On the heels of yesterday’s news regarding when we can expect the next Transformers: Dark of the Moon trailer, Paramount has a released a new marketing banner for the highly-anticipated giant robot sequel.
Prior Dark of the Moon character banners have certainly been cool but the latest should be especially exciting for fans – giving us our first look at longtime canon villain (but new to the films) Shockwave.
Anyone familiar with earlier Transformers properties such at the Marvel comic series or 80s cartoon series will remember Shockwave – one of Megatron’s most loyal and ruthless followers. Unlike Starscream, who serves Megatron only to further his own quest for power, Shockwave is extremely dedicated to not just the Decepticon cause – but entrusting Megatron as the group’s supreme leader.
Not to be confused with similarly loyal Decepticon Soundwave (who was relegated to little more than a spy-satellite in Revenge of the Fallen), Shockwave is also an iconic staple in the toy-line and multimedia installments – due, largely, to an iconic visage that features a single glowing eye.
Check out the Transformers: Dark of the Moon first-look image of Shockwave below, courtesy of Yahoo! Movies (click to enlarge):
Unlike some fan-favorite characters in the series, which have undergone drastic changes to their appearance, Shockwave looks very much like prior interpretations of the character. The banner gives us an up-close and personal look at the aforementioned cyclops eye – as well as Shockwave’s equally iconic laser gun on his arm.
In many versions of the Transformers mythos, Shockwave was one of the sole-remaining Decepticons on Cybertron – tasked with maintaining the space-bridge that would allow Megatron to transport energon cubes (or other energy sources) across the galaxy to repower the dying planet (and conversely allow Decepticon forces to invade Earth). Given the large-scale invasion featured in the Super Bowl XLV commercial, it’s safe to say that Shockwave’s introduction into the film series very likely has to do with a similar story-beat (whether or not a space-bridge is actually involved is, at this point, unknown).
As far as what we can expect from Shockwave’s alternate mode, he’s typically appeared as a warship or tank-like vehicle (or laser gun) – reports (based on early reveals of the Voyager class toy) suggest the film version of the character will follow a similar pedigree (i.e. Cybertronian tank).
Follow me on Twitter @benkendrick and let us know what you think of the movie Shockwave design.
Transformers: Dark of the Moon hits theaters on July 1st.
Source: Yahoo! Movies
Ryan Reynolds Drops Out of 'Highlander' Reboot 
No Loki in 'Avengers 2' 
'Man of Steel' Director & Writer on What Has to Happen in 'Man of Steel 2' 
'Man of Steel' Ending Controversy 
Bad-ass! I love how they somewhat kept his original design.
Bad Ass hope he is actualy nie invunerable dont want another easy take down like Fallen in the last film.
The pics of his toy mold show him as a tank with an octopus like arm/cannon thing. But the robot version looks great. The best robot version yet!
I have to say – I think MB got this right based on the preliminary reports and picture – MAN did I just say that?? I am looking forward to this movie for sure. I can not believe that Shockwave – as cool as it would be to see – would transform into a big laser gun, ( or a Walther PPK ie Megatron) but maybe a ground cannon – That would be cool!
Shockwave looks killer can’t wait till July 1
Shockwave’s design is flawless. Perfect translation of the character from animation to live action film.
hehe, I still have the toy (ugh, er, for sentimental reasons, of course). Hehe.
Hmm, someone said shockwave transforming into a ground canon? Now that would be cool. A ground canon? Yes, a ground canon. I like it.
Very cool, nice they kept an iconic look to him.
I must admit that this one surprised me. Looks promising. I’m not gonna get all excited about the film yet, though. I will probably see it, but it’s not like I’m going in without a lot of doubts.
I wouldn’t call it FLAWLESS design but close enough. Shockwave was one of my favorite Transformers as well. But it’s not largely due to his look as the article implied, though – it’s because he was so bad-ass in the early Marvel comics. Namely, he was the one other Decepticon that could kick the snot out of Megatron. And the only other Decepticon I believe that was truly frightening in an one-on-one battle with any Autobot – and he also could easily out-maneuver him – if he needed to – depends on his agenda. Most of the time he’s quite content to have Megatron running the show and to stay in the background. He was the Spock of the Decepticons. Logic is his only god.
Too bad it took them this long to actually try to get somewhere closer to the original designs. Hell, and stick to the Transformers that were already created – there were no need for these original-for-the-movies knuckleheads that came out of nowhere.
*out-maneuver Megatron, I should have said.
Oh, and he also decapitated Optimus Prime and hung his head up as a trophy. Not many Decepticons can say they did that, even Megatron.
definitely an awesome design. I didn’t know that Shockwave decapitated Optimus, how did he get his head back?
Awesome!!! I figured they would mess with Shockwave like they did with most of the robots. But id say he looks great. Imo he comes in 2nd at lookin great into live-action behind Optimus Prime. If only Cory Burton would voice him again for this film, than that would be another plus.
Looks like they got Frank Welker, the original voice of both Megatron and Shockwave.
@ Joe K
If i remember right & if you’re refering to the 80′s cartoon, it was Corey Burton who voiced Shockwave.
I was referring to the 80′s cartoon. Saw on IMDB that Frank did the voice of Shockwave and Megatron in the 86 movie. But I didn’t see the actual cartoon listing.
Learn something new everyday. Thanks for the clear up. Either way, it’s still pretty cool to have someone associated with the original voicing the characters, aside from Peter Cullen.
Damn! Shockwave looks incredible! They didn’t disappoint us with this one, haha. Poor Sentinel.
this looks sick
NICE!!!
Now the big question is……
What’s he doing on Earth and not Cybertron???
Who’s running Cybertron?
Why is Shockwave not in a flight mode or car mode? He needs one because he can only go in robot mode. Fix this problem.
Why can’t Shockwave have a vehical mode? Fix this and put a car mode.