Scream

Lore & Background

The Scream symbiote was one of the five symbiotes forcefully spawned from the original Venom symbiote, and was their unofficial Californian leader. Donna Diego was a volunteer for the Life Foundation, a survivalist group within the American government preparing both for the mutually assured destruction fallout of the Cold War and to provide a comfortable life for wealthy clients after the impending nuclear holocaust. Carlton Drake was experimenting with symbiotes in the hopes of creating so-called 'super-cops' to watch over the imagined fallout shelter utopia, and Diego was picked from the security force made up of police, soldiers and mercenaries. During Scream's first public appearance, she encountered Spider-Man while terrorizing a shopping mall near Salinas, California. Quickly bested by the more experienced fighter, Scream escaped in a hovercraft which returned to the Life Foundation's base. Unknown to her, Spider-Man had hitched a ride on that same hovercraft. Once Spider-Man helped Eddie Brock escape, Scream and the other guardian symbiotes, Lasher, Phage, Riot and Agony, then tangled with Spider-Man and Venom, but Venom turned an accelerated aging device on the five. The age-accelerating machine appeared to make the symbiotes age to dust before the Life Foundation blew up the base.

Reader's Guide

Donna Diego's superhuman abilities stem from the Scream symbiote. Scream often uses her 'hair' as a weapon to wrap or tangle enemies (much like Medusa of the Inhumans), and can mimic clothing as camouflage. Like Spider-Man and the Venom symbiote, Scream has wall-crawling and web-slinging abilities, and boasts an early-warning sense. Scream also possesses some degree of superhuman strength but the exact limits of which are unknown. Following the symbiote invasion of Earth, Diego was one of the few remaining symbiotes on Earth. Seeking to redeem herself for her crimes, she busied herself tracking down and helping benevolent symbiotic survivors. After her companions began dying mysteriously, Diego tracked Xenophage, a huge alien that devours both symbiotes and their hosts' brains. Diego assisted Venom in killing the Xenophage, but was gravely injured. After her recovery, Scream sought out the Xenophage's hidden ship to help her track down more symbiotic survivors. The ship transported her and others (including Venom and Wolverine) into another dimension where Scream gets nearly killed once again by the villainous mutants Dirtnap and Chimera. Upon her successful return to Earth, she disappeared, presumably to continue her search for the few remaining symbiotes. Scream is next seen investigating the murder of Scott Washington (aka the symbiotic hero Hybrid). She is trapped by Brock. With the Scream symbiote incapacitated by a sonic device, Brock uses a super-heated knife to kill Scream.

Did You Know?

• Donna Diego was mentally ill and had been hearing voices long before she bonded with the Scream symbiote.
• The Scream symbiote has had four different hosts: Donna Diego, Patricia Robertson, Andi Benton, and Mary Jane Watson (in the video game Spider-Man 2).