The Transformers franchise has undergone a few… transformations over the years, most notably the start of the Michael Bay era in 2007.
While the first movie was met with a huge amount of optimism by the fan base (a friend of mine literally had a tear in his eye when Optimus Prime ordered the Autobots to roll out), it didn’t take long for the newfound hope in a rejuvenated toy line to die off.
Marky Mark Throwaway Joke in Transformers: Rise of the Beasts Could Prevent Mark Wahlberg from Returning to the Franchise
Well, die off isn’t the right term. Turning sideways would be better.
After killing of the highly popular Jazz at the end when Megatron tore him in half, things went downhill pretty quickly.
Some of it had to do with Bay’s intent on having a different look than the original cartoon (often referred to as close ups of steel wool) and that’s fine. We’ve grown used to different interpretations and even character changes with the numerous series that have come out.
But the lack of storytelling in exchange for the flash and bling of shiny new toys quickly got the better of us and we largely tuned out.
Soft reboots
“Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” is a standalone sequel to Bumblebee (2018) and a prequel to Bay’s Transformers from 2007. It’s set in the 90s and is part of the franchise’s latest soft reboot of the series.
It’s also the second straight movie to not be directed by Bay, and it has been accepted as a fun movie like Bumblebee.
And here’s where it gets interesting.
Mark Wahlberg came onboard the Transformers franchise as Cade Yeager in Bay’s final two movies, and despite arguable being the best part of those movies is unlikely to return anyway due to scheduling and new characters, but a chance return could be out thanks to a throwaway joke in “Rise of the Beasts.”
Since “Rise of the Beasts” is set in 1994, a whole lot of pop culture references were thrown in to make sure we never forgot that.
One of them was a reference to Wahlberg’s singing career by saying Marky Mark is leaving the Funky Bunch to be an actor.
Wahlberg has a long history of not wanting to ever hear about Marky Mark again and that could be the end to his run in the Transformers franchise.
Breaking the fourth wall and his career is easy enough to explain by saying he just looks like himself in a future appearance, but it’ll mainly depend on if he’d moved on from his Funky Bunch days.
There have been reports that he was, so maybe this throwaway joke won’t keep us from seeing him as Cade or another character in a later movie.
Who would you like to see in a Transformers movie? Let us know in the comments below.
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