WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Injustice 2 #61 by Tom Taylor, Daniel Sampere, Juan Albarran, John Kalisz and Wes Abbott, on sale now.
To call the state of the universe bleak in DC's Injustice 2 universe would be a major understatement. Recently, the Red Lanterns have been on a rampage with Atrocitus' army attacking Oa in search of Sinestro, someone they've targeted for death. They briefly recruited Hal Jordan in their mission, only for the ex-Green Lantern to break ranks and try to align himself with his former Corps in order to gain redemption for his past transgressions -- a mutiny that cost him his entire ring finger.
However, even Hal's sacrifice was not enough. As the all-knowing Metron has indicated, Atrocitus has a trump card in Starro the Destroyer. Even with a revamped Titans team coming in as the cavalry, along with the unlikely duo of Booster Gold and the Main Man, Lobo, the task at hand still seems just too daunting; something which has the superhero prophesied to stop Starro -- Blue Beetle (Jaime Reyes) -- stricken with fear.
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Nonetheless, the Green Lanterns and the Guardians trudge on, making what appears to be their final stand on Oa. However, things go from bad to worse in Issue #61 as Starro basically shows why he was recruited in the first place: To be the universe's most powerful weapon, something akin to a sentient version of Star Wars' Death Star.
This 'Death Starro,' if you will, swiftly proves why it's one of the most powerful entities the Green Lanterns have ever faced, why Atrocitus was so eager to recruit the alien, and why Metron was worried over its destructive presence. In the last issue, Starro's mind-control spores began taking over the Green Lanterns, thus giving Atrocitus control over his rivals, but now, the alien takes things up a notch by acting as the deadliest canon in space.
As the two Lantern Corps fight, the heroes are struggling in a battle which even sees Lobo ripped in half by Atrocitus. Hal is still without a ring, the Titans are outnumbered, Booster is out his league, and Jaime is still suffering stage fright. Their misery is compounded when Soranik Natu (Sinestro's daughter and a Green Lantern general) is also brainwashed by one of Starro's spores, further weakening the resistance. Recognizing defeat is looming, the heroes retreat and regroup on the surface of Oa to devise a new plan, which ironically ends up placing them as sitting ducks right in Starro's cross-hairs.
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During their strategy session, the resistance notices the Red Lanterns are channeling their energy into Starro, who's now harnessing the entire rage segment of the emotional spectrum, and acting as a conduit to direct this evil energy towards Oa. In other words, the intergalactic conqueror has been transformed into something similar to the planet-destroyer the Empire used in the original Star Wars trilogy, and it displays its full strength by taking aim at the Central Power Battery, aka the source of the Green Lanterns' power.
It fires its death ray down at the Battery, piercing its outer shell and critically damaging the cosmic artifact. This is no easy feat, because as Green Lantern lore has always dictated, the Battery is powered by the sheer collective willpower of the universe. In order to back up the assault, then, Starro also mind-controls the Green Lanterns into firing on their home base for good measure.
But it's Starro's unstoppable blast which is clearly doing the majority of the damage, sending everyone scrambling for cover. Most importantly, as intended, Starro's raw power leaves Oa very vulnerable and on the brink of collapse.
It remains to be seen how this tragedy affects the Green Lanterns in the war at hand, but as it stands, they'll definitely need some sort of new hope. Starro has dealt them a major blow by going after what's essentially the heartbeat of the Corps and honestly, things don't look all that bright for Hal's comrades.