Honestly, I have no proof of this, so you can give me as much crap in the comments as you want to but I do have this gnawing feeling at me telling me that he isn't who they think he is. It was as I saw a TV spot and I think he says something like "Two worlds, only one can survive" and that's exactly what Optimus Prime has been saying this whole time and it's no secret that Prime is slightly more morally ambiguous than he has been before (even in ROTF!). Furthermore Prime's being brainwashed so for all we know, his mantra of "for my world to live, yours must die" might not be a true one and its definitely not a mantra he chose for himself, but it is a mindset Sir Edmund burton has chosen for himself. But where are his motives? Well the whole concept that Burton (Hopkins character) is obsessed with-of Cybertronians being on earth for all this time to protect it from some great, ginormous evil-reeks of the word "prophesy" and I think most of us have seen characters in films who do anything to protect and enforce a prophesy. Finally, we have to look at Cogman, a character that is much much older than Burton and could have easily influenced him at a young age. He looks different to every other Cybertronian we've seen, even the ancient ones, The Knights of Cybertron (he almost looks uncybertronian!). He looks much more like Quintessa than he does any other bot (I'll admit this is a pretty weak point so discard it if you wish), he's also about the same size (I think) and manages to beat Crosshairs, whilst Quintessa manages to very similarly beat Optimus Prime, both in spite of their small size, so they do seem to be built in a very similar way. He drives a car instead of Transforming into one (or at least transforming into a bike or, something). He seems to follow the humans around A LOT and don't these types of villains just love sticking around the main characters? Finally there are rumours around this sub that SPOILER ALERT: at some point in time, Cogman decapitates nitro and controls his body, "Controlling a Cybertronian against his will, you say? Where have we seen that The Last Knight before?" and it does seem like such a Quintesson thing to do, doesn't it? I think either Cogman is brainwashing Burton or they are both working together for a sinister goal (The tank robot too, but you know robot dementia would probably make him forget all about what he's done in the past and would be pretty useless even if he did remember anything leaving only Hot Rod left to trick, and lets face it, If Cogman can beat Crosshairs, he can beat Hot Rod- Low risks High rewards.). And really, are they just going to have Anthony Hopkins as a supporting character instead of an evil villainous one? What do you guys think?

 

Maybe he'll eat the good guys' livers.

 

It's usually the kind of character he plays.

 

One can only hope.

 

He's not Merlin?

I haven't been following anything recently with regards to TLK, but I always assumed that's who he would end up being.

 

Well then there will be a whole lot of evil brainwashed TFs at that castle. Because there are more TFs there then just Cogman and Bulldog.

 

Is their any reason that that couldn't happen?

 

Or their faces!

 

Really?

 

Nah they did that already in DOTM

 

Every film had a human antagonist, each time getting more and more evil. The last film had two of them so I doubt bay will "disappoint" us this time around.

 

Who was the human antagonist in the first film and ROTF?

DOTM Dylan Gould
AOE Attinger and Savoy

 

Well he is good at playing evil characters so any time he is in a role you are going to suspect there is a chance his character is up to something nefarious. It's also a popular trend in films to have a twist of a character ending up as something you did not expect.

 

First film: Simmons
Second film: Galloway

Granted they weren't as much of a threat as the other three and Simmons eventually became a hero, but they were still massive antagonising forces against Sam and/or The Autobots

 

And they're always played by by Highly respected award winner/award nominee actors, like Anthony Hopkins

 

Well, I hope Hopkins remains a good guy, at least, but yes, the thought crossed my mind.

 

Turns out Optimus Prime is the one who's alright and everyone else is brainwashed!

 

"Pretty close to gimmick infringement"-Optimus Prime

 

Well, in the first film it was Simmons, and in ROTF it was Galloway.

Anyway, I believe Santos fit the bill of human antagonist in TLK, going after that we know he wants all Transformers dead, including the Autobots.

Edit: Ok, someone ninjaed me on Simmons and Galloway.  

 

I do find it interesting that in the latest poster:

The beam of light coming from Stonehenge "divides" the characters on the poster.
On one side you have Bee, Cade, Izzy and Vivian. On the other side you have Murder Prime, Burton and Cogman.

There's just something about Burton and Cogman that makes me very leery of them.