While Disney and Marvel drag their feet in making the next Avengers film, it seems a rival studio has decided to take the initiative instead and has gathered together a whole host of Marvel’s best and brightest to star in a major blockbuster in a completely different cinematic universe.
What was the Transformers franchise in desperate need of, apart from 1000% less Michael Bay and zero further attempts to give us a G.I. Joe crossover no one cares about? That’s right, it needed some MCU magic. So enter Transformers One, a new animated movie heading for theaters this fall that features a star-studded cast — and includes the reunion of two Avengers who haven’t appeared in the same film since Endgame.
Transformers One is the backdoor Marvel team-up movie for you as we wait for Avengers 5
Coming across like the Transformers answer to Pixar’s Lightyear, the animated prequel likewise casts a Marvel Chris as a sci-fi action figure hero in order to tell an origins story that probably doesn’t need telling. Hemsworth stars as a young Optimus Prime, called Orion Pax, with Eternals and Spider-Verse star Brian Tyree Henry playing his best pal, D-16, who we know is destined to become his nemesis, Megatron.
Meanwhile, Black Widow herself is teaming up with her Asgardian co-star once more as Scarlett Johansson is playing female Transformers Evita-1. The Marvel star power doesn’t end there, either, as Laurence Fishburne — Silver Surfer, Bill Foster in the Ant-Man movies and the Beyonder in Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur — is likewise in the mix. And lest we forget Jon Hamm, who was going to be Mr. Sinister in Fox’s X-Men universe before that died a death. Meanwhile, co-stars Keegan-Michael Key and Steve Buscemi are bound to make MCU appearances at some point.
Despite being the biggest, most reliable money-making franchise on the planet, the next chapter in the Avengers saga is taking its sweet time in getting here, something that Bob Iger can’t be happy about. So it’s only adding insult to injury that Paramount’s over here bringing Avengers back together to line its own pockets. Transformers One – Marvel Zero, you might say.
