Starscream (voiced by Charlie Adler) is a sinister, conniving Decepticon warrior in Michael Bay's Transformers film series. While he originally believed in Megatron's ideas of aggressive expansion of Cybertron's empire, over time he saw the Decepticon leader's methods as flawed. Over the centuries, as Megatron began pursuing power for its own sake, Starscream became convinced that Cybertron required new leadership for the sake of the Cybertronian species' survival. Sadly, as time went on, Starscream's scheming and subterfuge would corrupt him just as much as Megatron.
History[]
Transformers (2007)[]
After the AllSpark was launched into space, Megatron went in search of it, leaving Starscream to command the remaining Decepticons on Cybertron. This was a token promotion at best as Starscream still had no real authority, since the other Decepticons were acting on Megatron's last orders before his departure. Centuries later, Megatron would send a signal to his forces informing them that the AllSpark was on Earth where he too was frozen in ice. Starscream would have happily left Megatron to his fate and taken the AllSpark for himself, but the other Decepticons remained fiercely loyal to Megatron and would not have stood for Starscream's treachery.
By 2007, Starscream had led a small Decepticon task force to Earth to find Megatron and the AllSpark. While on Earth, he infiltrated the United States Air Force by taking on the form of an F-22 Raptor fighter jet. The time ventually came when his covert agent Frenzy discovered both the AllSpark and the inert Megatron, contained within the headquarters of Sector Seven located beneath Hoover Dam. Begrudgingly, Starscream rallied the other Decepticons to liberate their leader. When Starscream arrived at Hoover Dam, he saw that the Autobots were fleeing along with several human vehicles, taking the Cube with them. Megatron then emerged and met with his old lieutenant, berating him for failing to retrieve the Cube.
The Decepticons followed the Autobots to Mission City where a furious battle erupted for possession of the AllSpark. During the battle, Starscream attacked several human aircraft that attempted to intervene and destroyed a Blackhawk chopper that sought to pick up the AllSpark. Despite Starscream's aerial superiority, the battle ended with the death of most of the Decepticons - including Megatron - and the apparent destruction of the AllSpark. With his allies lost, Starscream transformed and took to the stars, heading for parts unknown.
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen[]
Even after Megatron's demise, Starscream was unable to assume command of the Decepticons. The Fallen had returned and summoned Starscream to the Nemesis where he was to oversee the production of the new Decepticon army. But without a sufficient energon supply, the Decepticon hatchlings would die, and so the Fallen coordinated the Decepticons' efforts to revive Megatron after obtaining a shard of the AllSpark cube.
With Megatron restored to life, the Fallen decreed that they needed the AllSpark to save their dying race. While the cube had been destroyed, its essence had been transferred into the mind of Sam Witwicky, a young human and ally of the Autobots. Megatron and Starscream returned to Earth and abducted Sam, intending to extract the AllSpark knowledge from his brain, but this was interrupted by the Autobots. However, this was also part of the plan and the Decepticons took this opportunity to overwhelm and kill Optimus Prime. With Prime dead, there was no one capable of stopping the Fallen. The Fallen landed on Earth and issued an ultimatum to the human race: surrender Sam Witwicky or face extinction.
Megatron and Starscream led an army of Decepticons to Egypt where the Fallen had long ago built a device capable of harvesting the energy of an exploding star. There, the Decepticons battled against the Autobots and the forces of NEST for control of the Matrix of Leadership, an ancient Cybertronian relic that the Fallen needed to power the Sun Harvester. Sam had obtained the Matrix and used it to resurrect Optimus Prime. Revived and enhanced thanks to the elderly Seeker Jetfire, Optimus destroyed most of the Decepticon forces, annihilated the Sun Harvester and killed the Fallen. Megatron and Starscream retreated from the battle and went into hiding.
Transformers: Dark of the Moon[]
Three years after their defeat in Egypt, the remaining Decepticons were hiding in the wilds of Africa, with Starscream aiding Megatron's recovery. What Starscream was unaware of was that a plan was underway to retrieve vital components for a Space Bridge which would allow the Decepticons to bring Cybertron into close proximity to Earth. This scheme was being aided by former Autobot leader Sentinel Prime who had struck a bargain with Megatron long ago, shortly before Cybertron's downfall.
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 triumph, and explained that they had intended 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 high up in the Earth's atmosphere, swooped in for the kill, destroying the ship and presumably 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 Space Bridge. When the still-alive Autobots made an attack with NEST, he attacked the V-22 Ospreys carrying William 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 Robert Epps's team, separating Sam Witwicky and Carly Spencer 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 flailed around in pain, causing Sam to fly through a building window. Then Lennox's team arrived and began firing on him. 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 it, screaming in pain and panic as he tried scraping it out of his eye on the ground. Lennox attempted to free Sam from the grappling wire, but the panicked 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, blowing Starscream's head and chest apart. His lifeless body fell to the ground in pieces while Lennox and Sam were saved from the fall by Bumblebee.