Starro

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
(Redirected from
Starro the Conqueror
)
Starro
Starro as depicted in JLA Secret Files and Origins #1 (September 1997). Art by Phil Jimenez (penciler/inker) and Tom McCraw (colorist)
Publication information
PublisherDC Comics
First appearanceThe Brave and the Bold #28 (March 1960)
Created byGardner Fox
Mike Sekowsky
In-story information
Alter egoStarro
SpeciesStar Conqueror
Place of originStar Planet
Team affiliationsSecret Society of Super Villains
Sinestro Corps
Notable aliasesIt
Starro Spores
Starro Conquerors
Mother Starro
Star O
Cobi
Abilities(All versions):
  • Mind control
  • Bio-fission
  • Size alteration
  • Energy absorption and projection
  • Color shifting
  • Regeneration

(Giant versions):

  • Qwardian power rings
  • Collective consciousness
  • Interstellar travel
  • Similarity manipulation
  • Psionic empowerment
  • Terraforming

(Humanoid/Jarro version):

Starro (also known as Starro the Conqueror) is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in The Brave and the Bold #28 (March 1960), and was created by Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky.[1]

Starro is the first villain to face the original

video games, and the DC Extended Universe film The Suicide Squad
(2021).

Publication history

Starro as seen on the cover of The Brave and the Bold #28. Art by Mike Sekowsky.

The character debuted in

alternate universe story in Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew! #1 (March 1982), and it appeared briefly in Crisis on Infinite Earths
#9 (December 1985).

In post–

intercompany crossover JLA/Avengers #1–4 (September 2003 – May 2004); Teen Titans (vol. 3) #51–54 (November 2007 – February 2008); Green Lantern/Sinestro Corps: Secret Files #1 (February 2008) and Booster Gold
(vol. 2) #13–14 (December 2008 – January 2009).

Its post–Infinite Crisis appearances include R.E.B.E.L.S. (vol. 2) #1–13 (April 2009 – April 2010) and R.E.B.E.L.S (vol. 2) Annual #1 (December 2009). Another version appears in Forever Evil #1 (November 2013), and a new version called Genetically Modified Starro appeared in New Super-Man #4 (2016).

Fictional character biography

Starro is a highly advanced

Happy Harbor, Rhode Island, under mental control. Eventually, they are stopped by the superheroes Aquaman, the Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter and Wonder Woman. The heroes defeat Starro by coating it with quicklime, which nullifies its abilities.[5][6] A segment of Starro survives and regenerates into a complete creature, but is stopped by Aquaman before being able to renew its plan of conquest.[7]

Starro eventually reappears and forces humans to nurture it until it is able to assume its former proportions. Being able to reproduce asexually, Starro creates millions of miniature duplicates of itself, which the authors called spores. These spores attach to the faces of the entire population of New York, allowing Starro to control their minds with its own. The creature uses these spores to control several members of the Justice League until it is defeated by extreme cold.[8] Later, after Superman is accidentally transported to an alternate universe, Starro is again defeated by Superman alongside Captain Carrot and his Amazing Zoo Crew. Superman then takes the defeated Starro back to his universe.[9]

Starro later convinces

Ice freezes the original Starro.[10]

During

Dream of the Endless aids the JLA in battling the entity psychically in a shared dream; simultaneously, a small team of heroes attacks its physical form. Assisted by a homeless man resisting the entity's control, the heroes free mankind from the alien's influence. Dream captures the Star Conqueror and stores the entity with his other keepsakes.[12]

In the DC/

alternate universe superhero team the Avengers.[13]

In the 2005–2006 "

Just'a Lotta Animals. Zoo Crew member Pig Iron battles Starro underwater, sacrificing himself as the rest of the heroes escape.[15]

Post Infinite Crisis

Within the pages of R.E.B.E.L.S., Starro's new origin was told: Starro the Conqueror was once an alien boy named Cobi who lived peacefully along with his people on the "unremarkable" planet Hatorei. The Hatorei people lived simple lives and had few semblances of a developed world but in one respect they were unsurpassed. Once a day the planet's inhabitants would congregate in a species-wide telepathic link and open up to each other, which made their society the pinnacle of ethics and cultural stability.[16]

However, a Starro Motherstar descended on their planet enslaving their civilization. At that point in time the Star Conquerors were only nomadic predators who wandered conquering planets until the Motherstar landed and birthed a new queen. On the planet Hatorei, things were different; the link between the people was still extant and it was impossible for the Star Conquerors to completely control the people while serving. The link between the Hatorei was filled with outrage due to their enslavement and the deaths of their people; this outrage loosened the hold of the Star Conquerors on Andrez. So while Cobi worked in the nest, his brother, driven by his people's outrage, entered the nest determined to destroy the Starro hatchlings before a new queen could be born.

Unfortunately, one of the eggs hatched and the hatchling, desperate to protect itself, used Cobi to defend against his brother's attack and in doing so led Cobi to kill Andrez. Afterward, the force that drove Andrez (the collective outrage of his people) seemed to enter Cobi who then, having been driven mad by that force, ripped the Starro off his face regaining his independence. The hatchling attacked Cobi but to no avail; as it leapt it became attached to Cobi's chest and Cobi subsequently destroyed the remaining hatchlings declaring that every Star Conqueror would be his.

Now Starro the Conqueror, he used his control of the Star Conqueror species to begin a series of conquests. While he would enslave most foes with Star Conqueror starfish, he would grant some particularly useful opponents larger starfish to wear upon their backs and a place at the head of his armies under him, allowing them free will so long as they turned their talents towards his conquests. As his empire's expansion continued, he was able to draw power from everyone so controlled. Between his mind-controlling Starros, ever-growing strength and his still independently thinking elites, his forces were unstoppable, leading him to gain control of nine galaxies.[17]

Upon his forces reaching the Milky Way, Starro took control of L.E.G.I.O.N.'s robotic forces and used their widespread galactic influence to further his goals towards dominating the universe.[18]

New 52/DC Rebirth

During

New 52, Starro is still linked with the Justice League via historian David Graves' book making sporadic appearances throughout.[19]

Other versions

Future version

A future version of Starro mentally enthralls the Time Master

Lady Chronos, the hero Booster Gold is able to restore history as it should be.[20]

The Nail

In

LexCorp Labs facility near Smallville.[21]

Jarro

One version of Starro is recruited to join a team to protect the universe against the Omega Titans. Convinced of the virtues of heroism by its teammate Martian Manhunter, Starro dies in battle with the Omega Titans.[22][23] Batman preserves a bit of Starro's remains which grows into a new individual who Batman names Jarro,[24] raising him as a son.[25]

"Titans Tomorrow"

A separate future called Titans Tomorrow features Starro's being indoctrinated into the Sinestro Corps and wielding five yellow power rings, which give it additional superpowers. Using its psychic abilities, it also controls several supervillains. This version of Starro is destroyed by a future version of the Flash.[26]

Powers and abilities

Starro is an alien conqueror with a humanoid central mind commanding spores that resemble either giant or small Terran starfish. An asexual creature, Starro's spores are capable of generating clones that act in accordance with the original's will. The clones are parasites by nature and can attach themselves to a humanoid's face, and subsequently take control of the host's central nervous system, thereby controlling the host. Control of the host is lost once removed from the victim. Originally the first Starro could transform two Earth starfish into duplicates of itself equal to it in size and power.[27]

Both variants of the parasite are capable of energy absorption/projection,

Qwardian power rings on its pointed tentacles; the rings could create objects based on the wielder's thoughts, but only those fueled by fear instead of willpower. Given the difficulty in their usage, Starro's capacity to use five at once indicated a mastery of the fear element and its usage in battle, as shown when it went up against multiple iterations of Titans all at once.[30] The latest version of the Star Conqueror shows how it uses its parthenogenesic capabilities to breed microscopic clones of itself, which can be inhaled by potential victims, serving as a catalyst to affect the giant iteration's telepathic abilities.[31]

The humanoid "Starro the Conqueror" possesses telepathy strong enough to control the entire Starro alien race and possesses immeasurable levels of physical resilience further bolstered by the energies drawn from the victims of his Starro probes. Being physically strong enough to behead the all-but-invulnerable Despero in single combat, Starro the Conqueror is all but impervious to physical harm much like his larger Starro clones; also akin to said spores the humanoid Starro can reproduce its own Starro clones from the mother Starro on his chest; a unique power of its own making is the ability to convert normal Earth-based starfish into Starro-based spores.[32]

In other media

Television

Film

Video games

Miscellaneous

References

  1. ISBN 978-1-4654-5357-0
    .
  2. ISBN 0-8160-1356-X
    .
  3. ISBN 978-1605490458
    .
  4. ^ Tarrano the Conqueror by Ray Cummings. Retrieved October 10, 2019 – via Gutenberg.org.
  5. ^ The Brave and the Bold #28 (February–March 1960)
  6. ISBN 978-1-4654-8578-6
    .
  7. ^ Adventure Comics #451 (May–Jun 1977)
  8. ^ Justice League of America #189–190 (April–May 1981)
  9. ^ Captain Carrot & His Amazing Zoo Crew #1 (March 1982)
  10. ^ Justice League Europe #24–28 (March–July 1991)
  11. ^ JLA Secret Files #1 (September 1997)
  12. ^ JLA #22–23 (September–October 1998)
  13. ^ JLA/Avengers #1–4 (September 2003 – May 2004)
  14. ^ Infinite Crisis #7 (June 2006)
  15. ^ Captain Carrot and the Final Ark (October 2007)
  16. ^ R.E.B.E.L.S. Vol 2 #5
  17. ^ R.E.B.E.L.S. Vol 2 #22
  18. ^ R.E.B.E.L.S. Vol 2 #28
  19. ^ Justice League Vol. 2 #6-7
  20. ^ Booster Gold (vol. 2) #13–14 (December 2008 – January 2009)
  21. ^ Justice League: The Nail #3
  22. ^ DC Nation #0 (July 2018)
  23. ^ Justice League: No Justice #3 (July 2018)
  24. ^ Justice League (vol. 3) #10 (December 2018)
  25. ^ Justice League (vol. 3) #29 (October 2019)
  26. ^ Teen Titans (vol. 3) #51-54
  27. ^ The Brave and the Bold #28 (February–March 1960)
  28. ^ JLA #22–23 (September – October 1998)
  29. ^ Dark Nights: Metal #4 (February 2018)
  30. ^ Teen Titans (vol. 3) #53
  31. ^ Justice League (vol. 3) #55 (October 2020)
  32. ^ R.E.B.E.L.S. Annual v2 #1
  33. ^ Freeman, Molly (March 26, 2021). "The Suicide Squad Trailer Reveals DC Villain Starro & Full Team". Screen Rant. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  34. ^ "Comic Con Conversation – Mattel's Frank Varela Part I". The Fwoosh. Archived from the original on 2013-08-02.
  35. ^ Smallville Season 11 #18
  36. ^ "Injustice 2's Red Lantern Corps Has Basically Created a Death Starro". 9 June 2018.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Starro&oldid=1216122948"