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):

Shockwave in Transformers Dark of the Moon

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).

Shockwave Transformers

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