Screwball

Origin

Nothing is known about the super-villain known as Screwball or what her history is.

Creation

Screwball was created by Dan Slott and Marcos Martin and first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #559 (2008).

Major Story Arcs

Meeting Spider-Man

After she robbed the betting parlor, Spider-Man was soon on her trail. This was great for her as it was bound to attract more viewers to her website. When she was about to get away, Spider-Man decided to plant a spider-tracer on her. As soon as it landed on her, she freaked out. There have been a string of murders that are being tied to Spider-Man since spider-tracers were planted on the bodies. She immediately turned herself in to the police.

When next we see Screwball she is part of an elaborate betting fix. A strange 4th string thug appears on Youtube and calls out Spider-Man to fight. While this is happening The Bookie, who resides at The Bar with no name is taking bets on whether or not Spider-Man will show, and who will win. Peter Parker arrives as a spectator, but is shocked to see a web less Spider-Man appear and pummels the Thug. The crooks at the Bar with no Name hassle the Bookie claiming it was rigged, but the Bookie brushes them aside. Things are looking up, until they hear the familiar wisecracking comments of the real Spider-Man who swings in to confront the impostor. Spider-Man chases his double across the rooftops finally catching them. Once he’s unmasked them he realizes it was Screwball, who the Bookie had posted bail for in order to pull off the betting fix.

She later appears when her webcast is taken over by the villain, Mad Hacker, who challenges Screwball to a treasure hunt across the city in order to save a young boy whom he had kidnapped and suspended on a highrise platform. At the first location she encounters the police and Spider-man, who were given an anonymous tip about a planned heist. Spider-man pursues her until he discovers her intentions and offers his aid, narrowly avoiding the police. Upon reaching the final location the Mad Hacker states that by receiving help from Spider-Man, Screwball has broken the rules of the challenge and proceeds to detonate several explosives that send the young boy toward the street below. Spider-Man manages to save him, but discovers that Screwball has already left the scene leaving only a note. After reading it Spider-Man realizes the whole thing was simply staged to get more viewers for her broadcast.

After returning to her headquarters, Screwball tells the crew-member in charge of the event that he took it too far, using explosives and her cousin's son as the hostage, and warns him never to do anything like that again.

She is present at the Bar with no Name when Spider-Man and Daredevil decide to crack down on the super-villains present. She informs the others that the police have arrived and flees the scene.

She is next seen stealing a case of barabonds, pursued by Spider-Man, She manages to lose him by throwing the case from a building, forcing the hero to go after the bonds.However, Spider-Man later receives an invitation to face her again, as she tells him she always gets higher ratings when he's on her show. Spider-Man decides to accept her offer and tells her to meet him at his Aunt May's address, where his cousins and Harry Osborn are being held captive by Kaine and Raptor. When she arrives Raptor begins shooting at her with his machine guns but she manages to evade his fire before being knocked out by Spider-Man, who was using her as a distraction to free his friends. After the fighting, Screwball manages to escape amid the confusion.

She was one of many who attempted to capture the baby of Lily Hollister.While trying to locate Spider-Man, who she believed had the infant she was approached by The Looter, who warned her of the now vengeful Spider-Man. Screwball simply ignores him only to be captured by the Wall Crawler seconds later.

Spider-Girl

She was briefly seen fleeing from Anya Corazón, the hero formerly known as Araña, who informed her that she was no longer broadcasting her show, as the heroine had already taken out her cameramen, before being swiftly subdued and left for the police.

She would antagonize Anya several times, each time meeting defeat.

Team Up

Screwball eventually meets and teams with the Jester and begin pulling pranks on people for her web-casts, drawing in millions of hits. Unknown to her fans, the two pranksters were using the views as a means of hacking into viewers bank accounts. One such prank involved interrupting Mayor J. Jonah Jameson's speech and throwing a pie in his face. This would cause the mayor to call on the services of Spider-man, who had been taken over by the mind of Doctor Octopus.

Ock eventually caught up to the two and attempted to bring them in. Screwball, assuming this was the same old fun Spidey, began to mock and taunt him, though Ock was less than humored and fought very seriously. Jester and she had the upper hand in the fight, pulling joke after joke on the spider, until Jester made the mistake of smashing the lenses on his opponent's costume. This caused him to go into a rage and savagely attack the two, Screwball stating that these actions were not like Spider-man at all. The fight ends with the two ferociously beaten by Ock.

Other Media

Games

Marvel: War of Heroes

Screwball appears in several cards in the mobile card game Marvel: War of Heroes. Her cards are:

• [On Air] Screwball