‘Justice League’: What We Learn About Cyborg’s S.T.A.R. Labs

Justice League expands the DC Extended Universe into some exciting new corners, with one of he most interesting being the mythos surrounding Victor Stone, aka Cyborg. Cyborg’s DCEU origin is tied to an iconic organization form the DC Comics Universe: S.T.A.R. Labs. Now, thanks to Justice League, we know a bit more about what the DCEU version of S.T.A.R. Labs is, and how it may be a factor in the future.

Based on the setup we saw in Batman v Superman, we know that S.T.A.R. Labs has all-too-aware of alien technology on Earth for some time. The DCEU Wiki posits that S.T.A.R. Labs scientists first discovered the Mother Box once hidden by ancient tribes of men back in 1982, and kept it secret for decades. It’s easy to presume that S.T.A.R. Labs has played an active part in studying all of the alien technology that was discovered on Earth in all that time – likely artifacts even predate Superman revealing himself to the world.

A major turning point for S.T.A.R. Labs came when Silas Stone attempted to use the Mother Box (or “Change Engine”) to save the life of his son Victor, who was in a fatal car crash along with Silas’s wife. For reasons currently unknown, the Mother Box activated itself for the first time in centuries in order to repair Victor’s body (as seen in Batman v Superman) and save his life, creating the superhero known as Cyborg. Because Silas conducted his drastic experiment in secret, his co-workers at S.T.A.R. Labs had no idea about the massive breakthrough with the Mother Box, or Victor’s existence as Cyborg. It was also S.T.A.R. Labs weapons and ballistics expert Janet Klyburn (Jena Malone) who helped Lois Lane identify the Lexcorp bullets used to frame Superman for the Nairomi, Africa, attack during Batman v Superman: The Ultimate Edition‘s opening act.

In Justice League, S.T.A.R. Labs is still headquartered in its Metropolis location, but has seemingly established a secondary facility or research site in and around General Zod’s crashed Kryptonian ship, which Lex Luthor used to create Doomsday. By the end of the film, Cyborg’s existence has been revealed to the world, and the hero is seen at S.T.A.R. Labs working alongside his father, to better study, understand, and master the Mother Box technology that is now a part of him.

We don’t yet know the nature or extent of what S.T.A.R. Labs has learned from the Kryptonian or New God technology at their disposal. If recent history has been any teacher, no good will likely come from mankind playing with technology beyond its comprehension…

Justice League is now in theaters; Aquaman arrives on December 21, 2018; Shazam on April 5, 2019; Wonder Woman 2 on November 1st, 2019; Cyborg on April 3, 2020; and Green Lantern Corps on July 24, 2020.