James Gunn has given an explanation for why he choose Starro to be the main villain in The Suicide Squad. The next installment of the DCEU finds Task Force X aka The Suicide Squad going on a mission to the island of Corto Maltese to uncover plans for operation starfish. DC Comics readers could get an idea of the villain hiding in the shadows, and the trailer for the movie officially confirmed that Starro would appear in the film.
Starro debuted in The Brave and the Bold #28 and was created by Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky. The villain appeared in the very first ever Justice League story as the primary villain for the team consisting of Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Barry Allen's The Flash, Hal Jordan's Green Lantern, and the Martian Manhunter. As he is known in the comics, Starro the Conqueror is a giant alien that resembles a starfish who has the ability to duplicate itself by making small pores of itself that latch on to a person and taking over the individual's mind. The character has been adapted in a number of different media including Batman Beyond, Young Justice, and the short-lived DC series Powerless.
Starro will now make his big-screen debut in The Suicide Squad and James Gunn explains why he picked him as the primary antagonist for his film. According to ComicBook, Gunn stated that he wanted a major DC villain that many wouldn't expect to see. He also found Starro particularly terrifying when he was a kid, citing the cover of Justice League #190 published in 1981 that featured Starro on the face of Superman and various Justice League members. Gunn said:
"Well I just, I wanted a major DC villain that is a major DC villain that people wouldn't expect to be in a movie and I've always loved Starro. I mean, as a kid, I found Starro completely terrifying. The idea of this giant starfish with one big guy that shoots these things out of him that take over people's brains, like those old pictures with Superman with him on his face. Always scared the s*** out of me. So, it was about taking something that was completely, mind you, ridiculous, that looks, putting him in a setting that is the gritty streets of Cologne, Panama, and then allowing him to do his scary business, but he's also completely outrageous. And so, that mix of things appealed to my aesthetic."
The character of Starro fits very well into James Gunn's wheelhouse. The character has many similarities to alien parasites seen in Gunn's 2006 film Slither. Gunn has mined the various corners of the Marvel cosmic universe to craft the lore and characters of the Guardians of the Galaxy films and appears to have done the same from DC Comics by not just including Starro but also the alien Mongal (Mayling Ng) as a member of the Suicide Squad. Starro's inclusion in the cast also fits with the wider creative theme of The Suicide Squad film, taking overlooked and sometimes silly characters and giving them a treatment where they can potentially be the next big star.
Starro may have been a villain that was seen as too out there for a big-budget superhero film to be taken seriously, and even with Shazam! setting up a caterpillar-like Mr. Mind in a sequel, the alien conqueror that looked like a starfish may have seemed like one leap too far for most. Starro typically is a Justice League villain, but the Justice League films directed by Zack Snyder opted to focus on the New Gods like Darkseid and Steppenwolf as the team's first foe similar to The New 52. Currently, there is no new Justice League film planned by Warner Bros., it was unlikely that if not for The Suicide Squad and James Gunn's love for the character of Starro, he wouldn't be appearing in a film.
Source: Comicbook.com
