Transformers: Rise Of The Beast's Biggest Reveal Has Been Years In The Making
This post contains spoilers for "Transformers: Rise of the Beasts."
Cinematic universes are all the rage, from Marvel to DC to the failed Dark Universe (RIP, gone too soon). The idea of having known characters meet is very enticing to both fans and producers who think their wallets could always be a little fatter. But for over a decade, there has been one cinematic universe that '80s kids have been clamoring for, even though the studio hadn't quite cracked how to make it happen: "Transformers" meeting "G.I. Joe."
Granted, these characters could not be more different — the Transformers are giant robots while the Joes are human soldiers — but they have actually met several times before in comic book form since the '80s. In movie form, both franchises are owned by Hasbro, with their respective movie franchises owned by Paramount Pictures, making it easier to cross over and build a shared universe.
Which is what finally happened at the end of "Transformers: Rise of the Beasts." The film is a combination prequel and reboot, simultaneously following the story of "Bumblebee" and setting up Michael Bay's movies while opening up a new timeline of sorts, as the Autobots team up with the Maximals to prevent Unicron from literally eating Earth (despite "Transformers: The Last Knight" already revealing that Earth was Unicron all along).
In the final scene of the film, Anthony Ramos' Noah attends a job interview, but instead has Michael Kelly's Agent Burke invite him to join a secret organization that is fully aware of the existence of the Transformers, an organization that fights evil around the globe: the G.I. Joes. This will come as a shock to many fans, especially given how many years the crossover has been in the making.
A history of maybes
The earliest mention of a possible crossover between "Transformers" and "G.I. Joe" seems to be from 2013, after "G.I. Joe: Retaliation" and "Transformers: Dark of the Moon," as both franchises were about to do soft reboots and change their casts. Talking to CinemaBlend, producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura acknowledged the possibility of the crossover, but seemed less than thrilled about actually doing it. "I think I probably at this moment, I resist it," the producer said, even calling crossovers a cynical exercise. "I don't know necessarily why, but I just think there's so much that's so rich in the mythologies that I don't think they need to draw from the other."
That outlook made sense at the time. Paramount had just had three highly successful "Transformers" movies, and even if "G.I. Joe" wasn't a huge hit, it didn't technically lose money, so why lose on the potential of growing both film series out with a crossover? As di Bonaventura himself told Total Film in 2014 (via IGN), "There's a lot more story to be told in both cases."
By 2017, however, things were a bit different for both universes. "Transformers: The Last Knight" was a big box office disappointment, while a third "G.I. Joe" movie was canceled. Not only that, but director D.J. Caruso, who was supposed to direct that third film, said it would have teased a crossover until the studio intervened. "The script that I was developing, the two worlds sort of collided at the end and when they read it they were like, 'We're not ready to do this yet,'" he said.
Studio insecutiry and the film that finally did it
Indeed, in interviews, di Bonaventura made it clear that it was Paramount that had long been unsure about the crossover. "Every regime that's been at Paramount is against it because it's taking two franchises and making them one," he said in 2021, "but I think it's inevitable."
That was just two years ago, and it seems di Bonaventura was either trolling us all, or the crossover really came together serendipitously in the past two years. In that same interview, di Bonaventura pointed out that Steven Caple Jr., who just directed "Rise of the Beasts" and finally brought the "G.I. Joe" and "Transformers" universes together, actually made it a point to try and talk to the studio about the crossover. "He was like, 'Why aren't you doing that?'" di Bonaventura said. "Everyone was like, 'Well, try to make a 'Transformers' movie really good. Then we'll talk about that.'"
Whether "Transformers: Rise of the Beasts" is really good or not is up for interpretation, but if nothing else, it is impressive that Caple Jr. was the one to finally realize this crossover years in the making. As for whether he'll actually direct the next installment, that's still up in the air. But it seems as if Anthony Ramos will be back to fight global threats alongside the remaining Autobots and Maximals. And who knows — maybe John Cena from "Bumblebee" was secretly playing Duke from the "G.I. Joe" franchise, and he returns for the next one to mix things up.