SuperMechagodzilla posted:

A quick recap on Megatron:

Megatron sent himself on a lonely thousand-year mission to retrieve the allspark and save his planet, after the mad Optimus Prime destroyed Cybertron by launching its best/only energy source into space. Prime had effectively starved the entire planet to death in the name of an American-style freedom supported by a few hereditary god-king types.

But anyway, at the cusp of saving his planet, Megatron suffered a terrible accident and was frozen alive for hundreds of years. When finally discovered, he was not helped but slowly vivisected by the humans. His exploited flesh became fodder for the industrial revolution. From then on, his only goal had been to help his people, with Optimus manipulating the humans into demonizing and exterminating them.

Megatron isn't a Jesus figure, but he isn't a Darth Vader/Bane figure either. We all know that Vader has an unwavering ethical commitment to the 'dark side', but then renounces it all and removes his mask out of particular love for his son. Meg 'puts his mask back on' after realizing that he himself had been 'all too human' and lost track of what he was supposed to be doing.

IMAGERY: the final executions take place on a bridge, and of course the whole plot centers around a 'space bridge'. It's about the future of the planet, the transition from one state to another. When Megatron volunteers to help Optimus and is killed, this is extremely symbolic - because what is Optimus about more than 'protecting humanity'? Carly has obviously convinced Meg that the humans are not his true enemy. Megatron has decided to let them to join the Decepticons - not as prisoners and slaves but as equals. The only catch is that Optimus cannot be the leader, for obvious reasons.

Killing Megatron on the bridge is Optimus' statement that nothing will change. It was never about protecting humanity. It was about dominating.