History: < ten billion years ago> A humanoid species came into being on the planet Oa. After five billion years they evolved to the point where they possessed great power and were virtually immortal. The adults of this race were preoccupied with an eternal study of the universe’s nature, and they expanded their study in every area but one; an ancient warning forbid them from investigating their own origins. Scientist Krona defied this warning, building a machine to see through time to the beginning of all things. The terrible consequences of his actions were the creation of the Anti-Matter Universe, as well as unleashing vast and unstoppable evil. Krona was punished, and the immortals dedicated themselves to creating a force of good to combat the evil Krona had unleashed. A small faction of Oans argued that the evil unleashed corrupted the universe, and the universe would have to be destroyed if the evil couldn't be contained. This faction got no support from the majority of Malthusians, so they left Oa and eventually evolved into the Controllers. 

The Controllers created doomsday weapons capable of obliterating galaxies and formed the Darkstars, an intergalactic police force.

<30th Century> A renegade Controller tried to destroy the Milky Way galaxy in the 30th Century. The Controller unleashed his doomsday weapon, the Sun-Eater, but the galaxy was saved by the Legion of Super-Heroes.

(Legion of Super-Heroes III #7, 8) - The Controllers gutted an entire planet, turning it into a giant factory, and sent it to limbo. The planet’s control center operated machinery and robots to fulfill the purpose of the planet for the Controllers; manufacturing Sun-Eaters. Chameleon Boy, Element Lad, Phantom Girl, Shrinking Violet and Ultra Boy of the Legion of Super-Heroes were stranded in limbo and came across the planet. They observed a Controller having a discussion with the Armorer that ran the control center before using a stargate to warp to another planet. The Legionnaires saw a stargate labeled with an icon of Earth, but they knew they couldn’t simply return home with the threat the Sun-Eaters being produced posed to the entire universe. The Legionnaires ripped apart the solar feeders that powered the growing Sun-Eater and used them to destroy the control center, but concluded that they still might have to destroy the entire planet, and their only way home because there were hundreds of facilities where the Controllers could start all over again. A giant security robot incapacitated Ultra Boy Element Lad and Chameleon Kid with a molecular attractor, but Phantom girl phased and Shrinking Violet shrunk to avoid the attack. The robot brought the Legionnaires back to the Armorer, who was shocked when scanning his data banks he learned that the Legion had defeated a rogue Controller. He could conceive of no power great enough to conquer his masters. The Legionnaires revived, and Element Lad turned the robot into a puddle of mercury. He demanded the Armorer tell him why the Controllers were creating Sun-Eaters but the Armorer replied that the powers and motives of the Controllers were beyond human conception. Chameleon Boy morphed his form into that of a Controller, and chided the Armorer, who knelt before him, allowing Ultra Boy to knock him out from behind. Phantom Girl and Shrinking violet met up with the rest of their teammates, saying they’d come up with a plan to destroy the planet and still return home. Element Lad turned the Armorer’s base into nuclear explosive material, and as they entered the stargate to Earth, with the Armorer in tow, Ultra Boy threw a ten pound rock of fissionable material behind them, blowing up the planet.