Kanjar Ro
Kanjar Ro as depicted in his debut appearance inJustice League of America #3 (February 1961); art byMurphy Anderson.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Justice League of America #3 (February 1961)
Created by	Gardner Fox Mike Sekowsky
In-story information
Alter ego	Kanjar Ro
Place of origin	Dhor
Team affiliations	R.E.B.E.L.S.
Abilities	Basic martial art skills, and possessed high tech weaponry, including a "Gamma Gong" that renders people motionless.

Kanjar Ro is asupervillain appearing incomic books published byDC Comics. He is an alien dictator from the planet Dhor and an enemy of the Justice League.

Kanjar Ro has also appeared in various media outside comics.Marc Worden,René Auberjonois,Khary Payton, andKurtwood Smith have voiced the character in animated series and films.

He first appeared inJustice League of America #3 (February 1961) in the story "The Slave Ship of Space", and was created byGardner Fox andMike Sekowsky.^[1]

Kanjar Ro is the dictator of the planet Dhor in theAntares star system, which is at war with three neighboring planets: Alstair, ruled by the plant-likeHyathis; Mosteel, ruled by the metal-skinned Kromm; and Llarr, ruled by the lizard-like Sayyar. In his first appearance, Ro enslaves theJustice League with his Gamma Gong and uses them to battle the other three monarchs by threatening to leave all humanity in a paralyzed state. The League defeats all four monarchs and imprisons them on a small planet around whichGreen Lantern creates an energy barrier.^[2]

Ro escapes after the villains crack the barrier, but leaves them behind. Ro makes several attempts to conquer the planet Rann, prompting the League to team-up withAdam Strange. He first uses radiation from Rann's star to empower himself and nearly defeats the JLA, but Adam defeats him with Dhorite. Ro later creates energy clones of himself and the Justice League before the real League stops him.

Following theCrisis on Infinite Earths continuity reboot, Kanjar Ro is reintroduced inHawkworld as a plotting bureaucrat onThanagar. He appears in bothSuperman andJLA (vol. 3) attempting to conquer planets through force or guile. Ro's sister, Kanjar Ru, appears inValor as the warden of the prison Starlag II. He later appears inJustice League of America #19 on the prison planetCygnus 4019. After attempting to capture the League, he reveals that he planned to take control of the villains upon their arrival, only for their teleport beams to be redirected elsewhere.^[3]

Kanjar Ro appears inTrinity, having disguised himself asDespero to take his place in a ritual and steal power fromSuperman,Batman, andWonder Woman. Although the ritual is successful, grantingMorgaine le Fey andEnigma power, Ro gains nothing due to his deception.^[4] Revealed as a fake, Ro flees Morgaine and Enigma, but Despero confronts him.^[5] He barters the location of the imprisonedCrime Syndicate of Amerika in exchange for leniency; after this, he is ignored when he demands vengeance against Morgaine and is taken toKrona's polar base, from where he radios for the heroes to save himself from Krona. As the Green Lanterns take custody of Despero's armada, Ro reveals he has copied Krona's files and will sell them to the highest bidder.

Kanjar Ro is later seen inOa's prison cells and works withKyle Rayner to stop a mass breakout in exchange for a reduced sentence.^[6] When theGuardians of the Universe attempt to kill the prisoners, Kyle convinces them to spare Ro due to his earlier actions.^[7] After being released from Oa, Ro returns to Dhor and helpsVril Dox'sR.E.B.E.L.S. team stopStarro.

Kanjar Ro is a cunning strategist and wields advanced alien weaponry. He carries an Energi-Rod that allows him to fly and communicate through hyper-space, as well as a Gamma Gong which can paralyze others when struck.

• Kangar-Ro, afunny animal variant of Kanjar Ro from Earth-C-Minus, appears inCaptain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew!.^[8]
• Kelger Vo, a character based on Kanjar Ro, appears in theLeague of Extraordinary Gentlemenvolume 3 backup featureMinions of the Moon.
• Kanjar Ro appears inJLA/Avengers #4 as a thrall ofKrona.

• Kanjar Ro appears in theJustice League episode "In Blackest Night", voiced byRené Auberjonois.^[9]
• Kanjar Ro appears inBatman: The Brave and the Bold, voiced byMarc Worden.^[10][9] In his most notable appearance in the episode "The Rise of the Blue Beetle!", he captures Gibbles to use them as fuel. WhenBatman andBlue Beetle arrive to stop him, he uses his Gamma Gong to separate the latter from his scarab and bond with it until Blue Beetle uses the gong to defeat him. In subsequent appearances, Ro fights Batman, among other heroes, alongside space pirates and an army of robots before being killed by an alien creature while attempting to destroy the planet Rann.
• Kanjar Ro appears inJustice League Action, voiced byKhary Payton.^[9]

• Kanjar Ro appears inGreen Lantern: First Flight, voiced byKurtwood Smith.^[9] This version is an insectoid alien with squid-like facial features. He allies withSinestro to obtain the "yellow element" and have theWeaponers of Qward convert it into a Power Ring. Sinestro kills Ro, but briefly resurrects him to learnQward's location.
• Kanjar Ro makes a non-speaking cameo appearance inGreen Lantern: Beware My Power.^[9]

Kanjar Ro appears as a character summon inScribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure.^[11]

• Kanjar Ro appears inJustice League Adventures #15.^[12]
• Kanjar Ro appears inJustice League Unlimited #4.

• Toon Zone: Kanjar Ro
• DCU Guide: Kanjar Ro chronology

• Characters created by Gardner Fox
• Characters created by Mike Sekowsky
• Comics characters introduced in 1961
• DC Comics extraterrestrial supervillains
• DC Comics male supervillains
• Fictional dictators
• Fictional mass murderers
• Space pirates

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Converting comics character infoboxes