this post was submitted on 08 Jul 2023
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Super massive black holes aren't formed from stars. Stars have a maximum mass limit due to radiation pressure from energy generated in their core pushing up and out on their upper layers, and that limit is in the hundreds of solar masses range, not the millions that define a super massive black hole.
Seems NASA postulates that there is or was such a thing as mid-sized black holes that are created by the collision of massive stars in clusters...then these merge to form a SMB.
The collapse of star clusters is one hypothesis for the creation of intermediate mass black holes, yes, but those aren't predicated on any actual stars forming. Stars just form as a matter of course.
Stellar mass black holes generally require core-collapse supernovae - which require massive stars - in order to compress the core enough to trigger black hole formation. That isn't true for these larger types of black holes.
Those initial Population III stars do not have the same size limitation as current, metal-rich stars. Those things were short-lived gargantuan monsters compared to any and all subsequent stars.