Transformers: The 5 Most Powerful Decepticons, Ranked

Cybertronian children can be anything they want when they grow up, as long as that's an Autobot or Decepticon. And if they end up picking the latter, they're going to turn out evil. Sorry, Transformer moms and dads, we don't make the rules. On the bright side, that purple badge also conveys a certain level of raw destructive power, if that's your thing.

Over the decades since the "Transformers" franchise first began, an army of Decepticons has come and gone. Such is the way of things when you constantly need new toys for the next holiday season. Through every "Transformers" movie, comic, cartoon, and video game, some of these characters have risen above the rest, proving themselves to be among the most fearsome Cybertronians ever conceived.

Because of how many different "Transformers" stories there are, though, it can be hard to definitively rank one character's power level over another's. There are so many versions of every Decepticon that most of them have had moments in the spotlight at one time or another. In an effort to rank the most powerful Transformers who've fought for the Decepticons, we're taking the whole history of the franchise into account — biggest wins, most impressive abilities, and overall legacy. 

Some honorable mentions go to the likes of Starscream, Soundwave, and Predaking, all of whom could have an argument to be included here. After some tense deliberation, though, these are the five (well, six, oops) Decepticons who stand tall over their brethren.

Yes, we're starting the list off with a tie. That may seem like bad form, but in this case, it's a necessity. Both Sixshot and Overlord are terrifying Transformers, though their powers show through in different ways. Cutting either from this list seemed like a crime, so both share the bottom spot.

That's somewhat appropriate given that Overlord and Sixshot have been grouped together in the past. In the "Transformers" IDW comics, both Decepticons are chosen by Megatron to serve as "Phase Sixers" — warriors sent to planets in decline to single-handedly push them over the brink of destruction. Think of these Decepticons as lone horsemen of the apocalypse, bearing such incredible power that they could topple societies on their own. Only three Phase Sixers were appointed, with the third being Black Shadow.

Overlord, also known as Gigatron, is a massive and exceedingly strong Decepticon born of two beings (and therefore capable of transforming into two different vehicle forms at once, a tank and a jet). Sixshot is basically a one-man army who lives to murder and destroy. He also has a unique transforming ability, in that he's a "Six Changer" — a Cybertronian capable of cycling through six different forms.

The IDW comics are really where these characters show their true strength. In that corner of the "Transformers" timeline, Sixshot kills human civilians to draw out Autobots and goes up against whole squads of enemy Cybertronians by himself. Overlord has a similarly impressive record, with big wins over powerful Transformers like the hulking Fortress Maximus.

Shockwave is one of those Decepticons that casual fans may disregard. He's been around so long and fought in so many battles that you might not think of him as a final-boss kind of powerhouse, but his long resume holds a string of victories and dark deeds that easily earn him a spot on this list.

Cold and calculated, even for a robot, Shockwave approaches every situation with a fixation on impersonal logic. This driving motivator has often pushed him to commit unspeakable acts, like trying to turn the galaxy itself into a battery for Cybertron, or indirectly sparking the rise of Unicron. He kills Bumblebee in the IDW comics, has gone toe-to-toe with Megatron, and leads the Decepticons on various occasions. Plus, he has one of the absolutely slickest Cybertronian designs, which has to count for something.

Shockwave is one of those characters who varies wildly from one version of the "Transformers" story to the next. In his strongest incarnations, though, he's a force to be reckoned with by anyone, as much for his advanced intellect (which is practically unmatched in the franchise) as for his physical power. He has a substantial kill count and has played prominently in almost every "Transformers" continuity, and to top it all off, he bends the knee to no one, always prioritizing his own beliefs about what must be done. In short, Shockwave is who Starscream thinks he is.

It wouldn't be any fun to pack this list with the supersized Transformers that are always popping up, but we had to include at least one, and that honor goes to Trypticon. The enormous robot, who resembles a sort of Cybertronian kaiju, was first introduced in the G1 continuity as the Decepticons' answer to the Autobot city-bot Metroplex.

Since that introduction, Trypticon has appeared in hulking form through various comics, shows, and video game continuities, always standing tall as one of the most dangerous weapons in the Decepticon arsenal. In the IDW "Transformers" comic run that began in 2005, he's portrayed as an ancient being awakened by the Decepticons, much like how Godzilla is awakened in various Toho movies. He rampages across Cybertron as a true force of nature, unstoppable and impervious to any external attack.

In the 2010 video game "Transformers: War for Cybertron," it takes a literal army of Autobots to take Trypticon down, and even then, he deals an immense amount of damage across the planet before being defeated. No matter the form or origin story, he's always a force to be reckoned with. He's even gone head-on against Unicron, though, like most who face the Chaos Bringer, he doesn't survive.

Ramjet's origin story is pretty mundane in the grand scheme of the "Transformers" franchise. He was introduced back in the G1 days as one of the Decepticons' many jet soldiers. Why would a relatively ordinary villain make it so high on this list? Because we're specifically talking about the version of Ramjet from the 2003 "Universe" toy line and the Transformers comics from Fun Publications.

In that continuity, Ramjet received a much more interesting backstory as the primary herald of Unicron. Think a super-evil, robotic Silver Surfer for an even more nefarious robotic Galactus. In this form, Ramjet is nearly unstoppable. He channels raw cosmic power and is basically immortal, with even the raw power of Primus himself not being enough to destroy him. He's proven himself to be more than a one-on-one match for powerful Autobots like Vector Prime, and the raw chaos that fuels him is more deadly than most Decepticons can ever dream of being.

Of course, with great evil power comes great trauma and suffering, most of the time. Ramjet exists in a transdimensional state and has at times been trapped in dark voids for prolonged periods of time, accenting his brute strength with a madness rarely matched in the "Transformers" mythos.

After decades of stories, numerous toy lines, narrative reboots, cosmic supervillains, and a boatload of betrayals, Megatron still stands tall as the most powerful Decepticon. Time and again, his rule has been challenged, and time and again, he rises above the would-be usurpers. He's killed Optimus Prime, is the only character to consistently defeat Overlord, and has wins over pretty much anyone else you'd care to name, including long-standing Decepticon warriors like Shockwave and Starscream.

Things only get more absurd when you start talking about Galvatron, the psychotic alter-ego of Megatron who generally appears as a resurrected form of the Decepticon leader. Galvatron is even more ruthless, and he's generally depicted as being substantially stronger than his original form. In some versions of the story, Galvatron is the direct result of Megatron being imbued with the raw power of Unicron himself, who chooses the Deception general to do his bidding. The results through the "Transformers" franchise speak for themselves (sorry, Starscream).