The many deaths of Optimus Prime

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Oh, he's gone and died again. Botheration! Most inconvenient.

Across the various continuities, Optimus Prime dies a lot. This happens for various reasons:

  • It allows for him to be replaced by a new character (and thus a new toy).
  • It allows for him to come back from the dead in a new body (again, a new toy).
  • It's dramatic (in theory).
  • It makes him into something of a Christ-figure.
  • It allows for numerous memorials to be constructed in his honor (though they're sometimes built even before he dies, morbidly enough).

Nearly every continuity family has featured Optimus Prime dying at least once; the only exceptions are the Primes from the 2001 Robots in Disguise cartoon (though only just), IDW Generation 1 continuity (though not without multiple near-death experiences), and Shattered Glass (since in that case, it's Megatron's job).

Some examples:

Generation 1 cartoon continuity

The Transformers cartoon

Dying before he's even Optimus Prime (he's that good).
  • Orion Pax died (or was at least severely damaged by Megatron) and had to be rebuilt into Optimus Prime by Alpha Trion. It's possible that if Orion had not been repaired, Optimus Prime would have ceased to exist. Pax's girlfriend Ariel was also heavily damaged, and rebuilt into Elita One. They were with their friend Dion when they were attacked by Megatron, although it is unknown if he was likewise rebuilt (That hasn't stopped people from discussing which of the Autobots Dion might have become for several decades, though). War Dawn

The Transformers: The Movie

"Either that wallpaper goes, or I do."
  • This the best known example, in which Optimus Prime infamously dies of wounds from his battle with Megatron. Notably, his body turns gray as he dies. (Urban legend says his body also crumbles, but no such footage is known to exist.) Being the first time he died, it was actually unexpected. The Transformers: The Movie

Kiss Players

The Transformers Season 3

"He's passed on! This Optimus is no more! He has ceased to be! He's expired and gone to meet his maker! He's a stiff! Bereft of life, he rests in peace! He's kicked the bucket, he's shuffled off his rectifier coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisibile!! THIS IS AN EX-AUTOBOT!!"
  • He returns from the dead twice; first as a zombie under Quintesson control as part of a plan to destroy the Autobots, only to die again when he overcomes the Quintesson control through the power of the Matrix and possibly the strength of his will, and sacrifices himself to save the Autobots. Dark Awakening
  • He then was brought to life again (and stayed alive). The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1


The Headmasters

"...I'm dead."
"YES, you are!"
"You think that's funny, Jennings?!"
  • Prime's death in The Transformers: The Movie was sort-of recreated in a flashback montage, but not really. Rather than die while taking down his ultimate nemesis in a one-on-one struggle to the death to defend his city, his comrades, the planet Earth, and freedom itself, he just kind of gets randomly shot while in the middle of an ordinary battle outside of the Autobot Headquarters, and turns gray. Nobody else seems to notice this. It's not clear that Prime himself notices it. It's about the most half-hearted death ever. Four Warriors Come out of the Sky
  • Optimus Prime later died again — in another act of self-sacrifice, of course — when he walked into Vector Sigma and tried to bring it back under control directly. His body turned gray as he died, followed by a (likely only symbolic) scene of him telling Rodimus Prime that it would be his responsibility to keep leading the Autobots and to continue his work, seen as a transparent, light-haloed figure against the sky and heard in third person narration as Rodimus stared into the sky. (Then again, given the proven existence of ghosts...) Birth of the Fantastic Double Prime


Return of Convoy

Generation 2

Marvel Comics continuity

Generation 1

"Give me my face!"
  • A previous attempt was made at making virtual Prime a new body. The body spontaneously blew up. Totaled!


Generation 2

Unleashing the light of the Matrix upon a great evil. Again.
  • This Prime wasn't done dying yet. His adventures continued in the G2 comics, and he died defeating the Swarm. The Swarm reconstituted him three pages later (in a body based on his then-current Hero toy). A Rage in Heaven!


Regeneration One

Template:Noterg1


IDW Generation 1 continuity

  • It looks like this Optimus Prime made a habit of almost dying even before he became a Prime - Megatron shoots him in the back, Overthrown and one issue later every Autobot believes Orion Pax is dead... but is he? (SPOILER ALERT: No, he's not.) Transformation
  • In his first battle with the Ore-13 powered Megatron, Optimus was killed. Escalation issue 5 Or at least, his main body was: by quickly downloading his consciousness into Combat Deck (and then back again), Optimus was able to survive. Being that close to death meant he briefly existed in a limbo state, which got him noticed by Nova Prime in the Dead Universe. Escalation issue 6
  • He then spends a considerable period badly damaged and near death. He is revived, however, when Kup and his crew arrive. All Hail Megatron
  • A rare metaphorical version occurs when he leaves Cybertron to appease the anti-Autobot NAILs. With no duties or lives to mind but his own, and no Matrix to carry, he claims that Optimus Prime is dead, but Orion Pax has been reborn. The Death of Optimus Prime Of course, just like the real deaths, this one doesn't stick; Orion later reclaims the Optimus name during his final battle with Nova Prime. Finis Temporis

Beast Wars cartoon continuity

Beast Wars cartoon

"I'm not quite dead yet! I feel happy!"

In Beast Wars and Beast Machines, you could mark the end of a season by the near-death experience of one Optimus or another...

(Strangely, the end of the third season of Beast Wars had no Optimus deaths whatsoever! A half-dozen others died, but not Optimus.) Nemesis Part 2

Beast Machines cartoon

  • At the end of the first season of Beast Machines, Optimus and Megatron had a cataclysmic battle, using the energies of Vector Sigma and the Plasma Energy Chamber. This would have destroyed Cybertron, but Optimus took the warring energies into himself and disintegrated. However, his spark was trapped within the Oracle, and the other Maximals convinced him to return to the real world at the start of second season. The Oracle kindly gave him a new body (which, believe it or not, was not a new toy).End of the Line

2001 Robots in Disguise cartoon

He's one of the only Primes that didn't die! However, he came very close in the final battle, when he planned to sacrifice himself to stop Galvatron. The Final Battle

Shell Game

The Optimus Prime of Viron 704.31 Epsilon was killed by Megazarak. Shell Game The tyrannical Decepticon's victory had come about in part due to the transdimensional abductions of several of Prime's loyal Autobots by Unicron. Ask Vector Prime

Unicron Trilogy continuity family

Armada cartoon

Now Optimus, don't go all to pieces. You say you have to split? Well, you're a chip off the ol' block.

Dreamwave Armada comic


Universe

Technically, this is the clone.


Live-action film series

Though Optimus Prime doesn't die in the first movie itself, he does consider fusing the AllSpark into his own spark, an action that would destroy them both, if necessary to keep it out of Decepticon hands.

Transformers The Game

In Decepticon mode storyline, Optimus Prime was beaten to the ground, and as he crawled for the AllSpark, Megatron smashed his head with his flail ... poor Prime, he gets the most violent death. Transformers The Game (console)

Titan Magazines Transformers movie comics

"Begging sometimes helps, but not often."
"Begging sometimes helps, but not often."
Has the Imperial Magistrate reached a verdict?

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Reason: Made obsolete
The following events occur in a splinter timeline where Megatron won the battle of Mission City.

Optimus was left in a frozen, near-death state. Twilight's Last Gleaming, Part: 1

Revenge of the Fallen movie

Shot through the heart, and you're to blame, you give love a bad name!

This is perhaps the most brutal Prime death to date, in keeping with the rather more graphic nature of combat in the live-action movies. To protect Sam Witwicky, Optimus Prime engaged in a fierce battle with Megatron, Starscream, and Grindor. Despite injuring Starscream and destroying Grindor by ripping his head apart, Optimus is viciously run-through from behind by Megatron and then blasted through the back, killing him. While dead, Optimus' body is depicted with faded colours in reference to his history of turning grey upon death. This event causes Sam to follow the symbols the AllSpark sliver placed in his mind to find the ancient Matrix of Leadership, the only thing that could restore life to Optimus. Unfortunately, it crumbled into dust upon touching it in the Tomb of the Primes on the border between Egypt and Jordan. During the climactic battle in Egypt between NEST and the Decepticons, Sam was seemingly killed by Megatron, only to be taken to another plane of existence where he met the Primes who died to prevent The Fallen from achieving victory, and they bestowed upon him the true Matrix, which allowed Sam to revive Optimus. Revenge of the Fallen

In the novelization of Revenge of the Fallen, unlike the movie, it is explicitly stated that Optimus Prime survived Megatron's attack, but was so badly damaged his body had gone into stasis lock, and would likely stay that way for many years while his body repaired itself if not for Sam's intervention.

Age Of Extinction movie

Optimus Prime is SO good at dying, that he started the movie effectively dead after a human ambush inbetween movies - Cade brought him back to life with a few repairs and a jump-start with a car battery. Even if it's not the miracle of rebirth we're used to, nothing kills our Prime - not even treacherous humans with exploding heavy artillery.


Animated

Animated cartoon

It's a new record, Primey!

In part three, Optimus Prime dies after his battle with Starscream. Like the Generation 1 Prime before him, he turns gray upon dying. Seventy-five seconds later - for us AND for the characters - Sari Sumdac uses the mysterious AllSpark Key to revive him. Transform and Roll Out

The Cool comic

During their final battle on earth, Megatron fired a devastating blast from his fusion cannon which was super charged by Starscream's AllSpark-fragment-powered head before driving one of his swords straight through Optimus' chest and spark. However this, somehow, did not completely kill him as his cries of justice and heroics caused his spark to shine and made a reaction from the shard in Starscream's head, which flew at Optimus giving him new power and a new body. The Cool Episode Final

Beast Wars: Uprising

We don't actually get to see an Optimus of this universe die, but both Optimus Prime and Optimus Primal have died off-page. In this universe, the Builders of Cybertron, the former Autobots and Decepticons, constructed the Maximals and Predacons as proxy armies to continue a never-ending grudge that the Builders were too decrepit to continue fighting. Optimus Prime died at some point between the early 21st century and the early 25th century. Broken Windshields

Meanwhile, Blackarachnia was one of several rebels against this status quo, but her breaking point came when her colleagues Silverbolt and Rhinox died. When her commander Optimus Primal refused to turn against the Builders, Blackarachnia and Nightscream killed him. "TransTech" Blackarachnia's profile in Club magazine #25

Henkei! manga

A Nightmare, Once Again

Aligned continuity family

Prime cartoon

Following the creation of a Decepticon fortress practically on the Autobots' doorstep, Optimus had the others evacuate the base while he heroically stayed behind to destroy the GroundBridge to cover their retreat. He was still in the base when the Decepticons blew it up. Darkest Hour Smokescreen pulled him from the rubble and he lay dying in a cavern for several days. Darkmount, NV His lingering death seemed like it was coming to an end when he had a vision of the bright light of the Allspark and spoke with Alpha Trion. In the real world, the light faded from Optimus's optics and his chest opened to reveal the Matrix, at which point Smokescreen used the Forge of Solus Prime to return him to life in a new, upgraded body. Rebellion

To defeat Unicron the second time, Optimus had to merge the AllSpark with the Matrix of Leadership so he could use the empty container to entrap his foe. This essentially resulted in his own spark becoming one with the AllSpark, and thus in order to restore the AllSpark to its rightful place, Optimus was required to make the ultimate act of self-sacrifice, giving up his own existence so that Cybertron might bear new life. Predacons Rising

Rescue Bots cartoon

While traveling back in time to the year 1939 in order to save the Rescue Bots from Doctor Morocco, The Autobots and the human children attempt to escape through the time portal to the present. However, while the rest of the team makes it through the portal back to the future, it abruptly closes, seemingly trapping Optimus. It appeared that the Autobot leader was lost in time. The portal however, suddenly reopens, and Optimus jumps out. When they emerge from the lab, they find Griffin Rock greatly changed. This was another near death experience for Optimus Prime. It's a Bot Time

2015 Robots in Disguise cartoon

Despite being dead, Optimus Prime appeared to Bumblebee in visions, first guiding Bumblebee to Earth. Pilot (Part 1) Optimus was able to physically manifest himself for a brief period in order to help Bumblebee's team defeat Underbite. Afterwards, Optimus stated that he wasn't sure if he was alive or not, nor did he know what the fates had for him. He then disappeared. Pilot (Part 2) In another vision to Bumblebee, Optimus stated that he can only reappear when the need for him is most dire, as decided by the Thirteen. W.W.O.D.?

See also

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