S.T.A.R. Labs

This article is about the fictional organization in DC Comics. S.T.A.R. Labs is not related to S.T.A.R.S.

Scientific and Technological Advanced Research Labs (S.T.A.R. Labs) is a fictional research facility and comic book organization appearing in titles published by DC Comics. It first appeared in Superman #246 (December 1971) and was created by Cary Bates and Rich Buckler.

Publication history

S.T.A.R. Labs was introduced in Superman #246 (December 1971). In the Superman comics, Professor Hamilton formerly worked there, and Dr. Kitty Faulkner, also known as the superheroine Rampage, is currently employed there. The Metropolis location is featured in a battle and as a plot point in Armageddon 2001. In Teen Titans, Cyborg's parents, Silas and Eleanor Stone, and his former love interest, Dr. Sarah Charles, all worked for S.T.A.R. Labs. Past S.T.A.R. Labs employees are Murray Takamoto,^[1] Dr. Jenet Klyburn, and Dr. Albert Michaels (the first Atomic Skull). The 1993 comics miniseries S.T.A.R. Corps was about a group of superhumans who had inadvertently gained their powers in a S.T.A.R. Labs experiment. The labs are featured in the 1996 mini-series The Final Night. As eternal winter threatens the world, thanks to the Sun-Eater, S.T.A.R. Labs keeps their webpage updated with encouragement and various information related to the emergency. The San Francisco and Montana branches play an important role in the arc in Justice League of America #110–114 (2005). 52 Aftermath: The Four Horsemen #1 (October 2007) shows a S.T.A.R. Labs relief operation working, side by side with Waynetech, in the devastated remains of the country of Bialya. All the relief workers are slain by outside forces. The latter few issues of DC Universe: Legacies showcases the life of Metropolis Star Labs security director Jim Mahoney. ^[2]

Fictional history

S.T.A.R. was founded by scientist Garrison Slate, who wanted a nationwide chain of research laboratories unconnected to the government or any business interests. He succeeded not only on a national scale, but an international one as well: S.T.A.R. Labs currently maintains facilities in Canada, Europe, Australia, and Japan as well as in the United States, with the total number of facilities numbering between twenty and thirty at last recorded count.

S.T.A.R. Labs is one of the companies providing sponsorship to the superhero team The Conglomerate. The other sponsors included American Steel, Dante Foods, Dupree Chemical, Ferris Aircraft, LexCorp, Ovel Oil, Pax Entertainment, Stagg Enterprises.^[3]

Locations

A partial list of some known locations of S.T.A.R. Labs facilities and their research focuses, where either is known, includes:

• Austin, Texas
• Central City, Missouri, Home of the Flash
• Chicago, Illinois: specializing in research and technology
• Detroit, Michigan: specialized in physics research. Closed down in 2004.
• Fawcett City: specializing in extraterrestrial research^[4]
• Gotham City: specializing in weaponry
• Keystone City, Kansas
• Kyoto, Japan^[5]
• Los Angeles, California: specializing in genetics and disease control
• Melbourne, Australia
• Metropolis (Queensland Park Borough, near Metropolis Harbor): specializing in marine biology
• Metropolis (central branch, New Troy Island): catch-all facility
• Missoula County, Montana^[6]
• New York City, New York: specializing in research and technology. Destroyed in explosion.^[7]
• Palo Alto, medical facility
• Phoenix, Arizona: specializing in meteorology and natural disasters
• Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, radioactive storage and testing centers
• Salt Lake City, Utah:^[8] specializing in physics
• San Diego, California: specializing in chemical research
• San Francisco, California: specializing in studying metahumans
• Seattle, Washington: specializing in studying psychology and psionics.
• Toronto, Canada^[9]
• Tulsa, Oklahoma
• Wichita, Kansas, specializing in robotics

In other media

Television

• S.T.A.R. Labs is shown in the Superman episode "The Hunter."
• In 1990 series The Flash, Dr. Christina "Tina" McGee (Amanda Pays), the scientist who helps Barry Allen (John Wesley Shipp) deal with the super-speed that makes him The Flash, works for S.T.A.R. Labs in Central City.
• In Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, S.T.A.R. Labs was often mentioned as a source of scientific information. It gained more prominence with the introduction of S.T.A.R. scientist Dr. Bernard Klein as a recurring character from the third season onwards. Dallas City Hall doubles as S.T.A.R. Labs' building exterior for long shots during the series.
• S.T.A.R. Labs was mentioned in an episode of Batman: The Animated Series.
• In Superman: The Animated Series, S.T.A.R. Labs and scientist Professor Hamilton made regular appearances as a source of information and equipment for Superman. In addition to housing Kryptonite rocks under lock and key, S.T.A.R. custodian Rudy Jones was transformed into the monstrous Parasite during an attempt to steal hazardous materials. The episode "Two's a Crowd" featured a scientist named Earl Garver who stole isotopes which he made into a bomb until he was stopped by Superman.
• S.T.A.R. Labs made appearances in Justice League Unlimited.
• S.T.A.R. Labs was also mentioned in the Teen Titans cartoon, as the makers of the "Maximum 7", a microchip Cyborg uses to upgrade himself in the episode "Overdrive".
• S.T.A.R. Labs is also featured in the animated series Krypto the Superdog; it has an unintentional hand in creating Stretch-O-Mutt.
• In Smallville, Winslow Schott is a scientific inventor of S.T.A.R. Labs who was hired by Oliver Queen to work for Queen Industries. It is later revealed that S.T.A.R. Labs was founded by Virgil Swann. Season 11 comics, is where Superman starts his first year as being a superhero and learns about his origins and his powers. S.T.A.R. Labs is also run by Dr. Emil Hamilton who took over Dr. Virgil Swann place to help Superman's powers and his origin.
• A van that has "S.T.A.R. LABS" written on it can be seen at the end of the Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode "Invasion of the Secret Santas." Masked men from S.T.A.R. Labs are loading the remains of Red Tornado into it to be repaired. In "The Color of Revenge," a S.T.A.R. Labs facility in Bludhaven is later attacked by Crazy Quilt when he comes to steal the Stimulated Emission Light Amplifier. A group of bound and gagged S.T.A.R. scientists briefly appear, but have no lines.
• A S.T.A.R. Labs facility appears in the Young Justice episode "Infiltrator". The facility is raided and destroyed by the Swarm, a cloud of dangerous nanites used by the League of Shadows. In "Misplaced," Klarion the Witch Boy, Wotan, Blackbriar Thorn, Felix Faust and Wizard's spell that split the Earth into the kids dimension and the adults dimension enabled a diversion for Riddler and Sportsmaster to steal an organism (which resembles a part of Starro) from S.T.A.R. Labs. It is brought before Brain during his meeting with the other members of The Light (Project Cadmus' Board of Directors) as Brain tells Klarion the Witch Boy that they plan to bring it "into the Light." The only know members of S.T.A.R. Labs in this continuity are Adam Strange and Eduardo Dorado, Sr.
• S.T.A.R. Labs appears as a major location in the Arrowverse. It is first mentioned in the second season of Arrow during the episode "Three Ghosts" when Barry Allen (Grant Gustin), having helped Oliver Queen thwart one of Sebastian Blood's schemes in Starling City, returns to his home of Central City, only to be simultaneously hit by both lightning and an explosion caused by the meltdown of S.T.A.R. Labs's particle accelerator and rendered comatose for nine months. Later, in "The Man Under the Hood," S.T.A.R. scientists Caitlin Snow (Danielle Panabaker) and Cisco Ramon (Carlos Valdes) are recruited by Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards) to synthesize a cure to Mirakuru drug using a blood sample. The villain Deathstroke (Manu Bennett) also attacks S.T.A.R. Labs in the same episode on the hunt for some equipment.
• S.T.A.R. Labs returns in the 2014 series The Flash. Following the events of the second season of Arrow, Barry awakens from his coma and learns that he has gained super speed. He joins forces with Caitlin, Cisco, S.T.A.R. founder Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh), and his adoptive father Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) to combat individuals who were also affected by the particle accelerator explosion (dubbed metahumans) but are using their newfound abilities for nefarious purposes, using S.T.A.R. Labs as a primary base of operations and reappropriating the old particle accelerator as a makeshift prison for them. It is revealed throughout the events of the first season that Eobard Thawne (Cavanagh/Matt Letscher), who had been masquerading as Wells, had engineered the explosion to give Barry his powers and groomed him into becoming the Flash in order to use Barry to return to his original time in the future.
  • In the second season, Barry and his friends, having defeated Eobard, are given ownership of S.T.A.R. Labs by Eobard through his will. However, they discover that a breach to parallel worlds has appeared in S.T.A.R. Labs as a result of the events of the first season, and through it they meet Jay Garrick (Teddy Sears) and a second Harrison Wells, who have come to stop the villainous Zoom, a murderous speedster from their world (dubbed "Earth-2") who plans to steal Barry's speed for himself. The second season also introduces the S.T.A.R. Labs of Earth-2, which was also responsible for creating metahumans. Wells, Barry and Cisco briefly reside there with the intention of closing the breaches between the two Earths in order to trap Zoom in Earth-2, but they are forced to evacuate when Zoom attacks the building.
  • The third season introduces a new room called the "Speed Lab", an exercise chamber for Barry and other speedsters that was created as a result of Barry creating a new timeline. It also introduces a third S.T.A.R. Labs on Earth-19 whose Harrison Wells is recruited by the team. Unlike the S.T.A.R. Labs of other Earths, however, its leading scientific mind is not Wells but instead his partner, Randolf Morgan (Adam Bergquist), whose work Wells often claims credit for.

Film

• S.T.A.R. Labs makes an appearance Justice League: Doom. After Superman is shot by a Kryptonite bullet, The Flash is sent to a S.T.A.R. Labs facility in Kyoto, Japan, where they are making a Kryptonite scalpel (this being the only tool that could allow doctors to operate and remove the bullet.) The scalpel ends up being unnecessary, as Batman has Cyborg use his blaster filtered through a piece of Kryptonite crystal to serve as a cutting laser, and Martian Manhunter uses his shape-shifting abilities to remove the bullet.
• In Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, Superman tells Batman & Flash that he will take Professor Zoom to S.T.A.R. Labs after they successfully remove Zoom's 25th century bombs off the Rogues. However, this version of S.T.A.R Labs appears to be in the Watchtower after Superman is seen taking Professor Zoom towards the sky.
• In Man of Steel, S.T.A.R. Labs has several cameo appearances through the film.^[10]
• S.T.A.R. Labs first makes an appearance in Justice League: War when Victor Stone goes there after a football game to confront his father as to his absence during the game, Captain Marvel later returns several Parademons to Star Labs through the whole in the roof shortly after the creation of Cyborg, It is shown again at the end of the movie while it is under-repair.
• S.T.A.R. Labs makes several appearances in Justice League: Throne of Atlantis Where it is being used as a headquarters for the Justice League albeit with the group's original name The Super Seven much to Steve Trevor's annoyance, This is later corrected at the end of the movie with the name Justice League above the HQ Doors.
• In Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, S.T.A.R. Labs appears in video obtained by Bruce Wayne from a LexCorp drive and emailed to Diana Prince. In the Ultimate Edition, Jena Malone appears as Jenet Klyburn in a separate role as a weapons expert and ballistics specialist.

Video games

• S.T.A.R. Labs is featured in the video game Justice League Heroes. Superman and Batman travel to S.T.A.R. Labs to fight Brainiac and his robotic minions. After Brainiac is defeated, Superman and Batman discover it is only a clone of Brainiac.
• S.T.A.R. Labs is featured in DC Universe Online. In the hero campaign, the players can gain the trust of S.T.A.R. Lab's personnel by completing certain missions, collecting specific bounties, and gain access to equipment from S.T.A.R. Labs Vendors. An old S.T.A.R. Labs building can be seen in Downtown Metropolis, where villainous players are enlisted to help Gorilla Grodd reclaim his technology confiscated by S.T.A.R. Labs troops and defeat both the original Flash and the current Flash. There is also a S.T.A.R. Labs building in the Otisburg section of Gotham City. S.T.A.R. Labs' soldiers consist of S.T.A.R. Labs Heavy Troopers, S.T.A.R. Labs Security Guards, and S.T.A.R. Labs Shock Troopers.
• Injustice: Gods Among Us has a stage titled Insurgency, which is inspired by S.T.A.R. Labs' facilities and is used by Batman. A section of the game called "S.T.A.R. Labs Missions" is present.

Web series

• S.T.A.R. Labs have a cameo appearance in DC Super Hero Girls.

See also

• LexCorp
• S.T.A.R. Corps
• Wayne Enterprises

References

External links

• STAR Labs on DC Database, an external wiki, a DC Comics wiki
• Titans Tower on S.T.A.R. Labs