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 his leader Megatron and assume control of the Decepticons.

Starscream is ruthless, cruel, bloodthirsty, and more intelligent than the average Decepticon, but also, unlikely to act directly on these aspirations without first securing conditions favorable to his ascension.

[3] 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.

Launchers mounted on his arm (under his wings in jet mode) can deliver cluster bombs capable of leveling a 10,000 square feet (900 m2) area and fire his signature null ray, which for brief periods disrupts the flow of electricity in any circuitry it contacts.

[7][citation needed] Starscream was formerly a scientist and explorer, working with the future Autobot Skyfire, during the Golden Age of Cybertron, shortly before the Autobot/Decepticon war re-erupted.

Following the disappearance of Skyfire when the two were exploring a prehistoric Earth,[8] Starscream returned to Cybertron and soon abandoned his scientific pursuits, becoming a warrior in Megatron's Decepticon army as the civil war exploded.

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.

He is defeated by the combined efforts of Optimus Primal and Blackarachnia, freeing Waspinator's body, and sending Starscream's ghost hurtling back into the depths of space.

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.

However, this incarnation displays a resolute tenacity towards his objective, shown by his flying around in a brutally damaged Nemesis to track down the Allspark's energy signature for 50 years by himself.

This version is depicted as a much darker character, constantly plotting his rise to becoming the Decepticon leader and mercilessly killing Autobots, as evidenced when he terminates Cliffjumper in the series premiere.

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.

In the season finale, "Deadlock", Starscream helps the other Decepticons fight the Autobots when they board the Nemesis, and later witnesses Bumblebee slay Megatron with the Star Saber, before escaping with Shockwave to go into hiding.

[citation needed] 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 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.

In the sequel series Transformers: Robots in Disguise, 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.

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.

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.

In Transformers: Timelines volume 2 #2, "Games of Deception" Megatron detects the arrival of Bugbite's ship on Earth and sends Starscream, Skywarp and Ramjet to investigate.

In the early days of the war on Cybertron, he devastated Iacon with a terraforming process and went on to form his own faction called the Predacons when Megatron vanished in a space-bridge experiment.

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.

To accomplish this, Unicron used his power to open dimensional rifts in order to bring Curse Armada Thrust, Zombie War Breakdown, and Wandering Roller into their world.

In the Nintendo DS version of the game, Transformers: Autobots, Starscream serves as a boss at the end of the Arctic levels, trying and failing to kill Ironhide.

In Transformers: Dark of the Moon, which acts as a prequel to the film of the same name, Starscream (voiced by Steven Blum) is playable in the fifth level, where he intercepts and destroys a weapons transport mid-flight, battling the Aerialbots in the process.

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.

Japanese: During the production of the live-action film, writer Alex Kurtzman stated that Starscream would not stray from his treacherous roots as he seeks to overthrow Megatron, and frequently engages in arguments with him.

In the first film, he is seen vehemently pledging his allegiance to Megatron when the latter breaks free from the Hoover Dam, but unlike the other Decepticons, he is not killed in the final battle and leaves Earth at the end of the movie.

Like in Bumblebee, Starscream's appearance was based on his original Generation 1 counterpart and doesn't share any traits with the previous incarnation from the Michael Bay films.

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.