In 2007, Michael Bay brought the Transformers to the big screen in a suitably bombastic fashion. The series, which is based on the Hasbro toy line has done major box office business and shows no sign of slowing down. The film's popularity spawned a franchise that will see its seventh entry Transformers: Rise of the Beasts released on June 9, 2023.
Despite the fact that the first film came out in 2007, it isn't actually the starting point of the Transformers cinematic timeline. In fact, the movies jump around a bit in their sequence so let's look at the chronology of the Transformers movie franchise and how it all comes together.
Bumblebee
The sixth film in the series is actually chronologically the first. Released in 2018, Bumblebee takes place predominantly in 1987 and tells the story of how Bumblebee ended up on Earth. With the Autobots on the verge of losing the war against the Decepticons, they prepare to evacuate the planet Cybertron. Leader Optimus Prime sends scout B-127 to Earth to establish a base, but he is followed and damaged by Blitzwing who rips out his voice box. Before succumbing to his injuries, B-127 scans a 1966 Volkswagen Beetle and assumes its shape.
Teenager Charlie Watson (Hailee Steinfeld) receives what she thinks is a normal Volkswagon Beetle for an 18th birthday present and upon starting the car is drawn into the war between the Autobots and Decepticons as well as avoiding the military. The film centers around helping Bumblebee regain his memories and reuniting with his fellow Autobots.
Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts
The upcoming seventh installment of the Transformers franchise is set in 1994 and not only serves as a sequel to Bumblebee but as a Beast Wars movie. The movie stars Anthony Ramos, Dominique Fishback, Lauren Vélez, and Tobe Nwigwe as the main human cast and features the voice talents of Peter Cullen, Ron Perlman, Peter Dinklage, and John DiMaggio as some of the Transformers featured in the film.
Artifact hunting brings humans into the ancient conflict between Transformers and introduces three different tribes of the transforming bots: Maximals, Predacons, and Terrorcons. Maximals are a tribe more aligned with the Autobots and feature their leader Optimus Primal, a gigantic robot gorilla, while the Predacons and Terror cons are factions of Decepticons featuring numerous deadly robot versions of insects and arachnids.
Transformers
The first film in the franchise is actually the third chronologically. Released in 2007 and starred Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, and John Turturro. Sam Witwicky (LaBeouf) is a descendant of an Arctic explorer who discovered Megatron in the ice and accidentally obtained the location of the All Spark when the coordinates are imprinted on his glasses. When Sam plans to sell the glasses on eBay, the Decepticons begin tracking him, leading Bumblebee to reveal himself and become Sam's protector.
A battle breaks out between the Autobots and Decepticons as each faction tries to get its hands on the All Spark. The Autobots and humans, including agency Sector 7, form an alliance as the confrontation reaches a battle of epic proportions. The Decepticons are ultimately defeated and Megatron is killed, leaving the Autobots to make a new life on Earth.
Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen
A continuation of Sam Witwicky's story, the 2009 sequel to Transformers sees the return of the Decepticons and a resurrected Megatron. Sam has been having visions of Cybertronian symbols after contact with the All Spark and the Decepticons think the symbols lead to a new Energon source. The film reveals that the Transformers have visited Earth before in the distant past, with those called the Primes being the originators of the Autobots and those called Seekers being left on Earth. The Primes imprisoned one of their own, The Fallen, who the Decepticons originated from.
The humans and Autobots must once again face off with the Decepticons and face their progenitor The Fallen while recovering from the loss of Optimus Prime. The movie is a way of fleshing out the backstory of the Transformers while introducing new characters and a new form of ancient energy.
Transformers: Dark of The Moon
A continuation and final chapter in Sam Witwicky's story with the Transformers: Dark of The Moon sees the lost Cybertron spacecraft The Ark discovered on the dark side of Earth's Moon. It's revealed that NASA and the government have been aware of the existence of this craft for decades and that any mission to the Moon has been covering investigating The Ark. Once the Autobots discover this they find a comatose Sentinel Prime alongside technology able to create a "space bridge", a wormhole style manner of space travel.
Meanwhile, the Decepticons are murdering anyone with knowledge of the human missions to The Ark, putting Sam and his girlfriend at risk. Ultimately Sentinal Prime is revived but betrays the Autobots by aligning with the Decepticons to remake Earth in Cybertron's image. Ultimately, the conflict ends in carnage and Optimus Prime resorts to killing both Megatron and Sentinel Prime in order to save the Earth and allow the Autobots to permanently make it their home.
Transformers: Age of Extinction
The 2014 continuation of the Transformers franchise sees a whole new cast of human allies for the galactic robots on Earth. Mark Wahlberg starred as Cade Yeager a struggling inventor who discovers a badly damaged Optimus Prime and becomes tangled up in what has become a much more hostile relationship between humans and Transformers. Along with his daughter Tessa (Nicola Peltz) and her secret boyfriend Irish rally driver Shane (Jack Reynor) Cade and the Autobots have to deal with the hostility and threats from the human government along with the reincarnation of Megatron.
The film also introduces the Dinobots who join the Autobots after a trial by combat and Transformer drones, created by the melting down of dead Transformers and an alloy called Transformium that has been on Earth since the age of the dinosaurs.
Transformers: The Last Knight
In the last film to take place in the present, The Last Knight sees Mark Wahlberg return as Cade Yaeger who continues to help refugee Transformers by hiding them in his junkyard. The plot also reveals that Merlin and the Knights of King Arthur had encountered a group of Autobots in 484 AD and that the Autobots had assisted them in defeating the Saxons. They also gave Merlin a staff but told him that he must keep it hidden.
A convoluted plot involving a crazed Cybertron goddess, brainwashing, and silly Arthurian legend led to this being a box office bomb. The poor reception of The Last Knight is more than likely the reason for the soft reboot/prequels that have come since.