Kanjar Ro is a fictional supervillain in the DC Comics universe.

Biographie

Kanjar Ro is the dictator of the planet Dhor in the Antares star system. Dhor is constantly at war with three other Antarean worlds: Alstair ruled by the plant-like Queen Hyathis, Mosteel ruled by the metal-skinned Kromm, and Llarr ruled by the lizard-like Emperor Sayyar. In his first appearance, he enslaved the Justice League with his Gamma Gong, and used them to battle the other three monarchs by threatening to leave all humanity in a paralyzed state, who would only be released if all three monarchs spoke Kanjar Ro's name at the same time. The League was able to defeat all three monarchs, and also defeated him, despite him taking away the monarch's voices with his energi-rod, the League had recorded their voices so humanity was freed, before imprisoning all four monarchs on a small planet which Green Lantern created a power ring barrier around.

Ro escaped after the four villains made a crack in the barrier using their thought waves, but left them, and subsequently made several attempts to conquer Rann, prompting the League's team-ups with Adam Strange. He first tried to use radiation from Rann's Triple-Star to become three times as powerful as Superman and nearly defeated the JLA, but Adam defeated him with his Dhorite Energi-rod, like Superman is weakened by Kryptonite, Kanjar was apparently vulnerable to Dhorite, and was imprisoned in a prison with bars of Dhorite. For some reason the yellow radiation he released means Adam cannot stay on Rann for more than a year. While the people of the planet Rann were distracted, Kanjar Ro unleashed his latest plot of revenge against the Justice League of America: Sending out his Aura form out to his lab, Kanjar Ro used a device to draw the Auras of the Flash, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, the Atom, and Aquaman to trick the other members of the Justice League into various traps which Kanjar Ro devised for them while he stole Earth. However, when the aural fakes displayed that they did not have the same weaknesses or personalities as the real JLA members, the members they'd been teamed up with realized the hoax and defeated the impostors. They learnt from Kanjor Ro's aura, upset at being left behind, his plan. They found the camouflaged Earth and transported it back, then Ro was re-imprisoned.

While on the planet Rann, Adam Strange checked on Kanjar Ro and realized what the foe is up to. Transporting his own Aura to Earth, Strange met with the real Justice League and informed them of Ro's plot. The Justice League then tracked Kanjar Ro's aural duplicate on Earth and used their combined might to stop him. With the aural Kanjar Ro defeated, the Justice League and Adam Strange imprisoned the aural Kanjar Ro within the same cell as his physical form. One of these attempts eventually proved successful, at the same time one of his previous rival monarchs conquered Thanagar. This prompted the first Rann-Thanagar War.

Following the Crisis on Infinite Earths Kanjar Ro was introduced in Hawkworld as a plotting bureaucrat in the Thanagarian Ministry of Alien Affairs. This was originally intended to take place prior to JLA #3, but it was later revealed it was occurring in the present. Ro's pre-Crisis background still exists, however, as his Gamma Gong is kept in the Justice League Watchtower's trophy room.

Kanjar Ro has subsequently appeared in both Superman and JLA vol. 3, attempting to conquer planets through force or guile. Kanjar Ro's sister, Kanjar Ru, appeared in Valor as the warden of the Starlag II prison. Kanjar Ro was recently mentioned in Justice League of America #4 in passing by Black Lightning. He later appears in Justice League of America #19 on the planet Cygnus 4019, the intended prison planet for Earth's supervillains. After attempting to capture the League (who had come to check on the prisoners) he reveals that he planned to take control of the villains upon their arrival, only for their teleport beams to be redirected elsewhere.

Kanjar Ro appears in Trinity, having disguised himself as Despero, in order to take his place in a ritual that take the positions of "keystones of the universe" from Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. Although the ritual is successful, granting Morgaine le Fey and Enigma great power, Kanjar gains nothing, due to his deception. Revealed as a fake, Kanjar flees Morgaine and Enigma, but is confronted by a vengeful Despero. He barters the location of the imprisoned Crime Syndicate of Amerika in exchange for leniency; after this, he is ignored when he demands vengeance against Morgaine, and is taken to Krona's polar base, from where he radios for the heroes to save himself from the destruction Krona prepares for Earth. In the end, as the Green Lanterns take custody of Despero's massive alien armada, he reveals he has copied Krona's files and notes and is ready to sell them to the highest bidder, in strict accordance with the massive greed he had displayed through the series. He is last seen ready to sneak away from the fleet en route to the prison planet Takron Galtos.

Kanjar Ro was later seen in the Oan prison cells, and was present during a mass breakout. Unwilling to be killed by the rioting prisoners, Kanjar bargained with Kyle Rayner, offering to help quell the riot in exchange for leniency on his sentence. This pact later saved Kanjar's life; The Guardians had ordered the Alpha Lanterns to kill all the escaped prisoners, and Kyle was able to have the Guardians spare Kanjar this sentence by citing his assistance during the riot.

After presumably being released from Oa, Kanjar Ro returned to Dhor and resumed his rule of the planet just as Starro the Conqueror began his latest conquest. Vril Dox proceeded to erect a forcefield barrier, stopping the spread of Starro's invasion, but also entrapping a number of planets with the Star Conqueror, Dhor and Kanjar Ro included. Kanjar Ro is then seen telling Dox he "will consider" Dox's request for his assistance in stopping Starro. After ending their communication, several members of Vril Dox's R.E.B.E.L.S. team speculate that Kanjar Ro is more likely to cut a deal with Starro to save himself rather than throw in with Dox. However, Kanjar Ro sought the R.E.B.E.L.S.' help when Starro's horde began their invasion of Dhor, and was denied by the Dominator Xylon. When Kanjar sought to use his gamma gong against the horde, Starro's general Smite shattered it to pieces. As Smite was about to kill Kanjar, Adam Strange, who had just heeded Dox's call for help, zeta-beamed himself and Kanjar away to the R.E.B.E.L.S.' temporary base. It was then revealed that Dox had originally sent Strange to retrieve the gamma gong, not its inventor, who Dox described as a "dithering idiot." Nevertheless, Kanjar Ro is currently a member of the R.E.B.E.L.S. team.