Not Good Employee Benefits

I was rereading some R.E.B.E.L.S. issues from earlier this year and I hit the point where Starro's making his Big Gloating Speech to Vril Dox. Starro tells of how Dox paralyzed the Starro this conqueror wears on his chest, which freed all of Starro's minions, and there went Starro's army. Except for Smite and Stormdaughter, who saved him from execution at Despero's hands because they were never controlled by Starro. They served him willingly.

What occurred to me was Starro wasn't smart enough to see the importance of that. He notes it was a remarkable realization for them, but it doesn't seem to have taught him anything. He didn't care that Storm-daughter might be pushing her luck trying the same trick on Lobo twice. Didn't care that the trick didn't work a second time and she was killed. When Smite made the suggestion that they use to Lobo Clone Army to stop Lobo, Starro called him a coward and insisted the clones were too valuable to waste. Which lead to Smite breaking ties with Starro, going off to fight Lobo himself, but then switching allegiances.

It's a typical villain mistake, to take things like loyalty for granted, but you'd think Starro might have learned something from his earlier defeat. There are ways to incapacitate his little starfish, and if they're the only thing keeping his army together, then he can lose it in the blink of an eye. Having people who follow him willingly, even after a crushing defeat, is a pretty rare thing. Too bad he values an army of clones that he can't control (or even simply unleash like a one-time natural disaster) more.