Transformers/Back to the Future

Transformers/Back to the Future is a four-issue crossover comic miniseries from IDW Publishing that debuted in October 2020. The series is a crossover event to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the Transformers franchise by Hasbro and the Back to the Future films by Universal Pictures.

Transformers/Back to the Future
Cover A for issue #1 by Juan Samu.
Publication information
Publisher	IDW Publishing
Format	Limited series
Genre	Crossover Science fiction
Publication date	October 7, 2020 — May 12, 2021
No. of issues	4
Main character(s)	Transformers (Hasbro) Back to the Future (Universal Pictures)
Creative team
Written by	Cavan Scott
Penciller(s)	Juan Samu
Letterer(s)	Neil Uyetake
Colorist(s)	David García Cruz
Editor(s)	David Marriotte Chase Marotz

Plot

Following the events of the first film, Marty McFly finally returns home to Hill Valley in 1985, while Doc Brown departs for 2015 in the DeLorean time machine. Meanwhile, the Autobots and Decepticons scuffle for the time machine. Marty unexpectedly wakes up in a dystopic present when the Decepticons killed most of the Autobots and successfully conquered Earth, with Megatron having Biff Tannen as his second in command. Luckily, a time-traveling Cybertronian named Gigawatt locates Marty for help.

After a tough and confusing encounter with Starscream, Marty decides to trust Gigawatt, who is joined by Skilz, another Cybertronian disguised as Marty's skateboard. The group meets the surviving Autobots led by Rodimus Prime, who reveals that Doc was unintentionally responsible for the chain of events: when he traveled forward to the year 2015, he met Decepticon Rumble, who survived his encounter in 1985. Doc befriended Rumble, unaware of the latter's agenda. When the DeLorean was completely repaired, Rumble used it to travel back to 1974, using Biff to develop Energon supplies for Megatron's arrival. Gigawatt then reveals he used to be a Decepticon, but after having enough with Megatron abusing and murdering other human workers, he trans-scanned the DeLorean and escaped, but his flux capacitor was damaged in the process and in order to fix it, they need Doc, who is somewhere forming his own resistance.

Back on Hill Valley, Doc manages to save Biff and Marty's parents from the Constructicons, planning to reunite the last standing Autobots, but Biff double-crosses them and attempts to execute them. Marty and the Autobots arrive in time to save them, defeating all the Decepticons. However, they are confronted by a giant Decepticon disguised as Hill Valley's courthouse named Watchtower.

While battling Watchtower, Doc fixes Gigawatt's flux capacitor, and with Skilz, they both help Marty and Gigawatt enough speed to travel back to 1984, preventing Rumble from awakening Megatron. However, Gigawatt gets critically injured from his previous battle. Marty uses the original time machine to go back to 2015, where Doc and Biff repaired Gigawatt and the Autobots are still protecting Earth and humanity. After returning to 1985, Marty gets a new pickup truck from his parents, unaware it is a Decepticon in disguise.

Publication history

Comic book

The Transformers/Back to the Future series is being written by Cavan Scott, and illustrated by Juan Samu, as part of the 35th anniversary of Hasbro's Transformers and Universal Pictures' Back to the Future.

Toy

As part of the Transformers Collaborative toy line, Hasbro released a toy figure based on the original character Gigawatt, which is based on the DeLorean time machine.

Characters

Main articles: List of Transformers comics characters and List of Back to the Future characters

Transformers characters	Back to the Future characters	Original characters
Blitzwing Bonecrusher Bumblebee Hound Jazz Long Haul Megatron Mixmaster Optimus Prime Ravage Rumble Scavenger Scrapper Soundwave Starscream Thundercracker	Marty McFly Emmett "Doc" Brown George McFly Lorraine Baines Biff Tannen Dave McFly Linda McFly Einstein	Gigawatt Skilz Watchtower

Issues

Issue #	Written by	Drawn by	Coloured by	Lettered by	Publication date
1	Cavan Scott	Juan Samu	David García Cruz	Neil Uyetake	October 7, 2020
2					December 23, 2020
3					March 17, 2021
4					May 12, 2021

Reception

Issue #	Publication date	Critic rating	Critic reviews	Ref.
1	October 7, 2020	8.7/10	8
2	December 23, 2020	6.0/10	1
3	March 17, 2021	8.0/10	3
4	May 12, 2021	8.4/10	2
Overall	—	7.8/10	14

Collected editions

Title	Material collected	Publication date	ISBN
Transformers/Back to the Future	Transformers/Back to the Future #1−4 Bonus material	September 7, 2021	1684058015, 978-1684058013

External links

• IDW Publishing's official announcement