S.T.A.R. 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, Volume 1 #246, cover-dated December, 1971. It was created by writer Cary Bates and artist Rich Buckler. The acronym stands for Scientific and Technological Advanced Research Labs, though it is also often spelled without the acronym, STAR Labs.

Overview
S.T.A.R. was founded by a scientist named Robert Meersman, 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.