Burke
From Transformers Wiki
| This article is about the military officer. For the G.I. Joe agent, see Agent Burke. |
- Burke is a human from the movie continuity family.
Burke is a member of the United States Army Rangers, under the command of William Lennox. He is one of the squad's SAW gunners.
Contents |
Fiction
Movies
Transformers film
- Actor: Brian Shehan
Returning back to SOCCENT Forward Operations Base in Qatar after a mission, Captain Lennox's men discussed what they were going to do once they got home to the States. As usual, Fig talked about his mom's cooking in Spanish, something that amused all of the squad because he had been told numerous times that none of them spoke Spanish. When Lennox told them of his desire to see his baby girl for the first time, Burke and the others joined in on the friendly ribbing over this sappy sentiment.
After getting back to camp, while Epps made his way to the basketball court, Burke went to the rudimentary open-air shower and pushed other soldiers aside, to their consternation. Soon after, a mysterious MH-53 Pave Low touched down and began disrupting the communication and power supplies of the base. Suddenly, the base was under attack as the helicopter somehow transformed into a giant walking weapons platform. Burke and the others grabbed their gear and ran for their lives as the machine crushed all opposition standing in its way to the communications center. After rescuing local boy Mahfouz and Epps, the Rangers escaped into the night as the base was leveled.
While the medical teams from the Army sifted through the rubble for survivors and the United States government tried to find answers, the Rangers made their way across the Qatari countryside, unaware that they were being followed, and being watched. Stopping at an abandoned tank to rest, Burke kept an eye on the horizon for hostiles while the others discussed the attack and the images Epps managed to capture. Deciding that the Pentagon must know their intel, they headed to Mahfouz's village, where a telephone could be found.
Arriving on the outskirts, the weary travelers were suddenly attacked by a giant mechanical scorpion. When it managed to kill Donnelly, the Rangers began a ragged retreat, though Burke kept his nerve and provided covering fire from his M249 Para. As Captain Lennox struggled with a bored and unsympathetic telephone operator, Burke held the line steady and ordered fire directed at the attacker. However, it was soon clear to the Pentagon that the solders were clearly outmatched and ordered assets of the United States Air Force to attack, which Lennox's Rangers guided in by lazing the target. While they managed to drive the attacker away, Fig paid the price when he was hit by one of the creature's rockets. On the plane trip back to the United States, the Rangers and the R&D team were examining the strange tail left behind by the mechanical scorpion when it suddenly jerked up to life, so Burke and the others had to strap it down to the examination table. Though the battle had been costly, it did provide them with an answer to how to fight back against the mechanical creatures.
Upon arrival at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, agents from an unknown government organization hustled the Rangers into SUVs and took them to Hoover Dam, where they reported to Secretary of Defense Keller about the mysterious events of the past few days. Inside the dam, they learned from Agent Simmons, Tom Banachek and, incredibly, some teenage boy named Sam Witwicky about the reasons for the attacks and the players in it. During a demonstration of the AllSpark Cube's power, Burke was more curious than frightened by the alien creature created from a cell phone, tapping the glass as it furiously banged into the sides of an armoured box. When the evil Decepticons arrived and attacked the dam, the soldiers were led to an arms room where a tense stand off erupted when Simmons refused to let Sam see the boy's alien robot car, which would help the situation. The situation was defused when Keller ordered Simmons to do as the Rangers demanded.
After the Autobot car was freed and the Cube was miraculously shrunken down to a small, hand-held size, Lennox ordered his Rangers and the Sector Seven troopers to form a perimeter protecting the car and its occupants. Burke was the gunner on Lennox and Epps's command buggy as the convoy headed towards Mission City, where they would attempt to find some sort of off-line communication device that wasn't affected by the worldwide communications blackout. When the Decepticons showed up in Mission City Burke and the Rangers helped the Autobot rescue vehicle take down the tank, but were then forced to retreat when Megatron arrived, with the Pontiac Solstice sacrificing his life to cover their escape. After helping evacuate a wounded Sector Seven trooper, Burke watched unhappily as the evil tank got back up, and not only that, but the helicopter that leveled SOCCENT Qatar joined in the battle. Lennox ordered his Rangers to hold the line as Sam escaped with the Cube, in the hopes of removing the alien artifact from the battlefield while the Decepticons were busy. However, the soldiers had their hands full with the tank while most of the Autobots were assigned to protect Sam. Salvation came in the form of the yellow Camaro, who helped them destroy the tank once and for all.
While the friendly Autobot leader and Megatron fought, Lennox and the soldiers moved in to assist, but were prevented from doing so by that evil helicopter. Lennox and Epps formulated a plan where they would call in the rapidly-arriving F-22 Raptors from the Air Force while the Decepticon was distracted. However, the helicopter noticed the laze painted on his arm and turned to attack, and with the cover blown, the soldiers provided covering fire for Lennox, who attacked the Decepticon on a motorcycle as the F-22s fired the missiles. With their nemesis dead, the soldiers moved in to take out Megatron. The Decepticon leader, single-minded about the AllSpark, was overwhelmed by the combined efforts of the soldiers and the Air Force, and was finally defeated when Sam rammed the AllSpark into Megatron's chest, killing him. In the aftermath, Burke and the soldiers were thanked by their new alien allies for their valuable help in the battle. Transformers
Revenge of the Fallen film
- Actor: Brian Shehan
IDW movie comics
In the aftermath of Mission City, Lennox's men and the Autobot Ironhide went around hunting the AllSpark Mutations that had been created during Sam's escape from Megatron. They had already eliminated four of the violent creatures when the Rangers chased one into a van, which Ironhide then blew up as they were closing in. The Autobot informed Lennox he wanted to show the humans what real firepower was, but apologised for not considering their proximity to the target. With the threat taken care of, the Rangers found an abandoned trailer to be used as a funeral bier for Jazz, the Autobot who had given his life to protect the soldiers. As Ironhide silently regarded his friend, the Rangers lowered their heads in respect.
Soon, the Autobots had to leave as Sector Seven's clean up crew was approaching. Lennox and Epps attempted to deflect Agent Simmons' attentions, but Simmons actually wanted them to work for the clandestine group, knowing their knowledge of the Transformers and the coming conflict Earth would inevitably be embroiled with. To everybody's surprise, Lennox accepted. Alliance #1
Notes
- Burke is played by real-life Navy SEAL Brian Shehan. He is credited as Ranger Team #3, and like many other unnamed military characters in Transformers, "Burke" comes from his uniform nametag.
- A later scene where Lennox and Burke comfort the dying Figueroa was cut from the theatrical release of the film, but briefly seen in the December 2006 trailer. The scene survived in both the novelization and the children's novelization where (despite many changes made to tone down descriptions of violence against robots) he still died. Go fig! This scene was rendered non-canonical when Michael Bay tried to get Amaury Nolasco to return for Revenge of the Fallen.
