Who Is Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts’ Villain? New Threat Explained

The Transformers franchise has a new villain, as Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, but who is the Transformers Scourge villain, and how does he connect to the mythology? The seventh entry in the live-action franchise based on Hasbro’s toys is finally introducing some of the biggest characters from the Beast Wars storylines. After focusing strictly on the Autobots and Decepticons before, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is bringing Maximals, Terrorcons, and Predacons. This allows the film to include popular Maximals like Optimus Primal alongside returning Autobots like Optimus Prime and Bumblebee.

In the previous six Transformers movies, a Decepticon has been the central antagonist for the Autobots and their human allies. Megatron has been a recurring villain in several films, while The Fallen, Shockwave, Lockdown, and Quintessa have all threatened the Autobots and humanity in Michael Bay’s sequels. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts has the benefit of pulling from the Terrorcons and Predacons to introduce new threats for the franchise. This includes making changes to finally bring Scourge into the live-action series. Here’s a rundown of who Scourge is, his goals, who voices the Transformers 7 villain, and more.

Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts’ Villain Scourge Explained

Scourge made his debut as a Transformers villain in 1986’s animated The Transformers: The Movie. He was introduced as a Decepticon tracker and hunter for Galvatron with a white and blue design and Cybertronian hovercraft alternate form. In Transformers, Scourge was created by Unicron from the body of a dead Transformer known as Thundercracker. The character’s origin has been reinvented a few different times over the years and throughout different toy lines and animated series. For the purposes of the movie franchise, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is reinventing Scourge a bit to make him the leader of the Terrorcons.

In Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, Scourge is taking some inspiration from the animated series Transformers: Robots in Disguise too. The show gave Scourge a makeover through Megatron’s plans, allowing Scourge to become part of a reprogrammed Autobot protoform. Scourge emerged after scanning Optimus Prime’s design and attributes, making the Transformers villain Prime’s evil look-a-like with a new grey truck alt form. The semi-truck alt form for Scourge in Transformers: Rise of the Beasts has been confirmed through toy designs. He’s often portrayed as an arrogant character with great plans.

Scourge In The Comics

While Transformers have been very popular in the movies, cartoons, and toy lines, they have also enjoyed a great deal of lore in the comics. Transformers started out its comic book history in Marvel Comics, but those didn’t pay as much attention to the bots outside the Autobots and Decepticons, and that means there was little use for someone like Scourge. He was mostly a regular Transformer in those appearances. However, there was an alternate future that tied Scourge to the creation of Unicron in a world where Cybertron had been destroyed.

Ultimately, the biggest additions to the lore of Transformers Scourge came in comics released in the United Kingdom that were set around the same timeline as Transformers: The Movie, which was 2006. In those comics, Scouge, Galvatron, and Cyclonus used time travel as a way to free themselves from Unicron’s control. Their goal was to create a massive cannon that would destroy him in 2006 and thereby free them in the future. However, in a union between enemies, Megatron and the Autobots teamed up and defeated Scourge and his allies and stopped them.

Scourge appeared many more times after Marvel Comics lost the rights to the Transformers. Scourge appeared as a major character in the Dreamwave Productions comic book run where he was part of an attempt by Shockwave to defeat the Autobots, but that comic run ended unfinished. When Devil’s Due Publishing took over, Scourge was turned into a simple bodyguard for Shockwave. Finally, Scourge returned in a familiar form as part of the Beast Wars storyline in IDW Publishing as part of the Maximals and Predacons.

Who Voices Scourge In Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts?

Peter Dinklage voices Scourge in Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. He was officially confirmed to be part of the ensemble voice cast as one of the film’s villains. Peter Dinklage is best known for playing Tyrion Lannister in Game of Thrones and is no stranger to major franchises, as he plays Eitri in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Dr. Bolivar Trask in the X-Men franchise. Peter Dinklage has also voiced Captain Gutt in the Ice Age franchise and Mighty Eagle in the Angry Birds movies. Dinklage joins Hugo Weaving, Frank Welker, Tony Todd, Leonard Nimoy, Angela Bassett, and others to voice Transformers movie villains.

How Powerful Scourge Is Compared To Megatron & Other Villains

The threat level that Scourge poses in Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is quite significant thanks to how powerful he is. As an Unicronian Decepticon in the original G1 continuity, the villain is known to have superior abilities to many other Transformers. His tracker and hunter skills include having equipment that can scan and locate individuals regardless of their human or machine biology. Scourge’s powers in the canon have also included a wide array of weaponry, such as acid rays, laser blasters, and disintegrator beams. This should make him roughly as powerful as Megatron has been in previous films, but probably not as strong as The Fallen.

Based on what has been seen of Transformers Scourge in Rise of the Beasts, his weapons are expanding for his live-action debut. The villain is fitted with a giant double-bladed sword that attaches to his right hand, while his left hand is a giant claw. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts shows Scourge using these claws to pierce Bumblebee. He might also be retrofitted with electric shock powers based on the footage.

Transformers 7’s Villain Could Set Up Unicron For The Future

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts using Scourge as one of its villains could be a move designed to help build up Unicron for the franchise’s future too. Since Scourge was created by Unicron to be the leader of a hunting team known as The Sweeps, the villain is incredibly loyal to the franchise’s planet-eating foe. Transformers 7‘s Scourge design has already indicated that some connection between Scourge and Unicron exists, as the Unicron logo is featured on Scourge’s truck alt form.

Whatever connection Scourge does have with Unicron in Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is a chance for the franchise to properly set up the biggest Transformers villain for future films. There are plenty of theories that Unicron is the overall villain of the new Transformers trilogy that Rise of the Beasts is intended to launch. Scourge’s plan could be directly connected to bringing Unicron into the main narrative, while his failure and defeat by the Autobots and Maximals could be what forces the massive character to reveal himself. In either case, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts‘ villain Scourge could play a role in the sequels then.