In the interim between the first and second seasons of the Beast Wars animated series, the Beast Wars II anime was produced in Japan to fill the gap, and produced a feature film entitled "Lio Convoy is in Imminent Danger!" In this film, the Predacons of the series discover a mysterious transwarp device that allows them to summon the monstrous Majin Zarak from Cybertron's past to aid them. In response to this, the Maximals use the device to pluck Optimus Primal, referred to as "Convoy" in the Japanese continuity, from prehistoric Earth at a point prior to his becoming a transmetal; to join with their leader, Lio Convoy to battle the demonic Transformer. Combining the power of their Matrixes and transforming into "Flash Lio Convoy" and "Burning Convoy", they struck Maijin Zarak's weak spot and destroyed him, with Primal then returning to Earth.

The Beast Wars II movie is an example of a story that is not in continuity with the English fiction, as it displays Primal in possession of the Autobot Matrix of Leadership, which he most certainly does not have in western stories.