertron, where Megatron removed the fallen Transformer's right arm arm. He then had Knock Out remove his own arm and replace it with the new appendage, thus gaining use of the Forge. Using the artifact to shape a large fragment of Dark Energon, Megatron forged a powerful weapon of his own: the Dark Star Saber. Using it, he seemingly destroyed newly arrived Autobot Smokescreen and obtained possession of an Iacon relic he and Arcee had uncovered. He then engaged Optimus-who was horrified by Megatron's actions-in a duel using the two Star Sabers, resulting in Optiumus' blade being shattered. Unfortunately, Smokescreen was revealed to have survived through use of the Phase Shifter, and stole the relic during the battle. He and Optimus then escaped, though Megatron remained confident that he held the upper hand with his new weapon.[77]
In "Hard Knocks," Megatron noted that a new Iacon relic obtained by Knock Out was identical to the one Smokescreen had stolen from him, leading him to wonder if there was some larger meaning behind them. To his frustration, Dreadwing failed to obtain the next artifact, though unbeknownst to him it had been taken by Starscream rather than the Autobots. The final set of Iacon coordinates revealed an unexpected image: that of Smokescreen, whom the Decepticons realized must hold the key to the final relic. As such, Megatron ordered Soundwave-who had been attempting to locate the Autobot base-to capture him.[78] Obtaining the final artifact from within Smokescreen using his own Phase Shifter during the events of "Inside Job", the Decepticons then turned to a cortical psychic patch to learn the truth behind the relics. Upon learning that they were the legendary Omega Keys, with the power to restore Cybertron to its former glory, Megatron became determined to obtain the remaining pair. A quick reversal then ensued as Smokescreen escaped, reclaiming the Phase Shifter and stealing the Decepticons' keys. However, the surprises continued as Starscream returned with all four keys, having stolen the Autobots' three and adding his own.[79]
Megatron became determined to learn what was really going on inside Starscream's head, and had Knock Out perform the cortical psychic patch in the episode "Patch." Entering Starscream's mind, Megatron was able to examine many of his former lieutenant's activities, most of which did little to support the idea of Starscream being allowed back into the Decepticons. However, Megatron was shocked to learn that Starscream had been robed of his transformation cog and thus left incapable of transformation. After learning that Starscream had revived Skyquake as a Terrorcon that now wandered in another dimension, he advised him to keep that news from Dreadwing, and welcomed him back to the Decepticons. Unbeknownst to him, however, Dreadwing had been watching as the readings from the patch were displayed on a screen in the medical bay.[80] The Seeker stole the Forge of Solus Prime and delivered it to the Autobots, and then attempted to kill Starscream for desecrating his brother's tomb by raising him from the dead. Megatron was forced to kill his honorable lieutenant, and subsequently departed for Cybertron with a force of Vehicons to activate the Omega Lock using the Omega Keys. He was unpleasantly surprised as the Autobots appeared, employing the Polarity Gauntlet, Immobilizer, the Apex Armor, the Phase Shifter, and even the Star Saber, which Optimus had repaired using the Forge of Solus Prime. The Autobots managed to seize the Omega Keys and destroy Megatron's force with the Spark Extractor, but Megatron met them at the Omega Lock with disheartening news. Soundwave had succeeded in locating the Autobots' human allies, and the children were brought to Cybertron by Soundwave, Starscream, and Knock Out as hostages.[81]
In "Darkest Hour," Megatron forced the Autobots to surrender the Omega Keys in exchange for the humans, which they did with Optimus' approval. The Decepticons then activated the Omega Lock, which after testing was aimed at their spacebridge. Megatron then revealed his intentions to use the Omega Lock on Earth as well as Cybertron, allowing him to conque both planets. Realizing that the process would destroy all life on Earth, Optimus used the Star Saber to badly damage the Omega Lock, and severed Megatron's stolen Prime arm in the process. The Autobots escaped back to Earth, only to discover that Megatron had managed to use the Omega Lock to create a Decepticon fortress in the vicinity of their base, the location of which the Decepticons had discovered. With the Autobots at his mercy, Megatron had the Nemesis level their base, the flaming wreckage of which he and Starscream then landed in.[82] Megatron's sense of victory was short-lived, however, as a search of the base-while uncovering Airachnid in stasis and the Forge of Solus Prime-revealed no sign of the supposedly deceased Autobots. Despite this, he contacted the Autobots' government contact, Agent Fowler-after having his original arm reattached-and expressed a desire for peaceful coexistence with humanity. He then deployed his forces in an effort to locate the Autobots, as well as sending Knock Out back to Cybertron to recover the artifacts that the Autobots left behind in their rush to escape. An attempt to capture Arcee and Jack failed, but Knock Out returned with several artifacts-and Megatron's former chief scientist, Shockwave.[83]
After learning how Shockwave had survived his apparent demise, Megatron appointed him first lieutenant in the science division, putting him on equal footing with Starscream. The Decepticons' search for the Autobots continued, focused mainly on using their only prisoner, Wheeljack. After Shockwave failed to learn the location of the other Autobots from him, Starscream staged an execution attempt, allowing Wheeljack to escape with a tracking device planted on him so that he could be tracked. The plan failed, however, and Megatron was quick to accept Shockwave's proposal of bringing in a new resource from his laboratory on Cybertron.[84] Shockwave's new weapon was revealed to be a being cloned from the Cyber-Nucleic Acid (CNA) of an ancient race of Cybertronians, the Predacons. The dragon-like creature was dispatched to track down Wheeljack, but was thwarted due to the arrival of Ultra Magnus, who assumed leadership of the Autobots.[85] The Autobot commander soon led his team in an attack on Megaron's citadel, Darkmount, and succeeded in scattering Megatron's forces, including the Predacon. However, the Decepticons soon gained the upper hand, with Megatron himself beating Magnus into submission. As he was about to terminate the Autobot leader, however, an unexpected-and unwelcome-figure appeared in the sky: Optimus Prime, reformatted by the Forge of Solus Prime into an even more powerful, flight capable body. Megatron was outclassed in battle and in flight by the improved Optimus, and Darkmount was destroyed by Agent Fowler's Sky Strikers squadron.[86]
With Darkmount destroyed and Optimus a greater threat than ever, Megatron and Shockwave embarked on a new endeavor: cloning a new army of Predacons from fossilized remains found on Earth, beginning in "Project: Predacon." As Megatron explained to Starscream, these remains were those of other Predacon clones, which Shockwave had created and sent to Earth to eliminate Autobot forces. The beasts had awaited Megaron's arrival and inspired a great deal of human myth, only to go extinct from the ravages of time. Shockwave embarked on only one such mission, during which he briefly engaged Optimus, before Megatron suggested that he devote his efforts to the cloning project.[87] Unexpectedly, the original Predacon returned in "Chain of Command", and was soon sent by Megatron with Starscream to retrieve another fossil that was threatened by a team of Autobots under Ultra Magnus.[88] Impressed by the Predacon's success-and losing his confidence in Starscream-Megatron dispatched Knock Out to retrieve another fossil in "Plus One." The incident lowered Starscream even further in Megatron's eyes, as his provocation of the Predacon resulted in a communications disruption that nearly loss them Knock Out's acquisition.[89]
In "Thirst," Megatron's anticipation regarding his growing army of Predacons was disrupted as the Dark Energon within his Spark began to react, signalling the use of the substance elsewhere. He soon found the culprits, Starscream and Knockout, who had combined Dark Energon with Ratchet's synthetic Energon in the hopes of creating a super soldier that Megatron could control. Unfortunately, their guinea pig, Silas, became a veritable Energon vampire, draining Vehicon troops of their Energon and turning them into zombies with a similar thirst. Megatron ordered his troops to destroy the infected Decepticons, assigning the two tinkerers the task of eliminating their creation. Silas was eliminated, but by Airachnid, whom he freed in his search for more Energon to consume; the Insecticons were then banished along with their returned "queen." [90] His forces devastated, Megatron became eager to see the Predacons completed, only to receive a shock as the first Predacon demonstrated the ability to transform into a robot mode and communicate intelligently. Though the newly dubbed Predaking pledged his allegiance to Megatron, the Decepticon leader came to fear that the Predacons would turn on their Decepticon creators once they realized how much mightier they were than the vehicular Transformers. As such, he ordered the termination of the Predacons, and approved a plan by Starscream to trick the Autobots into doing the job for them.[91]
The destruction of Shockwave's laboratory was revealed to have had an unexpected result in "Minus One." An explosion triggered by the Autobots had consumed not only the Predacon clones, but also the synthetic Energon that Knock Out had delivered to Shockwave following the Silas debacle. The result was a form of cybermatter similar to that produced by the Omega Lock, which Megatron ordered the reconstruction of in order to utilize this new resource to renew his old agenda of cyberforming both Earth and Cybertron, which he considered to be two halves the same whole as the embodiments of Unicron and Primus. Shockwave soon discovered that the synthetic Energon was incomplete, and the Decepticons captured Ratchet in the hopes that his knowledge would provide them with the completed formula.[92] Learning that Ratchet did not possess the complete formula either, Megatron attempted to get him on their side in "Persuasion." At the same time, he dispatched Predaking to aid Shockwave in obtaining necessary equipment for the Omega Lock's reconstruction. Predaking asked Megatron's permission to terminate Ratchet, which Megatron assured him he would be allowed to do once the Autobot outlived his usefulness. Ratchet, seeing the Decepticons' success in rebuilding the Omega Lock, agreed to help, while Megatron dispatched Starscream and his armada to destroy the Autobots' new base.[93]
In "Synthesis", Megatron encountered a number of unexpected setbacks, the first being an Autobot attempt to locate the Nemesis after saving their base from destruction through misdirection. Starscream thwarted this plot, but Ratchet then escaped from the Decepticon laboratory; however, Megatron soon recaptured him, and his work enabled the Decepticons to produce stable synthetic Energon. Keeping his promise, Megatron turned Ratchet over to Predaking, only for the Autobot to pass on intelligence had had gained from Knock Out: that Megatron had ordered the destruction of the other Predacons. Predaking engaged Megatron in battle, but was defeated and forced out of an airlock thanks to Starscream's involvement. Megatron's troubles were far from over, as Ratchet decloaked the warship and contacted the Autobots, allowing them to board the vessel.[94] Taking up the Dark Star Saber once again in "Deadlock," Megatron engaged Optimus in a heated battle that found them on the rebuilt Omega Lock. With Earth's doom imminent, the Autobots attempted to get the recovered Star Saber to Optimus, with Bumblebee making the final hurdle to reach his leader. Megatron fired on the scout in mid-leap, hitting him with several shots that sent his dying frame into the cybermatter that formed in the mouth of the Omega Lock. After a brief skirmish with Optimus, he prepared to destroy his rival with the Dark Star Saber, only to be halted by an unexpected voice. Turning, Megatron was stabbed through with the Star Saber, wielded by a very much alive-and entirely understandable-Bumblebee, whose various past injuries had been healed by the cybematter. The revitalized scout spoke these words: "You took my voice. You will never rob anyone of anything again." His Spark pierced, Megatron struggled briefly before perishing, releasing the Dark Star Saber and then falling to Earth.[95]
The concluding film "Predacons Rising" found Megatron's lifeless body on the bottom of the ocean, where his Spark was contacted by Unicron. Learning that he had indeed perished, Megatron was informed that his use of Dark Energon had left him bound to Unicron's Anti-Spark, unable to join Primus' All Spark as any other Transformer would. Furthermore, Unicron had been reawakened as he sensed Primus' revival across the galaxy, courtesy of the Autobots, and was determined to destroy his anicent rival. To that end, he reanimated and upgraded Megatron's lifeless body to use as a vessel, leaving Megatron a prisoner in his own mind. The upgraded titan traveled swiftly to Cybertron, where the possessed Megatron engaged the Autobots in battle at the Cybertronian Darkmount, only for them to escape. As Unicron sought a more powerful weapon with which he could destroy Primus, the two villains came across Predaking, who had made his way to Cybertron as well. Seeking freedom, Megatron tricked Unicron into approaching Predaking, knowing that Predaking would attack and hoping that the resulting damage would prompt Unicron to abandon his body.
The effort failed, and Megatron was subjected to extreme mental torture for his attempted resistance. Continuing to use Megatron's body as his own, Unicron awakened an army of Predacons as Terrorcons, and set out for the Well of All Sparks to annihilate Primus once and for all. Upon witnessing the Autobots' determined resistance from his old warship, and the arrival of Predaking and two new Predacons to join their efforts, Megatron debated over who to root for. The tide soon turned in Unicron's favor, but help arrived in the form of Optimus, who had departed Cybertron in search of the All Spark, the source of life-giving power for all Transformers. Optimus appealed to Megatron to join him against Unicron, but a tortured Megatron was unable to offer any assistance. Eventually, Unicron seized the reliquary that had contained the All Spark, but found it empty, Optimus having absorbed the All Spark into the Matrix of Leadership. To Unicron's dismay, his own essence was drawn into the vessel, leaving Megatron in possession of his body once again. Seeing his leader restored, Starscream exulted in the possibility of the Decepticons' return, but was surprised-as were the Autobots-when Megatron refused. Having tasted oppression for himself at Unicron's hands, he refused to inflict it any longer upon others, and departed for parts unknown.[96]
Megatron appears as one of the Hub Carolers in a Christmas themed commercial for The Hub.[97]
Generations Deluxe Class Cybertronian Megatron was picked at the 6th best toy of 2010 by Topless Robot.[98]