The self-ascribed Lord Manga Khan is an intergalactic broker with connections throughout several galaxies.
History
He is more or less considered the used car salesman of the galaxy. Manga Khan leads the bartering firm known as the Cluster and is willing to trade in any commodity of reputable value. Assisting Khan is his robotic major domo L-Ron, who is reportedly Manga Khan's only real friend, and often serves as the sounding board to his employer's often long-winded rants.
Lord Manga Khan first encountered the Earth super-hero team the Justice League when he managed to acquire one of their team members - Mister Miracle. Upon realizing that Mister Miracle was a New God, Khan set out for Apokolips in the hopes of selling him to the planetary despot Darkseid. It was his belief that such a deal would open up lucrative trade negotiations between the Cluster and Apokolips. To keep the Justice League off his trail, he hired the intergalactic bounty hunter Lobo to intervene on his behalf. In exchange for sanctioning the Justice League, Khan agreed to pay him with a ten-years supply of dolphin treats (Lobo has a fondness for a rare breed of space dolphins).[1]
Manga later made a deal with Funky Flashman that forced Mister Miracle to go on an intergalactic tour selling the cleaning product Miracle Mister, leaving a robotic version of Mister Miracle as replacement on Earth with the Justice League International.[2] During this, tour they crossed paths again with Lobo, Mogo, and even Darkseid and the Female Furies in Apokolips.[3]
Lord Manga Khan later hired Lobo for a second contract, this time to capture the Kalinorian warlord known as Despero. Lobo tracked Despero to Earth and reluctantly teamed up with Justice League Europe to bring him down. The battle nearly leveled the Times Square district of Midtown Manhattan. Manga Khan felt responsible for the damage and so he offered to pay for the entire restoration of the city.[4]
Manga Khan later ransomed off the captured Green Lantern G'nort in exchange for his robotic ally L-Ron.
Powers and Abilities
Powers
- Unique Physiology: Manga Khan's natural form is a gaseous state and as such, he does not maintain a corporeal form.
- Telepathy: Lord Manga Khan's sole super-power is his ability to broadcast and receive thought patterns via telepathy. This power even extends to communication with robots. Manga Khan's telepathy is a natural byproduct of his non-corporeal state of being.
Abilities
- Business Management: Despite his aloof demeanor, Lord Manga Khan has developed a solid reputation in the intergalactic trade community and has an acute sense of the fair market value of nearly any commercial asset.
Weaknesses
- Technological Reliability: Because Manga Khan exists in a gaseous state, he requires the use of an armored body suit in order to physically interact with the corporeal world.
- Mental Disorder: Khan suffers from a condition which causes him to give soliloquies at random intervals, in a parody of comics from the sixties. In the same vein, he founded the Manga Khan School of Melodrama to teach similar speech patterns to other characters. One of his alumni is the Scarlet Skier.
Paraphernalia
Equipment
- Manga Armor: Lord Manga Khan wears a suit of gold-plated armor which completely encases his gaseous form.
Transportation
- Cluster Ship: Lord Manga Khan commands a Cluster Ship - a giant network of miniature satellite stations connected by transport tubes and capable of interstellar travel. The Cluster Ship is the flagship of the Cluster organization. Little is known of its crew compliment, but it appears as if the Cluster Ship is primarily self-sufficient, requiring only a crew of robots to handle routine operations.
Notes
- Although often seen in an adversarial context, Lord Manga Khan is not a decidedly evil person. He simply holds human life to a separate (and noticeably lower) set of standards than most other alien life forms.
Trivia
- It has been suggested that Manga Khan's real last name is spelled Caan and that he might also be of Jewish heritage. This has never been verified however, and may exist as little more than as humorist license on the part of the creators. It is unlikely that Manga Khan's ancestry has any ties to any Earth-based cultural heritage, though this too, has never been confirmed nor denied.
- Lord Manga Khan has a penchant for loud outbursts and bellowing to himself. He does not feel as if this is a detriment to his character and actually takes pride in his ability to command respect through exorbitant boastful jests. When not engaging in interstellar commerce, Lord Manga Khan enjoys practicing his "talking aloud" inside his private chambers.
Recommended Reading
Related
- 32 Appearances of Manga Khan (New Earth)
- 10 Images featuring Manga Khan (New Earth)
- Quotations by or about Manga Khan (New Earth)
- Character Gallery: Manga Khan (New Earth)
Footnotes
Justice League Villain This character is or was primarily an enemy of the Justice League, in any of its various incarnations. This template will categorize articles that include it into the category "Justice League Villains." |