The Suicide Squad's first official trailer gave fans a good look at the sprawling cast of highly expendable supervillains conscripted into service by Amanda Waller. The Sylvester Stallone-voiced King Shark is already looking like the film's breakout character.
Another creature made a big impact in the trailer. The Suicide Squad's once-secret villain, Starro, makes its entrance as "a freaking kaiju" on a rampage. The gigantic starfish might not be the household name that villains like the Joker and Harley Quinn are, but it's been part of some iconic moments in the comics.
Starro's Powers
Starro's full title is Starro the Conqueror. It attempts to fulfill its desire for subjugation by enslaving the minds of a planet's inhabitants. Traditionally, it does this with miniature Starros that it reproduces asexually, an idea originated in a Brian Bolland cover. The Starro clones attach themselves to their victims faces Alien style and take control of their victims' nervous systems. In Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo's Dark Nights: Metal #4, Starro gained the ability to possess minds solely with its central eye.
Starro also has a healing factor. After its defeat at the hands of the Justice League in both parties' first appearance, in Gardner Fox and Mike Sekwosky's The Brave and The Bold #28, a fragment of the the Conqueror survived. By consuming massive amounts of protein, it was able to regrow itself, eventually returning to the massive size it first menaced the League with.
Part of Starro's conquest involves terraforming planets. In a two-part story that began in Grant Morrison and Howard Porter's JLA #22, Starro covered the entire continent of Europe, where it looked to enslave humanity in their dreams.
Starro's Weaknesses
Starro's first defeat at the hands of the League came when they coated it with the lawncare product Quicklime, which nullified its abilities and immobilized it. Not surprisingly, this weakness didn't wind up becoming Starro's Kryptonite.
A more lasting weakness of Starro's is its aversion to extreme cold. He was defeated multiple times by being exposed to it. One memorable defeat came after Starro tricked the Justice League Europe into helping him take over London in Justice League Europe #26 by Keith Giffen, Gerard Jones and Bart Sears. It took the combined efforts of the JLE and Justice League International to defeat Starro. JLI member Ice ultimately froze the would-be conqueror.
The intergalactic exploits of Starro's race led a civilization of Starro hunters to create an Anti-Starfish Toxin. The toxin was meant to depower Starros, disconnecting their control of its unwitting pawns. It was introduced in Tony Bedard and Andy Clarke's run on R.E.B.E.L.S.
Starro's Plans
Starro is an elegantly simple villain. Its plans revolve around conquering planets. Although it tends to prefer the blunt force of taking people over with its spores, sometimes it has used subterfuge. It tricked the Justice League Europe and Kilowog into aiding its conquest plans by feigning that it was dying. The Justice League helped Starro return to its ship, which it self-destructed to create countless spores.
Starro usually works alone, although it has occasionally been a team player. It was once part of the Sinestro Corps, the Secret Society of Super-Villains and the Red Lanterns of the Injustice universe. Starro did help Hawkman villain Onimar Synn conquer Thanagar in Dark Nights: Metal.
A Starro-controlled Batman created his own spin on Starro's plans in Justice League's Dark Nights: Death Metal tie-in story by Joshua Williamson and Xermanico. Dr. Arkham, one of Dark Nights many evil Bruce Waynes, created a Valley of Starros in the post-apocalyptic Arkham Wastelands. Beyond being a horrifying visual, it gives fans an idea of what the Earth might look like if Starro ever won his battles with the Justice League. It's also what the Suicide Squad will be fighting against in their upcoming film.