Superman TAS/Adventures: Invasion! (Unused Plot #7) (Patreon)

BACKGROUND: This was designed as an annual, back when they did annuals for the animated books. And were doing the actual animated books, I guess. This is the seventh and last of the fully-formed Superman Adventures pitches we did. It's the one I would like to have written the most because, for me, it's a love letter to the Silver Age, to king-size annuals, to JLA stories where tons of characters were off doing things, and endings where a goofy scientific (or pseudo-scientific) detail or a DC character's oddball abilities end up saving the day rather than extreme and overwhelming force. Also, I'm a sucker for stories where heroes and villains have to work together against a threat. Plus, Starro! I mean, c'mon. It's Starro. They hadn't used Starro yet in the animated universe -- you can kind of date the pitch to a certain time because Dan Turpin is still alive in the STAS series -- but I'm assuming they have since the Superman series ended. They use everybody. What a time to be a fan. If only this all  happened when I was twelve.

Hope you've enjoyed these story pitches. I doubt I'll unearth any others for the STAS stuff, but I know I have more story pitches for other comics projects -- some that saw print, some that didn't  -- and I'll be posting those eventually, as well.  

INVASION!

NOTE -- This plot is designed for an annual-sized book.

CHARACTERS

Starro the Conqueror

Supergirl

Brainiac

Luthor

And practically the entire cast of the series

The Story:

The skies above Metropolis turn red and cloudy, the heavens roil eerily -- no one has ever seen weather like this before. Superman takes to the skies to check the phenomena out --and disappears. Metropolis watches the skies in anticipation and some dread, as do the staff of the Planet.

Suddenly the heavens open up and it begins to rain --only not water, but repulsive, grayish blue starfish-like creatures with spiraling, bloodshot singular eyes. The starfish rain down all over the panicked city, smashing through buildings and windows and cars. Worse yet, the creatures are attaching themselves over the faces of people and animals, taking control of their hosts and turning them onto their fellow humans.

At the Planet, phones, faxes, transmissions and e-mail all scream lurid details of creatures from space and Metropolis citizens turning on one another. Perry tries to calm everyone, reminding them they deal with facts, and that while events of late have been strange, so far they don't have hard facts. Perry turns to the window, and his speech is interrupted as a starfish smashes through the glass and attaches to the chief's face. The staff is horrified as White turns and attacks Jimmy. The others subdue Perry but cannot remove the creature. Reports come in from all over the city...the populace is being taken over by these creatures, and there's rioting and fighting in the streets.

We then see the effect on the city -calls to the police go unheeded as Turpin and Sawyer and a few cops find themselves trapped in their precinct by a bevy of mind-controlled officers.

Amidst the terror and panic, the source of the attack becomes known. The skies darken, the colors deepen, and a gigantic, otherworldly version of the small starfish slowly lowers itself towards the spires of Metropolis --this is Starro, conqueror of worlds.

But defending this world are several people in the wake of Superman's disappearance --one being Supergirl, who'd been coming to visit Superman. Members of the police and local military not under control fight as well, as do members of STAR labs. The others aren't so heroic in nature but are on the same side --Luthor has marshaled his resources to fight the invader (even while he readies an evacuation plan for himself and Mercy), as has Brainiac and possibly other villainous cast members, who realize that Starro is everyone's enemy. At the same time, there is room to bring in several other DC Universe guest stars who could reach ground zero quickly, such as Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern, etc.

As they attempt to repel Starro and his invasion force, Brainiac tells Supergirl that he's calculated that if undefeated, Starro will have conquered the Earth within three days.

We learn that Starro is a legend Supergirl had heard as a child -one she had thought was told to frighten unsleeping children. Starro tells her this is not so --in flashback we see his time-tested methods for subjugating planets --his starfish land and turn the populace against one another, while he dispatches any major threats or armies. After exhausting a planet for food and energy, he leaves it a wasteland. Starro is a monstrous parasite, unwilling to live without draining others. He has destroyed every system he has touched --and fully expects to do the same on Earth.

As if to underscore that point, a massive creature made up of hundreds of starfish lands from the sky and attacks Brainiac and Supergirl, et al. After a vicious battle, they smash the starfish exoskeleton away to reveal Superman underneath, still possessed by the battalion of creatures needed to maintain control. Brainiac and Supergirl manage to free an exhausted Superman, who recounts his being waylaid by an advance group of the parasites -after tearing multitudes of them from his body he succumbed, and the swarm enveloped him and took possession.

With Superman in the fray, they begin to pound away at Starro --but the Starfish is powerful, and the battle for Metropolis rages on, in the precinct, in the streets, and in the air. Finally, the fight with Starro takes them to the Metropolis zoo --where curiously, Starro becomes stymied --and attacking starfish become hesitant and then powerless, dropping dead to the ground. Superman realizes that it happened near the dolphin tanks --and Brainiac surmises that the dolphins language emits sound waves that effectively interrupt the control impulse Starro has over his minions.

Somehow the effect is reproduced on a large scale --either by Brainiac, or maybe they get Aquaman's help with a passel of dolphins, or STAR jerry-rigs something, but they cut the starfish off from Starro, releasing their captors, killing the starfish, and weakening Starro, who is sent packing from Earth.

The truce ends afterward, as the one-time allies break ranks and return to their roles, whether to rebuild Metropolis or plot against it in the future. For now, the city, and the Earth, is safe once again.