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Starscream is a character in the Transformers media franchise produced by the American toy company Hasbro and the Japanese toy company Takara Tomy. He is the second-in-command of the , a villainous faction of alien robots that seeks to conquer their home planet of Cybertron and the rest of the known universe. As with all Cybertronians, Starscream can disguise himself by transforming into vehicles, in his case a fighter jet, and he is usually portrayed as a treacherous and cowardly air commander who seeks to overthrow the Decepticon leader, Megatron, and assume control of the Decepticons.
Starscream has the ambition to overthrow Megatron as the Decepticons' leader. He has gained the control he craves on several occasions, but he eventually suffers defeat. Starscream is ruthless, cruel, bloodthirsty, and more intelligent than the average Decepticon, but is also unlikely to act directly on these aspirations without first securing conditions favorable to his ascension. He considers himself vastly superior to other Decepticons and finds Megatron contemptible for his antiquated military strategies and tactics.
Starscream believes the Decepticons should employ guile and speed more readily than brute force to defeat the Autobots. However, given the chance to lead, he is often less successful in this than Megatron. While Megatron frequently overlooks him as a threat, authors suggest such reasons for Megatron's tolerance of Starscream's presence as a grudging respect for his scheming nature and precautionary observation.McCarthy, Shane. The Transformers: All Hail Megatron. Vol. 11, IDW, 2009, p. 9, 16 vols. Others suggest that Starscream's treacherous nature is welcomed; that without a threat to his command, Megatron believes he would become soft and overconfident, or that he even found his transgressions amusing.Roche, Nick. Transformers Spotlight: Megatron. IDW, 2013, p. 23. Even so, Starscream often quickly exhausts Megatron's patience; violent-yet-brief verbal and/or physical conflicts between the two are not uncommon. As such, there have been times when Megatron has been close to killing Starscream.The Transformers: The Movie. Written by Ron Friedman, De Laurentiis Entertainment Group, 1986.
Starscream’s first appearance is in the 1983 Diaclone toy catalog, in which he is introduced as one of two colorations for a toy called “JetRobo” that transforms into a McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle.Kōjin, Ōno. 1983: Waruder's on the Ropes! Translated by Ben Weier, TransformersLand, 1983, pp. 9-10. Accessed 17 May 2023. Later when Hasbro purchased this toy mold, along with several others in 1984, he was introduced and given the name Starscream in the Generation 1 animated series and the adjacent Marvel Comics series. As Decepticon Air Commander, he leads the other Decepticon Seeker jets, many of whom share his physical design. His technical specifications indicate top speed as Mach number 2.8 and altitude ceiling as . Launchers mounted on his arm (under his wings in jet mode) can deliver Cluster munition capable of leveling a area and fire his signature null ray, which for brief periods disrupts the flow of electricity in any circuitry it contacts. This action temporarily renders inoperable any electronic device or machine, including Transformers. "More Than Meets The Eye: Part One." Written by George A. Bloom, The Transformers, First-run syndication, 17 Sept. 1984.
In "Starscream's Brigade", he attempts—in what was then only his latest in a series of attempts—to overthrow Megatron as the leader of the Decepticons. After being defeated and exiled in Guadalcanal, Starscream finds the remains of some World War II military vehicles, which inspire him to create an army of his own. He travels to Cybertron using the Space Bridge, forcing the guards and eluding Shockwave to do so. He breaks into the Decepticon Detention Center and steals the five personality components of Renegade Decepticons, then installs them into five wrecked military vehicles and they become the Combaticons. The Combaticons (who combine to form Bruticus) and Starscream then capture four Transformers. When Megatron rallies his troops (except the Stunticons) against Starscream and the Combaticons, he deploys Devastator to fight Bruticus, but Devastator is defeated. Megatron attempts to retreat, however Starscream orders Bruticus to capture Megatron and hold him while he gloats and humiliates him. While this is going on, the Stunticons arrive, combine into Menasor and defeat Bruticus. Megatron then orders Astrotrain to exile Starscream and the Combaticons to a distant asteroid. In the next episode, "The Revenge of Bruticus", the Combaticons blame Starscream for their punishment. They imprison him on Cybertron after he abandons them, and plan a devastating revenge on Megatron by pulling the Earth towards the Sun using Cybertron's controls. After proving his worth in helping Megatron and Optimus Prime (who teamed up to prevent the Earth from destruction) stop the deranged Bruticus, Starscream gets restored to Decepticon ranks.
In , Starscream and many other Decepticons participate in the battle of Autobot City, leaving several Autobots killed. After the Decepticons' defeat, they retreat to Astrotrain. In order to reduce Astrotrain's mass, the Decepticons were left with no choice but to jettison the heavily damaged Skywarp, Thundercracker, and Insecticons into space, and Starscream tosses a mortally wounded Megatron out of Astrotrain. After that, he nominates himself as the new leader of the Decepticons. However, during a grandiose coronation ceremony, Megatron, who has been reborn as Galvatron alongside Cyclonus, Scourge and the Sweeps, arrives and declares the coronation a "bad comedy". Starscream realizes that Galvatron was once Megatron, and Galvatron transforms into his laser cannon mode, obliterating Starscream with a single shot.
However, while Starscream's body has disintegrated, his "spark" remains as a ghost and returns later. In "Starscream's Ghost", he encounters his old friend Octane in the Decepticon Crypt and conspires with him to hand Galvatron over to Rodimus Prime, the new leader of the Autobots. Starscream possesses Cyclonus's body and tricks Galvatron into being captured by the Autobots. Galvatron escapes and later shoots Cyclonus when he realizes that Starscream's ghost is possessing his second-in-command. The vengeful ghost easily escapes and re-appears in an additional episode, "Ghost in the Machine". In the episode, he first appears to possess Scourge and reactivates the head of Unicron. Starscream then makes a deal with Unicron to restore the latter's sight and body by stealing the eyes of Metroplex and transformation cog of Trypticon, and wiring Unicron's head to Cybertron. Starscream successfully accomplishes most of this, however, when he can no longer possess Scourge, he demands that Unicron restore his own, original body so that he can complete the connections. Unicron complies and again demands that Starscream complete the connections, only to have Starscream double-cross him and tell him to "do it himself". At this point, the Autobots set off an explosion that blows Unicron's head and Starscream out into space. As Starscream tumbles out of control, he encounters the Decepticons who unleash all of their firepowers on him, damaging him and pushing him farther into space. Starscream is not encountered again in G1.
During the Unicron Battles, Starscream was one of the five Cybertronians who received a power boost from the Mini-Cons, giving him a new blue color scheme that makes him look like Thundercracker. Despite having the original G1 Thundercracker color scheme, Starscream was never renamed into the fellow seeker but had stated "I look like Thundercracker" when he gained the new body colors. When Thrust was ousted as a servant of Unicron, Starscream reunited with Alexis and gave chase, though he ultimately failed to catch him. When Megatron, now calling himself "Galvatron", refused to acknowledge the existence of Unicron and the potential threat he carried, Starscream challenged his leader to a duel and allowed him to stab him in the chest with the Star Saber. After a final sendoff with Galvatron, the seeker pulled the Star Saber out of his chest, exposing his spark, and fired on Unicron directly, only for the Chaos Bringer to fire a bolt of lightning that completely disintegrated Starscream, killing him. Starscream's death ultimately convinced Galvatron of Unicron's existence and he allied the Decepticons with the Autobots to end the threat.
In Energon, set ten years later, Alpha Q revives Starscream and wipes all memories of his old life to use him as his personal assassin. However, Megatron eventually gets a hold of Starscream, using his newfound connection with Unicron to brainwash him into his loyal second-in-command. Later in the series, he is exposed to a pool of super energon, making his armor impervious to laser fire as well as recoloring it, making him resemble his original G1 colors. In the final episode, Starscream, along with Mirage, follows Galvatron into an energon sun, Galvatron having done so to break Unicron's hold over him.
Starscream returned again in Cybertron as a darker, more ruthless character. While he appears to be loyal to Megatron like he was in Energon, he secretly prepares a coup against him to become the leader of the Decepticons. This results in a fracturing of the group, with Starscream discovering a group of ancient Decepticons, including two named Thunderblast and Lugnutz; he also recruits neutral Transformers Sideways and Soundwave. After several encounters, Starscream and Galvatron have one final battle which ends with Starscream, Soundwave, and Sideways being transported into another dimension. He is later located by Wing Saber, who teams up with Landmine and Mudflap to go after him.
In Season 1, Starscream betrays and tries to kill Megatron in the first episode. Megatron learns about this soon after and kills Starscream in the season finale. In Season 2, a battle between Autobots and Decepticons destroys the Allspark, but Starscream is resurrected by a shard of the Allspark that had been embedded on his forehead. Throughout the season, Starscream continues to try and eliminate Megatron, but his plans fail every time. One attempt includes Starscream's creation of a squadron of clones of himself, each one of which embodies a side of his personality. Unfortunately for Starscream, the clones (except Thundercracker and Skywarp, who are sucked into space) eventually betray him and join Megatron. In the season finale, Starscream's body is destroyed, reducing him to nothing more than his head. In Season 3, Starscream "teams up" with Megatron to conquer Cybertron and destroy the Autobots, only to betray him again after regaining his body in the season finale. However, he is stopped by Lugnut and dies after the Allspark fragment keeping him alive is removed from his forehead.
Throughout the first half of season one, Starscream serves as the Decepticons' leader after Megatron is critically injured and placed on life support (aided in his injuries by Starscream's attempt to assassinate him). However, once Megatron revives, Starscream is beaten and punished, returning to his position as second-in-command. Following Megatron's attempt to destroy Starscream, as well as his further humiliation at the hands of the Decepticon Airachnid, Starscream attempts to defect to the Autobots, only to be almost killed by Arcee after she discovers he is the one who murdered Cliffjumper, her former partner. He subsequently decides to go independent, seeking revenge against both the Autobots and Megatron.
In season two, Starscream makes several attempts to get back at the Autobots and Megatron, such as siding with the human terrorist organization M.E.C.H. and creating several clones of himself, but these all end in failure (and even result in him losing his ability to transform for most of the season), and he becomes more comedic in his ineptitude. He eventually gains a powerful Iacon relic known as the Apex Armor and also manages to obtain speed-enhancing red energon, though he loses the former to the Autobot Smokescreen. After learning of the Omega Keys, powerful Cybertronian relics that can be used to revive Cybertron, Starscream decides to steal them from the Autobots and give them to Megatron as a peace offering, wishing to rejoin the Decepticons. He succeeds and soon regains his old position as Megatron's first lieutenant after his current second-in-command, Dreadwing, is killed. Starscream is later instrumental in the kidnapping of the Autobots' human allies, the creation of the Decepticon fortress Darkmount on Earth, and the destruction of the Autobot base.
In season three, Starscream is forced to share his high-ranking position with Shockwave and tries to earn Megatron's respect by finding the Autobots before his rival, which results in an outbreak of energon vampires when he foolishly combines Dark Energon with unstable Synthetic Energon, resulting in the loss of over half of the Decepticon forces and the Insecticons Hive. Starscream is also distrustful of Predaking, the Predacon cloned by Shockwave to hunt down the Autobots, a feeling which is proven correct when Predaking shows he is sentient and capable of transforming. It is also he who suggests terminating the Predacon soldiers they have been creating, including Predaking, and blames it on the Autobots, later causing Predaking to turn against them after he learns the truth. In the season finale, "Deadlock", Starscream helps the other Decepticons fight the Autobots when they board the Nemesis, and later witnesses Bumblebee kill Megatron with the Star Saber, before escaping with Shockwave to go into hiding.
In the TV movie Predacons Rising, which functions as the finale to Transformers: Prime, Starscream and Shockwave are the only remaining Decepticons on Cybertron, as the others have either been taken prisoners or joined the Autobots, forcing the pair to constantly move labs to avoid detection. Starscream helps Shockwave clone two Predacons, Skylynx and Darksteel, as part of their plan to rebuild the Decepticon army, and is later witness with Shockwave to the arrival of Unicron (possessing Megatron's upgraded and resurrected body), who plans to destroy his brother Primus, who forms Cybertron's core. Believing Unicron cannot be stopped, Starscream frees the captive Decepticons, including Knock Out, and attempts to take command of the Nemesis and flee Cybertron, but is stopped after Knock Out betrays him and sides with the Autobots. Starscream is then imprisoned along with the other Decepticons, though he eventually escapes and returns to Megatron after the latter is freed from Unicron's control. Starscream is eager to rejoin him, but Megatron rebuffs, saying that he has lost his taste for inflicting oppression and that the Decepticons are no more. Starscream then eagerly attempts to reinstate himself as leader of the Decepticons, but is confronted by Predaking, Skylynx, and Darksteel, who are intent on revenge for their cruel treatment at his hands. Starscream is last seen fleeing terrified by Skylynx and Darksteel.
In the sequel series , it is revealed that Starscream survived his encounter with the Predacons, having inadvertently killed Skylynx and Darksteel by setting off a room full of weapons. After reformatting his body, he hid until he could regain his full power, tracking seven Minicons Megatron had been experimenting on to give himself greater power than even a Prime. This led the Autobots to believe he was dead and allowed him to operate incognito. Eventually, Starscream was able to find the Minicons on Earth and hired an Insecticon and two mercenaries named Roughedge and Shadelock to retrieve them for him. He also came into possession of Megatron's Dark Star Saber and promptly took control of it, though the sword rejected him and he could not access its full power. Nevertheless, he still desired the Minicons' power as part of his plans for revenge and galactic conquest.
After the Autobots Fixit, Jetstorm and Slipstream are captured during the hunt for the Minicons, Starscream has them brought to him. Upon learning that his old enemy, Bumblebee, is also on Earth, he threatens to terminate the Minicons unless Bumblebee surrenders to him. Bumblebee promptly does so in order to secure their release, and Starscream merges with six of the seven Minicons. Unfortunately for Starscream, Optimus Prime arrives and merges with the seventh Minicon before defeating Starscream with the help of Bumblebee's team. After being separated from the Minicons, Starscream falls comatose and is loaded onto Optimus's ship for transport back to Cybertron where he will face justice for his crimes.
In the 2022 show , Starscream served under Megatron during the war between the Autobots and Decepticons, until Megatron's defection to the Autobots sometime after their arrival on Earth. He partook in the Battle of the Spacebridge, unsuccessfully trying to prevent the former Decepticon leader from hurling the AllSpark through the spacebridge back to Cybertron. Optimus Prime's destruction of the spacebridge, as well as the loss of the AllSpark, brought the war to a swift end. Fifteen years later, Starscream was captured and imprisoned in a secret G.H.O.S.T. detention facility. Undeterred, he watched with glee as a newly-captured Soundwave released Ravage into the facility to perform recon. While still a prisoner, Starscream glared angrily as he watched Skullcruncher be experimented on by G.H.O.S.T.
Starscream, Nova Storm and Skywarp managed to escape G.H.O.S.T. HQ into an old cave system, where they encountered the Malto kids and were menaced by a Dweller. To his surprise, Starscream found a sympathetic ear in Hashtag, who listened to his stories of abuse at the hands of Megatron, and when the kids came up with a plan to trap the Dweller, Starscream talked the other Seekers into helping. During the attempt, they encountered Megatron, who had ventured into the caves in search of Starscream, and during the ensuing fight, Starscream and Hashtag were carried off by the Dweller. Starscream was willing to sacrifice himself to allow Hashtag to escape, but Hashtag managed to defeat the Dweller and save him. In the aftermath, Megatron offered Starscream a safe place to go, but Starscream turned him down, teleporting away with Nova Storm and Skywarp. Learning of Mandroid's plan to wipe out all Cybertronian life, Starscream, Nova Storm and Skywarp returned to aid efforts to stop the mad scientist. Starscream gleefully took the opportunity for some payback on Megatron, whom Mandroid had mind-controlled to protect the superweapon he had created. Ultimately, Mandroid activated the weapon, causing Starscream and Megatron to drop lifeless from the sky. However, the pair were brought back online a short time later when Robby and Mo used their cyber-sleeves to reverse the effects.
One year after Mandroid's defeat, Starscream, leading the Decepticons, works with the Autobots to locate the scattered fragments of Emberstone, but the latter betray them and seek the fragments for their conquest. This leads to the creation of the Chaos Terrans and the discovery of secrets about Witwicky himself, and Starscream prepares to put his plan into action. Trapped inside Quintus Prime, Starscream is abandoned after the Decepticons escape with Prowl's ship. Starscream is controlled by Mandroid, who attempts to rebuild the space bridge in order to destroy all of Cybertron. After being defeated, Starscream returns to his cell.
Starscream appears in the novel , and its sequels; and . Here he and the Seekers were the bodyguards of Sentinel Prime, but captured him and pledged their allegiance to Megatron when the war between Autobots and Decepticons broke out. Starscream proved to be a treacherous subordinate as usual, looking for every opportunity to play both sides to his advantage so that his circumstances would be favorable regardless of the outcome. In an attempt to see Megatron destroyed, he released Sentinel Prime so that the deposed leader could eliminate the leader of the Decepticons, only to see Sentinel Prime fall. Starscream attacked Megatron himself but proved unable to defeat the Decepticon leader and was forced to submit to his authority again. He would join the crew of the Nemesis, and continue to seek Megatron's overthrow through a bargain with the Quintessons.
At the same time, the United Kingdom offices of Marvel Comics were producing their own storylines which were interspersed throughout the U.S. material. Simon Furman portrayed the character's scheming and ambition with more subtlety than the animated series, making Starscream more intelligent and cunning. He was often the focus of his own stories, including a Christmas special based around Starscream's misery at being stranded on Earth. In this story and in many others written by Furman, Starscream often came across as wry and sarcastic. He was one of the most formidable warriors in the Decepticon army and adversaries were often shown to be visibly intimidated by him.
Starscream made an appearance in the Decepticon forces under the command of Megatron in issue #7 of the Marvel Generation 2 comic series; in a story called "New Dawn" Megatron led his Decepticons against Jhiaxus' second generation Cybertronians near the moon of Tykos. The Decepticons were defeated and Megatron was left injured, presumed dead, but swearing revenge.
Starscream appears in the 2008 April Fool's comic Shattered Expectations by Fun Publications. He and Razorclaw confront his world's Goldbug, Grimlock and Jazz. When the Autobots refuse to surrender the Decepticons call in the Mayhem Suppression Squad.
Starscream then appears in the BotCon 2008 Timelines comic Transformers: Timelines story "Shattered Glass" as one of the troops of the heroic Decepticon Megatron. Starscream, Divebomb and Whisper drop "glass gas" bombs on the Autobot's Ark launch platform to make it vulnerable to attack.
Starscream appears in the fiction Dungeons & Dinobots, a text-based story from Fun Publications. He defends the Arch-Ayr fuel dump from an Autobot attack.
The toy for the heroic Starscream is a redeco of the Cybertron Voyager Starscream and was available only in the 2008 BotCon. His color scheme is an homage to the Generation 1 Autobot Jetfire.
Dreamwave Productions produced a companion comic for the G1 toyline just as Marvel Comics produced, it was different from the animated continuity. In these comics, the Armada incarnation of Starscream had a much smaller role but was written in a fashion much closer to the original treacherous G1 character - a trait that would ultimately lead to his seeming demise when the Energon comic book began. He still possessed elements of the animated Armada Starscream, such as an unwillingness to shy away from the battle.
Starscream would appear in many of Megatron's subsequent schemes, including capturing Swindle, attempting to capture Mini-Cons for his own use, and launching an attack on the Mini-Con base on the Moon. His next appearance would be 10 years after Unicron's defeat. When Starscream gatecrashed a meeting of the – renegade Decepticons who were unhappy with the peace between Autobot and Decepticon that had emerged in the wake of Unicron's defeat – at an energon plant, his mistake soon became apparent when he discovered that they had struck a deal with Unicron and gained new "Hyper Mode" powers. When their leader, Scorponok, arrived, Starscream was unable to talk himself out of trouble and was blasted into the plant's machinery by Scorponok, seemingly dying. But Starscream survived. The raw energon in the plant reacted in some mysterious way, giving him a ghostly body of pure energon (like the cartoon Energon version, this was also a homage to the ghost form of the original Starscream). In this form, he ended up attacking Demolishor and draining him of his energy. Due to the collapse of Dreamwave, the series was stopped.
Beast Wars Second Starscream had a biography printed in the Beast Wars Sourcebook by IDW Publishing. IDW also published a one-shot Transformers story as part of their Deviations series that heavily featured Starscream: "'Til All Are One."
In this story, an alternate version of events from The Transformers: The Movie, Starscream took over leadership of the Decepticons after Optimus Prime killed Megatron. Thus, it was Starscream who first encountered Unicron and allied the Decepticons to him, after being upgraded by Unicron's power into the mighty Megascream. He briefly hunted the Autobots in an effort to destroy the Matrix of Leadership, but later turned against his benefactor when Unicron devoured one of Cybertron's moons, which Starscream saw as his own. When Unicron attacked Cybertron itself and Optimus Prime arrived to try and stop him, Megascream demanded that he hand over the Matrix, and combined with Astrotrain, Soundwave, Ramjet, and Dirge into a massive new form. However, Rodimus Prime soon arrived to rescue Optimus, and unleashed the power of the Matrix, resulting in Unicron's demise as well as that of Megascream and himself.
Starscream appears in Activision's , based on the 2007 live-action film. He is voiced by Daniel Ross. In the Autobot campaign, Starscream appears as a boss in the second mission of the fourth chapter, where he is defeated by Jazz. In the Decepticon campaign, Starscream acts as Decepticon leader until Megatron's resurrection and is playable in the third chapter. A color scheme for Starscream inspired by the Generation 1 version of the character can be unlocked by completing the Decepticon campaign. In the Nintendo DS version of the game, , Starscream serves as a boss at the end of the Arctic levels, trying and failing to kill Ironhide. In , Starscream initially serves as leader of the Decepticon forces on Earth and Create-A-Bot's mentor but secretly plots to seize the AllSpark for himself. After killing Bumblebee, Starscream takes the AllSpark, kills Megatron loyalist Blackout and Barricade, and battles Megatron and his disillusioned apprentice. He is eventually defeated by Create-A-Bot and then executed by Megatron for his treason. The G1 Starscream color scheme also appears as an unlockable bonus form for Create-A-Bot.
In the sequel , itself based on the film's sequel, Starscream acts as leader of the Decepticons following Megatron's death, though he returns to his old position as second-in-command once Megatron is resurrected. He is playable in several levels of the Decepticon campaign, and appears as a boss, alongside Megatron, in one of the final levels of the Autobot campaign. In , which acts as a prequel to the film of the same name, Starscream (voiced by Steve Blum) is playable in the fifth level, where he intercepts and destroys a weapons transport mid-flight, battling the Aerialbots in the process. He also appears in the Nintendo 3DS and Wii versions of the game, though he is reduced to a minor supporting role.
Starscream appears in . He serves as a boss in the third and eleventh levels of the single-player campaign, fighting Bulkhead on both occasions and is playable in the multiplayer mode.
Starscream is initially depicted as an Autobot Sky Commander who, following a demotion by the Autobot leader Zeta Prime, was appointed guardian of an ancient space station dedicated to creating Dark Energon. When Megatron and his Decepticons attack the station, hoping to use Dark Energon to gain an advantage over the Autobots, Starscream tries to stop them but fails. Megatron then tempts Starscream with power and, after proving capable of wielding Dark Energon, convinces him to join the Decepticons. Starscream and his fellow Seekers, Thundercracker and Skywarp, are then ordered by Megatron to reactivate an old Energon Bridge to allow the manufacture of more Dark Energon. The trio succeeds, and Starscream is later shown leading the Decepticons' aerial squadrons during Megatron's invasion of Iacon City, the Autobots' capital. When Megatron orders the deployment of Dark Energon bombers, Starscream refuses, feeling they would be wasted, but Megatron overrides his refusal. Later, when Megatron is presumed dead while fighting Omega Supreme, Starscream wastes no time to declare himself Decepticon leader, only for Megatron to quickly confirm he is still alive and order Starscream to attack Omega Supreme as a distraction tactic. Shortly after, when the battle seems lost, Starscream is ready to sound a retreat, which Megatron overrides by threatening to execute any retreating Decepticon. In the Autobot Campaign, which directly follows the Decepticon Campaign, Starscream battles his former allies Jetfire and Silverbolt, and attacks Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, and Ratchet in the Decagon Plaza. However, he is forced to retreat after being injured by Optimus's axe.
Starscream returns in the 2012 sequel , where, after Megatron is killed by Metroplex, he assumes command of the Decepticons. However, Starscream proves to be a poor leader, using most of the Decepticons' energy supplies to further his own ego, resulting in many Decepticons becoming distrustful of him. After the Autobots harvest the Energon from a destroyed Space Bridge, Starscream plans to ambush the Autobot transport carrying it and steal it for himself, but rebuffs Onslaught' warnings about the transport's anti-aircraft cannons, resulting in most of the Decepticon aerial squadron being destroyed. Starscream orders a retreat, but the rebellious Combaticons disobey him and manage to capture the transport, albeit losing half of the Energon supply. Starscream promptly has them arrested for treachery, along with all those who defied his reign. Later, as Starscream decides to have a coronation to celebrate him becoming leader of the Decepticons (in an homage to the ), he is confronted by a revived Megatron. Megatron assumes leadership once again while Starscream is forced to flee, becoming a wanted fugitive. Starscream is playable in the level "Starscream's Betrayal", where he infiltrates Shockwave's lab to sabotage his experiments as part of his revenge plan against Megatron, and encounters a captured Grimlock. He offers the Autobot freedom in exchange for his fealty, but Grimlock instead grabs Starscream and throws him into a control panel, freeing himself and leaving Starscream unconscious.
Starscream also appears in the 2014 game , set between the events of War for Cybertron and Fall of Cybertron. He, Shockwave, and Soundwave are ordered by Megatron to search the abandoned Crystal City for a powerful artifact called the Dark Spark, which could secure the Decepticons' victory in the war. Although they manage to find it, and even secure the loyalty of a swarm of Insecticons along the way, the Dark Spark is grabbed by the Autobots first, who escape with it. Starscream follows them, trying to recover the Dark Spark, but is attacked by the Insecticons and is unable to prevent the Autobots from boarding a train. Fortunately for the Decepticons, Shockwave rigged the train with explosives, and he and Sharpshot are able to recover the Dark Spark from the Autobots.
In 2009's , Starscream is first seen aboard the Nemesis shipwreck and is confronted by a returning Megatron, angry that Starscream left him to die. Starscream explains that he and the Fallen engineered a new army of Decepticons, but reveals to Megatron that without sufficient energon levels to feed them, the hatchlings destined to become the new army will keep dying. Later in a factory near Sam's college, Starscream watches as Megatron plans to cut out Sam's brain and later Optimus Prime and Bumblebee arrive. Starscream joins Megatron and Grindor in a battle against Optimus Prime in the forest, which resulted in Optimus cutting off Starscream's right arm and ripping Grindor's head in half, however Megatron managed to kill Optimus by stabbing him in the back and shooting his spark out. Megatron and Starscream retreat as the Autobots arrive to save Sam. Megatron berates Starscream again after failing to capture the human. During the battle in Egypt, Starscream informs Megatron about the NEST soldiers and the Autobots planning to resurrect Optimus with the Matrix of Leadership. Starscream then leads the Decepticons on the hunt for Sam and Mikaela, sends Rampage after them, and leads the assault against the Autobots and NEST. After the Fallen was killed by super-mode Optimus Prime and Megatron was badly damaged, Starscream advises his leader to escape.
In 2011's , Starscream first appears alongside Megatron, Soundwave, and Laserbeak in Africa. He gloats about Megatron's weakened state, which angers his master. In Washington DC, after Sentinel Prime betrayed the Autobots, Megatron and Starscream both witnessed Sentinel Prime bring an army of Decepticons to Earth from the Moon. He later shoots down the Autobot spaceship, the Xantium, after they have been exiled by the U.S. government. After the Autobots are thought to be dead, Megatron, Starscream, and Sentinel witness the city of Chicago is being invaded and attacked by a massive Decepticon army. During the battle in Chicago, he meets Sam again and mocked him. Sam uses a grappling glove that was given to him by Que/Wheeljack to take out Starscream's right eye. Starscream then panics and sends Sam flying through the air than through a window of a nearby building. NEST soldiers led by Lennox arrive and they attack Starscream. Sam finally kills him using a boomstick given by Que/Wheeljack and stabs him in the other eye, blinding him and eventually blowing his head up.
In 2014's , a photo of Starscream appears with a red X indicating his death.
In 2017's , Starscream's rebuilt head is brought by Daytrader to Cade Yeager with Daytrader puppeting Starscream's mouth. Unamused, Cade knocks Starscream's head aside. It is later found by Megatron who briefly laments to it before abandoning the head in Cade's junkyard.
In 2018's Bumblebee, Starscream appears during the battle on Cybertron in a non-speaking cameo and is commanded by Soundwave to attack the Autobots. Due to the film being a reboot and ignoring the events of the previous films, Starscream was redesigned based on his G1 incarnation and does not share any traits with the previous live-action character.
In 2024's Transformers One, where he is voiced by Steve Buscemi, Starscream is the leader of the Cybertronian High Guard, who were hiding on the surface of Cybertron after Sentinel Prime's betrayal. His forces capture miners Orion Pax, D-16, B-127, and Elita-1 after they escape an ambush by Sentinel. Starscream then interrogates the miners until D-16 fights and eventually subdues him, causing the High Guard to follow D-16. Shortly after, they are found and attacked by the forces of Sentinel Prime, where Starscream is captured after attempting to flee. After D-16 kills Sentinel and becomes Megatron, Starscream and the other High Guard immediately pledge loyalty to him, even after they are exiled from Iacon by Orion Pax, who is now Optimus Prime. In the post-credit scene, Starscream and the rest of the High Guard are renamed Decepticons, with Megatron as their new leader. Like in Bumblebee, Starscream's appearance was based on his original Generation 1 counterpart and does not share any traits with the previous incarnation from the Michael Bay films.
Starscream returns in Transformers: The Veiled Threat. With Megatron dead, Starscream eventually returns to Earth around Zambia, where he gains control over local rebel groups by using his internal synthesizers to create gold coins.
Starscream also appears at the end of issue #3 of , where he, Blackout and Barricade destroy the Mars Beagle probe. In issue 4, he travels to Earth, gaining his F-22 alternate mode by scanning an experimental Raptor before shooting it down.
He appears in the official movie sequel comic called " ".
In Transformers: Rising Storm, it is shown that Starscream has broken away from Megatron's rule, and formed his own army - Club Starscream - with Barricade and some others under his command. However, after blasting his way past Ruination and Deadlift, Shockwave tells Starscream that Megatron requires his services. Shockwave then sends Starscream to recover the drone called Brains.
Starscream is among the playable characters in the 2009 video game by Activision.
In the Nintendo DS game, , Starscream was the temporary leader of the Decepticons until The Fallen forces him to revive Megatron.
Starscream appears in the 2011 Dark of the Moon video game. As a Hunter, he can be played on Xbox Campaigne and multiplayer
Starscream is among the characters who appear in the TRANSFORMERS CYBERVERSE Battle Builder Game.
Beast Wars Second Starscream had two toys produced exclusively in Japan. In 1997 he was released as a black redeco of Generation 2 Smokescreen. This same toy was recolored into Robot Masters Smokesniper. In 1998 he was released as "Hellscream", a remold of Beast Wars Cybershark. This second toy was eventually released with a slight color change in the US as Universe Overbite. Hellscream was voted the ninth strangest Transformers Beast Wars figure by Topless Robots.
The Armada toy was the first new-mould Starscream figure since 1990, and it clung to tradition with a jet alternate mode and a robot form featuring many callbacks to the original Starscream figure, such as shoulder-wings, air intakes on the shoulders, a cockpit in the chest, and a head-sculpt designed to look like the original animated character. When the Mini-Con port on his backpack is pulled back and held, an electronic jet-take off noise is made. Attaching his Mini-Con partner Swindle to this port, however, unlocks his shoulder-mounted null laser cannons, and changes the sound to a repeating laser blast. Swindle can also mount under the jet-mode nosecone – by pressing the cockpit, Swindle is dropped to the ground with an accompanying electronic noise, while a press without Swindle attached yields more noises. In robot mode, Starscream's left wing can detach and unfold into a sword for him to wield.
Starscream for the 2007 and 2009 movie had numerous toys released. He was one of two promotional figures released long before the 2007 movie as a "protoform". During the 2007 film release he was sold in various size classes as a licensed F-22 Raptor replica. These toys were recolored and released as fellow Decepticons Ramjet, Skywarp, and Thundercracker. During the 2009 film, he was released as both redecos of the 2007 film toys as well as new molds. All toys of this character are officially licensed from Lockheed Martin.
Animated Starscream also received numerous toys in many size classes during the run of the Animated toy line. Many of the Starscream toys were recolored as his clones Skywarp, Thundercracker, Ramjet, Dirge and Sunstorm. In 2008 a McDonald's Happy Meal was produced with a simple transforming Starscream toy inside to promote the series. This Starscream was also released in the Universe toy as a small Legends figure, shipping with a whole wave of tiny Animated characters. In Japan the Starscream figures were released in metallic finish by Takara.
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