Melissa was on her own for a short while before she was contacted by Baron Zemo who offered her a spot in his group the Masters of Evil. The group posed as heroes known as the Thuderbolts in an attempt to steal technologies from the Fantastic Four. During this time she met and fell in love with Angar the Screamer. When he was killed during a robbery, Melissa screamed for nearly 45 minutes causing a massive crater and nearly destroying her vocal cords. With her powers burnt out, Zemo asked an accomplice known as The Fixer to help her. Fixer built a harness and implants that gave Melissa a new form of power. Rather than generating a massive scream, she could now manipulate sound to give it a malleable form capable of being shaped into solid constructs. The constructs are mentally controlled and remain for as long as she wills them. Over time Melissa has learned to create both simple and complex shapes. She is also capable of flying by creating solid sound wings attached to the back of her costume. As a small remnant of her original powers, Melissa can utilize sub-sonic vocals to influence people. Generally this acts as a form of subconscious suggestion rather than outright mind control.

During this time she chose a new superhero alias named Songbird. As members of the Masters of Evil/Thunderbolts began to rebel against Baron Zemo, Melissa joined with Abe Jenkins aka MACH-IV. She helped in the efforts to overthrow Zemo. With him gone, the team maintained their Thunderbolts identities and attempted to redeem themselves for their villainous acts.

During the Civil War, Songbird and the Thunderbolts were contracted to hunt down and capture unregistered superpowered villains and recruit them to the Registration’s cause. It was at this time that the team grew to become an army and include many “rehabilitated” villains such as Bullseye, Lady Deathstrike, Doctor Octopus, Taskmaster, Jack O’Lantern and Jester. Following the Civil War, Norman Osborn was handed control of the Thunderbolts as the acting director. Songbird remained with the team though she was opposed to Osborn’s use of the team in capturing unregistered heroes.

To the best of my knowledge, Melissa Gold has never been a playable character in any video game prior to Fusion as either Screaming Mimi or Songbird which makes me really excited. I’m anxious to see how her powers are going to be portrayed in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 because she has so much variety in her abilities. I would imagine her strongest role would be that of a ranged fighter with the added dimension of being a flyer. Based on what she demonstrated in the comics as Songbird, I could see her having a rapid fire blast attack as well as the ability to perhaps use her solid sound wings as a bladed melee attack. It would not surprise me if she also had the ability to use her sound manipulation to create constructs for both offensive and defensive means. She could perhaps generate a force field around an opponent and throw them around while also being able to shield herself and allies from attacks. An ability like this would make her an incredibly useful multi-role character who is on par with the likes of The Invisible Woman.