Transformers: Rise of the Beasts: Bumblebee’s Fate Explained

Bumblebee returns to the big screen as part of the Autobots assembled by Optimus Prime in the seventh live-action Transformers movie.

The fan-favorite character has always played a pivotal role in the movie franchise. Before Bumblebee put him directly at the center, he was connected to the human leads in all five Michael Bay movies. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is a continuation of the rebooted timeline, and it once again gives Bumblebee a significant role.

Bumblebee plays a significant role in Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. However, the main question in the fans’ minds is: Does Bumblebee die?

The heartbreaking truth is Yes. Bumblebee dies in Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. Scourge killed him during their first meeting, as Bee tried to save Optimus Prime from getting killed. However, thanks to the Energon-rich terrain of Peru, Bumblebee was revived.

1. How Does Bumblebee Die in Transformers: Rise of the Beasts?

The Transformers franchise delivers a surprise when Bumblebee’s death in Transformers: Rise of the Beasts happens. After Optimus Prime sees the beam in the sky from the Transwarp Key, the Autobots race to get the powerful device without knowing that Scourge and the Terrorcons are also after it.

This leads to a battle between the Autobots and Terrorcons for possession of the Key. Optimus Prime takes it upon himself to fight Scourge, while Arcee, Bumblebee, and Mirage fight Battlestrap and Nightbird. As the Terrorcons continue to overpower them and Scourge gets the upper hand against Optimus, Bumblebee jumps in to help the Autobots’ leader. This is when Scourge kills Bumblebee.

Bumblebee’s death in Transformers: Rise of the Beasts comes after Scourge stabs him through the chest and then electrocutes him. It leaves his robotic body lifeless and Optimus Prime in disbelief that his comrade has fallen. Viewers will likely be as surprised as Prime after Bumblebee dies because it has never happened in the movie franchise before.

Adding to the surprise factor is the fact that this happens early in the movie. Bumblebee is left out of Transformers: Rise of the Beasts’ story for the entirety of the second act as the Autobots meet the Maximals in Peru. He is only featured as Optimus Prime attempts to give him a proper funeral and acknowledges that he has no power on Earth to bring Bumblebee back to life.

2. How is Bumblebee Resurrected?

Of course, we all knew that Bumblebee wouldn’t stay dead long. That’s because he has always been one of the most popular Transformers characters and is the poster boy of the film series, even though he isn’t necessarily the leader of the Autobots. And because Rise of the Beasts is a reboot sequel to the entire Transformers franchise, we know he would return to life.

The thing about the Transformers is that they are robots that don’t stay dead permanently unless their bodies are destroyed. In the past, we’ve seen Optimus and Megatron returning to life, meaning that Bee could return to life as long as his body was intact. And we know that Scourge didn’t rip him apart or destroy his body when he killed Bumblebee.

As such, Optimus carried Bumblebee’s body when they went to Peru. That was when they met the remnants of the Maximals hiding on Earth for centuries. They were far away from society because they were staying with an indigenous tribe of Peruvians. And the forests where the Maximals were staying were incredibly rich in energon, the life source of the Transformers of Cybertron.

However, Primal told Prime they couldn’t revive Bumblebee because the energy they could muster up wasn’t strong enough to use the Energon in the surrounding area to restore the fallen yellow Camaro. In that regard, they all but gave up in their efforts to revive Bumblebee, whose body was laid to rest on a rock in the Energon-rich environment.

The Terrorcons obtained the Transwarp Key, Scourge used it to operate a machine that served as the gateway for Unicron to get to Earth. When Prime suggested destroying the device, Primus told him they shouldn’t because it had more energy than a supernova.

And this was the clue pointing to the possibility that Bee would get revived. Primal mentioned they needed an energy source to produce incredible amounts of energy.

The Autobots and the Maximals were fighting the Terrorcons to stop the machine from calling forth Unicron. On the other hand, the engine gave out a surge of energy that activated the Energon all over the area and Energon flowed within Bumblebee.

When Optimus was about to lose to Scourge again, Bumblebee arrived to save the day and provided the much-needed backup. He provided the spark that allowed the good guys to change the tide of the battle even though they were severely outnumbered by the Terrorcons and the reinforcements that Unicron sent.

3. How has Bumblebee’s death helped the movie?

Even if his fate is reversed in the end, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is better off because of Bumblebee’s death. The movie has an extensive cast of Autobots and Maximals to explore and introduce new human leads.

Bumblebee is too big of a character to be ignored entirely or pushed to the sideline, but Transformers: Rise of the Beasts needed to turn its attention elsewhere. That is why it made sense for the movie to kill him. Without Bumblebee, the franchise could elevate Mirage and Arcee’s roles, fully explore the Maximals, and more.

It is possible that Transformers: Rise of the Beasts could have accomplished a few of these developments without killing Bumblebee. That would have meant relegating him to a much smaller role, though, where he gets less to do, which could have created a negative response from audiences.

Since there was always a plan to bring Bumblebee back to life, his death became the best way to remove him from the story, deliver a surprise, and raise the emotional stakes of the movie. It all made Bumblebee’s death and resurrection in Transformers: Rise of the Beasts worth it.

4. About Transformers: Rise of the Beasts

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is an upcoming American cybertron fantasy film and the seventh movie in the Transformers franchise, which started all the way back in 2008.

Rise of the Beasts is set in 1994, with the story evolving out of Brooklyn, New York City. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts will take audiences on a ’90s adventure and introduce the Maximals, Predacons, and Terrorcons to the existing battle on Earth between Autobots and Decepticons and the big bad Unicorn.