Back in the 1980’s, Hasbro launched a line of toys called Transformers and I’m pretty sure that even they didn’t know that they had created history. After this, Transformers got an animated series, followed by an animated movie. However, the real magic happened when Transformers got its first live-action adaptation in 2007 directed by Michale Bay. The movie blew the fans away and was followed by several sequels with a brand new animated flick Transformers One on the way. In this article, find out how to watch all the Transformers movies in chronological and release date order.
Transformers Movies in Chronological Order
1. Transformers One (2024)
Even though Transformers One is the latest addition to the Transformers franchise, this movie in chronological order is going to be the very origin story of the war between Autobots and Decepticons and how Orion Pax became Optimus Prime. This animated flick will bring in Chris Hemsworth as the voice of Optimus Prime and it will be the first time someone else except Peter Cullen is going to play the character. Transformers One already has two trailers and the movie is set to make a release on September 20, 2024.
2. Bumblebee (2018)
Bumblebee is by far one of the most loved characters in the Transformers franchise. This movie tells us the story of how Bumblebee lost his voice and met his first human friend Charlie. The movie is set in the year 1987 right after Cybertron was destroyed and Optimus Prime sent Bumblebee to Earth looking for a planet to hide on. Even though this movie was released in 2018, Bumblebee plays an important part in bringing us more context regarding the events we see in the 2007 Transformers.
3. Transformers: Rise of The Beasts (2023)
Released in 2023, Transformers Rise of The Beasts brings us the events following what we saw in Bumblebee. However, there was a major plothole in the story of this movie. Even though the movie is said to be a prequel to the Transformers (2007), we see that Optimus Prime and his team are already on Earth while in the 2007 Transformers, we see that Bumblebee calls his team from space on Earth.
This movie, even though in the chronology of Transformers, fits right after Bumblebee, brings us a rather different story, and also sets up a crossover between Transformers and the GI Joe. So it’s safe to say that Rise of The Beasts was more of a reboot rather than a prequel.
4. Transformers (2007)
This movie right here, is where it all began, Transformers (2007) brought us the first-ever live-action adaptation of Transformers and branched into multiple sequels. The 2007 Transformers brings us the story of Sam Witwickey who stumbled upon Bumblebee when he brought his first car. Following that, he finds out that his fate has been entwined with the intergalactic war between Autobots and Decepticons and now, he is the only one who can guide the Autobots to the Allspark and save planet Earth from total annihilation at the hands of Megatron and his Decepticons.
5. Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen (2009)
After the massive success of Transformers, a sequel was inevitable, and Revenge of The Fallen stood up to the expectations fans had from this sequel. This movie tells us that since Sam touched the All Spark, the information in there has been transferred to his brain and the Decepticons want to extract it to find a machine that will blow out Earth’s sun.
However, Autobots stand in the way but tragically, Optimus Prime is killed at the hands of Megatron. With his death, an entity called The Fallen arises, and now, Sam and the remaining Autobots have to find the Matrix of Leadership to bring Optimus back to life and save the planet from destruction.
6. Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011)
Dark of the Moon brings us probably the best twist to the moon landing I have ever witnessed in a movie. This movie tells us that NASA discovered a crashed spacecraft on the Moon and the entire space program was created just so America could investigate the crashed ship.
Dark of The Moon brings us the previous leader of the Autobots, Sentinel Prime who has been stranded on this ship for years. However, what Optimus Prime thought to be a joyous return, turns out to be an evil plot to turn every human on planet Earth into slaves and destruction of the planet. Now, Prime has to stand against the one he looked up to for the fate of his new home.
7. Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014)
Age of Extinction serves as a soft reboot to the franchise as Sam Witwikey played by Shia LaBeouf left the franchise and a new character played by Mark Wahlberg named Cate Yeager took his place. This movie is set several years after the events of Dark of The Moon where all Transformers irrespective of Autobots or Decepticons have been declared enemies. Cate finds a beat-up truck and as it turns out, that truck is none other than Optimus Prime.
While the Autobots are in hiding, a company has figured out how to make their own Transformers using Transformium, the core element all transformers are made of. However, since they used Megatron’s core to make the leader of their man-made Transformers, it gets corrupted and a new Megatron rises corrupting all other robots. Meanwhile, the Autobots are also being hunted by an alien bounty hunter who is picking them off one by one with the help of a CIA agent named Harold Attinger. This movie was the first time where Dinobots were introduced in live-action Transformers.
8. Transformers: The Last Knight (2017)
Transformers: The Last Knight is considered to be the worst movie in the entire franchise. First off, it completely ruined the origin and storyline Transformers followed since 2007. According to the movie, Bumblebee has been on Earth since WW2 and has helped the Allied forces fight against Nazi Germany. The overall plot of the movie was too overstuffed and had too many elements. This movie also ended with a tease for another Transformers movie but after the massive failure The Last Knight turned out to be, the sequel never happened.
Transformers Movies in Release Date Order
Now if you don’t want to get into the chronological order and just want to watch these movies in the order they were released, here is the release date order of all Transformers movies.
- Transformers (2007)
- Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen (2009)
- Transformers: Dark Of The Moon (2011)
- Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014)
- Transformers: The Last Knight (2017)
- Bumblebee (2018)
- Transformers: Rise of The Beasts (2023)
- Transformers One (2024)
So, here is the complete list of Transformers movies in both chronological and release date order. So, without wasting any more time, binge all these movies if you haven’t already before you walk into the theaters to watch Transformers One, and stay tuned with us for more updates!
