‘Transformers: Rise of the Beasts’ ending, explained

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Transformers: Rise of the Beasts… Well, obviously.

Five years after the Transformers franchise finally worked out how to make a good movie with 2018’s Bumblebee, the robots in disguise are back with Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, which may not be earning as much critical acclaim as its predecessor but is nonetheless generally being viewed as one of the better entries in the saga.

As a recap, Rise of the Beasts follows Noah (Anthony Ramos) as he befriends the Transformer Mirage (Pete Davidson) and aids Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen) and the Autobots’ new allies the Maximals, led by Optimus Primal (Ron Perlman), as they attempt to protect Earth from the planet-eating Unicron (Colman Domingo) and his heralds, the Terrorcons, led by Scourge (Peter Dinklage).

While you might argue that we kind of always know how a Transformers movie is going to end — good robots win, bad robots go boom — Rise of the Beasts actually concludes on a surprising note that will leave Hasbro nerds squeeing with joy but more casual viewers confused. So let’s unpack it…

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts ending scene, examined

After managing to help stop Unicron from emerging and consuming Earth, Noah gets his life back on track by applying for a security job. During the interview, an unknown man (Michael Kelly) admits to Noah that he knows he aided the Transformers in saving the world from Unicron. Impressed by his courage and skills, the man hands Noah a business card, which reveals that he’s employed by a certain organization that goes by the name of… G.I. Joe.

That’s right, Paramount has only gone and done it. After teasing that such a crossover between two of Hasbro’s most iconic toylines could happen on the big screen for the past few years, it looks like next time around we’re in for a full-on Transformers/G.I. Joe team-up movie. Will Optimus Prime and the Autobots buddy up with Snake Eyes and company to defeat a deadly alliance between the Decepticons and COBRA? The possibilities are tantalizing.

Whether general moviegoing audiences are actually interested in such a thing, however, after a recent attempt to relaunch the G.I. Joe film franchise with 2021’s Snake Eyes bombed hard, remains to be seen. Likewise, whether Paramount is planning to invite Henry Golding back as the masked martial arts master or recast him once again is unknown at this point.

Maybe they could bring back Dwayne Johnson’s Roadblock from 2013’s G.I. Joe: Retaliation? Transformers is pretty much the only franchise The Rock hasn’t appeared in at this point, barring the MCU. Whatever form this intriguing crossover takes, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts certainly promises that the 16-year-old universe still has a lot of life left in it yet.