Sam Witwicky: Transformers Human Hero and What Happened to Him

Sam Witwicky is a teenager, later a student and job seeker, who gets pulled into the war between the Autobots and the Decepticons because of what his family left behind. He is played by Shia LaBeouf, who is billed first in all three of his films: transformers 2007, directed by Michael Bay, followed by transformers revenge of the fallen and transformers dark of the moon, both also directed by Bay. The credits list him only as Sam Witwicky, so there is no codename or second identity to track, which makes him simpler to follow than most of the robots around him.

His place in the saga starts with his great-grandfather. In 1897 the explorer Captain Archibald Witwicky found Megatron frozen in the Arctic and left a record of where the AllSpark, the cube that can create life, was hidden. In the present day of Transformers (2007), Decepticons attack a US base in Qatar and then chase the knowledge held by Sam, because his family heirlooms carry the key to the cube's location. That ties the most powerful object in the story to a family's keepsakes, and it explains why the Decepticons hunt a kid instead of a soldier.

In the same film Sam buys an old car that turns out to be the Autobot Bumblebee, sent to protect him. His parents, Ron and Judy Witwicky, are played by Kevin Dunn and Julie White in all three films. If you are new to the series, the quickest way to place him is as the human point of view for the Michael Bay trilogy, the way a rookie rides along in a rally car while the professionals do the real work. Our transformers characters index shows where he sits next to the robots.

Sam's relationships are the glue between the human and robot sides of the saga, and the most important one is Bumblebee. The Autobot begins as Sam's beat-up car in Transformers (2007) and acts as his guardian through all three films, even when Sam tries to leave him behind before college in Revenge of the Fallen. Optimus Prime is the other robot who matters to him. In Revenge of the Fallen, Optimus is killed protecting Sam, and Sam later uses the Matrix to bring him back. You can read more on both in our optimus prime transformers and bumblebee transformer profiles.

Who is Sam Witwicky's girlfriend? That depends on the film. Mikaela Banes, played by Megan Fox, is his partner from the end of Transformers (2007) and is with him through Revenge of the Fallen. In Dark of the Moon the film introduces Carly, played by Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, as his new girlfriend.

His human circle also includes Leo Spitz (Ramón Rodríguez) in Revenge of the Fallen, Simmons (John Turturro) in all three films, and the soldiers Lennox (Josh Duhamel) and Epps (Tyrese Gibson). On the villain side, his enemies are Megatron, the Fallen in the second film, and the turncoat Sentinel Prime in the third.

In my opinion, Sam's best scenes are the ones where a small human move changes what the giant machines can do, and I will break each one down the way I would a stunt. The first is the finish of Transformers (2007). Sam is left carrying the AllSpark in Mission City and drives the cube straight into Megatron's chest. The mechanics are simple: the human carries the object, and one thrust ends the fight. It could be argued that this is the cleanest cause and effect in the whole trilogy.

The second is the Matrix in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009). It crumbles to dust the moment Sam touches it, and, in a clever turn, he still carries it. That gives the film its big payoff, because after Sam is killed and sent to meet the old Primes, the Matrix is what lets him bring Optimus back, which in turn sets up Jetfire giving up his body so Optimus can fly and destroy the Fallen's sun machine. I think it is the most inventive use of a human character in the series, since it makes a death into a plot step.

The third is Chicago in Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011). Sam, Lennox and the NEST soldiers fight through a ruined city in the same stretch where Bumblebee takes out the Control Pillar. Perhaps it is the least personal of the three, since the Control Pillar moment belongs to Bumblebee, but it shows the human side of a Decepticon invasion at street level. If you want a place to start, watch Transformers (2007) first, and see our transformers movies in order guide for the rest.