The robots in disguise aren’t the only Cybertronians on Earth!
Regardless of the quality of some earlier films, the Transformersmovies have some great villains that make for some thrilling action sequences and typically manage to really raise the stakes of the plot. What makes the Transformers movies continuously enjoyable, even when the plot doesn’t serve well, is their action sequences. They’re a spectacle to behold, and it’s difficult to have a great action sequence without a good villain for the robots in disguise to face off against.
Whether they are a recurring villain like the threatening Megatron (Hugo Weaving & Frank Welker) or a one-off threat like the mercenary, Lockdown (Mark Ryan), the villains of the Transformers franchise can be incredibly cool and threatening when written well and executed correctly.
10 Starscream
Played by Charlie Adler
The iconic lackey of Megatron was an incredibly memorable villain in the early Michael Bay era of the franchise. Always getting pushed around and told what to do, poor Starscream feels like a far cry from his cartoon iteration. Starscream overall is an incredibly weak character that was horrendously misused and mistreated.
He would eventually meet his untimely end in Transformers: Dark of the Moon and that cemented that Starscream would never find redemption. Rather than being a fleshed out character, exploring his loyalty to Megatron and why he serves him so intensely, he instead turned into a caricature of the great character from the source material.
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9 Galvatron
Played by Frank Welker
When going into Transformers: Age of Extinction, following the chaotic events of Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Megatron needed a big upgrade after his defeat and being presumed dead. But he managed to survive the battle thanks to the people at KSI Labs, who collected his head and kept him alive in order to make their own made-made Transformers.
Through this transformation, Megatron took on a new form known as Galvatron (Frank Weller). Through having his consiousness transferred into the Galvatron form, Galvatron had a much different personality than Megatron. He was a bit more hardcore, with Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen) claiming he no longer had a soul. But at the end of the day, within the plot, Galvatron was all around useless and felt forced into the plot because he’s Optimus’ primary villain and is only memorable because of how genuinely useless he felt.
Transformers: Age of Extinction
The fourth installment in the Transformers movie franchise, Transformers: Age of Extinction introduces a new cast of human characters alongside its returning Autobots and Decepticons. Years after humanity has ceased all cooperation with the Autobots, a badly-damaged Optimus Prime is discovered by inventor Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg). Caught in the middle of the ancient plans of the alien race known as the Creators, Cade has no choice but to help Optimus Prime in order to save the Earth from total destruction.
- Release Date
- June 27, 2014
- Director
- Michael Bay
- Cast
- Mark Wahlberg , Kelsey Grammer , Nicola Peltz , Jack Reynor , Stanley Tucci
- Runtime
- 165 minutes
- Writers
- Ehren Kruger
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8 Nemesis Prime
Played by Peter Cullen
It’s always compelling when an audience gets to see the hero they’ve been following turn to the dark side, whether it be from brainwashing or a genuine downward spiral. In Transformers: The Last Knight, when Optimus Prime ventured into space to seek out his creators, he fell into the clutches of Quintessa (Gemma Chan), who brainwashed him into Nemesis Prime to do her bidding in order to bring back Cybertron.
While an obvious ploy to sell movie tickets, Nemesis Prime was certainly a threat. It didn’t have as much character impact due to Optimus’ already gray moral ground, but he certainly proved a threat to the Autobots, as he is arguably stronger than every single one of them. He almost killed Bumblebee and would have had he not been turned back to normal after hearing Bee’s voice again. While Optimus’ temporary turn to evil didn’t have much impact on his character, it allowed him to be a major physical threat.
Transformers: The Last Knight
- Release Date
- June 16, 2017
- Director
- Michael Bay
- Cast
- Mark Wahlberg , Anthony Hopkins , Josh Duhamel , Laura Haddock , Santiago Cabrera , Isabela Merced
- Runtime
- 149
- Main Genre
- Sci-Fi
- Writers
- Art Marcum , Matt Holloway , Ken Nolan , Akiva Goldsman
- Studio
- Paramount Studios
- Tagline
- There are mysteries to the universe we were never meant to solve
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7 Lockdown
Played by Mark Ryan
The primary antagonists of the Transformers franchise have always typically been the Decepticons, the natural opposition to the Autobots. But Transformers: Age of Extinctionbrought a villain to the table that didn’t align with either faction. Lockdown was a mercenary sent by the creators to capture Optimus Prime, no matter what the cost has to be.
Where Megatron, the series’ typical villain, has a huge ego, Lockdown is a classic hired gun and walks in ready to get the job done. He’s straightforward and that’s part of what makes him as lethal as he is. He won’t wait around for Optimus to give a speech or for the heroes to gather their bearings. He’ll simply keep going, because that’s what he was hired to do. When Lockdown comes on screen, he feels like a bona fide threat and is an overshadowing presence throughout the whole film. He’s one of the few villains in the franchise that feels like an enemy to be genuinely feared.
Transformers: Age of Extinction
The fourth installment in the Transformers movie franchise, Transformers: Age of Extinction introduces a new cast of human characters alongside its returning Autobots and Decepticons. Years after humanity has ceased all cooperation with the Autobots, a badly-damaged Optimus Prime is discovered by inventor Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg). Caught in the middle of the ancient plans of the alien race known as the Creators, Cade has no choice but to help Optimus Prime in order to save the Earth from total destruction.
- Release Date
- June 27, 2014
- Director
- Michael Bay
- Cast
- Mark Wahlberg , Kelsey Grammer , Nicola Peltz , Jack Reynor , Stanley Tucci
- Runtime
- 165 minutes
- Writers
- Ehren Kruger
Watch on Amazon Prime Video
6 Devastator
Played by Frank Welker
Not every villain has to be an evil mastermind or hired gun. Sometimes a good villain can just be a giant walking ball of destruction that is essentially an unstoppable force. No Decepticon can say that they partially destroyed the Great Pyramid of Giza… Except for Devastator (Frank Welker) in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, that is. Despite being a terrible film, it brought a great villain to the screen.
Devastator has an incredibly titanous stature and the ability to create what is basically a faux black hole via the vortex grinder in his mouth. He used said ability to suck in and destroy a large chunk of the Great Pyramid of Giza and provide a huge obstacle to the Autobots as they attempted to put a stop to Megatron and the Fallen’s (Tony Todd) plans. The only thing that was able to actually put a stop to Devastator was the blast of an insanely powerful rail gun shot by the military.
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5 Unicron (‘Transformers: Rise of the Beasts’)
Played by Colman Domingo
While the Cybertronian god of chaos wasn’t handled so well in the Bay films, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts brought a version of Unicron (Colman Domingo) to the screen that actually served as a worthwhile overarching villain.
When Optimus and his Autobots meet up with the Maximals, they soon discover that Unicron had actually feasted on the Maximals’ planet, with them just barely escaping to Earth via the mystical transwarp key. When Scourge (Peter Dinklage) collects both halves of the transwarp key on the Autobots’ Earth, giving Unicron the ability to go there and feast and their planet as well, the Autobots quickly learn of Unicron’s incredible power. They managed to close the portal to keep him from coming through, but it was strongly acknowledged that Unicron still could come back to Earth and if he did, it would result in big and disastrous trouble.
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is a sci-fi action movie set after the events of 2018’s Bumblebee as a series reboot of sorts and is heavily inspired by the Beast Wars series. The film follows two archaeologists who find themselves following the heroic Autobots as they come face to face with several other tribes of intergalactic transformers.
- Release Date
- June 9, 2023
- Director
- Steven Caple Jr.
- Cast
- Anthony Ramos , Dominique Fishback , Domenic Di Rosa
- Runtime
- 127 minutes
- Main Genre
- Sci-Fi
- Writers
- Joby Harold , Matt Holloway , Art Marcum , Darnell Metayer , Ken Nolan , Josh Peters
- Studio
- Paramount Pictures
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4 Scourge
Played by Peter Dinklage
Scourge is the primary lackey to Unicron and his wishes, carrying out the mission to collect both halves of the transwarp key to bring Unicron to Earth and will stop at nothing to serve his master. The leader of the Terrorcons holds immense strength and durability, along with the ability to release two smaller Transformers; Novakane and Freezer, to cause chaos wherever he deems necessary. This makes this Transformers: Rise of the Beasts villain extremely capable.
Not only is Scourge physically powerful, he has a vast tactical strength as well with his virus/device that has the ability to infect other Cybertronians via Unicron’s energy, to do his bidding. He managed to infect the beloved Maxinmal named Airazor (Michelle Yeoh), turning her against her friends, which forced Optimus Primal (Ron Perlman) to kill her. He doesn’t only have the ability to try and destroy the Autobots and Maximals from the outside, but from within their ranks as well, making him far more dangerous than most.
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is a sci-fi action movie set after the events of 2018’s Bumblebee as a series reboot of sorts and is heavily inspired by the Beast Wars series. The film follows two archaeologists who find themselves following the heroic Autobots as they come face to face with several other tribes of intergalactic transformers.
- Release Date
- June 9, 2023
- Director
- Steven Caple Jr.
- Cast
- Anthony Ramos , Dominique Fishback , Domenic Di Rosa
- Runtime
- 127 minutes
- Main Genre
- Sci-Fi
- Writers
- Joby Harold , Matt Holloway , Art Marcum , Darnell Metayer , Ken Nolan , Josh Peters
- Studio
- Paramount Pictures
Watch on Amazon Prime Video
3 Sentinel Prime
Played by Leonard Nimoy
Everyone loves a good traitor villain. When Sentinel Prime (Leonard Nimoy) first arrives in the third film, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, they wake him from his state of stasis, and he appears to be an ally, as he had been the original Autobot leader on Cybertron during the war. But they later learn that during the war, he’d made a secret alliance with Megatron, believing the only way to save Cybertron was to trade another planet in return, which is what he hopes to do with Earth.
Being played by the late and ever-talented Leonard Nimoy, Sentinel Prime is a really compelling villain. Sentinel managed to accomplish what no Cybertronian ever could and brought an entire army to Earth that took over the entirety of Chicago, turning it into a total warzone and almost fully decimating it in the process. The Battle of Chicago may be the darkest the series has ever gotten and proved to be easily the most dire circumstance the Autobots have ever found themselves in.
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2 Dropkick & Shatter
Played by Justin Theroux & Angela Bassett
The tag team duo of Bumblebee, sent to Earth to hunt down the lone Autobot, are extremely cunning and conniving. Their collective villainy proved to be an almost impossible hurdle for Bumblebee (Dylan O’Brien) to kick down. Together, they managed to trick and manipulate the United States government’s infamous Sector Seven into believing the Decepticons were fighting for the good of humanity and Bumblebee was a rogue agent out to destroy Earth, which not only put the Autobot on their kill list, but Sector Seven’s as well. And no sane person wants John Cena chasing them down.
The fact that these two are a tag team made Bee’s goal of stopping them from alerting the Decepticons of Earth’s presence feel unfeasible, as in the final fight, Shatter fought and distracted Bee while Dropkick began to activate the communication link. This helped make Bumblebee an even better film as it gave the human character, Charlie (Hailee Steinfeld) something important to do that was essential to the plot. So, not only were they an insane threat to Bee, but they helped make the movie’s plot even better than it would be with just one villain.
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1 Megatron
Played by Hugo Weaving
As if anyone could top Megatron in a competition of the best Transformers villains. Megatron has proven time and time again to be the biggest thorn in the Autobots’ (specifically Optimus’) side with his immense persistence in destroying them and restoring Cybertron. No matter how many times he’s beaten or even dies, the leader of the Decepticons always manages to come back and throw another horrendous circumstance in the way of the Autobots. Making his first appearance in the first Transformers film, Megatron cemented himself as the primary villain of the franchise.
It’s borderline impossible to think of the Transformers franchise and not think of Megatron. He’s consistently evil, traitorous and scheming. He will simply stop at nothing to accomplish what he believes needs to be done. Even though he’s persistently beaten by Optimus, he still poses a major physical threat to him, as he never goes down easily and dies hard. It seems that no matter what is done, Megatron will always arise to make the lives of the Autobots harder. Plus, he’s got quite the bonus of being voiced by Hugo Weaving.
Transformers
The fate of humanity is at stake when two races of robots, the good Autobots and the villainous Decepticons, bring their war to Earth. The robots have the ability to change into different mechanical objects as they seek the key to ultimate power. Only a human youth, Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) can save the world from total destruction.
- Release Date
- July 3, 2007
- Director
- Michael Bay
- Cast
- Shia LaBeouf , Megan Fox , Josh Duhamel , Tyrese Gibson , Rachael Taylor , Anthony Anderson
- Runtime
- 144
- Main Genre
- Action
- Writers
- Roberto Orci , Alex Kurtzman , John Rogers
- Tagline
- Their war. Our world.
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This article was originally published on collider.com