A few days ago Paramount revealed that the subtitle for Transformers 2 was ‘Revenge of the Fallen’. I groaned about it, assuming it was a terrible, generic title. Some TransFans began speculating that the Fallen of the title was actually a character from Transformers comics, an ancient Transformer who seems to play the Devil in their mythology. (A dude called Primus is like God. I think. Maybe the better correlation is that the Fallen is like Darkseid).
The Transformers wiki provides backstory:
At the dawn of time, Primus
created new life, the 13 original Transformers, to crew his planetary
form into battle against his eternal nemesis Unicron. One of these 13,
his original name now lost to the mists of time, turned against his
siblings, his creator, and his universe, and betrayed them all.
…this guardian of entropy
became obsessed with the darker side of chaos and death, and in the
black place these urges led him, the betrayer found a new god, more
suited to his nature. He turned against Primus and became the Fallen.
Now he is a being of power, darkness, and absolute dedication to
Unicron.
Here’s what Wikipedia says about him:
Around 6.5 million years ago, a test of the experimental “space bridge” matter-transport system on Cybertron liberated the Fallen from his prison, and he materialised on Cybertron, where he quickly recruited the Chaos Trinity, three mystically-inclined Decepticons – Bludgeon, Mindwipe and Bugly – into his employ. Abducting Transformers that he identified as possessing “genetic potential” within their sparks – Grimlock, Blitzwing, Jetfire and Hot Spot – the Fallen planned to use their energies to awaken Primus from his self-imposed slumber, thereby alerting Unicron to his location, allowing the world-eater to renew hostilities with his old enemy. An attack from combined Autobot and Decepticon forces led by Shockwave and Prowl disrupted his plans, and Primus himself reached out and promptly destroyed the Fallen.
I immediately brushed off speculation about this character, knowing that the first film had no interest in established mythology. I assumed Bay would just keep building on his own, new Transformers story, and the pre-strike plot details I heard backed me up.
Egg, meet face.
Yesterday I heard from a trustworthy source with access to the production that all of my assumptions were wrong. The Fallen of the title, I was told, is in fact the Fallen of the comics.
I have to admit I’m surprised by this, but it does make the title an awful lot less terrible. Now it actually has a meaning. And now the hardcore TransFans, the ones who felt the original didn’t represent the stories they loved (they’re nuts, since the original was really good and way better than any of the cartoons), can start getting excited. And then start getting angry, since that seems to be what fanbases do.
It’s going to be interesting seeing what Bay does with a story that’s more cosmic in nature. This whole movie just got a little odder and a little more intriguing.