The Most Confusing Moments In Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts Explained
Contains spoilers for "Transformers: Rise of the Beasts."
Despite being the seventh entry in the live-action "Transformers" film franchise, "Transformers: Rise of the Beasts" feels in many ways like a standalone story. Yes, it follows up on the events of "Bumblebee" and is technically still a precursor to the Michael Bay pentalogy that ended with "The Last Knight." But in practice, none of that really matters. The movie is more interested in old "G1" and "Beast Wars" lore than it is in connecting to the other live-action films, and that frequently works in its favor.
Unicron, the Maximals, transwarp travel, energon ... these are the things that drive the story of "Rise of the Beasts." Well, all that and some good old-fashioned human family values, of course. Clocking in under two hours, the movie runs headlong through most of its plot, giving each of its many characters only brief moments to develop and prioritizing globetrotting adventure over emotional stake-setting. For that reason, there are a number of moments throughout the film that don't make a ton of sense at first, either because they reference lore that isn't fully explained or simply because they're so quickly brushed over.
As a franchise, "Transformers" has never been terribly concerned with canonical correctness. The story has been rebooted numerous times and characters resurrected along with it. And yet, "Rise of the Beasts" clearly wants to engage with the bigger sci-fi elements of the "Transformers" mythos. With that in mind, let's dig into the most confusing moments in "Rise of the Beasts."
Why can't Unicron chase the Transwarp Key himself?
"Transformers: Rise of the Beasts" opens with a flashback (er, flash-forward? More on that later...) set on the Maximals' home planet. We're introduced to Optimus Primal (Ron Pearlman), Airazor (Michelle Yeoh), Rhinox (David Sobolov), and Cheetor (Tongayi Chirisa). We also meet the vicious Terrorcons: Scourge (Peter Dinklage), Nightbird (Michaela Jaé Rodriguez), and Battletrap (David Sobolov). The villains are sent by the malicious god that is planet-sized Transformer Unicron (Colman Domingo), who desires the Maximals' powerful Transwarp Key. His plan? To use its space-time portal powers to journey across the universe and feed on even more planets.
Unfortunately for Unicron, his plans are hindered by Apelinq (David Sobolov), who sacrifices himself so that the other Maximals can escape with the Key. Now trapped in his current galaxy, Unicron sends Scourge out into the cosmos to track it down for him.
The big question here that might come to mind is why Scourge and the Terrorcons can transverse the universe without the Transwarp Key but Unicron can't. He's supposedly more powerful than all of them combined, and though he's massive, that wouldn't necessarily make him slow. Couldn't he theoretically visit and feed on any planet Scourge searches for the Key? "Rise of the Beasts" doesn't directly address this quandary, but the most likely explanation is that Unicron's power is more limited than it seems. Perhaps moving through space requires too much energy without guaranteed energon awaiting him.
Noah's military past
When we first meet Noah Diaz (Anthony Ramos) in "Transformers: Rise of the Beasts," he's en route to an interview for a security job. However, his interview is canceled after the man in charge checks Noah's military record and speaks with his former CO, who claims that he was unreliable and flaky while in the Army.
Noah protests, claiming that he had a lot going on at home because of his little brother's health condition. However, we don't ever get any more explanation than that. Did he go AWOL to help Chris at some point? You'd think that if he did, his old CO would have had a lot more bad to say about him. So what then? Was he just distracted? Always calling home to check in on his brother? It's hard to imagine how such behavior would stick in a commander's mind so negatively. But then again, the movie is set in 1994 during the burgeoning new wave of American military imperialism, so it's possible that simple empathy and familial compassion could be enough to get you a bad report card in your file.
Regardless, Noah's Army experience clearly comes in handy. He handles himself impressively well during the final battle, and his tech savviness is a big boon to his new robotic friends.
A curious robbery gone wrong
Noah gets swept up into the Autobots' crusade when he tries his hand at grand theft auto and unintentionally picks Mirage (Pete Davidson) as the car to steal. It's actually Noah's friend Reek (Tobe Nwigwe) who chooses the target, and if you stop to think about the robbery, it doesn't really make all that much sense.
From the dialogue we do get, it seems that Reek was tipped off by another contact that the Porsche (see: Mirage) was ripe for the picking. But as Noah enters the garage to jack it, he passes by a number of other equally fancy cars. Why are they targeting Mirage specifically? It's never really explained, but there are a few possible explanations.
First and foremost, the Porsche is probably the fastest car in the garage and therefore the easiest one to get away in. That could be why Reek decides to target it in particular. He also has a line about how long it's been sitting there, which could indicate that no one would miss it for some time.
Last and most fun, it could be destiny. If you're a longtime "Transformers" fan, you'll know that Optimus Prime and crew put a lot of faith in fate and divine duty. Maybe Noah was simply called to be exactly where he was supposed to be.
Why are the Autobots trapped on Earth and what's happening on Cybertron?
The timeline of the "Transformers" movies is, in a word, messy. "Bumblebee" and "Rise of the Beasts" ostensibly take place in the same continuity as the Michael Bay films, but there are a lot of plot holes that confuse that chronology. In "Rise of the Beasts," the Autobots are stranded on Earth following the events of "Bumblebee," and Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen) blames himself. The discovery of the Transwarp Key gives him hope that they can return home to Cybertron, but that plan ultimately falls through.
There are a few confusing things here. For starters, the Autobots arrive on Earth from space during the 2007 film, so if all seven movies are indeed in the same timeline, they'd have to leave and return somewhere between 1994 and then. Second, Optimus' desire to return home, while understandable, seems a bit strange. The whole reason they left Cybertron in the first place is because they lost the war to the Decepticons. Going home would surely be dangerous, as there's no reason to think their enemies wouldn't still be there.
The simple explanation for these discrepancies is, well, plot holes. But that's not too satisfying, so what else could explain it? We know that the Transwarp Key allows for travel through both space and time, so maybe Optimus wants to go back to an earlier version of Cybertron before the war. That still doesn't explain them all being gone at the start of the original "Transformers," but hey, continuities were made to be broken, right?
The sneakiest robot battle you've ever seen
The first big battle in "Transformers: Rise of the Beasts" takes place at night around the museum where Elena (Dominique Fishback) works. The Autobots face off against the Terrorcons and get their metallic rears handed to them, with Bumblebee even (temporarily) biting the dust. Despite all the explosions and the length of the fight, however, no one seems to notice. This is a recurring issue in the film, and unfortunately, not every instance can be explained away.
The Terrorcons land in the East River without anyone noticing. They blow up a New York City museum without anyone noticing. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Why doesn't anyone else wake up and see Mirage at Chris and Noah's window? This is the Big Apple, after all — the City that Never Sleeps. Maybe the Transformers have a way of concealing themselves from onlookers, a digital method of dampening sound or projecting false visuals. But more realistically, this is just some good old-fashioned action movie writing. It's one of those confusing moments that we probably just aren't supposed to think about.
While we're at it, it's equally curious that no one seems to notice the portal opened by Elena's half of the Transwarp Key. The device seems to be activated by her museum scanner technology, but its energy apparently can't be seen by humans, and it shuts off as soon as the Terrorcons attack. Even still, you'd think someone in New York — maybe the government — would have a device capable of detecting the energy, even if it's not visible to the naked eye.
Primus
During his battle with Optimus at the museum, Scourge invokes a curious bit of "Transformers" lore. "You call yourself a Prime?" he says, taunting the Autobot leader. "Primus would be ashamed."
If you're a Transformers diehard, your ears probably perked up at this line. Primus is the canonical foil to Unicron and, in most iterations of the story, his brother. The all-powerful creator deity of the Transformers, Primus is in fact Cybertron itself — a massive planet-sized transformer like his brother, but one with benevolent and just intentions.
It makes sense that Scourge would know about Primus because he's an agent of Unicron. Surely, the big bad boss man would have badmouthed his big brother from time to time. Then again, both Unicron and Primus are so legendary that pretty much any Transformer should at least know their names.
With Unicron still on the loose and Primus now officially existing in the canon of the live-action films, we could be getting a planet vs. planet showdown at some point in the future. Of course, there's a lot else that would need to fall into place before that could happen. "Transformers vs. G.I. Joe" or whatever it ends up being called looks to be next on the block for Paramount and Hasbro, and as long as Cybertron is a desolate mechanical wasteland, Primus may not quite be in fighting shape. Still, it's fun to hear his name in such a big movie.
Scourge's Peruvian plan
Noah, Elena, and the Autobots travel to Peru in search of the other half of the Transwarp Key. After discovering that it's no longer in its original resting place, the group is attacked by Scourge and the Terrorcons. They battle it out on a winding mountain road (which is conveniently clear of any human drivers), but the fight is disrupted by Airazor, who destroys the bridge between Optimus and Scourge to allow the Autobots to escape.
Your first time through, it might seem like a bit of a plot hole that Scourge doesn't immediately just jump the gap and continue chasing Optimus. After all, he's a giant robot, so a little fire surely isn't enough to scare him off. In retrospect, though, it's pretty obvious that Scourge lets the Autobots get away. Since they don't have the Key, he has no reason to kill them yet. Instead, his plan is to corrupt Airazor and use her as a beacon so that he can track the group down to the Key's real location. And to his credit, that plan works perfectly.
What's more confusing is why Airazor doesn't do something about her infection before it consumes her. When Elena asks about her injury, Airazor says that Scourge "leaves a mark" when he hurts you, suggesting that she understands the nature of the wound. And yet, she doesn't speak up to Prime or Primal. She simply waits until the corruption takes hold of her mind, thus jeopardizing the entire mission. Perhaps the infection begins influencing her behavior the second it hits her in the sky.
The Maximals' complicated timeline
Perhaps the most confusing thing in all of "Transformers: Rise of the Beasts" is the actual chronology of the Maximals and the Autobots. The Maximals are hunted by Unicron to their home planet, which the evil god quickly devours as they make their escape. Using the Transwarp Key, they arrive on Earth hundreds of years in the past and befriend a human tribe in Peru. There they remain in hiding until 1994.
But then we learn that Optimus Primal is named after Optimus Prime, meaning that the Maximals are successors, not predecessors, to the Autobots. How does that work? Well, it isn't exactly explained, but in essence, it means that the Maximals traveled back through time. Since the Transwarp Key is said to possess time-travel capabilities, it makes sense that their voyage to Earth could have also launched them deep into the past.
This also fits with the story of the original "Beast Wars: Transformers" cartoon and toy line. In that timeline, the Maximals were descendants of the Autobots who journeyed from Cybertron to a prehistoric Earth via transwarp travel in pursuit of the evil Predacons.
There are still some confusing bits, however. How were Scourge and the Terrorcons able to travel from the future to 1994 Earth without a Transwarp Key of their own? And does all this temporal meddling mean that we're now officially in a different timeline than the Michael Bay films, thus explaining some of the other plot holes?
Other Transformers planets
One of the most interesting tidbits of lore included in "Transformers: Rise of the Beasts" is the existence of other Transformer planets beyond Cybertron. Such places have existed in the animated canon for years, but they're generally colonies formed by ex-pats from Cybertron. Here, it's unclear if that's still the case. The Maximals have their own home planet that seems to be separate from Cybertron, and which Unicron attacks and feeds on at the beginning. Since Optimus Primal is a descendant of Optimus Prime in the movie, it's possible that this world was colonized by later generations of Autobots, but that isn't fully explained.
Scourge also hails from a planet that is neither Cybertron nor the Maximals' planet. This is referenced at one point when Unicron is torturing him. The evil god alludes to his destruction of Scourge's home and people, suggesting that he was taken as a prisoner and transformed into a weapon of Unicron. But again, it isn't clear if Scourge's planet was independent or connected to Cybertron in some way.
Since Primus is referenced in the film, it's most likely that all of these other planets were inhabited by Cybertronians. Primus is the creator of all the Transformers in most animated versions of the story, so it would be hard to imagine the Maximals or Terrorcons existing apart from him.
The miraculous resurrection of Bumblebee
If you've seen any of the Michael Bay "Transformers" movies, you were probably confused after seeing Bumblebee get brutally murdered by Scourge in "Rise of the Beasts." You also probably saw his final-act resurrection coming a mile away. Optimus Primal shows Optimus Prime a bed of rich, latent energon near the human village where the Maximals live. They rest Bumblebee there, but Primal explains that since the energon isn't active, it won't be enough to revive him. Only a massive amount of energy — beyond anything the Autobots and Maximals are capable of — could energize the energon.
Of course, that's what ends up happening, and it's all thanks to Unicron. After Scourge uses the Transwarp Key to open a portal to the big man, Unicron begins to pass through into Earth's atmosphere. As he does, he blasts the planet with some kind of scanning ray, presumably to prepare the energon for his consumption. This move has the unintended side effect of juicing Bee back up, and Stratosphere (John DiMaggio) quickly drops him into the fight.
This chain of events poses some other questions about how "life" for a Transformer actually works. We know that every Cybertronian has a spark powered in part by energon, but if one of them can be fully dead for days and still get revived, anything seems possible. Either that or Unicron is just really, really powerful.
What happens to Mirage when he fuses with Noah?
During the final battle of "Transformers: Rise of the Beasts," Mirage tries to take Scourge on by himself to allow Noah and Elena to get to the Key. If it was that easy to get up to Scourge, you'd think Optimus would have done it, but that's neither here nor there. What matters is that Mirage fights valiantly but ultimately loses, sacrificing himself in the end to protect Noah. Mirage takes blast after blast from Scourge's cannon until it seems that all the life has drained out of him. But in a strange twist, he has just enough power left to turn himself into an Iron Man suit for Noah to pilot.
Is it very cool? Yes. Does every kid who loves Transformers want exactly that thing to happen to them? Yes. But how does it actually, you know ... work? Mirage isn't quite dead, because he's fixed later in the "Rise of the Beasts" mid-credits scene without the use of powered-up energon. However, he clearly doesn't have enough strength to do much on his own. The film foreshadows that he can turn himself into a weapon for humans when he gives Noah a piece of himself as a blaster. When you think about it, his Power Rangers form is just a more dramatic version of that.
G.I. Joe
Okay, let's talk about that thing that happens at the end of "Transformers: Rise of the Beasts." After helping the Autobots and Maximals save Earth from Unicron, Noah returns to Brooklyn and goes for another security job interview. This time, however, things aren't what they seem. The man who interviews him, Agent Burke (Michael Kelly), is actually an operative and recruiter for G.I. Joe. Yes, that G.I. Joe. The implication seems clear: Paramount and Hasbro are intending to finally make a "Transformers" and "G.I. Joe" crossover movie.
What exactly that film may look like, however, is less clear. Talks of a crossover — something that has happened numerous times in the animated series and comics — have circulated for years. However, now seems like a weird time to make good on them. The last attempt at rebooting the "G.I. Joe" film franchise was 2021's "Snake Eyes," which received poor reviews overall. On top of that, it takes place in the modern day, making a connection to Noah in 1994 a bit tricky. The Michael Bay "Transformers" movies also assert that humans and Autobots didn't form a proper relationship until the 2010s (give or take).
So what does this all mean? We'll have to wait and see. But with multiverses and crossovers all the rage in Hollywood right now, there's no doubt that Paramount can find a way to through these two huge brands together on the big screen.