Starscream (G1)/Marvel Comics continuity

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Starscream had tried to get the others to name it "Club Scream!", but no game. For more than one reason.

He might have spent about a third of its run asleep, but that didn't stop Starscream from being a big player in the Marvel Comics continuity!

Marvel The Transformers comics

[edit]
Events from the UK-only comic stories are in italics.

Millions of years ago, on the troubled planet Cybertron, Starscream acted as the figurehead leader for the controlling dictators of the city-state of Vos. Following a botched attempt at igniting war between Iacon and Tarn, Vos itself went to war with Tarn, and both cities were destroyed by an exchange of photon missiles. The survivors of both cities—presumably including Starscream—were gathered together by the ex-gladiator Megatron, who used their bitterness towards Iacon to unite them under his control as the Decepticons. State Games

Four million years ago, Starscream was part of Megatron's attack raid on the Autobot Ark, which ended catastrophically when the ship crashed on Earth, knocking all aboard offline. The Transformers Cold Comfort and Joy! Once upon a Time... In 1984, a volcanic eruption jarred the ship's computer back online, and it reactivated and rebuilt Starscream and all others aboard with new Earthly alternate modes. The Decepticons were quick to begin hostilities on this new world, and during a battle at a drive-thru movie theater, Starscream was sent fleeing when a dose of Cliffjumper's glass gas shattered his chassis. The Transformers

As the Decepticons sought new sources of fuel and power, Starscream attempted to undermine Megatron's decision to attack the Harrison Nuclear Power Plant by proposing that Buzzsaw scout it first. Seeing the wisdom in the idea, Megatron sent Ravage to do the job, and the effective strategies that the Decepticon leader formed based on the information retrieved reminded Starscream never to underestimate his commander's shrewdness. After the plant was seized and its machinery used to construct a base of operations for the Decepticons, the villains attacked the auto repair shop of the Autobots' new human ally Sparkplug Witwicky, and Starscream abducted the human in order to pry from him the method he had created of converting earth fuels into a form Cybertronians could consume. Power Play!

While Sparkplug was put to work, Starscream, Thundercracker and Skywarp were dispatched to England to investigate a Cybertronian signal that was discovered to be emanating from an spaceship that had crashed there centuries before. Reports of this mission are contradictory, but at least one account identified Starscream as the killer of the ship's occupant, the Man of Iron. Man of Iron After returning to America, Starscream took part in a Decepticon attack on Sherman Dam and helped hold off the Autobots while Soundwave supervised the extraction of their energon fuel cubes. Decepticon Dam-Busters! Starscream and the other jets were then unleashed upon the human military forces who attempted a hopeless attack on the Decepticons' base. Under cover of the attack, however, the Autobots were able to rescue Sparkplug. Prisoner of War!

Starscream was soon to advocate pursuit, but Megatron refused, preferring caution, and the frustrated Starscream immediately began plotting against him. Intending to rally the Decepticons behind him by attacking humans in order to orchestrate a confrontation between the Autobots and Decepticons, Starscream was caught monologuing by Ravage, and was forced to try and kill the spy in order to keep his plans secret. Both his attack and his attempt to murder Ravage met with failure however, and when caught, Starscream demanded a Trial by Combat. He was pitted against Brawn and won, but was then shot down by a revenge-seeking Ravage, who blamed the Autobots. The Enemy Within! Subsequently, Starscream was repaired and joined the other Decepticons in an assault on the Ark, though both sides were incapacitated during the battle when Optimus Prime activated the Ark's computer, Auntie. Afterwards, the Decepticons fled, vowing to return. Raiders of the Last Ark

He'd better get used to this.

Powered up using the fuel Sparkplug had created for them and readying for a renewed attack on the Ark, Starscream berated Megatron for allowing Sparkplug to have been rescued, since the human would likely have shared his fuel with the Autobots. A blast from Megatron's fusion cannon, along with the confirmation that Sparkplug had failed to convert fuel for the Autobots, led Starscream to meekly acquiesce to the attack plan. Battle ensuing, but just as the Decepticons appeared victorious, Starscream and the others doubled over in pain, victims of poisoned fuel courtesy of Sparkplug Witwicky. If not for the sudden appearance and intervention by the long-lost Shockwave, the Decepticons surely would have been defeated. The Last Stand Besting the weakened Autobots, Shockwave repaired Starscream and the others, The New Order establishing himself as leader by humiliating the weakened Megatron and parading him in front of Starscream and the Decepticons as a warning. The Worse of Two Evils!

Starscream's treachery is a little more subtle when he's allowed to have thought balloons.

Under Shockwave's command, the Decepticons seized control of one of human G.B. Blackrock's oil rigs, prompting the industrialist to build a super-weapon to fight back. Starscream convinced Shockwave to let him and Frenzy destroy the weapon to boost morale, intending to steal it and use it to destroy Shockwave and take command. Attacking the unveiling ceremony at the Blackrock speedway, the two Decepticons were confronted by the Autobots Jazz and Wheeljack and the robot-hating super-human Circuit Breaker, whose electrical powers caused Starscream to lose control of his jet mode engines, forcing him to rely on robot mode flight as he dragged Frenzy's body away in retreat. DIS-Integrated Circuits! Circuit Breaker would go on to relive some of her encounters with the Decepticons, including Starscream, at Christmas in the town of St. Petersburg. Christmas Breaker!

After Shockwave and Megatron both went missing, Soundwave assumed command, rejecting Starscream's leadership aspirations by labelling him a guileless, tactless "missile with a mouth". These insults notwithstanding, Starscream still proved pivotal in Soundwave's plan to capture Bumblebee, cutting off the Autobot scout's escape. Optimus Prime was subsequently challenged to fight his way through the Decepticons to rescue him, and although Starscream loudly boasted of being a "leader killer", his resolved was lost when he faced Optimus Prime alone, and he was quickly defeated. Crisis of Command!

After being left in a coma thanks to his cybo-dendrons burning out, Grimlock dreamed of slaying Megatron, only to be in turn felled at the hands of Starscream. Victory!

While his higher brain functions were disconnected, Megatron described his adventures with Starscream on Cybertron to the human Joey Slick. Shooting Star!

Returning to the Blackrock Industries oil rig, Starscream and his fellow jets soon found their makeshift base surrounded by government forces, leaving them trapped for weeks. Shockwave returned to help them make their getaway, and charged them using a power siphon he had built during his absence to convert sound energy from a Brick Springstern concert into energon cubes, but they were bested in the attempt by Bumblebee and a group of new Autobot recruits. Rock and Roll-Out! Soon after, Shockwave determined to brainwash Bumblebee and add him to the Decepticon ranks, and Starscream agreed, joining him and the other Decepticons in relentlessly hunting the small Autobot when he was alone. It wasn't until human authorities and the Autobots arrived to rescue Bumblebee did the Decepticons abandon their hunt. Plight of the Bumblebee!

Starscream was among a group of Decepticons staging a petty attack on a human town when a strange energy blast reversed all of their personalities. The cruel robots became big softies, and apologized profusely as they cleaned up the mess they had made. Once the blast's effects wore off, the Decepticons tracked its origin to England. They headed overseas to retaliate for what they assumed to be an Autobot trick.

They split up upon arrival, and Starscream spotted Optimus Prime driving down a highway. He opened fire just as another energy blast once more scrambled his circuits. Now regretting his aggression, Starscream began questioning the whole point of the war, and exclaimed that they needed to "give peace a chance!" He returned to his wicked self in short order, but when he tried to launch another missile at the Autobots, he found that his weapons systems were malfunctioning. He pulled away and resumed tracking the energy blasts, getting hit a third time upon approach. Though this blast left his personality intact, the rest of his systems went haywire. With several other planes performing acrobatics in the sky nearby, Starscream was forced to make a landing for his own safety. Upon making landfall, he was mistaken by Zeke Heilmann to be a an escape vehicle sent by his superiors. Heilmann was a spy who had snatched away the device responsible for the Transformers' recent troubles: the "PARD." Jazz, who had also tracked down Heilmann, tried to stop Starscream from escaping by launching a heat-seeking missile after him. In an attempt to switch to "hyperblast" and outpace the projectile, Starscream found that his systems were still malfunctioning! Instead of picking up speed, he transformed and dumped Heilmann into the missile's path. Both the human and the PARD were obliterated, and Starscream turned to battle the Autobot. But when several Red Arrow jets turned up to investigate the situation, Starscream chose the better part of valor and hid out in a scrapyard to avoid another confrontation. To a Power Unknown!

Around this time, a message sent by Soundwave, containing images of Starscream and the other Decepticons on Earth finally reached Cybertron. Though it was received by Lord Straxus, it was also intercepted by an Autobot resistance cell. The Smelting Pool! Upon establishing contact with Straxus, Starscream was among the Decepticons who joined Megatron on a mission to the space bridge to welcome reinforcements from Cybertron. The Bridge to Nowhere! However, when they arrived at the established coordinates, they discovered that the Autobot resistance cell had arrived over the bridge instead. Before they could attack, Megatron was alerted to an Autobot raid on the Decepticons' base, but rather than return to aid in the defense, Megatron instead ordered an assault on the underguarded Ark. Unfortunately for the Decepticons, they had no reckoned with the newest Autobot, Omega Supreme, who deactivated almost all the Decepticons present, Starscream included. Command Performances!

The Autobots recovered the bodies of Starscream and the other deactivated Decepticons and placed them in life support capsules within the Ark, holding them imprisoned in stasis. Not long afterward, the Autobots were plunged into a state of disarray by the violent arrival of the enigmatic time traveling Decepticon, Galvatron, and Grapple was in such a rush to depart the medical bay and attend a mission briefing that he failed to notice an alert signifying the malfunction of Starscream's capsule. Starscream awoke and punched his way out of the capsule, and proceeded to steal out of the medical area and listen in on the Autobots' briefing. He was shocked to overhear that the Autobots had teamed up with Megatron to defeat Galvatron, and Starscream immediately decided to sneak off to join forces with this powerhouse from the future. Galvatron went along with Starscream's toadying, as the irony amused him; Galvatron was, in fact, a recreated future incarnation of Megatron, and would go on to kill Starscream twenty years in the future!

When Galvatron and his men faced Megatron once again, Starscream shot Megatron in the back, but had to be stopped short of killing him by Galvatron himself, who knocked Starscream unconscious in order to secure his own future existence. Starscream's body was placed back into its stasis capsule by the future Autobots Hot Rod, Kup and Blurr, who then tricked Galvatron into returning to the future through a complicated plan that involved painting Skywarp to look like Starscream, and then duping Galvatron into destroying him. After killing "Starscream", Galvatron rationalized that he must have traveled back to a parallel timeline, since Starscream was not supposed to die until 2006, and returned to the future with his men. Target: 2006

His heart grew three sizes that day.

Rather than do the smart thing and return Starscream to the Ark, the future Autobots rather unwisely left his capsule lying in the middle of a field. As happenstance would have it, Starscream lay there, undisturbed, until he awoke at Christmas the following year. Desolate, he wished he could go home again, and was in mid-mope when he was chanced upon by a a human who sought to inform him of the meaning of Christmas. Urged to help a busload of elderly humans who had become stuck in a snowdrift, Starscream wanted to know what would be in it for him. As Starscream debated this good deed, he was suddenly attacked by Streetwise, who suspected him to be up to his usual do-baddery. After a brief battle, the human intervened to chastise Streetwise, and Starscream proceeded to show up the Protectobot by saving the bus, purely out of spite. Starscream's companion then talked Streetwise into leaving them alone, and the Decepticon was given another lecture on what the Christmas spirit was all about. Though he resisted for as long as he could, Starscream eventually allowed himself a display of genuine altruism, and wished the boy a "Merry Christmas" sincerely. Stargazing

Starscream, Skywarp, and Thundercracker took over a power station near the Charlton hotel on the East Coast, imprisoning the plant's workers and converting its output into energon cubes with a power siphon. They were interrupted in this endeavour by Danny Phillips, who had encountered Transformers before and believed that they were all as good as the Autobots. The Decepticons were in the process of shattering the boy's delusions when Jetfire and the Aerialbots burst onto the scene. A stray shot hit the stack of energon cubes, and though Skywarp and Thundercracker managed to escape in the ensuing confusion, Starscream was unable to shake Jetfire and Silverbolt. Starscream managed to shoot down Jetfire, and then circled around back towards the plant. In response, the Aerialbots combined into Superion. The combiner grabbed Starscream out of the air and violently threw him into the Charlton, reducing it to splinters. Superion was then momentarily distracted by Danny, who decried the pointless destruction he was causing, allowing Starscream to escape. The Return of the Transformers

Starscream helped defend the Decepticon headquarters against a joint attack of Cobra, G.I. Joe and Autobot units while Shockwave directed Power Station Alpha around the globe in an attempt to siphon tremendous amounts of energy from the Earth, which would destroy the planet in the process. ...All Fall Down!

Starscream never awoke in the American stories—his deactivated body remained captive within the Ark for years, and was not rescued until the events of "Totaled!", when Ratbat's forces saved all the Decepticons aboard the craft. When this story was reprinted in the UK, Starscream's name was erased from the artwork. As far as the UK stories were concerned, Starscream sought out Ratbat's Decepticons to join up with them.

Starscream quickly ingratiated himself with Ratbat and became the manager and public face of Club Con, a human island resort that covered their attempt to uncover subterranean information on the legendary Underbase. Club Con! When a pair of Autobot audio and video tapes recording the loss of the Underbase were found, Starscream convinced Ratbat to let him watch the tapes with him. In the "Realvision" playback, he witnessed a young Optimus Prime thwart Megatron's early attempts to possess the Underbase by shooting the legendary database into space. The Flames of Boltax! Starscream then set about a chain of systematic betrayals in order to gain access to that power. He first invited Scorponok and his Decepticons over to Ratbat's headquarters, without alerting his commander to having done so. When Ratbat made a show of force to fend off these "intruders," Starscream stepped in to clear the matter, but any potential alliance with Scorponok had already been damaged. Starscream later volunteered to bring Scorponok for a tour of Ratbat's base, purposely allowing the visitor to learn about the latter's discovery of the Underbase. Scorponok declared war against Ratbat for keeping such vital information from him, allowing Starscream to slip away with Buster Witwicky, whom the Decepticons had been holding prisoner. He gave the human equipment that would lure the Autobots to the Decepticon's Actic base, and left him to freeze on an iceberg. The battle between the two groups of Decepticons served to distract them as Starscream stole a ship from Scorponok to look for the Underbase on his own. Cold War!

Upon finding the ancient database, Starscream began absorbing its power. He was unable to finish the task as he was blasted by Ratbat's ship, piloted by a temporary Autobot/Decepticon alliance. However, while the light of the Underbase had only shone on Starscream for a moment, that moment had been enough to fill him with its awesome power, and the now-cosmically powered Air Commander survived the attack. With newfound strength, Starscream hurled his ship at Ratbat's craft, and promptly headed for Earth with the intention of proving his power by destroying New York, Tokyo and Buenos Aires. The Autobots and Decepticons traveled to those locations to try and stop Starscream, but they ultimately failed, as a massive amount of the Transformers active on Earth were badly damaged and incapacitated by Starscream's Underbase-powered rampage. Starscream only stopped after intercepting a radio transmission between Fortress Maximus and Optimus Prime, and realized that the great Autobot leader was elsewhere, plotting against him. Starscream fled back out into space to seek out Prime, and found the Underbase heading towards him. Starscream attempted to finish absorbing its power, only to have the absolute knowledge overwhelm him, which resulted in his destruction. Dark Star Yesterday's Heroes! Flashback!

Braaaiiiinnnssss!

Starscream's corpse crashed in South America, but the Decepticon still clung to some semblance of life, as his shattered husk was reanimated by the residual energy of the Underbase that still saturated it, and driven by Starscream's own murderous impulses into an insane rampage. After nearly killing Susan Hoffman and her Assistants, the zombie-like Starscream was confronted by Dreadwind and Darkwing, who had been sent by Megatron to recover Starscream's body, and the Autobot Triggerbots. Triggerbot Backstreet was able to appeal to the fraction of the Underbase that was still within Starscream and convinced it to try and regain control of itself, but as soon as it did, Dreadwind and Darkwing had their Powermaster partners Hi-Test and Throttle siphon all the Underbase's remaining power from the walking cadaver. Starscream's corpse returned to being an inanimate pile of scrap, which the pair quickly collected. Race with the Devil

Starscream's remains were delivered to Megatron in his Cybertronian base, who kidnapped Ratchet and forced him to rebuild Starscream with a powerful Pretender shell. The Resurrection Gambit! After the shell had finished healing the body inside, Megatron sent the resurrected, supposedly mind-wiped Starscream to Earth, where he attacked in the middle of a tense meeting between the forces of Scorponok and Optimus Prime. All the Familiar Faces!

These are the Delboest panels ever.

Starscream's new form was powerful, but what gave him his true edge was how much he spooked his victims. He was believed to be a ghost, an invincible force of revenge, and most of Scorponok's troops quickly fled the battlefield. It wasn't until Hot Rod manned up and shot their attacker did they realize that this was no ghost at all, but rather a physical being that could feel pain and be destroyed. This was further sold by Starscream's sudden display of cowardice: Ratchet had arranged for Starscream's true personality to eventually surface, and Hot Rod's blast had knocked it free. Completely outmatched, Starscream surrendered and begged Scorponok for forgiveness. Skin Deep

Although permitted to join Scorponok's Decepticons, Starscream began to wallow in self-pity, believing that all the other Decepticons considered him a joke for his many failed takeover attempts and defeats. His self-esteem crumbled every time the other Decepticons refused to speak to him or spoke about him behind his back. In reality, the other Decepticons were terribly frightened of Starscream (thanks to that whole Underbase thing) and were avoiding him so they wouldn't be killed. Starscream sulked about it for a while until he bumped into a group of Autobots, sent to spy on him. Equally terrified of him as the Decepticons were, the Autobots attempted to flee. This ignited a rage within Starscream; he misinterpreted the Autobots' action as a dismissal of his threat-level. Gunning down and capturing the Autobots, Starscream found his confidence beginning to return. Fallen Star!

Starscream listened in to the dissension he began to cause among the Decepticons, who were angry with Scorponok for letting him back in, and began to scheme to overthrow the current Decepticon leader. Primal Scream Shockwave, believed to be dead at the time, resurfaced and found his way to Scorponok's base of operations in New Jersey. In the middle of the night, he spied Starscream sneaking out, and surmised that the Seeker was up to his old tricks, rather than going out on a sanctioned mission of any kind. All Fall Down He was correct, as Starscream tried to capture the mutant Dynamo and use him as a Powermaster so he could challenge Scorponok. Starscream first met resistance in the form of Circuit Breaker, who tried to rip him apart with her magnetic abilities. Standing out-of-sight, Shockwave interrupted the woman's attack with a laser blast, allowing for Starscream to gain the upper hand and make another grab for the mutant. He was once more interrupted, this time by G.B. Blackrock and his Neo-Knights. While Rapture entranced him in a fantasy world, where Starscream successfully destroyed Scorponok, Thunderpunch beat the Decepticon down with his bare hands. Dynamo then interrupted the brawl, and had each party pitch their recruitment speech at him so he could choose for himself who he would join. Despite Starscream promising the mutant world domination, Dynamo preferred Blackrock's offer at acceptance. Starscream once more tried to take Dynamo by force, only to be shoved down into the nearby surf by Thunderpunch and Circuit Breaker. Upon recovering, Starscream was approached by Shockwave with the proposition of declaring war on Scorponok and taking leadership for themselves. The Human Factor!

Naturally viewing Shockwave as a stepping stone to claiming sole power, Starscream agreed and helped press-gang Triggerhappy and Mindwipe into their group. Eye of the Storm After strategizing in Shockwave's sub-oceanic staging base, they launched their attack on Scorponok's New Jersey base, levelling it from above. Surrender! Starscream was at first willing to call it an easy victory, but Shockwave cautioned him against celebrating prematurely. Scoffing at his co-commander, Starscream urged his teammates to help him in digging out any survivors to give them two options: join them or die. But Starscream had the bad luck of coming upon Scorponok first, who crushed his leg and briefly took him out of the fight. Mindwipe and Starscream subsequently concerned themselves with Scorponok's troops while Scorponok battled his equal, Shockwave. ...All This and Civil War 2 Starscream continued to perform strafing runs on Scorponok's troops until the intervention of the human superhero team the Neo-Knights ended the conflict. Out of Time! Afterwards, all Transformers present were teleported to Cybertron by Primus in advance of the coming of Unicron. Through the body of Emirate Xaaron, Primus told all Transformers present, Starscream included, of their imminent destiny in facing off against his eternal nemesis. The Void!

Ooooh, better leave this one off the resume.

When Unicron appeared shortly thereafter, Starscream and Shockwave opted for the better part of valor, leaving the rest of their armies to take up the fight. On the Edge of Extinction! Although the chaos-bringer was defeated, mysterious tremors began to tear Cybertron apart, so Shockwave had the seek out the Ark. Finding it pretty banged-up, Starscream suggested they instead find a ship in better condition, but Shockwave assured him that the Ark was best suited to their needs. Still Life! The pair rendered the vessel operational once more, and used it to escape the planet. Exodus! Partway into their journey, the sudden appearance of life signals on the supposedly deserted ship prompted Starscream to investigate, and he was horrified to discover that Megatron was on board, having been in a life-support pod. Starscream immediately prostrated himself before his original leader, but Shockwave ordered him away to check the other pods while he dealt with Megatron. Starscream discovered that Ratchet had also awoken and thought the fight would be an easy one, but his callous jokes about the enjoyment he would derive from killing the medic earned him a merciless pummeling. Starscream attempted to shoot Ratchet in the back, but the Autobot doctor jostled his shot, deliberately causing the detonation of a tank of Nucleon. The explosion caused enough of a chain reaction to send the Ark into a crash-landing on Earth. A Savage Circle

Transformers Annual 1985

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Due to being published early in the franchise, these stories are out of continuity with the above.

Starscream was among the troops Megatron brought to the Amazon to excavate rare crystals which could bring new Decepticons to life. Starscream and Thrust were posted as aerial guards, and opened fire on Bumblebee when the little Autobot breached the excavation's perimeter. They hadn't foreseen that Bumblebee came with back-up however, and Starscream was blasted out of the sky by Topspin and Twin Twist. The jet crashed into Megatron's mining operation, destroying it utterly. Hunted!

Marvel UK future timelines

[edit]
The movie adaptation, originally published by Marvel US, is in italics

In one timeline, by the year 2005, the Decepticons succeeded in conquering all of Cybertron, forcing the Autobots to migrate to its two moons. Starscream was at Megatron's side when Laserbeak returned from a spying mission on Moonbase One, with information detailing that the Autobots were planning to make an Energon run to Earth. The Decepticons ambushed the Autobots' shuttle partway to its destination, with Starscream wielding Megatron in his gun mode to slay all aboard the ship. Starscream complained that they had gone after an easy target when their real goal should have been the Autobots' headquarters on the moons, but Megatron revealed he had a better plan in mind; they would use the shuttle to unleash a surprise attack on Autobot City on Earth!

Though the Decepticons attacked the outpost in full force, they were in time driven off by Optimus Prime, who managed to fatally wound Megatron before himself succumbing to his injuries. The Decepticons were forced to retreat back to Cybertron aboard Astrotrain. But their transport didn't have the power to make it back to Cybertron with all those inside weighing him down. Starscream and the rest of the Decepticons who had escaped from the battlefield relatively unscathed voted on dumping their injured, with Starscream casting Megatron out personally. The Planet-Eater!

Starscream then proceeded to name himself the new leader of the Decepticons, going as far as holding a coronation ceremony for the occasion. The procession was interrupted by the arrival of Cyclonus, Scourge, and Galvatron, the latter of the three proclaiming that he was Megatron reborn. With a single, powerful blast, Galvatron reduced Starscream to a pile of scrap and retook his position as Decepticon head-honcho. Judgment Day!

Starscream was similarly responsible for casting Megatron out into space in another timeline, wherein Unicron reformatting the Decepticon leader would yield Galvatron II. A Savage Circle

Earthforce

[edit]
These stories do not fit into the normal Marvel continuity. See Earthforce for details.

In an alternate series of events, Starscream and Shockwave's army grew much larger, and their main competition was not Scorponok, but a revived Megatron and his group of Decepticons. As Shockwave's second-in-command, Starscream was schmoozed. Bugged! Starscream joined his boss in a (failed) attempt to capture Grimlock and find out how he'd resurrected dead Transformers. Two Steps Back!

An attempt on Megatron's part to alter the timeline saw him travel through a Flashback Doorway and possess the body of Snaptrap before Starscream had a chance to destroy him, back when he still had the power of the Underbase. Prowl followed through the time-travel machine, and managed to avoid his initial destruction at Starscream's hand. The Autobot then traveled to the Brooklyn Bridge, and battled Megatron/Snaptrap to insure that he'd be in the right place when Starscream was destined to destroy the Seacons. He succeeded, though he had to allow Starscream to destroy him once more in order to leave the past unchanged. Flashback!

As the Decepticon Civil War went on, Shockwave grew more powerful and had less need to bother with Starscream. The Seeker found he had few responsibilities, and even less power. The final indignity came when he was assigned to mere monitor duty at their undersea base. Still, even that ignoble assignment presented an opportunity, as Starscream caught Megatron's spies, the Insecticons, trying to tune in to Shockwave's war room. After incapacitating the bugs, Starscream surprised them by offering to let them go free, if they would report back to Megatron that Shockwave would be alone at a certain spot the next day, ensuring that Megatron would go out to battle him alone. Bugged! With the trap baited, Starscream contacted his opposite number, Megatron's second-in-command Soundwave, and proposed an alliance. Soundwave had already been playing both sides by feeding information to him, making it easy to blackmail him into "agreeing" to join the Decepticon factions under their joint rule. Sure enough, after Megatron and Shockwave's private battle came under Autobot fire (Autobots who had been anonymously tipped off by Starscream), they radioed their respective bases only to hear that the Decepticons no longer considered the two of them leaders. Soon, of course, Soundwave would be removed too! Internal Affairs!

Starscream's first major action as Decepticon leader was the ol' "bait and switch"—sending Soundwave and a Decepticon strike force to keep the Autobots busy at their Earthbase, while he personally attended to stealing a supply of oil from a tanker in the Gulf of Mexico. It seemed, however, that Starscream's plan hadn't accounted for Earthforce's newest recruits: the Survivors. A quick 1-2-3 by Carnivac, Skids and Inferno took the fight out of Starscream, and so he retreated, radioing his troops to do the same. Soundwave immediately took the opportunity to diss Starscream's leadership and say he'd be so much better... Divide and Conquer!

Sometime later, returning to the Decepticon base in the Louisiana bayous, Starscream suddenly found himself fighting for his life against several mismatched bounty hunters and mercenaries. Believing his co-commander Soundwave must have been responsible for the contract, Starscream stormed back to their headquarters to confront him. Assassins He wasted no words before attacking his "treacherous" partner, but fortunately Soundwave had had the foresight to prerecord an explanation. While trading blows and dodging laser fire in person, Soundwave's recording outlined how the situation was clearly a set-up to make them fight each other. Starscream was made to see reason before he struck a killing blow. Unfortunately, Bludgeon and the Mayhem Attack Squad stormed in at that moment, having been paid by the true contractors, Megatron and Shockwave, to eliminate anyone left standing. External Forces! The two Decepticons would have been overwhelmed if they hadn't received aid from an unlikely source: Earthforce. It seemed the Dinobot Snarl was dying of Corrodia Gravis, a wasting disease which required an energy transfer from a compatible Transformer, and Starscream fit the bill. After driving off Megatron, Shockwave and the Mayhems, Starscream made a deal with Earthforce to help Snarl in exchange for their aid against any future uprising by the former Decepticon leaders. The Lesser Evil!

Soon afterwards, Starscream and Soundwave engaged in Project: Smear, a campaign to ruin the Autobots' good name among the humans, and ensure they received no additional aid in the war. Unfortunately, a straightforward attempt to brainwash Superion into wrecking a human settlement didn't pan out. Inside Story! Soundwave learned that in the wake of this failed first attempt, the Autobots had promised to give an interview to the reporter Irwin Spoon. Though Soundwave was eager to prevent the interview from happening at all, Starscream instead suggested that the Decepticons ensure that the article was written, but from a perspective the Decepticons approved of. Front Line! Starscream had Bombshell use his cerebro-shells to subvert Spoon's will, and compel him to write a story bashing the Autobots and portraying them as kidnappers, or worse. End of the Road!

Transformers Comic-Magazin

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Megatron recreated Starscream as a Pretender in a ploy to get rid of Shockwave, his rival. When a team composed of the Autobot Pretenders Bumblebee, Grimlock, and Jazz tried to stop the Decepticons from using stolen nuclear missiles, Starscream attacked them, but was ultimately defeated by Grimlock. Megatron's Ultimatum

Marvel Generation 2 comic

[edit]
Starscream first appeared, in silhouette, in the G.I. Joe issue "Unfoldings!", in which he and Megatron were seen talking about the possibility that there was another Decepticon left on Earth. Starscream would not reappear during the G.I. Joe crossover, and when the Generation 2 comic proper began, Megatron was seen repairing his deactivated form, retconning his G.I. Joe appearance away.
Who have you been talking to, Starscream?

Starscream was deactivated by the Ark's crash to Earth and remained offline for several years. Eventually, Megatron, who had survived the impact and spent the time repairing the ship and now required troops to stage his comeback, grudgingly elected to repair and reactivate him, questioning his good judgement in the process. All or Nothing! Rescued from the destruction of the Ark at the hands of Fortress Maximus and back in one piece, Starscream flew Megatron to a confrontation with current Decepticon leader Bludgeon, Tales of Earth Part One but wisely kept out of the battle for leadership, instead betting Fangry five triliters of evergon resin that Megatron would win. Unsurprisingly, Starscream won the bet. Tales of Earth Part Two Although back in command, Megatron continued to enact the late Bludgeon's last plan, attacking Earth in order to drawn out Optimus Prime. Starscream joined the Decepticons in assaulting Washington, D.C., jovially chatting all the way through, Tales of Earth Part Three and radioed to Megatron when Prime appeared on the scene. Starscream then watched as Megatron defeated Prime and pilfered the Creation Matrix's energies from him. When Autobot reinforcements arrived, the Decepticons retreated rather than fight on and risk losing their means of bringing a new Decepticon army to life. The Gathering Darkness While Optimus subsequently underwent repairs, he reminisced over all the times he had come to blows against the forces of evil, including Starscream's part in bringing down the Ark millions of years ago. Tales of Earth Part Four

Starscream was among the Decepticons who raided Tykos to steal its Rheanimum, where he grew increasingly aware of the fact that his usefulness to Megatron was rapidly coming to an end. Following the success of the mission, the Decepticons were attacked by Jhiaxus's Cybertronian Empire, but Megatron ignored Starscream's plea for retreat. New Dawn To combat this new threat, Megatron allied the Decepticons with the Autobots, a move that was the last straw for Starscream. Tales of Earth Part Five Though he accompanied the others to planet Ethos in order to drive off the Cybertronian army there, he immediately afterwards went himself scarce. Escalation! Starscream approached Jhiaxus and led his army to the allied Autobot/Decepticon forces at Autobase Earth in return to the promise of an eminent position in his empire. Swarm

This, of course, was also a feint: while the three factions were battling, Starscream led a small squad of Cybertronians to seize the Decepticons' Warworld, and then made his way to the chamber holding the Creation Matrix within. Total War! Using the artifact's power, Starscream fused his body with the giant ship, transforming it and himself into a living weapon. Tales of Earth Part Seven As Optimus Prime and Megatron entered the possessed ship to try and stop him, Starscream exhibited a startling control over the physical nature of the vessel, being able to repair any damage inflicted to it by Jhiaxus's troops, as well as turning the Warworld into an ever-shifting maze of horrors to torment the two leaders. He especially took pleasure in tormenting Megatron, producing spines to impale him and constricting rooms to crush him. Dark Shadows! Starscream was soon to find, however, that merging with the Matrix cut both ways: when Jhiaxus turned his fleet against the Earth, Starscream was suddenly compelled to protect the planet, and was horrified to discover that the inherent purity of the Matrix was prompting him to be "good". Tales of Earth Part Eight Unable to override the heroic compulsions and with no desire to be a hero, let alone a dead one, Starscream returned the Matrix to Optimus and reverted to normal. Fortunately, he was able to avoid any major repercussions for his deceit thanks to the arrival of a much larger threat in the form of the Swarm. Megatron put Starscream to work loading the Rheanimum into a shuttle so it could be distributed among the Autobots and Decepticons to protect them from the Swarm's destructive touch, after which, he left him on the Warworld. Starscream then used a tractor beam to rescue Prime from the Swarm and gave him a canister of Rheanimum before departing for parts unknown, reflecting that his final actions had been highly uncharacteristic and worrying that the Matrix might have done him some permanent damage. A Rage in Heaven!

Fleetway Generation 2 comic

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Starscream waited nearby as Megatron confronted Optimus Prime in London. When the former Decepticon leader was overwhelmed by Grimlock's Dinobots, Prime's Autobots and Bludgeon's Decepticons, Starscream flew in and rescued him. War Zone Some time later, they travelled to confront Bludgeon once again Tales of Earth Part One and Starscream bet Fangry five triliters of evergon resin that Megatron would win. Fangry (and Bludgeon) lost. Tales of Earth Part Two

Classics

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Classics continues from the Marvel US series, and does not include the UK stories or any subsequently published stories.

Through unknown means, Starscream was able to escape the Ark before the ship crash-landed in the Arctic. Venturing out of his own, Starscream soon found himself at a total loss: with no troops to command, he found that he lacked the ability to accomplish anything without a leader to organize things for him. He fell off the grid, eventually resurfacing years later after news reached him that Megatron had also re-emerged on Earth. Left genuinely humbled by his experiences, Starscream simply walked up to the front of the Decepticon base in the remains of the Ark and begged to be allowed entrance, which Megatron permitted. However, once he was upgraded into a new body and feeling himself again, Starscream soon fell back into his old scheming patterns, albeit with much greater patience than before. Now that he had Megatron to reunite the Decepticons, Starscream would bide his time until all their enemies were destroyed, and then he would make his move. Starscream's profile in Club magazine #18

When Megatron returned to the Ark with a mysterious new Decepticon named Landquake, who claimed to have come from another dimension, Starscream dismissed his story as lies, earning a backhand from the his leader. Soon after, the Decepticons departed to investigate a mysterious new energy signal, and Starscream led the attack against the human forces who got in their way. Crossing Over, Part 2 When the Autobots arrived to join the flight, Starscream and Jetfire engaged in a dogfight. Crossing Over: Part 3 Megatron ordered both Starscream and Ramjet to pursue several Autobots that had gone underground, Crossing Over: Part 5 and though Ramjet obeyed immediately, Starscream was unable to shake Jetfire. His pleas for help were thus left unheard. Crossing Over: Part 6

Popular Marvelverse term, "the Seekers."

Not long after the battle's end, Starscream surreptitiously took Skywarp and Ramjet to meet with a squad of new Decepticon arrivals on Earth—representatives from the larger Decepticon army operating out in space under the command of Bludgeon—with a view to forming an alliance with the rival group against Megatron. Unfortunately, their leader Bug Bite proved to be as duplicitous as him: when they were distracted by the discovery that Mirage had been spying on them, Starscream and his fellow jets were tagged with cerebro-shells that put them under Bug Bite's control. At his new master's command, Starscream led Bug Bite and his men back to the Ark, where he turned them on Megatron until Autobot intervention jammed the cerebro-shells and set them free. Games of Deception

When Megatron prepared his final strike against Bludgeon, he sent out three warships to menace the skeletal warrior, commanded by Starscream, Thundercracker, and Octane. Somewhat reluctantly, Starscream did nothing but languish in his command chair in space above Bludgeon's headquarters, as the Seacons acted on Megatron's order to betray and eliminate Bludgeon from within. Starscream just waited for Astrotrain and Soundwave to inform him the deed was done, and the Decepticons below were surrendering and powering down their weapons. A bit cleaner than he would've liked it, but Starscream still had to admire Megatron's skill at deception. At Fight's End

Regeneration One

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Regeneration One continues from the Marvel US series, and does not include the UK stories or any subsequently published stories.
WHEEE!!!!!

Twenty-one years after Starscream had been taken offline by the second Ark crash, he was once again drafted into Megatron's service as part of his zombie army. Unlike the other mindless conscripts—most of whom were Starscream's victims during the Underbase saga—Megatron allowed him to retain a sliver of individuality within him so that he would always suffer the knowledge of his diminished position, though he was at least allowed to ride on the back of the battle sled. Loose Ends, Part 2

Despite Megatron's best efforts, the bit of sentience in Starscream fought to get out, in an attempt to say just two words. All he could manage initially was a choked "kllrtch!", which Megatron dismissed as he assigned Starscream to prepare to ambush the approaching Wreckers, as they sought to rescue the Scraplet-stricken Kup. However, even as Megatron was able to get the best of Springer, Starscream managed to make his way over to Kup. Just when Optimus Prime showed up to confront Megatron, Starscream was able to force out those two words, just intelligible enough so that Kup could understand their meaning: "kill Ratchet!" Loose Ends, Part 4

All Starscream could do then was watch as Kup struggled to reach his gun. Eventually, First Aid reached Kup and provided him with an antitoxin. As Kup regained his strength, he demanded First Aid's weapon, took aim at Ratchet's head on the battle sled, and did what Optimus Prime couldn't bring himself to do all those years ago, despite Ratchet's plea then. By fulfilling Starscream's request and destroying Ratchet, Kup gave Optimus the opening he needed to terminate Megatron once and for all. Loose Ends, Part 5

Starscream's body was the last to be dumped into the pit in West Virginia where the remains of Megatron's army had been gathered, to be incinerated from orbit. However, Starscream was not quite dead yet, and flew out of the pit just before the blast came. He made his way back to the Yukon, where he snuck by Sunstreaker and Roadbuster to enter the Ark. Unknown to Starscream, he was followed... by Galvatron! Natural Selection, Part One

Galvatron greeted Starscream inside the Ark by smacking his cannon-arm across Starscream's face. The time-displaced Decepticon threatened to destroy him (as Galvatron notes, it would be for a second time) unless the Seeker explained why he would return to the now-deactivated starship. Realizing Starscream's inability to speak, Galvatron decided to have Starscream lead him to the reason: the body of Shockwave, whose cranial unit was directly connected to the Ark. This discovery pleased Galvatron. Natural Selection, Part Two

Starscream continued to help Galvatron prepare the Ark for departure, Natural Selection, Part Three though both were unaware that Optimus Prime was on his way to destroy the Ark and that Shockwave was beginning to show signs of consciousness. Natural Selection, Part Four

As Galvatron continued his work elsewhere aboard the Ark, Starscream was snapped out of his haze by a voice—Shockwave's! He was even more surprised to find that his own voice had returned. Shockwave revealed that since Auntie was wiped out, he'd been steadily regaining consciousness, and had become one with the Ark's computer. However, he couldn't operate the Ark by himself; he still required a pilot. Starscream, fully conscious for the first time in years, immediately reverted to his old patterns, and began to plot against Galvatron. The time-displaced Decepticon, however, had already completed repairs to the Ark, and proceeded to take it into the air, just as Optimus Prime arrived on the scene. Natural Selection, Part Five

Starscream continued to play dumb as Galvatron took the Ark back to Cybertron, but on their final approach Shockwave reported an intruder in one of the Ark's hangars. When Galvatron went to investigate, Starscream took control of the spaceship and turned on his erstwhile master—first by attacking him with a Mark V Guardian droid, then by blowing him out of the airlock and finally trying to blast him with the Ark's asteroid-smasher cannon, leaving Galvatron tumbling towards the planet below. Destiny, Part Three When Bludgeon's Warworld showed up and began attacking Cybertron, Shockwave and Starscream deliberated on whether they were going to protect the planet, ultimately deciding that they would by using the Ark's weaponry to destroy the invading craft. Destiny, Part Five

In the aftermath of the battle, Starscream hid the Ark among some asteroids to ponder his next move when he suddenly became aware of the arrival of a new presence near Cybertron... that of Jhiaxus! The War to End All Wars, Part 1 When Shockwave questioned him about Jhiaxus, Starscream replied cryptically that he was one of the five and that they had been waiting a long time for a reckoning. The War to End All Wars, Part 2 Starscream took the Ark to the Hub Network in the wake of the Autobots' failed pre-emptive attack and, requiring assistance against the Cybertronians, restored Shockwave to full operating status. The War to End All Wars, Part 3

While Shockwave directed the Ark's weaponry against scores of Cybertronians and even the Hub itself, Starscream—now once again possessed by the Underbase—pursued Jhiaxus himself on the Hub's Throneworld. Revealing that it consisted of the minds of Rokan, Decanus, Tallus and Boltax, four members of a "brain trust" betrayed by Jhiaxus millennia before, the Underbase sought to make itself "whole" again, sucking Jhiaxus's mind straight out of his body, before leaving Starscream's own body lying next to it. With the Hub disintegrating around them, Shockwave was struck by an uncharacteristic burst of emotion and decided to save Starscream from being destroyed along with it. The War to End All Wars, Part 4

Returning to Cybertron, Starscream and Shockwave found that the planet had been taken over and almost the entire population had been converted into vampiric shadow-leeches. However, they were able to rescue one survivor—Ravage, who had thus far managed to escape the leeches thanks to his legendary stealth. King of Shadows After the creatures had been defeated at great cost, the three former Decepticons gave up the fight and instead travelled the galaxy as ambassadors of peace. The War to End All Wars, Part 5

Transformers '84

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Part of the team that worked on Project Dreadnought, Starscream unknowingly set history into motion when he put the blame for the project's delay on Megatron's obsession with Optimus Prime, setting Shockwave on a plan to become the new Decepticon leader. When Cybertron was sent on the path of the Stellae Cimeterium, Megatron held off any action until he knew Optimus Prime's response. Secrets and Lies #1 Starscream was later present when Punch brought Prime's response in the form of the Ark spacecraft. '84 #0

Part of Decepticon High Command, Starscream was part of the crew of the Nemesis to hunt down the Ark. Secrets and Lies #1 When the Decepticons struck however, the Ark crashed into the nearby Earth, trapping everyone aboard in stasis lock. Secrets and Lies #2

Royal Mail stamp bio

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Starscream was the (in)famous champion of the Helexian Suborbital Races. His fame caught the attention of the rulers of his home city of Vos. After the rulers of Vos made him their figurehead, he betrayed them, becoming the true ruler of Vos, and attacked the neighboring Tarn.

Notes

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Confusing Nelson Yomtov since 1984.
Van Gogh-Bot.
  • For the first half of the American Marvel Comics series, Starscream's chest was colored dark blue, versus the red seen on the toy and in the cartoon. The apparent reason for this discrepancy is hinted at in animated segments in early commercial footage (see right), where Starscream's chest and forearms are black. Lack of color depth in comic books at the time required black to be represented by dark blue. Starscream's "true" colors began appearing in the American Marvel Comics when he made his return in issue 47, "Club Con! (see above)."
  • Even then, though, the bits of Starscream that are supposed to be blue (such as his forearms) were consistently colored exactly the same way as the bits that are supposed to be black (such as his head). Both Generation 2 and Regeneration One carried over this coloring quirk.
  • Another note about his appearance: thanks to the way Starscream is depicted in his Transformers Universe profile, José Delbo interpreted that his head is asymmetrical and routinely drew him with only one ear.
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