| Shriek | |
|---|---|
.png) Shriek as depicted inSpider-Man: The Jackal Files #1 (August 1994). Art byMichael Bair. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Spider-Man Unlimited #1 (May 1993) |
| Created by | Tom DeFalco Ron Lim |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Frances Louise Barrison |
| Species | Human mutant[1] |
| Place of origin | New York |
| Team affiliations | Doom Maidens Carnage Family Sinister Sixteen |
| Partnerships | Carrion Cletus Kasady/Carnage Demogoblin Doppelganger Caroline le Fay |
| Notable aliases | Sandra Deel |
| Abilities |
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Shriek (Frances Louise Barrison) is asupervillain appearing inAmerican comic books published byMarvel Comics. She is usually depicted as an enemy ofSpider-Man, and the lover ofCletus Kasady known asCarnage.
Naomie Harris portrayed the character in thelive actionSony's Spider-Man Universe filmVenom: Let There Be Carnage (2021).
Shriek first appeared inSpider-Man Unlimited #1 (May 1993) and was created by writerTom DeFalco and artistRon Lim.[2]
Shriek is a dangerous and criminally insane villainess with the ability to manipulate sound. During the events ofMaximum Carnage, she allied herself withCarnage and several other supervillains who went about New York on a killing spree.
Shriek'sorigins and real name were, at first, uncertain. She was named Sandra Deel in her earliest appearances, but named Frances Louise Barrison in later appearances. According to theSpider-Man Encyclopedia, she was born Frances Louise Barrison, but used Sandra Deel as an alias.[3]
During her childhood, Frances wasabused by her mother for being overweight, driving her to drugs and leading to her later fixation on becoming a mother herself. She became a drug dealer, which exposed her to situations that ultimately damaged her sanity; namely, being shot in the head by a police officer, and being put inCloak'sDarkforce, which awakened Shriek's latentmutant abilities.[4]
Shriek debuted at the start of the "Maximum Carnage"crossover. During Carnage's violent escape from theRavencroft mental institution, he came across Shriek, who was also incarcerated and wished to join him. He freed her, and the pair embarked on a killing spree. They attracted the company of several other homicidal supervillains (Demogoblin,Doppelganger, andCarrion), and formed a "family," with Carnage and Shriek as the "parents" and the others as their "sons". Shriek also used her mental powers to increase the chaos by causing a number ofNew Yorkers to violently turn on one another, although the heroes were able to calm the people down before they did anything too serious, such as killing their own children. The killers fought a number of heroes, led by Spider-Man, but succumbed to in-fighting. Carnage slew the Doppelganger and left the others to their defeat and capture, although he was subsequently contained by the Avengers after a clash with Spider-Man, Venom andBlack Cat.
In the aftermath, Shriek is returned to Ravencroft, but escapes her cell by short-circuiting her power dampening unit. Shriek frees fellow inmates Gale, Webber, Pyromania, andMayhem, and together they try to break out of the facility, opposed by Spider-Man andJohn Jameson. While distracted by Spider-Man, Shriek is knocked out with a tranquilizer gun by Jameson.[5]
When Dr.Ashley Kafka brings Malcolm McBride near Shriek's cell, Shriek recognizes Malcolm as her "son" Carrion, breaks out of her room, and escapes from Ravencroft with Malcolm. Agitated by Malcolm's refusal to acknowledge her as his mother, Shriek becomes violent towards him, and uses her powers to turn him back into Carrion after an encounter with Spider-Man, who Shriek plans on making her new "husband" after sensing a growing darkness within him. In an attempt to make Carrion fully embrace her as his mother, Shriek takes him to Beatrice McBride, the biological mother of Malcolm, with the intent of having Carrion murder the woman. The duo are tracked by Spider-Man, and in the ensuing brawl, Shriek abandons her plans to convert Spider-Man to her side, and forces Carrion to choose between her and Beatrice. The distraught Carrion instead begins to commit suicide with his own powers, which Beatrice tries to stop, stating, "Do you think my life matters? Do you think I wouldn't sacrifice myself a thousand times over to save my child?" when Shriek tells her that she will be killed by contact with Carrion. Touched, Shriek absorbs the Carrion virus, incapacitating herself, and turning Carrion back into Malcolm.[6]
Shriek is readmitted to Ravencroft, where the dormant Carrion virus (which she had been treating like an unborn child) is extracted from her by theJackal.[7][8] Later, Shriek is brought on as a juror inJudas Traveller'smock trial of Spider-Man in the basement of Ravencroft. Shriek and the other members of the jury deem Spider-Man guilty of ruining lives and creating supervillains, but before they can execute their sentence of death they are returned to their cells and have their memories altered by Traveller.[9]
She appears inBrand New Day as one of the villains in the Bar With No Name.[10] After Carnage is returned to Earth by Hall Industries, the company purchases Ravencroft with the intention of using Shriek (who had been responding well to the treatment being administered to her by Doctor Tanis Nieves) as a power source for the Carnage symbiote, which had been separated from Cletus Kasady. Shriek is brought to Hall Industries, where exposure to the Carnage symbiote, coupled with her witnessing guards beating Doppelganger (who had been attempting to rescue her) causes her to snap, and return to homicidal mania. After Cletus reunites with his symbiote, Shriek and Doppelganger aid him in causing chaos throughout New York City, with Shriek gaining additional powers from another symbiote (which gives her a third arm, and covers half of her face) that Carnage's had spawned. Growing fearful of Shriek, the symbiote leaves her in favor of Nieves, its initial host, to createScorn, who forces Shriek to use her powers to weaken Carnage, allowing Spider-Man andIron Man to defeat him. In the aftermath, Shriek is rendered comatose after Scorn damages her brain.[11]
Shriek regains consciousness, and is recruited by Caroline le Fay to battle theFearless Defenders as a member of the new Doom Maidens.[12] After the Doom Maidens are disbanded, Shriek reunites with Carnage, and saves him fromDeadpool inTulsa, Oklahoma. The two killers flee pursued by Deadpool, who crashes their car with acombine harvester, severely injuring Shriek, and enraging Carnage. Carnage flings Deadpool away, and escapes to the base of the Mercury Team (who he kills) with the unconscious Shriek. Carnage, troubled by Deadpool making him question his nihilistic beliefs, then has Shriek help him break into a psychiatric hospital, where they try to force the patients and staff to answer Carnage's questions about being controlled by higher powers, a concept which disgusts Carnage. Deadpool, who has bonded to the Mercury Team's symbiotes, uses his new shapeshifting abilities to disorient Shriek, causing her to run off. After a skirmish with Carnage, Deadpool captures Shriek, uses his symbiotes to disguise her as himself, and tricks the already distraught Carnage into nearly killing her, causing Carnage (who believes his attacking Shriek was "foreshadowed" by the higher powers) to suffer a mental breakdown. Shriek is hospitalized, and Carnage willingly allows himself to be arrested.[13]
Shriek recovered, and was hired onto theSinister Sixteen byBoomerang and theOwl.[14] After being manipulated and abandoned by Boomerang, Shriek and three other members of the Sinister Sixteen sought revenge on him in the Bar With No Name, only to be defeated by him,Beetle,Overdrive, andSpeed Demon.[15]
Shriek subsequently attacks a police station withGibbon,Griffin, andRuby Thursday. The quartet is subdued bySpider-Woman's apprenticePorcupine.[16]
Detroit-based supervillain Nain Rouge afterward hires Shriek and a newFirebrand to be his enforcers, bringing them into conflict with theGreat Lakes Avengers.[17][18]
Shriek later appears as a secret ally toKraven the Hunter and theNYPD, who are hunting the Dinosaur People living beneath New York City. However, they are defeated by Venom and subsequently arrested.[19][20]
Shriek eventually reunites with Carnage and Doppelganger again and together formed a cult dedicated in worshipingKnull. They eventually return to Doverton and got the codexes – the symbiote remnants left on the bodies of previous hosts – from the citizens who were infected by Carnage.[21]
Being amutant and following exposure toCloak'sDarkforce,[4] Shriek has the ability to manipulate sound in a number of elaborate ways. She can harness it for destructive concussive force or use it to disorient and agitate her enemies. She can apparently hypersonically induce intense emotion in those around her (generating fear, hate, or despair). She also has moderate powers of levitation that she can use to make herself fly and possibly some low level of psionic ability.
She is able to sense the darkest side to a person'spsyche so that she can use her powers to specifically manipulate that person's emotions.
A zombified alternate universe variant of Shriek from Earth-13264 appears inSecret Wars.[24]
Shriek appears inSpider-Man: Heroes & Villains Collection.[25]
Shriek appears inUltimate Spider-Man, voiced byAshley Eckstein.[26]
Frances Barrison appears inVenom: Let There Be Carnage, portrayed byNaomie Harris.[27][28] This version fell in love with Cletus Kasady in her youth while they were both at the St. Estes Home for Unwanted Children before she was taken to theRavencroft Institute. On the way there, Barrison tried to use her sonic powers to escape but was shot by police officerPatrick Mulligan. While Mulligan believed that he had killed her, Barrison survived, but was left heavily scarred, blind in her left eye, and subsequently imprisoned within a reinforced glass cell. In the present, after Kasady becomesCarnage, he breaks Barrison out of Ravencroft, and together they go on a rampage throughSan Francisco before capturing Mulligan andAnne Weying to lure outVenom. As Kasady and Barrison attempt to get married in a cathedral, they are confronted by Venom. However, after Barrison kills Mulligan, she's betrayed by Carnage, who tries to strangle her to prevent her from using her powers in front of him. Barrison is tricked by Venom into attacking Kasady and Carnage with her powers, demolishing the cathedral, and she's killed when a falling bell crushes her.
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