Transformers recap: the story so far

No. 01 · 1986 · Film · optional

The Transformers: The Movie recap

In 2005, the Decepticons rule Cybertron, and the Autobots, holding out on Earth and two moons of Cybertron, plan a counterattack from Autobot City. A planet-sized robot, Unicron, is devouring worlds and fears only the Autobot Matrix of Leadership. The Decepticons attack Autobot City, and Optimus Prime and Megatron fight a final duel; Optimus wins but is mortally wounded, and passes the Matrix to Ultra Magnus before dying. On the way to space, the weakened Megatron is thrown out by Starscream, and Unicron rebuilds him as Galvatron, ordering him to destroy the Matrix. Galvatron kills Starscream and pursues the Autobots. The Autobots scatter: Ultra Magnus, Hot Rod and Kup end up on worlds ruled by the Quintessons and the Junkions, while Galvatron kills Magnus and takes the Matrix.

How The Transformers: The Movie ends

Unicron reveals himself as a planet and attacks Cybertron. Hot Rod and Kup reach Unicron's insides, where Hot Rod throws Galvatron out into space and opens the Matrix. It transforms him into Rodimus Prime, and he destroys Unicron from within. The Autobots celebrate on Cybertron as Rodimus declares the war over, though Galvatron survives drifting in space.

No. 02 · 2007 · Film

Transformers recap

The Decepticons attack a US base in Qatar searching for information about the AllSpark, a cube that can create Transformers. Teenager Sam Witwicky buys his first car, a battered Camaro that is really the Autobot Bumblebee, and wins over his classmate Mikaela Banes. Sam's great-great-grandfather's glasses hold a map to the AllSpark, burned into them when an Arctic explorer found the frozen Megatron. Optimus Prime and the Autobots arrive to protect Sam. The government agency Sector 7, run by Agent Simmons, captures Sam and Bumblebee and takes them to the Hoover Dam, where they have hidden the AllSpark and Megatron's frozen body. The Decepticon Frenzy frees Megatron.

How Transformers ends

Bumblebee shrinks the AllSpark, and the Autobots and soldiers fight the Decepticons in Mission City. Megatron kills Jazz. Sam pushes the AllSpark into Megatron's chest, which destroys the cube and kills him. The government dumps the dead Decepticons in the ocean, Sam and Mikaela get together, and Optimus sends a message into space calling the remaining Autobots to Earth, saying they now live among humans in hiding.

Post-credits scenes

During the credits, Sam's parents give an interview to a news crew about the events, and Starscream, who survived, flies off into space. There is no scene after the credits.

No. 03 · 2009 · Film

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen recap

Two years later, the Autobots hunt Decepticons with the military unit NEST. Sam leaves for college, and a shard of the AllSpark puts Cybertronian symbols into his head. The Decepticons revive Megatron with another shard, and he serves the Fallen, an ancient Prime who wants to find a machine called the Sun Harvester, hidden on Earth, which would destroy the sun to make Energon. Megatron kills Optimus Prime in a forest fight protecting Sam. Sam, Mikaela, his roommate Leo and the former agent Simmons work out that the Matrix of Leadership can revive Optimus and power the Harvester. The old Decepticon Jetfire teleports them to Egypt, where they find the Matrix, crumbled to dust.

How Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen ends

In the Egyptian desert, Sam is killed carrying the Matrix to Optimus, and the ancient Primes revive him and restore the Matrix. Sam uses it to bring Optimus back. The Fallen steals the Matrix and starts the Harvester, but Optimus, given Jetfire's parts, destroys it, kills the Fallen and wounds Megatron, who retreats with Starscream. Sam and Mikaela say they love each other, and Sam returns to college. The surviving Autobots, Optimus at their head, stand together with the soldiers of NEST.

Post-credits scenes

During the credits, there are brief shots of Sam and Mikaela and of Sam going back to college. There is no scene after the credits.

No. 04 · 2011 · Film

Transformers: Dark of the Moon recap

The 1969 moon landing was a cover for investigating a crashed Cybertronian ship, the Ark, carrying Sentinel Prime, Optimus's predecessor, and pillars that create a space bridge. In the present, Sam, struggling to find a job, dates Carly Spencer, who works for the businessman Dylan Gould. The Autobots retrieve Sentinel from the moon, and Optimus revives him. Dylan is secretly working for the Decepticons. Sentinel betrays the Autobots, having made a deal with Megatron to save Cybertron, and uses the pillars to bring the planet to Earth to rebuild it with human slaves. The Decepticons take over Chicago, and the Autobots appear to leave Earth, their ship destroyed.

How Transformers: Dark of the Moon ends

The Autobots survived and return to retake Chicago with Sam, Carly and a squad of soldiers. Sam kills Dylan, Bumblebee destroys the control pillar, and Cybertron collapses. Carly persuades Megatron to turn on Sentinel. Optimus then kills Megatron and executes Sentinel, despite his pleas. Sam and Carly reunite in the ruins as the Autobots gather around Optimus, who reflects on how the Autobots and humans will carry on together.

Post-credits scenes

At the start of the credits, Simmons kisses Mearing after the battle. There is no scene after the credits.

No. 05 · 2014 · Film

Transformers: Age of Extinction recap

Five years after Chicago, the government's Cemetery Wind unit, run by Harold Attinger, hunts every Transformer with the help of a bounty hunter, Lockdown, who wants Optimus Prime. In Texas, struggling inventor Cade Yeager buys an old truck that turns out to be Optimus, badly damaged, and the hunters attack Cade and his daughter Tessa. Tessa's secret boyfriend, the racer Shane, helps them escape, and they gather the surviving Autobots. They learn that the tech company KSI, run by Joshua Joyce, is building its own Transformers from Transformium, a metal made from dead robots, including Megatron's head. Galvatron, built with Megatron's mind, takes control. Lockdown captures Optimus, revealing that his masters, the Creators, want him back. Cade frees Optimus from Lockdown's ship.

How Transformers: Age of Extinction ends

In Hong Kong, the Autobots fight Galvatron's army to protect the Seed, a bomb that turns land into Transformium. Optimus recruits the Dinobots, and Joyce turns against Attinger. Optimus kills Attinger and Lockdown, Galvatron retreats, and Optimus leaves the Autobots to protect Cade's family while he flies into space with the Seed, sending a message that he is going to find the Creators who built him.

Post-credits scenes

No. There is no post-credits scene.

No. 06 · 2017 · Film

Transformers: The Last Knight recap

In the Arthurian age, the wizard Merlin is given a staff by twelve knightly Transformers to win a war. In the present, Transformers are illegal, and Cade Yeager hides Autobots in a junkyard with a teenage scavenger, Izabella. A dying Transformer knight gives Cade a talisman. Optimus Prime, drifting in space, reaches the dead Cybertron and is brainwashed by its creator, Quintessa, who plans to drain Earth to restore Cybertron and turns him against Earth. Sir Edmund Burton, a historian of the secret order that guards the Transformers' history, brings Cade and Oxford professor Vivian Wembley, Merlin's last descendant, to England. Megatron, freed by the government, hunts the staff. Earth, Burton reveals, is Unicron.

How Transformers: The Last Knight ends

Vivian and Cade find the staff, and Optimus attacks Bumblebee until Bumblebee's voice returns and frees Optimus from Quintessa's control. Cybertron collides with Earth's atmosphere, and the Autobots and soldiers fight Megatron there. Vivian removes the staff, Cybertron rises into orbit, and Optimus wounds Quintessa, who escapes. Burton dies in the battle. Optimus announces that the Autobots will return to rebuild Cybertron, while Quintessa remains at large.

Post-credits scenes

At the start of the credits, a woman in disguise, Quintessa, warns scientists in a desert away from horns sticking out of the ground and names Unicron. There is no scene after the credits.

No. 07 · 2018 · Film

Bumblebee recap

With the Autobots losing the war on Cybertron, Optimus Prime sends B-127 to Earth to set up a base. In 1987 California he crash-lands, fights a Decepticon and the military agent Jack Burns, and loses his voice box and memory. He hides as a Volkswagen Beetle in a scrapyard, where Charlie Watson, a grieving teenager who wants her own car, finds him and names him Bumblebee. Charlie and her neighbor Memo hide him and grow attached. Two Decepticons, Shatter and Dropkick, trick the US government into helping them by promising to help hunt the Autobots, and use a satellite link to send a call for Megatron. They capture Bumblebee and learn about Optimus's plan for Earth.

How Bumblebee ends

Charlie rescues Bumblebee, and his memory returns, including Optimus's message. At the dock, Bumblebee kills Dropkick and destroys Shatter, stopping the signal, and saves Charlie from drowning. Agent Burns lets him go. Bumblebee leaves Charlie, taking the form of a Chevrolet Camaro, and meets Optimus as more Autobots land on Earth. Charlie, who has repaired her late father's car, drives it with Memo.

Post-credits scenes

Early in the credits, Optimus arrives on Earth and Charlie says goodbye to Bumblebee as he turns into the Camaro, leading toward the 2007 film. There is no scene after the credits.

No. 08 · 2023 · Film

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts recap

In 1994, Unicron sends his herald Scourge and the Terrorcons to find the Transwarp Key, which would open a gateway for Unicron to feed on any world. The Maximals, animal-shaped Transformers led by Optimus Primal, hid the key on Earth. In Brooklyn, Noah Diaz, a former soldier desperate to pay for his brother's treatment, tries to steal a Porsche that turns out to be Mirage, and is drawn into the Autobots' war. Museum researcher Elena Wallace finds half of the key in an artifact, and the key's signal draws Scourge, who wants it, and Optimus Prime, who wants to use it to go home to Cybertron. The Autobots and humans follow the key to Peru, where they meet the Maximals. Scourge takes the key and kills Bumblebee.

How Transformers: Rise of the Beasts ends

Scourge wounds Mirage shielding Noah, and Mirage turns his broken body into a suit of armor so the two can fight together. The key's energy revives Bumblebee. Optimus kills Scourge, then gives up his chance to go home and destroys the key, collapsing the portal and leaving Unicron stranded; Noah and Optimus Primal pull him out of the vortex. The Autobots make Earth their home alongside the Maximals. Noah, at a job interview, is invited to join G.I. Joe.

Post-credits scenes

Yes. In a mid-credits scene, Noah rebuilds Mirage with junk Porsche parts and proves to a doubting friend that the car works by having Mirage transform in front of him. The G.I. Joe invitation just before it sets up a crossover.

No. 09 · 2024 · Film · optional

Transformers One recap

On Cybertron, the planet's Energon has run dry and the Primes who protected it are gone, except Sentinel Prime, who claims to be searching for the Matrix of Leadership. Orion Pax and his best friend D-16 are miners who, like all lower workers, cannot transform. Orion takes D-16, the clumsy B-127 and their supervisor Elita-1 to the surface in search of the Matrix. There they find Alpha Trion, the last surviving Prime, who reveals that Sentinel betrayed the Primes to the Quintessons, invaders who want Cybertron's Energon, and removed the miners' transformation cogs. Trion gives them cogs so they can transform before he is killed. The friends return to expose Sentinel, but D-16, enraged by the truth, turns violent.

How Transformers One ends

D-16 shoots Orion down into the depths, kills Sentinel, takes the name Megatron and begins tearing Iacon apart, and the High Guard sides with him. Primus and the spirits of the Primes give Orion the Matrix, and he returns as Optimus Prime, defeats Megatron and exiles him and the High Guard. The Matrix restores the miners' cogs and the flow of Energon, and Optimus names his followers the Autobots and warns the Quintessons to stay away.

Post-credits scenes

Yes. In a mid-credits scene, B-127 gags around at the expense of two old acquaintances. After the credits, Megatron gathers his followers as the Decepticons, says the war is not over, and takes the face of Megatronus Prime as their symbol.