List of DC Comics characters: K

Adeline Kane[]

Adeline Kane, formerly Adeline Wilson, is best known as both the leader of the criminal organization the H.I.V.E. and the ex-wife of Slade Wilson, a.k.a. Deathstroke the Terminator. An enemy of the Teen Titans, Adeline made her first appearance in New Teen Titans #34 (August 1983). She was brought up as a wealthy jet-setting playgirl, despite being trained by a father who had worked with Chinese guerrilla forces. But after a traumatic first marriage at 19, she joined the U.S. military, where she met, trained, and married Slade Wilson. After Slade left the military, Slade and Adeline took up the socialite lifestyle Adeline had been raised into.

Unbeknownst to her, Slade was using his hunting trips to gain clients for his mercenary side job, which resulted in the kidnapping and near-death of their younger son, Joseph. Enraged and betrayed by Slade's prioritization of Deathstroke's honor code over their son's well-being, Adeline shot her husband and, when he survived, served him with divorce papers.

Grant, who had idolized his father, rebelled against his mother and ran away to New York, where he ran into the Titans and ended up dying due to his alliance with the H.I.V.E. Slade vowed to pick up his dead son's contract against the Teen Titans; Adeline promptly interfered; she blamed Slade for Grant's death. Due to Adeline's intervention, Joseph, who had been working with her, joined the Titans as Jericho.

Joseph eventually became possessed by the spirits of Azarath. Begging his father to kill him in order to prevent the corrupted spirits from achieving their purpose, Adeline's only remaining son died at her husband's hand. Adeline found this out from one of her Searchers Inc. agents, rather than from Slade himself, which merely cemented her long-held grudge against her ex-husband.

Slade, however, held no grudge against her, keeping an eye out for her safety and attempting to aid her when he thought he could get away with it; e.g., when Adeline had been abducted by her first husband Morel, a.k.a. Count Tavolera, who had poisoned her in an attempt to force her to work with him to discover her ancestor Josiah Kane's treasure.

To save Adeline's life, Slade gave her some of his own serum-altered blood. This ended up driving her crazy; Slade's genotype had a unique mutation which enabled him to effectively metabolize his serum. Other less fortunate people either died or went insane.

For a time, Adeline went underground, slowly losing more and more of her normal cognitive abilities, though none of her tactical skills. She eventually turned herself into the H.I.V.E. Mistress, in her madness focusing on superheroes as the reason for her sons' death and creating a plan to kill all the superheroes that she could.

Her plot ultimately resulted in her death. Vandal Savage put a team together to take advantage of Adeline's plan, intending to take her immortal blood to create a sort of Fountain of Youth potion. With her throat cut, unable to die and yet unable to fully heal, Adeline regained her sanity briefly and pleaded with Slade (who had learned of her involvement and arrived to try and save her) to kill her and reunite her with their children. However, because he still had feelings for her no matter what she had done, he was unable to comply with her request, so Starfire killed her instead.

Adeline Kane in other media[]

Adeline made her live-action debut in season 2 of Titans portrayed by Mayko Nguyen.

Adeline appears in Deathstroke: Knights & Dragons, voiced by Sasha Alexander.

Jacob Kane[]

Jacob Kane is a fictional character appearing American comic books published by DC Comics.

Jacob Kane and his wife Gabrielle Kane both had careers as soldiers in the U.S. Army (he a member of the 3rd Special Forces Group and she part of the 525th Battlefield Surveillance Brigade), and are the parents of Kate Kane and Beth Kane.^[1] The Kanes are Jewish^[2][3][4] and Jacob Kane inherited vast wealth along with his other siblings.^[5] Bette Kane (the superheroine known as Flamebird, and later Hawkfire) is his niece^[6][2] and Bruce Wayne is his nephew, since Martha Kane Wayne was Jacob's sister.^[7][8]

Jacob Kane is promoted to colonel and assigned to NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. When the twins turned 12 years old, their mother took them to a restaurant for a birthday dessert, despite Jacob being away due to a security crisis. A terrorist group (later revealed to be the organization known as the "Many Arms of Death"^[9]) kidnapped the family during their trip, and Col. Kane led a rescue mission to save them. During the raid, Gabrielle was murdered by the terrorists.^[1][10] The terrorists kidnapped another young girl and murdered her too. Kate, seeing the body of a young girl under a blanket, is left with the impression her sister died. Col. Kane, however, knew that the terrorists had Beth. Despite looking for years, Col. Kane never found Beth.^[3] He never told Kate that Beth might still be alive.^[11] Col. Kane remarries years later to Hamilton Rifle Company heiress Catherine Hamilton, who becomes Kate's stepmother.^[3][12]

Jacob's emotional steadiness proved to be a major source of stability for Kate in the aftermath of the tragedy, and she sought to emulate that for herself and follow him into Army service, which Jacob supported.^[13] Thanks to his higher rank, Jacob was able to be more present in Kate's life during this time. He taught Kate how to box when she was a teenager, accompanied her to R-Day at West Point when she was an incoming freshman, and is implied to have given Kate ringside coaching during an academy championship boxing match that helped her win the fight.^[14][13][15] Kate's resignation from the academy due to DADT allegations took Jacob by surprise, but he immediately accepted her when she came out to him.^[16]

After Kate became a vigilante, Jacob aided her campaign against crime by organizing her training, designing her Batwoman suit and gear, developing her operational headquarters, and maintaining radio contact with her during patrols to provide information and advice.^[3]

The Alice persona kidnaps Col. Kane,^[2][17] who immediately recognizes as his now-grown daughter Beth,^[11] and uses him to gain access to a military base near Gotham City. She seizes chemical weapons from the base and intends to kill everyone in the city by dispersing them from an aircraft.^[17] Alice falls into Gotham Bay during her final battle with Batwoman after revealing her identity, and is again presumed dead.

In 2011, DC Comics rebooted the DC universe through "The New 52." Jacob's history of losing his wife and what happened to Beth remains intact, as well as his support for Kate's campaign as Batwoman. In addition, the New 52 establishes that an informal group of Jacob's closest friends within the special operations community, known as the Murder of Crows, were the ones Jacob assembled to conduct Kate's Batwoman training.^[18]

Jacob Kane in other media[]

Jacob Kane appears in Batwoman portrayed by Dougray Scott.^[19] After a car accident that caused the death of his wife, Jacob worked to look for Beth. After fishing Beth out of the river, August Cartwright had to cover up the fact that he had Beth when Jacob heard her call by stating that his son Jonathan "Mouse" Cartwright was matching her voice. In addition, Jacob Kane's second wife Catherine Hamilton-Kane used DNA analysts and the skull fragments of a deer to make Jacob think that Beth is dead. Shortly after the tragedy, Jacob founded Crows Security to help protect Gotham City, with Catherine acting as a financier.

Jacob Kane appears in Batman: Bad Blood, voiced by Geoff Pierson. His history of losing his wife to terrorists remains intact. After Batman's supposed death, Kate speaks with her father and states that she feels responsible for Batman's apparent death.

Karen Keeny[]

Karen Kenny is a character who appears in Year One: Batman/Scarecrow (July 2005), the mother of Jonathan Crane.

Karen is the youngest daughter in a long line of Georgia gentry from Arlen. She was raised by her strict mother and grandmother, which led to her having a rebellious youth. Karen meets Gerald Crane, going into a short relationship and later becoming pregnant. She wasn't allowed to raise her child - even the naming was done by her grandmother.^[20]

Karen moved to Latham, marrying a man named Charlie Jarvis, who was abusive and jealous, wanting above all the deed to the family mansion, which she didn't have. When her son came back to kill his last remaining relatives, Charlie became more jealous, as she received strange letters under her maiden name. When Scarecrow comes to her house, he kills Jarvis and was going to kill Karen and her infant daughter when Batman arrives and stops him.^[21]

Knowing all the people he had killed, Karen felt guilty for Jonathan's deeds and contemplated suicide, but talked out of it by Deadman.^[22]

The character appears in Gotham, portrayed by Dorothea Harahan. Renamed Karen Crane, she is the wife of Gerald Crane and the mother of Jonathan Crane. She died in a fire one year ago while Gerald was paralyzed with fear and unable to rescue her. Her death was a direct cause of Gerald's obsession with "curing" himself and his son of fear. She appears as hallucination in "The Scarecrow" as a woman in flame as Gerald tries to conquer his greatest fear.

Katana[]

Kelex[]

Kid Eternity[]

Kid Flash[]

Kilg%re[]

Kilg%re was an electro-mechano-organic intelligence that needed electro-life to survive. It consumed its entire home planet in the Pleides sector and then moved on into space. It was attacked by something known as Meta#sker and placed into a vibrational limbo. Somehow, it found its way to the flats near Salt Lake City on Earth. It could only be seen by people traveling at high speeds, such as an F-15 pilot or the Flash. The Flash unknowingly released it from the limbo it was imprisoned in and it followed him to S.T.A.R. Labs and took over its electrical systems. Kilg%re found the number of machines on Earth ideal for its survival, but humans it deemed distractions and planned to destroy them. It delivered an ultimatum: abandon North America by 12:00 noon on May 10 or be destroyed. During a battle with the Flash in Salt Lake City, it turned out all the power in the country. The Flash sought the help of Cyborg, who used the Titans' satellite to relay the message to the governments of the world to shut down all power in order to kill Kilg%re. This scared it out of the power grid and it weaved a giant mechanical snake across the Utah flats, trying to complete a circuit by catching up with the cloned body of S.T.A.R. Labs' Dr. Schmitz in order to survive. However, the Flash outraced it, supposedly killing it. After Kilg%re's defeat at the hands of the Flash he appeared to be destroyed, but resurfaced in the form of a sentient computer mind hidden in a self-created computer operating system in a deep cave. When Maxwell Lord was spelunking one day, his then-president had fallen deep into the cave where Kilg%re lay dormant. Sensing a human life, Kilg%re decided to help coax Max into further succeeding his own plans, as well as Max's subconscious plans of self-actualization. To do this, Kilg%re decided to help Max start the new Justice League and grow the group into becoming more international. Kilg%re served in a behind-the-scenes role, constantly coaxing and manipulating Max into furthering his plans, such as gaining money, power and cutting-edge technology to give Kilg%re a stronger machine to inhabit. Through such advantages, Kilg%re and Max were able to create a better duplicate of the Justice League signal device, begin a recruitment drive and find willing villains, gaining additional muscle such as Booster Gold and a new Ace android. Kilg%re grew impatient and decided to start using bigger ideas, such as inciting an international incident to distract Justice League International. To do this, he found hidden technologies designed as a monitoring device by Metron. He launched the satellite, which was only defeated by Mister Miracle because he was used to New God technology. A serious mishap occurred during the Millennium event, in which the Manhunters took over the bodies of those they deemed were close enough to major figures to do damage. One of these Manhunters took over the body of the secretary of Max and, when she delivered coffee to him, she shot him four times. Rushing to Max's safety, Kilg%re promptly eliminated the threat by combining some of his technology with Max in order to save his life and kill the Manhunter. Max eventually learned of Kilg%re's tampering when half of Kilg%re was destroyed by the construct falling through the building that housed Kilg%re. In Kilg%re's fleeting moments, he threw another series of visions designed to tamper with Max's thoughts and implant Kilg%re into another larger system. Max refused and destroyed what was left of Kilg%re's last computing body. Doing so removed the cyborg self-repairing systems in Max's body, which landed him in the hospital. Kilg%re, however, was not completely destroyed.

Kilg%re appeared in DC Rebirth's Cyborg #1, 2 and 18 and The Flash/Speed Buggy Special #1.

Powers and abilities of Kilg%re[]

Kilg%re has a robot body, electrokinesis, electronic interaction, electronic disruption, electronic constructs, and superhuman speed.

Kilg%re in other media[]

• A different depiction of Kilg%re appears in The Flash live action television series, portrayed by Dominic Burgess. This version is a human computer programmer named Ramsey Deacon, who developed an application that was stolen by his teammates for self-profit, leaving him with nothing. Following this, he was exposed to dark matter following Barry Allen's escape from the Speed Force, and became a technopathic metahuman. Introduced in the episode "Mixed Signals", Ramsey takes the name "Kilg%re" and uses his powers to take revenge on his former teammates, killing one and nearly doing the same to the others until he was stopped by Team Flash and remanded to Iron Heights Penitentiary. In the episode "True Colors", Kilg%re is among the metahuman inmates that Warden Wolfe planned to sell to Amunet Black along with Dwarfstar, Hazard, and Black Bison, before the Thinker arrives and absorbs their powers, killing them in the process.
• Kilg%re appears in the tie-in comic Justice League Adventures #28.
• Kilg%re appears in the tie-in comic Green Lantern: The Animated Series #14.

King Standish[]

Killer Croc[]

Killer Frost[]

Killer Moth[]

Thaddeus Killgrave[]

Thaddeus Killgrave is a villain in DC Comics.

Thaddeus Killgrave is a mad scientist with dwarfism who would either create technology to fight Superman or sell them to other criminals. He was a frequent collaborator of Intergang in their fight against Superman.^[23]

Thaddeus Killgrave in other media[]

Thaddeus Killgrave appears in the Superman & Lois episode "Haywire", portrayed by Brendan Fletcher. Like the comics, he is an enemy of Superman. Intergang springs Thaddeus Killgrave from a prison transport from Metropolis Penitentiary and assist in his revenge on Superman. One Intergang operative is used as bait for Superman so that Killgrave can use a sonic weapon on him. Superman knocks out Killgrave with a powerful clap attack and then calls Sam Lane to have his men pick up the defeated bad guys and to have the medics tend to the bystanders.

King Cobra[]

There have been at least two different characters named the King Cobra in DC Comics.

Batman villain[]

The King Cobra is a mob boss in Gotham City who wears a green snake costume. He is the leader of a criminal group called the Cobra Gang. He makes his first appearance in Batman #139 (April 1961).^[24]

Shadow villain[]

This version of the King Cobra is a New York City gangster and an enemy to Kent Allard.^[25]

Other versions of the King Cobra[]

• The Batman Beyond version of the King Cobra appears in the Batman Beyond comic book series.^[26][27]
• The King Cobra appears in the final issue of the comic book series Batman '66, set in the universe of the 1966 Batman TV series.^[28]

King Cobra in other media[]

• The Batman version of the King Cobra appears in the animated main title sequence of the 1966 Batman TV series. This makes the King Cobra the first Batman villain from the comics to appear in animated form.
• A different depiction of the King Cobra appears in the episode "Splicers" of the TV series Batman Beyond, voiced by Tim Dang. This version is an enemy of Batman/Terry McGinnis, and is also one of the Splicers where he has the DNA of a snake, thanks to Dr. Abel Cuvier.
• The Batman version of the King Cobra appears in the Batman: The Brave and the Bold episodes "A Bat Divided!" and "The Vile and the Villainous!".
• The Batman version of the King Cobra appears in Scooby-Doo! & Batman: The Brave and the Bold.

Kirigi[]

Kirigi is a martial arts master in DC Comics. The character, created by James Owsley and Jim Aparo, first appeared in Batman #431 (March 1989). Within the context of the stories, Kirigi taught Bruce Wayne the art of ninjitsu when Bruce approached him for martial arts training. He was later hired by Ra's al Ghul to train members of the League of Assassins in ninjutsu such as the Bronze Tiger, Bruce and Kyodai Ken. Batman visited Kirigi when he recognized some of the moves done by the League of Assassins members that Kirigi taught him.^[29]

Kirigi in other media[]

• Kirigi appears in the video game Batman: Arkham Origins, voiced by Kaiji Tang. He is featured in the "Initiation" DLC challenge map. Before he becomes Batman, Bruce Wayne approaches his dojo in the mountains of North Korea and asks Kirigi to train him. Kirigi lets him train with him and his students for a while out of pity and later tests him to see if he is worthy. Depending on how the player operates Bruce Wayne during this performance, there are three different endings after Bruce Wayne defeats Lady Shiva. If the player completes the challenge map with less than nine medals, Kirigi states that Bruce is the best foreigner that he has trained, yet he does not say much. Kirigi then sends Bruce to find a bucket and broom in order to clean the latrines. If the player completes the challenge map with nine or more medals, Kirigi is impressed with Bruce's progress, yet states that he still has a lot to learn. For the time being, Kirigi then sends Bruce to find a rag in order to clean the floors. If the player completes the challenge map with all 15 medals, Kirigi states to Bruce that he is impressed and, at the same time, also states that he is rarely impressed. Upon telling Bruce that he has gained his dojo's respect and proven himself worthy, Kirigi states that he will be given the information that he seeks. Bruce is sent to the kitchen by Kirigi to prepare tea for him and all of Kirigi's students, where there is much to discuss.

Kobra[]

Kole[]

Komodo[]

Further reading Komodo at the Grand Comics Database

Komodo (Simon Lacroix) first appears in Green Arrow (vol. 5) #17 (April 2013).^{[30][31]: 170} He was created by writer Jeff Lemire and artist Andrea Sorrentino. Komodo was once Robert Queen's protégé and was part of Robert's expedition to find the "Arrow Totem", which was said to bring enlightenment. Seeking this enlightenment for himself, Lacroix betrayed and murdered Robert, but could not find the Totem. Consumed by his desire for the Totem's enlightenment, Lacroix strove to destroy Oliver Queen and the Green Arrow and became the masked archer "Komodo". Through his company Stellmoor International, he works on behalf of the Outsiders, a shadowy secret society of warriors from different weapon disciplines, which he wants to rule.^[32] Komodo travels with his equally deadly "daughter" Emiko, who, in fact, is the daughter of Robert Queen and the archer Shado. Emiko later learns this and is shocked, and learning that both her parents were alive, turned against Komodo. He attempted to kill her but, ultimately, she killed him with an arrow shot through his heart.^[33]

Komodo in other media[]

• Komodo also appears in the Arrow season three episode "Sara", portrayed by Matt Ward. This version is described as a mercenary from Sainte-Sophie, Quebec. He begins targeting several businessmen in Star City (including Ray Palmer), but is prevented by Team Arrow for the latter target. Arrow and the others think that he killed Sara Lance, but he denies it, which is proven to be correct. Komodo then escapes from them and is never seen again.

Jarvis Kord[]

Jarvis Kord is the scientist uncle of Ted Kord. Created by D.C. Glanzman and Steve Ditko, he first appeared in Secret Origins (vol. 2) #2 (May 1986).

He was working to create an army of androids to take over Earth, resulting in his nephew and Dan Garrett investigating and foiling his ambitions, but Jarvis killed the original Blue Beetle and himself during their battle which inspired the second Blue Beetle.^[34]

Jarvis Kord in other media[]

Jarvis Kord appears in the animated series Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode "Fall of the Blue Beetle!", voiced by Tim Matheson. Ted Kord was unable to get the Blue Beetle scarab to work, thinking his scientist uncle would achieve this task. Jarvis went insane and planned to use Blue Beetle robots to take over Hub City to which Ted and Batman stop Jarvis. Jarvis activates a rocket to send his robots to different parts of Hub City. Ted enters the rocket before blast off to blow up which stops his uncle's robot invasion but is killed in the process. After Ted's death, Jarvis takes his nephew's identity to trick Jaime Reyes into helping him on Science Island. This lasted until Batman told Jaime the truth about Ted, but Jarvis's master plan is foiled by Batman and Jaime.

Kristen Kramer[]

Kristen Kramer is a character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics.

Kristen Kramer was an intern at the Central City Police Departmant who was a colleague of Flash.^[35]

In 2016, DC Comics implemented another relaunch of its books called "DC Rebirth", which restored its continuity to a form much as it was prior to "The New 52". In her early life, Kristen's parents were killed in a car accident and her sister Kim later committed suicide.^[36] Years later, Kristen became a full crime scene investigator at the time when a lightning storm endowed some of its inhabitants with superpowers.^[37]

Kristen Kramer in other media[]

Kristen Kramer appears in The Flash portrayed by Carmen Moore. This version is a woman of Wet'suwet'en descent who serves as a liaison from the Governor's Municipal Logistics Commission. After Iris West did a background check on her, Kristen admits to Joe West that she is hunting Killer Frost. Her other background is that the platoon she was part of was led into an ambush by an unidentified metahuman that they trusted which led to her issues with metahumans that claim that they can do good. When Killer Frost was apprehended and put on trial, Kramer used Councillor Strong to push Judge Tanaka's decision to use the meta-cure on Killer Frost. This is thwarted when Killer Frost opted to serve a life sentence to atone for her past misdeeds. Kramer later returned where she was investigating the disappearance of Rainbow Raider. She was also having the metahuman cure bullets be made causing Joe to resign from the CCPD. Joe later found information thanks to a military contact that Kristen actually lead her unit into an ambush as Joe claims to Cecile that she was working with the enemy that wiped out her platoon. Kramer did not lead her men into the ambush deliberately - her brother (not by blood) Adam Creyke did. He just warned her to stay away and she didn't realize what was about to happen. She has blamed herself ever since and is now asking Joe to help her track Adam down. While staking out Creyke's boat, Joe and Kristen are ambushed. They managed to turn the tide on Creyke and take him prisoner. After informing the FBI everything about him, Kramer and Joe started to return to Central City where they witnessed its civilians leaving town and two Godspeed Drones fighting each other. It turns out that she is a metahuman who can copy the ability of any meta in close proximity for a short period of time. Thus she survived the explosion that took out the rest of her unit by copying Adam's invulnerability and later gains superspeed to save Joe from a Godspeed clone. Realizing what her actions have caused, she decides to take a leave of absence and sort of get her head straight.

Kulak[]

Further reading Kulak at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original) Kulak at the Grand Comics Database

Kulak is a sorcerer and supervillain in the DC Universe.^[38]

The character, created by Jerry Siegel and Bernard Baily, first appeared in All Star Comics #2 (Fall 1940).

Within the context of the stories, Kulak is the high priest of the dead planet Brztal who had been imprisoned on Earth in antiquity. When released by archeologists in 1940, he seeks to destroy Earth, but is defeated by the Spectre.^[39]

The character was not used again until 1983, when he appears in a three-part story published in All-Star Squadron, and has rarely been used since.

References[]