Who the Clix? Starro

Who the Clix? is a series of articles featuring information on comic book characters that have been made into figures for the popular tabletop game Heroclix. These articles are meant to help Heroclix players learn more about the characters behind their favorite pieces.

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Appearances in Heroclix: Wizkids DC 18, Justice League
First Appearance: Brave and the Bold #28 (February–March 1960)
Team Affiliations: Secret Society of Super Villains, Sinestro Corps
Created by: Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky

Starro is an intelligent alien life from deep in space that resembles a giant Earth starfish. He first encounters the Justice League years ago by empowering three other starfish that wreak havoc on the planet. Though the League is able to defeat Starro, a segment survives and regrows into a new Starro that is defeated by Aquaman alone.

A piece of Starro survives and regrows once again, taking control of a group of nearby humans to feed and protect him until he can return to his full size. Once he is strong enough, he sends out starrophytes (duplicate spore versions of himself) that attach and take over the entire population of New York City. When the Justice League arrives to save the day, several of them are also controlled by the starrophytes. Eventually, a cold front comes in that manages to kill off enough of the starrophytes for Starro to be over whelmed. Superman travels to another dimension and aids Captain Carrot in defeating their universe's Starro before bringing the defeated creature back to his home dimension.

Starro later convinces Justice League Europe that it is dying and wishes to die at home in space. Kilowog helps the alien return to his ship and repair it, launching it out of Earth's atmosphere. Starro betrays the heroes, however, and detonates his ship resulting in thousands of starrophytes spreading over Western Europe and allowing him to seize control over several countries. Starro is again defeated by extreme cold when Ice manages to freeze the “prime” Starro.

Another Starro takes control of the Flash (Wally West) and intends to lure the Justice League to Blue Valley so that it may conquer the galaxy. The Spectre warns the heroes of this ploy and aids them by removing their powers. The de-powered heroes then attack Starro and distract it until Batman is able to freeze it. This Starro survives and is revealed to be a herald for a massive member of the race called the Star Conqueror. This massive being covers Europe with its body and attempts to enslave the entire human race. Dream, of the Endless, aids the Justice League in repelling this horrific being. Once it is defeated, Dream seals it away and takes it back to the Dreaming where it is kept with other trinkets and treasures.

During the Infinite Crisis, Starro is a member of Alexander Luthor Jr.'s Secret Society of Super Villains and terrorizes the Earth of Captain Carrot and the Zoo Crew. Starro succeeds in flooding that Earth and seemingly defeating the heroes. Starro reappears wielding five Sinestro rings (one on each appendage) and is ultimately destroyed by a future version of Bart Allen.

It is learned that the creatures identifying as Starros were originally simple parasites that would deploy massive motherstars to a planet. The motherstar would then send out the spores to enslave a population. When a motherstar arrived on the planet Hatorei, it found a race with fantastic mental powers. A survivor of the invasion abducted a small motherstar queen and was able to take control of the entire race through her. This being then began calling itself Starro the Conqueror and uses the motherstars and starrophytes to conquer galaxies.

A Starro is eventually recruited to join Team Mystery and seems to accept heroic virtues before dying. A tissue sample, saved by Batman, grows into a small starro that Batman names “Jarro.” Batman takes young Jarro in as his ward.