# Songbird (character)

Songbird (Melissa Gold), formerly known as Screaming Mimi, is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Originally a supervillain, she possesses supersonic sound abilities that can cause a variety of effects.

## Publication history

The character first appeared with the name Screaming Mimi in Marvel Two-in-One #54 (August, 1979), and was created by Mark Gruenwald, Ralph Macchio, and John Byrne.
She made numerous appearances as a supervillain before taking on a new role as a superhero in the Thunderbolts series.
After some time away from the team, she returned as a regular character in Thunderbolts beginning with issue #144, and appeared as a supporting character when the title transitioned into Dark Avengers beginning with issue #175.
In June 2015, Songbird was announced as a team member in the relaunched New Avengers, part of the "All-New, All-Different Marvel" branding.

## Fictional character biography

Melissa Gold was a runaway from home and her alcoholic father while her mother was incarcerated. To survive while homeless, Melissa took on a hard edge for her personality, calling herself "Mimi". She was ultimately imprisoned, and while there she met the female wrestler Poundcakes, who invited Melissa to become a member of the Grapplers using Screaming Mimi as her name, joining with Titania and Letha.
The Grapplers as a team became known for both their colorful personalities as well as their antices ringside, however the wrestling federation did not give the Grapplers an opportunity to earn as much money as their male counterparts. The group instead decided to earn more income agreeing to perform a covert operation that the Roxxon Oil Company hired them to do. Roxxon gave the Grapplers special paraphernalia for this mission, and Mimi was given an apparatus to convert her voice into high-frequency sonics to perform various effects. They tested these new powers while fighting Thundra inside a wrestling ring. While the Grapplers were on their mission, they followed Thundra into Project Pegasus where Roxxon wanted them to smuggle the Nth Projector into the facility. The mission failed because the heroes Quasar and Giant-Man defeated them. The Grapplers were convicted at trial and were sent to Ryker's Island prison. Mimi and the Grapplers victimized Dazzler after she was incarcerated with them.
Some time later the Grapplers were paroled, and they learned that women's wrestling had lost momentum without the Grapplers, so they resumed work as professional criminals for financial support. Mimi and the Grapplers attacked the Thing when he was hospitalized, and they fought Captain America. Afterwards, the Grapplers helped establish a women's division for the Unlimited Class Wrestling Federation for superpowered wrestlers. Their manager, Auntie Freeze, made arrangements for the Grapplers to enhance their abilities artificially with through the Power Broker. While most of the Grapplers were given superhuman strength, the vocal enhancements for Mimi were instead implanted in her throat. (It was long believed that Mimi was also given superhuman strength, however by her own account to Mach-1 it was only the other Grapplers that were augmented.)
The all-new team of Grapplers became a legitimate professional success although this was short-lived. Titania was later murdered by a vigilante called the Scourge, and Mimi joined the female wrestlers in a group attack against the Thing, who they blamed for Titania's death. Scourge later also killed Letha, and the Grapplers then broke up.
Mimi was later contacted by the criminal Baron Helmut Zemo to join his version of the Masters of Evil. Her first assignment was to help bust the female Yellowjacket out of prison, but Mimi was captured in the subsequent battle with the Wasp, Black Knight, and Paladin. She was bound, gagged and arrested. Later, she formed a romantic and criminal partnership with the similarly-empowered Angar the Screamer, at one point battling the Avengers Hawkeye and Mockingbird. The pair impersonated Hawkeye and Mockingbird, but battled them and were defeated. Mimi was also seen among the various female superhumans aboard Superia's cruise ship, where she battled Captain America and Paladin. Angar was eventually mortally wounded by a gunshot during a robbery attempt that went sour, and died in Mimi's arms after they escaped. Mad with grief, Mimi screamed, burning out her power. Immediately afterward, she was contacted by Baron Zemo once more, and she accepted his offer to join a formative Masters of Evil. Zemo allowed Mimi to be nursed back to health, and his accomplice, the Fixer, gave her new powers via a voice-augmenting harness and high-tech implants in her neck based on technology from the villain Klaw. With her newly transformed powers, she resumed the use of her given name Melissa, and adopted the identity of Songbird as a member of the Thunderbolts, a new Masters of Evil group posing as superheroes to win the world's trust while secretly plotting world conquest under Zemo's direction. However, Melissa and most of the other Thunderbolts grew to like their heroic roles. In particular, Melissa began to truly grow into her own and even began a romance with her teammate Abner Jenkins, alias MACH-1, formerly the Beetle. Ultimately, the Thunderbolts turned against Zemo, foiling his attempt at world domination and rescuing the Avengers in the process. Melissa continued to serve with the team, who operated as a team of outlaw superheroes.
Melissa was a consistent part of the Thunderbolts through several different incarnations; she co-led the team with Hawkeye and eventually became sole leader when he departed. Her sonic equipment was replaced several times, both by criminal organizations and by S.H.I.E.L.D. During the superhero "Civil War" event, the Thunderbolts under her leadership were contracted by the U.S. government to capture supervillains and rehabilitate them in response to public fears of a spike in superhuman crime.
Having turned up alive after his apparent death, Lemuel Dorcas developed an obsession for Songbird where he kidnapped her and repaired her vocal cords so she would be his slave. However, Songbird was able to escape from Dorcas's clutches, as with the surgery restoring her persuasive powers as well, she turned the doctor's henchmen against him.
During the "Secret Invasion" event, Songbird was attacked by a Skrull who not only had her powers, but also had the powers of Atlas and the rest of the original Thunderbolts. The Thunderbolts saved her by forcing the Skrull to merge into a nearby building, killing him.
During the "Dark Reign" event, Norman Osborn orders Melissa killed by other members of the Thunderbolts team so he can usurp control, forcing her to go into hiding for a time. She gathers allies to resist Osborn.
After the "Siege" event and Osborn's subsequent downfall, Songbird is appointed by the government to supervise female inmates at the "Raft". She later resigns in order to rejoin the Thunderbolts, now led by Luke Cage, in large part to keep a close eye on Moonstone (whom Cage has offered a chance for freedom in exchange for her serving on the team). When Songbird objects to Moonstone's inclusion on the team due to her history of manipulation and deceit, Cage counters that Songbird herself used to be regarded the same way and that she should give Moonstone the same chances she was given by others.

## Powers and abilities

As Screaming Mimi, Gold's enhanced vocal cords were bionically altered and enhanced by technicians in the employ of Roxxon. As such, she had the ability to generate a high-pitched, supersonic scream with a variety of effects. She was capable of emitting a sound equivalent in decibels to the noise of a jet engine passing five feet from one's ear. She has perfect pitch, the ability to hear in her mind the correct frequency for every musical note on the scale. Every note on the scale she screams induces a different effect upon those who hear it. Low C causes low-level anxiety and shortness of breath, D causes high-level anxiety and panic attacks, E causes dizziness and vertigo, F causes nausea and stomach cramping, G causes severe headaches and fatigue, A causes blindness, B causes euphoria and eventual stupor, and high C causes the listener to visually hallucinate. By rapid oscillation between two notes, she can combine effects. In addition, she could produce certain vocal effects in harmony with her lover, Angar the Screamer, such as specific sustained illusions. Her nervous system is immune to her own vocal powers. At the upper limit of her scream's power, it could actually damage physical objects. Faced with Angar's death, she screamed for 43 minutes in a fit of hysteria, creating a large blast crater and literally liquefying nearby plant life. This outburst nearly destroyed her vocal cords, and depowered her briefly until she used new technology to assume the Songbird alias. During a later encounter with the Hand, Songbird unintentionally reactivated her incredibly strong supersonic scream ability.
As Songbird, Melissa uses a derivation of technology created by Klaw that converts sound into a malleable form of energy that has physical form and mass, termed "solid sound." She could initially create simple three-dimensional sound/mass constructions, though as she has gained experience in her new supersonic sound abilities, she has learned to create more complex forms. She shapes and animates these by mental command, and they only remain in existence for as long as she wills them to. She can "fly" by generating solid sound "wings" attached to her body; initially, these were created as glider-style wings, stretching from wrists to feet, though more recently they are shown attached to her back.
Songbird has also occasionally exhibited an ability to influence others through sub-vocal (below the level of conscious human hearing) sonics, but this is more of a subtle "nudge" or subconscious suggestion rather than outright mind control. This is apparently an effect generated by the remnants of her original sonic enhancements.
As a former wrestler, she is extensively skilled in hand-to-hand combat using wrestling techniques and was well trained by Titania.

## Reception
### Critical reception

Devon Lord-Moncrief of CBR.com stated, "Once a lower tier villain, Songbird masqueraded as a hero in the Thunderbolts before having a real change of heart and becoming a true hero. Not every person with superpowers starts as a hero, even if they have a good heart. Such is the unfortunate case of Melissa Gold, the former D-list villain known as Screaming Mimi. After a roller coaster of a career as a powered individual, [Melissa] Gold has become a formidable force to be reckoned with, growing from petty criminal to redeemed hero. [...] Over time Melissa became a force of redemption for reforming villains. Her ventures weren't always met with great success or trust, but she ultimately proved herself to heroes such as Luke Cage. At one point she became a member of A.I.M., Avengers Idea Mechanics, Robert de Costa's reformed version of the former criminal organization Advanced Idea Mechanics. Since her adventures alongside Robert de Costa, Melissa decided to take a vacation in Belmar Beach, New Jersey. But a good hero never rests long as she was asked yet again to join The Thunderbolts, now led by the Winter Soldier. From her humble beginnings to becoming a super villain and eventually becoming a respected hero, Melissa Gold has had one of the most colorful careers in Marvel. In some ways she exists as the ultimate Marvel superhero story: a child with no future who could have traveled a hard path of crime chose instead to redeem herself and become a hero. Melissa Gold, aka Songbird, is living proof that we are the masters of our destinies and that we are all capable of greatness, regardless of our pasts."

### Accolades

* In 2015, Entertainment Weekly ranked Songbird 22nd in their "Let's rank every Avenger ever" list.
* In 2020, Scary Mommy included Songbird in their "Looking For A Role Model? These 195+ Marvel Female Characters Are Truly Heroic" list.
* In 2021, Screen Rant ranked Songbird 2nd in their "Marvel Comics: The 10 Greatest Redemptions" list.
* In 2022, CBR.com ranked Songbird 3rd in their "10 Best Masters Of Evil Members" list.
* In 2022, Screen Rant included Songbird in their "10 Most Powerful Members Of The Thunderbolts" list.

## Other versions
### JLA/Avengers

Screaming Mimi appears in JLA/Avengers as a brainwashed minion of Krona.

### Avengers Forever

An alternate timeline variant of Songbird who joined the Avengers appears in Avengers Forever.

### Marvel Zombies

A zombified alternate universe variant of Songbird from Earth-2149 appears in the one-shot Marvel Zombies: Dead Days.

### Old Man Logan

An alternate universe variant of Songbird from Earth-807128 appears in Old Man Hawkeye. This version is a former member of the Thunderbolts who quit the team after they killed the Avengers and became a nun at the Sanctuary of the Silent Sisterhood.

## In other media
### Television

* Songbird appears in The Super Hero Squad Show, voiced by Julie Morrison. This version is a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who works undercover as Screaming Mimi in the Lethal Legion.
* Songbird appears in Avengers Assemble, voiced by Jennifer Hale. She appears as Screaming Mimi of the Masters of Evil in the episodes "Adapting to Change" and "Under Siege" and as Songbird of the Thunderbolts in the group's self-titled episode and "Thunderbolts Revealed". Songbird later appears in the four-part episode "Civil War" as a member of the Mighty Avengers.
* Screaming Mimi appears in the Marvel Rising short "Battle of the Bands", voiced by Tara Strong. This version is the leader of the band "Screaming Mimi and the Thunderbolts".

### Video games

* Songbird appears as a playable character and boss in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2, voiced by Susan Spano. Additionally, a variant of her Screaming Mimi costume appears as an alternate skin.
* Songbird appears as a playable DLC character in Lego Marvel's Avengers via the "Thunderbolts" DLC pack.
* Songbird appears as a playable character in Marvel: Avengers Alliance.
* Songbird appears as a playable character in Marvel: Future Fight.
* Songbird appears as a playable character in Marvel Tsum Tsum.
* Songbird appears as a playable character in Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2.