It seems like Starro The Conquerer will be the main villain in the second cinematic outing of The Suicide Squad, directed by Guardians of the Galaxy’s James Gunn.
Starro is a giant alien starfish that can control the minds of others, and even powerful individuals such as Superman are susceptible to its drones. Though it’s easy to underestimate Starro, there have been many occasions where it’s come close to beating the Justice League.
First Battle With The League (Brave and the Bold #28)
![The Suicide Squad: 10 Times Starro The Conqueror Almost Beat The Justice League](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/The-Suicide-Squad-Starro-Original-Appearance.jpg)
Brave and the Bold #28 in 1960 was the first official appearance of both the united Justice League of America and Starro, The Conqueror, making it the first creature the Justice League ever fought.
In the epic issue, the League has to face multiple “agents” of Starro, which are big enough to steal buildings, before facing the colossal original. This Starro absorbs the power and knowledge of its former children to become nearly invincible, even changing its skin color to yellow so Green Lantern’s ring doesn’t affect it. The League only defeats Starro by discovering it has a weakness to lime. If they hadn’t found this out in time, Starro would’ve won.
Conquerors (JLA #22 and #23)
![A giant green Starro hangs over the Earth](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/The-Suicide-Squad-Starro-JLA.jpg)
Occurring mostly prior to the “Infinite Crisis” event, Grant Morrison’s run on JLA contained many reinventions of classic DC characters, including Starro. In the story, the arrival of Starro was actually heralded by Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman/Dream.
The first giant Starro agent arrives and takes up the entire Hudson Bay, where Aquaman attempts to either communicate with it or fight back. More of the giant creatures hang in orbit, with many civilians being taken over by smaller drones. It’s only thanks to the resistance the League puts up in the Dreaming world that persuades Starro to retreat.
The Siege of Starro (Batman: The Brave And The Bold)
![Starro in the Brave and the Bold cartoon sending out starfish drones](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/The-Suicide-Squad-Starro-Batman-Brave-And-The-Bold.jpg)
While the episodes of the underrated Batman: The Brave and the Bold animated series were almost always standalone, the show’s first event was an invasion by Starro that was teased over the course of several episodes. The epic two-part “Siege of Starro” begins with Starro’s conquest of Oa before moving to Earth, with Starro and his herald the Faceless Hunter possessing most of Earth’s heroes before Batman and his team – Booster Gold, Shazam, Firestorm, and B’wana Beast – can fight back.
The lightning of Shazam initially defeats the creature but it returns more powerful in the second part. Only the combined might of the Metal Men and the sacrifice of B’wana Beast – the show’s first death – puts a stop to Starro’s siege.
Catching A Falling Starro (Justice League 3001)
![3001 Batman and Flash on a screen as enslaved Starro citizens look on](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/The-Suicide-Squad-Starro-Justice-League-3001.jpg)
Justice League 3001 was published as the second part of the New 52 series in 2015 and was one of the strangest comics around. Written by Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis, the comic told the story of the rather twisted Justice League of the year 3001, who are incomplete genetic copies of the originals.
As the Justice League investigates planet Wodin Twelve they discover a mass grave of people who were killed trying to stop an invasion by Starro, which the Justice League discover to their horror is completely legal. This evolved version of Starro not only enslaves a planet, but it filed all necessary paperwork to make it official. This is one of the few instances where the Justice League is defeated entirely with red tape.
The Red Lantern (Injustice 2 Comics)
![Starro as a Red Lantern and a conquered Guardian prepare to fire](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/The-Suicide-Squad-Starro-Injustice-2.jpg)
The tie-in comics for the Injustice: Gods Among Us videogames are unexpectedly some of the most exciting, disturbing, emotional, and action-packed stories in DC Comics. Later in the Injustice 2 prequel series (set between the games) the Red Lanterns stage a full assault on the Green Lantern base of Oa, and their ace in the hole is Starro.
Starro has all its own mind-control abilities plus the powers of a Red Lantern. It manages to take over many of the Corps, including a Guardian, and manages to inflict critical damage on the Central Power Battery. It then heads to Earth, seemingly unstoppable, until Blue Beetle’s Scarab manages to defeat it – at great cost.
Titans Of Tomorrow… Today (Teen Titans)
![The Teen Titans fight with Starro, similar to the first classic Justice League cover](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/The-Suicide-Squad-Starro-Titans.jpg)
The ’00s series of Teen Titans comics were tremendously popular, starting in 2003 and lasting most of the decade. In one of its most epic stories, which begins in issue #51, a dark, cynical version of the Titans returns from the future to try and help the present Teen Titans stop an invasion by Starro – but to do that, they have to embrace their dark futures.
These Future Titans lock up the Justice League, but even all the Titans combined seemingly aren’t a match for Starro wielding five Sinestro Corps rings.
Jarro The Conqueror (Justice League Rebirth)
![A giant Jarro looms over the controlled Justice League as Batman looks on](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/The-Suicide-Squad-Starro-Justice-League-Jarro.jpg)
During the events of the Justice League Rebirth story “No Justice” Starro was able to prove that it wasn’t a mindless parasite by sacrificing itself to stop the Omega Titans. However, Batman had a genetic sample of Starro that he kept in a jar, where it grew to become the friendly “Jarro.”
Later, while consumed by fear that the Legion of Doom would kill the DC heroes, little Jarro almost inadvertently took down the League by mind-controlling them and growing to giant Starro size. Fortunately, his father-like connection with Batman allowed him to see what he was doing was wrong and stop.
The Threat Below (DC Universe Online)
![Starro from DC Universe Online over the conquered Justice League](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/The-Suicide-Squad-Starro-DC-Universe-Online.jpg)
Six years after the game launched in 2011, the DC Comics MMO DC Universe Online finally received an in-game invasion by Starro the Conqueror. The version in the game had laid dormant at the bottom of the ocean, Cthulhu-like, but rose to the surface and attacked The Flash’s home of Central City.
The player has to investigate while fighting off various mind-controlled individuals, including most of the Justice League, before teaming up with Aquaman to stop Starro at the Atlantean Research Outpost where the original made its home. The new heroes would succeed, but Starro would try again a year later.
The Coming Of Starro (R.E.B.E.L.S. Volume Two)
![The humanoid Starro the Conqueror wielding his ax](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/The-Suicide-Squad-Starro-Rebels.jpg)
R.E.B.E.L.S. was an intriguing off-shoot of the beloved Legion of Super-Heroes, the 31st Century team of young superheroes based on the original Justice League. Instead of Brainiac 5, R.E.B.E.L.S. instead followed the less-friendly Vril Dox (Brainiac 2) as he attempted to put together his own team, based on the Legion, in order to stop an invasion of the galaxy by Starro the Conqueror.
However, in this series, all the classic starfish types are subservient to a tall humanoid warrior wielding a large ax. This version of Starro is slowly enslaving the galaxy, and it won’t be the Justice League or Legion that stops this Conqueror.
The Call (Batman Beyond)
![Superman with a large Starro across his chest](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/The-Suicide-Squad-Starro-Batman-Beyond.jpg)
It took almost as long for Starro to appear in the DC Animated Universe as it did for the Justice League to turn up in Batman Beyond. While Starro never menaced the regular Justice League, the future team of Batman Beyond found themselves facing not just Starro but a mind-controlled Superman as well.
Sometime after its brief appearance in Superman: The Animated Series, Starro escaped from the Fortress of Solitude and attached itself to Superman. The Justice League attempts to subdue it, but all bar Terry McGinnis’s Batman are controlled. If Batman hadn’t managed to free Superman before his teammates were taken over then Starro would’ve easily conquered the Earth.