Hoping it would still be useful, Shia LaBeouf's Sam Witwicky stores the dust in a sock. To his dismay, the Matrix turns to dust as soon as he touches it. However, before the Fallen can find it, Sam Witwicky decodes the clue to the Matrix of Leadership's location and discovers it in its hidden tomb in Petra.

In Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen present timeline, the fallen returns to Earth in 2009 AD, hoping to find the hidden Matrix following Optimus Prime's death. To keep it away from evil forces that would misuse it, they hid it in a tomb made from their bodies. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen introduces the Matrix of Leadership by first highlighting how the Primes had fought the Fallen after he activated the Star Harvester in 17000 BC before stealing his Matrix.