For me it's Jhiaxus. Strong, smart & sinister. Dude's absolutely terrifying & I think he could come out on top easily. Jhiaxus is that kind of villain where both the heroes & primary villains need to team up against, just to have a chance at survival. If anyone could trounce Megatron, it's him.

 

I think its more in future continuities other goons aren't as weak compared to megatron same with op its more fun when they are both not the strongest best ot the best in their bands.


then theres also character purists fans who dislike when they arent the apex for some unknown reason.



I honestly think most heavy hitters of the cons, schemers and the like have a good shot at ol megs but its not worth it in most of the cases.



starscream gets a pass for out of unverse reason and is bussiness as usual in most continuities but megs wouldn't be as forgiving with others

 

Overlord, Deathsaurus, Jhiaxus, Predaking and Black Zarak

 

Starscream?

 

It was Megatrons impatience that cost him the fight but ultimately it was Shockwave exploiting Megatron unhealed wounds using water to short circuit Megatron that won the fight even in his weakened state Megatron still survived a full power blast from Shockwave. And it wouldn't surprise when Shockwave allowed Megatron to heal chances are
he put an inhibitor that would prevent Megatron from achieving his full power. . I'm guessing Soundwave removed it at the strip mine when he rescued Megatron and refuled Megatron . And Shockwave being unaware of it was more than willing to challenge Megatron at the strip believing he could still beat Megatron but once he realized that his inhibitor was no longer functional or had been removed was very hesitant to challenge Megatron directly

 

In a straight-up fight, I think that the more powerful 'Cons- Deathsaurus, Overlord, etc- would come out on top. When it comes to manipulation and quiet takeovers? Nobody can quite top IDW Starscream or Prime Soundwave. Both of them are incredibly talented fighters in their own right, but they can't be beaten when it comes to blackmail and information gathering.

 

I recall in the comics that Shockwave and
Jhiaxus both were shown to beat Megatron. There are probably others.

Don't see anyone killing him though.

 

if megatron wasnt hold in a pedestal by most fans because hes ''iconic'' people would realize hes very ebatable

 

ebtables

The application program used to set up and maintain the tables of rules in Linux kernel that inspect Ethernet frames?

Sorry just having some fun

Anyway it was actually Sunbow that put Megatron up on that pedestal with his survival rate

 

You can fabricate whatever head cannon you like. Shockwave eventually resigned leadership to Megatron because he had a larger plan in place. He had no fear of Megs he just needed him in the position of leader to forward his own hidden agenda. He was unable to realize his machinations because he burned up in the atmosphere fighting Fort Max. See I can do it too.

The point is Shockwave could and did beat Megatron. The facts speak for themselves. Your imaginary MacGuffin Megatron limiter aside, Megatron did not want to face Shockwave again. In fact he was so opposed to the idea that he allied himself with Autobots to avoid it.

That doesn't mean he couldn't possibly win a 1 on 1 with the Purple Gun. It means he was smart enough not to repeat his mistake. Of course he planned to betray Ratchet, and if Ratchet had failed Shockwave might still be significantly weakened. Making him easy pickings for a 100% Megs.

 

Shockwave admits he is not able to defeat a fully powered Megs and that is why he sent the Predacons after Megs hoping that somehow they might be able to do which he knew he could not..Ultimately Megatron succeeeded in defeating the Predacons and was prepared to destroy Shockwave. Fortunately for Shockwave it was Megatron's own paranoia reguarding Optimus that saved Shocwave.

 

The problem with your argument is:

Are you actually suggesting that Shockwave couldn't beat this Megatron? A Megatron that just fought Predaking! Because Shockwave was there at the end of that fight.

You keep saying Megatron lost to Shockey because of his injuries, but now he's apparently afraid to fight this battle worn and torn version of Megs? He's missing have his fucking face!

Your argument is full of inconsistencies because you're wrong.. Shockwave can and did beat Megatron. It's a fact and you're living in denial. Would he beat Megs 10 out of 10 times probably not. That was NEVER in question though. The question is Decepticons who COULD BEAT Megatron. Shockwave COULD and DID! Stop making excuses It's a fucking fact, deal with it!

 

in Sunbow,

Devastator
Bruticus
Menasor
Soundwave
Trypticon
Predaking
Cyclonus
Abominus

 

Not really. It was stated that Megatron was more powerful, and only lost to Shockwave early in the comic because he was wounded:

Spoiler

In later stories Shockwave would avoid direct confrontation with him because he wouldn't stand a chance.

 

You don't have to directly confront an enemy to prove you're more powerful. Outsmarting Megatron by weakening him first is just as viable in terms of proving strength.

 

Whether or not Marvel Comics Shockwave could beat Marvel Megatron I feel is irrelevant, Marvel Megatron is by far the weakest Megatron and could probably be beaten in a fight by Wheelie. This is the same Megatron who was reduced to being basically a drone after falling off a cliff, and on a serious note of course later on had the crippling weakness of needing Ratchet to live.

Outside of Marvel I don't think Shockwave can take him without very meticulous planning.

 

I sincerely disagree with this. If any (G1) Megatron is the weakest, it's Sunbow Megatron. He was beaten in every fight by Optimus, almost killed by Starscream a few times, the Dinobots played with him and at the end of every episode the slightest injury caused him to call for a retreat. Small wonder that Brawn had no issue stealing his fusion cannon and that even the weakest Autobot, Bumblebee, risked mocking him to his face.

In contrast, Marvel Megatron was incredibly powerful. Nearly unbeatable and the only time he lost a fight because his opponent was stronger, was against Omega Supreme. He was feared by the Autobots and his own troops.
- In issue #2 he and Optimus fought. Megatron just left and Optimus collapsed from exhaustion
- #3: Gears who's one of the strongest Autobots, is frightened when he discovers the rescue mission ends with Megatron
- #4: Bluestreak, one of the most heavily armed Autobots, blasts Megatron pointblank. Megatron doesn't even move. Optimus his arm gets pulverised by Megatron and Megatron next blasts Optimus beating him.
- #6: even badly damaged with holes in his body, his responses slow and every movement painful...he still puts up a strong fight against the very powerful Shockwave
- #8: Megatron beats the five Dinobots. Shooting Swoop and simply punches the others away. They don't stand a chance against him
- #25: Megatron fights the five Predacons and although they damage him, they cannot defeat him. Ultimately, Megatron beats Predaking arguably the strongest combiner.
- #59: Megatron again beats Grimlock with great ease, also taking care of the new, more powerfull Pretender Jazz without much effort.


Marvel Megatron's problem is that he's incredibly powerfull without any real equal and he knows it. He sees himself as unbeatable and thus assumes he's going to win. And as a result, he fails to see ways how things could go wrong for him.
#3/4: no way that a weakly human dares to stand up against him, so that new fuel will be perfectly fine (nope)
#6: Shockwave takes over? Doesn't matter that I'm still injured, I can take him (nope)
#8: Ratchet attacks intending to thow us both from the cliff? No need to sidestep because I can take it (too bad the mountain couldn't)
#59: Weakly doctor Ratchet will never dare to go against me and so my plan to use Starscream to kill everybody else will surely work (nope).

 

Rather than chalk that up to "It's a cartoon and Megatron couldn't be that bad", I think there's some solid arguments against this sticking with the cartoon. G1 Toon Megatron may lose like you said, but he also takes some extremely heavy hits. In the Ultimate Doom, Megatron takes an energon explosion at ground zero, an explosion which was powerful enough to knock a planer out of orbit. In Heavy Metal War, Megatron was knocked into a pool of lava and survived. Also I'm not sure you could say "Almost killed by Starscream a few times" because there were cases where he took his null rays point blank and was fine. The only time I'd say Starscream truly had Megatron in danger was when Bruticus had him.

Cartoon Megatron also constantly was very inventive and creative with new plans. Whether to bring Cybertron to Earth, manipulating Perceptor to heal him, finding various Earth relics to harvest for energy, etc etc, Toon Megatron always was capable of forming some plan or strategy and very often had the Earth in extreme danger (Like Ultimate Doom or in Megatron's Master Plan where he did enslave a portion of humanity). And no matter how you slice it, between 1986 and 2005, Toon Megatron was successful enough to have completely conquered Cybertron with no energy concerns, and forced the Autobots back to the moons. This differs from Shockwave's babysitting of the planet, as we see in the movie the planet is far more populated, and in S3 there are no energy concerns.

Speaking of S3, the state of the Decepticons is pathetic in Five Faces of Darkness without Megatron. They are reduced to scavengers and near animalistic, fighting over small scraps of energy, to a point Rodimus deems them no threat. The Decepticons then realize they need Megatron back to have any chance at returning to glory.

Marvel Megatron however could be defeated way easier. Now, one could point this out as the comics having generally weaker TF standards (Comic Megatron was not even capable of flight unlike Toon Megs) however I still feel it stands worth pointing out.

Megatron may have beaten the dinobots like you said, but he still felt he needed the dinobots to beat Shockwave. If he could beat the Dinobots just like that, why couldn't he just go beat Shockwave? Personally I'd take that to mean he still wasn't ready to, or would still lose and the dinobots couldn't beat Shockwave either. Following this, of course, a mere fall off a cliff I'd enough to get him stuck in pistol mode, and lose brain functions. In the infamous video game fight with Prime (where they uploaded their consciousness and presumably all capabilities) into the game world, Megatron loses to Prime and would be destroyed (after cheating too) but only survives due to Prime's sense of honor, ashamed that he let NPCs die. Finally towards the end of the run, Shockwave is about to beat Megatron once again, but Megatron requires the help from Galvatron to beat him.

Megatron in the comics has far less respect as a leader. In the toon, others, save for Starscream, are far more fearful of him, but in the comics, leadership is such a revolving door the Decepticons have little to no need for Megatron, and are completely functional as a faction without him.

As Toon Megs said, power flows to the one who knows how; desire alone is not enough. I'd say Comics Megs did not know how.

 

The story lines for a Saturday morning cartoon will never be as involved as a comic series. Toon Megatron is an incredibly simplified version of Comic Megs. The factions and characters are basic archetypes with little nuance, because they had to be. It was bad robots losing to good robots, easy to understand children's entertainment.

Yes, leadership changes hands more in the comics because "Power flows to the one who knows how". The measure of a Decepticon leader in the comics is not just physical prowess, hence Ratbat having a long stint as leader. Ratbat wasn't a physical powerhouse able to easily dispatch a combat team like the Dinobots, or stand against a combiner. Still he was a feared, respected, and effective leader. Power flowed to and through him.

Marvel Megs would crumple toon Megatron into a ball like tin foil. Toon Megs was helpless against Bruticus while Marvel Megs took down Predaking. The Dinobots embarrassed toon Megs multiple times in combat. Marvel Megatron beat them unconscious with his bare hands. It's a whole different standard...

 

More like proving cunning. I don't doubt that Shocky could defeat Megatron through tactics and scheming, but in a straight up battle where Megs isn't handicapped he would lose.

Comic Megatron wasn't a basic archetype with little nuance?