Talk about moving the goal posts, none of those are anti-heroes. They're far far from what many consider the term to coin.

A better argument is that movies are different than comics, therefore even Super-heroes end up killing their enemies because of the finite and non-continuous nature that is film.

But the Hulk movies go to great lengths to show that Hulk doesn't kill anyone other than the villain. I think he killed Absorbo-Dad, but did not end the Abomination, a rare feat for a superhero movie.

 

You know I was thinking Prime killed Sentinel because of betraying the Autobots and killing Iron Hide and deliberately causing the murder and incarceration of thousands of humans by siding with the Decepticons. Since the Autobots are still in a war against the Decepticons as with any other war- human or not , commanders can and have executed traitors and prisoners on sight. So I feel Optimus was justified in doing alot killing.
Which obviously gives the movie TF's a more adult edge and realism .

 

Wow, distortion much? There's a GINOURMOUS difference between suicide as the last choice, in this case, and friggin' double execution, which happened in the movie.

 

Read the comic page again.

Prowl: There are some alternatives!
Prime: There is only one alternative! Kill ourselves and the Cons with us!

if anything, massive Suicide/Murder shouldn't be worse than your "double execution"? Or are you forgiving him because he's G1 Prime instead of Bay Prime?

Bear in mind killing Megs and Sentinel was also the only choice afetr all they've done in DOTM

 

Movie Prime actually got the job done and ended the war.

No G1 Prime ever did.

People are just angry that the movie Prime did stuff their favorite Primes couldn't.  

 

This

Bay Prime lost the moral High Ground. To me the worshipping of Optimus Killing Machine is a disturbing trend. Optimus Prime is meant to represent certain Ideals (Rock Bottom) which made him the larger then life character he is. Optimus Prime would easily fit into the company of Mandela/Gandi/Jesus Christ. The defining feature of Optimus Prime is his ability to transcend war, his compassion & his belief in redemption.

I can easily see a christlike portrayel of Prime on the silver screen is less exciting & less dollar generating then a John Wayne type of portrayel, Prostituting the character of Prime for revenues is to be expected from a Bay/Hasbro/Paramount collaboration.

The only good thing about this realpolitikprime is that any differentation between Autobots & Decepticons have been totally obscured, both factions have lost track of their ideals and are just parts in the great machine of perpetual War.

In this sense the descend of Christ Prime into Rambo Prime is actually a good representation of our current world, a disenchanted abyssmal place populated by oil junkies, corrupt politicians & mindless consumers.

For me the embracing of Optimus Killing Machine is the embracing of his low moral standards, it's the embracement of war, violence & destruction, it's in the end the embracement of EVIL.

 

Keeping your fellow Cybertronians in an endless coma, unable to wake up. So much more humane than killing them. And what happens when the Decepticons come to bust them out?

 

You nailed it, my friend. Other Optimuses showed mercy, and every time, the bad guys came back for round two. I don't see Megatron coming back, barring the Matrix.

As for those who talk about the moral high ground, other Optimuses may focus on the moral high ground and philosophy, but Movie Optimus focuses on the lives lost to these murdering maniacs. One scene I would have loved, though it would have been unfeasible and impossible, would be for Optimus to look at the aftermath of Laserbeak's attacks (mainly the one where he went Pink Bumblebee). The horror and grief he would undoubtedly feel would be a perfect demonstration of why he's fighting: so that no other families die.

 

Other discussion already having taken place aside, I might point out that the original Batman *also* would kill. However, like Optimus, that has been so thoroughly reversed for so long, that now the idea of a Batman who kills is completely counter to the established character in pretty much all media incarnations. While the reasons for Batman (or Optimus) not to kill are obvious(childrens' media did not/does not allow it in this country), it has still become part of the character.

 

Portraying the advocates for Compassionimus Prime as peace loving naive hippies is typical for the warmongers, hawks & violent types. (Wikiqoutes is full of hardboiled leaders who happily sent teenagers to their deaths on the heroic battlefield with the same argument)

I just don't like The-End-Justifies-the-Means interpretation of Prime. The Laserbeak narrative reminds me of a certain war wherein premature born babies where supposed to be grabbed from their beds and smashed on the floor by evil Bad Guys. The story was pure fiction only meant to rally the troops.

I don't like war but I understand it’s the condition which defined humanity since we started to call ourselves civilized.

I do not like Heroes killing and maiming and getting the job done. In war there are only losers, apart from the financiers of war who always make a buck financing both sides.
Homer’s Illiad already established the self-defeating purpose of war 3500 YEARS ago, it especially dealt mercilessly with the hero-type Bay Prime has become.

People fighting in wars should show restraint, applauding this kind of crap is extremely irresponsible, immature and shows a grave lack of understanding of the consequences of war and violence in general.

 

Question:

Do any of you who prefer Movie-Optimus regard Nolan's Batman as any less of a badass because he chooses not to kill his enemies?

I think it makes him a more likeable character, like G1 Prime. Personally.

 

That's not because he's any better than any other Prime, that's just because the writers expected this to be the last movie. Simple as that. They could write a story about G1 Optimus ending the war through diplomacy, but that won't happen, because they don't want to end that continuity.

 

With me it's not so much the killing but the glee in doing it. Maybe I'm bad at reading or seeing things but to me OP saying "let's kill them all" sounded pretty bloodthirsty or at least like petty revenge. It's the kind of stuff I'd expect Decepticons to say, not Optimus!

The impact would be a bit less if there was some sort of after-talk in where he states that he took no pleasure in doing it but it had to be done but I get none of that. In the first movie Prime says that they left him no choice okay all is well, but the last two movies really made me nervous. I'm not too sure I would be happy with Optimus by my side as a protector I would go "'kay" and slowly back away...

Comparing the killing in these movies to real-life wars is a bit strange seeing we are not dealing with any comparable situation to begin with. Humans can be safely locked up, huge robotic lifeforms whom are living weapons and hell-bent on destruction is a whole other matter.

I was disappointed that all my fav characters died in such a grotesquely violent way, not the deaths itself. Just a simple execution would be much better than having your optic ripped out dancing around for minutes in agony you know? I just really dislike this glorification of what is essentially senseless violence in my opinion. Leave that to the bad guys.

 

he was already going to kill him anyway? remember blowing up the ship? i'm pretty sure sentinel just wanted to show why he betrayed the autobots.

i think people are forgetting that sentinel prime is a mass murderer, as were many of the other decepticons, to leave him alive would be extremely unfair to the many that have died by his intentions, agreed optimus is more viscous, but that is the reality of it, he is the one who makes these decisions, he is the one people blame if it goes wrong. He is the one to kill in cold blood, he had two options, leave him leave him alive and risk the destruction of 7 billion or remove that risk for the greater good.

 

A Deceptocon sympathizer. He's one of them - get him.

 

Yes, they undoubtetly shaped the world in it's current fashion, for better or worse we just have to deal with that.

 

The character of John Rambo was actually a peace loving man, who embraced peace and actively saught peace... trying to avois combat when he could.

John Rambo is indeed a character with admirable qualities.

 

In the first movie.

In fact his body count in First Blood is 0.

And then it skyrocketed.

 

No it aint.

But when did he ever seek out war and combat?