Warning: The following article contains spoilers from Justice League #55 by Joshua Williamson, Robson Rocha, Daniel Henriques, Romulo Fajordo Jr., and Tom Napolitano, on sale now.
Starro is a classic enemy of the Justice League, and a fundamental part of the bizarre and bombastic superhero universe. While there have been some fearsome versions of the creature over the years, Dark Nights: Death Metal introduced the most terrifying version of the creature yet.
As Justice League #55 reveals, the Valley of Starro hides a new breed of the classic villain, a microscopic version capable of infecting someone after being breathed in.
Starro was the very first villain the Justice League ever united to combat, all the way back in The Brave & The Bold #28 by Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky. The cosmic monster may look ridiculous at first, given its starfish-like appearance. But Starro isn't known as "The Conqueror" for nothing. The creature is able to send small copies of itself around entire worlds. If it gains contact with a living being, the miniature Starros are able to create a bond between them, transforming them into mindless servants of the creature. Starro invasions have often been among the most far-reaching schemes against the Earth, with multiple invasion attempts happening over the years -- and heroes often being among their targets.
This continues even into the Metalverse, the remnants of the DC Universe left after the Batman Who Laughs and his army of dark Batmen were able to take over the world. The Valley of Starros now sits in the ruins of the world, a massive stretch of land that's full of copies of Starro. There's even one the size of a skyscraper, which erupts out of the Earth to confront those who would dare travel through its lands -- such as the makeshift Justice League consisting of Nightwing, Starfire, Cyborg, Hawkgirl, Detective Chimp, and Lex Luthor. However, without attaching a single Starro to the various members of the group, the alien conqueror is able to achieve some form of control over all but Nightwing and Lex Luthor.
It turns out that the Starros in the valley have been evolving, and some haven't just been getting bigger. It's revealed that some of them have been growing smaller and smaller, eventually becoming almost microscopic. Without realizing it, the heroes had been infected by microscopic versions of the mind-controlling villain, who are now small enough to be breathed in without anyone being any the wiser. Only Luthor (who had built up a natural immunity to Starro's control) and Nightwing (still recovering from a gunshot to the head, making his mind too fractured to easily control) are able to avoid that fate, as they'd also been breathing in the microscopic creatures. The league is only freed when Luthor overrides Cyborg's machine side to create a massive blast -- the vertigo of which frees most of the team from the mind-control.
These miniature Starros are still some of the most frightening versions of the creature ever introduced. With most versions of the alien, it's easier to tell someone is affected because a Starro becomes physically attached to their body. But by becoming so tiny, the Starros are able to infect someone with the rest of their allies being unaware of how deep the infection goes. If Starro is able to maintain this upgrade following the events of Dark Nights: Death Metal, then Starro could find that it's far easier to infect a planet with its control so long as the people have no idea what is happening. It's a terrifying upgrade for an equally terrifying foe.