How Transformers 5 Connects to Previous Transformers Movies

Transformers: The Last Knight does a lot of work setting up the movie franchise for a big cinematic universe expansion by giving fans backdoor entrances into stories of Transformers adventures throughout human history, with some fun new reveals about iconic characters like Bumblebee and Optimus Prime.

However, while Transformers 5 indeed spends a lot of time and energy setting up the next Transformers sequels and a couple of upcoming prequels, it also has some nice callbacks and connections to Michael Bay’s entire Transformers saga.

Listed in the pages below are the some of the callback and references that Transformers: The Last Knight makes to the preceding films in Bay’s Transformers series, including:

• Transformers (2007)
• Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)
• Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011)
• Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014)

Here’s How Transformers 5 Connects to the Other Four Transformers Movies.

Barricade

The first Transformers movie begins with Shia LaBeouf’s Sam Witwicky being stalked by a Decepticon diguised as a police car. That Decepticon’s name was Barricade. 

Barricade made it out of the events of the first film by avoiding the battle in Mission City, where the rest of his Decepticon teammates were taken down by the Autobots. He popped again in Transformers: Dark of the Moon at the battle of Chicago, but was crippled by Autobot forces when they took back the city. 

In Transformers: The Last Knight, Barricade once again gets a central role in the Decepticon plotline, as he is the primary agent for the rebooted Megatron, who tasks Barricade with tracking down the talisman belonging to “The Last Knight” – which ultimately puts Barricade at odds with Talisman’s protector, Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg). 

Tessa

MORE: Where is Cade’s Daughter in Transformers 5? 

Cade Yeager’s daughter Tessa was the major reason why he got involved in the war between the Autobots and Decepticons in the first place. 

After Cade found Optimus Prime, his farm was attacked by the covert unit of Transformer-killers known as Cemetery Wind. Cade, Tessa, and her boyfriend Shane were all forced to go on the run, but were eventually tracked down by Cemetery Wind’s Transformer operative, Lockdown. Tessa ended up trapped on Lockdown’s ship, and Cade ended up drafted in the great Transformers war. 

In Transformers: The Last Knight, we find Cade on the run and estranged from his daughter, who is busy living her life at college. Cade makes routine calls to his daughter, but is unable to talk to her, due to TRF surveillance. In one touching scene, Tessa gives a moving speech to her dad, assuring him that she’s okay, and that he needs a girlfriend. 

Captain Lennox

Captain William “Wild Bill” Lennox (Josh Duhamel) has been one of the primary human military operatives to work alongside the Autobots.

Lennox was one of the first to discover the plot by modern day Decepticons on Earth. He met Optimus Prime and the Autobots while in the trenches with them at The Battle of Mission City; afterward, he fought alongside the Autobots as part of a covert team, hunting down Decepticons in Revenge of the Fallen; and he was one of the human heroes that fought bravely in The Battle of Chicago during Dark of the Moon. 

In The Last Knight we discover Lennox trying to find his place in the new world order. He pretends to work for the TRF, hunting down all Transformers still hiding out on Earth; in reality, he is working covertly with General Morshower (Glenn Morshower), trying to stay focused on the real threat of the Decepticons, and Megatron. 

Battle of Chicago

Transformers: The Last Knight begins its story by re-visiting the quarantined wasteland of Chicago, where the Autobots and Decepticons did battle in Transformer: Dark of the Moon. Young Izabella (Isabela Moner) saves three local boys from being wiped out by the drones patrolling the quarantine zone – and she is, in turn, saved by Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg), who patrols the area trying to hide and protect Autobot arrivals on Earth. 

The Battle of Chicago has since become a major milestone event in the Transformers movie universe – a world-changing event that let humanity know, with certainty, that we are not alone in the universe. 

Needless to say, in the years since The Battle, Chicago has not quite recovered. 

Starscream’s Head

Starscream became one of the trademark gruesome kills in Michael Bay’s Transfomers films during Transformers: Dark of the Moon, when Sam Witwicky blew his head off by sticking a boom stick in his eye.

More: The Gruesome Deaths of the Transformers movies

In Transformers: The Last Knight, Megatron strikes a (temporary) deal with the TRF (Transformers Reaction Force) faction of the military, led by Captain Lennox. During that partnership, Megatron gets to see some of memorabilia kept by the TRF. One object that the military force keeps on hand is the Starscream’s head. 

Megatron gives a nice Shakespearean ode to his former underling – will at the same time managing to insult him. Classic Megatron.  

Fate of the Witwiccan

Transformers movie fans have been asking about the fate of Shia LaBeouf’s Sam Witwicky ever since he came up missing from the Transformers: Age of Extinction character list, and Transformers: The Last Knight finally delivers and answer. 

…Sort of. 

When Cade Yeager arrives at the home of Sir Edmund Burton (Anthony Hopkins) he learns of that a secret order has protected the secret of Transformers on Earth for decades – an order that started with Merlin and King Arthur’s Knights. Of the many members of the Order of the Witwiccans pictured in Burton’s museum, one stands out: Sam Witwicky. 

Yes, it turns out that Shia LaBeouf’s character from the Transformers trilogy didn’t just get his heroism from nowhere: he was destined to be that guy. However, Burton’s museum is a memorial of sorts, and the implication is that Sam is one of the latest members of the The Order to have fallen in service. In other words: Sam may be dead. 

Devastated Pyramid

Transformers fans were super excited when The Contstructicons and their combined form of Devastator were featured in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen; and then Michael Bay ruined it by barely featuring the characters while managing to give Devastator robot testicles. 

…In any event, when Cybertron starts to suck the energy out of Earth in Transformers: The Last Knight, one site that gets wiped out by the two planets bumping together is the defaced Egyptian pyramid Devastator broke open to reveal the Sun Harvester weapon in Revenge of the Fallen.

No More Moon Landing

The crashed Transformers spaceship on the moon was a main focus of the storyline for Transformers: Dark of the Moon. However in Transformers: The Last Knight, we once again see the franchise’s past literally get wiped away. 

As Cybertron comes down its final stretch toward Earth, it passes over the face of the moon, knocking away part of the lunar surface that includes “The Ark,” that spaceship that was so pivotal in the war between Decepticons and Autobots. 

As with the Pyramid from Revenge of the Fallen, this was a symbolic cleaning of the board, so that future Transformers movies have fresh ground to build upon. 

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• Transformers 5’s Unicron Explain
• The Big Twist In the Transformers Origin Story
• Transformers 5 Is the Worst Reviewed Movie in the Franchise
• Who Dies in Transformers 5?
• Transformers 5 Post-Credits Scene Explained

Transformers: The Last Knight is now in theaters.

In Transformers: The Last Knight, humans are at war with the Transformers, and Optimus Prime is gone. The key to saving the future lies buried in the secrets of the past and the hidden history of Transformers on Earth. Now, it’s up to the unlikely alliance of Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg), Bumblebee, an English lord (Anthony Hopkins) and an Oxford professor (Laura Haddock) to save the world.

Transformers: The Last Knight is directed by Michael Bay. The film stars Mark Wahlberg and Stanley Tucci reprising their roles from Transformers: Age of Extinction, with Josh Duhamel, and John Turturro reprising roles from the first three Transformers movies.

Transformers: The Last Knight’s voice cast includes Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime, John Goodman as Hound, and John DiMaggio as Crosshairs. Other transformers appearing the film include Bumblebee, Drift, Hot Rod, Cogman, Canopy, Sqweeks, Grimlock, Megatron, Barricade, Onslaught, Hooligan, and Mohawk.