The Decepticons have traditionally served as the primary villains in the Transformers universe. While that is true, Lockdown is the adversary who is regarded as the most hazardous for the Autobots.
He just has one loyalty, which is to cause mayhem and damage wherever he can. In fact, even the Decepticons are frightened of him because of his ruthless and merciless actions. He distinguishes out among the Transformers as a renegade killer who despises his own species.
However, Lockdown is actually working for someone else. Let us jump straight into the video and learn everything there is to know about Lockdown if you are curious about who this Transformers villain reports to and why he goes on murdering sprees.
Origins of Lockdown explored in the movie Transformers: Age of Extinction
In the year 2014, with the release of Transformers: Age of Extinction, we were introduced to the ultimate villain in the Transformers film series, that is, Lockdown. Lockdown’s character was voiced by an English actor known as Mark Ryan. Some time ago, Lockdown used to be a Decepticon, and they were led by Megatron. During one mission, Lockdown decided to break the rules and went against his team to do what made him feel good, that is, maximum bloodshed.
As a result, the Decepticons labeled him a traitor and tried to have him killed. He felt betrayed and wanted to take revenge on them. So, he eventually left them in order to become a cybertronian assassin and bounty hunter. He decided to conduct killings for the ones who would hire him. He then stole an ancient cybertronian ship known as the Knights’ Temenos that used to belong to legendary knights like Optimus Prime. It was built for them in order to explore the universe, but Lockdown commandeered it, turned it into his personal mobile prison, and even locked up the knights who were on board.
As a transformer, Lockdown can transform into a grey 2013 Lamborghini Aventador LP 700-4 Coupe. He now works alone as a bounty hunter and is neither an ally of the Decepticons nor the Autobots. However, he still works for someone. Let us now find out who is Lockdown’s boss.
Hired by the Creators – the mysterious alien race
In Transformers: Age of Extinction, Lockdown is hired as a bounty hunter by the Creators. We never actually get to see the Creators in the film, but Lockdown has affirmatively stated that the Transformers were created by them. The Creators are a group of mysterious aliens who have the technology and the necessary powers to cyber form not just one but many planets. In fact, they are also the ones responsible for the extinction of dinosaurs.
In order to create the Transformers, when they cyber formed a huge section of Earth about 65 million years ago, they ended up annihilating the dinosaurs and causing the KT extinction event in the process. Even though we do not know which place they came from, we are aware of the fact that they roam around in giant technologically advanced ships that they use for cyber forming. The devices through which they cyber form planets and also create the metallic alloy transformium are known as Seeds.
It has always been common knowledge that the Allspark was responsible for the creation of the planet of Cybertron and the Transformers. But because we do not know where the Allspark came from, there is a good chance that it was also developed by the Creators and utilized in order to give birth to the Transformers. Now, since they are thought to be the ones that created the inhabitants of Cybertron, it is reasonable to assume that their technology is significantly superior to Cybertronian technology.
If you are a long-time Transformers fan, you might remember the Quintessons from the original Transformers. For those of you who do not know, the Quintessons are an ancient extraterrestrial species of techno-organic squids. Many fans have theorized that the Creators could actually be the Quintessons. It seems possible because of the pinkish hand of one Creator that we see in Transformers: Age of Extinction which appears to have been made out of flesh.
Due to the mass destruction, the Creators have caused, they are also considered the ruthless antagonists in the film. In fact, they have hired Lockdown with precise instructions to kill anyone, including the Autobots, if they dare to come in his way of achieving his mission of capturing Optimus Prime. Their alternate motive in giving Lockdown this task is to wipe out the Autobots so that they can recreate Cybertron. They believe that the interaction between different species will break the cosmic equilibrium. Perhaps that is why they want to capture Optimus Prime so desperately.
Lockdown on the hunt in the movie Transformers: Age of Extinction
There is a special black-ops CIA unit known as Cemetery Wind. It was founded and created by the CIA operative Harold Attinger. Now, even though the Autobots received sanctuary on Earth, Harold does not trust any Transformer and believes them to be a significant threat. So, he makes it the mission of Cemetery Wind to destroy all Autobots and Decepticons currently inhabiting Earth. Now, since Lockdown has been employed by the Creators to capture Optimus Prime, he decides to team up with the Cemetery Wind since they technically have a similar goal.
Lockdown makes a deal with Harold Attinger that if he and his division help him locate Optimus Prime, he will give them what they want, that is, the Seed. In the meantime, Lockdown goes on his own hunt to locate the Autobots, who may have information regarding the whereabouts of Optimus Prime. Attinger’s second in command, James Savoy, helps Lockdown find Ratchet. But he refuses to tell Lockdown anything about Optimus Prime.
As a result, Lockdown easily kills Ratchet and hands over his body to the Cemetery Wind. While the hunt for Optimus Prime is going on, he is currently with Cade Yeager, his daughter Tessa, and his business partner Lucas Flannery at the Yeager Farm in Texas. Despite the fact that Cade and Tessa are on Optimus’ side, Lucas ends up informing the authorities about Optimus Prime’s arrival.
Now the Cemetery Wind knows exactly where Optimus is, and so does Lockdown. Soon after, James Savoy, his team, and Lockdown arrive at Yeager Farm. They threaten the family, so Optimus Prime comes out of hiding to fight them and save the humans. He also calls the other Autobots, Bumblebee, Hound, Crosshairs, and Drift. During this fight, Lucas Flannery ends up dead, and Tessa’s boyfriend Shane Dyson gets her and her father out of there. Optimus Prime also manages to escape Lockdown by temporarily disabling him.
Now, Cade Yeager does some digging and finds out that the Cemetery Wind is not the only threat to the Autobots. Apparently, Attinger had actually made a three-way deal. Apart from his agreement with Lockdown, he also made another deal with Joshua Joyce, the CEO of a high-tech corporation, KSI, known as Kinetic Solutions Incorporated. This deal included the actual use of the Seed that Attinger plans on getting from Lockdown.
Joshua is supposed to create man-made Transformers using the Seed to build an army for the United States military. In exchange for the Seed, he will give Attinger several million shares in KSI, and he can happily retire early. After Lockdown killed Ratchet, Attinger gave his body to the KSI in order to melt it down to get the transformium from it and create Transformer drones. This is also an elaborate ruse to bring Optimus Prime out of hiding when he gets word that the Autobots are getting killed and their bodies are being used as nothing but metal pieces.
After learning the truth about Ratchet from Cade, the Autobots wreak havoc in the KSI building. So, Joshua sends his weaponized Transformer known as Galvatron after the Autobots when they retreat. Optimus Prime joins the fight and goes up against Galvatron. He is heavily wounded when Lockdown arrives to try and capture him once again. He is in no shape to fight Lockdown and ends up getting captured by him. Along with Optimus Prime, Lockdown also kidnaps Cade’s daughter Tessa and takes them to the Knights’ Temenos.
Before leaving Earth, Lockdown takes the Knights’ Temenos to Chicago. He hands over the Seed as promised to the Cemetery Wind. Meanwhile, Cade, Shane, and the Autobots manage to sneak inside the spaceship to rescue Optimus and Tessa. They discover a smaller detachable ship with some other Transformers known as the Dinobots. So, before the Knights’ Temenos leaves Earth’s atmosphere, Optimus Prime and the others are able to escape.
When the Knights’ Temenos is in space, Lockdown realizes that his prized prisoners, Prime, and the Dinobots, have escaped. Naturally, he is enraged and decides to go back to Earth. Lockdown arrives in Hong Kong during a battle between all the Autobots and KSI drones. He uses a magnetic weapon on his spaceship to cause destruction in the city and capture Prime and the Dinobots. However, Prime is able to destroy the magnet, which forces Lockdown to come out of his ship and engage in a hands-on battle with Optimus.
Cade is also on the battlefield and tries to help out Optimus. But then Harold Attinger catches Cade off guard and now has a gun to his head. He threatens to kill Cade because he chose the Autobots over his own kind. Optimus sees this and runs over to save Cade by killing Attinger. Lockdown takes the opportunity of this distraction and attacks Optimus from behind. Now Lockdown has the upper hand in the fight as he manages to put his sword through Optimus’ chest.
Luckily, Shane and Tessa arrive on the scene with Bumblebee as a backup. While Cade is firing at Lockdown with his weapon, Bumblebee transforms and attacks Lockdown as well. This gives the humans some time to get that sword out of Optimus. Lockdown starts to be a little overconfident and believes that this fight is his and he will kill everyone. Lockdown is fighting Cade and is just about to land a death blow on him when Shane and Tess manage to free Optimus, and he takes that sword, pierces Lockdown’s chest, and slashes his face in half.
With that last blow, Lockdown dies, and the Autobots are free from his threat. Now what remains is just the destruction that Lockdown caused in his attempt to capture Optimus Prime. He was dedicated to the very end and loyal only to this job. He never believed in following any kind of rule book and always sought bloodshed over peace. Lockdown was colder than the Antarctic Ocean and as cruel and brutal as a villain could possibly be.
What made him so powerful?
In the film, Lockdown says, “Autobots, Decepticons, like little children. Always fighting, making a mess out of the universe. Then I have got to clean it up.”
It is evident when he makes this statement that he knows he is stronger than the Autobots and the Decepticons. After spending years as a merciless bounty hunter, Lockdown’s powers have only grown over time. One of his greatest weapons is actually his face. Lockdown has the ability to transform his face into a Cybertronian sniper rifle or long and short-barreled guns. This allows him to hang back and target his enemies from a distance. He usually tends to adopt this tactic to wound his enemies before entering into hand-to-hand combat with them.
He has been built exactly like a killing machine since another cool feature he has is that his head can entirely transform into a head-mounted cannon. He can also change his hands into different swiss army weapons of his choice, among which the retractable hook is his signature weapon. His arms can transform into a spark extractor gun. He used it to kill the Autobot known as Ratchet. And to top it all off, Lockdown also has shoulder-mounted Rocket Launchers.
Lockdown’s face has a scar on it whose origins are unknown, and unlike other Transformers, he has green eyes that differentiate him from the Autobots and Decepticons. Apart from him, Devastator and Stinger are the only other Decepticons with green eyes. In his robot mode, Lockdown’s face appears quite similar to the symbol of the Quintessons.
This also suggests that the Creators could possibly be the Quintessons. Well, apart from that, he also has a green retractable faceplate mask that he uses to track his enemies by picking up heat signatures. A few of his other weapons include handheld laser cannons and metal transfiguration grenades.
Lockdown is by far the most cold-hearted villain in the Transformers universe. He has no feelings for his own kind and continually chooses to destroy them. When it comes to completing his mission, he has the dedication and willpower to go beyond his limits and do whatever it takes to fulfill them. He is certainly not a villain that one can take lightly. After all, he did beat up Optimus Prime down to the ground. The only advantage the Autobots had against him was probably their teamwork. Nonetheless, Lockdown was a worthy opponent for the heroes.
Well, guys, that is all for today; we hope you enjoyed watching this video as much as we enjoyed making it for you. Have a fantastic day ahead!