Blitzwing is the third Decepticon in Bumblebee and not Starscream as previously believed. Paramount is shifting the focus and tone of Transformers movies after Michael Bay’s fifth film fizzled at the box office. They’re going back to the ’80s to tell the origin of Bumblebee, and have paired the mute Autobot up with Hailee Steinfeld. The film’s first trailer tugged at the heart strings of viewers and quickly made Bumblebee look like one of the surprise film’s of the year.
In that trailer, Transformers fans saw who they believed to be the famous flying Decepticon Starscream. It has since been announced that two fellow Decepticons will be the primary villains, but the identity of the flying Decepticon wasn’t confirmed.
During the Bumblebee panel at San Diego Comic-Con, director Travis Knight confirmed that the Decepticon in question is not Starscream, but instead Blitzwing. Although this Decepticon is traditionally seen with purple and gray colors, the trailer shows a changed look.
The decision to go with Blitzwing instead of Starscream could come down to an over-reliance on the latter so far. Starscream appeared in each of the first three Bay movies in prominent roles. There were even references to him in the latter two films. With so many different Transformers to pull from, the creators may simply have wanted to bring in fresh characters this time around instead of recycling ones audiences have already seen multiple times.
Blitzwing isn’t just a flier in Transformers lore, though. There are other instances where Blitzwing also has a tank form. The trailer only showcased his flying form so far, but they could have more surprises in store. The film’s two other Decepticons - Shatter (Angela Bassett) and Dropkick (Justin Theroux) - were confirmed to be triple changers during the panel too. If both of them have multiple transportation forms, then it is very possible that Blitzwing will also get the chance to adopt his other form.
The rest of Bumblebee’s SDCC panel wasn’t without updates on the film, however. Knight also confirmed that the home planet of Cybertron will be included in some fashion. They showed new footage of the movie too that isn’t expected to be released online. (Read Screen Rant’s Bumblebee footage description HERE.) With the various pieces of news and footage that were revealed at the panel, Bumblebee continues to make a strong impression - even if it won’t feature Starscream as some hoped.
More: Every Update You Need to Know For Bumblebee
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- Bumblebee Release Date: 2018-12-21
