Ultra Magnus is the hammer-wielding commander of the Wreckers, and one of Optimus Prime's closest lieutenants. He's more than capable of whipping even the worst disarray into military discipline, though he can get rather hung-up on protocol. Regardless, he's rightly feared among the Decepticon ranks.[1]
Biography[]
The Covenant Of Primus[]
Ultra Magnus emerged from the Well of All Sparks sometime during or before the Age of Origins. He became a member of the Wreckers, a ferocious band of warriors who named themselves champions of the oppressed, protecting peaceful settlements from bandits like the Breakers, the Razers, and the Vandals.
When the Age of Wrath began, the Quintessons arrived on Cybertron and introduced civilization (and class warfare) to the population. Ultra Magnus left the Wreckers behind to help form an organized police force out of Iacon under the auspices of the elected Sentinel Zeta Prime. Most of the Wreckers had no respect for authority, and refused to join the Prime's official enforcers. They continued to operate as illegal vigilantes for the common good on the fringes of civilized society. Ultra Magnus, however, accepted Sentinel's offer and became one of his intelligence agents. In fact, all was not copacetic between Sentinel's council of thirteen and their Quintesson masters. Magnus found himself secretly gathering intelligence data on the Quintessons themselves so that the Cybertronian might one day move against their overlords. He also assisted Orion Pax in recruiting Jazz to steal a Quintesson vehicle for study and reverse-engineering by the secret order.
Revolution eventually began, as Sentinel's secret order revealed many of the lies the Quintessons told the Cybertronians upon their arrival. The Wreckers achieved legitimacy during the war, as Ultra Magnus recruited his old comrades for the uprising. On one particular mission, Ultra Magnus served as personal guard to the archivist Orion Pax, charged with bringing top secret information to certain key figures in the war effort, info which couldn't be trusted to transmissions. During this expedition, Magnus helped forge the meek librarian into a true warrior as Quintesson shock troops repeatedly barred their way, and Pax and Magnus formed a bond on the battlefield.
During the Golden Age, the Wreckers remained official law enforcement officers, presumably under the overall command of Ultra Magnus.
As war broke out again on Cybertron, this time between Autobots and Decepticons, Ultra Magnus and the Wreckers stood by Orion Pax (now Optimus Prime) and the Autobots. When the Ark launched with Prime and many of his soldiers to seek the lost AllSpark, Magnus and the Wreckers remained behind to conduct guerrilla warfare tactics against the remaining Decepticon infrastructure.
Aligned Novels[]
Ultra Magnus was a sergeant of the Council Guardians who held back the Decepticons during the siege of the Hydrax Plateau spaceport despite overwhelming odds. Though the spaceport fell, Magnus and his main soldiers proved to be indispensable soldiers and were dubbed the "Wreckers". The Wreckers were crucial to holding Tagan Heights, battling Devastator and buying time for the scientists there to build the Protectobot combiner Defensor.
When Megatron corrupted the core of Cybertron with Dark Energon, Ultra Magnus and his Wreckers had destroyed an armored convoy on the Iacon-Hydrax road. They guarded the entrance at the Well of All Sparks with Cliffjumper while Optimus Prime, Bumblebee and Jetfire descended to purge the core. When the Ark was completed, Ultra Magnus offered to stay behind and fight off Trypticon when the gargantuan Decepticon emerged. Trypticon transformed into the Nemesis and pursued the Ark into space, but with his Wreckers and Omega Supreme along with other remaining Autobots, Magnus was ready to battle Shockwave's new regime.
Ultra Magnus, Springer, and Wheeljack were present when Alpha Trion attempted to send the Autobot Chaindrive across the galaxy via a space bridge.
Shockwave finally made his move against Alpha Trion, arresting the sage from the Hall of Records. With Alpha Trion's neutrality no longer permitted, Ultra Magnus planned a rescue op. He assembled a team of Wreckers including Springer, Wheeljack, Jetfire, and Rack n' Ruin to infiltrate Iacon, access the Tower of Shockwave, and retrieve Alpha Trion. They were provided support by the recently reactivated Omega Supreme, who would act as a suitable...distraction for their op.
Inside Iacon's walls, Ultra Magnus brought the Wreckers to Maccadam's Old Oil House, who was secretly working with the Autobot resistance. Maccadam still shared the occasional oil with his Decepticon overlords, gathering intelligence. One of his patrons was an engineer who provided information on the Tower's mag-lev elevator, allowing the Wreckers to access it underground. The Wreckers were nearly accosted by Ratbat and the Decepticon city garrison, but Magnus radioed Omega Supreme who began long-range bombardment of the city, drawing away the Decepticons.
The Wreckers infiltrated Shockwave's secret lair and recovered Alpha Trion, but the situation was more dire than they anticipated. Shockwave had been trying to access Vector Sigma using Alpha Trion's systems, but the Quintessons had secretly tapped into that same circuitry to reactivate the long dormant Space bridge, beginning a Sharkticon invasion of Cybertron. The Wreckers raced to the Archives, where Alpha Trion intended to detonate the remaining articles of Cybertronian history that the Quintessons could claim. They were interrupted by General Tyrannicon of the Sharkticons, who jammed Alpha Trion's detonator. Fortunately, light-years away, Megatron had claimed the Sharkticon Matrix and therefore ended the Quintesson control over their slaves. Tyrannicon's troopers turned on him and each other, causing the all-but successful invasion to collapse in a matter of minutes.
Transformers: Prime[]
Ultra Magnus was Optimus Prime's second in command in the war for Cybertron and was a member of the Elite Guard. Ultra Magnus was assigned to head the Wreckers unit by Optimus Prime, in the hopes Magnus could instill some discipline into them. His appointment resulted in Wheeljack leaving the team. After the Great Exodus, Ultra Magnus wandered space in a ship searching for other survivors, reuniting with some but often only seeing them killed by Decepticons.
Orion Pax, Part 2[]
When an amnesiac Optimus, under his former name Orion Pax, was working for Megatron, Soundwave concealed any evidence of Optimus's current life, cloaking his image with a picture of Magnus. This did not stop Orion from decoding the image and revealing who Optimus Prime really was.
Scattered[]
Some time later, after the fall of Cybertron, Ultra Magnus detected a huge energy surge heading towards Earth and followed it there to search for Autobot energy traces. He set down in front of the nearest signal to find Arcee and a native life-form.
Prey[]
After establishing proper chain of command, he took them aboard and proceeded to the next energy traces, only to find Wheeljack and Bulkhead fighting a huge metal dragon. He picked the pair up along with another native life-form. The beast gave chase but he eventually managed to knock it off the top of his spaceship by flying through a canyon. Magnus tracked the remaining Autobot traces to a wrecked Decepticon ship and found Ratchet and Bumblebee. Assuming command in Optimus Prime's absence, Ultra Magnus introduced the Autobots to his weapons locker.
Rebellion[]
Magnus led an attack on Darkmount with the goal of destroying Darkmount's fusion cannons so agent Fowler could destroy the fortress with a squad of jets. Using the kids as a means of dividing the Decepticon forces, Magnus flew his ship into battle and used it to lure the Predacon through a Ground Bridge. When the Autobot forces got into trouble, he assaulted the fusion cannon control room himself, only to encounter Megatron though he was out ranked and outclassed and was quickly defeated. Beaten and dragged to the throne room, Ultra Magnus was about to be executed after refusing to tell Megatron where Optimus was, even though he himself didn't know. His salvation came when Optimus Prime arrived in a more... robust form and trounced Megatron. Magnus knocked out Starscream and flew his ship to safety as Optimus destroyed the power core Following the destruction of Darkmount, Magnus joined the Autobots at a human military base, where he passed command back to Optimus.
Project Predacon[]
Magnus went to the Autobots' old base to scavenge what he could along with Wheeljack. Upon their return, Wheeljack tried lobbing his old lobbing ball at Bulkhead, but when the Wrecker failed to catch it, it almost crushed Miko. Ultra Magnus then angrily vilified Wheeljack, causing the Wrecker to storm off. Magnus was later instructed by Optimus Prime to lead Bulkhead and Wheeljack in a response team to a Decepticon sighting in Scotland. He took the Forge of Solus Prime with him, hoping to put it to some practical use.
Chain Of Command[]
He remained unimpressed with Wheeljack's failure to follow orders, and even more so when it turned out the Wrecker had brought Miko along. Their infiltration of the Decepticon mining operation was interrupted by the arrival of the Predacon, which led to the three Wreckers' fighting the beast in a cavern while Miko went to contact base. The battle turned to disaster when one of Wheeljack's grenades brought the place down on them, and the Predacon got away with the fossil it was after. The resulting tension between Wheeljack and Ultra Magnus resulted in the former opting to leave the team.
Plus One[]
By the time Magnus and Bulkhead had flown back to base, Wheeljack had been talked into staying.
Evolution[]
Ultra Magnus continued to find himself having trouble fitting in with Team Prime, even being ditched when Optimus Prime would return to base. Optimus was talking to Magnus about his commanding issues when they detected raw energon being moved. Magnus joined the others in capturing it then exploring the mine with the Wreckers, and Smokescreen. He and Wheeljack explored one side of the mine and stumbled on Shockwave's laboratory full of Predacon clones. After engaging Shockwave they destroyed it, only to encounter Predaking, now able to transform into a robot, on their way out. Despite acquitting themselves well against the Predacon, the pair were soundly defeated, with the Predacon breaking the Forge and crushing Magnus's right hand. Only the intervention of Optimus saved them. They returned to base for repairs, and as Ratchet did what he could for Magnus's hand, Optimus told him that on Earth, Team Prime had become a family.
Minus One[]
With the technology available, Ratchet was only able to supply Magnus with a makeshift claw to replace his hand. To make things worse, Magnus was forced to stay at base, forbidden to go out into battle until he had recovered some dexterity in his new appendage. With some persuasion on Wheeljack's behalf, Magnus was allowed to go on a mission to the Solaris particle collider in Antarctica. He led the other Autobots into the base while Optimus faced Predaking outside, and the team ran into heavy Vehicon resistance.
Persuasion[]
Magnus actually managed to get the better of Shockwave, only for Predaking to arrive and take both Shockwave and the generator. Returning to base, the Autobots found that Ratchet had been abducted by Soundwave, but Magnus was determined that they wouldn't give up.
Synthesis[]
They launched a probe carrying Laserbeak's transponder and monitored it and Optimus's progress from the base. Though the probe was destroyed, Ratchet was able to send them the coordinates to the Decepticon warship, and Ultra Magnus ordered everyone to gear up before leading them through the Ground Bridge to assault the Nemesis.
Deadlock[]
The three Wreckers were ordered to take the bridge, however no sooner did they reach their target than Soundwave bridged them to another part of the ship. Magnus informed the others that his team would be delayed, and in fact when they reached the bridge again, it had already been captured by Jack and Miko. With the warship until their control, the Autobots flew it to Cybertron and used the Omega Lock to restore their home world. After Optimus's obligatory speech, Magnus shared a mutual salute with Fowler before returning home.
Predacons Rising[]
Following the ceremony promoting Bumblebee to warrior, Optimus Prime disembarked with Wheeljack to find the AllSpark and left Ultra Magnus in charge during his absence. Ultra Magnus took part in patrols to try and find the missing Starscream, Shockwave and Predaking. Instead he and Smokescreen ran into Darksteel and Skylynx, and despite Magnus's best attempts he was severely injured in the ensuing battle against Skylynx. Tended to by Ratchet, Magnus missed out on the battle to defeat Unicron, leaving Bumblebee to take command of the team in his absence. He was present and conscious, albeit on a reclining medical table when Optimus Prime gave a final speech and sacrificed himself to restore the AllSpark to Cybertron.
Personality[]
Ultra Magnus is a stern, yet fair leader. He prefers to follow exact protocol as he even expected the Autobots to call him "Sir." In spite being in charge of the Wreckers, he does not approve of their loose cannon lifestyle which brings him with odds with Wheeljack. Since being on Team Prime, Ultra Magnus is less "by the book" and has adapted more to Team Prime's command style. After battling Predaking, Ultra Magnus and Wheeljack now have respect for each other. Wheeljack would often look out for Magnus and Magnus would do the same in return. Team Prime now respects Ultra Magnus and treats him like a family member.
In Predacons Rising, Ultra Magnus referred Smokescreen as "kid" than Soldier, which indicates that he can be warm-hearted. His traits are passed on by Strongarm. In the Robots in Disguise comics, he notes that he considers Bumblebee to be a friend, something that the younger Autobot admitted was pretty significant for the taciturn commander.[2]