| Starscream | |
| |
| Voiced by: | Charlie Adler |
| Appearances | |
| First Appearance: | Transformers (film) |
| Appearances: | Transformers (film) Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Transformers: Dark of the Moon |
|---|---|
| Last Appearance: | Transformers: Dark of the Moon |
| Details | |
| Species: | Cybertronian |
| Allegiance: | Decepticon |
| Rank: | Air Commander |
| Alternate Modes: | Lockheed Martin F-22A Raptor |
| Status: | Destroyed |
Starscream is Megatron's air commander and treacherous Decepticon lieutenant. Though Starscream typically tries to suck up to Megatron, he secretly wants to overthrow him as leader of the Decepticons.
Biography
After the Cybertronan War, when Megatron disappeared searching for the AllSpark, Starscream took over as leader of the Decepticons. He and several other Decepticons eventually arrived on Earth, looking for the AllSpark.
Starscream lay in wait at a US air base, disguised as an F-22 Raptor, when covert agent Frenzy reported that the AllSpark had been located, along with Megatron, underneath Hoover Dam. Though he had long feared this day would come, Starscream ordered the rest of the Decepticons to mobilize. The others responded, with Blackout rallying in the name of Megatron.
Starscream attacks Hoover Dam
The first to arrive, Starscream attacked the hydroelectric power plant attached to the dam to cause havoc to Sector Seven's operations and to speed the thawing of Megatron. With Frenzy's sabotage, Megatron quickly broke free of his icy restraints and escaped the facility. He almost immediately met with the waiting Starscream, who repledged his loyalty to Megatron. Demanding to know what had happened to the AllSpark, Megatron was told by his second-in-command that it was now in the possession of the humans. Furious, Megatron berated his lieutenant for yet another failure and ordered an attack on them.
Starscream during the Battle of Mission City
During the assault on Mission City, Starscream fooled Captain Lennox's unit by using his jet mode to pose as one of the Air Force providing cover. Starscream launched an attack that crippled Bumblebee as Ironhide realized too late who the fighter really was. As Sam ran with the AllSpark, Starscream swooped down, blocking his path, only to be attacked by both Ironhide and Ratchet. After fighting without much effort, but still besting them, Starscream took to the skies again, instead of securing the AllSpark from the now-defenseless Sam.
While Megatron attempted to retrieve the AllSpark from Sam, Starscream perched on nearby buildings and shot down an Army Blackhawk helicopter when it attempted to help Sam evacuate the AllSpark. Eventually, real F-22 Raptors from the US Air Force arrived, and Starscream disguised himself. Pretending to be a part of their squadron, Starscream surprised the human pilots by transforming in mid-air and destroying three of the Raptors before he was fired upon. He transformed back into his disguise and fled, and was (apparently) not seen in the closing moments of the battle between Optimus Prime and Megatron.
Starscream leaves Earth
Most of the Decepticons were defeated, and their bodies cast into the deepest part of the ocean. Ultimately, Starscream retreated from Earth into space.
Two years later, Starscream was unconcerned with reviving his leader Megatron, choosing to spend his time as acting commander on the Nemesis engineering a new army. His plan was failing miserably, as without energon the hatchlings were dying. After Soundwave successfully executed his plan to resurrect Megatron, Starscream (who may or may not have known of said plan) attempted to welcome his commander with open arms, only to be criticized for leaving him for dead. Starscream defended his actions by saying The Fallen decreed the spawning of a new army, and that in Megatron's absence, someone had to take command. This was a bad choice of words on Starscream's part, as Megatron slammed him into a hatchling sack and told him the simple truth: even in death, there is no command greater than Megatron's.
Starsceam confronts Sam, Mikaela and Leo
Megatron noted the plight of the hatchlings though, and sought the advice of The Fallen, whom Starscream had kept on life support, on another source of energon now that the AllSpark was destroyed. The Fallen revealed there was another source, and that the key to attaining it was through the boy who had killed Megatron. But first, The Fallen commanded that they kill Optimus Prime, the last of the Dynasty of Primes, so that he would be safe. Since Optimus would come to protect Sam, it would be a simple matter to capture him. Starscream arrived and announced that they had an agent within sight of the boy. He was eager to get the energon, as the hatchlings would keep dying without it.
Starscream aided in Sam Witwicky's capture by cutting open the car Grindor had captured him in, and watched as Megatron and Scalpel threatened to dissect him for the information in his mind from the AllSpark regarding the energon source. Optimus and Bumblebee arrived to rescue Sam: Starscream let Megatron do most of the fighting in the factory, before Optimus blasted him through the wall and drove off with Sam to a forest.
Starscream arrived, immediately going for the boy, but Prime ran interference, grabbing Starscream, suplexing him, and kicking off part of his mouth, leading the three Decepticons to gang up on him. Surprisingly, it went quite poorly for the Decepticons: Prime was able to take on all three, using Starscream as a shield and sending his artillery flying at Grindor.
Megatron punishes Starscream
After stabbing Megatron multiple times, Optimus ripped off Starscream's arm. Starscream could only cry out in horror as Optimus then used it as a club against the Decepticon. Although Optimus managed to kill Grindor, Megatron eventually managed to kill Optimus, but before they could retrieve Sam, the rest of the Autobots arrived while Bumblebee spirited Sam away. Megatron and Starscream were forced to retreat.
Starscream and Megatron flew to the top of a New York City skyscraper, where Starscream revealed that they had lost track of the boy. Megatron berated Starscream and hit him with the detached arm he was trying to stick in, furious that he lost track of "a single insect." Starscream countered that there were seven billion more on the planet, and that he could be anywhere at that point. Megatron decided to reveal the Decepticons' presence to the world: Starscream stood openly atop a skyscraper during the rejuvenated Fallen's announcement to the world.
After Soundwave learned that Sam was in Egypt, Starscream flew to investigate. Locating the boy, he fired upon Bumblebee, Skids and Mudflap, who had Sam, Mikaela Banes, Leo Spitz and Seymour Simmons as their passengers, bombing them to no avail. Bumblebee, Simmons, Leo, and the Twins drew Starscream's fire while Sam and Mikaela fled to the NEST soldiers. During his flyby of the NEST team, he released an electromagnetic pulse that took out the humans' communications, but saw Prime's body. Meeting Megatron atop the pyramid which hid the harvester, Starscream informed Megatron of his discovery, and Megatron ordered the assault to begin.
Starscream after the Battle of Egypt
As Sam and Mikaela tried to reach Optimus to revive him with the Matrix of Leadership, Starscream led several Constructicons and Protoforms in a search for Sam. It wasn't going very well, to the point that Starscream literally started shooting the ground in anger. An Insecticon drone managed to find them, and Starscream tore the roof off the building they were in, but the two humans managed to lose them again. Starscream then ordered Rampage to hold Sam's parents Ron and Judy for ransom: Sam was ready to exchange the Matrix, but Bumblebee rescued them and killed Rampage. Starscream was unable to search for Sam any longer and was soon drawn into the battle with NEST, joining his comrades in firing on them.
Starscream watched from the sidelines as Optimus was resurrected by the Matrix, and combined with Jetfire. Although The Fallen had obtained the Matrix and activated the Star Harvester, as he had predicted, the last of the Primes killed The Fallen and destroyed the harvester. Starscream stood next to Megatron, who had lost his right arm and had half his face blown off thanks to Optimus Prime, and advised that they should flee, something that Megatron acknowledged.
Starscream and Megatron at Decepticon High Command
Three years later, Megatron, who was living as an exile in Africa, initiated a plan set up by him and Sentinel Prime near the end of the Cybertronian War. Starscream met up with Megatron, Soundwave and Laserbeak at Decepticon High Command in Africa, where Laserbeak and Soundwave reported that the Autobots had discovered the Ark, as planned.
Starscream and Megatron in Washington D.C.
Later in Washington, D.C., as Sentinel Prime summoned a Decepticon army to Earth via Space Bridge, Starscream was surprised to learn that Sentinel had been leaving to defect all those many years ago. He noted the brilliance in Megatron's scheme, and asked if Sentinel was now his partner, and Megatron retorted that Sentinel was his greatest achievement, and explained that they were to meet up on Earth, but both were waylaid by fate. Later, the Autobots were forced by the humans into exile by Sentinel's demand, and their ship, the Xantium, departed Earth with them inside. Starscream, lying in wait for the moment in Earth's upper atmosphere, swooped in for the kill, destroying the ship and seemingly all eleven Autobots on board. Starscream subsequently helped take Chicago for the Decepticons, and stood by his leader as they worked on their plan to bring Cybertron itself into Earth's atmosphere with Sentinel's Pillars.
Starscream about to destroy the Xantium
When the still-alive Autobots made an attack with NEST, Starscream attacked the V-22 Ospreys carrying Lennox's team as they tried to sneak into Chicago using wing suits. Although Starscream took out most of the aircraft, Lennox and many soldiers managed to jump to safety. Later in the battle, Starscream took several potshots at Epps's team, separating Sam and Carly from the soldiers. Relishing a chance to be alone with Sam once again, Starscream mocked and toyed with the human while trying to kill him. However Sam had a grappling hook from Que on hand, and fired it into Starscream's optic, partially and painfully blinding the Decepticon.
Starscream attacks Sam and Carly
Starscream flailed around in pain, causing Sam to fly through a building window. Lennox's team then arrived and began firing on Starscream. As he tried to return fire, Sam jumped onto his shoulder and stabbed a boomstick into his remaining optic, fully blinding him. Starscream began losing control, screaming in panic and pain as he tried scraping it out of his eye on the ground, cursing the humans. Lennox attempted to free Sam from the grappling wire, but the panicked and agonized Starscream flew up to the top of a nearby building, taking them both with him. As he swore to kill the humans, the boomstick went off, fatally blowing off a large chunk of Starscream's head and causing his chest to explode, leaving his lifeless body to fall to the ground.
Trivia
- The card back of Protoform Starscream's packaging features a completely different, earlier head sculpt. What's more, this head design is featured on his protoform body in IDW's movie prequel comics. It's since become Starscream's standard "pre-Earth" face, likely out of consistency.
- His protoform was not the only design to get a new head. The earliest concepts of Starscream's head were more skull-like and oblong in shape. This was, of course, redesigned to look more "like a samurai helmet." Unlike the redesigned head of Megatron, Starscream's earlier face only shows up in one piece of media: the book Look and Find Transformers.
- Starscream's final head design was one that was rejected for Megatron.
- It has been suggested that, following his attack on the F-22 squadron over Mission City, Starscream was able to hide among the squadron and take part in the attack on Megatron shortly thereafter. This theory is speculative; While it fits the character of the Generation 1 Starscream, there is nothing on the screen to suggest it. (Roberto Orci was asked, but refused to give a definite answer).
- Starscream's bio for his Deep Space figure mentions that he re-energized himself at a power plant after the Mission City battle. Whilst this was not seen in the film, it appears others caught notice of it.
- Hasbro mentions that his arch-enemy is Megatron.
- Starscream's rivalry with Megatron was only shown in IDW comics and other related media, but was never shown in the three films, with the only hint for his desire of leadership was pathetic excuses for leaving him behind dead on Earth in Revenge of the Fallen, along with obviously sarcastic comments and sinister hand rolling in Dark of the Moon.