Manga Khan is a fictional character, a DC Comics supervillain and an intergalactic trader. Originally known simply as Lord Manga, Manga Khan's name is a direct reference to manga. A gaseous being, he relies on a metallic suit to give him form. He had a robot companion named L-Ron (before trading him to the Justice League), and was a foe of the Justice League in the early 1990s.

Fictional Character Biography

In one of his first encounters with the Justice League, he kidnaps Mister Miracle in order to open up trade relations with Apokolips. He is followed in a spaceship by Big Barda, G'Nort, Rocket Red and Martian Manhunter. Teamwork allows them to find Manga, which enrages him to the point he damages his L-Ron. His robotic assistant is not too concerned, he then ponders what the 'fall line' of robotic forms look like.

Less of a Villain

After this situation is resolved, Manga Khan becomes a much more helpful person, becoming a friend to the Justice League. He takes Despero off their hands after the Martian Manhunter devolves him. This trade ends with L-Ron being in the employ of the League, which would last for some time.

In Justice League Europe #28, he takes the defeated villain Starro. Despero, unfortunately, escapes, but Khan hires Lobo to retrieve him. Lobo comes to believe that Khan's way of speeking has started to affect him.

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.

Powers

In his natural gaseous state Manga Khan can communicate telepathically, but can't physically interact with anything. He normally wears an armored suit that makes him impervious to damage and grants him superhuman strength. Manga is a very poor fighter and would rather talk his way out of combat. Manga is a master negotiator and barterer, thoroughly lacking ethics in his wheeling and dealings.

Relationships

Many of Manga Khan's male (or "male" personality) robotic assistants are named after science fiction writers: L-Ron after L. Ron Hubbard, Hein-9 after Robert A. Heinlein, K-Dikk after Philip K. Dick, for instance. In the 2003 miniseries Formerly Known as the Justice League, a "female" robotic assistant, J-Lo, was introduced, whose moniker is, of course, derived from a popular nickname for Jennifer Lopez. This same series saw Manga Khan speaking of strong feelings for L-Ron, which he referred to as "the love which can never speak its name". A portion of the storyline is dedicated to his attempts to recover the robot, who remains in the company of several of Earth's superheroes . The same storyline implied that J-Lo was interested in a relationship with Manga Khan, which the alien trader seemed to reciprocate. Although none of the robots are built to appear especially masculine or feminine, their personalities are described as such, and they are referred to by other speakers in the comics with appropriate pronouns.

References