Two Megatrons!
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 Megatron gives some head! | |||||||||||||
| "Two Megatrons!" | |||||||||||||
| Publisher | Marvel Comics | ||||||||||||
| First published | 11th November 1989 | ||||||||||||
| Cover date | 18th November 1989 | ||||||||||||
| Writer | Simon Furman | ||||||||||||
| Art | Geoff Senior | ||||||||||||
| Letterer | Glib | ||||||||||||
| Continuity | Marvel Comics continuity | ||||||||||||
Megatron battles himself on Cybertron, but who is the real one?
Synopsis
Having surprised an intruder in the Decepticon base on Cybertron, Ravage is shocked to discover that it is a second Megatron (hereafter referred to as Megatron-2).
The newcomer and the other Megatron (Megatron-1) begin a vicious battle. While they fight, Megatron-2 attempts to appeal to both Ravage and Megatron-1. He explains that he is the real Megatron and that after blowing himself up on the space bridge, he had ended up on Cybertron in the region known as the Dead End. Gone but Not Forgotten! He was eventually rescued by the Micromaster Blackjack. After leaving the Dead End, he discovered Lord Straxus’ old headquarters.
He learnt that before attempting to take control of his body, Straxus had built a clone of him using the body of a Decepticon trooper. Thus, in the event of the mind transfer to the real Megatron failing, he would have a backup. The transfer did fail, and Straxus’ mind ended up in his clone, dormant beneath Megatron's copied brain patterns. After the real Megatron’s supposed death, the clone was transported to Earth where it was discovered by Action Force before the Straxus personality could take complete control. Ancient Relics! This clone would go on to fight in the Time Wars and was, in fact, Megatron-1.
At first neither Ravage nor Megatron-1 believe this story, but then the Straxus personality attempts once again to take control of Megatron-1's body. The Megatron aspect then realises that the story is true and that Straxus must die for the good of the Decepticons, so he blows his own head off. Megatron-2, the real Megatron, pays tribute to his clone’s sacrifice.
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
Errors
- If Straxus could build a clone of Megatron with all his powers and strength, then why did he need the real one in the first place?
- Why did the clone Megatron have wounds identical to those inflicted by the Predacons on the real Megatron?
Items of note
- Megatron tells Ratchet a more in depth version of what happened to him after he blew up the space bridge in "The Resurrection Gambit!"
- This story was written to paper over a massive continuity hole. When Simon Furman took over the writing of the US comic and decided to bring back Megatron he had the problem that the character had been in regular use in the UK strip for several years. Rather than try and explain all this to US readers he decided to explain away the UK Megatron as a Straxus clone.
- In "Time Wars" it is revealed that Galvatron was able to remember the events of the battle as experienced by his former self, Megatron. However the Megatron in question is actually the Straxus clone as revealed here. While this may be caused by the distortion to the time stream it could imply that the UK comic’s Galvatron was actually created from this Straxus clone rather than the real Megatron. (Or he could have just been plain nuts).
- It was actually trying to make sense of all this, rather than any activity on Straxus' part, that caused Megatron-1 to blow his own head off. We sympathise.
Reprints
- Reprinted in the Titan Books trade paperback Transformers: Fallen Star in 2005.
Covers (2)
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Issue #244 - "And so you suffer the same fate all troublesome plot strands must face!" -
Titan TPB
- Issue #244 cover: Megatron tears off Straxatron's head, by Geoff Senior.
- Fallen Star TPB cover: Megatron and Shockwave wrestle at Memphis airport, by Stewart Johnson.
