Megatron

* Biography
* Threat Assessment
* Trivia and Notes
* Gallery

**Megatron** arose from Cybertron's gladiatorial arenas, and has never forgotten the lessons that he learned there. Not only is he utterly ruthless in combat, unafraid to fight dirty, and able to brutally put down any would-be pretenders to the throne, but in his career as Decepticon leader he's able to effortlessly spin rhetoric, work a crowd, and carefully indulge his theatrical side to gain supporters. But despite his natural charisma, Megatron dreams of a new era when all of Cybertron is united under one banner—an era when he'll no longer have to rely on the disparate, dysfunctional personalities that comprise the Decepticons to enforce his will upon the galaxy.

## Biography

### Early Life

Born during the great Age of Expansion, the heyday of the Cybertronian race, D-16 chose to become a miner, inspired by the rhetoric of his assigned mentor Termagax. In this prosperous era, Megatron worked to fuel the expansion of the Cybertronian hegemony and became a renowned gladiatorial fighter in his spare time. During the War of the Threefold Spark, Megatron served under Ultra Magnus. In the battle that leveled Yuss, Megatron was almost killed by Exarchon himself, only to be rescued at the last moment by Strika's Heavies. The encounter had a profound effect on the young Megatron, who came to believe that it was not Exarchon's deeds or technology that defined his fearsome reputation, but his will, demented as it was.

In the aftermath of the War of the Threefold Spark, Megatron aided in the restoration efforts with his friend Orion Pax. Although Megatron believed that they could rebuild the planet to be better than ever, hoping to resume his life as a gladiator the passing of the Nominus Edict greatly limited the power and potential of the Cybertronian race, including shutting down mines, starship yards, and even the gladiatorial arenas which Megatron held dear. In time, a counter-faction known as the Ascenticons sprang up, led by Megatron's old mentor Termagax; however, Termagax was unable to affect the change she so desired in Cybertronian society, and, defeated, eventually retreated from civilization entirely.

Having recently worked to complete Termagax's Winged Moon over Iacon, Megatron met with his old friend Pax on the night before the official opening of the structure to tell him that he would run for Senator of the Ascenticons, believing that his will would allow him to reshape the loose movement into a genuine threat to Senate leader Sentinel Prime and his ruling Autobot party. To try and convince Orion to his side, Megatron took his friend up to the elevator, launching them into orbit as an object lesson: perfect equilibrium, the kind promised by the Nominus Edict, was a lie, and the only real way for Cybertron to maintain balance would be to change with the times. Pax was unmoved by their plummet into the Lechate Lagoons, and Megatron snapped that Pax could do as he pleased out in space—*he* would stay on Cybertron and reshape it.

Achieving his goal, Megatron came to have a seat on the inner Senate but still controlled less than a quarter of the body. Megatron smuggled the exiled Shockwave back to Cybertron and put him in command of The Rise, an extremist splinter faction of the Ascenticons who made their message heard through violence and vandalism. By selectively unleashing the forces of The Rise to inflame preexisting tensions, Megatron used their existence as a way to legitimize his movement, publicly denbouncing the actions of The Rise in order to distance the public face of the Ascenticons from the crimes of The Rise.

In the meantime, Megatron began to slowly ramp up his rhetoric, his speeches and broadcasts growing increasingly inflammatory, his rallies leaving more and more bystanders and security forces wounded from riots and civil unrest. After the latest such rally left a dozen 'bots injured, Orion Pax unsuccessfully tried to get Megatron to see sense and cancel his latest speech in Tarn.

At the rally, Megatron staged a false assassination attempt on his life, which he used to announce his own private security force, the Ascenticon Guard. Megatron was later in attendance at Brainstorm's funeral, nearly throttling Ironhide for an insulting comment before reminding the security officer of his place *and* that he'd already publicly denounced the Rise. Sometime afterwards, Megatron gave another speech criticizing the Nominus Edict.

That evening, following a successful performance, Megatron gave another speech to Cybertron, denouncing the ineptness of Security Operations and proclaiming that the Ascenticons would bring much needed order to the planet, unveiling a new symbol for the faction.

Word of Soundwave's true actions at the Titan had reached Sentinel Prime, and he was prepared to arrest the senator on suspicion of collaboration with the Rise. Sentinel instructed Heretech of the Reversionists to inform Megatron and the Ascenticons that a special Senate debate would be held to consider a unified administration, with Megatron receiving an official voice in policy. Instead, Heretech told Megatron the truth: the debate was nothing but a ruse to get Soundwave into the Senate precincts for his arrest. Starscream also sidled up to Megatron after Heretech delivered his message and departed. Openly proclaiming he was waiting to choose sides until a winner was evident, the Head of Cybertronian Intelligence informed Megatron that Bumblebee had a deep personal debt to Orion Pax, and was likely responsible for passing on word of Soundwave's actions to the Autobots in the first place. Even Megatron was shocked by the idea, considering it a personal betrayal by Pax if it were true. His conversations with Elita-1 afterwards about Bumblebee's activities in the Guard made it clear to Megatron that Starscream was right.

He later gave a broadcast that denounced the Autobots branding his faction as "Decepticons" and using the recent tragedies to institute more restrictive laws. Watching the speech, Orion Pax noted that, for all his failings, Megatron had clear endgame in mind.

When Sentinel made the decision to convene the Senate without Megatron or his Ascenticons, Megatron arrived at the Senate building, flanked by Strika and Ratbat. Arguing with Orion Pax over the nature of change, he disregarded his old friend's warnings about what his message had become and pushed his way into the building, demanding to refute Sentinel's charges of deceit. However, once inside and before the Senate, he condemned the Autobots and revealed his true agenda. Tired of hiding behind the notions of changing Cybertron from within the system, Megatron fully embraced the Decepticon name. Announcing that the Rise had yielded to him, he decreed that the Senate had failed and would be dissolved. Unleashing his warriors on the senators and their guards, Megatron ordered the building secured and prepared to bring the news to the rest of Cybertron; the Decepticons were here to stay, to bring peace and order to the planet.

Imprisoning key Senate figures in lower levels of the building, Megatron went to speak with the now-shackled Sentinel Prime. Ignoring Sentinel's warnings of the wrath a new age of expansion would bring upon Cybertron, Megatron instead wondered if taking the Matrix of Leadership from the Autobot leader would grant him authority over his followers. Megatron then stopped to confront Orion Pax over his perceived betrayal in sending Bumblebee to infiltrate the Ascenticon ranks, furiously telling his former friend that Orion was now irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. Soon thereafter, Megatron broadcast another holographic message across Cybertron, telling the populace to remain inside and not interfere with the Decepticons' takeover. He then returned to deliver his terms to the rest of the captive senators, but an attack on the building by the Autobots interrupted him. Megatron ordered Strika's "New Heavies" to repel them, and soon received a report from Clench that Sentinel Prime had been sighted leaving the premises. A frustrated Megatron ordered the Rainmakers to retrieve Sentinel.

Megatron and the Decepticons consolidated control over Iacon. They used Andromeda's broadcasts for propaganda messaging, denouncing many of the past government's statements as self-serving lies. From that, Megatron was able to declare alleged-Riser Sixshot as an honored member and new leader of the Decepticon Guard. Security Operations was dismantled and the Guard became the new and only source of authority on the streets. Energon distribution and the Titan Hub were two more assets brought under Decepticon control. Starscream's intelligence alerted Megatron to the presence of unthawed Titansparks under the Forge Pyramid, and so that became the next target for Decepticon occupation. Strika's Heavies and the Rainmakers led an assault on the Pyramid, opposed by Optimus Prime's remaining forces, while Megatron consulted with the Rise's techy trinity at the Titan Hub. Megatron wanted renewed access to the Titan Net, but Mindwipe's data experts informed him they had done too good a job sabotaging it during the Tether mission. Megatron ordered them to accelerate the Titans' end, bringing down the orbital Titans so they couldn't be repaired by a rival faction and used against the Decepticons. The battle at the Forge Pyramid also went poorly, as the Pyramid went into meltdown and collapsed inwards. A single Titan spark survived the Pyramid's death, which Megatron kept in his custody.

## Trivia and Notes

### Notes

* Megatron's serial number, "071-980", is a reference to July 1980, the month in which Marvel's *Shogun Warriors* #18 was published, in which the name "Megatron" was first used by the company.
* The P38 Walther main battle tank is a reference to *Generation One* Megatron's original altmode, the Walther P38 pistol.
* To see alternate versions of the character click HERE.

## Gallery

MegatronMinerMegatron (Variant 1)Megatron's Altmode (Variant 1)Megatron (Variant 2)Megatron (Variant 3)Megatron's Holomatter avatar