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Origin
Donna Diego worked for the Life Foundation, an organization that was preparing for the M.A.D. (Mutually Assured Destruction) fallout of the Cold War and sought to provide a comfortable life for their wealthy clients following the impending nuclear holocaust. Donna was a member of the organization’s security forces who volunteered to be bonded with an alien symbiote that had been forcibly spawned from the Venom symbiote. By bonding with the symbiote, Donna Diego became Scream, one of the Life Foundation’s superhuman Guardians.
Creation
Scream was created by David Michelinie, Ron Lim, Sam DeLarosa and Al Milgrom in 1993 and first appeared in Venom: Lethal Protector #4. Scream was the only one of the Five Symbiotes that was officially named shortly after her creation. The rest of her symbiote siblings were given similar monikers as various symbiote action figures in a Venom toy line.
Major Story Arcs
Lethal Protector
During Venom’s time as Lethal Protector of San Francisco, Scream and her “siblings” were defeated by the combined might of Eddie Brock (host of the Venom symbiote) and Spider-Man. Scream’s symbiote was artificially aged to dust and her body was believed to have been caught in a massive explosion when the Life Foundation destroyed their facility.
Separation Anxiety
It was later revealed that the symbiotes had survived due to efforts by the Life Foundation. The symbiotes’ hosts however were unable to communicate properly with their respective symbiotes, and so Scream sought out both Venom and Scarlet Spider for guidance. She wound up being rejected by both however, with past animosities holding strong.
When Eddie Brock was later separated from the Venom symbiote by the government, Scream and the other Five Symbiotes broke him out of prison and kidnapped him in a last ditch effort to communicate with their alien “others.” Unfortunately Eddie refused to aid them, due to Carnage’s example that his “children” became psychopathic killers. After Agony was mysteriously killed, supposedly by Brock, Phage went on a rampage to avenge her by killing Brock. Phage wound up dying however under similarly mysterious circumstances because of a sonic knife that could cut through symbiotes. As it turned out, Scream’s host, Donna, had snapped from a possible case of schizophrenia and her symbiote’s influence, now believing that the symbiotes and any who host them were evil. She tried misleading the other symbiotes into thinking Eddie Brock was picking them off, but she eventually lost her patience and went on to kill the rest of the symbiote hosts. Scream was about to kill Brock, until the Venom symbiote arrived for its host and merged with Brock again. Together as Venom, they defeated Scream who later wound up being apprehended by federal agents.
Scream later joined up with Sinister Six.
Venom: The Hunted
Recently she began to regret her villainous ways and began to help the other symbiote hosts by teaching them how to deal with their symbiotic half. She tried to protect the remaining symbiotes left on Earth after the Planet of the Symbiotes from the Xenophage, as a way to repent for her crimes.
Donna eventually teams up with Venom when he was in a fight with Dirt Nap. Then she found herself stuck in Dirt Nap’s ship, eventually she stopped him though. She decided to follow in Venom’s footsteps and stay neutral between good and evil.
Hunt for the Symbiotes
Long after Eddie Brock and Venom had become separate entities, Eddie went on a symbiote hunting spree. Eddie’s first target was Hybrid, a merged entity of Scream’s symbiote siblings, whom he killed with what seemed to be incendiary bullets. Eddie knew that Scream would hear about Hybrid’s death, and left a trail for her to follow. When Scream arrived at the scene, Eddie used a sonic device to paralyze her, and then revealed that he had a knife set in a furnace. He then used the burning hot knife to stab Scream to death, mirroring Scream’s infamous use of a sonic knife on her symbiote siblings.
Other Media
Television
Scream appears in Marvel’s Spider-Man as part of the third season, Maximum Venom. She is voiced by Meg Donnelly. This version of the characters is one of the “Symbiote Sisters” created by Knull, alongside Scorn and Mania.
Games
Spider-Man & Venom: Separation Anxiety
Scream appears as a boss in the Spider-Man & Venom: Separation Anxiety video game. She is one of the 5 Life Foundation Symbiotes.
Marvel: Avengers Alliance
After murdering Agony, Lasher, Phage, and Riot’s host for the Circle of 8, Scream emerges as one of the symbiotes working for Norman Osborn alongside Carnage and Hybrid.
She is a recurring villain in the game, making her debut in Special Op 18: Symbiosis.
Her bio says: One of the five offspring extracted from the Venom symbiote, Scream mauled her siblings and then fled the lab where she was created.
Spider-Man 2 (by Insomniac)
Scream appears in Insomniac’s third Spider-Man game. She is created by Venom and forcefully bonded to Mary Jane in effort to attack Spider-Man.
Amusement Park Ride
The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man
In this ride, J. Jonah Jameson sends out a group of reporters (you and the other riders) to investigate The Sinister Syndicate. You infiltrate the Syndicate’s underground hideout and see Scream working alongside Doctor Octopus, Hobgoblin, and Electro. Electro spots the intrusion and you try to escape. After your ordeal with Electro, Scream catches up with you. She pounces at you, but Doctor Octopus, wanting to test out his new anti-gravity ray (which is part of the Syndicate’s plan to terrorize New York), grabs her just before she reaches you and throws her against a wall. When you escape from Doctor Octopus, you meet Spider-Man in the sewer, where it is revealed that Hydro-Man is working with them as well. Spider-Man buys you time to escape from Hydro-Man, but you run into Doctor Octopus again. He tries to attack, but Scream grabs him from behind with her hair and pulls him through the brick wall that he’d destroyed. While Scream and Doctor Octopus fight, you escape to the city streets. It is assumed that Doctor Octopus won the fight as Scream is not among them when the Syndicate is terrorizing New York with their anti-gravity gun, and she is not seen again for the duration of the ride.
Merchandise
- Scream was featured in ToyBiz’s Venom: Planet of the Symbiotes action figure line.
- Scream was featured in Hasbro’s Marvel Legends line as part of the Monster Venom Build-a-Figure wave.