LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: An alien race at the shores of Earth, pushing hard to retrieve a technology that will allow them to rule or destroy the universe is a plot of nearly every DC and Marvel comic book domain. Gone are the times when only Earth was in jeopardy. With the influx of Marvel movies in the last two decades, the stakes have gone up for the antagonists as well. They are now extremely complicated to comprehend and defeat. Thanos and Galactus in Marvel, Darkseid in DC, and now Unicron in the Transformers franchise, all pose a threat beyond human comprehension.
If the villains are so gargantuan, the mighty heroes are also ascended to the status of metahumans or gods who can face such threats. In ‘Transformers: Rise of the Beasts,’ the universe is at threat courtesy of a planet-eating foe named Unicron who needs a Transwarp key to open a portal through spacetime which if looked closely is eerily similar to the Infinity Stones and the Gauntlet that Thanos needed to wipe out half the universe. It’s not just the tool to destroy that universe that reminds one of ‘Avengers Endgame,’ but also moments in the film that leave you with a taste that you’re too familiar with.
Noah Diaz in an ‘Iron Man' like suit
If there’s one big takeaway from ‘Rise of the Beasts’ is the budding camaraderie between Noah and Mirage which reminds us of the bond between Bumblebee and Sam Witwicky in earlier Transformers films. Towards the final battle, Mirage is almost on the verge of death as Scourge pummels him with missiles one after the other. But he shields Noah from Scourge’s assault and then later transforms his damaged body into a powered exo-suit for him. The result is Noah in a silver steel-plated robotic outfit, firing guns and missiles to take down the Terrorcons. Tony Stark would have been proud. The scene also reminds ardent comic book fans of the time when Bruce Banner aka The Hulk donned Iron Man’s suit to fight Thanos. It’s hard to look away from these obvious resemblances that the two universes have.
The choreography of the final battle
Darkened skies, a grey color palette, and robotic aliens also bring Endgame and ‘Rise of the Beasts’ extremely close. The sense of doom created in the Transformers film is a replica of how Joe and Anthony Russo treated their comic book magnum opus. The pacing, the feeling that all is lost and a sacrifice of a major character is what allowed ‘Rise of the Beasts’ to come closer to Endgame. However, unlike Iron Man, Optimus Prime lives to fight another day but he displays the same qualities that our beloved Iron Man had.
No denying that Marvel’s Galactus is Transformers’ Unicron
Galactus and Unicron will be best friends if Marvel and Transformers decide to do a crossover someday. Both want to devour planets and end life as we know it. They are driven by the same desires and use pawns to accomplish their goals. Unicron may have lost the battle but his ongoing war to hunt down planets and erase them will long continue. Endgame gave us Thanos but Galactus poses a bigger threat, like Unicron who will not stop until he has the universe by its throat.
