A comparative study of the photodynamic and antioxidant activities of methyl pheophorbide-a (MPa, 1) and its transition metal(II) complexes (2-5) is described. Four transition metal complexes (palladium(II): 2, zinc(II): 3, cobalt(II): 4 and copper(II): 5) of MPa were prepared by reaction between the corresponding transition metal and 1, respectively, and were characterized by $^1H$-NMR and UV-vis spectroscopic and mass spectrometric analyses. In vitro results show a photodynamic therapy (PDT) efficacy with A549 cells might be attributed to a heavy atom effect of the transition metal complexes of MPa. Among them, 4 and 5 showed higher photodynamic activity than that of 1 at the concentration of 5 ${mu}M$ at 24 h incubation after photoirradiation. The images of morphological change for 2-5 show evidence for the PDT effect with A549 cells. And the all transition metal complexes of MPa showed higher antioxidant activity than that of MPa, in which 4 showed the highest antioxidant activity.