In an interview with MTV concerning the Transformers 2 prequel comic, publisher IDW confirmed that they would be providing a wealth of background information on the new main villain, The Fallen.
“[We’re going to] explore the background of The Fallen — the main villain of the movie — as well as expand on the ‘Reign of Starscream’ story that we’re doing and tie everything in to what this next movie is going to be,” explained writer Chris Mowry, who partners on the book with artist Alex Milne. “The next movie starts out with just tons of action and there’s obviously going to be a lot of questions, so we’re hoping to answer some of those beforehand.”
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“Destiny” will establish much of the second before fans are introduced to an increasingly complex storyline with multiple new robots. “We’re definitely taking every character that we can from the sequel,” said Mowry. “So you’ll see some Sector 7 involvement and how they developed into a new group that will be introduced. The same thing with some of the new characters, we’ll explain how they get to Earth. Because like I said, [the sequel] starts out with this giant battle so people will be wondering ‘Hey, where did that guy come from?’”
This is reiterated in an interview with Simon Furman at CBR,
“I’ve never really had the chance to lay down the definitive story around [the 13] and what role they played in what came after them. Over the years for various publishers in various publications, I’ve laid seeds of this group called The 13 and hinted about who some of them might be and how they play into the bigger mythos. I think this is where we’re finding answers to all the big questions. We’re working very closely with Hasbro in this series so that whatever we do in ‘The 13′ is very much tied in to the whole Transformers Universe. They want to get all of their irons in the fire ready and in the right order for 2009, which is the 25th anniversary. We’re all working hopefully to get a definitive, cohesive Transformers Universe in terms of the back story.”
The writer added that the threads introduced in “The 13″ will eventually payoff in current series and plots and possibly elsewhere within the Transformers family of media. “It’s interesting that the second movie is using this character called the Fallen, which is a character that we created back in the Dreamwave days for this big series called ‘The Dark Ages’ which tapped into what had gone before. So these names and institutions like The 13 are rolling on into different incarnations.”
For those not in the know, from Wikipedia:
Although the Fallen’s origins are only suggested in his comic book appearance, they would be fully explained in Dorling Kindersley’s Transformers: The Ultimate Guide. One of the original thirteen Transformers created by Primus, the robot who would become the Fallen betrayed his creator by siding with Primus’s dark twin, the malevolent planet-eater, Unicron. In the final battle between Primus and Unicron, the Fallen fell victim to the same fate as his master, sucked through a black hole into another dimension. However, while Unicron emerged into another universe, the Fallen was not so fortunate, finding himself trapped in the “underspace” between dimensions.
The Fallen made his only appearance in the second volume of Transformers: The War Within — the Dark Ages. Around 6.5 million years ago, a test of the experimental “space bridge” matter-transport system on Cybertron liberated the Fallen from his prison, and he materialised on Cybertron, where he quickly recruited the Chaos Trinity, three mystically-inclined Decepticons — Bludgeon, Mindwipe and Bugly — into his employ. Abducting Transformers that he identified as possessing “genetic potential” within their sparks — Grimlock, Blitzwing, Jetfire and Hot Spot — the Fallen planned to use their energies to awaken Primus from his self-imposed slumber, thereby alerting Unicron to his location, allowing the world-eater to renew hostilities with his old enemy. An attack from combined Autobot and Decepticon forces led by Shockwave and Prowl disrupted his plans, and Primus himself reached out and promptly destroyed the Fallen.
