The Next Live-Action Transformers Movie Could Leave Planet Earth Entirely

This post contains spoilers for "Transformers: Rise of the Beasts."

According to franchise lore, the Transformers are intelligent robots from a planet called Cybertron. As long as anyone can remember, two primary factions have been at war. The Autobots and the Decepticons, however, rarely comment on the origin of the war or what will be won with victory. They only know that they must fight and kill. Being a Transformer seems like a sad, bleak existence. Despite their name, they cannot transform their souls. 

And their gods are no help: There is an ancient, evil Transformers deity named Unicron floating through the cosmos, eating planets and longing for ultimate destruction. 

Unicron (Colman Domingo) is featured heavily in Steven Caple Jr.'s new film "Transformers: Rise of the Beasts." Unicron finds Transformers on Earth, and his goons spend the bulk of the film attacking. It's up to a small cadre of Autobots and animal-resembling Maximals to fend off Unicron and his forces. The robots are aided in their quest by Noah (Anthony Ramos), a man from Brooklyn. With gumption and a high-powered robot suit, Noah ultimately staves off the apocalypse for another day. In the process, Noah becomes a skilled fighter with a taste for the extraordinary. He will now become an on-call ally for the Transformers on Earth should a human touch be required.

In an epilogue for "Rise of the Beasts," Noah goes to a job interview, merely looking for work. The interview, however, is actually a secret recruiting seminar. He has gained the attention of a secret government cabal of freedom fighters. One might say they're ... Real American Heroes.

In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Caple spoke about the possibility of a new film wherein the Transformers unite with another of Hasbro's high-profile properties: G.I. Joe.

In the finale of "Rise of the Beasts," Noah is recruited by G.I. Joe, represented by a character named Agent Burke (Michael Kelly). If there is another "Transformers" movie, it will likely involve the characters from "G.I. Joe" as well. 

To date, there have already been nine "G.I. Joe" feature films, three of them in live-action, and it seems Hasbro would like two of their most popular 1980s toy lines to intersect. G.I. Joe, for those unfamiliar, is a line of soldier toys that skew heavily into sci-fi. The Joes aren't necessarily Americans, but a freelance military force that uses high-tech vehicles and weapons to face off against an equally unaffiliated terrorist organization called Cobra. In the 1983 animated series "G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero," the Joes did indeed occasionally go to space. Caple seems quite ready for both the Transformers and the Joes to unite in a place far away from Earth. In the EW interview, he said: 

"There's a big mission at hand. [...] I think it's really cool that there are other planets out there with Transformers. It's one of the reasons why I introduced the Maximals that way at the beginning of our film. [...] I was pulling from these Japanese cartoons where there's Transformers on every other planet. I just feel like we've been on Earth for a very long time. So there might be something interesting to explore there, maybe taking this war and battle somewhere else."

The Japanese cartoons that Caple refers to were produced in the 1980s and rarely seen outside of Japan. "Transformers: The Headmasters" debuted in 1987, with "Transformers: Super-God Master Force," "Transformers: Victory," and "Transformers: Zone" following in 1988, 1989, and 1990, respectively.

In the timeline of the live-action "Transformers" films, the robots have been on Earth for many, many years. There have been a few fleeting glimpses of Cybertron (there is a Cybertronian battle at the beginning of the 2018 film "Bumblebee"), but no major Transformers action has taken place anywhere other than Earth or the moon.

In "Rise of the Beasts," Caple wanted to tease audiences by implying that Michael Kelly's mysterious character might not be who he says he is. "Agent Burke" could very well be a codename for a known G.I. Joe character. The moment also featured a spacecraft, implying that G.I. Joe already goes into the cosmos on the regular. Caple is eager to play with the toys in another film, saying: 

"That's what we're gonna be playing with in the future. [...] But as of right now, it's Agent Burke. It's a little generic, and it's done on purpose a bit. It's all part of the facade. He might grow into someone else. I'm still trying to figure out what to do exactly with that character. I have some ideas, but the way I collaborate would be me doing research, me talking to Hasbro, and talking to Michael Kelly and seeing where we could take him."

Transformers meeting G.I. Joe is the most logical thing in the world, of course. Many children of the 1980s likely had both brands of toy, and would likely throw them together during playtime. Just throw in My Little Pony, the guys from "M.A.S.K.," a Oujia board, some Play-Doh, an army of Furbys, and Rich Uncle Pennybags from Monopoly, and you have a crossover blockbuster even greater than "Avengers: Endgame."

In the meantime, expect more off-Earth "Transformers" action when the untitled animated film hits theaters in 2024.