Megatron's History
Megatron was originally a humble miner, but the injustices perpetuated by the corrupt Senate pushed him into becoming a prominent, if controversial, civil rights advocate, and, eventually, the founder of the Decepticon movement. Megatron's political struggles bemused his nominal friend, the power-hungry Orion Pax, who used his connections to spring Megatron from prison whenever the Decepticon leader got himself in trouble with the establishment, but over time disagreements drove a wedge between the two former friends. One day, while Megatron lead an anti-empurata rally outside the Senate building, Senate officer Prowl wound up brutalizing the Decepticon Ratbat; when Megatron intervened, he came to blows with Prowl and landed himself in jail. The sight of a humble ex-miner taking on the Senate inspired Starscream, who later joined the nascent Decepticon movement.
Some time later, Orion Pax again pulled some strings to facilitate Megatron's release, but his acidic comment that Megatron deserved to spend some time in jail spiralled into a disagreement, which soon became an all-out brawl. Although Megatron walked free, he'd permanently severed his friendship with the ambitious Orion, who was already finalizing his own plans to overthrow the Senate.
When Starscream joined the Decepticons, Megatron appointed him as his second-in-command. In his new role, Starscream helped write some of Megatron's more notable speeches, and at one point the two experimented with using his unusually powerful spark as some kind of data receptacle. As the Decepticon-Autobot conflict spiralled into a full-fledged Great War between the two factions, Megatron crash-landed on Earth, and was stranded there until more Decepticons arrived to help repair him. The battle to defend the planet's supplies of Rarified Energon soon snowballed out of control into a destructive, world-changing conflict; although Megatron fought valiantly, it soon became clear that the Autobots would overrun his forces if he did not take drastic action. During a battle in Hollywood, Megatron deliberately stayed behind to bait Optimus Prime into attacking him, willingly sacrificing his life so that Starscream and the other Decepticons could safely evacuate. Despite his best efforts to take down Optimus with him, however, the Autobot leader proved too powerful and beat him to the brink of death. Somehow, Megatron survived; when he awoke, the Decepticons had fled while the triumphant Autobots had already razed the planet and returned to Cybertron. Eventually, the Decepticon leader scrounged up a ship and limped back to Cybertron; upon arriving, however, he discovered that the Autobots had conquered the planet and vanquished whatever remained of the defeated Decepticons.
Intent on never being found, Megatron took up a solitary existence in the most uninhabitable part of the Rust Sea and instructed his lieutenants to never contact him again. While most of the Autobots and many Decepticons believed that Megatron had died, Megatron maintained a solitary existence for many years until the day when a wounded Starscream tracked him down. After bringing Starscream inside his bunker to repair him, and reminiscing on both the buildup to and ultimate end of the war, Starscream revealed that he'd found a way to use his spark to reactivate the dormant Metroplex, and asked the reluctant Megatron to step up and rebuild the Decepticons.
Despite Megatron's misgivings, the pair infiltrated Gold City to meet with Soundwave—who'd kept tabs on the remaining Decepticons who'd gone into hiding—in a bid to kickstart a proper Decepticon resistance. When the pair ducked into a nearby watering hole to discuss their next move, however, the Autobot Blaster and his minions caught wind of their operation and attacked. To keep the vital information encoded in Starscream's spark safe, Megatron ordered Starscream to flee while he held off the Autobots.
Although Starscream wound up captured by the villainous Goldbug, Megatron assembled a number of Decepticon veterans—including Skywarp and the Insecticons—and sent them to recapture Starscream, though Goldbug killed them all before they could interfere. inally, Megatron gathered enough Decepticons to launch a full-scale attack on Gold City, but arrived too late to stop Goldbug from killing Starscream and stealing his spark. As the victorious Decepticons overran the city's defenses, Megatron chased down and comforted Starscream's former friend Jetfire, who'd grown to regret his role in the war that had driven them apart. Saddened by the loss of his comrade, Megatron informed Jetfire that once they'd taken Gold City, they'd build a monument in Starscream's honor. Although Megatron suggested an alliance to find Goldbug and retrieve Starscream's stolen spark, the ex-Autobot announced that he'd consider the proposal and left.
