You may have heard this already, but part of Michael Bay’s Transformers 3 — notably one of the big final action set pieces — will take place in the heart of downtown Chicago. And while we don’t know, nor would we be interested in sharing, the details of the plot that lead the film to the Windy City, we do think it sounds like fun to see an epic war between alien robots and humanity break out in the same neighborhood where Christopher Nolan staged Gotham’s finest moments. I also have this excellent theory as to why Transformers 3 will be far and away the best of the series. But we’ll save that for another day. Today we have some footage of the destruction down on the Michigan Avenue set, where Michael Bay has turned the usually pristine heart of Chicago to rubble. He does like to blow things up, doesn’t he?

All this week director Michael Bay and the cast and crew of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen have been tearing up the streets of Long Beach, California, creating some primo opportunities for a host of amateur newsies.