The difference between Optimus and Superman is that Optimus is a leader and a warrior who can and often gets hurt, while Superman is a glorified vigilante who mostly cannot get hurt.

And had Megatron not had the gun, Prime would not have have been some anti-hero for finishing him off; and letting him live wouldn't have been heroic.

 

Personally, I think that Prime would have pulled the trigger and put an end to Megatron once and for all.

 

I agree he should have, but I dont think he would have.

Its just not the type of think done in the 80's.

Prime didnt know that Ironhides ship had no survivors.

 

I think the following pretty much proves he would have pulled the trigger

ops: ONE shal stand ONE shall fall (one of them is gonna die period)

megs: Why throw away your LIFE so recklessly (Megs will gladly kill prime)

ops: Thats a question YOU should ask YOURSELF megatron (prime is also prepared to do the same)

 

I agree with this, this would have allowed Prime to keep that 'heroic' identity and give the impression he was acting out of defense.

Or he could have walked over, engaged his energon-axe and cut megatron's face out....

 

he wouldnt have. hes had megatron at his mercy before and whenever megatron has begged prime relented. not only do we have a lot of media to back it up, its his one weakness listed in almost every bio. hes too merciful and just doesnt have that kind of ruthlesness in him. its nearly his defining trait. he had been pushed enough that he probably would have really driven the point in that megatron was beaten and broken though, and then taken him prisoner.

someone mentioned about him being like superman, has anyone actually considered how alike they are? aliens who left their dying planet, crash landed on earth, hiding in plain sight, red and blue colour scheme, built in mode of transportation (flying/driving) and energy weapons (heat vision/energon axe).

 

He would have. In the movie deffinately. In the show, of course not. Optimus always let Megatron go so he could cause more destruction. But in the movie, with it's darker tone and disregard for anyone who wasn't a new toy, deffinately yes.

 

Consider the following case:

Optimus Prime on Twin Earth is a runaway trolley. There are only two options that Prime can take: the right side of the fork in the track or the left side of the fork. There is no way in sight of derailing, transforming or stopping Prime and he is aware of this, for Prime knows trolleys. Prime is causally hooked up to control systems of the trolley such that he can determine the course which the trolley will take.

On the right side of the track there is a single railroad worker, ROTF Bumblebee, who will definitely be killed if Prime steers the trolley to the right. If the psychotic Camaro on the right lives, he will go on to kill five men for the sake of killing them, but in doing so will inadvertently save the lives of thirty orphans (one of the five men he will kill is planning to destroy a bridge that the orphan's bus will be crossing later that night). One of the orphans that will be killed would have grown up to become a tyrant who would make good utilitarian men do bad things. Another of the orphans would grow up to become Chip Chase, while a third would be the Malaysian translator for Masterforce.

If Prime chooses the left side of the track, the trolley will definitely hit and kill a railman on the left side of the track, "Nightbeat" and will hit and destroy ten beating hearts on the track that could (and would) have been transplanted into ten patients in the local hospital that will die without donor hearts. These are the only hearts available, and Prime is aware of this, for Prime knows hearts. If the Autobot on the left side of the track lives, he too will kill five men, in fact the same five that Bumblebee on the right would kill. However, "Nightbeat" will kill the five as an unintended consequence of saving ten men: he will inadvertently kill the five men rushing the ten hearts to the local hospital for transplantation. A further result of "Nightbeat's" act would be that the busload of orphans will be spared. Among the five men killed by "Nightbeat" are both the man responsible for putting Prime at the controls of the trolley, and the author of this example. If the ten hearts and "Nightbeat" are killed by the trolley, the ten prospective heart-transplant patients will die and their kidneys will be used to save the lives of twenty kidney-transplant patients, one of whom will grow up to cure cancer, and one of whom will grow up to be Hitler. There are other kidneys and dialysis machines available, however Prime does not know kidneys, and this is not a factor.

Assume that Prime's choice, whatever it turns out to be, will serve as an example to other Transformers and so the effects of his decision will be amplified. Also assume that if Prime chooses the right side of the fork, an unjust war free of war crimes will ensue, while if Prime chooses the left fork, a just war fraught with war crimes will result. Furthermore, there is an intermittently active Cartesian demon deceiving Prime in such a manner that Prime is never sure if he is being deceived.

QUESTION: What should Prime do?

 

Sorry but that proves nothing.

I can cite plenty of different dialog segments when both characters claimed they were going to put an end to the other.

 

I have always said he wouldn't. This is why I never blamed Hot Rod for his death. Prime would not kill in that way.

 

Well, not in a daily cartoon governed by censors, no. But the movie was liberated by the restrictions and could finally show the characters how the creators probably wanted.

Grey area; We never saw any explicit communication, but it wouldn't be far of a stretch for Op to have figured it out- assumed- since the Decepticons were pounding Autobot city at the same time Ironhide's ship was due there.

 

The fact remains that the intent in all of primes lines suggests he will kill megatron or die trying. Not only that but the line before hotrod interrupts suggests megatron should deal with his fate and prime shouts "out of the way hotrod" as though to clear his line of fire while carefully trying to aim for megs suggesting only hotrod alone is stopping him (at least in that moment).

So personally i dont doubt that there was a point where optimus would have pulled the trigger on megatron in this scenaio its just when and where and if he would shoot to kill.

 

Although I believe if Hot Rod didnt interfere and Prime had the chance, I only believe he would have pulled the trigger if Megatron tried to fight back (Such as the case where he had the hidden Energon Pistol) but even then Prime would have probably shot Megatron's hand for him to be disarmed.

Prime is a tough guy, but not a murderer.

 

I tend to agree with those arguing that Prime would not have pulled the trigger. I certainly think he should have pulled the trigger. However, Prime had arguably achieved his objective by that point. When Prime landed at Autobot City, he said Megatron must be stopped. Certainly that could be interpreted to mean killed. However that could also mean incapacitated. At that point in the fight, at least as far as Prime knew, Megatron was stopped. Prime had him at his mercy. In that situation, with an enemy down for the count and victory in sight, I don't see Optimus Prime pulling the trigger. In many respects Prime and the Autobots stood for law and order and it would have been the exact antithesis of those ideals to kill a, at that point anyway, defenseless Megatron.

I always interpreted Prime's quip to Megatron (you who are without mercy now ask for it) as being more ideological than a statement of an intention to kill him. I think it was Prime noting the irony in Megatron, who spent the entire series trying to topple the last remnants of Cybertron law, now pleading for that same law's mercy.

That being said, if Megatron made any move at that point, either by trying to shoot the hidden gun or transforming to try to get a shot in, I think Prime would have blown him away without hesitation. At bottom, I think the main reason Prime didn't is because he had Megatron at his mercy.

 

If he killed Megatron, Galvatron couldn't be thus there would've been no season 3 and 4.

 

He would have never pulled the trigger. Rodimus would have.

 

Agreed. It would have been horribly out of character for OP to pull that trigger, while Rodimus would have done it without a moment's thought.

For the sake of argument, I'm pretty sure that, if faced with the same situation, these other Autobots would have pulled the trigger: Springer, Kup, Mirage, Ironhide, Cliffjumper, and Sideswipe. OTOH, I couldn't see Bumblebee, Wheeljack, Ultra Magnus, or Skyfire doing that. It just proves that even though all Autobots are on one side, they don't all think alike.

 

Good question.

On one hand, I have a hard time picturing Optimus doing this. Especially under normal circumstances.

On the other, I agree with those that say if he was every gonna do it, this would be the time. I don't think these were normal circumstances. IMO he had been pushed too far.

What we would've got is something similar to the end of "Heavy Metal War", where Prime blasts Megatron, drops his rifle, and says "It is finished". Except this time it really is.

So I think he would've done it, and I would've thought no less of him for it.

 

Because rodimus is the better leader  

 

He would of done it. Megatron was a great threat for the entire universe. Remove him and perhaps the cons would of been cripple from in fighting. Instead Megatron wasnt killed and became Galvatron, who was even more insane.

Prime was a soldier afterall. Sometimes a point does come up when a soldier just does not care anymore and fires on somebody pleading for mercy. I would think dealing with Megatron over many years would left some crossing that line.