Optimus Prime: Awakening’s Post-Credits Scene Explained & What It Means For Transformers' Future

Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Optimus Prime: Awakening!A new Transformers franchise is set up through Optimus Prime: Awakening's ending and post-credits scene. The 12-minute short that features Peter Cullen's final vocal performance as the Autobot leader shows Optimus' journey through the afterlife. Picking up after his death in The Transformers: The Movie, he sees possible futures and events as The One attempts to teach him what his true purpose is.

After battling an evil Bumblebee and watching Earth get attacked, Optimus is whisked away to Cybertron, where Bumblebee is losing a fight against Megatron. Optimus steps in to save his trusty Autobot and has Megatron on the verge of death. Instead of killing his longtime Decepticon foe, the Transformers franchise icon realizes that he's part of a cycle that keeps the war from ending.

Optimus Prime: Awakening's ending shows Optimus taking the Matrix of Leadership and dropping it into Cybertron's core, much to the shock of Bumblebee and Megatron. He walks away from the battle, saying he is going to "light our darkest hour." That is where the credits start to roll, but that's not where Optimus Prime: Awakening's story fully ends.

Optimus Prime: Awakening has a post-credits scene that sets up a new timeline and status quo for the Transformers franchise to explore. The tag is short in length but extremely impactful when it comes to what stories could come next in this fresh universe.

Megatron Gets The Matrix Of Leadership In Optimus Prime: Awakening's Post-Credits Scene

Rather than show more of Optimus and exactly where he goes, Optimus Prime: Awakening's credits turn the focus to Megatron. He emerges from the shadows, still with one arm severed from his battle with Optimus. Megatron has made his way to the bottom of Cybertron and finds the Matrix of Leadership sitting there, with no one around to stop him from acquiring the powerful Transformers artifact.

This shakes up how this universe operates. The Autobots are now without Optimus Prime and the Matrix of Leadership. Meanwhile, the Decepticons now have possession of the device, giving them access to the Matrix's incredible abilities. This includes the increased power that Megatron should have as its owner. Optimus Prime: Awakening's credits scene is a warning of how much more dangerous Megatron and the Decepticons are now.

Megatron is often in pursuit of the Matrix of Leadership in other Transformers continuities. For instance, Unicron transformed him into Galvatron in The Transformers: The Movie so he could get it for the planet-eating villain. Despite his constant efforts, Megatron rarely gets to a place where he can possess the Autobots' prized item. That changes with Awakening's post-credits scene.

With the Matrix of Leadership under his control, Megatron is bound to return in a more powerful form than before. That's bad news for Bumblebee, the Autobots, and all of Cybertron, especially with Optimus out of the picture. The Decepticon leader is poised to rise to the top of the Transformers' hierarchy and conquer the whole planet.

Is A Megatron Short Happening After Optimus Prime: Awakening?

By including a post-credits scene with Optimus Prime: Awakening, Hasbro has teased that the story does not end with this short. The story would have worked just as well without the tease of Megatron's bigger future. Hasbro must have some plans to show audiences what will happen now that Megatron has the Matrix.

These plans are not confirmed, though. Hasbro has yet to formally announce any development on additional Transformers short films. Awakening was made as a special new release to attach to The Transformers: The Movie's 40th anniversary re-release, so perhaps the company has not revealed plans due to uncertainty on when, where, and how this post-credits scene will be paid off.

There is no upcoming Transformers movie with a confirmed release date that Hasbro can look forward to attaching another short to. One option that could be in the works is a 20th anniversary re-release of Michael Bay's 2007 Transformers, which could be a great place to include another animated short like Awakening.

Even if that doesn't come to be, Optimus Prime: Awakening's post-credits scene implies that Hasbro intends to continue this story. Whether that happens with a Megatron-focused short starring Frank Welker again or a fully-fledged animated movie expanding the new timeline, it would be a surprise if we never see what Megatron does with the Matrix in his hands.

Transformers' New Franchise Is Built To Continue Without Peter Cullen & Optimus Prime

Optimus Prime: Awakening launching a new Transformers franchise may seem more complicated after Peter Cullen's death. Optimus is always a central character in Transformers stories, no matter what form they come in. Luckily, the short ends Optimus' story in the perfect place for the Autobot leader to be absent going forward.

The One urges Optimus to realize that he has a greater purpose, one that he's been blinded by through his obsession with protecting the Matrix, Cybertron, and Earth. It's not until the end of Awakening that Optimus realizes that to break the cycle, he has to change his approach. He says, "To save them, I must leave everything behind," right before he drops the Matrix and walks away from the battle.

This is his attempt to start anew, and that opens the door for any continuation of this story to be free of Optimus Prime. The story can shift to focus on Bumblebee and other Autobots, like Hot Rod, stepping up in Optimus' absence. They are the heroes who can lead the Autobots into the next chapter of the war with the Decepticons.

Awakening can be the start of an entirely new continuity then. For all we know, Megatron could leave his Decepticon ties behind and embrace what the Autobots stand for now that he has the Matrix. If an Optimus-free universe does happen, there is room for the very basis of most Transformers stories to be changed and explore completely different sides of these characters.

While a return from Optimus may have been considered for any additional stories after Optimus Prime: Awakening, that is unlikely after Cullen's passing. The short was a way to honor his legacy as the character, so it would not feel right for another actor to start voicing the Autobot leader going forward. Rather than recasting him, the short ends in a great way to keep Optimus sidelined and push other Autobots to the forefront in this new Transformers franchise.